Walmart Grocery Pickup Review Updated (2024)

I’ve just updated this Walmart Grocery Pickup Review to reflect how the service has changed in the past year and how the Walmart app has changed.

And, yes, I’m still using the service. In fact, I just picked up a grocery order today.

Why I wrote this Walmart Pickup review

When I first started using Walmart Grocery, my only option was for the pickup service. Walmart offers a delivery service, too, but not to my zip code in Western Pennsylvania.

However, I recently moved to Maine, where I can choose pickup, delivery or shipping. I love having all of these options to choose from now.

Nonetheless, I’m still using pickup because it’s free.

Also important to note: There is no price markup when using this online option. Walmart online groceries carry the same prices as local Walmart stores. This is great news, in my quest for the best online grocery shopping sites and deals.

If you read on, you’ll discover my pros and cons of the Walmart Grocery Pickup.

Here are other stores where you can place your grocery order online.

How Walmart Grocery Pickup Service Works

It used to be that to do your online grocery shopping at Walmart for pickup, you had to go to a special sub-site of the regular Walmart.com. However, now food shopping is integrated with the regular Walmart site. Now, just start adding things to your cart.

With the Walmart Grocery Service, there is no service fee. No tipping either.

I’ve found the prices to be competitive, if not lower than what I’ve noted at the local grocery store. Even organic items are priced competitively.

Organic Options

A long time ago, I blogged about the range of organic fresh produce at Walmart.

These days you have even more organic options. Plus gluten-free, non-GMO items and more.

Walmart makes it affordable to buy organic produce. You can buy organics in these seven categories:

• fruits and vegetables
• beverages
• dairy, eggs and meat
• pantry
• bread and bakery
• baby food
• Great Value organic

In case you didn’t know, Great Value is one of Walmart’s private label brands.

Smart Tracker

Once you place your order, the Walmart app is vital. That’s because if there are substitutions and/or when your order is ready for pickup, Walmart will text you. It includes a link that, when you click it, takes you to the Walmart app.

Also, using location services, you can “check in” when you’re on the way to the store. Then, Walmart grocery can “see” how far away you are.

This ensures that your food doesn’t sit out a long time waiting for you to pick it up. In the times I’ve used the service, I’ve never ended up with mushy ice cream.

So, does Walmart Grocery Pickup keep food cold? I would definitely say, “Yes.”

Another way Walmart doesn’t keep you waiting: in the app you can tell the staff what space you’ve parked in and the color of your car. So when you pull up, they can head out with your purchases.

Because of this convenience, I’m not sure I’ve ever waited more than three or four minutes for someone to bring me my groceries—even on busy days when nearly every pickup parking space was full.

One time, when I showed up, I was the only one picking up groceries so the Walmart employee was already outside waiting for me!

You can order everything else at Walmart online and pick it up in person. It doesn’t just have to be groceries.

For example, in my most recent order, I got a pair of tweezers (I lost my favorite ones) and some gripper socks for doing barre or Pilates.

Pros of the Walmart Grocery Pickup Service

Like with any service I’ve reviewed on this blog, I always point out the pros and cons. Because there are always pros and cons. So what are the pros of the Walmart grocery pickup service?

First, orders are always free. That’s because there are no pick up or delivery charges.

Next, there is only a $30 minimum only to place the order. That’s a lot lower than other grocery delivery services.

Additionally, no tipping is necessary. The Walmart employees just load your groceries into your car and you’re good to go.

As I mentioned earlier if you use Rakuten for cash back and have the Rakuten toolbar tool installed in your web browser, you may also be able to earn cash back on your grocery shopping through Rakuten.

With gift shopping in full swing, now was a good time to revisit the topic of cash back shopping with Rakuten. Call it cash back hacks, if you will. The bottom line is how to earn money while you shop.

So I’ll explain how Rakuten works and how it can work for you–to put extra money back in your bank account. But first: Rakuten Black Friday offers, which will probably flow over into Cyber Monday, too.

So, what are some of the stores offering the highest percentage of cash back on Rakuten this holiday season?

• Macy’s
• Kohl’s
• Walmart
• Nike
• Adidas

So, if you haven’t yet signed up for Rakuten, do it today before you start doing your gift shopping. This is my referral link to Rakuten.

[lasso ref=”rakuten” id=”16436″ link_id=”864900″]

Cons of Walmart Grocery Pickup Service

While some readers have posted comments that they haven’t been happy with the Walmart Grocery Pickup Service, I can’t say the same for my experience.

However, nothing is perfect so here is my only con or criticism for this review.

If you want to change your delivery time, you can’t. With my previous order we discovered that we’d scheduled to pick up our groceries the next day, smack dab in the middle of a cookout we’d RSVP’d “yes” to.

So we tried to move the pick up time back from 3 p.m. to 12 noon. Even though 12 noon was available, there was no way to change the time. So we had to cancel that order and then reorder.

Luckily, doing so was easier than I expected. I just clicked on “reorder” and it populated my cart with everything from the last order.

Note to self: double-check your calendar before booking a grocery pick-up time!

Walmart Grocery Pickup complaints

I’ve had readers reach out to me with their Walmart Grocery Pickup complaints. Most have complained that the store did not have what they ordered.

Or they complained that the store offered a substitute when they said they didn’t want one.

Here’s my advice to avoid feeling like this. Check the grocery app before you go to the store or when you pull up to the store but before your check in.

You’ll be able to see right in the app any changes, substitutions or out of stock items. Then, when the checker comes to your car, you can tell them that you do not want the substitutions.

They package substitutions in a separate bag so they can pull them out of your order easily. You’ll also receive a credit for those items you don’t want.

Personally, I think this is the best way to come away from Walmart Grocery Pickup without feeling like you need to complain.