One Walmart shopper discovered how difficult it can be to order groceries with delivery services.
Amy (@amymluke0813), a mother and empowerment coach who regularly posts on TikTok, placed an order for a Walmart delivery, only for it to get delivered to the wrong house. Frustrated, she reached out to Walmart’s customer service and received a full refund. She tried to put the order in again, but then realized that the person delivering the order the second time around was the same person who delivered it to the wrong address the first time she tried.
Frustrated, she posted a video about it to TikTok, which quickly generated over 11,000 views. In the video, she expressed her extreme frustration at the situation, saying, “I can’t [expletive] make this up.”
Exasperated, she captioned the clip, “will I or won’t I,” referring to her lack of trust in actually getting her order on time. Originally, she had ordered the groceries to arrive in three hours or less, but Amy found herself wondering if she would even get groceries at all.
How does Walmart’s delivery system work?
Walmart has a delivery service available to customers that they can purchase , either by paying a fee or by using Walmart Plus. Without purchasing Walmart Plus, delivery will be between $7.95 and $9.95 per order.
Customers can pay the same in-store price for goods on the Walmart app after paying the fee. An employee collects and bags the groceries, and the store keeps them until the order is ready for pickup. Customers choose a time slot that they’d like the order to be delivered in, and a delivery driver then delivers the groceries to the customer’s address.
Does Walmart ‘hand off’ deliveries to Spark or Instacart drivers?
It’s true that Walmart gives orders to Spark drivers to deliver them. Walmart clarifies this on its website, saying, “A local, third-party delivery driver will bring your order right to your door.”
Employees working inside Walmart will not handle the physical delivery of groceries. Instead, they pack the orders in-store and give them to Spark drivers, who come from a Walmart delivery program. The hiring process is different for Spark than for a regular Walmart employee, but they still get background checks and go through a hiring process.
Some TikTok commenters expressed dismay that Walmart separated its regular employees from “Spark” drivers.
@03363631 wrote, “I work at Walmart and get Walmart plus for free but I will not use delivery. I see the sketchy people who [are] doing it… They will use separate phones and will get [two] or [three] orders at once! No thank you.”
The usage of multiple devices by some Spark and Instacart drivers to pick up additional orders is a pervasive problem in the online delivery industry. Some stores report drivers who cheat the system to get multiple orders, as it unfairly distributes work to select workers. These drivers may struggle to focus on their orders as well, leading to bigger mistakes while delivering, like address switch-ups.
@amymluke0813 Will I or won’t I!?!? @Walmart #fyp #walmart ♬ original sound – Amy| Special Needs Mom Support
What’s the best way to ensure a Walmart order actually arrives on time?
Delivery services can be hit or miss when it comes to actually getting an order on time, but there are ways to help prevent mistakes.
@Kygirl offered one potential solution in a comment, saying, “Use the option to sign for your order. It will send you a 4 digit code that the driver has to put in the app to close the order. I’m a Spark shopper and I can’t complete an order without that specific code when they opt for it.”
Customers should communicate regularly with their deliverers to ensure that they are heading in the right direction and will deliver their groceries to the correct location. Some locations are hard to find on digital maps, so it’s helpful to note whether directions from Google or Apple Maps can be misleading in the delivery notes.
The Mary Sue has reached out to Walmart and @amymluke0813 for comment.
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