Walmart bashing

[TheFugitive]

Twenty-five years ago at least half the customers checking out in my Ames store
would make out their checks to "Fisher Big Wheel".

So there you go.   ::)

[bubcolbert1952]

Twenty-five years ago at least half the customers checking out in my Ames store
would make out their checks to "Fisher Big Wheel".

So there you go.   ::)

Huh? Were you referring to a post on an older page?

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

Add to that the fact that Walmart was going to build a new superstore in downtown Green Bay, Wisconsin, on North Broadway Street. Our city government, including our mayor, Jim Schmitt, and the On Broadway business association is making it difficult to build a store there, by using a different type of zoning. Even a majority of the citizens in that area, including citizens who run businesses in and around that area, are mad at Walmart. There were protesters with picket signs outside the Neville Public Museum, where each time Walmart representatives were there to show off different store designs, and ask questions. It was chaotic! Nobody wants Walmart there! Not even me!

[ynkeesfn82]

This is the only time you'll see me bash Walmart. - If I want to buy a new book I'll either buy it at Walmart or Target because books are usually cheaper there than other retailers. There are 3 Walmarts near me - in Southington (where I live), in Bristol (where I worked for Christmas), and a Walmart Neighborhood Market in Bristol (where they do have a book section). None of the 3 stores have the new Lisa Gardner book Fear Nothing. Neither does Target or any other stores that sell books. Lisa Gardner has a link on her website to buy the book from WALMART.COM and TARGET.COM (along with other online retailers), but I prefer to skim through the book before deciding whether or not I want to buy the book or not.

[Kmart4life]

Walmart plans on putting 1 million Americans back to work by 2018, I'll believe it when I see it!

[vwnut13]

Well, Walmart in St Albans, Vermont has been open for 7 months.  Haven't heard any news of how it's destroying downtown, must be it didn't happen.

[ynkeesfn82]

Well, Walmart in St Albans, Vermont has been open for 7 months.  Haven't heard any news of how it's destroying downtown, must be it didn't happen.

I don't know about other places, but here in Connecticut most downtowns were destroyed long before Walmart came to town.

In the 1960s Bristol  bulldozed a big portion of downtown and built a mall. The mall was never successful and they ripped down the mall in 2008. And what do they have on that spot today? A stupid looking new McDonald's (replacing an older one elsewhere on the same property) and a 17 acre vacant lot. Some scam artists from Long Island are trying to redevelop the property, but they keep coming up with these lame excuses why it's not getting done. Work was supposed to start already. Now they're trying to say it's going to be another 10 years before anything is even finished.


In New Britain the downtown (and much of the city) was destroyed when the highway went through the city. Again this was the 1960s and 1970s. A corrupt mayor who was related to the owners of the construction company that built the highways. They couldn't even support Walmart. They employees and some of the customers were robbing it blind. They've been Walmart-less for nearly 5 years.


In Southington downtown started to fizzle in the 1980s. By the 1990s most of downtown was deserted. With-in the last 10-12 years downtown is starting to make a comeback. It may not be exactly the same as in its heyday, but at least there is still a downtown. A few small businesses and tons of places to eat.

[TRU7536]

Well, Walmart in St Albans, Vermont has been open for 7 months.  Haven't heard any news of how it's destroying downtown, must be it didn't happen.

I don't know about other places, but here in Connecticut most downtowns were destroyed long before Walmart came to town.

In the 1960s Bristol  bulldozed a big portion of downtown and built a mall. The mall was never successful and they ripped down the mall in 2008. And what do they have on that spot today? A stupid looking new McDonald's (replacing an older one elsewhere on the same property) and a 17 acre vacant lot. Some scam artists from Long Island are trying to redevelop the property, but they keep coming up with these lame excuses why it's not getting done. Work was supposed to start already. Now they're trying to say it's going to be another 10 years before anything is even finished.


In New Britain the downtown (and much of the city) was destroyed when the highway went through the city. Again this was the 1960s and 1970s. A corrupt mayor who was related to the owners of the construction company that built the highways. They couldn't even support Walmart. They employees and some of the customers were robbing it blind. They've been Walmart-less for nearly 5 years.


In Southington downtown started to fizzle in the 1980s. By the 1990s most of downtown was deserted. With-in the last 10-12 years downtown is starting to make a comeback. It may not be exactly the same as in its heyday, but at least there is still a downtown. A few small businesses and tons of places to eat.

