Another Walmart blast
 

My dh took a roll of film to be developed at Walmart. He went back when they told him it would be ready and it wasn't. We went back later, picked up pictures and paid for them. When we got to the car I decided to look at them and they weren't our pictures. So I took them back to the photo desk and asked for our pictures. They weren't particularily interested in helping or looking and hemmed and hawed around and finally asked me what was on the film. I told them it was an old roll and we didn't recall that it could be pictures of the garden or Christmas we had no idea. I asked for my money back and, of course, had to go stand in line at the courtesy counter. I left my name and address with the faint hope they might find the pictures or that the party whose pictures we were given comes back with ours. I was not a happy camper. I will find another place to take film in the future.

We were thinking of getting a digital camera for Christmas, but I can guarantee it will not be purchased at Walmart.

I went to Walmart to take advantage of $4 prescriptions. Every single time I went in to pick up a prescription I had to stand and wait for 20 minutes or longer. Guess what, HyVee Drug Store has $4 prescriptions and the longest wait I've had there is 5 minutes and they apologized all over the place for making me wait.

And I don't care what their ads say they do NOT have the lowest prices... even after driving out most of the competition.

Okay, rant over. I feel better now.

Think I'll join you in a gripe, but mine is about the limited selection of products that's made to appear like you have a huge selection of different products to choose from. They had lots of underarm deodorant, but not my brand. They had lots of shampoo, but not DH's brand. They had lots of cough and cold formulas but not one jar of Vicks salve.

But, I use the Revlon Colorstay lipstick and they did have that, but not my color.

I give up. I rarely shop at Walmart and this is one of the reasons I don't shop there more often.

I have to agree, the selection sucks, the products suck, the customer service sucks and the prices are NOT any better than anyone else.

Every time I go they have less and less stuff, just more of their own great value brand. I can no longer find half of my "regular" items their any more, what happened to a "one stop shop" ????

The bad thing is, that they have driven off everyone else and now we are stuck with them, just them and no one else. Now they can do what ever they want and we have to accept it. If you live in a small town you know what I am talking about...our walmart pushed out the 2 grocery stores and small shopping places here years ago and now we have no choice!

Belinda

i went to Walmart the other day to start stocking up on emergency supplies, no lamp oil, I asked for it, and they said they sold out and would not be selling it anymore? What????? I said sure youll have a pallet full when the weathers bad again. and they were ot of gallons of water too.

Yep// the prices are HIGHER than my grocery store by leaps and bounds. I always feel sorry for the folks that blindly shop there, thinking they are getting a deal.
I only go for 'gottahaveitnow' stuff. And even then I will try the trift stores and Roses (poor, nasty Roses) first. Other than that.. we don't really buy anything much...OH, and the Dollar General and Family Dollar etc.. I mean a trash can is a trash can...

Our sewing/fabric dept lady said they are closing that dept in 2010. They tried this a couple of years and downsized most of them. Now they are heading out.:croc:

Our fabric department closed a couple of months ago.

I had an annoying experience with photos too. The sign said if you dropped them off Thursday they'd be in Tuesday but turns out there was a cut-off time - not listed on the sign. I was there Tuesday and again Wednesday before someone explained why they weren't ready. Not a particularly big deal but I haven't had a reason to go back up that way so there they (hopefully) sit.

Oh, forgot my personal Walmart gripe - they stopped carrying tortillas. Used to have a display of different brands in the refrigerated section but it's just gone. Now there is only one size/brand in the Mexican aisle and they are ALWAYS sold out because it's a popular item. Luckily I have a great selection of places to shop and can make them as well.

It is surprising that a place as big as Walmart can have shelf after shelf of, say, spaghetti sauce, without having the specific one you want.

I'm not a Walmart fan either - esp. the meat, it's practically inedible. Except for the little bitty mini foil-wrapped hams, those are good, and just the right size. :) I've gotten lucky, hit or miss. WM does have a lot of useful items, and it's convenient for me. My area has a ton of other stores, so it hasn't been the evil big-box entity it has been in other places.

They just built a brand new one about 10 min. away from my house and they DO have a fabric department, and a fairly large one at that! Amazing! It's mostly cotton quilt-type fabric too. And there are two other major fabric stores within a hop-and-a-skip from there. Hm.

Unfortunately they left the old Walmart location empty and abandoned, and now the entire strip mall has died. It's really sad.

Around here when an older mall was declining in business and the Walmarts were being converted over to Supers...They refurbished the entire mall into a giant Super Walmart. OMG it's HUGE !!!
Also where an older Walmart closed doors to move into a brand new Super location the old store was filled by an Orscheln Farm & Home store.

