The thing I don't like about W-Mart is the crap they pull when you go to check out and swipe your card. Then it pops up wanting to know how much money you want. I think not honest. Steve in Baltimore.

Oh, yes, I do believe in voting with your wallet. Enough folks keep their wallets closed and the store eventually gets the message. They get the message even faster when we let upper management know just what was unsatisfactory.

Steve ~ I honestly have never had a card offer me money. May I borrow yours? :)

Emerson's essay on Compensation applies to Walmart as well as everything else. If you go there to buy something because it's cheaper,then expect something else to make up for the money you saved.

I've always gone to W*M for Pedigree dogfood (.57 a can) and Friskies catfood (.33 a can). This past week, W*M raised the prices to .66 and .42, respectively. Since W*M's prices are now the same as my favorite supermarket's, I'll be buying petfood there, instead, since the supermarket has a much better variety. Plus, every 2 or 3 weeks the grocery store has Friskies on sale 3 for a $1.00 and Pedigree at .59. I guess W*M doesn't need my money.

So many reasons to hate WalMart & I think we've all learned that the cost of their lower prices can be poison food & toys from China, to say nothing of the way they treat their employees.

There are only 80 thousand people in my whole county, yet we are graced with three of their entities. This is what is known as market saturation. IOW, the desirable state of becoming your own competitor.

I nearly gag when our solons tell us such and such is going to move in and create X number of new jobs. It's ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT. roflmao. Not so, just playing musical jobs. When WM and the like move in and the local businesses go under, then those who loose their previous jobs have new ones at the boxes. Only, they'll become part-time, have little or no benefits and you'll be expected to work nights and weekends and have your hours cut if sales dip.

Gandle, I feel your pain. I just spent 2 weeks waiting for WalMart to get a prescription filled for me. They have the lowest price on my medication, but every year I have to have my insurance company authorize the use of it (they only cover the medication for treatment of certain illnesses). On the 10th, my doctor called the script in, their "automated" system faxed the authorization paperwork to the doctor's office for submission to the insurance company. Not sure why they can't send it to the insurance company directly, but the don't. I checked on the meds on the 11th and was told they hadn't received authorization and that it can sometimes take 2 weeks. I NEVER had it take 2 weeks before, but since I wasn't completely out of meds, I didn't worry about it. Went back 3 days later, same story. Went back 3 days later, same story. Went back Wednesday, completely out of medicine now, told them it had been 2 weeks and I couldn't accept their answer. They looked in their computer and said "well, it was faxed to this number, is that the right fax number for your doctor?" Excuse me, how the h#ll am I suppose to know the fax number to my doctor? I call and talk to a real live human, not a fax machine! They told me I needed to call my doctor and verify the fax number because the paperwork was sent on the 10th. So yesterday I called my doctor, told them what WalMart said, they said they'd contact them for me. The doctor's assistant called me back about 30 minutes later and said "Maryanne, I love you dearly, but I will NEVER call WalMart for you again! Those people are so rude!" He assured me everything was straightened out and my meds would be waiting for me. Well, I went back last night to pick them up thinking everything was fine. Nope. Got the same answer from them. I told them to check again, my doctor's office called and talked to them earlier. The looked again and lo' and behold, I was right! But I had to wait 45 minutes for them to fill the script. An hour later, I went to check on it and the girl at the cash register told me that my insurance didn't cover it, it would cost me $112. I just looked at her and said "it's a shame you can't read, that's my payment AFTER the insurance covers the other $500." If I didn't need this medication, I don't think I'd step foot in WalMart either!

Suzy, the population of this town is 75,000 and we have 3 super WalMarts, 1 super KMart, and 1 super Target! If you drive 7.8 miles across the Army base, you run into another super WalMart in the next little town with a population of 10,000. And 20 minutes down the road you come to the next one. And 30 minutes past that one, there's another. Reminds me of a Monopoly game but instead of lining up the hotels across the property, someone lined up WalMart's!

I hate 'em too Gandle and unfortunately for me I worked for them at one time. Got enough horror stories to fill a book. Some of the WalMart's in the countryside around here efficiently ran all the fabric stores out of business, and THEN they decided to quit carrying fabric in their stores. The one's that still carry fabric have cut slashed their inventory to shreds so it's barely a fabric department at all.

