Open the f-ing lanes!!!

[olllllo]

If Walmart offered bulk grains and hops where would you shop?

And you'd stand in line.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

If Walmart offered bulk grains and hops where would you shop?

Problem is it would be Hops would be flavorless and the grain would most likly contain 10% mice.

 

[CBBaron]

Walmart is no more of a corporate greed machine than any other chain store, they just are bigger and better at it.

Exactly!
First that makes them the face for all that is wrong with the model even if there are some things good.
Second, Walmart is one the best (worst) at this type of model.

The mom and pops have been disappearing for decades due to the big chain stores and many of them should have disappeared due to over service and under service. But I do bemoan the reduction in quality of goods generally sold and the lack of experience available in these big stores.

I will continue to avoid the Walmarts and HomeDepots when possible because my experience is nearly always unpleasant. The prices are usually good but the quality of goods and especially service is very subpar. My local hardware actually has people that know what they are talking about and try to help. The grocery store also has pleasant and helpful people and the selection of food products is at least as varied as the big chain store with 3x the square footage.

Craig

 

[olllllo]

This is a great read about Walmarts effect on quality of goods:

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/102/open_snapper.html

This isn't necessarilty true in all cases, but this is the effect lower prices can have on even a major name brand.

 

[olllllo]

Back on topic.
I want banks to open more teller lanes.

Get those lazy ass bank officers behind the windows.

I see you in your office sharpening pencils.

 

[Evan!]

Problem is it would be Hops would be flavorless and the grain would most likly contain 10% mice.

Humorous hyperbole aside, I recently bought some groceries at the SuperWalMart in Harrisonburg and everything I bought, even the pastrami and the rye bread, was as good or better than I'd get at Giant or Kroger or wherever else. But the prices were much lower.

Everyone likes to joke about the products at WalMart being substandard, but my experience has been the opposite. The only reason usually avoid WalMart is because it's kind of depressing. Unless it's a new store, they're nasty and smell of trailer park musk. Not that I think I'm "better" than the trailer park folks, it's just a visceral reaction to it. Many of the people you see in WalMart are kind of depressing.

 

[Evan!]

Back on topic.
I want banks to open more teller lanes.

Get those lazy ass bank officers behind the windows.

I see you in your office sharpening pencils.

Tellers? Pshaw. I can't remember the last time I used a teller. I do all my banking online, direct-deposit, direct-withdrawal, and via an ATM. I'm happy to do it that way!

 

[olllllo]

Tellers? Pshaw. I can't remember the last time I used a teller. I do all my banking online, direct-deposit, direct-withdrawal, and via an ATM. I'm happy to do it that way!

I work for a small company w/o direct deposit.

 

[JustDave]

Tellers? Pshaw. I can't remember the last time I used a teller. I do all my banking online, direct-deposit, direct-withdrawal, and via an ATM. I'm happy to do it that way!

Agreed!

The less human interaction I have in a given day, the better. But you folks are just fine

 

[PseudoChef]

Humorous hyperbole aside, I recently bought some groceries at the SuperWalMart in Harrisonburg and everything I bought, even the pastrami and the rye bread, was as good or better than I'd get at Giant or Kroger or wherever else. But the prices were much lower.

Everyone likes to joke about the products at WalMart being substandard, but my experience has been the opposite. The only reason usually avoid WalMart is because it's kind of depressing. Unless it's a new store, they're nasty and smell of trailer park musk. Not that I think I'm "better" than the trailer park folks, it's just a visceral reaction to it. Many of the people you see in WalMart are kind of depressing.

Not to mention Wal-Mart probably has a higher turnover than your neighborhood Kroger, so the products are probably fresher, believe it or not.

 

[david_42]

Another thing I like about Fry's: one to many. A single customer line feeding all cashiers. The number of times I've mis-called a queue in a supermarket and gotten stuck behind someone who knows that deep down in the depths of their purse they have exact change or their checkbook or a five-year-old coupon for a similar product from a different manufacturer.

Fry's, the only person that suffers those fools is the cashier. Although, I've never figured out how Fry's gets away with not hiring Caucasians.

