Walmart - an observation

There's a Great WalMart about 5 miles away from where I live. It's not too crowded, there are rarely more than 2 people in line, and it's clean.
This was also true when I lived in Aransas Pass, Texas - even the employees were pleasant there!

I believe that you can tell a lot about the general area by the local WalMart based on cleanliness, employee morale, and who's shopping there.

I hate Walmart because is represents everything that is wrong with America - a bunch of cheap, made in China crap, employees not paid a living wage, therefore they are very unhelpful. Other shoppers who also hate it there, so are rude and generally look miserable too, most of them overweight. But we have to go there because there are those few items you just can't find anywhere else. Or because it's a small town and they have put all the small shops out of business. And we also have to shop there because it's the cheapest place and everyone is broke because our jobs went to China so Walmart could buy the crap at the low prices.....

This is such a perfect summary of the vicious circle that is Walmart. I never shopped there even when I lived in a country that had Walmart. Whenever possible I prefer smaller and more local stores. It might sound inefficient, but I shop for groceries nearly every day right after work. I don't have a car, so I either bike or walk to pick up a few things which gives me exercise. I doubt I pay that much more for my stuff than if I went to Walmart, but even if I do, I'm gaining so much in nutrition, exercise and peace of mind and saving so much in gas, I'm pretty sure I'm coming out further ahead in the end.

My husband works for Walmart, and has for a few years. He also worked there full-time for a year or so when he was going to college full-time. When he got laid off from his job at the local newspaper 3 years ago, right as I was ending a 5-week stay at the hospital, he job-hunted for a long time (while also taking care of me while I convalesced until I was ready to go back to work) but nobody was hiring. Enter Walmart. He initially applied there out of desperation, although he had a good experience working for them in our college town 10 years ago. He ended up getting on part-time as a seasonal (Christmas) employee, which he was kind of ambivalent about at first, but they ended up offering him a permanent position that went full-time soon after. He now works in asset protection, and brings home a very respectable paycheck every two weeks. The ironic thing is, when he started there part-time, he was making more money than he did at the local newspaper, and he was a supervisor there and had been there for a couple of years! Plus he likes his coworkers, and the management at Walmart generally treats him very well and actually listen when he brings them concerns. Admittedly their medical insurance is a joke, but whose isn't anymore? (I work for the university, and we have excellent health coverage as a result, so we don't even bother with Walmart's coverage. I don't know how anyone manages anymore with high premiums and shrinking benefits.)

I don't particularly love shopping there, for many of the reasons outlined above (crowded, noisy, selection is weird sometimes), but I do shop there and lately have been getting most of our groceries there. What I don't buy there is purchased at the local co-op or the grocery store next to our apartment. I do my pharmacy business at Target, but that's mostly because I like the pharmacists there and have been a Target pharmacy customer for way longer than my husband has worked for Walmart.

Speaking of Target. I don't know what the deal is, but the last time I was in our store waiting for my prescriptions, I thought I'd pick up a couple of groceries. They do have some products that I can't find at any of the other stores I shop at, and sometimes have some excellent sales or gift card opportunities. I am not exaggerating when I say that I counted at least 20 products on the shelves that ranged from close-dated (i.e. expire within the week) to well over a month outdated. Last week, I saw a bottle of Ocean Spray cranberry juice with lime on a clearance shelf, and was briefly excited, because I loved that flavor when they had it last year. But here's the thing about that flavor being from last year: THIS JUICE EXPIRED IN FEBRUARY. I'm glad I typically remember these days to check the dates on packages before I put them in my cart, because... wow. I hope it's just an isolated incident, but that really bugged me. And of course, there was nobody around to tell about it - in hindsight, I should have taken it up to the cashier, but I doubt they would have cared too much, either.

Yes, some of the products are a little more "upscale" at Target than at Walmart, but their doodoo stinks just like any other mass-merchandiser's when it comes to business practices and selling imported crap. I always have a good belly laugh when people go on and on about how evil Walmart is, then say they only shop at Target or Kmart. If you want to be smug about how much more ethical you are than people who shop at Walmart, stop shopping at ANY chain store, grocery chains included. Go buy a farm plot with some livestock and crops, import your textiles and household goods at a fair price from working mothers in third-world countries, and start living off the land and rolling your own tampons. Then I might take you a bit more seriously.

I don't buy my groceries at Walmart if I can avoid it. I don't really save money, their produce and meat aren't appealing to me and I rather support my local independent stores. Walmart also doesn't have everything. I've been in 4 separate Walmarts looking for rye flour. I'm assuming that they just don't carry it.

