Did retailers have to add more employees to offer curbside pick-up?

None that I know of. Mostly curbside pickup is scheduled online, so that makes things a lot smoother.

My walmart is doing limited home delivery. When I order online, whatever is available at my local store, someone just drops off on their way home. I heard months ago some locations were going to try it. I guess they are just beginning to get it organized.

@Patty_Melt It takes time to shop for the items. At my Walmart there is no surcharge and we aren’t allowed to tip them.

People are walking the aisles, picking products, carrying them to front and checking them out. All of that would be done by customers (if they use self checkout).

That time and effort comes from somewhere. They hire new people just for that job.

I hope curbside pickup remains after the virus numbers go down.

I did curbside pickup at a local Walmart, one which I would normally avoid because it’s a gross, crowded store. The curbside pickup was great. Two minutes from my phone call, the guy brought the item to my window. No extra fee involved. Beautiful.

My understanding with walmart is, the delivery is made by regular employees, and they get paid for their drive home. The shopping portion can be done at anytime because no perishable items can be ordered anyway. You don’t know they will be delivered same day. If you order pick up, there is a scheduled pick up time.
It would seem, they do things according to how it fits the particular location.

@Patty_Melt: At Walmart, curbside pickup is where you drive to the store, to a designated parking area, and you call the store and tell them what spot you’re in, and your order information, and the employee walks out to the parking spot and hands you the item. They’re not driving to your house. They’re walking it out the Walmart door to your car and walking back into the store.

@Patty_Melt I do curbside at the store, not the delivery. It’s all day long. You book an hour window.

I get a notification a couple of hours before about any substitutions or unavailable items and I can choose to allow the substitutions or not.

Fifteen minutes before my pick-up time I get a notification my order is read for pick-up. I click check-in and the app start tracking my location.

When I pull up to the pick up area I key in my parking spot number and car color. Within 5 minutes they bring out my groceries and load them in the back of my car.

Everything is kept cold so you can order frozen and refrigerator items.

If you don’t want the app to track you you can just call when you arrive at the store if there is no one in the pick up are to ask your name.

My local Walmart has covered spaces specific for pick up, but each store is different. Some use specific parking spaces in the regular lot, or at the side of the store.

Once you do it a few times you get a hang of all of the options when you order. It’s one of the best websites I’ve ever used.

Yes. More employees are needed for this service.

Ours schedules pickups. It is same day.
I haven’t used it, since driving is not an option for me.
The delivery is not guaranteed. It happens only if you place an online order, and all or most of the order is available locally. Items are dropped after the day shift ends. It is not a customer option.

Like I said, it seems region plays a difference in the services.

@Patty_Melt Have you tried Instacart? That might work better for you, but you pay a service fee and a little extra for the groceries. It’s really good, you can communicate with the shopper as they shop.

I haven’t. I may, sometime, but my life is undergoing as many changes currently as I can make work. It has been on my distant future list quite a while.

Instacart has relationships with only certain stores. I’m just telling you to give more information, not pushing you to use them. There are other services out there that are similar.

Thanks for the info! :-)