 

[niquejim]

Humorous hyperbole aside, I recently bought some groceries at the SuperWalMart in Harrisonburg and everything I bought, even the pastrami and the rye bread, was as good or better than I'd get at Giant or Kroger or wherever else. But the prices were much lower.

Everyone likes to joke about the products at WalMart being substandard, but my experience has been the opposite. The only reason usually avoid WalMart is because it's kind of depressing. Unless it's a new store, they're nasty and smell of trailer park musk. Not that I think I'm "better" than the trailer park folks, it's just a visceral reaction to it. Many of the people you see in WalMart are kind of depressing.

Yeah there aren't many supermodels shopping at Wal-mart. I know I'm there several times a week and my soul is fine .

 

[Air Pirate]

unfortunatly Wally World is the only store in town (K-Rock, TEXAS!!11oneoneone!!) that has many of the things i need and is not clear on the other side of town.

i rather destest the store though. their abhorant lack of quality goods, the severe limitations on variety (of crappy goods), and the f***ing registers that are never opened ( i swear ive seen one with a half inch of dust on it).

 

[bru-er]

Best Wal-Mart - Kodiak Alaska. Employes knew where the shoe laces and exacto knives were and NO line. This was on a Sunday!!! All others should be avoided.

 

[BuffaloSabresBrewer]

I work for a small company w/o direct deposit.

If you go to your bank and tell them this they will probably call your company and offer to set up direct deposit with them. It will cost your boss nothing and if anything some kind of incentive might come out of it. I just got $100 for opening a checking account with direct deposit. Worth a try.

 

[Laurel]

People saying that wal*mart carries lower quality goods can only be talking about stuff like clothing. The rest of the stuff they carry is NAME BRAND. I go there to buy gallons of Mobil1 oil. I'm willing to bet that the Mobil1 that I get at wal*mart is the same formulation as the Mobil1 I'd get at Costco, or Schucks/Checker/Kragen. Televisions, same thing, toasters, blenders, fish tanks, makeup, shampoo, potato chips, dvds, etc all are the SAME thing that you'd get at Best Buy, Petsmart, Rite-Aid, Safeway, etc.

That said, I rarely shop at Wal-Mart because it's out of my way, but I do go up there twice a year to get oil, when I had a fish emergency and needed a 10 gallon tank and some medicine, they were open at 11:45pm when Petsmart wasn't, and they offer lower prices on almost all of their stuff. If it wasn't so out of my way, so depressing, stocked full of people with questionably human ancestry, and a nightmare to park in, I'd go there often. I don't see how Wal*mart is any worse than Costco, they're just on a slightly bigger scale. I bet many of the people bashing Wal*mart love the deals they get on Costco merchandise.

 

[EvilTOJ]

I don't like Wal*mart because they treat their employees like crap and hire low wage workers and discourage benefits. Whereas at Costco they pay more, get benefits, like full time empolyees, and don't actively discourage the Grocery Unions.

 

[Laurel]

I don't like Wal*mart because they treat their employees like crap and hire low wage workers and discourage benefits. Whereas at Costco they pay more, get benefits, like full time empolyees, and don't actively discourage the Grocery Unions.

With all the media attention that wal-mart gets, I'd imagine that people would know this, and only come to work for them if they a) didn't care or b)couldn't find a job elsewhere. Regardless of the reasons, people chose to work at wal-mart instead of being unemployed. They are able to offer such low prices on their products because they pay their workers less than Home Depot or Costco. Regardless of whether it's "good" of them to do so, people choose to work there willingly. Wal-mart doesn't pay for competence. If someone really cared about the way they were treated, then they'd put more effort into what they did and get a job that required some ability. I've worked retail and I know that most of the people that hold retail jobs are either too lazy to get a better job, young and need the experience, or old and do it because they're bored. I'm not anything special but I was able to land a job that required pretty much zero skill level, just people skills(which you need for retail as well) making nearly double what most people at wal-mart make. It's not because I'm magic or special or have an education (i answer phones) but it's because I went out of my way to find a job that wasn't Wal-mart.

