Today I had to pick up an order from Sam’s Club so I decided to give their Click ‘N Pull option a try. I had talked a little bit about this in last week’s blog entry on online shopping, but had not gotten a chance yet to give it a shot at our local Sam’s Club. Basically, you can do all of your ordering online (place your order by 5 PM) and then you come and pick the order up the next day.
I placed an order for some frozen goods, produce, and water. I did not have to enter my credit card online or anything like that, just placed the order and got an email confirmation that they received it. The following day I received an email that my order had been processed and I could pick it up within the next seventy-two hours. That sounded good to me because I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to rush over there with the two kids.
When my husband got home, I headed over to the store and went to the Customer Service Desk to pick up my order. I gave my name and they scanned a bar code on my order, which brought all of my items up in one scan and provided my total. While I wrote my check, they called someone to get my items from the freezer and cooler. By the time I finished my check, my order was ready to go and I was in and out of there in a matter of ten minutes. That HAS to be a record for me.
Since I am always looking for ways to save money, I found this a true benefit to my wallet in a few different ways.
1. I can comparison shop online and find out if the biggest bag of chicken really is the best deal (which it was not!). Shopping online gave me the time I needed to browse through all of their selections and price everything. Trying to figure out prices, when many times it offers price per pallet, was much easier when I was doing this from home.
2. By having my order ready for me, I did not have to walk around the store and feel overwhelmed. I have a really hard time shopping in places when they offer too much. I get that sick feeling in my stomach, get overwhelmed, start throwing things in my cart, then decide to put things back, then grab them again, etc.. I don’t know if this is just me or if other people go through this- Sam’s Club is one of those places for me.
3. I avoided all of the unnecessary shopping that seems to sidetrack me when I am shopping there. No looking at books, getting clothes, buying everything from the people offering samples (Do they really need to get the sweetest ladies in the world handing those out because it makes it hard for me to refuse???) I got exactly what I needed and was home to spend an evening with my family. This makes my wallet happier and our family happier.
I hope that you guys can take advantage of this service. There was no charge and it was so simple. I told the associate that I thought it was a wonderful service that they were offering and she said that it usually works out really well. The only thing that they have had trouble with is when people take things out of the carts that have items reserved in them.
Other than a small wait for the frozen/cooler foods, it was a great service for this tired momma!