At Home with Tech

My missing Amazon order unexpectedly steered me toward Walmart+ with its promise to save me 10¢ per gallon when filling up my hybrid SUV. Here’s what happened.

Yes, my Amazon order never showed up. I’ve been patiently tracking the delivery of a new black belt. (My old belt wore out where my work badge clips on.) The package is way overdue, and the tracking number stopped posting updates a week ago. (It left Windsor Locks, CT at 4:56am.)

I think my belt is likely lost in transit.

Uncertainty Leads to Opportunity
No worries. My life will continue without disruption. I have other belts, and of course, I’ll buy another one. But I’m first interested to see what happens next. Amazon is now kindly offering me the opportunity to cancel my order. But that’s too easy. Will Amazon blink first? Will someone or something refund me or alternatively mail out another belt? We’ll find out…

The good news is Amazon has a delivery success rate of about 99.9998% to my house. Sometimes packages just get lost.

But these infrequent moments do remind me how much my online shopping has consolidated around Amazon. And that’s not always good. More choice is better. It would be nice if Amazon had a little more competition. Of course, they’ve run most everyone else out of business.

But there is… Walmart.

Time to Try Out Walmart+
Yes, I’ve shopped at walmart.com a few times across the pandemic. But its marketplace is often flooded with any number of third-party sellers with more expensive pricing. So, you’ve got to really know the correct price points. (To be fair, Amazon sometimes has that problem too.)

So, my relationship with Walmart has remained an in-store experience. Then, my new belt got lost and I happened to simultaneously find a discount opportunity to join Walmart+.

Walmart’s paid membership is like Amazon Prime in that you get free shipping and delivery, plus other member benefits.

Yes, I pay for Amazon Prime, and yes, I believe I’m getting value in the annual cost, mostly due to the Prime Video platform, in addition to the free shipping.

So, with an easy onramp to join Walmart+, I decided to give it a spin. Plus, I was especially attracted to one big perk.

Save 10¢ on a Gallon of Gas
I’ve always been interested in signing up for a fuel-discount program, and Walmart+ has one. I’ve previously hedged on other opportunities that are more complex than I really wanted to deal with. But the strong Walmart brand and the simple set up on the Walmart app gave me confidence to explore this discount gas deal.

The Walmart+ program saves you 10¢ per gallon at Exxon, Mobil, Walmart and Murphy stations. Again, you need the Walmart app on your phone to access the special pricing. Here’s how it worked when I drove into a Mobil station.

• As soon as I opened the Walmart+ app, it asked if I wanted to gas up. It had already sensed the Mobil station wirelessly. I said, “Yes, please!”
• As soon as I tapped in the pump number, it confirmed the credit card I wanted to use.
• And that was really it. The pump activated, I selected 87 octane, and I was ready to go.
• When I was done, I received a receipt on my app, which confirmed my discount, and I drove away.

Really easy. Never had to swipe a credit card at the pump.

So now, I’ve got a new hybrid SUV which needs less gas, and a new way to save money on the gas that I do buy.

Hallucination Vs. Reality
I have this silly vision that the Amazon delivery van with my belt ran out of gas, and the van is abandoned on the side of the road somewhere.

If only the Amazon driver had a Walmart+ account. That extra 10¢/gallon savings might have provided a little more fuel to get that van to my house.

Maybe my belt will find its way home in time for the holidays. Perhaps someone else is already wearing it.

Yes, it’s just a belt, but the butterfly effect from its disappearance has strangely led me to save some money at the gas pump.

Now, I’m even more intrigued with how my belt story will end.