Wal-Mart Logic

[Bright_Star]

Sometime ago Wal-Mart transformed what used to be Lay-away into a site-to-store area. It's where you can order stuff online & pick it up in the store.
Now follow along here:
IF you're going to order something online at Wal-Mart.com then wouldn't it make more sense to have it delivered to your house than to go to the store to pick it up? Why waste gas? & IF you're going to the store anyway then why not buy from there directly?
Does that make sense to anybody? It does to me.

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Well if you live out in the boonies, and you're ordering something large, say furniture, it's probably cheaper to have Wal-mart just bring it in with their regular shipments instead of paying to have it delivered to your door. Then you can just take your old pickup and go pick it up when you go to buy groceries or something.

[BookstoreEscapee]

Does it actually ship to the store, or is it that you are ordering/paying online, and the order gets transmitted to your store and they pull the item from their stock so you can just go get it? I remember commercials for one of the electronics stores (Best Buy? Circuit City?) about how you could order on line and they'd have it ready to pick up in the store in a half hour or something like that.

[dalmatas]

Some merchandise is online only, so it would come in with the next distribution center delivery.

Maybe nobody's home during the day? Maybe the stuff they are ordering is so wonderful that it might get stolen off the porch?

[AriRashkae]

It gets shipped to the store.

We ordered some of those hexagonal wire storage spaces, like the cubes, but honeycomb. They were $20 each. To ship them to the house would have been another $20-$30. To ship them to the store (10 minutes away) and pick them up cost us gas. Even at today's prices, we spent a hell of a lot less.

(And they weren't big either. The 2 boxes together weren't much bigger than my printer. And they came in a box my 9 year old could use as a fort. )

EDIT: forgot to mention said items were online only, and my local Wal-mart was out of the cubes, and not expecting to get any anytime soon. :sigh:

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

IF you're going to order something online at Wal-Mart.com then wouldn't it make more sense to have it delivered to your house than to go to the store to pick it up? Why waste gas? & IF you're going to the store anyway then why not buy from there directly?

1. You don't know that the store is going to have the item you want when you visit.
2. For delivery Wal-Mart would need to invest in vehicles, and people to do the deliveries, and that will add a charge to the price of the item, and will people be willing to use the service if they have to pay that delivery charge? We're talking about Wal-Mart here, where a lot of the shoppers are very price-conscious.

[bigjimaz]

Usually I call the store to see if they have the item in stock. If not I will go online and buy it. It is a 45 mile round trip for me to get to Wally World. My truck gets 16 mpg so if the shipping is reasonable I'll have them send it to the house. If it's expensive I'll have them ship it to the store.

Bigjimaz economics.

[Elfinlady]

I ordered a dresser using the site to store thing. It wasn't available in store, and to ship it to my house would have cost $50. Picking it up at the store 5 minutes away cost a tiny bit of gas.

[Banrion]

I have never used Wal-marts system, but I use the Best Buy in-store pickup all the time. There is one BB within 30 miles of me, and it is just over the MA/NH border(no sales tax). It is packed on the weekends with idiots who don't know what they want or what department, or planting themselves in the center of the aisles for no particular reason. I always know exactly what I want and don't want to be bothered dealing with the crowds, so I order and pay online, then drive up, walk in the front door, take a right pick up my stuff and leave. No hassles, and no idiots. I also don't have it shipped because then I would have to pay sales tax, if I pick it up I don't.

[GolfCart34]

In our state it benefits us to use site to store since we don't have to pay tax or shipping if we have it shipped to the closest store. Our closest store happens to be in glorious tax free New Hampshire, and it's much cheaper to drive 30 minutes to pick up the item than pay shipping and tax.

We haven't used the service yet, however when we need to buy more furniture I'm sure we will.

[draftermatt]

Say I order a gift for my wife. And I don't want her to know about it, but she gets home before me, and I can't get it shipped to my work.

[Eben56]

buying online

I buy from Circuit City quite often using the pick up at store option.

1. I get points for online shopping at Mypoints.
2. I have plenty of time to look at what is available and to check online reviews of the products at my liesure. I do NOT buy on price but I also don't want to buy based on the salespersons opinion.
3. I pick it up on the way by and never have to listen to a monologue about extra accesories, or warrenty plan.
4. I don't buy stuff I don't need just because I saw something shiney while looking around for my product. (Thats MY problem)