 

[blackshirtproud]

I used to be a vendor that delivered to "Satan's A-hole" (Wal-Mart) as we called it
and the tactics are true. I had Co-Managers talk to me about snuffing competition by lowering their price on an item and intentionally lose money "because they could".
I served five of their superstores and hated every moment of it.
They would force vendors to take returns on customer or Associate damaged items. (Mine being ice) The receiving person told me I had to take back ten dollars worth of ice because The customer had "forgot in trunk and it melted" was written on the ticket (it was rare I ever saw a return ticket). I think the "Always" slogan stands for Always under staffed, As they expected us to pretty much empty their walk-in and put pallets of ice in the back and then put all of their items back in front.

And for them trying to try and kill off small business, See above and the town I live in Population 45,000 has two super centers. Please explain that to me as only one is ever busy. Wal-mat is the reason I quit vending and I made a pretty good
living at it before Wally world, and they were not even my biggest customer.

Sorry, Rant over.

 

[PeteOz77]

Pete, capitalism is capitalism, regardless of whether its a mom-n-pop shop or a WalMart. You think Mom n Pop opened that hardware store out of the goodness of their heart? No, they needed to make a living. I'm sick and tired of this idea that WalMart is pure evil while mom-n-pop local shops are the embodiment of angelic hometown goodness.

Yeas Evan, unfortunately, Capitalism works. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the area in between gets smaller. I wouldn't be so proud of America's rampant capitalism, it's not such a great thing. America doesn't have a patent on Capitalism, but they sure are GOOD at it. Of course, Mom n Pop opened and ran their store to make a living, but they didn't use predatory pricing and tactics to RUIN other businesses in town.

Example: Small town, has all the usual shops that speiclaise, bakery, butcher, stationery, bicycle shop etc. WalMart rocks up, get their land for free, fre taxes for at least 5 years, probably a grant to help build the store. Let's just pick one shop that they will destroy, and you can use the same exact pattern for the rest of the stores. Mom and Pop buy a particular brand of bicycle for $80, and sell it $100, seems like a fair profit margin, especially when they only sell 5-6 a month, so that's around $100 to help pay the bills. Walmart buys the same exact bike for $60 because the buy 10,000 of them at a time. They sell them for $90, and make MORE money on them than mom and pop. They even go so far as to sell ALL of their bikes for less than COST until the local bike shops are gone... then raise the prices back up. Of course mom and pop now sell NO bikes because they are "overpriced" Soon mom and pop have to lock the doors, let all of the staff go and either retire, or go work for walmart for minimum wage with no benefits.

That's Capitalism... and it works... but it's not pretty, or even humane in my book.

You know how many poor folks save money by shopping at walmart rather than the local shop that charges twice as much (because they have to)?

These same poor folks that drink Jack Daniels, smoke a carton of cigarettes a week and feed the kids at Macdonald's, I bet they drive a damned gas hog to wall mart as well as the welfare office to pick up their check. I don't feel sorry for them. I only feel sorry for the "Working Poor", who scrimp and save and bust their arse to get by... you can easily recognise these poor people... by their Wal mart uniforms

The tradeoff here is obvious: WalMart is open 24/7 and has pretty much everything at one store (esp. if it's a Super WalMart). Sure, you might have to wait in line longer, but it's open whenever you need something. I defy you to show me a local mom-n-pop shop that carries watch batteries, car tires and cabbage and is open at 3:30am.

Who hell NEEDS anything at 3:30 am? I have never needed to shop at that hour.

It's amazing that America has become the most powerful nation in the world in every single aspect, and they built this great empire WITHOUT 24/7 and everything under one roof! WOW!!!! How did they do it? Methinks Mom and Pop served us pretty well, and WalMart just signifies that the current generations are lot lazier, cheaper, demanding, and selfish than any previous generation.

Jesus people, plan ahead more than 15 minutes and stop being so demanding, you life will be a lot happier.

Oh, and the "documentary" you linked to---talk about cherry-picking facts and misrepresenting basic economics. Wow!

That's what documentaries do! "Cherry Picked" facts are still facts.

