I Hate Walmart!

[C.Ann]

Amazingly, I went to Target the day after Christmas to find sparkling aisles, full shelves, and lots of advertised stuff.

They had the clearance areas well marked, and it wasn't a madness.

I went to two Targets in two different towns and saw the same sparkling stores. At Walmart its just chaos all the time.

----------------------

I think you inadvertently just made the point here that others are trying to make.. My DD went to the brand new Target in our area yesterday in hopes of finding a duplicate of an item I gave her as a Christmas gift.. She said the store was an absolute mess - empty shelves - stuff on the floors - and of course, none of the item she was looking for..

I don't think it's so much the "store" - but more the supervisors and the employees working in the store, be it Walmart, Target, Kmart or any other place..

We have 3 Walmarts fairly close to here - one being a super center.. Two are great, one is not.. There are 4 Targets locally - 1 is very nice, 1 is okay, 2 I wouldn't bother with at all.. Three Kmarts - 1 is nice, the other 2 are bad..
It's all about the employees, not the "chain" itself..

Hope things go smoother on your return trip.. Maybe you could just get a credit for the game and go back when the shelves are restocked..

 

[Anne34]

Our Walmart is also nasty. It is dirty and has very little selection compared to other stores. We have 2 Targets in the area and they are always nice and clean. Yes, the toy area was picked over. but what do you expect right after Christmas. Our Target's prices are always within a few cents of Walmart and I would MUCH rather spend my money there!!

 

[SpecialK]

When my boys have been given gift cards from stores at which we don't typically shop, I use the cards to stock up on soda, paper products, cleaning products etc. and I give them the cash. Much easier all the way around. I avoid Wal-Mart, too. I've never had much luck there, no matter what time of year.

 

[crazelion]

It's day after Christmas you is not find shelves restocked. Becauuse they give all there people off that stock shelves Christmas off to spend with the family. I should know because I stocked shelves at HomeGoods. Best Buy is out just about everything in the store we did not restocked. We had only a handful things advestied in limited amount.

Waited a few weeks to used the gift cards to let stores regrouped themselves.

 

[S. C.]

Do you belong to sams club? When i had a gift card from sams club i could also use it at walmart plus sams gas station. I don't know if it would work that way with a walmart gift card.

 

[CindyKansas]

I do not like Wal-mart and this comment is from a person who went 2 years without stepping foot into our local Wal-mart. In early December I gave in and went in to look for a Barbie and a Baby doll for Christmas gifts. They had absolutely nothing to pick from. I knew there was a reason I hadn't been shopping there. So, again, I went out of town or online and did my Christmas shopping. And, I too got a Wal-mart gift card for Christmas. Guess I will use it for gas.

 

[Disney Doll]

I don't have a major problem with WalMart, but I would have to agree that 2 days after Christmas is probably not the ideal time to shop there.

 

[Beauty]

I agree with C. Ann, after Christmas Wal-Mart is soooo picked over and empty. Give them a little time to re-stock.

Ours always has the newest up to date everything and at a much better price than Target as well. Heck we spent 200 on Christmas decorations, bath sets and cologne the day after Christmas.

 

[Cindy B]

Did you really expect fully stocked shelves the day after Christmas, especially considering most WalMarts closed at 6 or 7 on Christmas Eve, and just reopened yesterday morning?
The target here stocks about 2/3 the toys that Walmart does (same toys, wlamarts are not cheaper versions) priced at about 25-50% more. I'd much rather have a Walmart card. Targets clothing is better quality, but everything else they carry can be found at Walmart for a much cheaper price.

It was two days after Christmas, giving two overnight crews shifts to work.

As I did my wrapping paper comparison, Target had a better price for half off with larger rolls of wrapping paper. (Target got 10 square feet more per roll for the same price)

I went and returned the game, and even found employees ranting about a few things.. one was two toy department associates saying that they worked a nine hour day but thier timeclock time was changed to six hours so they wouldn't get paid overtime, a customer service manager complaining to another CSM that so many people are calling out and nothing is getting done, and lastly another management type person talking to someone about how a full pallet of something was in the middle of the floor and no one was able to move it at the moment.

I love the poster idea of giving the kids cash, and getting stuff like paper products and sodas with the GC's. I will do that from now on.

 

[gravymom]

Buy the gift cards from your kids and use them to fill up the cars either at Walmart or Sams. Gas is gas...

 

[Cindy B]

Buy the gift cards from your kids and use them to fill up the cars either at Walmart or Sams. Gas is gas...

I wish I could do this. There are no gas station walmarts around here. There is a newer one with a Sams Club, but they check for your Sams Club card every time you fill up--and we don't belong to Sams Club.

Wonder if the Walmart card would pay for a Sams Club membership? Hmmm... thats an idea!

 

[chesirekate]

I'm not a big fan of Wal-mart, but there is one near me that is very nice. Maybe because it's only a year or two old. It's well-lit, well-stocked, clean and neat. However, the one closest to me going in the opposite direction is a pit. It's always dirty, messy, dim...and I'm going to be dragged in there tomorrow by my mother, I just know it. There is just something depressing about that particular store. Give me Target any day.