Let's just say it's a dysfunctional corporate culture, stinks from the head. The worst practice was their habit of preying on people who had an honest desire to advance and make a better life for themselves.....promoting them, pushing them off the ledge so to speak, without any training, work them to death and act surprised when they can't or don't succeed in the job. These were people without an education who sincerely wanted a way to advance. It literally made me sick to watch it and when the health insurance law changed in regards to pre-existing condition, I quit.....the moment the ink was dry on the legislation.

The corporation once foisted a store manager upon us that was a sexist, a bigot and heaven knows what else. He shredded people like a sawmill. What a surprise to him when I confronted him after witnessing his public humiliation of a co-worker. In order to prepare the store for inventory without incurring overtime the time clock mysteriously "broke" and those aforementioned hard working folks went 8 weeks without the pay they'd earned. That was only straightened out when I suggested to him that tampering with a time clock is a federal offense. He finally suffered a meltdown when confronted yet again by another co-worker who objected to yet another public humiliation. He threw a very heavy set of keys at her and hit her! He walked out the front door after he realized his action would probably be considered battery in a court of law.

Oh....and there was the store manager who's idea of dealing with the birds who strayed into the store in the summertime through the garden center doors was to grab a rifle and ammo from the sporting goods section and engage in target practice after the store closed for the evening. TRUE STORY!!!! Where was PETA when you needed them?

Like I said, these stories are simply the tip of a very digusting iceberg.

Stick to your guns Gandle.

Walmart pharmacy is not a good place to get your medicine no matter how cheap, as stated above they manage to be unorganized and on the defensive and on generec drugs They will buy from the cheapest company which is usually an inferior product. Atavan is a good example.
They plan on adding medical clinics,at least here in ARK. I think i'll pass on that also.
The only good thing i can say about them,is they have a good selection of sugar free candy.

I've always hated these type places with narrow aisles and high shelving and no servicepeople to help. I'd get a panicky feeling...don't like huge crowded places at all. Haven't been in years except to the attached garden center which has separate entrance and cashier. Can't even imagine what the newer larger super types must be like.

Years ago I paid my son with a tank of gas or pizza if he made the trek ...now it's my housekeeper for lightbulbs, ac filters, paper products but I leave it up to her whether Kmart or WalMart or wherever. She's very canny though. Buys her grandkid's jeans but told me that they were priced differently depending what side of town they were on...wouldn't you know that the Walmart in the poorer sections charged more for the exact same brand? So you might call around and compare prices if a major purchase or in her case, 10 pair jeans.

One thing I would never buy is groceries...Walmart got a very low rating at Consumer Reports a few months ago among most larger grocery chains. I was pleased Publix came in very near top. josh

Adding my 2cents...

Medium sized town, two hospitals, one wallyworld, locals already gone or struggling... ma and pas shut down, shoe stores, tire stores, garages, dress shops, beauty shops, gone - town square has vacant buildings, pretty new trees, but vacant buildings.

Kroger slogs on...and I shop there with most of my dollars. The Kroger brands are competitive...but so much of what we need isn't available elsewhere anymore. Yes, its jobs...but lower scale jobs.

Ditto everything said here. A shame. China loves us.

"If you go there to buy something because it's cheaper,then expect something else to make up for the money you saved."

I realized the other night that I'm paying with my time:

No matter what time of day I go to WM, I'm almost always 4th in line at the check-out:
In order to serve customers more quickly, WM would have to keep more registers open & pay the cashiers for their time.

but they don't have to pay the customer for her time.

One day, I popped in for 2 cans of cat food, at an "off" time when the store wasn't busy.

In this "Superstore", the self-check-out lanes were closed, & there were exactly *2* cashiers open.

So I went to the one who had only 1 customer instead of the one with 3 customers waiting.

This cashier told me I'd have to go to the other one;
she was closed after this customer.

One cashier for a "Superstore".

I put the cat food down & left.

gandle,
Are you opposed to shopping online?
Even considering shipping, you may find your best price that way.

I won't address the horrors of Walmart specifically, but I avoid shopping in places that treat me like a suspected criminal after I've spent my money there. The receipt-checking thing really, really bugs me. I can sort of understand a store checking the receipt if you're walking out with a big-screen TV or a table saw or something (or if there's some anti-theft device that's been triggered), but I've shopped (briefly) at places that stop every single customer and cursorily paw through their sundry purchases, big or small. I refuse to shop in places where I feel unwelcome.

I'm sorry you had such a bad experience...or several bad experiences. I know I griped pretty loud (to myself) a month ago when I stood in line while waiting for my prescription. The pharmacy was in the middle of a remodel and the person running the cash register was past normal working age. I tried to be patient with his speed, but I admit, I griped, albeit silently.

