I avoid the Wal-Mart on 5th St in Temple as much as I can. Nothing against the store or it’s employees, but there’s just a lot of general issues — cleanliness, packed lines, and of course the occasional person waving their gun around. Like most people, there’s a few things I do stop in for from time to time. I have a well-known addiction to Starkist tuna pouches, and Wal-Mart is the only store I can find that sells my favorite flavor — bacon ranch.
Not too long ago I noticed the side parking lot had been renovated and bright orange “Pickup” signs had been posted. They finally started the grocery pickup at this location, and I decided to give it a go. I downloaded the app, and was happy to find out there was a $10 discount for first-time use. Score!
The app was extremely easy to use. Everything is broken down into manageable departments and sub-departments. You can see the number of items and the total cost on the top right hand corner. There’s also a search function to find specific items you may be looking for. Just about everything in grocery is available and some other departments like office, party supplies, health & beauty and toys. It was very easy for meal planning. I just wrote a small list of what meals I wanted to cook for the week and added the ingredients right to my app. If they’re out of an item you requested, the will swap it out for a similar (and likely upgraded) items for free. When you checkout you can select which items you’re willing to substitute, which it defaults to all items. If you don’t like the substituted item, you can reject the item when you go to pick it up and they will take it off your order.
After picking everything on your order, you select an available time for pickup. You’ll get an alert when your order is ready, and check-in with the app once you arrive at the location. When I arrived for my first order, the young gentleman came to my window, explained the substituted items for me, and had me sign for the order. He then showed me the eggs I ordered to assure me none were cracked, and asked if I wanted to keep the eggs and bread up front instead of piling them into the trunk of my car. Everything else went into the back — I didn’t need to lift a finger. The trunk was packed very well, nothing shifted while I was driving or got squished.
I got a pretty good haul. Milk, meats, yogurt, veggies, and all kinds of stuff. A few thing I noticed as I was unpacking. First, there were a million plastic bags. Everything that was substituted was packed in it’s own bag with a sticker. All the fragile stuff had “fragile” stickers, too. Some items were packed alone for seemingly no reason. Without going in the store, it makes it harder to plan dropping off my plastic bags in the recycle bin, too.
All my items were in tip-top shape. Even the produce selected was great. The only small issue was the hamburger buns had a pretty short sell-by date, being only 2 days after when I picked them up. I tend to be a little more selective with the dates on my bread. Not the end of the world by any means, and thankfully I was planning on using them for ground turkey sloppy joes the very next day.
The freebie bag came with some great stuff, too. A few snacks, oatmeal, a disinfectant wipe, and microwave rice. The rice actually can in super handy when I decided to quickly whip up stuffed peppers later in the week. Pro tip — if you split the peppers in half lengthwise and stuff them that way, it takes less time to cook. The reusable bag itself, however, is pretty small and I don’t have much use for it. It’s currently in my kids room and filled with toys.
I’ve used the grocery pickup a few times now, so here’s my breakdown of pros and cons:
Pros.
- Huge time saver — no winding in and out of aisles around people looking for items.
- No impulse buying. You get what you need any nothing more.
- Free upgraded substitutes! I actually got two peanut butter jars twice the size of the ones I wanted because they were out of the smaller size.
Cons:
- No coupons. This can be a real drag when you have some good ones!
- There’s a few items that are in the store but can’t be ordered. I’ve noticed this specifically with local items. And most specifically no Icy Tea. Apparently that’s a big local issue — everyone wants the Icy Tea.
- Uses a million plastic bags and they don’t currently offer the option to take back the plastic bags for you.
Overall I’ve found the time saving to be worth the little bit extra I may pay for a few items here and there. I love that when I open up my cupboard and realize I’m almost out of something, I can add it right to my grocery order so I don’t forget. So far I’ve only had to wait a few minutes until someone comes and brings out my groceries, and I typically spend it messing around on my phone and silently judging the people who parked int he pickup section because its close and then walked into the store to shop.
Biggest perk — I don’t have to go into the store anymore!! If you want to give the grocery pick up a try, use this link to start, and I’ll get a credit for the referral!
Bariatric Berks 