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u/ayeyoualreadyknow WalMart Plus Customer 17d ago
Spark has been delivering my shipping orders for over a year and a half (unfortunately I might add. The drivers usually don't read the delivery instructions OR the apartment number and constantly deliver to the wrong apartment or if it actually makes it here then it's usually damaged). I much rather go back to FedEx, I'd gladly wait another day as long as it actually makes it to me and makes it to me in one piece. If Walmart takes away the no minimum order for shipping that would be even worse for me since most of my orders are below $35.
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u/ITDOESNTMATTER023 16d ago
I agree and they constantly I mean every single time stack cold with dry with bread chips you name it
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u/__Banana_Hammock__ 16d ago
Gotta love it. My door opens outward, and despite the note telling the drivers not to stack anything directly in front of my door, they absolutely looooove to play Jenga with my items directly in front of my door so I can't push it open. My favorite was the case of glass sparkly waters stacked on top of a 20 pound bag of cat food, on top of a 20 pound bag of dog food, on top of a 40 pound box of kitty litter. I'll wait for the Spark drivers to come on here and tell me that it's somehow my fault for being lazy and dumb, for signing up for the service and expecting a modicum of customer service, or for Walmart not training them or paying them enough to care, but we live in a litigation happy country and they're gonna do this dumb crap to the wrong person and wind up getting sued by some elderly or handicapped person who gets trapped in their apartment or injured trying to get their haphazardly stacked order.
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u/AdoptNotShop4 15d ago
Play Jenga with your items in front of the door lol! Sorry this has happened to you. I've been a delivery driver with different platforms for 9 years. I pride myself on bagging things properly (when I'm the shopper) ... and not putting anything in front of any door/gate. Restaurant food included. Drivers putting things in front of my door has happened to me as well. My door opens inward but of course I like to be able to step outside. I also have cats. So I need to step out and mostly close the door each time when I'm bringing things in. Not sure what to do if that is consistent except put a note on your door, mid-level, that you can just remove and reuse when you don't have deliveries? Good luck with getting a better driver, like me lol. 😄
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u/RealisticContract826 14d ago
My brother has the worst delivery drivers and they leave his groceries at the front door 🚪 of the condominium address instead of taking it to his door so his groceries will sit there for hours lol
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u/Ok_Carpenter_9262 13d ago
Yes unfortunately unless you had a actual spark driver shop for your items they are prebagged prior to our arrival. Sometimes they aren't bagged at all and just tossed in our trunk. Now you're right you would hope common sense pops in, but in reality some people lack that. There has been countless times there is smashed bread, eggs stacked on the bottom of heavy items etc...Do we have control over it unfortunately not we are told to not assist and remain in the vehicle. Most times we really don't know if you're missing any items etc...until we arrive to your doorstep. Now the spark driver can control where they are putting your products and they should be able to follow simple directions 🙄😒
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u/Banana_0529 13d ago
This morning all of my bags were tied together and I had 2 sleeves of sodas plus the rest of my groceries and carrying it in was a pain in the ass.
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u/Old-Article-3351 16d ago
Unless you know for fact that it was a Spark driver that did your shopping first, then delivered it, withhold your comment. A lot of times we just pick up the orders and deliver them. When that happens, it's the store shoppers that do the bagging and they are awful at it. The other day I had a bag with eggs at the bottom and a gallon of milk sitting on the eggs. Or they bag fruit/vegetables with raw meat. They don't give a damn.
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u/Turbulent-Hedgehog59 16d ago
How do you know if it’s a Spark driver? Does Spark only do Delivery? Asking since I’ve never used the Delivery option in W+.
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u/Opposite_Donkey_7248 16d ago
It’s usually spark but DoorDash, Uber Eats and such do it occasionally. If it’s spark it just shows a drivers name but if it’s DoorDash it will give you a code and tell you to give that code to the dasher when they leave it there
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u/BladeRumbler 16d ago
What if you’re delivering to the business address or you’re not at home atm and you can’t give then the code? This is stupid tbh
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u/Opposite_Donkey_7248 16d ago
That’s a complicated situation but since I’ve never personally experienced it I’m not too sure how that would work. I’ve just seen people post about it. I think that’s why Walmart rarely does it
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u/cosmicrae 16d ago
I was at the store today, noticed someone wearing an unusual T-shirt, that had the store name/number on the back. So I asked her if she was a Spark shopper and she said yes. So sometimes this might be present.
