How to Do Kroger Pickup: Save Time, Skip Lines, and Master Grocery Shopping In 2025

It’s 6:17 PM on a Tuesday. You just finished a 9 hour work day, your gas light is on, and the last thing you want to do is wander 12 aisles of a grocery store while strangers bump your cart. This is exactly why millions of people are learning How to Do Kroger Pickup, and once you try it, you will never go back to walking through the store again.

2024 grocery industry data shows that 72% of regular curbside shoppers save at least 90 minutes per week on grocery runs. That’s extra time for dinner, hobbies, or just sitting down quiet for 10 minutes before the kids get home. In this guide, we will walk through every single step, from creating your first order to handling missing items, plus little known tricks that regular users don’t even know about.

Starting Your First Kroger Pickup Order

Most people get stuck before they even start, wondering if they need a special membership or hidden fees. You don’t. To do Kroger Pickup, log into your free Kroger account on the website or mobile app, add groceries to your cart, select Pickup at checkout, pick an available time slot for your local store, and complete payment. There is no service fee for orders over $35, which covers almost every normal weekly grocery run.

Choosing The Best Pickup Time Slot

Time slots fill up fast, especially on weekends and weeknights. You don’t have to wait until the last minute to book one — Kroger opens pickup slots 7 full days in advance for all users. If you plan your grocery list on Sunday night, you can lock in the exact time you want for the following week before anyone else claims it.

Not all time slots are created equal. Some times have shorter wait times, fresher produce, and fewer order mistakes. Based on over 1200 user surveys, these are the best and worst slots to pick:

• ✅ 8 AM - 10 AM: Fresh restock done, shoppers are rested, almost no wait when you arrive
• ✅ 1 PM - 3 PM: Slow store hours, shoppers have extra time for your order
• ❌ 5 PM - 7 PM: Peak after work rush, 3x higher chance of substitutions
• ❌ Saturday 10 AM - 2 PM: Busiest period of the whole week

You can change or cancel your time slot up until 2 hours before your scheduled pickup with zero penalty. If something comes up last minute, just open the app and adjust the time. No one will call you or charge you extra for this.

Pro tip: If all the good slots are gone, check back 45 minutes before the time you want. People cancel slots constantly, and Kroger releases canceled slots back to the schedule immediately.

Setting Substitution Preferences Correctly

Kroger shoppers will substitute out of stock items automatically unless you tell them not to. Most bad pickup experiences happen because people never adjust their substitution settings. You can set preferences for every single item in your cart, not just a global rule for the whole order.

For each item you add, tap the substitution icon next to the name. You will see three options you can select:

1. Allow best possible substitution (default setting)
2. Pick my preferred substitute first
3. Do not substitute this item at all

You should always turn off substitution for things like medication, baby formula, specific pet food, or produce where ripeness matters. For everything else, picking a preferred substitute will give you much better results than letting the shopper guess. You can even write a 100 character note for each item if you have specific needs.

You will only ever pay the lower price for any substituted item. If Kroger gives you a more expensive product instead of the one you ordered, you still get charged the original price you agreed to at checkout. This is a store policy that almost no new users know about.

After You Submit Your Pickup Order

Once you pay, you don’t just have to wait around. You can edit your order right up until 11:59 PM the night before your pickup time. That means you can add that gallon of milk you forgot, remove something you changed your mind about, or even add a last minute birthday card at no extra cost.

Most people don’t realize you can track your shopper in real time on pickup day. About 2 hours before your slot, the app will update to show that a shopper has started your order. You can see which items they have picked already, and you can even send them a direct message through the app while they are shopping.

If you get a notification that an item is out of stock, you can approve or reject the substitution right from your phone. You don’t have to wait until you get to the store to say no. This one trick eliminates 90% of frustrating pickup surprises.

You will also get a final receipt emailed to you 15 minutes before your pickup time. Check this receipt before you leave your house. If anything is missing that you ordered, you can flag it right away instead of arguing about it in the parking lot.

Checking In When You Arrive At The Store

You do not need to call the store when you are on your way. The Kroger app has a one tap check in button that works perfectly. Tap this button when you leave your house, and the team will have your order brought out right as you pull into a parking spot.

Every Kroger store has marked pickup parking spots near the front entrance. These spots are only for pickup orders, you never have to pay for them, and you can park there for up to 15 minutes. Do not park in regular parking spots or your order will not be brought out to you.

• Have your order number visible on your phone screen
• Turn on your hazard lights if it is raining or busy
• Stay in your car unless there is a sign telling you to come inside
• You do not need to show ID for most orders

On average, Kroger employees will bring your order out to your car within 4 minutes of you checking in. If you wait longer than 10 minutes, you can message support through the app and you will usually get a $5 credit for your next order.

You can also send someone else to pick up your order. Just add their name as an alternate pickup person in your order settings before your slot starts. They will just need to show their drivers license when they arrive.

Checking Your Order Before You Drive Away

This is the most important step that 80% of new users skip. You have every right to check every single item in your order before you leave the parking lot. Kroger employees expect this, and they will not rush you.

You do not need to unpack every bag. Just ask the employee to go over the out of stock and substituted items with you first. These are the only places mistakes happen. If you don’t want a substitute item, you can hand it right back and get an immediate full refund for that item.

1. Confirm all cold items are still frozen or refrigerated
2. Count the total number of bags matches what the receipt says
3. Mention any missing items right away
4. Check produce quality before the employee leaves

All refunds for pickup orders process within 24 hours. You do not have to return anything once you leave the parking lot, but it is much faster to fix issues while you are still there. If you get home and find something missing, you can still request a refund through the app in less than 30 seconds.

You never have to tip Kroger pickup employees. It is against store policy for them to accept tips. You can thank them, you can leave a good review for their name, but do not offer them money. They can get in trouble for accepting it.

Fixing Common Kroger Pickup Problems

Even when you do everything right, sometimes things go wrong. Almost every common problem has an easy fix that you can do yourself in 1 minute. You almost never need to call the store.

The most common complaint is missing items. If you get home and something you ordered is not there, open the order history in the app, tap "report issue", select the missing item, and choose refund. 98% of these requests are approved automatically, no questions asked. You will get your money back the same day.

If your whole order never shows up, do not yell at the store employees. Just contact app support. They will either resend your order immediately or give you a full refund plus a $15 store credit. This almost never happens, but it is good to know the policy ahead of time.

Remember that Kroger pickup shoppers are regular people working fast. They pick 20 orders per shift during busy times. A little patience goes a long way, and most mistakes are honest accidents that get fixed immediately.

Kroger Pickup is not just a lazy way to buy groceries, it is one of the best small life upgrades you can make this year. You will save hours every week, avoid impulse buys that add $20-$30 to every grocery trip, and never stand in a checkout line again. All it takes is one 10 minute order to get started.

This week, try it for your normal grocery run. Follow the steps we walked through, pick a good time slot, set your substitution preferences properly, and check your order before you leave. Once you do it once, you will wonder how you ever shopped any other way. If you have a favorite Kroger Pickup trick, share it with other readers in the comments below.