For those that say they don't shop at Walmart ever........

[Took]

that's another good point- as far as pricing goes, sales elsewhere almost always beat Walmart's price.
I don't go out of my way to spend more- I just shop smarter

You know, this has been my experience on the few occasions where I've directly compared W-M with other stores. I confess, I like "shopping around" for most things, and looking for good deals. Also, I grew up with Kroger and really like the management at the two local stores I live near. Thus, Kroger with sales/coupons is much more pleasant for me and often as cheap if not cheaper than W-M.

Even if I fully approved of W-M's business practices, which I don't, I probably wouldn't shop there since I think I do as well or better elsewhere without the yucky atmosphere (which our W-M has) and complete lack of personal help (which I can never find there).

 

[madge]

a question, where do you buy " stuff"
without going to several different stores,

do you shop Target, what if there is no target near you , where do you go?

like if you need a blender, some glue, copy paper, a night light, laundry soap, pool chemicals, all in one trip.

my dh watched this last night
http://www.appomattoxnews.com/2009/the-new-age-of-walmart-upcoming-on-cnbc.html

if I need the things you've listed .. I'll go to Kmart, since it's closer to Staples, where I'd buy the copy paper and they carry pool chemicals.

I'm a Target girl, though. I haven't shopped at Walmart in years.

 

[Took]

My DH was at one time a pharmacy manager at WM (he had several employes that he was responsible for and they were all treated very well), my step-bro put together bikes at another WM and eventually he enetered their management program, my cousin started on the floor and became a store manager eventually, my uncle worked at headquarters, DH's cousin worked at still another and promoted from clerk to assistant store manager. There are others I can't think of at the moment. All of them at every level were treated fairly. Guess our experiences, though many and varied, are different than others.

I'm glad you asked that question.

My experience with friends and family has been different from yours and, doubtless, makes us see Walmart employment differently. Those I've known who worked any time there all said the same things: Walmart takes advantage of employees, is difficult to gain full time at, is more difficult to retire from (an aunt who had been a faithful champion of theirs and full-time cashier for years was "forced out" a year before being elgible for retirement, a friend had a similar experience).

Peronsonally, saving money, per se, isn't worth that to me. And, as I said earlier, I don't see any big savings, anyway.

 

[eliza61]

I am NOT being snarky or judgmental at all but I cannot wrap my brain around why someone would drive out of the way or farther and spend twice as much on something to avoid going into Walmart?? I just don't understand it. My time and money are way too precious to me! I have been in some yucky Walmarts before but if it is gonna save me time and money I suck it up. Just my opinion. I am very fortunate that our closest Walmart is in a very nice neighborhood and is a very pleasant place to shop. Maybe I haven't been in some of the kinds of Walmarts you guys are talking about

My time and money are precious to me also but rarely do I let the bottom line dictate my decisions. I've found that generally whenever I base a purchasing decision solely on money, it turns out to be the worst decison.

Whether it's deciding to buy groceries, clothing or my dvc. Money is usually the 3rd or 4th consideration.

 

[C.Ann]

I shop wherever I can get the most out of my dollar - and usually that's Walmart.. My decisions are based on what is best for me financially - so I don't end up being a burden on society (welfare; food stamps; etc.)..

 

[eliza61]

I don't believe the scenario that was posted upthread about Walmart's treatment of employees was due to Walmart's policy. I believe it was due to a very poor management staff.

As for Walmart not paying overtime, that's probably true. Their policy is probably that no manager (under any circumstance) is allowed to keep employees over 40 hours. Not that they can mandate they work without pay (which is illegal). Again, I think it falls onto this management team rather than Walmart as a whole.

I'm certainly no fan of the store and there are many reasons to dislike doing business there, but IMO, for the most part, this is not one of those reasons.

Walmart just settled a huge class action lawsuit brought on from a number of states attorney generals for non payment of wages. It may not be a written company policy but the practice is definitely corporate wide and from what I've heard store managers are financially rewarded if they keep their salary hours down. This practice could not continue without the full awarness and support of the company.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Most of the items in your list can be found at my local grocery store, drug store and the office supply store all within a very short 5-10 minute drive if I chose to avoid Walmart.