Many cities were completely destroyed in the 60's when major highways were built. A good example is Hartford. Look at what 95 and all those other highways built around the Bronx and Brooklyn did, destroyed those areas. All these highways are in dismay and many are are the verge of falling apart. It's funny working for a property management group and all the talk of what the 60s stuff did was a really bad choice.  Also urban development of the 60's now is looked as a disaster.  Sorry off topic

One the other hand many small towns downtowns like southingto, plainville, west Hartford are now the new it thing where people want to go and many small business are opening.

[TheFugitive]

Dear Walmart,

If you can't come up with some quicker, more efficient way to process a check through your POS system,
perhaps you should stop taking checks.

Got stuck today behind a customer (apparent age approx. 75) who was paying by check (perhaps the last
person in the tri-state area who does this...I had not personally seen it done in this millenium).

The cashier (apparent age approx. 86) squinted at the check through her bifocals and then keyed the
check number into her register.  Then she fed it into the slot on the side of her register and scanned the
MICR number.

This prompted the customer for a signature on the transaction pad.  After clicking on a few
areas with a confused look on her face, it brought up a screen with an area for her to sign.

The cashier then tried to total out of the transaction but the register then prompted her
for the customer's drivers license.  The customer fumbled through a large purse for approximately
four minutes before finding it and handing it to the cashier.  Again we squinted through the bifocals
as we carefully keyed the license number into the machine.

She handed the license back to the customer and the transaction pad again prompted her to
give her approval.  Finally the cashier was able to print an endorsement on back of the check and
give the customer her receipt.

Nothing like a simple fifteen step process.

[TheFugitive]

Or for that matter, if you are going to offer so many financial services, TRAIN the people at your
service counter on how to process those transactions.

I had a small item to return.  The woman ahead of me was there to pay some kind of bill.
I waited for 20 minutes while two cashiers and their supervisor tried in vain to get the system
to accept her payment.  Finally they gave up, apologized to her and sent her away.

By then there were fifteen people in line behind me.

[BillyGr]

Or at the very least have a couple people at the service desk and make one just for those types of "beyond store" services.

At least some of the grocery stores here do the same - it's fine if they want to do Western Union, lottery, bill paying etc., just make it so there is one person who only handles things like returns, rainchecks, correcting wrong prices - store related stuff (particularly a wrong price that is the store's issue in the first place).

Or for that matter, if you are going to offer so many financial services, TRAIN the people at your
service counter on how to process those transactions.

I had a small item to return.  The woman ahead of me was there to pay some kind of bill.
I waited for 20 minutes while two cashiers and their supervisor tried in vain to get the system
to accept her payment.  Finally they gave up, apologized to her and sent her away.

By then there were fifteen people in line behind me.

[ynkeesfn82]

You know I'm a Walmart fan and I always will be even if I don't agree with some of the things they do. I like the small store we have in my town - Southington, CT. It's 95,000 Square Feet and it's the right size for the small town. It's even cleaner than most other Walmarts I've been to. I rarely say anything negative about them. That being said, what annoys me about the Southington store is for the past several months there have been several light bulbs burnt out. I can understand maybe 3 or 4, but not as many as this store has out and certainly not for several months.

[TheFugitive]

Recently went to the Super Walmart in West Mifflin, primarily because they had sent me a coupon
for a nine dollar haircut at their SmartStyle Salon (and I'd never turn down a nine dollar haircut!)

And I did indeed get a very nice haircut.  Since I was there I decided to pick up some items I needed.
Grabbed a cart and pulled out my list.  The store was out of stock on 4 of the first 5 items on my list.

I abandoned the cart and went shopping elsewhere.  This store is HUGE, and yet they were still out of
4 of the first 5 items I needed.  They are obviously having major issues in restocking.

I have since read where many of their stores are ending 24 hour operations and putting on overnight
stocking crews.  I can see why.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

People keep spreading rumors all over YouTube about Walmart store closing abruptly, and being converted to FEMA camps just in case this country is under martial law in the future. Whatever those people say, IT ISN'T TRUE, IT'S A LOAD OF BULL-CRAP that they're talking about to try and brainwash everyone!

[Pikapower]

My only gripe with Walmart is that I blame it for killing the mall on the brick and mortar end of the mall's demise.

[Retail Fan+ (Justin Hill)]

My only gripe with Walmart is that I blame it for killing the mall on the brick and mortar end of the mall's demise.

I agree. And now Walmart is trying to compete with the likes of Amazon.

Ask yourself this question: "Would you like to live in a town with less retail options or more retail options?"

I choose the latter.

[Pikapower]

My only gripe with Walmart is that I blame it for killing the mall on the brick and mortar end of the mall's demise.