Bingo! I'll go to Walmart for shampoo and medication sometimes or the cute tees that I like for some silly reason. I do not go to Walmart for food. Their prices are not better. Their meat is horrible and their produce doesn't even look appealing. They also have no real selection or competition between products anymore. They altered Walmart and got rid of a lot of great things. Walmart is the only selection in my hometown, but where I live now I rarely ever have to set foot in one. I'm quite happy about that.

I def agree there is a difference in quality depending on which location you shop in. I went to college in RI, and shopped at our Walmart practically every week. It was clean and had friendly employees. Having been back home in NJ, I never go to the one by me. Several years ago I'd go early in the day if I could but ever since they put the McD's in a while back it just got worse. Target became my new spot of choice for one-stop-shopping.

Don't even get me started on Costco.... :explode: big love/hate with that one!

I hate Walmart because is represents everything that is wrong with America - a bunch of cheap, made in China crap, employees not paid a living wage, therefore they are very unhelpful. Other shoppers who also hate it there, so are rude and generally look miserable too, most of them overweight. But we have to go there because there are those few items you just can't find anywhere else. Or because it's a small town and they have put all the small shops out of business. And we also have to shop there because it's the cheapest place and everyone is broke because our jobs went to China so Walmart could buy the crap at the low prices.....

And by refusing to provide healthcare for their employees, they pass those costs on to taxpayers. Yeah, Walmart is America in a nutshell.

It's kind of a long store, but here goes:

My mom worked there for seven years, and in the course of those seven years, she had several surgeries on her back. Her back always gave her problems, but the surgeries made it worse. The managers at walmart were unwilling to adhere to very reasonable doctor's requests for my mom, such as letting her sit for a half an hour for every hour she worked. She worked in the infants and boy's and girl's sections, so it would be simple for her to sit while folding clothes or organizing shelves. But no. And, that was another thing, they had her working three departments by herself, and threatened to fire anybody who helped her
There was finally a time when my mom could no longer work for walmart because of her back issues, however, she had to get fired from there to be able to collect money for her disability. She still went into work and did her best, never really trying to get fired, but still needing to, all the same. But, instead of firing her, they put her on unpaid leave of absence-- for a year and a half. At this time, both my brother and I were too young to work and my dad was dead, so she was the ONLY source of our income. I blame them for the hard time we went through, and I don't shop there. I will go out of my way to shop somewhere else.
Also, while working there, they had some employees do what is called "comp shopping" which is sending them to other stores to scan the prices of certain items. They did this to keep their prices the lowest. And this happens to be illegal.

This just breaks my heart...

Target does the price comparison stuff too, just fyi

I shop at Giant. And that will never change.

I shop at walmart because of the prices. I could not afford to shop any where else. But I will add that I shop at Sam's for a lot of products (cleaning, milk, eggs, etc) because they are cheaper than walmart. I get 99% of my meat from winn-dixie and I have a farmers market on my way to my son's school that is open year round (I live in the south) and I only buy my fruits and veggies from there. It's a lot of running around but I feel like I am getting best prices/ quality of the items that matter most. Also, we have a walmart about 5 minutes from our house but we drive 20 to a nicer walmart. It is not as busy and it gets a much better clientel than the one that is close to us. But I HATE waiting in the long lines with the slow as Christmas cashier. Makes me crazy.

Rumor has it that they are supposed to be opening a walmart grocery store close to my house and I have my fingers crossed for that one. I will be hitting it up like nobody's business. Fresh Market is also in progress so that should be interesting. Publix is not bad either. I've shopped there a few times.

Meh... I can count on one hand (ok, maybe two) the number of times I have went to walmart looking for something in the past 4 years. I really just don't go... unless, I am dragged by someone else... I don't like the workers and more often than not they have a bad attitude (at least in my personal experience), because they either hate the job or hate their life... I don't like Walmart, because they tend to screw over employees... they also have very high turn over.... I don't like how when a new walmart comes into town, they scope out the smaller businesses under the pretense of "we are just seeing what you sell so we don't sell the same thing" only to turn around and sell it cheaper (yes, I get that it's a capitalistic tendency, but I find it dishonest and thusly don't give walmart a dime of my money and wish my parents wouldn't either... since my mother was one of the small business owners that went under after SuperWalmart opened in our town).... I also don't like their produce... it's always old and crawling with fruit flies... It's always dirty, crowded and filled with rude people that take up an entire aisle because they are the only people that matter....

They only reason I can ever see going to Walmart is to watch Jerry Springer happening in real time....


Of course, these are all my own personal experience and if anyone has better experiences, then great.... But I would rather go to Target... while I get that they aren't much better at least I don't have to worry getting in the middle of a Jerry Springer cat fight, just trying to get to my car... nor do I have to worry about fruit flies all over my produce. Oh, and it's closer to me than Walmart is.