With almost 1.6 million associates across the United States, Walmart is one of the country’s leading employers. Thus, if you’re also eyeing a job at the retailers, you may wonder if the employees get any discounts.
Walmart associates are eligible for a 10% discount on fresh produce and selected merchandise. They can avail of this discount using their Walmart Associate Discount Card in-store and online. The discount card is available for employees (and their spouses) after they complete 90 days of work.
Keep reading to find out more about what you can and cannot buy with the Walmart employee discount and how to use it!
What Can You Buy with the Walmart Employee Discount In-Store?
Once the Walmart associates are issued a discount card, they can use it in-store and get 10% off on eligible purchases. You can buy general merchandise (not on sale) and fresh prudence at 10% less than the average Walmart shopper.
However, there are several restrictions on this discount application through the store. For example, since the sale, clearance, and marked-down items are already sold at a lower price, employees cannot use the discount card for them. In the same way, here are some other items that do not qualify for the discount:
- Almost all grocery purchases apart from fresh produce
- Company use items reimbursed for by Walmart
- Fuel
- Items for charity events that are paid for and returned by the company
- Purchases made using tax exemption ID number
- Eye-sight examinations in Walmart visions centers
Can You Use Walmart Employee Discount Online?
You can use the Walmart employee discount card online to buy selected general merchandise when you shop through Walmart.com. However, just as there are limits to what is eligible for a discount via the associate card in-store, there are also things you cannot buy using the card online.
Products that cannot be bought using the Walmart associate card online include (but are not limited to):
- Marketplace products
- Shopping and online gift cards
- Digital downloads – album and track (audio)
- Shipping fees
- Clearance items
Moreover, Walmart associates can also get deals on various categories, including entertainment, travel, and fitness, through the Walmart Associate Discount Center.
Employees can use the discount center to claim exclusive deals for Walmart employees from other companies. All associates have to do is click on the “Get Deal” tab to access the current offers. In this way, employees are not limited to availing discounts in Walmart stores; instead, they have access to numerous other companies’ products at great prices.
Keeping in mind the 2016 average household income in the US, Walmart associates can save close to $5000 yearly by regularly accessing the discount center deals.
Walmart Employee Discount: Eligibility Criteria
One of the best things about the Walmart employee discount is that you only need to be working for 90 days to be eligible for the 10% discount via the associate card. However, remember that the 90-day employment period needs to be continuous for discount eligibility.
Another perk is that after completing the mandatory working days for the employee discount, there is no requirement to enroll for the card. The system already sends a card for you and your spouse/partner at your registered home address.
For employees that are unmarried at the time of employment and later get married, ordering a card for your partner is simple. You can do so by filling up the Online Discount Card Application through WalmartOne.com or on WIRE.
Keep in mind that the state’s law where the employee lives define the spouse, including same-gender spouses.
Moreover, eligible employee dependents can borrow the card for personal purchases but won’t be issued their own.
Additional Employee Discount On Thanksgiving
As an additional perk, Walmart employees that work through the Thanksgiving period are allowed an extra 15% discount on various items. Moreover, the company also expands what you can buy with a 10% employee discount over this period.
According to an employee notice published in The Guardian in 2019, the 10% employee discount that usually doesn’t cover most grocery items is expanded to include everything but a few grocery products as per the law, like fuel, alcohol, tobacco, and milk. This expanded grocery items discount runs past the New Year, after which standard rules apply. On the other hand, the additional 15% discount is only valid for two days. However, employees must follow strict holiday schedules to be eligible for the deal.
When the article was published, Walmart drew ire for not giving Holiday Pay to employees working the Thanksgiving period. However, according to one employee, the additional 15% discount, which makes it 25% over two days, has much better value than receiving Holiday Pay for an 8-hour workday.
You can find more information on Walmart’s Holiday Pay policy here.
How To Use the Walmart Employee Discount Card?
To use the employee discount card in-store, you need to have it on hand at the checkout and use it by simply swiping it at the reader as you would with a debit/ credit card. Before using the card, you will need to register it by logging into your Walmart account online.
You can get the discount using this card online by searching the associates’ page and entering the Associate ID and discount card number.
The Bottom Line
After 90 continuous days of employment, Walmart associates are eligible for the 10% employee discount on fresh produce and other general (typically priced) merchandise. Given that they work the required period of days through Thanksgiving, employees receive an additional 15% discount on expanded items for a specified period. Moreover, the usual 10% employee discount extends to employees’ spouses and can be used by eligible dependent children. The children, unlike the spouse, will not receive a separate card.
