Walmart vs. Amazon

[Kirk W]

5 minutes ago, Sehc said:

Most Walmart have a plus, free to get a nap in the lot.

Tough to do that at Amazon! 

[packnrat]

On 6/20/2018 at 7:50 AM, remoandiris said:

Like you said, you're not on the road yet.  There are times shipping simply won't work when your front porch moves.  Or times when shippers screw you over.  I've had 3 shipping issues with FedEx over the past 2 months.  

my spelling was not a typo for fed-up.  over all they have been the carrier with the worst service to me. ( some shippers do the choosing on shipping services).

amazon and ups will deliver to my po box. (pending what is shipped).  ups can also be held at there depot for me to pick up. fed-up only to my front porch 

my pills from my medical provider go through the usps. ( to my po box). my cpap supply by a "in house" service. (to my front porch).

i have no say in these two shippers.  i do not like street deliverys. where i live crime is low. but i do not want to that person. so why temp a crook.

as to when i do get on the rd, how i will work it?   ups will hold for X number of days at there delivery hubs.  pills? not sure how for them. the cpap will be scraped by then. i am only using it to keep my job.       ( medical required by a company bandaid quack).    gen mail. should mostly be junk, will move my bills to paperless. checks to me on auto deposit.

 

[SWharton]

packnrat,

You will still need a legal address to get certain paperwork. DL, registration etc. Many of us use a PMB(Private Mailbox Service), Escapees has one if you are interested. You can have your pills delivered to the PMB and they will hold until you request a shipment. UPS and Fedex on the road becomes a bigger challenge. Many cgs will accept and hold packages for  you(call first), many(not all) USPS will accept General Deliver from UPS and Fedex(call first).

Receiving packages when traveling is doable, not a convenient as having a home.

[Dutch_12078]

One of the good things about most PMB's is that they'll receive mail and packages from any delivery service, and then send it on to you using the service YOU choose. We've found UPS to be the most consistent for camp site deliveries, or at least park office deliveries.

[SWharton]

I would also use UPS over Fedex but generally not a choice. Just had a go around with Fedex, rerouted a package to a frinds house to the local store. Took an extra 4 days to get to the Fedex store, 5 miles from my friends house.

[Kirk W]

In the debate over what organization is best for shipping, anyone's opinion is valid but let's not propagate as facts things which are not true. FedEx has had the "hold for pickup" service for more than 20 years, as I used it regularly before I retired. It has been stated here that they won't do that, but FedEx says otherwise. I still use that service on occasion and have found them to be reliable for my purposes when I do so.

[SWharton]

I agree with Kirk. I just used the "hold for pickup" this week. Maybe it is dependent on the franchise.

[richfaa]

4 hours ago, SWharton said:

packnrat,

You will still need a legal address to get certain paperwork. DL, registration etc. Many of us use a PMB(Private Mailbox Service), Escapees has one if you are interested. You can have your pills delivered to the PMB and they will hold until you request a shipment. UPS and Fedex on the road becomes a bigger challenge. Many cgs will accept and hold packages for  you(call first), many(not all) USPS will accept General Deliver from UPS and Fedex(call first).

Receiving packages when traveling is doable, not a convenient as having a home.

This  problem was ONE of the issues that caused us not to choose Full Time.We know it can be overcome but it is a huge problem. We found we could have the best of both worlds by being long timers.

[Pat & Pete]

11 minutes ago, richfaa said:

This  problem was ONE of the issues that caused us not to choose Full Time.We know it can be overcome but it is a huge problem. We found we could have the best of both worlds by being long timers.

You really think that receiving packages is a huge problem for full timers ? 

It's no more a problem than finding a fuel stop . 

 

[chirakawa]

16 minutes ago, Pat & Pete said:

You really think that receiving packages is a huge problem for full timers ? 

It's no more a problem than finding a fuel stop . 

