Walmart Plus — everything you need to know

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Walmart Plus is a membership program designed for frequent Walmart shoppers. The subscription service competes with the likes of Amazon Prime and Best Buy Totaltech, both of which are pricier. Walmart Plus offers subscribers in-store and online benefits, such as unlimited free delivery and fuel discounts from participating gas stations. Members also get early access to Walmart deals during major retail holidays.

Some of the latest Walmart Plus perks include free access to Paramount Plus and a $15 Lyft credit for members. You can also get six free months of SiriusXM and three free months of unlimited access to FitOn Health. Walmart is frequently adding new perks to keep its membership enticing for both new and current members.

Walmart Plus free trial

Walmart Plus members also get early access to select deals and exclusive access special sales events. (In the past, members also got access to PS5 restock events, but nowadays it's easy to find the console in stock).

A Walmart Plus membership costs $98 a year or $12.95 a month. However, it includes a free 30-day trial. Make sure you check our Walmart promo codes page for additional discounts. Here's everything you need to know about Walmart Plus membership.

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Walmart Plus and Memorial Day

Memorial Day officially lands on May 29. As one of the biggest retailers, Walmart is now offering a wide variety of deals on Dyson vacuum cleaners, coffee makers, and 4K TVs. Make sure to follow our Memorial Day sales coverage for the best Walmart sales of the holiday.

Paramount Plus and Walmart Plus

Walmart Plus now comes bundled with free access to Paramount Plus. Subscribers to Walmart's premium membership program will get a Paramount Plus Essential membership at no additional cost. The Paramount Plus Essential tier usually costs $4.99/month and is ad-supported. It doesn't include access to live broadcasts of local CBS stations. However, it's yet another perk enjoyed by members.

Walmart Plus adds Rx savings for members

Members of Walmart Plus just got a new perk. Rx for Less is the name of Walmart Plus' latest benefit. The program offers discounts on commonly prescribed medications across a variety of health needs. Drugs including in Rx for Less include heart health medication, mental health medication, antibiotics, allergies, and diabetes management. Walmart Plus members now have access to select medications at zero cost, whereas others will be up to 85% off. RX for Less is available to paying members only. The discounts go into effect after your 15-day free trial.

Walmart Plus waives shipping minimum for members

Walmart Plus members no longer need to meet the retailer's $35 minimum purchase requirement to obtain free shipping. Last year, Walmart announced members would be able to get free shipping on all purchases without worrying about hitting that $35 minimum threshold.

In addition, Walmart is also expanding the number of locations where members can use their fuel savings. Walmart Plus customers now have access to fuel discounts at more than 500 Sam’s Club locations. All of these features are a welcome perk for shoppers, especially in light of Amazon shuttering its Prime Pantry service.

Walmart Plus membership

Walmart Plus membership costs $98 per year or $12.95 per month. (It includes a free 15-day trial period). The membership program — which is Walmart's version of Amazon Prime — is a rebranding of Walmart's $98-per-year Grocery Unlimited service. The grocery delivery service launched in 2019 and quickly expanded to 1,400 additional stores in September of 2019. However, Walmart Plus goes beyond groceries to also include tech, beauty, and sports products. By comparison, Amazon Prime costs $139 per year or $14.99 per month.

Walmart Plus perks

Walmart Plus includes a handful of benefits that will grow over time. For instance, in early June the retailer held its first Walmart Plus Weekend sales event, which consisted of four days of exclusive sales for members. Other Walmart Plus benefits include the following:

Unlimited free delivery: Customers will receive fast, free delivery on more than 160,000 items including tech, toys, household essentials, and groceries. Delivery will occur as fast as same-day with 1-hour delivery windows.
Scan & Go: This feature in the Walmart app will allow for a faster way to shop in-store. Using the Walmart app, customers can scan their items as they shop and pay using Walmart Pay for a quick and touch-free payment experience.
Fuel discounts: Walmart Plus members will be able to save up to 5 cents per gallon at nearly 2,000 Walmart, Murphy USA, and Murphy Express fuel stations. Sam's Club fuel stations are also part of the lineup. Walmart also expanded the discounts so that members can enjoy an instant 10 cent discounts on every gallon of fuel purchased at participating stations. Members can also now save at Exxon and Mobil stations nationwide.

It's unclear what other perks Walmart Plus will offer in the near future. However, it's no secret that Walmart and Amazon price match each other all the time, especially on retail holidays like Black Friday. The renewed rivalry could make for excellent deals.

Walmart Plus vs. Amazon Prime

During Amazon's Q1 2021 earnings call, the company revealed there are over 200 million paid Prime members worldwide. That's a number that Walmart Plus is certainly hoping to reach.

Once the country's top retailer, Walmart has watched as its rival Amazon has dominated online sales. Amazon now accounts for roughly 38% of all online retail sales in the U.S., according to eMarketer. By comparison, Walmart is a distant second place with just over 5% of the U.S. e-commerce market. The hope is that Walmart Plus will help it take some of that market share from Amazon.

This isn't the first time Walmart has taken on Amazon Prime. In 2015, Walmart launched ShippingPass, an unlimited online shipping service that cost $50 per year and promised deliveries in three days or less. This was Walmart's attempt to undercut Amazon Prime, which at the time cost $99 per year. Two years later, Walmart dropped its membership fee and switched to a 2-day free shipping program on orders of $35 or more.

However, Walmart's biggest chest thump came in 2016, when it purchased Jet.com for $3 billion. The hope was that Jet.com would help Walmart establish a bigger online presence. (Walmart announced last month that it was permanently closing Jet.com).

