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Businesses United States

Walmart+ Launches Sept 15, Offering Same-Day Delivery, Gas Discounts and Cashierless Checkout for $98/yr (techcrunch.com) 83

Walmart today officially unveiled its new membership service and Amazon Prime rival, which it's calling "Walmart+." The $98 per year service will combine free, unlimited same-day delivery on groceries and thousands of other items, with additional benefits, like fuel discounts and access to a new Scan & Go service, similar to Walmart-owned Sam's Club, that will allow members to check out at Walmart stores without having to wait in line. From a report: The service will be available starting on September 15, 2020 nationwide, reaching over 4,700 Walmart stores, including 2,700 stores that offer delivery. Members can choose to pay the $98 per year after a 15-day free-trial period, or they can pay $12.95 on a month-to-month basis. At launch, the new program promises more than 160,000 items for same-day delivery with no per-delivery fee on orders totaling $35 or more. This is the same value proposition that Walmart's existing "Delivery Unlimited" program offers today. With the launch of Walmart+, "Delivery Unlimited" members will be moved to the rebranded and expanded service.
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Walmart+ Launches Sept 15, Offering Same-Day Delivery, Gas Discounts and Cashierless Checkout for $98/yr

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  • I can pay all these places for "free shipping" and pay all the news websites for subscriptions and eat out of a dumpster
    • "Walmart food" is the same stuff you'd get from a mainstream grocery store (Kroger, Publix, etc.) for less money. If you require something swankier/trendy, than you probably don't shop at any of these stores in the first place.
      • by Pascoea ( 968200 )
        I will give Walmart credit, they really have upped their food game. At least some of the ones by me. For the most part, their produce is on-par with the grocery stores, meat/poultry is pretty good, and the rest of the stuff is literally the same box of whatever you get everywhere else.
        • For the most part, their produce is on-par with the grocery stores, meat/poultry is pretty good,

          From the beef I've seen at WM, I think the old lines from Caddyshack sums it up well..."

          "And tell the cook this is low grade dogfood. I've had better food at the ballgame, you know? I tell you, this steak still has marks where the jockey was hitting it."

          • by Pascoea ( 968200 )
            From what I can tell, their produce/fresh food is definitely YMMV. There are stores around me that I won't buy fresh from, but my usual store does pretty good. Selection is better at the grocery store, but the quality is on-par with Cub. (Cub is the local "normal" chain around here. Middle of the road.)
      • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

        If you are talking packaged goods with their "Great Value" yes that stuff is probably the same product off the same line as stuff with Kroger or a Food Lion label on it.

        All things considered (other discounts, rewards programs, etc) Walmart probably does manage to sell it a few pennies cheaper and with less BS to jump thru like having a frequent shopper card to do it.

        When it comes to anything fresh, meat, produce, it depends a lot on where you live. I very rarely buy the stuff at my local Walmart because its

        • by Anonymous Coward
          i worked at a wal-mart briefly in HS. they deserve a lot of criticism, but i can tell you, the meats and vegetables aren't stale. at least with the deli counter, *everything* goes into the dumpster at the end of the day and fresh stuff is put out the next morning. i wouldn't be surprised if that's part of some type of health or sanitation code. once that stuff is opened, they can't put it back out the next day. stuff like packaged meat (i'm talking about individual cuts of chicken, beef, etc), those ar
          • by DarkOx ( 621550 )

            Do they do that with fruit too? Because its always looking sad unless you show up on the right day. Usually the meat and stuff in the cooler cases is dated and again you show up on truck day or whatever its new, show up any other day and its picked over and 2 days old or on its third day looking grey and sad..

            I bet a lot gets tossed. Might depend on how busy your walmart is. What is true is they never discount it. I mean I have not actually asked, but I never see stuff marked down.

            • by tepples ( 727027 )

              What is true is they never discount [fruit]. I mean I have not actually asked, but I never see stuff marked down.

              The Walmart store near me (#1804 Apple Glen in Fort Wayne, Indiana) occasionally has produce on "Manager's Special". I've seen corn and mango like that. Bakery overstock, particularly donuts, gets discounted and put on an "Oops, we made too much" cart elsewhere in the store.

      • This may be regional, but I've found that for food, Walmart brands are often superior to name brands or house brands at other stores. The fresh produce, however, while of equivalent quality, is generally more expensive than one can get elsewhere, with the exception of a few particular items, such as avocadoes.

