I agree, A lot of people go to Walmart because they have no choice. Its just like any other industry, without competition quality and quantity suffers.

Anyone remember Hills or Ames?
Hechingers or Builders Square?
Woolworth's?


Pretty much in a town if you have

Walmart, Home Depot and/or Lowes ,Rite Aid and/or CVS

you have about everything. Other stores can not compete.

 

wow, I often wondering if the average person online is more intelligent than the average person you see from day to day. This HAS to be proof that it's true.

I HATE walmart. When me and my wife got married she went there but I hated it with a passion. Without factoring in everything else why go to a store and spend 3x the amount of time shopping to save 5 dollars?

It seems however that the average person loves walmart. Maybe a 5 to 1 ratio. I think that most people really don't think about it. They are told that walmart saves them money and is great. They believe and don't give it a second thought. Being a small business owner I can't help but think about the three grocery stores I'd have to pass to get to walmart.

LOL, I know people that go to walmart "to save money" but when I ask them why they drive 20-30 minutes to get there when they could have bought it across the street and not spent the money in gas to get to wal-mart they say its just because the like the store.... ugh. A oversized store with cheap products and unhappy employee's, I see the draw.


Then as majik mentioned you have all the ethical questions to consider as well.

 

Where I live walmart is the closest store but not that much closer than any other store that we can't go somewhere else.
But we do end up going to walmart to save money because it is cheaper than the others, and I think it is because the other stores have to raise prices to make money because they loose customers to walmart.
Some stores are actually cost 1-2 dollars more for the same item at walmart.
I go to walmart because honestly we can't afford to go somewhere else and pay that much more. We could go to another store here but then pay about 1 1/2 times the price for the same amount of items.

There are alot of things I won't buy at walmart because cheap isn't always better but its hard not to go there. Where else can you get a car battery, a dvd, shoes, and a head of lettuce in the same store LOL.

LOL I remember Hills and Ames. They would have probably been crushed by walmart too if they were still around.

McDonalds can't even be compared to walmart because they at least have competition that they can't just beat easily when they want to. Also McDonalds at least is better for the employees unlike walmart who could care less about anyone that works for them.

Its funny you mention both of those companies because here we have a McDonalds in our walmart LOL.

 

Wal-Mart does have lower prices on quite a few items.

Kroger is cheap, probably as cheap as Wal-Mart. Publix is way over priced, but it's easier to find things for us and easier to get in/out (away from the busy roads). I have a Kroger, Wal-Mart, and Publix within 2 miles of my house.

 

I dont have a problem with either company. The Wal Mart near me is about 20 min. away, 30 if theres horrible traffic, so if I'm up that way I'll stop but if I just need something I goto Kroger right down the road.

I support McDonals for (I've just seen the advertising never actually known of it working) helping kids out with college, and even working with colleges to get McDonals management courses count for credits.

Wal-Mart I talked to some one that made $5.50-70 there and he was a grown man. I dont know about you all but I'm in college and live with my parents and am not comfortable with making $9/hr, even when I work full time. Its alright but I sure couldnt raise a family or live on my own with that. So I dont support Wal Marts wages.

So I basically support both companies and think that it's great what the founders have accomplished but there are downsides like the people who have their own shops and can't afford to lower their prices. But I guess that's the business world for ya.

 

i personally hate shopping at a Wal Mart store. i've read so many bad things, watched so many documentaries about the company where it makes me despise them.

For example.... the cameras they have in the parking lot are NOT for customer protection. They are there to be on the look out for workers trying to unionize. they invest so much money in anti-union campaigns, they could be using it to give their employees a raise and/or health insurance.

or how bout the strangle hold they put on companies to lower the cost of product so walmart can have the best retail price. anyone ever read the Vlasic Pickle story? that was probably the first thing i ever read describing what Wal Mart does to get the overall lowest price. Levis jeans has a similar story with Wal Mart.

