I would like to know what Dopers think about this.
Apparently, there are a lot of people who find the mere idea very upsetting; I’m not quite sure why. If you don’t like it, don’t sign up for it! As one person says at the end of the article, a lot of people already allow maids and so forth into their homes anyhow. I don’t see how a delivery person would be any different.
Incidentally–
In my most recent thread about Walmart and Amazon, I was very surprised at the number of people who don’t seem to think that the two companies are competitors. I can assure you that THEY think they’re competitors; otherwise there is no way that Walmart would even consider something like this delivery option.
I think in Newfoundland, there are stores that have never stopped doing this.
I the USA, my mother’s groceries were always put away by the delivery man. Those that needed to go in the fridge. Joe Wrzynski, brought them in the side car of his Blue Streak Delivery motorcycle, wearing goggles.
A lot of people have an extra fridge in the garage. I could see leaving that side door open for them.
I’ve had housekeepers who had a key, and my Dad’s old dry-cleaning guy had one too. But in both cases that is the owner of the establishment with the key, not a delivery person. And while I’m sure they’ll be vetted, and know they’re being watched, that’s still a heck of a lot of temptation for someone making minimum wage or just a little more. It’s not the same as having a business to lose if you give in and check out the medicine cabinet or jewelry box.
In small town USA a few decades ago this was a common practice. My daddy would call an order in and the delivery boy would drop in with the bags and put stuff up, he even folded the bags up. Too bad things have changed so much, It was a kinder, gentler time, for sure!
I would not trust a maid in my house without extensive background checks, installing security cameras, locking up any valuables with sentimental value, and taking out insurance on the things that would hurt the most to lose. And that’s even if I’ve taken a long time to get to know her.
Two of those things are things I can’t do in this situation. The other two are things that, if I could afford, I could probably also afford to have someone else do my shopping for me. Heck, I’m not sure that typical Walmart customers can even afford maid service.
This is not a way to get me to pay to use this service, that’s for sure. Just set up delivery times where people can be home. The inconvenience of watching you carry stuff in isn’t high. And the 10 minutes of work if I have to put the stuff away myself instead isn’t worth a whole lot of money. The reason to do this is not convenience for the customer, but to have more available times so Walmart can use fewer workers.
Totally agree. No way I’m signing up for it (see below), but if others want to, fine.
The same cleaning woman has been coming into my home for the past 7 years, and she was vouched for by friends who’d had her for years before that.
That’s very different than quite possibly a different delivery man every week, vouched for by an enormous, impersonal corporation that does everything it can to cut labor costs.
I don’t think I’d mind it, but I don’t have a lot of stuff sitting around that is worth stealing.
A big concern I’d have is that walmart is known for trying to cut costs as much as possible, and the people they hire can be shady. I would hope Walmart offers higher wages and strong background checks to the people who do these deliveries.
I wasn’t too aware of any Amazon vs. Walmart battle. I know Walmart recently added free shipping on items over $25, which is nice I guess. But overall amazon is still more convenient.
I’ll say what doesn’t work: Dropping off groceries in expensive insulated boxes that you claim to want back and then NEVER PICKING THEM UP! ! !
I feel like crap throwing them out, because they are resource-heavy equipment. But after leaving them on the stoop for weeks and calling and e-mailing to no avail? Y’all can buy new ones as many times as you need to in order to learn that this crap is affecting your bottom line. I’ve seen the truck go by several times, so tell the mmphing drivers to pick up the razzin’ frazzin’ boxes already.
Both Peapod and Amazon fresh have lost my business over this.
When the local Walmart opened 15 years ago, it was a fine place to shop: well stocked, adequate staffing. You never had to wait in the checkout more than a few minutes. As soon as they ran all the local stores out of business, the story changed. The store is now always understaffed, and you can’t count on getting through checkout in less than 30 minutes. This is the case even in the middle of the night, when they will have only one lane open, and it will be an express lane (why?). The employees are surly; they are obviously not happy working there. I wouldn’t want them in my home, even if I’m present.
About three months ago, I started ordering bulky stuff online from Walmart. At first, it was great. Everything arrived in two days (which was nice, but not essential to me). More and more, the orders arrive in a scrambled mess in multiple shipments over 2-10 days.
I guarantee that if people in this area started letting lowly unsupervised Walmart employees into their home, theft will be a problem. The local police do not waste their time on minor theft.
To sum up, I hate Walmart. Walmart sucks. They are a money-grubbing company without ethics. They treat their employees badly, and the employees have no loyalty to the company.
Yes, I am a huge hypocrite for shopping there, but I’m handicapped and my choices are few.
Yeah, I took ‘advantage’ of Wal-Mart’s 2-day delivery last month. UPS lost the original shipment, and they didn’t send the followup shipment by overnight, 2-day, or any sort of express. They gave it to UPS which sent it by USPS. I eventually received my order two and a half weeks after placing the order. They offered me a 10% discount as recompense. On a $50 order.
The theft problem isn’t necessarily the delivery person stealing while making the delivery, it’s also the delivery guy telling his shady cousin which houses have the Nice Stuff and said cousin and his buddies coming back later for a break-in.
The difference is letting some random person into your house versus someone you’ve met, talked to, had time to sit around and decide how you feel about them in your house and, in this day and age, probably spend an hour poking around on the internet to see what you could find out about them. Again, going back to the nameless, faceless person from Walmart that you’re going to let into your house.
But, as you’ve said, if you don’t like it, don’t sign up for it. I’m not going to tell other people not to do it if they’re okay with it.
Can they leave the stuff in the closet?
That’s oddly specific for a question that simply asks if you would let a delviery guy in your house when no one is home. I also find it funny how opposite it is to BigT’s response
This is very much their M.O. They use their purchasing power to drop prices so low the local stores can’t compete and close up, then when people have no where else to shop they can set prices back up where they belong.
WRT the deliveries, I suspect it will start out great. They’ll hire good drivers with clean driving/criminal records that are 100% trustworthy, perhaps even subcontracting out to Uber/Lyft, but after a year or three they’ll swap in people that aren’t up to the same standards. They can make any excuses they want (and from a business POV I understand), but they’ll be able to pay them, say, $9/hr instead of $17.
I’m curious if they could come up with some kind of a solution where they would give customers a minifridge to keep outside.
When I think about it, it’s more than just ‘the walmart guy was here and now that $50 bill is gone’. It’s also, my house got robbed last week and they’re one of the people with access. And little(er) things like they let the cat out by accident, they tracked mud on the carpet because it was raining, they got bit by the dog, they set stuff down on the counter and pushed a vase off the other side.
There’s a lot of downsides to going into a house and IMO, not a whole lot of upsides.
The mini-fridge thing, granted I haven’t thought it out yet but it could be a better idea than having them in your house and I’d bet it’s cheaper in the long run for Walmart.