        As for the new walmart prime service, meh. I don't need to pay for TWO such services, and Amazon offers other benefits as well, such as infinite photo storage.

      • "Walmart food" is the same stuff you'd get from a mainstream grocery store (Kroger, Publix, etc.) for less money.

        Ugh...I disagree.

        The very few times I"ve gone into a Walmart, and seen the food...well, let's say, I've never ever seen beef there that I"d feed to my dog.

        And their produce was shoddy and usually not very well stocked...and this was well before Covid.

        I figured you get what you pay for a Wallyworld....and well, unless it was something canned or in a jar, I"d not bother with it there, and I tr

    • by dbialac ( 320955 )

      That and unlike the self-serve checkout scanners where they let you do their employees jobs for them for free, now you're paying Walmart for the "privilege". The best way to stop this kind of thing from taking people's jobs is not to use it.

  • Meijer already offers cashier-less check-out with their mobile app and it does not require a fee at all. Why in the world would Walmart paywall this?

    • by Pascoea ( 968200 )
      I'm not super familiar with Meijer, or their app, but do you have to go through the checkout (even if it's cashier-less) then use your app to pay? Because Walmart already does that. The new thing sounds more like you pick up an item off the shelf, scan it with your phone, pay for it, and walk out the door.
      • by mtmra70 ( 964928 )

        I'm not super familiar with Meijer, or their app, but do you have to go through the checkout (even if it's cashier-less) then use your app to pay? Because Walmart already does that. The new thing sounds more like you pick up an item off the shelf, scan it with your phone, pay for it, and walk out the door.

        Yes, you still go through a cashier-less register, but no one is checking your cart, you don't have to unload, no involvement with door greeter. So the level of trust is the same. Essentially with Walmart you pay money to bypass a line, but I presume you will have to let the door greeter check your receipt and check your cart? This is what occurs at Sam's Club with their (free) scan and go.

    • The only reason I can think of is the legal angle.

      You know how some retailers ask to see your receipt as you head out the door? Most retailers have no authority to do anything if you choose to keep walking right by that employee. You bought your goods, they belong to you, and you can choose to do what you want with them as soon as the transaction completes. You're under no obligation to prove ownership, display them to store employees, or allow yourself to be detained in any way.

      Not so at Sam's Club, howeve

    • Meijer already offers cashier-less check-out with their mobile app and it does not require a fee at all. Why in the world would Walmart paywall this?

      Because the first time Walmart tried the scan and go feature, there was a lot of stealing. That was one of the biggest reasons why they discontinued it. They figure if they paywall it, it would cut out some of the shoplifting. At least that is what I was told by someone in Walmart management.

  • by 93 Escort Wagon ( 326346 ) on Tuesday September 01, 2020 @10:10AM (#60461734)

    But, given my experiences with Walmart, I don’t trust them to not royally f*ck this up.

    • I read some articles about Walmart's "cashierless" system, it's a combination of the following:
      1 - Renaming cashier's to "hosts"
      2 - "Hosts" meet consumer at entrance to self-checkout and either direct them to an open one so they can self checkout, or the "host" will do the actual checkout process for them.
      3 - Also, there are employees that can scan your items while you are out in the aisles

      I was assuming the "cashierless" meant it was a competing system to Amazon Go and I was surprised Walmart was able
  • My BEV does not use gasoline.
    So, what is the point of this?

  • How can we hire fewer workers but also charge customers to check out items on their own? They're now PAYING Walmart to perform check-out labor.

    Fuck the Waltons. Seriously, fuck the whole damned family.

  • A friend of that I used to drive 2 hours to lower Texas [ 20 miles from Mexico] this is a miracle.
    He is legally blind and does not own a car, had 7 stents, 5 major strokes, and a multitude of mini-strokes.
    [ to see what he does hold a toilet paper roll up the each eye.]
    The only thing you can not get is frozen stuff, which he does not really use and will wait until I come down.
  • I tried Walmart's online ordering, hoping to pick up an order the next day in the store. It took the store no less than 48 hours to fill the order. There was nothing quick or convenient about it. Employees seemed annoyed to have to deal with filling orders and making them available for customer pickup. I don't trust Walmart and I'm sure not going to pay them for this kind of service.

  • Walmart would have to pay me more than $8.16 a month to become a regular shopper. Let alone me paying them that amount.

Do you suffer painful hallucination? -- Don Juan, cited by Carlos Casteneda

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