 

Agree.  In over 10 years of full timing, I've never had a problem receiving packages other than the typical delays that you also experience when living in a sticks and bricks.  I've got over a dozen addresses listed at Paypal and another half a dozen at Amazon.  This is definitely one of the easy parts of full timing.

[remoandiris]

6 hours ago, packnrat said:

 pills? not sure how for them. 

If your meds are thru Express Scripts, you can easily add a temporary address on their website.  But, you have to do it  several days to a few weeks ahead of the normal shipment date, so planning ahead is vital.

[SWharton]

We have found the joy and freedom of full timing is worth any very minor planning that needs to be done to get pkgs. This is one reason we are starting to use Walmart more and more. Walmart has the 2 day shipping, will hold your pkg for a week and is everywhere.............I would say 90% of the cgs will accept pkgs if you need to go that route. Other than that we have our mail from Livingston sent once a month, General Delivery and it is held 30 days until we arrive. 

Seriously, how many packages do we really get when on the road. Only something critical, usually to repair the RV. Meds we get in 90 day increments and prior to leaving a location will get an early refill for 90 days. We generally travel with a 90++ day supply so we are not caught short. Once we get to 90 days we will make sure we reorder. If we have a time constraint we pay the extra shipping for overnight(never had to do that yet).

We just look at this as the cost of full timing. even if it were more of a hassle I don't think it would change our minds.

[Vladimir]

Pharmacies will fill prescriptions for a full year if you get your doctor to write it that way.

I do need to call Costco prior, to make sure they have enough pills to fill mine for a full year. You do have to pay for it out of pocket, but I find my pills (all generic) cost the same for one year out of pocket as filling every ninety days under my insurance.

Wal-Mart and Amazon are about the same for on-line ordering. Wal-Mart is cheaper on many items.

[Al F]

5 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

In the debate over what organization is best for shipping, anyone's opinion is valid but let's not propagate as facts things which are not true. FedEx has had the "hold for pickup" service for more than 20 years, as I used it regularly before I retired. It has been stated here that they won't do that, but FedEx says otherwise. I still use that service on occasion and have found them to be reliable for my purposes when I do so.

Yes, once FedEx has a tracking number on their website, you can select to have the package delivered to a local FedEx location and held for a few days.  I have used this to redirect a package which was shipped several days earlier than the shipper originally stated.  I did this because we were not going to be home for a few days and didn't want to ask a neighbor to pick up the package.

[remoandiris]

2 hours ago, Al F said:

Yes, once FedEx has a tracking number on their website, you can select to have the package delivered to a local FedEx location and held for a few days. 

Walgreen's Pharmacies are also FedEx agents.  

[Kirk W]

6 hours ago, Vladimir said:

Pharmacies will fill prescriptions for a full year if you get your doctor to write it that way.

 

That isn't true for all medications. Some of them are limited to a 90 day supply and also many insurance companies have that sale 90 supply limit. Ours happens to be one of the insurance companies with a 90 day maximum supply per time. It also limits how early you can order the next 90 day supply. In addition, there are drugs, especially pain medications that have as low as a 30-day limit and some of them can't be mailed but must be picked up in person. 

[Al F]

18 hours ago, remoandiris said:

Walgreen's Pharmacies are also FedEx agents.  

Have you checked to see if FedEx and Walgreens will allow you to route a package to Walgreens for them to hold until you pick it up?

The only place I am aware of that FedEx will let you route a package to, for a hold for pickup, is the FedEx owned locations not agents.

[vermilye]

16 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

That isn't true for all medications. Some of them are limited to a 90 day supply and also many insurance companies have that sale 90 supply limit. Ours happens to be one of the insurance companies with a 90 day maximum supply per time. It also limits how early you can order the next 90 day supply. In addition, there are drugs, especially pain medications that have as low as a 30-day limit and some of them can't be mailed but must be picked up in person. 