I agree. And now Walmart is trying to compete with the likes of Amazon.

Ask yourself this question: "Would you like to live in a town with less retail options or more retail options?"

I choose the latter.

Ditto!

[TheFugitive]

My local Walmart store was just replanogrammed.

This means that all of the stuff I buy there on a regular basis is no longer
in the spot where I've been able to find it for the past ten years.

And I notice they have cut way back on the shelf space allotted to items
I buy all the time (particularly cleaning supplies and pets).  So they will be out
of stock much more often in the future.

Apparently I don't buy things at a high enough profit margin to satisfy Walmart brass.

Is replanogrammed even a word?

[esw01407]

Sign just went up at mine, "EXCITING NEW CHANGES COMING"

My comment: So they sold this to Target? Going to actually have items on the shelf's?

[TheFugitive]

I came home one night last week and found that my HDTV set would not turn on.  I tried everything, unplugging and replugging, changing batteries in remote, and cold starting from button on the back.  It would just not come on.

I went onto Walmart.com and found a very good deal on an HD set similar to what I have.  I bought it for pickup.  The only one available was at a location across town where I rarely go.

I pull into the lot and see that the whole left side of the building has been painted orange with "pickup" written in giant letters.  So I pull into that lane and find a self-serve kiosk.  I scan my barcode and it tells me to pull to lane four.

I wait about ten minutes behind a lady who is picking-up groceries.  I pull forward and wait a few more.  An employee comes out, is very apologetic, but tells me that in order to pick up a TV I have to go to the pickup counter inside the store.  

No signing on the building or kiosk told me this.  In fact it scanned my bar code and told me to go to lane four.

So I go inside and am met by a lady at the pickup counter.  She tries to send me to automotive.  I ask why, and she says "because that is where you need to pick up your tires".

"I did not buy tires", I responded, "I am here to pick up a television set."
She got a very confused look on her face and began surfing around on her handheld device to try and find the problem.

Meantime I look over in the corner and see my TV in a big pile of merchandise waiting for pick-up.  I point it out to her.  The order number on the sticker matches my receipt, but her handheld device is still saying "tires".  So she frantically swipes around on the thing for a few more minutes trying to get this fixed.  Finally she does and I am able to take it home.

I open the box and discover that the thing only has two HDMI ports and an RrBbGgYy intput.  No audio out for my speakers, and no RCA input for my old-school DVD player.

So I took it back to the Walmart where I usually shop (and I must say the return was efficient and friendly).  I have since read that Walmart strongarms manufacturers into producing HDTV's with a minimal number of ports in order to push the retail price down.  So I probably won't be buying one there again.

Both of the employees at the pickup store were courteous and helpful, but Walmart's systems apparently have some major bugs.   I have since seen on the internet that there is a power supply board which frequently fails in these TV's.  The part itself is less than thirty bucks.  I am not that confident in popping the set open, but there is still a TV repair shop open in the area who says he can fix this for me.  

[TheFugitive]

Had this experience in a Walmart the other day and it is the SECOND time it has happened to me this year.

Walmart always lets sales reps from some cable TV supplier set up a table in the aisle and make their pitch to customers.  Fair enough.  But these guys are super-aggressive, and frankly I am getting sick of running into them while shopping at Walmart and finding that they don't want to take no for an answer.

The very WORST offender is Comcast Xfinity.  TWICE this year they stopped me and asked who I had for my TV service.  I told them DirecTV.  They asked if I would consider switching.  I told them absolutely, positively NOT because I had fired Comcast in 2006 for having THE WORST customer service on the planet.  It's a very long story that includes Comcast accusing me of stealing their equipment (their tech picked-up my converter box but forgot to log it back in, it was located on a truck in Maryland several months later, after they had sent me a bill for $600 and threatened legal action), not disconnecting me in a professional manner (I still have their line duct taped to the side of my house because it came down in a storm, but because I was no longer a customer they refused to fix it properly), and my having to go to the extreme of threatening their local VP of ad sales to get any of this addressed (get your company to stop acting like idiots RIGHT NOW or I am going to every one of your local advertisers with my story).

So basically I am NEVER going to be their customer again.

These guys in the aisle at Walmart won't take no for an answer.  They follow me through the aisles and try to overcome my objections.  Some of them get very snarky after I say no for the third or fourth time.  I am going to complain to Walmart HQ because honestly I would rather not shop there if I am going to be harassed in this way.

One time I was stopped by a guy selling DirecTV.  I tried to tell him I am already a customer, but he sounded Russian, and did not seem to understand English well enough to get that.