We compared Amazon's lockers and Walmart's pickup towers to see which one was easier to use - and there was a clear winner

I used Walmart's pickup towers first.

I ordered two small products on Walmart's website and then selected "pickup" at checkout. Choosing pickup saved me $5.99 in shipping fees.

I chose my location and filled out the fields as prompted.

After placing my order, I received an online confirmation and an email saying my order would be available for pickup on Friday, November 9.

But on November 7, I got an email that my order was ready for pickup, and that I had seven days to go get it. It was a longer window than I would get with the Amazon Locker later.

The seven-day pickup window for Walmart was definitely a perk, because I had plenty of time to pick up my items on my own schedule.

I went to the Walmart in Secaucus, New Jersey. The pickup towers were located at the front of the store.

The towers were hard to miss.

When I got to the tower, I was prompted to either scan the barcode in my email or type in my order number.

The scanner didn't work, so I typed in my order number myself.

I was surprised when the screen said my order was not in the pickup tower, so I went to the second tower and tried again there.

Again, I got an error message. After trying both machines a second time, I had to press the help button on the screen and wait for an employee to come over to help me.

The employee was able to look up my order and found that I had one item in each tower, which was a bit annoying. After finding the products, I entered my order number again, and a hidden conveyer belt above the screen lit up. The glass door slid open, and I was able to grab my order.

There was a size limit for the pickup towers. Walmart's towers can hold small- to medium-sized boxes, and Amazon's lockers have a limit of 19 x 12 x 14 inches.

Source: Business Insider, Amazon

The whole process only took a few minutes, but it was definitely frustrating that my order was split between both towers. Having to wait for an employee to come help seems to defeat the purpose a bit, because I would have waited just as long had I waited on a checkout line. Besides that, it was a pretty simple process.

Plus, I could see how it would be helpful for avoiding large store crowds, since you don't have to walk all the way through the store to access it.

I went to Amazon's pickup locker next. The closest one to my office is located in a Century 21 store in New York's Financial District. The online ordering process was nearly identical to Walmart's.

I selected "free locker pickup" at checkout and chose the location nearest to me. There were 20 nearby Amazon Lockers, compared to one nearby Walmart pickup tower.

Amazon Lockers can be located in all kinds of places, from convenience stores to Whole Foods, which makes them easier to access.

My initial confirmation email said the products would be arriving between November 13 and 15, but on November 6, I got an email that they had arrived, and that I had four days to pick them up.

The Amazon Locker was located on the fifth floor of the six-floor department store.

I took the escalators up and followed the signs towards the locker. Though it wasn't immediately obvious, it ended up being pretty easy to get to.

The locker was painted to match the rest of the store. It was tucked away in the corner, with nothing else around it. The locker was massive.

All I had to do when I got to the locker was scan the barcode in my confirmation email under the screen. There were no additional steps, and no need to type any information on the screen.

A locker with my package in it popped open instantly when I scanned the code. The process must have taken 10 seconds total. It was definitely much more convenient and much easier than Walmart's pickup tower, and is the clear winner of the two.