Walgreens winds down test of one-hour deliveries from D.C. area stores

TysonsReporter.com June 29, 2023 at 3:04pm

Woman gets Walgreens delivery (courtesy Walgreens) — Walgreens has been testing one-hour deliveries in the D.C. area (courtesy Walgreens)

Tomorrow (Friday) will be the last chance Fairfax County residents have to take advantage of Walgreens’ experiment with one-hour home deliveries.

At the beginning of June, the pharmacy company launched a pilot program exclusively in the D.C. region that guarantees deliveries to customers within an hour. They can get $10 towards the Walgreens rewards program to use in the future “if it’s even a minute late,” according to a press release.

Running from June 1-30, the pilot included 22 stores in Fairfax County and over 160 stores across Virginia.

“The stores in the northern Virginia/DC area, part of the broader Mid-Atlantic region, were chosen to test the 1-hour Delivery offering because the region contains a large number of storefronts, and serves a mix of population sizes (urban, suburban, rural), allowing us to test our delivery guarantee in a variety of environments,” a Walgreens representative said by email.

More than 27,000 items are eligible for the service, including over-the-counter medicines, but alcohol and prescription medicine deliveries are exempted.

As previously reported by FFXnow’s sister site, ARLnow, Walgreens does tack on a fee for deliveries that varies depending on the products in the order and the distance traveled.

Walgreens introduced same-day deliveries in December, a service that’s available 24 hours a day and includes prescription medications. It also offers 30-minute pickups for orders of $10 or more.

Like many other retailers, Walgreens has been building up its delivery services over the past few years, partnering with companies like Instacart, DoorDash and Postmates.

Nationwide, demand for contactless delivery and curbside pickup services surged early in the pandemic, providing a lifeline to restaurants and other businesses that had to close their doors. At the same time, the third-party apps that proliferated have faced scrutiny for their high commissions and labor practices, while service fees have increased — even for Amazon, which helped set expectations of free, fast shipping.

A full list of the Fairfax County stores participating in the Walgreens pilot is below: