With Walmart shipping some items to the territory but not others, and the list of items allowed by its carriers seeming to change day by day, Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen has been in touch with the company and her office shared Walmart’s response Tuesday.
“We’ve made some recent shipping changes that may impact you," Walmart officials said in a statement to Christensen’s office. “Based on carrier limitations and other factors, we’re unable to ship consumables to the U.S. Virgin Islands and other protectorates. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.”
"For customers in the U.S. Virgin Islands, we offer shipping to home on the majority of general merchandise items carried online, as well as free shipping on select holiday purchases of $45 or more,” the statement continued. “Unfortunately, consumables – including health and beauty products, household cleaning supplies and dry grocery items – are no longer available to ship to the U.S. Virgin Islands."
Source staff recently successfully placed orders for some items, but noted a wide array of seemingly random items (including books, adhesive tape, a baseball cap and most electronics) were not available for shipping, although they do not appear to fall into the categories mentioned by Walmart officials.
According to Christensen’s office, Walmart officials also said the shipping changes not only affect the U.S. Virgin Islands, but also Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico and other off-shore U.S. territories. Christensen said she and her staff continue to work on determining what “carrier limitations and other factors” led to the company’s policy change.
While recently there was a one-week period in which constituents reported that online orders of the restricted items appeared to have resumed, Christensen said her office never received notification from Walmart that the shipping restrictions had been lifted.
“This is just one example of the inconsistencies that consumers have complained to us,” said Christensen. “I understand the frustration of my constituents and we will keep them informed.”