How Long Target Will Hold Your Grocery Pickup Order If You're Running Late

For more than 25% of consumers in the United States, curbside grocery pickup is worth it — enough to opt for it over doing the shopping themselves. However one downside can be the pickup window. No matter the reason you choose curbside or in-store pickup over traditional shopping, there's always the risk of some life event causing you to be late or miss your pickup window. Many stores, like Aldi, Sam's Club and others, will hold your items for certain periods of time, from one hour to 24 hours (and some, like Kroger, will charge you extra for the convenience). Target will also hold your purchases if you miss the pickup window, but how long Target will hold your pickup order depends on the contents.

If your order doesn't contain fresh foods, frozen foods, or a Starbucks Café order, Target will hold onto it for you for up to three days. If your order contains fresh foods or frozen foods (perishables or meltables), your order can only be held until the end of the following business day — just be sure to check the store's business hours. After the pickup window has passed, the store will cancel your order and refund your money to the original tender.

Ordering from Starbucks got a little better once it became eligible for curbside delivery, but it does shorten the pickup window to 30 minutes before your order needs to be discarded due to temperature sensitivity. Don't fret if time isn't your friend, though. Target saw these hurdles coming.

If you're running behind or can't make it to retrieve your Target grocery order in time, you're not completely out of luck. For starters, ordering Starbucks for pickup might not be the best option unless you absolutely know you'll be there — like if you were already driving to Target, but the baby fell asleep and you simply can't live without your Pumpkin Spice Latte. Another option is to add a shopping partner to whom you can delegate order pickup duties. You can invite a shopping partner from the Account section of your Target app.

Your authorized shopping partner can pick up your order either during checkout by selecting Add a Pickup Person, or after you've placed the order by adding them in the Order Details section. Of course, if you have no other options, you can cancel your pickup order either from the Target app or by calling guest services. 

Note: You cannot cancel an order that contains Starbucks Café items. If the issue is that you missed the status updates for your order, make sure you're receiving notifications from the Target app on your mobile device (the exact activation process varies per device). If it's your first time using the Target app, you'll probably be asked whether you'd like to receive push notifications. If you're planning on placing an order for pickup, it's best to select "yes."