Walmart Can Soon Walk Into Your Home, Open Your Fridge, Deliver Groceries

I know we're all busy. Just yesterday, I found myself trying to juggle a phone call while making dinner while signing for a UPS package. But I'm skeptical that the answer to our time crunch is to have strangers wearing body cameras stock our fridges. But hey, maybe you don't share my wariness.

In that case, has Walmart got a service for you! An announcement from CEO Marc Lore on the retail behemoth's website says the company will "take delivery one step further" by offering an InHome Delivery option in which Walmart employees will shop for your grocery items, then enter your home wearing body cameras to stock those items in your kitchen or garage refrigerator. Amazon already offers a similar service via Key By Amazon.

"These associates, whose jobs are focused on this service, will also go through an extensive training program which prepares them to enter customers' homes with the same care and respect with which they would treat a friend's or family's home," the announcement says.

(I suspect some of my friends and family have snooped through my medicine cabinet and drawers while I'm gone, so not sure that's the most comforting analogy.)

I don't mean to turn my nose up at the convenience factor, which does sound great. Returning home from work to a full fridge? Yes, please. But inviting strangers to enter my house while I'm away—whether or not I can monitor them remotely—seems a high price to pay for such convenience. Walmart's announcement also notes the associates will in the future accept returns for items purchased on Walmart.com, if customers just leave them on the counter. What could go wrong?

Anyway, if you're a lucky resident of Kansas City, Missouri; Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; or Vero Beach, Florida; the service will launch in your market in the fall. Please, please let us know how this works out for you.