Pickup Towers available for use in Md. store

A local store will have your items waiting for you using a newly installed "high-tech vending machine for customers' online orders."

Walmart, Inc. says on Thursday, a pickup tower was installed at the Salisbury location on N Salisbury Boulevard. Officials say the tower allows shoppers to pick up items in less than a minute by scanning a bar code sent to their smart phones. The 16 foot tall structure is apparently to second installed in Maryland.

According to officials, to use the pickup tower, customers choose their items online and select the Pickup option at checkout.When the item arrives at the local store, it is loaded into the Pickup Tower and the customer retrieves it by scanning a bar code sent to their smart phone.

Walmart E-Commerce Coach Ben Hardin says, " Our free Pickup service is a popular way for people to save time and money. We know speed and convenience are important to our customers, and we're always looking for new ways to bring it to them. The Pickup Tower is a great example of how we're testing new technology and letting our customers and associates tell us what works best. We're excited by the response to the Pickup Tower and look forward to expanding it to serve more customers."

Officials report that since 2017, more than half a million orders were picked up using the towers.