 

[cronxitawney]

It's amazing that America has become the most powerful nation in the world in every single aspect, and they built this great empire WITHOUT 24/7 and everything under one roof! WOW!!!! How did they do it? Methinks Mom and Pop served us pretty well, and WalMart just signifies that the current generations are lot lazier, cheaper, demanding, and selfish than any previous generation.

If the current generation is so much lazier, cheaper, demanding, and selfish, then how come there are so many old people shopping at WalMart? There is a difference between being cheap, and being financially retarded. If I need baby formula, I don't buy the small can at the grocery store, I get the bigger can of the same sh!t at WalMart for the same price. I guess you would call that being cheap. If you are willing to waste gas driving to 3 stores when you could get everything you need at one, more power to you. I do hate my local WalMart though, because I can never find an associate that speaks english

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Since we're on the topic of Wal-mart here, I think I can offer an angle that no one has presented yet. I work for a snack food manufacturing company. We make tortilla chips, corn chips, cheese puffs, cheese crunchies, multi-grain chips, cheese popcorn, butter popcorn, caramel popcorn, we make the entire line of Pringles Select chips for P&G, and up until about 6 months ago we made all Cracker Jack for Frito Lay.

We don't have any of our own brands - we make our product for other people and put it in their bags. Go to McDonalds and get a Southwest salad - we made the tortilla strips. Go to Wendy's and order something that comes with a bag of tortilla chips and we made them. Go to Meijer, Aldi, Piggly Wiggly or some other grocery chains and buy the store brand snacks and there's a good chance that we made them.

We were a vendor for Wal-mart at one point many years ago. They regularly came to us and told us that they needed a price decrease or they would take the business elsewhere. When the prices of ingredients rose and we needed to seek out a price increase from our customers they would decline and say that if we increased the price that they would take the business elsewhere. The company I work for is known for making snacks foods of superior quality in our niche of the industry and that means something to most of our customers. Not to Wal-Mart.

Then there was the whole RFID initiative that they started years ago. I believe that they since relieved their mandate that all vendors submit product to them with RFID tags/labels, but they still forced a lot of companies to dump a lot of money into something that still doesn't really work very well. As soon as we got a letter from Wal-Mart informing us that we were going to have to comply with their RFID mandate I started working up the cost.

We're a $100-$150 million a year company, and to comply with Wal-Mart's RFID demands entirely and retain them as a customer would have cost my company upwards of $1 million. Once I presented that to uppoer management, we dropped them as a customer almost instantly.

Unfortunately some others were not able to do so. There were at least 10 other companies that I know that were so knee deep into Wal-Mart (30% or more of their customer base) that they couldn't afford to lose the production, regardless of whether they were making the profit that they needed to stay in business. So when Wal-Mart forced them to comply with their RFID mandate they did it. The technology still hasn't materialized into what people thought it was going to be and a lot of these companies either went bankrupt or had to sell in order to prevent a lot of good people from losing their jobs.

I go to Wal-Mart about 3 times a year. I just don't like the place. I'd rather spend a bit more somewhere else. It's partly because I know how the company is run, and it's partly because of the type of people that are normally in there - just not my kind of people.

 

[FatMonsters]

I have yet to go to a clean wal-mart. Every one I have ever been in was disgusting. And +1 to what everyone said about the clientele that frequent it. Although sometimes you get some good drama from watching them... Unfortunately I probably have to go there a couple times a year. Since they put up the Target near my house, I go there. I have yet to see a dirty Target. Same goods as Wal-mart, but a little higher is cost. I'll pay it for the clean store and ambiance of the people. And Target also carries some items that Wal-Mart doesn't

The Wal-mart we have is one of those super centers, with the food store. Their produce is junk. And produce usually accounts for 30-40% of my grocery bill as my wife and I try to eat lots of fresh fruits and veggies. Again, their produce is junk! And they don't carry some of the lines of major brands that I like. It seems to me to be cheap unhealthy food. Case in point, I try to buy low sodium canned goods and they don't have them. They barely carry light salad dressiing and if they do its not something I want. I'll stick with Wegman's for my groceries thank you. It costs more, but I pay it for better quality food!

