Walmart+ now includes free returns from home. When you use this benefit Walmart gives you a time window that somebody will pick the item up from your home, the person picking up the item then scans your phone during pickup to acknowledge pickup. Seems like a nice benefit as you don’t need to worry about repacking the item or return labels. It’s unclear how close to a Walmart store you need to live to be eligible to use this benefit.
Hat tip to FM
Great.. now its easier to return all the walmart+ substituted items. Every order they are out of stock on something and feel free to substitute, they say I can return but dreaded that experience.
Usually when that happens I get on chat and they refund it with no return.,
Tried to return something and the return window is 9am-6pm in a given day… guess I won’t be using this service if I don’t absolutely have to
Do dasher also have to go shops for the items too? Ordered 2 bottle of astroglide last time and was delivered by DD
They don’t do the shopping. They just pick up and deliver
I’m tempted to return something that I don’t really need to return just to try out this service, but I’ve decided to resist the urge.
Tried looking for that when returning something I ordered in the wrong size. Was told to just keep the item and they refunded me.
This has already been available for 6 months in the Chicago area
I don’t get why.they.have to scan your phone.
Probably the same reason you have to scan your phone (return QR) when dropping off an Amazon package.
Probably more of a confirmation for you to prove you indeed handed it to the driver.
Walmart loses so much on the free shipping with no minimum. I’ve ordered a few lower cost items in a single order that were delivered via DoorDash in separate deliveries the same day. Happened several times while I had Walmart+ last year.
What I don’t get is that returns are killing retailers right now. Like they lose money to the point they’re sometimes telling people to keep the item while refunding. Why would Walmart add to that loss?
walmart ’23 gross profit margin is seeing a slight dip but its been stable 23-24% since forever
Its basically the same model as Amazon prime though isn’t it?
Amazon will ship me inexpensive things for free and let me return them too. Yes they lose money on individual items but for customers with the Walmart+ they end up neting better sales/profits as a whole and you have to pay for the Walmart+ fee. I also don’t know how Walmart pays the Doordash folks for the multiple small items, it might not be much incrimental cost.
The dashers say that it’s 5-7 per delivery. Whether that’s true or not…
I don’t see the need for Walmart+ other than shipping less than $35. I tried the trial initially because I thought I could get groceries delivered without hitting the $35 mark. That is not the case, it’s only the items that can be delivered and not shipped from store. Ended up never using the trial at all as a result.
For me, I don’t return low-cost items pretty much anywhere because of my time. Why would I go to Target to return a $3 item? Or go to Home Depot to return a few .50 rivets I didn’t use. But I could see returning if I didn’t have to do anything. I would think this attitude is pretty widespread, creating a lot more returns.
The first time it happened and I asked about it, Walmart online customer service straight up told me the system will often automatically upgrade “shipping” orders to doordash-powered delivery orders if a nearby store has the item in stock, even if the order was below the $35 minimum for free store delivery. And because it’s an internal upgrade, there’s no way to tip the driver even if you wanted to, so the drivers probably make less on these orders unless they get some money to incentivize them to take these orders. Almost all of our orders get upgraded to DoorDash delivery, even ones that were under $5.
As for why, it’s because all they care about right now is growing their subscriber base to compete with Amazon Prime. Same reason they partnered with Amex Platinum despite it seemingly like a nonsensical match – Walmart gets a completely untapped customer base. Amazon made losses for decades growing their customer base before they finally started making money. Walmart is just using the profits from their store business to subsidize their online business growth. They just want to show their investers that they have X number of subscribers.
Also, they don’t really lose that much money on returns, not in comparison to the profits brought in by keeping those customers happy and ordering more stuff. Which is why they keep making returns easier – it’s just another way to buy customer loyalty and repeat orders.
At scale, people are just going to choose the most convenient option and spend $1k-$10k more due to easy returns in their mind even if they don’t use it that much. Prime spoiled people similarly with 2day,video etc and gets all the business, it’s a moat that small operations cannot beat and does not end up costing that much since its a tax writeoff for unsold inventory.
Only chewy and some other companies are able to even compete with that especially for sub $20 items.
This used to be part of the “InHome” add on for Walmart+ – now it’s available for everyone else.
surprised Amazon doesn’t have this already
Maybe they will with their next price increase.
Give me your address and I’ll provide this service for you free of charge. You don’t even need to be a Walmart customer.
1600 penn ave washington dc
It seems Amazon has assumed that they have worn against Walmart couple of years back. Most of the stuff on Amazon is priced 10% higher than walmart. e.g., I can buy a single $9 Taster’s choice coffee from walmart and all I need to do is meet $35 minimum. Amazon just doesn’t have that items listed. You have to buy at least a pack of 4 it is usually priced >$40 at Amazon. I find walmart to be much better value of money than Amazon. Amazon seems to be targeting less price sensitive market segment now.
I’m not a fan of either, but Walmart beats Amazon in many aspects. As you stated with Amazon, they prefer bulk product pricing. Walmart has a 90 day return policy, and price adjustments, which Amazon stupidly ended years ago. One of the many reasons Amazon has lost 99% of my business.
Looks like all your business would be loss making as is for most people on this site. Amazon has smartly made you Walmart’s problem not that you’ll be loyal to them, being the savvy shoppers we are.
They already have the customers and can’t afford such loss sales. Enjoy it while you can and unsuspecting users are going to be shocked when these two start raising prices since the competition is gone.
Amazon has had this for years in the form of selecting UPS home pickup as your return option, though it’s not always available for every item nowadays. It also used to be free, but I think is now requires an extra fee. But in the early days of Prime I used it a lot, back then it was available for pretty much every return.
Amazon generally allows UPS pickup returns for free as long as it’s their fault or if the item is defective. Some items with free returns for any reason will also have this option for free. For more expensive or technology items, this sometimes is the only option available for return (e.g. Airpods).
My experience with this return method is generally poor though, as the UPS driver in the area usually isn’t all that patient and often waits no longer than 5 seconds before scanning the pickup as attempt failed (and they don’t ring the doorbell, only a soft knock on the front door). For returns that have no other options, I have no choice but to sit at home all day long, install a camera so I am alerted to when the driver arrives, and chase after the UPS truck before the driver gets too far.
The driver tells me I could have left the item ready outside, although it becomes my liability if the item gets stolen off my door. The driver also doesn’t leave the labels behind if it’s a mandated return, although I did manage to beg them to give it to me when I caught up to the truck on my bike. That also doesn’t work all that well because the label hasn’t been marked as picked up, and it will get the package redirected back to you since it was marked as an reattempt on the next business day (sometimes the facility would fix this though).
But yeah, I generally never use this option because it’s such a pain, unless I have no other option.
I haven’t used the option in over a decade probably, but being lucky enough to be located in a nice suburban area I’ve never had a problem with the UPS driver and theft isn’t even on the radar, having things stolen from your door is unheard of. However, I do still consider it a hassle and don’t want to risk leaving boxes out because I have new packages coming in all the time and don’t want to risk a mix up, though it has never happened. But it can be useful for disabled people or people without cars, etc.