Walmart has announced it will begin a grocery delivery service! According to this article on MSN, the service will have a $9.95 flate rate fee for delivery of a minimum-$30 purchase. What does this mean? It means major competition against both Amazon and Shipt. Amazon has a shipping service available near Whole Foods, and Shipt works with various grocery retailers across the US (though clearly, not Walmart).
Is Walmart Grocery Delivery Worth it?
At this point, you need to look at the value of your time and transportation. Frankly, Walmart Grocery Delivery is a game changer. The reason why Amazon and Shipt are overlooked by myself and others on tight budgets is because not only is there a delivery cost, but the goods purchased come at a higher cost as well. If I were to utilize Amazon’s service through Whole Foods (which actually isn’t possible since I don’t live near a Whole Foods), my grocery budget would at least double. In my region, Shipt serves Meijer. While Meijer is certainly more affordable than Whole Foods, it’s still much more expensive than Wal-Mart for groceries and household goods. Also, Shipt in my area has a delivery fee AND an annual membership fee. For me, Walmart is 25 minutes away, and the nearest Aldi is a smilar distance. What hasn’t been ensured is the proximity of the deliveries. If Walmart in my area were to deliver, I would absolutely pay for this service. The driving time alone is about $10, so for $10/hr for this service, it seems very worth it. However, this brings me to my next point.
What About Walmart Grocery Pickup? And Other Grocery PickUp Services?
Since the Walmart Grocery Delivery service will be “expanded to 100 cities by the end of the year” according to the Wall Street Journal, this means many cities will not have this service. Again, this comes back to the value of time and transportation. The nearest Walmart to me that does Grocery Pickup (which is FREE!) is about 35 minutes away. If you have free time in your day, then that $10/hr is probably worth it to save and just do the free pickup. But if you are as overloaded as I was only a month ago (full time engineer, full time wife, mom of a toddler, and full time MBA student), that $10 for an additional hour sounds amazing. I found the Sam’s Club In-Store pickup (also free!) to be a hugre game changer. I mentioned Meijer before, so I will bring it up again. The nearest Meijer to me does not offer pickup (it does have Shipt), and the closest Meijer that does have curbside pickup has a cost! So that isn’t worth it to me at all.
Will I use Walmart Grocery Delivery?
If it is available to me, I definitely will try Walmart Grocery Delivery and review it. I think there is a huge benefit to the ordering online. It allows you to plan your grocery list efficiently and not get sidetracked with in-store impulses. This is key for us when we Meal Plan/Shop for our Whole30/Paleo meal plans (click here to read how we do this on a tight budget!). Of course, online shopping can come with its own impulses, but overall for us the cost is lower when we order online. The biggest thing that makes me want to try this is that Walmart is already one of our primary places to shop based on cost. In my opinion, the only way this could get better is if Aldi did the same thing. Now my question, would YOU use Walmart Grocery Delivery? Do you use another grocery delivery service that you would potentially cut? Let me know!
-Rachel
Other helpful links…
How We Meal Plan/Shop/”Prep” Whole30/Paleo on a Tight Budget
Is Chewy.com Worth it for Pet Food?
Cleaning Products Worth the (Extra) Money
3 Ingredient DIY Household Cleaner
$10 Gift Card With Sam’s Club Membership
the only affiliate link is the Sam’s Club link, which gives me a credit that I use for groceries. We’ve paid for our membership since the beginning of our marriage.