 

[Dizznee Freak]

I know what the OP is talking about. In my area we have two Walmarts relatively close in distance to us. However they are total opposites. One is immaculate and always well stocked even the day after Christmas and the other often runs out of eggs. Soooo. I think it is the individual manager that controls the situation. complain tohim or her.

 

[EsmeraldaX]

It *is* only a few days after Christmas. Give them a few weeks to re-stock. I never use my gift cards right after Christmas because the stores are always empty. That's probably a good thing, because if people are out buying things, than that means people have money to spend (usually) and that's a good sign.

I think if you go back in 2-4 weeks, you'll find many more things.

 

[bratman777]

BOYCOTT Walmart it sux I WILL NEVER GO THERE AGAIN !!!!!!

 

[Buttercup26]

I don't think it's fair to brand all Wal-Marts as horrible just because some are. Just like any chain/franchise some will be great and some will be gross. We have 3 Wal-Marts in my town and two of them are fantastic, the other is usually messy and unorganized. It all depends on the management & employee's of that particular store. Same with Target, Kmart, McDonalds, etc.... Some will be good, some won't.

To the OP, for video games, cd's or dvd's you should try Wal-Mart.com, they usually have a very good selection.

 

[Goofydiane]

It was two days after Christmas, giving two overnight crews shifts to work.

I went and returned the game, and even found employees ranting about a few things.. one was two toy department associates saying that they worked a nine hour day but thier timeclock time was changed to six hours so they wouldn't get paid overtime, a customer service manager complaining to another CSM that so many people are calling out and nothing is getting done, and lastly another management type person talking to someone about how a full pallet of something was in the middle of the floor and no one was able to move it at the moment.

If I was a Wal-Mart associate (something I will never have to worry about, i refuse to step foot in their stores), and someone changed my timeclock time, the first thing I would do is grab my timecard, get statements from other people I work with to verify the hours I worked - including management - and then go and ask the store manager about the changes.


As to other comments, I was in my favorite Super Target at 7:00 am on 12/26 and had no problems finding clean, easy to shop aisles and clearly marked prices. I went in with a friend to pick up a Santa Cookie Jar and spent over $150! Does anyone else find themselves going in for a 50% clearance sale and buying twice as much because it is 1/2 off??? and then buying things that aren't even on their list?

A few posters pinpointed the issue, it comes down to leadership, as it does in any type of business. Target, Wal-Mart and K-Mart are all refered to as big-box retailers, you should be able to take any of these boxes and put them anywhere in the US and they should run the same. All Targets (and I assume the 'marts'), use the same processes in each store, it is how the leadership develops the team which can tell you how a store operates. My Super Target had a leadership change during the year and I've noticed a huge improvement in the building.

All retail comp-shops the stores closest to them on the most often purchased items. So Toilet Paper costs with-in a few pennies amongst the stores, it is with quality where Target wins out.

 

[Poohnatic]

Give them a few weeks to restock, then try again.

They won me over a couple of years ago when they took back something that had a Target sensor on it-I even told the woman I knew my mom got it at Target, but I didn't have the heart to tell my mom that my kids had those movies...

The answer I got was great "It's still shrink wrapped, we can sell it, it has a UPC that's active in our system. I'll give you a gift card and you probably will find more here". She was absolutely right.

I looked through the picked over toy department on Thursday night for some Lego kits-the local one only had sets for 7 and up.

Suzanne

 

[DiaDeGuadalupe]

Definitely give it another week or 2 before going back.

As for store cleanliness, I guess it differs from place to place. Being from SoCal originally, the WalMarts over there were constantly dirty, items on the floors, etc. Even though they had lots of employees, it was awfully hard to clean up after the patrons. We always saw someone picking up stuff and straightening things out, too! So sad.

Now that we live in Texas, it's a whole different story. We've been to 4 different supercenters, and of the 4, only 1 was messy. Go figure.

We shop both Target and WalMart, it just depends on what we're looking for.

 

[browneyes]

Is this typical of Walmarts?

Nope, there are a few good Walmarts out there. My local Walmart is exceptionally clean, always well stocked, and the people that work there are pretty nice too (most of them anyway ). A lot of my coworkers live near other Walmarts and complain like you do about Walmart until they go to the Walmart near where I live. The manager goes way out of his way to make his store a good store.

The Targets I've been to are another story. I don't go to any of them unless my SIL makes me go into one with her. The stores are nasty, boxes of merchandise are opened (and lots of stuff are broken), rotten attitude from the people that work there, and the customers act so angry too. 3 different Targets, the same type of deal.

I did have a problem with the Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 I got my dd. It was missing the cd and gamebook. I took it to Walmart and they were very concerned about it, but gave me a little bit of attitude (I forgot my receipt), but I gave them the "don't pull this crap on me" look, and then they told me to go get another one and that was that. Until I tried to install it and it wouldn't install correctly. So, I took it back (with the receipt) and they gave me a cash refund. I've bought other computer games there before, so I was surprised with the problems I faced with this game.

Sorry you had such an ordeal, Cindy.