For appliances, I can hit Best Buy, Sears, or Kohls, or Macy's or whomever.

Walmart is not the be-all, end-all of merchandise and pretty much EVERYTHING they sell can be found elsewhere without the trouble of shopping "so many stores".

I don't choose to avoid walmart and do hit it every now and again--but I can and have found anything I needed elsewhere.

And also--Walmart doesn't sell "everything" cheaper. I have found some grocery items to be cheaper at Publix and some non-grocery items to be cheaper at Target. As a whole, they are cheaper, but they have items where they gladly charge you more and you just think you are getting them cheaper.

 

[npmommie]

I have never, and will never, set foot in a Wal-Mart. Their business practices are awful, the stores are unwelcoming, and their prices aren't significantly lower. I do my shopping at a mix of local stores, other box retailers such as costco, home depot, office max, etc. (though not Target, I won't spend a dime there either due to issues with their pharmacy practices), and the internet where I really get the better prices.

what are their pharmacy practices?

You know, this has been my experience on the few occasions where I've directly compared W-M with other stores. I confess, I like "shopping around" for most things, and looking for good deals. Also, I grew up with Kroger and really like the management at the two local stores I live near. Thus, Kroger with sales/coupons is much more pleasant for me and often as cheap if not cheaper than W-M.

Even if I fully approved of W-M's business practices, which I don't, I probably wouldn't shop there since I think I do as well or better elsewhere without the yucky atmosphere (which our W-M has) and complete lack of personal help (which I can never find there).

I like shopping around too, and I am always surprised at how many times I find I can beat walmarts price.
i mentioned our stop and shop is over priced, lately though they seem to be running really good sales, and the prices seem more competitive.
one day i ran into walmart, its not a super but it has a small food section, so i ran in there to get some things I thought would be cheaper than at stop and shop, then i went to stop and shop for the rest of my groceries ( they are almost directly across the street from each other )
so anyway, almost every item i had just purchased at WM was cheaper at S&S!!!
so now I just use stop and shop, BJ's and Trader Joes for groceries.


for the poster who mentioned main st. i do try to shop main st when i can, my town only has a small grocery , antique stores, farmers market type stores, and a pizza shop, so not much, but the next town up about 4 miles away has a decent main st. they have a nice childrens clothing store, i try to use when they have sales, and i use the health food store up there instead of trekking to whole foods most of the time.
and lately i am finding the local health food store will order anything for me that i want if they don't have it. so i haven't really gone to whole foods much since its so far for me to get there, takes an hour.

 

[SAHDad]

Walmart just settled a huge class action lawsuit brought on from a number of states attorney generals for non payment of wages. It may not be a written company policy but the practice is definitely corporate wide and from what I've heard store managers are financially rewarded if they keep their salary hours down. This practice could not continue without the full awarness and support of the company.

Not to necessarily defend Wal-mart, but many large corporations will simply settle class-action lawsuits, rather than spend even more money defending against them. It's easier (and cheaper) to settle, and makes for better PR - you take the initial hit, but trot out some press releases with contrition and a commitment to making sure it doesn't happen again, blah blah blah. Or, you spend years fighting it, with frequent bad PR about how company X discriminates against group X, or promotes business practice Y, or how the board of directors eats live puppies at board meetings, etc. And even if you win, you still have to undo the damage.

(And I suspect Wal-mart would have had to fight the above on a state-by-state basis. Far easier and cheaper to settle in that case.)

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I am NOT being snarky or judgmental at all but I cannot wrap my brain around why someone would drive out of the way or farther and spend twice as much on something to avoid going into Walmart?? I just don't understand it. My time and money are way too precious to me! I have been in some yucky Walmarts before but if it is gonna save me time and money I suck it up. Just my opinion. I am very fortunate that our closest Walmart is in a very nice neighborhood and is a very pleasant place to shop. Maybe I haven't been in some of the kinds of Walmarts you guys are talking about

Why do you presume that Wal-mart is the epitome of greatness?