2X, although mine will let me do a "Vacation" fill, i.e. an additional 90 day refill before the current ends.  They only allow one per 365 days...

[remoandiris]

10 hours ago, Al F said:

Have you checked to see if FedEx and Walgreens will allow you to route a package to Walgreens for them to hold until you pick it up?

The only place I am aware of that FedEx will let you route a package to, for a hold for pickup, is the FedEx owned locations not agents.

I have picked up my FedEx packages from Walgreens the day it arrived.  But, if I didn't get to it for a few days, it would just sit in the locker until I claimed it.

You address the package to the Walgreens address, just like if it was your home address.

https://www.walgreens.com/topic/promotion/fedex.jsp

https://about.van.fedex.com/newsroom/fedex-package-pickup-and-drop-off-now-available-at-more-than-7500-walgreens-locations-in-all-50-states/

[dewilso]

Living @ Rainbows End, no home postal delivery gives me heartburn with Amazon ( and increasingly others) "last mile" shipping. I use the SKP mail service for all of my mail. Two problems with that are .... the accept everything, damaged or not. A package delivered via SKP adds up to $1 ea to my mail service cost. A plus for me is that they know me, and usually know when I’m gone,  two weeks ago I had refrigerated meds (unexpectedly) delivered. They called my neighbor, who is listed as agent on my account, they picked up the pkg till our return.

Compareing the AMZ & WMT website, for me, is not a problem. Whether WMT can find an item on a search or not, maybe because of their limited selection, they will send you pages of unrelated "stuff". Additionally, when I receive an item at WMT I have to go to the store and wait in line behind all of the exchanges,money transfers& whatever else to get MY package. Hang in there Jeff B. !

[SWharton]

I don't understand why you have to wait in line. So far, someone has been always waiting at the Walmart pickup location for me with the pkg. I get a text from Walmart that the pkg is in; check-in via the app when I am ready to pick it up; go to the store to the Pickup location and pick it up. No lines or anything. I have used this method at numerous Walmart's across the country and it works fine.

[Al F]

19 hours ago, remoandiris said:

I have picked up my FedEx packages from Walgreens the day it arrived.  But, if I didn't get to it for a few days, it would just sit in the locker until I claimed it.

You address the package to the Walgreens address, just like if it was your home address.

https://www.walgreens.com/topic/promotion/fedex.jsp

https://about.van.fedex.com/newsroom/fedex-package-pickup-and-drop-off-now-available-at-more-than-7500-walgreens-locations-in-all-50-states/

Oh wow!  This is a new service, which was announced last fall.  Thanks for sharing the details.  Good to know. 

[Vladimir]

On 6/24/2018 at 4:44 PM, Kirk Wood said:

That isn't true for all medications. Some of them are limited to a 90 day supply and also many insurance companies have that sale 90 supply limit. Ours happens to be one of the insurance companies with a 90 day maximum supply per time. It also limits how early you can order the next 90 day supply. In addition, there are drugs, especially pain medications that have as low as a 30-day limit and some of them can't be mailed but must be picked up in person. 

Correct. It is an insurance company requirement.

But I found it was cheaper to get a years supply at one time by paying out of pocket. I am on the Federal Employees Health Plan and the benefits are not that good compared to many private plans.

So your mileage may vary.

[noteven]

I’m a full timer and an alien when visiting the US. Receiving packages is easy to manage. 

My top tip is refuse to buy from businesses who keep their shipping method a Big Secret so you can work out the most dependable method for the area you are in. 

Spent some time at North Ranch last winter and our UPS driver tracked me down with an incomplete address and pidgin name spelling one time because he remembered a short chat we had a week and a half before. Old school...😎

[cowolter]

  Wal-Mart has a better selection in some areas. They're established in every city in America it seems like. This is an edge Amazon doesn't have. When you need a car battery or tool backpack at 3AM Amazon can't help you. Obviously their online presence is lacking, but I think counting them out in this fight is foolish at best.