Our town has limited grocery stores, Walmart, Ingles, and Save-Rite are the choices. I usually buy my crackers at the flea market when someone has them--in date but bent boxes. Nobody had crackers at the flea market this week, so I checked out Walmart. Their version of wheat thins used to be $1.00 a couple of years ago. The last time I bought them at Walmart a few months ago they were about $1.30. Yesterday they were $1.98. The last time I bought Walmart's version of graham crackers they were about $1.25. Yesterday they were $2.50. Went to Dollar General and their version of wheat thins were $1.38 and their graham crackers were about $1.30 also.

Don't know if it's same these days but way back when it was WM's policy to keep the abandoned store empty for a year so the consumers would get used to driving to the new location before allowing someone to lease old building. JMHO

If you watch the packaging carefully, you will see that with WalMart - the cereal box (say, Quaker Life) looks ALMOST the same size as another stores 15 oz, but check the Walmart weight and it will be, say, 13.5 oz. It might be 2/$5, but if I wait a little, a local grocery will have the real size on sale just as cheap.

what gets me is the brands they carry. I wanted sausage one day and wanted it quickly....the brands I like they don't carry....only some nasty kind in a tube. No place on the shelf for another brand either!

I don't shop at WM unless I'm in a pinch. I make a point to shop at locally owned stores first (even if the prices are higher, which lately the difference is smaller).

Like many of you, I am VERY disappointed at the variety of brands WM offers, pretty sad, actually. The stores I visit are chaotic, unorganized, the people working there aren't friendly (I'm happy to get a "hello", and forget getting a "thank you"). When I shop at local stores, I am ALWAYS greeted, offered help and am always thanked for my business. No matter what WM I visit, I feel dumber for having been there.

Its important to me to support my local community first. The benefits greatly outweigh any increase in expense. Its not all about price.

We went yesterday to the Super Center and noticed they had changed everything to where it looked more like Sam'sw Club.

But we was getting a Battery for my wifes Pickup and found they were very helpful.

big rockpile

Many years ago my film was 'lost' at Wal-Mart. They wouldn't even replace my roll of film. Haven't used the photo lab since. We switched to Wal-Greens, and they do a great job. I've found it cheaper to print my digital pictures there than on my own computer.

Ours is a smaller store and seems to always be out of things, so it's not a regular stop for us, we just go there to pick up things we don't want to drive to town for.

Dawn

The only bargin I have found at WM is can lids 1.50 a box,2.49 at the local grocery store.Wonder if WM has marked them down yet?

There is a Wal-Mart 22 miles away. Target is 46 miles away. I shop Target. Does that tell you anything? I hate Wal-Mart and only go there if I absolutely have to and only spend a minimum.

Exactly the reason I no longer set foot in a WalMArt
That's true, unfortunatly most of America disagree's with us or there wouldn't be so many of them.

Very true as they are very friendly around here also. As we have have 4 Super Walmarts in a 30 mile radius Plus we a Walmart Distribution Center employing 1000s.
So they have been and are doing a great job in my area of WI. I shop at WM many times a month.

And I think thats the inherant difference that most people over-look... I see a lot of griping ----ing and moaning about buy american keep america working. yet here we have a chain store that has an employment base of hundreds of thousands of people across the US... people that use their walmart cashier or stocking job to feed their families...right HERE in america!

but hey... you dont like what they sell, your perrogtive. your choice where to spend your money... but remember this when you tell all your friends not to shop somewhere because of your bad experience... its about supply and demand, and when demand falls... people lose their jobs... and then you grip about having to support a welfare mother trying to feed her kids. Ever think she mighta HAD a job before being let go by some store that everyone tried to shun.

does Walmart have a lot of cheap crap? yep...
do they have the lowest prices? nope...
do the humans working there have bad days? absolutely, they're human we all do, and you cant just tell your boss I'm having a bad day I shouldnt be here... life doesnt work that way.

but you can bet your sweet bippy that every person drawing a paycheck from a walmart in america...the old, the young, the infirm ( I've even seen an employee with a seeing eye dog at my local walmart) The educated and the less than so... Everyone of them... LIVED here in AMERICA.... they are AMERICANS!

as much as you'd like, you cant have it both ways folks... either you want to SUPPORT american workers... or you dont. Walmart provides a huge employment base... what if every walmart in every town across america closed ? then you'd all be griping about the huge rise in unemployment. and its not just direct employees... its distribution companies across the US, Truckers, dock workers...the list goes on and on.

Living in a pipe never did anyone any good.

you can have an issue with the product... but please realise that wlamarts products areny the be all and end all of the store...that the employees are very much needing their paychecks.