I was looking at food processors the other day and while I haven't full on done my research, the selection of TWO at my local wal-mart was a joke. Both were 2, maybe 3 speed tops. As I said, I still need to do my research. But a selection of 2 is hardly enough for me to know that I am getting the best bang for my buck.

SOMETIMES--it is all about cost per use--and often, when I spend a little more the buy a better product elsewhere, in the long run it is cheaper b/c it will last a lot longer.

To presume you are getting a deal at wal-mart simply b/c they are expensive, isn't a wise consumer habit.

So thus your post does come across as a bit snarky if you presume that people must have money to burn if we choose not to shop at Walmart.

 

[MarilIncredible]

The two Walmarts closest to me are much further than the Kmart and the Target, so I never go to Walmart.

But, I wouldn't buy all of your listed items at one store, anyway.

a question, where do you buy " stuff"
without going to several different stores,

do you shop Target, what if there is no target near you , where do you go?

like if you need a blender, some glue, copy paper, a night light, laundry soap, pool chemicals, all in one trip.

[/url]

If I needed a blender, I'd see which stores had a good one on sale, check Amazon, other on-line sites, and buy quality. I have had my current Oster blender for about 9 years now and it is still going great. It wasn't cheap, but it is lasting a long, long time. Plus, I can live for a few days (or weeks) without a blender.

Glue and copy paper - I stock up on stuff like this when it goes on sale at Back to School time, so I never have a glue or paper emergency.

I'd probably get the nightlight at Kmart or Target. Maybe a drug store if they advertised a sale in the Sunday ads.

Laundry soap is another thing I stock up on when it is on sale. I don't think I have ever been down to my last bottle of the stuff.

I don't have a pool. I guess you buy pool chemicals at Kmart or Home Depot? Do you have to buy them often? I guess if I equate that to the salt pellets for my water softener, I stock up on bags of that stuff at Home Depot when I notice I am running low. Maybe buying about 2 or 3 times a year, and I have a warning light on my unit to let me know it is running low on salt.

 

[joyjoy]

It is hard to understand isn't it?

Let's see if I can make it easier to understand.

This is how Wal-Mart personally affected me: I worked for a manufacturing company that was once a division of Pennzoil but had been sold and were pretty much independent, with plants in TX, PA and IL. We made white mineral oil, and Johnson & Johnson was our biggest customer. Wal-Mart has such control over other companies that they instructed J&J that unless they lowered prices to what Wal-Mart wanted, they could replace ALL of the J&J products with Wal-Mart's Equate line. In order for J&J to do so, they had to demand from THEIR vendors (like us) that we cut our prices by 50%. J & J represented about 40% of our total sales. We could not match that ridiculous price reduction, J&J dropped us, our business suffered greatly and many people lost their jobs, including me. I had worked there for over 10 years.

Also:

Wal-Mart typically allows workers only 32 hrs per week so they do not have to give them full benefits as they are not technically full-time.

So many gruesome accidents were happening in the meat dept of Wal-Mart that yes, employees felt the need to organize and demand higher safety standards. When the upper brass found out about these sinister plans to form a union, they simply did away with the in-house butcher dept, leaving all those workers unemployed.

A close friend of mine took a new part-time job at the photo dept of Wal-Mart. On her second day, she had a collision with another employee as they both tried to enter/exit to/from the back area at the same time. There was no safety measures in place to prevent this. My friend suffered a broken hand, and not only did WM show zero attempt to help with medical bills, they fired her for missing work that afternoon.

So yeah. I hate them. It's specific, not just a general hate.

 

[DWGal210]

I personally don't shop at Wal-Mart because there is no rhyme or reason to where items are stocked and you can never find a store employee to help you. Are some items probably cheaper at Wal-Mart? I'm sure they are. I can't say that I will never shop there - if there was a large ticket item, say a TV, that I could save $300 on by buying it at Wal-Mart, I probably would. But on the flip side, I wouldn't go there to save $.50 on dish detergent or the like. I'm not saying it's a bad thing to pinch pennies, and I know that even $.50 adds up over time to big savings. But for me, since their customer service is non-existent and I can't find a gosh-darn thing when I go in that store, I choose to take my business elsewhere.

