Even worse, it isn't a journalist making the mistake, it is someone patting themselves on the back for having unique insight into the advantages Amazon has over competitors.

The author is nothing if not confident about their predictive senses: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8943297

I had no idea. Last time I used Walmart.com (maybe 5 years ago?), I had the option of in-store pickup if it's available, ship to store for free if it's not (sometimes takes several weeks, what's up with that?) or shipping to my house (5-7 days).

Maybe the problem with Walmart is they have a toxic brand for a certain market segment. Even with free same-day in-store pickup, I would still use Amazon's two-day shipping in order to avoid going into my local Walmart.

You should try visiting some rural/small-town Walmarts. They're actually quite nice. The ones in urban areas I've been to look like war zones: stuff scattered all over, shelves half-bare, everything dirty, etc. The ones I've been to in rural areas are very nice and decent. Sure, the store's full of Trump voters but they generally keep to themselves, but more importantly the stores are clean and well kept-up from what I've seen. Also, the customers in rural Walmarts are a much better crowd: in urban areas, the customers are the bottom of the barrel, people who are too poor/cheap to shop at Target or better. In rural areas, everyone shops at Walmart because that's all there is. So not only are the poorer people there, but all the local doctors, lawyers, dentists, etc. are shopping there too, so the clientele overall looks decent, instead of a caricature of the "peopleofwalmart" website.

I currently live in a small mid-Atlantic town, and shop at Walmart for groceries because the nearest Target is 30 minutes away. Sure, there's some annoying customers sometimes with monster trucks or T-shirts with guns on them, but I don't feel like I'm going to be mugged. When I lived in northern New Jersey, that's exactly how I felt, so I didn't go to Walmart if I could help it. (But the nearby Target was great, so that's where I shopped for that kind of stuff.)

Not pickup, it's free two day shipping

https://www.walmart.com/cp/free-shipping/1088989

There's also ShopRunner that comes free if you have an American Express card. You can use ShopRunner at a bunch of places like NewEgg, Drugstore.com, PetsMart, and more. Free two day shipping.

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/content/shoprunner.html

And the amazing thing about it is it includes a lot of the basic foodstuff staples that amazon doesn't carry, or adds a hidden $4 shipping charge to. Compare the price for a low-end shaving cream at Walmart and Amazon. Walmart: $1.75. Amazon only has them at $5 each, or in a 6-pack for $13.