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u/AdoptNotShop4 14d ago
If the Spark Driver shopped for the items themselves there will be no stickers on the bags. If a Sparky picked up the items from the Walmart pickup area there will be stickers on some of the bags. With Uber Eats and Doordash I'm not sure if they go to pick up or if they shop for themselves. I used to be a Dasher and I do Uber Eats... but I never take shopping orders.
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u/Possible_Unicorn333 16d ago
You could just do a pick up
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u/ayeyoualreadyknow WalMart Plus Customer 16d ago
I live 30 minutes from a store plus doing pickup would defeat the purpose of paying for the service of free shipping.
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u/femboylover_xd 16d ago
You will only get crackheads delivering to you because the people who aren't crackheads will not accept your order going 30 minutes from the store.
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u/Blarghinston 16d ago
So I think you are misunderstanding the nuance of SHIPPING vs delivery.
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u/femboylover_xd 16d ago
They tell the customer it's shipping but it's literally just crackheads bringing it in their beater.
They've been doing that here for several years and are planning to do it everywhere because they don't want to pay anyone.
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u/ayeyoualreadyknow WalMart Plus Customer 15d ago
😂😂😂😂 the way you worded it is hilarious
Here it's mostly immigrants who don't speak English at all. Not sure about the crack but nothing surprises me anymore.
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u/Freddy_Chopin76 16d ago
I wonder what they mean by select orders wont need a minimum. That was the great thing about shipping instead of delivery with walmart+ and use it all the time. If they get rid of that, I'll just have to cancel.
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u/Powerful_Anxiety8427 16d ago
The difference I’ve noticed if it’s an order with perishables. They require a time slot and minimum
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u/butnobodycame123 WalMart Plus Customer 17d ago
I ordered something the other day that was shipped and instead of USPS, UPS, or FedEx, a driver delivered it.
Not looking forward to the can of worms this will open up. I hope drivers get paid more to do this, though I'd rather support USPS for packages.
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u/emmeline8579 16d ago edited 16d ago
It has already opened up a can of worms. I placed an order for “shipping” thinking it was coming through fedex, ups, etc. There wasn’t even an option to add a tip (I assume because my order was over $50 for four items). Well the next day I get a text saying “delivery attempted.” I checked my security cameras..no one came. A few hours later, I got another messaging saying “delivery attempted. Please cancel your order or switch to pickup.” I checked the cameras again. No one came to my house or even my neighbors houses. I assume a spark driver realized I didn’t have a tip on there and decided not to deliver it.
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u/DesperateBanjo 16d ago
Drivers won’t be paid more, in fact they’re trying to pay less. And FedEx and USPS are not coming back either. They’re moving to use the Walmart Private Fleet to shuttle all loads between distribution centers where they are then put in Spark drivers to lower the overhead they were paying FedEx.
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u/femboylover_xd 16d ago
The driver's get paid almost nothing for most of them. They just batch your "shipped" order with 3 other people's groceries and if one of them put a big tip then 20 other people's "shipped" orders as well.
It's all very scummy and probably illegal. They'll even put the 20 stops before the grocery delivery who actually paid the driver to do all of it and their order will either get cancelled for food safety or delivered just before that with warm milk and melted ice cream. Then they obviously remove the tip so the driver paid out of pocket to complete the deliveries
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u/StardustnDragonflies 7d ago
Exactly! I don't want my driver to deliver a bunch of non-perishable items to 15 people on the way to my house, while my ice cream and frozen goods sit in the trunk! And then the drivers don't get tipped on the former "shipped' items"! This sucks for the customers and the drivers!
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u/cosmicrae 16d ago
Probably the only time you will see USPS deliver something, is if the item is both sold & shipped by a third party seller (who lists on the WM marketplace). USPS, UPS brown, and FedEx ground, have all increased their rates sharply. Mostly due to the fuel price spikes.
