Walmart InHome Delivery Requires a Different Level Of Trust
Giving big tech the keys to your house might be convenient, but is it worth it?
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Remember when we would think twice before using our credit card to buy something online? Then came big tech, and normal societal rules became obsolete. We gambled with our safety and paid for the convenience.
There was a time when revealing what you ate for dinner was, to put it mildly, strange. Getting a lift home from a stranger was thought to be risky. Today, we post our location to the entire world and send our children to school with random drivers who boast a 4.2-star rating on an app. Society’s re-evaluation of what is deemed acceptable is constantly being put to the test.
What’s next?
Apparently, it’s giving strangers a key to your home. But don’t worry, they are just dropping off your groceries.
What is Walmart’s InHome delivery?
Walmart is expanding its InHome delivery service from 6 million to 30 million U.S. households by the end of the year.
The service, which launched in 2019, utilizes Walmart associates to deliver fresh groceries directly into the customer’s home instead of leaving them on the porch. What once ended at your front door is now taking the last step directly into your kitchen fridge.
The InHome delivery process looks like this:
- The customer uses the Walmart app to place an order and choose InHome delivery.
- A trained delivery associate utilizes the InHome app, which integrates with smart entry technology, to unlock the customer’s door or garage using a one-time access code.
- Every step of the associate is shown to the customer via the camera on the associate’s vest capturing the entire delivery, which customers may access from their phones for up to a week after each dropoff.
The service costs about $20 a month or $148 per year. Customers have the option to grant their InHome associate one-time access by utilizing an existing smart lock or by purchasing a new smart lock from Walmart for $49.95.
