Walmart Curbside Order Price in 2020 Versus Now — Customer Sees Shocking Increase

Throughout 2023, people have been trying to tighten their belts considerably as the U.S. faces an economic crisis. Folks everywhere are trying to save money while still keeping a handle on the essentials, especially groceries. But in an economic struggle that feels a lot like an economic depression, prices on everything are bound to go up.

One teacher on TikTok saw those changes firsthand when it came to their Walmart curbside order. While the service might be convenient for allowing customers to place their orders online and pick them up in the parking lot without having to enter the store, it has reportedly become more expensive in 2023 to order the same service with the same products than it was in 2020. TikToker Kay Pal (@kaypal7) breaks it down by the numbers.

According to their TikTok, Kay was inspired by another video on the same platform. In that video, a person compared the price of their Walmart curbside order from 2020 and recreated that same list in 2023 for a wildly different price.

"I thought I would rebuild one of my shopping lists from 2020 and see what it cost then and what it costs now," Kay decided. You won't believe the difference they found.

Kay opted to compare today's prices with an order they made on Sept. 13, 2020. Their order included food and supplies for their home as well as snacks for their classroom. All in all, the order came out to $161.18 with tax included.

Based on that, Kay tried to recreate the order exactly as it was back in 2020. They had to make a few compromises by substituting similar products to the 2020 items that were no longer being sold there, but Kay claimed that "everything else is pretty much spot on in quantity, size, brand, everything like that."

Yup, everything was basically the same. Oh, except for the disturbingly higher price. After taxes, the order came out to a shocking grand total of $205.52.

Kay even broke down the statistics behind this inflation. They calculated a 27 percent increase in their curbside order over the past three years, which also amounts to an extra $44 that they spend every week. They even claim that prices like these would have bought them a week's worth of groceries back in 2020.

"That's a lot of money for a teacher," Kay laments. "That's a lot of money for a lot of people.

Walmart hasn't responded to Distractify's request for comments.

Folks in the comments not only share in Kay's despair over their groceries, but they're have their own horror stories to add to their economic woes.

One commenter claimed, "The stuff [I buy] is smaller. Everything weighs less, includes less, and lasts less time."

Another user even claims that the price on some common items have jumped up by 50 percent since 2020.

Naturally, groceries aren't the only thing that people need to worry about. One person complained that their rent and utilities for their apartment have gone up by $500 since 2020, and not even an increased salary can soften the blow.

In a large-scale economic crisis, everyone's gonna feel it where it hurts, which makes the COVID-19 pandemic era conveniences like curbside pickup less and less affordable.