Everything You Need to Know About Publix Grocery Pickup

If you’re a Publix shopper and are ready to say goodbye to expensive grocery delivery fees and anxiety-provoking in-store trips, say hello to ordering Publix grocery pickup via the Publix Delivery app. Pickup is free, meaning no service charge will be applied to your order. But, Publix has set an order minimum at $35 for pickup service.

Where does Publix do grocery pickup?

Publix has 1,239 locations across six states in the Southeast — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia — but only a select number of storefronts are offering grocery pickup. Visit their website and enter your zip code to see if any Publix stores near you are doing pickup at this time.

Does grocery pickup have the same prices as in store?

Ordering online or through the app will cost you about 10 – 20% more than in the store. Publix grocery pickup is powered by Instacart, which means that Publix marks up products you purchase through Instacart in order to offset the fees Instacart charges them for using their service.

You don’t have to pay a service fee with a pickup order, but you will pay more for your food.

Here’s an example of what you can expect to see:

Which coupons can I use with Publix grocery pickup?

In the Instacart/Publix app, you’ll see sales, or Publix limited-time promotions, and Coupons, or manufacturer coupons offered through Instacart.

To see current discounts—

1. Scroll down to the Sales section for Publix store promotions.
2. Tap Coupons at the bottom of your screen on the menu bar to see manufacturer savings through Instacart

1. See each available coupon, if there is one, underneath the item or items you’re interested in.

How do I use coupons with my Publix pickup order?

Publix does not accept paper coupons for grocery pickup or delivery at this time. But you can use digital coupons.

When you add a qualifying item to your cart, you’ll see the discount appear automatically. In some cases, you may need to add more than one item to receive the promotion (e.g., buy one get one). Some tips:

1. You can filter your results to only the items that have coupon offers available. (Or tap the “Savings” tab to see what’s on sale.)
2. If an item you clipped a coupon for gets substituted, you won’t see those coupon savings in your total.
3. Make careful notes in your substitutions so that you can ensure you get to use the coupon. For example, you can tell the Instacart shopper to substitute one flavor of granola bars that you have a coupon for with another flavor, but not a different brand.

Which rebate and cash back apps can I use with Publix grocery pickup?

• Ibotta works with Publix grocery pickup. But, here’s the catch. Normally you have to upload your paper receipt (which you won’t get if you do pickup, as you pay online). To work around this, you can link Ibotta with your Club Publix loyalty card by (in the Ibotta app) simply tapping “Link Publix Account” as you see above.
• Fetch Rewards works with Instacart, which as you know powers Publix grocery pickup. You need to link your email account to Fetch Rewards, which will scan your email for eReceipts so you can earn points on your purchases.
• Checkout 51 normally doesn’t accept e-receipts for their program, but I reached out to their customer service and this is what she said, “While we normally don’t accept digital receipts or online grocery orders without a packing slip, we are making an exception for the time being.” The rep directed me to the Walmart instructions to use with my online Publix grocery order.

Ready to use Publix grocery pickup now? Okay! Here’s how with the help of the Publix Delivery app and any smartphone.

Step 1: Download the Publix Delivery app for your phone.

Important: You need the Publix Delivery app — not the regular Publix app — to do a grocery pickup order. You can download it for Apple phones here and Androids here.

You’ll know it’s the right one because there is the little Instacart carrot at the bottom right-hand side. That’s right — grocery pickup is a new service that is technically offered by Instacart, rather than Publix itself.

Step 2. Link the app to your Club Publix account.

If you already have a Publix account, you can use it to log in to the Publix Delivery app.

PRO TIP: Make sure you link your Club Publix membership to your app so that you can take advantage of extra offers and savings through your app. You will need to do this to use cash back apps like Ibotta to save more money!

Another benefit to having an account is it will save your preferred pickup location, prescriptions, past purchases — making it easier to reorder in the future — as well as your payment information for faster checkout.

Step 3. Make sure you select “Pickup” instead of Delivery at the top of your screen.

Just sayin’. It’d be easy to gloss over and accidentally place an order with a Publix location that doesn’t actually have grocery pickup. More on that below.

Step 4: Choose the closest Publix store to you with grocery pickup.

You can find out which locations are offering grocery pickup at www.publix.com/curbside, but I found it easier to do it in the Publix Delivery app. That way I don’t have to bounce back and forth between my browser and the app, where I’ll actually be placing my order.

Keep in mind that some areas may not have a location near you with grocery pickup. In that case, you can still order online or go in store. Find a Publix location near you.

Step 5: Select a pickup day and time that works for you.

At time of publication, the soonest available delivery time for a Publix selected in Clearwater, Florida was five days out. Interestingly, the delivery option said just two hours — that’d cost about $3.99. Grocery pickup, as a reminder, is free-ninety-nine.

Step 6: Select what items you want to buy.

In the app, you can easily explore sale items, sort products by category (dairy and eggs, snacks, frozen, meat and seafood, and so on), look for specific items in the search bar, and order anything in stock in the store. Once you’ve used the service more than once, it’s super easy to reorder past purchases.

Though Publix Pharmacy’s prescription services don’t seem quite integrated with the Publix Delivery app, an associate told me I could call a few minutes before arriving for my grocery pickup order and ask an employee to run my prescription out to me. Keep in mind that the prescription would need to be paid for in advance via the regular Publix app or the Publix website.

Step 7: Check out and pay.

Easy peasy. Don’t forget to mark your pickup window on your calendar and/or set up a reminder on your phone.

Step 8: Go to the correct Publix during your grocery pickup window.

Head to the Publix you’ve placed your order with. You will see designated Publix Curbside parking spaces.

Be sure to pull into one of those spots, then call the number on the sign to alert the store that you’re there. (If you’re hoping a prescription can be run out to you, this would be a good time to remind them of that.) Pop your trunk or open your back door, and an Instacart worker will then load your groceries into your car. Tips are encouraged.

It’s as simple as that.