Walmart's "Book a store visit"
https://www.walmart.ca/en/book-store-visit
Never knew this was a thing. I've visited Walmart maybe 4 or 5 times during the past year. Yesterday was my first time shoping there since the end of summer.
Lineup was fairly short (compared to what I've seen driving by over these past months) when I arrived, maybe 20-25 people ahead of me. A few people go in and suddenly the line halts for an extended period of time...there was fiasco/shouting match/outrage at the doors as the "general lineup" was being held as other;people were seemingly walking in "through the gates" and let in the store by showing their "appointment code" from their Walmart app on those smartphones.
It was "older" people (but not necessarily seniors) angry that the "young people" can just walk right in "just because they have their fancy phones"...I totally get their frustration and immediately empathized. I will admit though, had I known about booking on the app before I left home, I probably would have booked a slot myself not giving too much thought to equity issues and the "unfairness" to those who have barriers to using devices/apps.
Thoughts??
Never knew this was a thing. I've visited Walmart maybe 4 or 5 times during the past year. Yesterday was my first time shoping there since the end of summer.
Lineup was fairly short (compared to what I've seen driving by over these past months) when I arrived, maybe 20-25 people ahead of me. A few people go in and suddenly the line halts for an extended period of time...there was fiasco/shouting match/outrage at the doors as the "general lineup" was being held as other;people were seemingly walking in "through the gates" and let in the store by showing their "appointment code" from their Walmart app on those smartphones.
It was "older" people (but not necessarily seniors) angry that the "young people" can just walk right in "just because they have their fancy phones"...I totally get their frustration and immediately empathized. I will admit though, had I known about booking on the app before I left home, I probably would have booked a slot myself not giving too much thought to equity issues and the "unfairness" to those who have barriers to using devices/apps.
Thoughts??
The thing about these things is, it's only a matter of time before people catch on and then everyone is using it anyway and then they're all in a line (or a second line). Just like self-checkouts. Remember the days when they were new things? I would basically skip the lines all the time by using them; nowadays lots of people use them. Mind you, you can still get shorter lines (or no line) a lot of the time by using them but when it's busy, the self-checkout is gonna be just as jammed as any other cashier.