Okay my rant is over...

 

[EdWort]

Yeas Evan, unfortunately, Capitalism works. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the area in between gets smaller. .

What other method would you prefer to live under? Socialism? Communism? Perhaps if everyone was equal as in equally miserable (except the elite few who are more equal than others)

Rich get richer, poor get richer, and middle class get richer. Lots of people slam America's system, yet they fail to see the millions of people who succeed in climbing the income ladder through education, determination, and risk taking. The poor ten years ago are not middle class. The middle class ten years ago are upper middle class. Not everyone stays in the same income bracket unless they are uneducated people with no drive to excel. There is example after example of success stories as well as sad stories of the downtrodden followed by stories of stupid lazy people who think it's my responsibility to pay for their own ignorance (and health insurance).

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Not everyone stays in the same income bracket unless they are uneducated people with no drive to excel.

The welfare system breed these people and they are killing it. Why work when you cn get by on what the Gov gives you from my hard earned salary? Oh and each kid is another few hundred bucks a month too!

followed by stories of stupid lazy people who think it's my responsibility to pay for their own ignorance (and health insurance).

Time and time again- Jury's and the gov reaffirm this to people.

 

[VatorMan]

If the current generation is so much lazier, cheaper, demanding, and selfish, then how come there are so many old people shopping at WalMart? There is a difference between being cheap, and being financially retarded. If I need baby formula, I don't buy the small can at the grocery store, I get the bigger can of the same sh!t at WalMart for the same price. I guess you would call that being cheap. If you are willing to waste gas driving to 3 stores when you could get everything you need at one, more power to you. I do hate my local WalMart though, because I can never find an associate that speaks english

YO dude !! I'm in Gaithersburg !!:rockin:

The only reason I go to Wal Mart is they are the only game in town for RV supplies.

 

[Hell Brew]

I think we have forgotten the most important thing here. Walmart has the WORST beer selection of any store!!!

 

[ohiobrewtus]

I think we have forgotten the most important thing here. Walmart has the WORST beer selection of any store!!!

Not if you're the average American beer lemming who believes the latest round of Bud commercials.

 

[Evan!]

Yeas Evan, unfortunately, Capitalism works. The rich get richer, the poor get poorer, and the area in between gets smaller. I wouldn't be so proud of America's rampant capitalism, it's not such a great thing. America doesn't have a patent on Capitalism, but they sure are GOOD at it. Of course, Mom n Pop opened and ran their store to make a living, but they didn't use predatory pricing and tactics to RUIN other businesses in town.

I'll defer to what EdWort said so I won't have to repeat too many of his sage words. The fact is, capitalism (like democracy) is NOT perfect (I never said it was) but it's the best option---the one that leads to more wealth creation and more freedom. Your alternatives (socialism, communism, etc) are hideously immoral in many ways...they all but forgo personal freedom for "the greater good", i.e., the tyranny of the majority. Capitalism may not be perfect, but at least it doesn't force me to submit the tyranny of 50.1% of the populace. Furthermore, WalMart didn't invent their brand of large-scale commercialism, and I certainly disagree with their tactics of essentially bribing and blackmailing politicians in order to garner special favors, tax breaks, etc.

But the mere idea of "predatory" pricing is hogwash to begin with. It reminds me of the old joke where three guys were in jail and they got to talking. Turns out they were all gas station owners. What a coincidence! They ask the first guy, what're you in for? He says, "I sold my gas for too cheap. I'm in for predatory pricing". They ask the second guy, he says "I sold my gas for too much, I'm in for gouging". Then they ask the third guy...and he says, "I sold my gas for the same price as my competitors. I'm in for collusion".

Now can you comprehend the absurdity here? "Predatory" pricing?!?!

Example: Small town, has all the usual shops that speiclaise, bakery, butcher, stationery, bicycle shop etc. WalMart rocks up, get their land for free, fre taxes for at least 5 years, probably a grant to help build the store.