I really like our Walmart. The one here in our town, and the superWalmarts out in Madison and Dodgeville. All the people are very friendly (couple of complete morons, but you have those in any store) and the prices are good most times. I don't buy food there, since we have an excellent grocery store chain (Woodmans), but for most other things...yup.

i avoid it if at all possible. most of their stuff is junk that breaks with the first use.

i too boycotted it for a while and made it a challenge to find everything i needed in a locally owned store. there aren't many left but it was surprising what i could find in the old down town if i just looked and/ or asked.

in the last year or so i have gone back in a few times. i have to go today to get a gift card for someone.

a couple years ago i needed tires that day. i went to walmart to buy them and ended up waiting 4!!! hours to get tires put on. (separate rant.) as i sat there waiting i entertained myself imagining if tshtf how much of their stock would be useful in an emergency or if the power grid went down. i'm being generous if i say about 10% of the stuff would actually be useful. the place is full of cheap plastic junk (still another rant.)

You are overlooking the fact that if you shop somewhere else with better products and nicer help (uniformly abysmal at WM) you are still supporting the AMERICANS that work there and are supporting their families!

But - many of these other stores have owners that are part of the community and truly give back. At least give their workers enough hours so that they qualify for the health care plan the company has... and don't counsel their workers how to qualify for all of the "Free" state programs (and yes, WM does this!)

Camille
P.S. Their prices are NOT lower!!

P.P.S. Only go to WM to buy bagged chicken to feed the dogs.

*smiles* exactly my suggestion... why not utalise both for what ever you need and keep both sets of employees... gainfully employed. Glad you buy your dog food there.:D

Funny ya'll much have some strange wal marts. Two good wally world stories.

I had about an half hour before picking up the wife and we needed bread and milk so into wally world I went. For the first time I can remember they were out of the bread we buy, i.e. empty shelves. No big deal every runs out of things at times. When I was walking out of the isle a white shirt, not a blue vest type, said hi and asked me if I was finding everything alright. I told her no, they were out of bread. She told me to hold on and she'd check in back. In a few minutes she came out with two loaves of bread for me.

A few days later I was standing in the express lane with one item. The line was fairly long but not THAT long. The next thing I know a blue vest came up and asked me if I was only buying that one item. Confused me but I said yes. She told me she'd check me out at the jewelry counter.

I will agree you have to check prices. Especially OTC meds. We have found that most times they are cheaper at either Dollar General or Family Dollar. But there are times when the ability to buy it all with one stop is worth the few extra pennies.

I have read these Walmart rants before and always thought, "gee, these people must be nuts, our Walmart is great!" Well, I am now eating my own words! Our Walmart is terrible!!!! They updated their store to serve us better, which means they no longer carry anything that I used to buy. I am fed up with waiting forever in the pharmacy line for prescriptions only to have the person waiting on me acting like it's such a big favor that they do so. I'm tired of being charged double when I only buy one item or charged for something I didn't even buy in the first place. I'm tired of no cashier lines open except the 10 item or less line and when asked can you check me out I get "Oh, well that would mean I'd have to go get another cart". So...to all you haters of Walmart, I apolgize! Please let me join your ranks.
Karen in NE Indiana
aka grandma chicken

Just want to say that my son worked at Walmart until recently....full time, extra pay for second shift, extra pay for Sundays and, yes, he had benefits after three months.

I do love that there are all kinds working there, including some people that would have a hard time finding jobs elsewhere.

Your problem is that you got photos developed at Walmart. Bad idea.

You should always get photos developed at CVS. Because chances are excellent that CVS will accidently replace your photos with other, more exciting photos.

I once picked up some photos at CVS that were supposed to be from my nephew's third birthday party. What I got instead was a package of photos that a VERY attractive young woman had apparently allowed her boyfriend or husband to take. She wasn't shy. And had no reason to be. VERY attractive.

I think one of the problems with Walmart employees being grouchy these days is they've all had hours cut. We don't have CVS around here but we do have Walgreens. I don't much care for it as the location is not convenient. Generally I don't have a big problem with employees but last evening the two were not interested in being helpful.

I live in a small town and we do have a grocery store. However, the prices are nearly double what I pay in town where I work. I mostly shop at Aldis and Fareway for the things I can't get at Aldis. Target here is a big beautiful store but they are almost always out of whatever I want to buy and they are more expensive than Walmart. When they went to being a super Target lost me. I still shop at both Walmart and Target because they are the only games in town. Walmart is awful about standing in line to check out. Target is much better at opening registers as needed.

