One of the things I look forward to the least every weekend is grocery shopping. Having to carve out part of my day away from my family or cutting into family time just kills me. When I found out that my Wegman’s delivers and a local Walmart has a pick up service, I was beyond thrilled and really wanted to try both to see how they were. So last week I used Walmart’s pick up service and just today I used Wegman’s grocery delivery service. I made my grocery list off of my January meal plan , which you can check out here, and began shopping. It was an interesting experience and I thought I would share my thoughts about both places here with you.
Ordering Your Groceries
Both stores were similar. You can use the websites or the apps to pick out your groceries. It’s the same concept, type in the item you want and it will pull up
all related items to your search. There wasn’t one item that I put into the search field that didn’t come up for either store. For Wegman’s I was able to use m
y shopper’s club card as well as coupons, which was a nice bonus for added discounts.
Picking The Delivery Time
For Wegman’s, I began my order around 10am and depending on how long you take picking out your groceries, the “delivery availability” will change. When I was finished picking out my items, it told me my groceries would arrive between 12pm and 1pm. It really helps to have a list because it makes it go a little bit quicker.
Ordering through Walmart, I began my grocery order at 8am and chose my time for between 3-4pm because I knew I would be in the area around that time. The first available pick up time was around 11am.
Shopping And Delivery/Pick-Up
For Wegman’s, I was alerted when my shopping started. This opened a channel that they could communicate if there was a problem while they were shopping o
r if any changes needed to be made. I was texted about substitutions regarding a rotisserie chicken and had to approve the change. It also alerted me when the shopping was done and when the delivery was on its way! On my computer I could see where the driver was. There was two people – they parked and helped me bring the groceries inside. Very easy!
Walmart texted me when my order was ready to be picked up right at 3pm. I drove to Walmart, followed the orange signs for pick up and parked. There was a sign that stated to call the store to tell them I had arrived, which I did. Within minutes, 2 people from Walmart came out with bins full of my groceries and helped me put them in my car. The only thing that I did not like was that Walmart did not give me a printed receipt, so I was unable to use the Ibotta app for my order.
Selection
The one thing that I worried about was the selection they would make when it came to produce and meats. I didn’t think they would put a bad banana or an old piece of meat in the cart, but still I would imagine I’m like a lot of people and can be particular on what I’m looking for in a potato… like size! I have to say I was quite impressed with how the girl from Wegman’s selected my meats and produce – I bought asparagus, bananas, peppers, and various meats and was really impressed with the selection she chose.
For Walmart, I did not have them pick out a lot of produce because I was so skeptical. I did buy potatoes and onions – which they did a good job selecting and the meat I bought was also good quality.
Cons
For Wegman’s, the down side was the hidden cost of Instacart – not that it is a huge deal because they were shopping AND delivering my items, but I did not know when I started that there was a $15 fee. This may deter some people from using the service. I also was unaware until after I purchased my items that they put a hold on my debit card for $20 over my bill for “possible substitutions”. However, once the order was placed and shopped for, the total was modified.
For Walmart, the one down side was that there was no ability to use manufacturer coupons. I also did not have a printed receipt to use the Ibotta app, which I was disappointed about. It is also a service that is not available at my local Walmart, so I have to drive about 15 minutes to the next Walmart for the service. This time I did not mind because I was in the area, but if I am not in the area, it may be a little inconvenient.
Will I Use Either Service Again?
Hands down, the answer is YES! The one selling point for me is that it is a huge time saver. Although my kids are well-behaved in the grocery store, I hate spending part of my weekend grocery shopping and so does my husband. It keeps me accountable to stick to my grocery list, I am not distracted by tons of items while I am shopping and I can’t make impulse purchases off of things I see in the store (or rather, my husband can’t throw tons of cookies into the cart). In my mind it is worth the $15 to have the groceries delivered, especially when we have a very busy weekend. Overall, I was impressed with both places, but I truly love the convenience of the delivery – they were on time and courteous and it was a huge time saver for me.
Have any of you used these services at any of your local stores? If so, what were your experiences?