That being said, i do shop at Wal Mart when i have to. I don't do it to save money. I do it for convenience. I won't do grocery shopping at one. i also wouldn't even THINK of buying something like a TV or stereo from them. No thank you. But if i have to do shopping for the apartment, and also get things for my cat, and boxers... where else can i go and get it all under 1 roof? but i'm not the type of person who swears by them. if i have to go there, i will. but i am an anti-Wal Mart person

 

There's no getting away from wal mart here in the area where it all started. Let's see...in the northwest Arkansas area we have:

Bentonville: Home Office and a walmart
Rogers: 1 walmart and 1 walmart neighborhood.
Lowell: 1 Walmart
Springdale: 1 walmart and 1 walmart neighborhood
Fayetteville: 2 walmarts

These cities are within 25 miles of eachother. The only other grocery stores are the locally owned Price Cutter and Harps that started when Sam Walton started his 5 and dime store which is now walmart.

I hate going into walmart around here....even though we get stuff unbelieveably cheaper. I just want to flip off Mr. Walton's Mansion everytime I drive passed it. haha.

 

wtf is a WalMart neighborhood?? is that a WalMart w/ a supermarket?? up here we call that a "Super WalMart"

 

well...i work at mcdonalds haha...great employer for students (bought me my tib +mods and pays for my isnurance) but as for wal mart i hate wallmart dislike going in there just cause they ruin all the little bussinsses, but as commented aobut the lines in wallmart in my town we got this like wal mart super store and well they have self cehck outs:| there is like NO LINE. u just walk up ring up your stuff and pay for it. its like a dream haha. you cna buy anything at this damn wal mart its huge. it's one of the biggest in canada, they sell EVERYTHING i mean everything got a deli/bakery FULL grocery section cell phones ect. anything you can think of. the only grocery store that can comete with it in town is like no frills.

 

Neighborhood market is a walmart that is smaller and walmarts attempt to be the "local grocery store" as opposed to the huge store that takes 20 minutes to walk from one side to the other.

This is to attract the business of one of the few demographics left, the people who are intimidated by large stores with crowded parking lots and long lines.

They also have started trying to go upscale, putting a more expensive type grocery and general merchandise stores in neighborhoods where people have more money, i forget the name.

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As a former employee i can tell you they really really do suck to work for. They run you ragged, understaff on purpose but increase the pressure to get more work done. Youll end up covering 2-3 departments because they sent people home early to save money, or a "schedualing mistake" staffed too few people.

They try and tell people they offer lucrative wages for deserving workers but they just lie.

You get "evaluations" every year, this determines your raise, if your overall is "poor" - you get no raise. if your overall is "meets expectations" you get 35 cents, if you get an "exceeds" you get like 65.

Trick is, you never get exceeds. I busted my ass, helped out customers as much as physically possible with a cheery disposition, i worked all of my work in time to help other departments, i was never late or called in. and on customer service - meets, productivity- meets, punctuality-meets. I was pissed, i NEVER heard of anybody getting exceeds. But any slip up (a couple lates) and you get "poor" aka, no money this year.

And if you've been there for 10 years and are now making good money (relatively)? they'll fire you for sneezing. Keep the turnover rate high. A new hire gets paid next to nothing, they have it figured out, the formula for "How long do we keep somebody before its cheaper to hire and train a newb for minimum wage"

They tried to do it with me. They accused me of taking an extra 5 minutes on a break, after i forced them to look at the video tape to prove my point, i quit. I was so sick of it, they wanted me to quit and i couldnt stand it anymore, before that particular incident they made me write down everything i did during the day down to the minute to "track my productivity" for about 3 months, right up until the day i quit.

Also, they recently capped peoples wages for certain positions, so after a few years, you stop getting raises. This is to deter long term employees.

Also, i worked just under what is considered full time, why? so i couldn't get benefits.

And you were required to report any union talk, even if somebody said the word union, you were supposed to let a manager know.

I want to f*ck with them by going to random walmarts and posting up

"A WALMART UNION IS COMING, EMAIL THIS ADDRESS (XXX@XX.COM) AND JOIN THE HUNDREDS OF ACCOSIATES WHO FEEL YOUR PAIN, YOUR IDENTITY WILL BE HELD CONFIDENTIAL UNTIL OUR FORCE IS STRONG ENOUGH TO MAKE UPPER MANAGEMENT RESPECT US."

Just to put a thorn in their sides and get them worried.

They would tear down the signs within an hour or so but it would spread fear amongst the management, they would be like "oh shit, do they already have a union forming??"; some may think they wouldnt care, but trust me, its a topic at every manager meeting, "report possible union activity"

it would be worth it just to bring unrest to them

I could go on and on about the stuff that goes on there but i dont have the time lol, maybe someday i'll write a book.