 

[MrsSpratt]

Let's see if I can make it easier to understand.

This is how Wal-Mart personally affected me: I worked for a manufacturing company that was once a division of Pennzoil but had been sold and were pretty much independent, with plants in TX, PA and IL. We made white mineral oil, and Johnson & Johnson was our biggest customer. Wal-Mart has such control over other companies that they instructed J&J that unless they lowered prices to what Wal-Mart wanted, they could replace ALL of the J&J products with Wal-Mart's Equate line. In order for J&J to do so, they had to demand from THEIR vendors (like us) that we cut our prices by 50%. J & J represented about 40% of our total sales. We could not match that ridiculous price reduction, J&J dropped us, our business suffered greatly and many people lost their jobs, including me. I had worked there for over 10 years.

Also:

Wal-Mart typically allows workers only 32 hrs per week so they do not have to give them full benefits as they are not technically full-time.

So many gruesome accidents were happening in the meat dept of Wal-Mart that yes, employees felt the need to organize and demand higher safety standards. When the upper brass found out about these sinister plans to form a union, they simply did away with the in-house butcher dept, leaving all those workers unemployed.

A close friend of mine took a new part-time job at the photo dept of Wal-Mart. On her second day, she had a collision with another employee as they both tried to enter/exit to/from the back area at the same time. There was no safety measures in place to prevent this. My friend suffered a broken hand, and not only did WM show zero attempt to help with medical bills, they fired her for missing work that afternoon.

So yeah. I hate them. It's specific, not just a general hate.

In addition, Walmart is SO BIG, and SO IMPORTANT that they REQUIRE major vendors to open offices in their Arkansas headquarters (Bentwood?) if you want to do business with them.

The only time I set foot in a Walmart is when I am traveling and I'm in a small southern town where everything else has been run out by Walmart and I HAVE to go in.

DH literally won't walk into a Walmart. Period. Or Burlington Coat factory.

We vote with our dollar, and we choose NOT to vote for Walmart.

Full Dis-closure: We are very lucky and live in the middle of a major metropolitan area where we would have to go out of our way to get to a Walmart - but not Target! Nor Costco - so it really is a win/win. We get to shop places we like, with business practices we like, and avoid places we don't!

 

[DisneyAndRedSox]

I used to avoid Walmart like many of you. I worked in HR and I would interview people who quit Walmart who were forced to clean-up in the store after hours and not get paid (this was in 1996). Fast forward 10+ years and now I am a SAHM, we have a mortgage, preschool to pay for, etc.... My local grocery store (Big Y) charges $5 for a large bottle of Crisco vegetable oil. The new super Walmart near me is $2.48. A butter spread we like is $.99 cheaper. DD's yogurt snacks are at least a dollar cheaper. Guess where I buy vegetable oil, butter and yogurt?

I always try to shop somewhere else first... Target, CVS, Best Buy, Toys R Us, BJ's, a local produce/deli market I love. But now I end up doing a Super Walmart trip 1x a month since I have a responsibility to my family to save as much money as possible.

Why else did I change? I feel that many other retailers are similar to Walmart in how they treat associates and suppliers. My MIL works at a Walmart competitor and it is not the perfect place to work. Once they asked her to stay late and told her she didn't need to take a lunch. Later that week they told her she should have taken one, blamed her that she should have known (she is too scared to say anything) and docked her time for the lunch. I keep telling her it was illegal but she won't say anyting and they know that. She is part time but averages full time hours, she doesn't get FT benefits. I had many friends that left Macys since they took over May Department Stores. Macys was terrible in way they treated May employees and eliminated managers & commissioned asscoiates by setting sales goals that could never be achieved. Both my parents work in the wholesale end of the grocery industry, don't even get me started on how grocery chains treat their suppliers! A supplier can't raise a price of a product with out going through an elaborate proposal and getting it approved. Do you really think they chain approves many price increases, but they have no problem raising the customer's price! Trust me, what goes on at Walmart happens at many other retailers and grocery chains!

 

[Colleen27]

is it an american thing? why the hate for walmart?