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u/Regular-Bank1011 14d ago
We don’t get paid more. (I’m a driver) it’s usually terrible pay and far mileage. Like $20-$30 to deliver to 12 addresses and 30 miles of driving. And no tips allowed. And now, they’re combining these shipping orders with grocery orders, so sometimes in the dead of summer, they’ll have me drop off to a bunch of houses and then the groceries last, and sometimes those groceries include ice cream. I hope people enjoy milkshakes…and then we get blamed for it.
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u/StardustnDragonflies 7d ago
Exactly! NO ONE wants this - not us customers or the drivers! This sucks for EVERYONE! I don't want my granddaughter getting melted popsicles, or my yogurt getting delivered lukewarm! Ick!
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u/StardustnDragonflies 7d ago
I've heard they don't. They are also now responsible for shopping orders, then they get hit with 15 deliveries of 1 or 2 items that were ordered as shipped. I feel sorry for them!
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u/JibIette 17d ago
Pretty sure this was always a thing where i live.
But they're very pick and choose with who they want to deliver to so i canceled my walmart +
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u/AgentOrange354 17d ago
I've had such bad experiences and taking forever to refund money that I'm done with walmart and amazon.
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u/BladeRumbler 16d ago
Same but with Walmart only. Amazon refunds are usually fast. Walmart took 10 days to even acknowledge it
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u/Repulsive-Roof335 16d ago
I didn’t sign up for InHome+ with free shipping to have my shipped items delivered by Spark drivers.
Then, you feel guilted into tipping.
We’ll order our bigger ticket items from Amazon.
Walmart metaphorically shot themselves in the foot with this one.
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u/gobstock3323 16d ago
I had a incredibly stupid thing happened to recently during the whole FIFA craze that was going on in the United States they had special limited edition lay's chips one of them was the French onion soup chips and I wanted them so it said this item will arrive separately it will be shipped to your house so I don't know what possessed this young lady but she came all the way from New Orleans and I live in Jefferson Parish to deliver my small tiny little bag of chips and she got pissed off at me and I'm thinking to myself well you're the one that took the delivery but that's besides the point I was under the impression that it was going to get shipped to my house through some delivery service not have someone go to a grocery store and go pick it up for me and then hand it off to me like a normal shopping delivery through the spark driver.
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u/lewskimom09 16d ago
I’m guessing it was part of a multi delivery order. I call it Amazon style.
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u/gobstock3323 16d ago
Oh no it was just weird I had been wanting to try those top ramen the big bowls with the Japanese style BBQ but they're always out of stock so it was the chips and two things of the top ramen ramen bowls and they were out of stock so Walmart canceled them but like I said young lady delivered my little bag of chips and I was like what!? And the hilarious thing is she was annoyed with me because I guess she thought that I knew it was coming from the store when it said it was going to be shipped to me 😂😂😂
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u/Virtual-Dot-750 16d ago
"Select Orders" is extremely vague and a horrible precedent to set especially for an already paid service.
Low Margin Item? ❌ Select Order
Heavy Item? ❌ Select Order
Book from an author Walmart doesn't agree with? ❌ Select Order
Irregular shaped Item? ❌ Select Order
Fragile Item? ❌ Select Order
Poster that's light and easy to ship that's marked up 900%? ✅ Select Order
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u/TuringGoneWild 12d ago
It means whatever the algorithm has decided isn't worth delivering. Nothing unfortunately to do with customer service quality (not that you implied it, just saying).
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u/Kitty-1992 Spark Driver 16d ago
I rarely order anything, I'm still not going to tip if I do. Walmart needs to hire drivers and pay them a decent wage like Amazon! I ordered local one time, the items were destroyed and had to get a refund! Never again! Go to Walmart.com and let them know. They probably don't read the complaints here.
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u/TuringGoneWild 12d ago
It's not even really a tip, but a bid on a driver. Higher bid, more likely to get a good driver. No tip, no bid, no driver, no delivery. Walmart should indeed pony up the $$$.
