Walmart Plus

[renegade600]

There is now a Walmart Plus where you can get cheaper gas, free deliveries and scan&go.  supposed to be competing against Amazon Plus for basically the same price.   Not even close.   free shipping and delivery is only if you spend 35 bucks or more, walmart was already doing that.  and it is only available in major cities.  cheaper gas is okay, if your local walmart has a gas station. and there is scan&go.  where basically you are replacing the cashier and register by using your phone. 

Only scan&go is available in my little town and they still want me to pay full price for Walmart Plus.   Seems to me they could offer discounts in towns where most of the services are not available.   Anyway I decided to use the free trial and cancel it when its over.

after signing up for the 15 day, they gave me another 15 days to answer three questions.  I have been using it since.  I am four of six times getting it to work.  twice it just plain did not work.  Kept getting something went wrong error.   So far have not been stopped at the front door to get audited.  And only had to stand in line once because to finish the check out process, you got to scan the code on the self check out screen.   In addition, unless you get some bags before you shop, you will still need to bag your items, weigh and pay for any veggies or fruit, and possibly get the security tags deactivated.

I have been getting the reusable walmart bags thats 50 cents apiece.   They hold a whole lot more than the plastic ones and easier to carry.   I really like them.  I already have a bunch and may continue to use them after my free trial runs out. 

What I find interesting  there is absolutely no signage in the store about Walmart Plus or scan&go.  It is almost like they don't want anyone to use it.

It is also fun to use because I just scan my phone at the self checkout and walk out the store.  You should see some of the looks I get from people wondering what I was doing.  I keep waiting for someone to stop me thinking I was stealing.

anybody here using it???

[jwlv]

Haha that's interesting. I have not seen it being promoted in my town. There's no signage or advertisement about it. In fact, your post was the first time I've heard about it. Maybe it's a test run for certain areas?

The only thing my local Walmarts are promoting is the curbside pickup. They've made these new covered parking spaces and looks all nice and nobody uses it. I did the curbside pickup once at Lowe's. I checked in through the app to alert them Hey I'm here in parking space #3. Sat there for 20 minutes and nobody knew I was even there. That was Lowe's and not Walmart. But it's not surprising that hardly anyone uses it if that's the norm.

[renegade600]

It is not a test.  It is supposed to be live for all Walmarts in the US.  Every store is supposed to at least have scan&go.  You can go to walmarts website, click on sign up for walmart plus and the next screen you will type in your address to see what is available at your store.   I typed in a neighbors address to see what is available  :-)   once you find out, just close the tab. 

they did a test a few years ago with about 100 stores and it failed, too much shrinkage.   I guess they figure shoplifters will not pay for the feature with it being a part of Walmart Plus.  I can see how easy it would be to steal.

https://www.cnet.com/news/walmart-plus-vs-amazon-prime-is-grocery-delivery-or-streaming-more-important/

I had not tried lowes pickup yet.  I see the signs in the parking lot but people are always using them for regular parking spots since they are close to the front door. 

[renegade600]

just to update.  been using scan and go for a couple of weeks now.   No real problems.  a couple of times it did not work but for the most part it worked great. 

I really like it, except when well-meaning customers think I am stealing.   the other day, I went to the self-checkout to finish the checkout process, scanned the code on the terminal and started to walk out the door.  only took a couple of seconds.  Heard another customer behind me say something to the walmart associate watching the self-checkouts  about me not scanning the items in the bag, so I walked faster out the door  :-)   so much fun.  The associate knew what I was doing so nobody chased me. 

I have been saying that I was not going to subscribe when the free trial is up but I might after all.   Got six days left in my free trial to decide.   I really like the convenience of scan and go, and the nickel off per gallon for gas (only got three pennies off per gallon at krogers).    I started using a Murphy gas station in another town to fill up.  I really want to see where walmart is going with the plus.   

[jwlv]

That is a new concept where a store trusts you to leave only with the items you've scanned. I believe Amazon has something like that in one or two of their Whole Foods stores that are completely autonomous. You take whatever you want and when you walk out of the store, you get charged for them. In Amazon's case, it's all tracked by RFID and cameras. I just looked it up on Youtube, it's called Amazon Go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NrmMk1Myrxc

From what I've read many years ago, Walmart required all of their suppliers to have RFID tags on every single product (except for produce and the like). Since you have to pay for Walmart Plus and therefore they know exactly who you are, perhaps they already know what you are leaving the store with by scanning the RFID tags as you walk out. Maybe there are scanners throughout the store so they can track every item and do a best guess as to who has what items.  Maybe they would flag your account if they discover items that are not paid for and keep an electronic eye on you in future shopping trips. And for those non-RFID tagged items, they're willing to take a small percentage of loss and recover it through the Walmart Plus fee. But I wonder if they can differentiate your paid for items from someone else walking out right next to you who paid through the cash registers? I guess if they have scanners all over the store, they can kind of figure out who has what before they even leave the store.

I haven't been to a Walmart in months. I would assume that if they do have RFID scanners throughout the store, they would probably be located on the ceiling at the beginning and at the end of every aisle. Or perhaps embedded in the security cameras.

[renegade600]

I do agree, walmart could be using the subscription as a way to cover shrinkage whether intentional or not.   I am not too sure about the rfid chips and scanners.   If they did this, shoplifters could never get away, but who knows.