First off, I've already address this issue, and I've stated just how wrong I think this is---but I believe that just as much blame lies with greedy, crooked politicians who make that happen! So why are you using this as an argument against capitalism? It's not. It's an argument against cronyism and bribes. hey, great, we agree: cronyism and bribes are bad.

Let's just pick one shop that they will destroy, and you can use the same exact pattern for the rest of the stores. Mom and Pop buy a particular brand of bicycle for $80, and sell it $100, seems like a fair profit margin, especially when they only sell 5-6 a month, so that's around $100 to help pay the bills. Walmart buys the same exact bike for $60 because the buy 10,000 of them at a time. They sell them for $90, and make MORE money on them than mom and pop. They even go so far as to sell ALL of their bikes for less than COST until the local bike shops are gone... then raise the prices back up. Of course mom and pop now sell NO bikes because they are "overpriced" Soon mom and pop have to lock the doors, let all of the staff go and either retire, or go work for walmart for minimum wage with no benefits.

But what if, just what if, that mom and pop store figured out its own recipe for success, for overcoming the tide of big box stores? And they got bigger and bigger, until they were able to do that same thing. Hm, the tables have turned.

The point here is that we apparently differ on what we view as the goal. For me, the goal is the best system that affords the opportunity for everyone to move up the ladder and also allows for individual freedom to reign supreme (even more supreme than mom and pop). Apparently, the goal for you is more mom and pop shops. Or am I wrong?

That's Capitalism... and it works... but it's not pretty, or even humane in my book.

Businesses going out of business because they can't compete is actually a fact of life, believe it or not. If there was no competition, then nobody would have any incentive to provide better service or lower prices. What don't you get about that? It sucks to see small stores close because of bigger stores, simply because the big stores don't have a local face, while the little stores have this image of a poor old couple just trying to make ends meet. It's emotionally driven, and disingenuous when looked at through the lens of economics. If we start injecting emotionalism into economics, we're in BIG trouble.

These same poor folks that drink Jack Daniels, smoke a carton of cigarettes a week and feed the kids at Macdonald's, I bet they drive a damned gas hog to wall mart as well as the welfare office to pick up their check. I don't feel sorry for them. I only feel sorry for the "Working Poor", who scrimp and save and bust their arse to get by... you can easily recognise these poor people... by their Wal mart uniforms

That's very mature of you, making cracks about poor people being drunks and working at walmart. I'm not saying that I am a "champion of the poor" or anything---the last thing I support is welfare or socialism or handouts---but I do find your mix of "we gotta save the mom and pop shops" and "the poor can suck it, because they're just drunks anyway" arguments quite puzzling. One minute, you think we should use the government to restrict the freedoms of people in order to save the little guy; the next minute, you're telling me that poor people don't need the lower costs of living that walmart provides because they're just welfare pimps. WTF?

Who hell NEEDS anything at 3:30 am? I have never needed to shop at that hour.

You missed my point by a million miles, pete. Regardless of whether YOU need something at 3:30am, WalMart wouldn't be open if it weren't profitable---and the fact that it's profitable means that SOME people DO need stuff at that hour. Not everyone is on your schedule, and not everyone needs the same things you need. For you to project your narrow worldview onto the whole of humanity is disingenuous.

It's amazing that America has become the most powerful nation in the world in every single aspect, and they built this great empire WITHOUT 24/7 and everything under one roof! WOW!!!! How did they do it? Methinks Mom and Pop served us pretty well, and WalMart just signifies that the current generations are lot lazier, cheaper, demanding, and selfish than any previous generation.

America also became the most powerful nation in the world without computers, without cell phones, without insulin, without cordless drills, without MRI machines, without...etc.,etc. Is it obvious yet that your point is illogical? Just because America made it this far without X does not mean X is unnecessary.

Jesus people, plan ahead more than 15 minutes and stop being so demanding, you life will be a lot happier.

Oh, hey, finally we've found the arbiter of what will and won't make you happy! The path to happiness is paved with planning ahead 15 minutes so you don't have to shop at WalMart. Wait, what?

 

[zoebisch01]

You guys are still going at it?