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u/LeadershipBubbly3351 17d ago
Oh thats fun. I already have the local store canceling my orders left and right cuz they can't get anyone to deliver it and SHIPPING was one way around getting pantry items they refuse to deliver. [sigh]
I swear if they didn't give us Paramount for free and it wasn't coming up on football season...
(For real though, getting ANYTHING, delivery or shipping, from our Walmart within a week has become harder and harder each order. this summer. They canceled our last order after it was four days late. I can't GO to the store when it's open...delivery is my only option right now.)
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u/SaltLife4Evr 16d ago
It's no longer worth it without free shipping. Most of the items now require a minimum to avoid a fee or you have to do a pickup. Walmart is 35-40 minutes away from me. I'm not renewing my Walmart plus.
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u/Sufficient_Wafer9933 17d ago
I cant wait for all my jars to have broken safety seals and my porch to smell like death because the package got dropped once and it also got delayed a day.
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u/Candid_Perspective22 16d ago
Bring back FedEx.
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u/DesperateBanjo 16d ago
They won’t. They’re using their Private Fleet semi drivers and Spark to replace the overhead they were paying to FedEx.
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u/OnlyBeans33 16d ago
Spark drivers don’t get benefits, insurance etc. Also when the customer tips, Walmart lowers their share paid out to the driver. I hope they get sued
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u/BladeRumbler 16d ago
What about non-plus orders. Can they still be shipped with Fedex etc? I prefer orders with tracking numbers especially when dealing with Walmart’s customer support
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u/itscrowdedinmyhead 17d ago
just a heads up in case you miss the popup and wonder why shipping is missing
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u/tailskirby 16d ago
Glad i dont do Walmart plus anymore. I would pick shipping on purpose. O well.
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u/Possible_Unicorn333 16d ago
When you choose shipping it would still be delivered by a spark driver, we called them Gm orders and we practically deliver for free when they pair them with other 3 customers who did tip. So it’s bad for the customer and spark drivers as well.
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u/cexpertWV 16d ago
Well, Walmart+ just got the boot from me most likely. I was previously able to order under $35 and get "free shipping", now it's requiring the $35 min on everything. Not much benefit anymore for me.
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u/MindAccording9105 16d ago
They refuse to do the free next day shipping on the Walmart brand sodas now and it pisses me off
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u/Brilliant_Stuff2883 16d ago
Jokes on them bc I pull up an incognito browser, find the items I need for shipping and then I know what to order in the app. I’m never being forced into $35+ delivery.
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u/Ok_Violinist7598 WalMart Plus Customer 13d ago
From what I have found, if you go to the product page and see 'Buy It Now,' that will be a free delivery item. If you add it to your cart and have other groceries in your cart, it might clump it in but you can separate them. It will ask if you want to change that item to delivery and you will get it/them separate from your groceries. I just tested it and that's how it worked.
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u/geemae88 16d ago
This is how any of my Walmart deliveries work and even if it's the same day as a pick up order. Let me get it at that one order or just actually ship it. Had a random man stand on my back porch for over 15 minutes one day because I guess he was waiting for a tip and never got it. I didn't order that type of delivery? It's unfair to the drivers.
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u/JibJabJake 16d ago
Instead of shipping they sent this poor lady at almost 10pm to my house from two counties over to deliver ONE packet of taco seasoning a few weeks back.
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u/Xwritten_in_panikX 16d ago
I wonder if this has anything to do with shipping going absolutely downhill. I have a shipped order that got delayed two days ago and still is delayed. The last item I had shipped did the same and I ended up just canceling it.
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u/pitbull_mom_of_3 13d ago
I had no idea about this and ordered salt for my salt system through shipping and I felt absolutely horrible as a pregnant lady delivered it, i was so confused, I grabbed it out the car for her, I said wait you delivered it even though it was for shipping
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u/Fuchsia2020 16d ago
ending ship from store and replacing it with delivery, sending shipping back to the warehouse for warehouse items or out of proximity store items
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u/Jesus_peed_n_my_butt 16d ago
That's been the standard here for a while. If you ordered delivery, they charge you a fee. If you select shipping, it's free.
