Walmart has just announced a new part of its Plus subscription service. It’s called InHome Delivery, which will not only allow Walmart to deliver your groceries and other things inside your home, but they will put them into your fridge for you. So you can order your groceries at work and come home to a freshly stocked fridge – instead of melting groceries on the floor.
InHome Delivery is not included in Walmart Plus, it’s an additional $7 per month or $40 per year. The new annual price for InHome is $138, which is still lower than it was without Walmart Plus. So it’s a pretty good deal here.
Now, of course, that does not include the added fees of using InHome delivery. You’ll need to purchase a compatible $49.95 Level smart lock, a $49.95 Genie automatic garage door opener, or garage keypad. This is so that the Walmart delivery driver is able to get into your home, without setting off any alarms.
Of course, this is going to make some people uneasy about letting complete strangers in their home, especially when they are not home. But you can also set up cameras around your home to catch their every move. And make sure they are only putting your groceries away, and not taking anything else.
Isn’t this similar to Amazon Key?
In 2017, Amazon launched a similar service, called Amazon Key. And even announced its own Cloud Cam (which is now being sunsetted in favor of Ring and Blink cameras). It didn’t go quite as far as InHome from Walmart does though. Amazon Key was really only to let the delivery driver put your package(s) right inside your door or your garage.
The idea here was to help keep porch pirates at bay. By putting your packages safely in your home. Instead of leaving them on the front porch where anyone driving by could grab it.
Walmart Plus is its attempt at competing with Amazon Prime, and so far it’s doing quite well. Of course, Walmart has plenty of stores around the country, whereas Amazon doesn’t – just some Whole Foods locations and many distribution centers.