5 Little-Known Perks of a Walmart+ Membership

Save time and money with these perks.

A lot of popular retail brands offer some sort of special membership program. For some brands, it's a free rewards program that lets you earn perks for your spending. With others, it's a paid membership that gets you perks and discounts. Either way, they're often great personal finance tools for the stores we frequent.

Walmart+ is the paid membership version, running about $12.95 a month or $98 a year (though you can get a free trial). On the surface, Walmart+ is about getting free grocery delivery (think Instacart, but just for Walmart).

But while free grocery delivery is the most-advertised perk of a membership, it's not the only one you get from your membership -- nor, perhaps, the most convenient. Check out these other, lesser-known perks.

1. Free Paramount+ subscription

These days, every major network has its own streaming platform. For CBS, that platform is Paramount+, and it's home to all of your favorite Star Trek and NCIS content. Normally, Paramount+ will cost you $4.99 a month for the Essential plan (with commercials). But your Walmart+ membership actually comes with a free Paramount+ Essential subscription, saving you $5 bucks a month. Not bad, considering you're paying just $8.17 a month for Walmart+ when you pay annually.

2. Scan & Go for speedy checkout

One of the most annoying parts of grocery shopping is the checkout line at the end of your trip. And this goes double for self-checkout, where the small space makes the entire process a juggling act from start to finish when you have a full cart.

That's where Scan & Go comes in handy. Simply download the Walmart mobile app and open the Scan & Go function. This turns your phone into a mobile self-checkout scanner. Then, every time you pick an item off the shelf, you can scan it with your phone and plunk it right into a reusable grocery bag.

When you're done shopping, you head to the nearest self-checkout and make a final scan of the QR code on the screen. If you have anything that needs to be weighed, you can do that now and add it to your order. Once you're done, a couple taps of the screen and you're all checked out, complete with a digital receipt to show the receipt checker at the door.

3. Free shipping with no minimum

One of the major reasons so many people get an Amazon Prime membership is the free shipping on just about everything, with no minimum purchase required. Well, move over Prime, because Walmart+ also includes free shipping, with no minimums, on all of its Walmart.com items -- and it does it at a lower cost. Even better, items that ship from local stores can show up the very next day, or even the same day, hand-delivered by a helpful driver.

4. Rewards on eligible items

Remember when we mentioned above that many retail memberships were rewards programs? Well, Walmart+ manages to tack that on, too. Members can earn Walmart Rewards on eligible items both in-store with the app and while shopping online. Simply add the rewards to your account, then either check out online or use Walmart Pay in the store.

One thing to note is that, unlike some rewards programs, Walmart Rewards doesn't offer you percentage savings on every item. Instead, it's more like a coupon app where the rewards apply to specific items that change regularly.

5. Save up to $0.10 a gallon on fuel

Gas prices have come back down from their record highs this summer, but they're still nowhere near the lows of previous years. Put your Walmart+ membership to use at the pump with exclusive fuel discounts at popular gas stations like Exxon, Mobile, and Murphy. Savings vary by location and station, and you'll need your handy dandy Walmart app to activate your discount.

Although a Walmart+ membership is hardly free, it's packed full of perks that help you save both time and money. For the right shopper, Walmart+ not only makes sense, but it could even be a money-making membership well worth the initial investment.