Dh gets his prescriptions at our local pharmacy. He has a $275 deductible to pay so it doesn't make much difference where he pays it! I have a $275 deductible but I don't use my RX plan because I don't spend $275 a year because I ask the doctor for something on the $4 list and go to HyVee Drug Store. One shop shopping would be nice but it really isn't practical.

Menards is dh's favorite place to shop. I wish they would get the electric carts so dh could enjoy shopping instead of struggling to stay upright by leaning on a cart.

Clothing is usually on sale (at least 50% off and preferrably 75%) at Sears/Younkers/Penneys or we shop for second hand from thrift stores or garage sales.

I use Wally World and I used to shop there almost for everything. Then the big "Store Remodel" started. Ekkkkkkk

First of all they did away with the fabric department, replaced it with big screen TVs, a whole wall of them. Then everything is all over the place. I was walking in the toy aisle when there was a display of buttons, halfway down the toy aisle there were plastic flowers. Go figure. In the grocery aisle it is even worse. They may have a whole bunch of salad dressings, and then some noodles. A few aisles over they will have the rest of the pasta, and maybe later a display of different salad dressings. There is no rhyme or reason to where things are. I have asked the store employees, but they say they have no idea.....

I have started being a Krogerite. We only have Food Lion in our town, but I drive the 45 miles or so to go to Krogers. They have lots more brands, and their produce is MUCH MUCH better. Prices are a little higher, but at least you can eat their food. And they have "old folks day" on tuesday!!

Alice in Virginia

Walmart has been processing my digital prints for years. They get mailed right to my house, and even the shipping cost is pretty inexpensive. No mess ups or lost orders.

Will never buy produce there - ick. All shipped in instead of gotten locally - and if that's not true, well, they have a funny way of appearing otherwise. Once in a while I buy packaged food there, but not normally.

In general though, I really like the super WalMart near me. Good supply of everything, and it's actually fairly attractive (it's only been open a couple of years). And I LOVE LOVE LOVE their Earth Spirit sandals - I'm not sure if they're offered anywhere else.

I completely understand why the fabric departments are closing. Even JoAnne Fabrics has been struggling, so of course any store offering fabrics but not specializing in them will struggle even more. Retail real estate is much better served on electronics etc. than on wide selection of fabrics - they'll make more money per square foot of display space.

One thing ya'll "they closed the fabric department" people need to realize the reason the got rid of it is because it wasn't making money. Years ago our local wally world carried horse supplies and some auto parts. They stopped carrying them for the simple reason they weren't selling.

This is part of the reason that we love our little town so much! The city planners refused to allow Walmart to install one of their stores :) The two neighboring towns, one 20 miles in one direction the other 20 miles in the opposite direction, both have Walmarts, but not our little town.

and if Wally world did not exist these people would be employed by locally owned stores, so your logic is not really logical.

I used to be WalMart's biggest fan - but not anymore. They are the nearest store to us when we need clothes, a kids' birthday gift, cold medicine, or sporting goods or whatever, but I'm about done every trying to find what I want there. It annoys me when I spend time trying to find a parking spot, walk all around the store looking and have to leave empty handed and go someplace else because they're either out of what I want, don't carry it, or it's a torn open package or such cheap Chinese made junk that I won't spend money on it.

I will say that our Walmart has local produce and decent prices, but you have to know your prices to compare to other stores on staples and other items. They aren't always the cheapest.

Really? hmmm I live 25 miles from my nearest walmart... yet... 2 mom and pop grocery stores (Carters) closed right in my very town.. no other big box stores around for that 25 miles... 80 people out of work on a dime. Walmart didnt do that. the economy did. but the people at wal mart are still working. so that pipe vision you have about wihtout big box stores all the small businesses would still cater to our employment needs... sorry... it aint flying.

The nature of a large store is to appear impersonal on the surface. Trick seems to be to put as much of your business with them on a personal basis, choosing friendly clerks. It seems kinda silly to declare war on an entire corporation because you came across a bad egg or two.

I don't love em, I use them when it is to my benefit. There are about two dozen items of good quality and well priced that I go there for when it's time to restock. I admit they have sharpened my interest in country of origin and I shun the China junk including foodstuff. Not a race thing, as I have great Chinese/American friends, and will drive a long way for outstanding Chinese food...Glen

In my neck of the woods Walmart performs a great service, especially in the more rural areas.

Not only does it provide a source of groceries in those outlaying areas which people otherwise would have to drive a long way for, it also provides employment to people who live too far away from employment centers.

Not to mention the fact that they employ the elderly and infirm.

In my area Walmart has the best grocery department. I don't buy their meat (raise my own) but their groceries beat any other grocery chain hands down, especially price wise.

For those specialty items I can't find there I buy on line or in the city.