Heads up! I just got the email below that Wal-Mart’s Savings Catcher will require you to use Walmart Pay starting October 29th 2018. It also means you’ll have to pay for your purchase using Wal-Mart Pay.
"At Walmart, we’re committed to making your shopping experience using the Walmart app quicker and more convenient.
That’s why, on October 29, 2018, our Terms of Use for Savings Catcher will be changing, and Walmart Pay will be the exclusive way to submit your receipt to Savings Catcher. This will allow you to both submit and spend your Savings Catcher rewards within the same Walmart Pay experience. Due to this change, the ability to scan paper receipts within the app or submit via desktop will be discontinued.
How Savings Catcher Will Work
Rather than scanning paper receipts using the Savings Catcher scanner after paying, you’ll simply create an eReceipt using the Walmart Pay scanner when paying. Here’s how:
Enroll in Walmart Pay
Use Walmart Pay at checkout to create an eReceipt for submission. This can be done by:
Opening Walmart Pay and selecting which credit, debit, or gift card you’d like to use.
Using Walmart Pay to scan the QR code at the register to generate your eReceipt.
Tap “Submit Receipt” directly from your Walmart Pay confirmation page or from your Savings Catcher dashboard on the Walmart app"
I got the same. It appears that they either want out of the price matching game (no matter how they rig it), or they want to drive numbers to their app. Consequently, we’ll do more shopping at Aldi and Lidl.
Yes, I got the email also last evening. I do most of my grocery shopping at Super Walmart and I’ll continue to do so, for the time being. They’re still the cheapest place to grocery shop around here, except for occasional meat sales at regular grocery stores. But I may just opt out of the Savings Catcher program because of this. It hasn’t benefited me much since they stopped matching produce prices. Lately, I’ve gotten less than $1 or $2 per month.
I tried to use Walmart Pay once, months ago, after they announced you had to start redeeming your savings via the Walmart Pay app. (They stopped sending emails with the bar code with your eGift card printed on them.) The app wouldn’t scan the QR code at the register in self-checkout. The cashier had to do it at her register. She said a lot of people have trouble when they try to use Walmart Pay. And now they’re trying to force it? I’ve gotten around it since then, because I still had an email with my eGift card bar code on it from 2014. It’s gotten faded and worn, so sometimes I’ve had trouble getting it to scan, but eventually it does. Looks like that’s not going to be an issue anymore.
I was just there today to pick up a few things and mentioned it to the cashier. She was shocked and said she hadn’t heard anything about it. I said, “You will.” She said hardly anyone uses Walmart Pay. Maybe because when they try, it doesn’t work right?
I emailed them last night about how this would affect Wal-Mart’s grocery pickup service. Up to now, you have to cut and paste the receipt number from the online order into Savings Catcher. After October 29th, that will no longer be possible. In effect, Savings Catcher will end for grocery pickup after that date. See their response below:
“Walmart has begun phasing out the Savings Catcher program. Starting on the 29th of October the grocery orders online will no longer accumulate. The Walmart Pay function has never been something supported on the Walmart Grocery site nor will it be after the 29th of October.”
Well, it sounds like @Honkinggoose is right about that. At least it’s a straight answer. Thanks for posting it. Now I know not to waste any more milliseconds debating whether it’s worth it to switch to their app for this.
This is almost exactly the way CVS Pay works. Walmart and CVS are simply resisting Apple Pay. As for Savings Catcher, it was to entice customers to use the Walmart app.
I’m not familiar with the Walmart app’s release date, but remember the Savings Catcher program being introduced when Walmart quit price matching grocery items. When introduced, Walmart promoted the Savings Catcher program as “this is better than price matching.” In fact, I don’t recall there being any mention of the app, but it would probably slip by me unless it were a requirement … which it now is.
I missed your original message, but that is exactly how we handle it. I tried putting the Walmart Pay app on a dummy phone that I use for junk apps, but like you, could not get it to scan properly.
If any are around you, and if you get there early enough, both Lidl and the remodeled Aldi stores have excellent prices on produce. My wife’s biggest complaint is that they frequently run out of things, which makes having to run to another store that much more irritating.
We do have Aldi’s but I’ve never shopped there. When I’ve looked at their sales flyers, their produce pricing is often about the same as Walmart’s, sometimes higher. Plus, Walmart is literally a 1.6 mile drive from my house, which is closer than any Aldi’s around. When a couple of local stores have irritated me by consistently not having the advertised sale items, they quit getting my business. Now that a regional chain has been slashing prices - although still making their pricing higher than Walmart’s usual pricing - Walmart’s in my state have followed suit, beating out that chains attempt to be “competitive”.
I will say that where Walmart doesn’t make the grade is with their beef. I used to get great pricing when they’d yellow sticker it, often at half off, beating out regular grocery sale pricing. For the last year or so, they may mark it down by only 50 cents, which makes shopping the grocery store meat sales the better bargain.
The main reason I liked savings catcher wasn’t even because I got money back it was because it was a much easier way to keep up with receipts in case I needed to return something or if I’d bought a big ticket item and needed to keep the receipt for warranty purposes. Now I can’t do that so I will end up losing them again because I am not using the pay thing on a regular basis. The only time I actually do use it is when I had gotten money back. It’s not worth it to me to continue to use it.
Maybe take your receipt from the cash register and put it in a shoe box when you get home. When your cc bill arrives, go through your shoebox and compare your receipts with the cc statement. Then staple the receipts to the cc statement and put it in your filing cabinet. For big ticket items, tape the purchase date or copy of receipt to the back of the item. You can also write the item name and purchase date on the folder where you put the statements and attached receipts.
It’s not as easy as trusting Wallymart to do it correctly, but probably safer.
Yep. Apparently, it did not generate enough revenue through their app, nor did they lose enough business by forcing it to the app. Now, Walmart can’t say they have any kind of price match system.
It’s kind of bogus for them to say that the purpose of the whole program was to determine if their prices were lower most of the time. Like they don’t have people whose job it is to determine just that. They just don’t want to pay out anymore when their prices are higher.
I’ve gotten around it since then, because I still had an email with my eGift card bar code on it from 2014. It’s gotten faded and worn, so sometimes I’ve had trouble getting it to scan, but eventually it does. Looks like that’s not going to be an issue anymore.
- Walmart’s in my state have followed suit, beating out that chains attempt to be “competitive”.