It’s the first Friday of the month, which means it’s time for me to share another thing that I have found useful!  As a reminder, my First Friday Finds are not anything that someone is telling me to share.  I receive no money for these suggestions.  I just enjoy sharing things that have made my life better.  This month’s find is a feature within the Walmart App called Savings Catcher.  I don’t shop at Walmart enough that it would constitute the need for an app, but with this feature it’s become an app that I use regularly.

My friend, who is an avid Walmart shopper, shared this app with me a few weeks ago.  Basically, once you’ve received your receipt from your Walmart shopping trip, you scan the receipt using the Savings Catcher feature in the Walmart app.  Then, the system compares the items on your receipt with local competitors to see if you could have found one of the items cheaper had you purchased it elsewhere.  If a competitor’s price is cheaper, Walmart will reimburse the difference.  Awesome, right?

Let me share my most recent experience using this app feature.  I had a Walmart receipt that consisted of 40 items.  I scanned the receipt and after a period of 3 days (the usual allotted time for the app to complete its task), I was notified that 11 of those 40 items had lower prices elsewhere.  The savings added up to $2.49. The app indicates which competitor beat them and lists the price difference.  In the case of this particular receipt, Safeway and Albertsons had lower prices on baby food, cream cheese, and spaghetti sauce.  The amount may seem minimal, but this has not been my first receipt.  The money adds up and you can transfer the money into a virtual Walmart gift card, as soon as you’re wanting to cash out.  My avid Walmart shopper friend had already tallied up nearly $50 when she first told me about this app.

I confessed to that same friend that using this app feels like I’m playing some sort of lottery.  I secretly get excited about the idea that the app will find something cheaper elsewhere and I’ll get some money coming my way.  Target uses a similar tactic to get you to trust your money with them with their 5% cash back debit card, which I also have in my wallet arsenal.  I think the difference here is that you never know what you’ll get back.  If I look at the percentage of return I have received so far, it’s actually lower than 5%, but you have to take into account that you’re often walking out with the lowest prices you’re going to find in the first place when it comes to Walmart.

Of course, as with all things, there are drawbacks to it.  First, it’s Walmart.  I feel like that sentence speaks for itself.  Second, if it’s a Walmart exclusive item, there isn’t going to be anything to compare with competitors.  Third, it’s Walmart.  Walmart has lower standards.  I know this to be true because I was going to go to Walmart in sweat pants and then decided to put on jeans when we opted to go to Target instead.

Like I said, I don’t always shop at Walmart, but when I do, I use the Savings Catcher.  I sound like a Dos Equis meme, no?

I had to include that meme.  It wasn’t the funniest one that Pinterest offered up when I looked up Dos Equis, but it was the FIRST one in the feed.  What are the chances of it being Walmart related?  Apparently, 100%.

Happy Savings everyone!