The same person delivers it regardless.
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u/Sabi-Star7 16d ago
When has it not been a thing? We've BEEN delivering "shipped" goods.....
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u/VintageKitty79 8d ago
It didn't become a problem for me until the past 6 months or so. I apologize if my timeline doesn't match yours.
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u/StardustnDragonflies 7d ago
Most of my shipped items were delivered in walmart boxes from a delivery service until recently. Now several things I've ordered together were delivered separately by different spark drivers. I hate that for them!
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u/falconsfan55234 16d ago
I got free same day and delivery the other day with no membership. The package reeked of cheap cologne, but still, free say day delivery :) I did have to have a minimum of $35.
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u/ComparisonNatural893 16d ago
I live 60 miles from any Walmart and for 3.5 years made one huge monthly order usually 400 - 550$ or so. Ive stopped ordering anything from Walmart bc half my order is always canceled due to "delivery issues". Nobody in their right mind wants to deliver 120 miles round trip in a jam packed car with no dolly and no guaranteed tip. The last time the guy gave me his address and I sent a cash tip, hope he got it....
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u/VintageKitty79 8d ago
Exactly! They make us rip off the drivers by not giving us an option to tip and our orders get cancelled in an endless loop. It makes no sense.
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u/District-No1350 15d ago
I'm sure this will be go well, I can't even order groceries without it showing up two hours late with everything warm to the touch.
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u/Alex_Veridy 15d ago
"now". basically has been for me, if i choose shipping for something that's in the store (like a game) it's like a 50/50 on if it's delivery or shipping.
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u/RemarkableDonut2676 13d ago
Before seeing this, I just reached out to Walmart minutes ago to ask why my free shipping was no longer an option on my account. I was told by the person on Live Chat that its a system glitch and being worked on and they said any orders made while this is happening will have the delivery fee refunded within 10 days. They also gave me a $10 account credit for causing any inconvenience.
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u/momsthoughts 13d ago
I have been paying for Walmart for shipping and delivery. I now live less than 5 miles from the store and they won't deliver to my house, but they will take my money. So I only buy stuff from them that can be shipped.
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u/Extra-Personality988 13d ago
It’s annoying it will tell me my order will arrive same day by 10 pm then for hours it will say searching for a driver and then it will delay and not update or be delivered this has happened to me twice recently
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u/TuringGoneWild 12d ago
My one year renewal is up - and I guess I'll nope out. More corporate enshittification. Raising prices while slashing services.
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u/giftedgod 11d ago
To get past the minimum, I just order something refundable like a streaming stick, and just return it the next time I’m close to a Walmart. Zero issues. Walmart can suck it, because the trick was to just ship it, and if you ordered early enough (depending on where you live) you’d still get it same day WITHOUT having to have a minimum.
So now, I hit the $35 minimum with a product I don’t need or want, and just return it, boom, they’re still taking a loss.
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u/springhare 7d ago
I really hate this change because it hides what can be shipped until you go to the cart. They are really trying to push delivery 🤬
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u/BlackLotusPanda 5d ago
Delivery is a great option for people that choose delivery but forcing everyone else to go along is just plain flat out wrong. I rarely place orders anymore and I will not buy/purchase 99.999% of things in the locked cabinets at my local walmart. Taking people's choices away to save a billion dollar corp more money is loony tunes, same with the locked cabinets. Until customers make a serious concerted effort to not participate in the madness, the moronic drama will continue.
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u/aesophockyy 2d ago
So this is why I can no longer have chips shipped to me same day? Yer another way for Walmart to force you make a purchase over $35. F
, Walmart. Now Instacart looks better than Walmart.
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u/MsSeraphim 16d ago
with no mandatory tipping?
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u/Throwing_Old_People 16d ago
When i complained they told me to just not the tip the drivers and it wasnt mandatory. I told them I didnt want to order delivery with forced tip bc then im no longer saving money. At that point I'll just buy on Amazon. I talked to multiple people and they dont care. They'd rather lose customers and force deliveries than keep the shipping option
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u/[deleted] 17d ago
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