I'm sure others will chime in with their reasons, but this is one of the biggies for me - Prior to becoming a SAHM, I worked in a Detroit human services (welfare) office. Do you have any *idea* how many Walmartemployees are on assistance? That's one of the ways they keep costs down - by not offering insurance to the 90% of their workforce that they only give part-time hours. So in effect, the American taxpayer is subsidizing Walmart's multi-billion dollar quarterly profits.

Now let's contrast that with one of the big boxes that I do shop - Meijer. Even as a part time employee, a close friend of mine is able to carry the insurance her family needs because the employee share of premiums is affordable (3 kids, Dad is a low-wage, non-union factory worker, Mom works part time nights at Meijer). Replace that part time employer with Walmart and that's 3 more kids on state insurance and 2 more uninsured adults doing without medical care. Oh, and if it was Walmart, she wouldn't be able to count on working around her husband's hours. Another friend of mine quit his job there for just that reason - he hired on for night shift to work opposite his wife, but never knew when he'd be scheduled, sometimes midnights, sometimes mornings, sometimes afternoons. How do you plan childcare based on that?

 

[madge]

I am NOT being snarky or judgmental at all but I cannot wrap my brain around why someone would drive out of the way or farther and spend twice as much on something to avoid going into Walmart?? I just don't understand it. My time and money are way too precious to me! I have been in some yucky Walmarts before but if it is gonna save me time and money I suck it up. Just my opinion. I am very fortunate that our closest Walmart is in a very nice neighborhood and is a very pleasant place to shop. Maybe I haven't been in some of the kinds of Walmarts you guys are talking about

my reasons for not shopping at wal-mart have nothing to do with how clean or dirty the store is. in fact, I have no idea how clean or dirty the local wal-mart is.

I remember what happened to my hometown when wal-mart opened... my family owned a small business in the downtown business district for years. wal-mart did not put us out of business, but the bottom line was never the same. I remember the Christmas shopping seasons before and after walmart opened.

But it isn't only about the bottom line. The attitude of the American shopper changed with walmart. People would bring in things for a return after obvious use and expect that they'd get their money back. No receipt? No problem, thanks to walmart .. someone sells the same item cheaper, why don't you? My favorite thing was when people would by something at wal-mart and it would break, they knew we offered repairs and would bring their broken product to us hoping we'd do the repair work for them.

Over time, the bottom line improved. never to the point where it was before wal-mart opened, but enough to stay in business until my dad chose to retire. wal-mart did not put us out of business, but I've seen it happen to other stores in other small towns.

I'd shop in 10 crappy Targets before I'd ever set foot in one clean walmart.

 

[Colleen27]

It is hard to understand isn't it? WalMart really is the American Dream come true. Started as a Mom and Pop 5 & Dime on Main Street USA. Grew to what it is today because Sam Walton thrived on competition and worked 18 hours a day doing what he loved.

If the Walmart of today was still Sam Walton's vision of the company, I doubt many people would have issue with it. But he's long gone, and so are the standards and ethics with which he ran the business. Now Walmart is well into the second chapter of the American dream - the chapter that is all about more-more-more and to heck with morals and ethics.

 

[Colleen27]

My time and money are precious to me also but rarely do I let the bottom line dictate my decisions. I've found that generally whenever I base a purchasing decision solely on money, it turns out to be the worst decison.

Whether it's deciding to buy groceries, clothing or my dvc. Money is usually the 3rd or 4th consideration.

Well put.

 

[maddmike]

I will never shop at walmart. The place has a trailer park atmosphere because of many of the people working and shopping there. They pay their in store workers very poorly and I don't care to do business with people that treat their employees like that. In Michigan we have a lot of Meijer stores that I shop at. Meijer workers, at least in Michigan, are represent by a union and treated fairly. Besides, Meijer has good prices on most things, especially groceries.

I went to walmart one time when it opened and looked around. I seen a lot of low priced junk and hardly any name brand stuff except for some electronics. I know every store has imported items but it seems walmart is the leader in that catagory. I do everything I can to support the USA and its workers. I don't think I would be doing that if I shopped at walmart.