So, for once, I'm not complaining about being a mom (I know, right?).
But full disclosure: this is gonna seem like an ad for Walmart; just bear with me because I'm so friggin excited about what I just discovered, like, literally an hour ago.
I guess that's actually already a lie. Technically my mom figured some of it out first and told me about it last week. But I did the heavy lifting. Or really none at all. Just read on.
Are you a busy mom on the run? Or maybe just a busy woman on the run? Maybe you're not on the run, you're just busy at home and find it hard to get out. Or maybe you just don't like to get out and interact with people -- I'm not here to judge.
I'm here to tell you that if you do a lot of your shopping at Walmart -- or you don't, but this may be a game changer like it was for me -- then you DEFINITELY need to look into the Free Grocery Pickup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (<-- lots of exclamation points for emphasis)
Seriously.
You guys may not know this about my life, but, I have two kids under 2 (shocker). One happens to be nearing the Terrible Twos faster than I would like, and thus it is a circus getting them to the store, then in the store, then through the store, then back to the car, loaded up and home without everybody including myself calling it a Terrible Horrible No Good Very Bad Day -- and it won't even be noon yet.
Well, Walmart has declared NO MORE! to this era of my life -- or at least to this section of hardship that obtaining food to keep my family alive each week has become.
Here's how it works (without the dramatics):
1. I went to their website and filled my cart just as I would have in the grocery store, but without so much aerobics. You can do it on their app, too; I just had yet to download it. And I love any excuse to get out my dying laptop and check to see if it's still working. I'm just waiting with baited breath for the day it actually dies so that I can have more drama in my life that would be losing all of my family's memories to date. *collective gasp!*
Anyway: Fill your cart, either via website or app.
2. You choose the store you want to pickup at, the day and time you want or need to pickup, and you even pay before you go! It sounds like a tedious process; but including loading my online cart, the entire process maybe took me ten minutes. Of course, I'm that girl that has to keep a written list throughout the week and revise and revise and revise before I actually shop. So at least I had that to refer to. Note: I would recommend finishing this process at least the night before you pickup. You can order as early as a week in advance, though! When Mom and I tried to do it the day of, the morning spots were taken, and by noon the rest of the day was gone as well. But the good news here is that you can fill your cart throughout the week as you think of stuff! Then all you have to do is pay for your stuff and pick it up! It's really that simple. And I'm a mom who needs as much simplicity in my life as possible.
Recap: Pick your store, pick your day and time, pay for your items.
3. Go pick up your purchases!! This, honestly, would be the part I forget to do. *cue facepalm* But Walmart tries to help me out as much as they possibly can. I mean, they've already done the actual shopping for me; now they're sending me a text message, an email, and a notification on my phone to tell me as soon as they have my groceries together and ready. I love it when someone does this mom thing for me, however briefly. (Obviously you can opt out of the text message and the notification if that seems like a little much for you; but trust me, I need all the reminders.)
When you download their grocery app, Walmart will prompt you to check in when you are on your way. Then they track your location, and when you park in their pickup spot, the app will tell them that you've arrived and it will tell you not to sweat it because someone is on the way with your stuff. You can even add the color of your vehicle so that they know which one is you.
However, if you don't feel comfortable letting the app track your location, when you roll up and park in the designated parking spot, there will be a phone number to call to let them know you have arrived. Just don't get your panties in a wad if they need a few minutes to collect your things since you didn't check in and let them know you were coming.
Either way, you don't have to get out of your car at all!
Recap: Check in on the app when you're on your way, and pick up your groceries! Hooray!
Now, I have definitely had my fair share of bad experiences at Walmart; especially the particular one that has the pickup in my area. But here's the thing: those bad experiences have been with the staff inside. With the Free Grocery Pickup, I don't have to interact at all.
That being said, the lady that brought my groceries to my car this morning was the best staff member I've come into contact with at this particular store. She was very smiley and helpful.
I'm one of those people who gets out and helps them load the car. She noticed something was leaking before I did. We easily determined it was the flea spray I had ordered (don't ask). She took it back inside and got me a new one and even replaced the toothpaste that had been in the same bag -- and I didn't even have to ask! I was at Walmart maybe a total of ten minutes. The entire trip took me less than an hour, where if I had had to drag babies into the store and then shop and check myself out (because bye-bye grumpy cashiers, and hello scan-and-go) it would have easily taken me two hours or more. That's really hard to time with naps and feedings to consider.
The lady even handed me a goodie bag. It was one of their durable, reusable shopping bags with coupons and even a bottle of water! Mothers must run this company.
Walmart's Free Grocery Pickup is definitely going to be the way to go for me from here on out!
Edit: So, of course, I forgot to add whatever cons I had this morning. To be honest, it wasn't really anything on Walmart's part:
1. When ordering quantities, make sure you are adding the correct number to your cart. I needed to order six small things of yogurt and three baby bananas for Mason. I thought that I hit the plus button enough times... but I had a similar problem with another quantity item where my hitting the plus button didn't take. So just be checking your cart and make sure that everything you needed to order as far as quantity got added. I only ended up wit five yogurts and one banana. Oops.
2. I ordered flea spray and flea powder in order to treat both my carpets and hard floors. I ended up with two sprays. The lady even showed me the one that was wrong and asked me, "Is this ok?" And I didn't even look when I responded that it was fine. *cue second facepalm* That being said, it is the more expensive spray -- like, twice what I paid for the powder I actually ordered. And since I have only a couple of area rugs and the rest of my house is hard floors, I'm going to make it work. It's all universal anyway.
But yeah, those were the only two cons I could come up with. Happy shopping!
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