The Walmart vs. Amazon feud continued into 2019. Just as Amazon announced its plans to offer 1-day shipping, Walmart followed suit with its own 1-day shipping pilot. Most recently, Walmart announced 2-hour Express delivery for an additional $10 over Walmart's typical delivery fees.

Even on big retailer days like Black Friday, Walmart has shadowed Amazon with similar sales of its own. Walmart Plus is an extension of this ongoing battle and only time will tell if it's the true knockout punch that it needs to take on Amazon and its legion of subscribers.

As deals editor at Tom’s Guide, Louis is constantly looking for ways to avoid paying full price for the latest gadgets. With over 10 years of deals-hunting experience, Louis price checks against multiple retailers and searches high and low for the best deals to bring readers. A born-and-bred New Yorker, Louis is also an avid swimmer and marathoner. His work has appeared on Gizmodo, CNET, and Time Out New York.

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6 Comments Comment from the forums

mejustsayin

It's been just over a month since it was introduced. Anyone here using Walmart Plus? I did a 30 day free trial but forgot to cancel. Got my dates wrong so now I am stuck with it for a year. Oh well, at least gas is cheaper, though I have to drive to another town and can get out of the store a bit faster. Maybe they will add more features making it worth it.
Reply
dikil

Walmart recently made all soft drinks unavailable for grocery delivery. You are still required to buy at least $35 worth of grocery, so this is a real bummer.
Reply
DickieD

My experience with Walmart’s online ordering is that it has been slow and the inventory count isn’t accurate. Items sometimes remain in “processing” status well past the projected delivery date. Sometimes they cancel orders without explanation. One order I had was for four items. They cancelled the order and refunded me for one. Customer service told me to please wait 24 hour for the remainder of the refund. 24 hours past, no refund. Then an apology and an assurance of a refund in 48 hours. Didn’t happen. They refunded but only after multiple sessions with a CSR. Amazon is better at delivering goods and the few issues I’ve had over years were quickly made right. Competition is good and I hope Walmart improves. But as it is now I’m not likely to renew my + account.
Reply
Wastrel

mejustsayin said:
It's been just over a month since it was introduced. Anyone here using Walmart Plus? I did a 30 day free trial but forgot to cancel. Got my dates wrong so now I am stuck with it for a year. Oh well, at least gas is cheaper, though I have to drive to another town and can get out of the store a bit faster. Maybe they will add more features making it worth it.

Don't sign up for Walmart+. I did it by accident (I don't know how, but they make it hard to avoid), and after 15 days they billed me $98 for an annual membership. I have canceled that (the Walmart online rep was very helpful) but I am in doubt about ordering online from Walmart, because I have no desire to become enmeshed in this foolishness again. Pay a shipping charge instead, and be careful about clicking on "free shipping."

On the other hand, I have had no problems with wrong orders, unreasonable delays or customer service after delivery. I had a recliner arrive with an arm that I could not attach because the arm did not have the hardware. I glued the arm on with Gorilla Glue, told them about it, and they refunded my money, so I have a free recliner.
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Karen M70

I loved that Walmart+ was available during the beginning of Covid and tgat I didn’t have to go shopping with my 3yr old granddaughter. But , 7 months into my membership, I was ”banned” from online shopping w/Walmart. The reason they gave me was “returns violations”. Only problem is, I have NEVER returned anything to Walmart, seriously. As it turns out, when they deliver to the wrong address, bring your groceries hot (milk at 68 degrees), or just leave something out(which is frequent), you are violating their returns policy. (That is, if you ask for your money back). I spend hundreds of dollars a month there and I explained it to them, filed a complaint with BBB. They reinstated me after some unpleasant tweets. Yesterday, my ordered was missing 7 items ($32.49). I called and explained, asked for replacements (denied), and refunded. Today, I am banned again. No refund on membership fee, no talk, no email, no letter. Just can not EVER shop online with Walmart again. Think twice my friends, think twice.
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Moose and Squirrel

Wow. Don't buy this.

I got walmart+, inhome service because there aren't any tips on deliveries so it looked incredibly cheap on paper. And employees in a van, not some guy putting groceries in their trunk.

Worked great while I was on the trial. Right after that ended, they did a no-show two out of three grocery delivery days. First time, 9am-1 delivery window, nothing, no message, no call, nothing. The second miss was for the same time window, and I got a text at 5:30pm saying "we're late, but we're still on our way". When nobody was here by 9 PM, I called the store. No answer. Called the 800 line, they said they'd call the store and reschedule for the next day. Early next day email from customer service saying "The store said they could not reschedule".

Call the inhome # at the local store, eventually get someone in the corporate office that tells me "They couldn't get a driver those days, and then you canceled the orders". Nope. I canceled nothing.

Called to talk to the store manager. "They aren't in. We don't know when they'll be in. They set their own schedules. Try back after 10, maybe 11?" It was 9:30.

They did refund my walmart+, but when I asked for a refund of the annual inhome fee, they offered a "pro-rated" $3 out of 40, for something I hadn't used for a month paid out of 12.

It'd be terrific if they actually showed up or didn't oversubscribe the employees, or perhaps the employees just figured out that nobody was in charge of the chicken coop, and they could just not do anything all day without consequences or oversight? No idea. Either way, they aren't equipped to handle the service that they're selling.

Just wanted them to do doorstep delivery too, nothing fancy like bringing it into the house.
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