I will say, for the most part, I love Wal-Mart. I'm well aware I am the only person on the GP who does...we've covered this ground many times. I just had to stand up for my normal shopping venue.

Oh, in the interest of fairness, I do have one other gripe...I usually get my tiny plastic ziplocks that I use for seed trading from WM. Last time I was in there they had changed suppliers and the pack I bought had obviously had no quality control. They looked like a machine had gone wild. I threw away a lot of them. That may end up being a product I buy elsewhere. I'll have to see.

Lisa

I usually get my tiny plastic ziplocks that I use for seed trading from WM. Last time I was in there they had changed suppliers and the pack I bought had obviously had no quality control.

Lisa I can remember a time when I was thrilled that WM was coming to our area. Since then I have found out the hard way that shopping there is all about the "quantity" you get for your dollar and not the "quality". I cannot afford to waste my fixed income dollars on poor quality (not to mention toxic) products in large quantity.

2 cents

Last month, I went into W*M to buy an inexpensive digital camera for my daughter, and I asked the person working the camera counter which additional memory chip to get to replace the worthless one that comes with all new digital cameras. She assured me that such-n-such was what I needed, so I bought one for $85.00, payed for everything, and went home. Opened up the box, saw that the extra chip was the wrong kind, so drove back in, went to the appropriate returns desk, gave the receipt and the unopened package, and went and exchanged it for the right one.

I was held up by the store door man - 'security' guy, some poor geezer well into his 80's with a cane, for 30 minutes while they checked to see if I had pulled a switcheroo. I think he was more annoyed than I was, and offered me a chair.

Anyway, reason to add to the thread is I read of a new t-shirt on the market, something about "Every time you shop at Walmart, God kills a kitten"

So do you think you'll ever go back to WalMart after that experience?

To be honest, I try my best to avoid it, and plan my life, to the extent possible, around not spending my time and money there. However I live in a small town where WM is the only option for purchasing many items, and with children, I often have to get emergency shoes, socks, school supplies, and that kind of stuff. The next 'shopping option' is 65 miles away.

If I have to go in the place, I always make a point of buying several 2 lb loaves of Cabot Extra-Sharp Cheddar, which is less than $7, and I trust that those nice Vermont dairy farmers make money at it, or they wouldn't sell to WM.

Don't bet on it. In my profession, some crops are sold at less than production costs because it's a way to use up the bench space with some return. Even if you don't grow anything in a greenhouse, there is no such thing as a season where there aren't expenditures. You have overhead on fallow space, use it or not. So, after years of grower mags with cartoons urging the profession not to sell out to boxes, they finally succumbed. There was an article in one of them on why it makes sense to sometimes sell stuff knowing that right from the starting gate you are going to lose money on it......only not as much money as you would if you didn't grow anything. I'm sorry, when it gets to the point that if you want to deal with boxes, means you have to learn a whole new economic theory on why it's a good thing to work with expected loss then I think something is wrong with our whole economy.

A second post on this topic...sorry...

I have heard that Walmart told Vlassic pickles what they would pay and what they would sell for in walmart stores...take it or leave it... so if you see Vlassic pickles...you know all there is to know about Walmart.

Ok, I looked at the Cabot web site, and they sell the same 2 lb block of cheese on line for just about twice what it sells for in WM. I had thought that the Cabot Coop was doing pretty well - perhaps its a whole lot bigger than I thought.

I had to add an additional post too. My DD was production manager for a small candy company in E.TX and they were given the same option by WM as vlassic pickles.
vickie

A few years back, W*M tried that same tactic with, if memory serves, Organic Farms coop Dairies, and Organic Farms told them 'thanks, but no thanks', and stopped selling to them, much to their surprise.

One reason I buy that brand of milk (and it tastes really good, too).

>>> Walmart told Vlassic pickles what they would pay and what they would sell for in walmart stores...take it or leave it... so if you see Vlassic pickles...you know all there is to know about Walmart. >>>

This was an interesting case study we examined in one of my marketing classes. Its been 5 or 6 years since then so i dont remember the details excatly, but they forced them into such financial losses selling the gallon of pickles at Walmart's price that they almost went out of business. Eventually walmart "allowed" them to reduce the size of the pickle container but keep the same price.
Anyway thats what I read, but i never checked to see the size of their pickle jars now-a-days.