The home shopping secret: What a timesaver!

When I first tried home shopping this past summer, I had a good experience the first time and then a not-so-good experience the second.  However, I still gave it a shot with Walmart To-go grocery delivery service instead, and I can't say enough about how much of my time this has saved.

Perhaps it hasn't saved heaps of actual time, because I do still have to spend some time shopping online, but I can do that any time I want.  When the kids are napping, right before bed, when I think of something we need I can add it right into my cart for the next shop instead of putting it on a list that I may or may not remember to take shopping with me.

The online shopping experience for Walmart's home shop is much better than it was for King Soopers.  There are photos for most all of the items they carry.  Their search works pretty well to help me find what I need.  I have started to build up a list of "favorites" (basically things I've purchased before) and so each shop I just check that list for things I might need to buy regularly.

I have had some difficulty finding some of the items I want.  For example, their search isn't perfect and if I search or an item one way it may not come up, but if I know specifically what it's called and search that way I usually can find it.

The pros:
1) Better online shopping experience.
2) Affordable delivery fees.  Choose the 4-hour window if you want the cheapest fee.  I am getting all of my deliveries for free now until late April because I bought a living social coupon for $7.95 to be unlimited delivery until then.  I have been choosing the 2-hour window for convenience as a result and have since been getting all of my groceries every week with the service.
3) Their system is very high-tech.  The delivery trucks are organized with special tubs that contain each person's order and there are several compartments on the trucks…some for frozen or refrigerated goods.  And they put the fragile things in special bags marked fragile.  If something isn't right with the order they refund your money for it on the spot with their handy scanner thing.  Recall that "I really don't like being put in situation where I have to tell someone they did something wrong".  Well, when something's been wrong so far (i.e. an egg is broken has been the most common, so I always check those right away while they are still here) they just say sorry about that and refund the money with the scanner.  No causing them the hassle of going back to the store to fix things.  Just a quick refund of the money.  I like it much better!!

The cons:
1) Much of their produce is sold by the pound, rather than by piece of fruit.  I'd rather be able to specify how many pieces I want.
2) They still use plastic bags.
3) They don't have a way to write comments per item, so you get what you ordered and nothing else unless you select the substitution box.  I have not yet selected that because I'm pretty particular about what I want to order.  So I figure if it's out of stock I'd rather go without than let someone else choose my replacement.

Also, I don't know if this is a pro or a con, but they don't accept tips!!  I forgot the first time and then the second time we tried to give the guy one and he said they're not allowed to accept tips!  I was shocked and am unsure if every one of the delivery folks would be as honest, but at least now I don't feel a pressure to remember to give a tip (or any pressure of not knowing what is considered a good tip to them)!

All in all, I'm pleased and am using this service every week now until April.  And even when I have to pay for the delivery fee again, I think I'll still use it because it saves me the time and hassle of loading the kids in the car, hauling them around the store, and it then saves that bit of time for playing with them, taking a walk to the park, or anything else that I feel like doing!