I see flaws.

[Amianthus]

Basically, they are saying to their employees, "we don't want you to just work here, we want you to work HARD EVERY MINUTE you are here."

Then you should be complaining about UPS. When I was in college, I worked at a UPS distribution center. 4 hour shifts, no breaks (with a 4 hour shift, they're not required to give you any breaks), and you have to average 900 packages per hour. That works out to moving one package every 4 seconds.

Of course, I was going to college so that I wouldn't have to work like that the rest of my life.

[Amianthus]

If the store looks REALLY understaffed, the clever dishonest customer will just peel off the security stickers and avoid paying altogether.

The stupid dishonest customer will get caught.

Wal-mart is one of the retailers pushing the inclusion of security RFID into the product, so they're not easily removed.

I was working at Random House when the Wal-mart requirements hit us. We were going to start gluing them into the book bindings. You'd have to disassemble the book to get them out.

[Xavier_Onassis]

I am not saying that Wal*Mart is worse than other places, especially UPS. K-Mart is much worse than Wal*Mart, because you rarely see the same employee twice in a K Mart. The Wal*Mart people seem to be more steady workers, and you see the same faces more often.

I tend to not steal anything, but I suppose a clever thief would stick to vegetables, clothes and DVDs, where the stickers are obvious or not there.

Somewhere, every company like Wal*Mart has done an analysis and knows how much stuff they will lose to theft, how much stuff will have to be restocked for every decision they make about how many customers per open register the situation dictates.

[Amianthus]

Somewhere, every company like Wal*Mart has done an analysis and knows how much stuff they will lose to theft, how much stuff will have to be restocked for every decision they make about how many customers per open register the situation dictates.

Yeah. The industry term is "inventory shrinkage."

[kimba1]

wow didn`t expect it to grow this big.
about ups
the only problem is even though it`s 4 hrs. you still need breaks for bathrooms.
about the security stickers
on magazines I`ll refuse to buy them if it has them unless it`s easy to remove
collectors like me needs them intact and those stickers devalues them.
also if it`s hidden in the books it may cause future problems.
I got detained at a compusa because one of those strips from another store was holding me up.
I had the yank that strip and give it to the guard to toss.
on inventory shrinkage
there`s a walmart in oakland now,the locals just say we`ll miss it when it`ll closes in a few years.
alot of business are gone in oakland because of inventory shrinkange.

[Amianthus]

the only problem is even though it`s 4 hrs. you still need breaks for bathrooms.

They tell you when you start working there to go to the bathroom before you clock in every day.

[Xavier_Onassis]

When the first Wal*Mart came to Miami-Dade County, they made you show your receipt to a guy at the door when you left. Home Depot and Sav-A Lot have been doing this forever, but now there are 10 Wal*Marts in the County and they no longer check.

I am assuming that they were adjusting their prices to the new environment. Now that the know what the percentage of "shrinkage" there is, they are charging us more and no longer need to check.

Wal*Mart is often cheaper, sometimes a LOT cheaper, but there are several things they charge more for. Oatmeal and peanut butter cups are cheaper at Sav-A-Lot, even the store brands. They have several prices for batteries and sodas: the more convenient the location, the more you pay.

Wal*Mart is successful because they have a handle on their business. There used to be a discount chain here called Zayre's, and they did a lot of business, but they just didn't seem to understand anything: their employees didn't know anything about the merchandise or even where to find it. There was always merchandise scattered all over the place, and most of the time, the price and the shelf and the price on the checkout did not match up.

Once I picked up a tool set with the price of $19.99 on it,printed on the package and it rang up for $4.00 more. The cashier told the manager and he refused to sell it for $19.99. "I don't know why that price is printed on it, but the checkout says $24.99, and that's what we have to sell it for, take it or leave it." So I left it. Hell, I didn't change the price, and it wasn't even that big a bargain.

Wal*Mart charges more in some towns than others, but they don't screw up like that.

Zayres sold out to some other chain that was even more disorganized and they went broke in six months.

[kimba1]

i kinda doubt they`ll be able to adjust price to handle oakland.
it`s a semi-ghost town so people there just don`t have alot of money
the five finger discount is just too common.

[Brassmask]

Full disclosure:  I hate Wal-mart and they are evil in the way that any large, bloated corporation is that uses strategy to squeeze every last penny out of a consumer that it can.

As for staffing during peak times, it is a fallacy.  I went through a period where I wanted to know when the best time to go to my grocery store was.  Every time I went to the grocery store, I would note what day and what time of day it was and take note of the grocery store's number of customers.  I did that for about two months.  I'd go once or twice a week.  Admittedly, this was not a constant computerized monitoring of the stores sales but I never found a time when the store was not dead.

It always seemed somewhat busy or packed.

And I can't imagine that Wal-mart is any different.  I imagine that WM's stay between packed and scary packed.

In the last ten years, I've been in a Wal-mart maybe ten times in all that time.  Every time I've been in one, I've sort of felt ill like I've been playing with a radioactive isotope or something.  Sam's Club is somewhat better for me but still vulgar in its disgusting piles of food and pallets and pallets of goods that could be going to people who are actually starving in the world rather than laying around waiting for the New World Romans to come and buy.

[BT]

In the last ten years, I've been in a Wal-mart maybe ten times in all that time.  Every time I've been in one, I've sort of felt ill like I've been playing with a radioactive isotope or something.  Sam's Club is somewhat better for me but still vulgar in its disgusting piles of food and pallets and pallets of goods that could be going to people who are actually starving in the world rather than laying around waiting for the New World Romans to come and buy.

Good luck with your crusade to bring nirvana to every living soul on the planet. So much to talk about, so much to do.

Me i'm happy Wal Mart is doing everything in its power to enhance my shopping experience.

[Plane]

"... that could be going to people who are actually starving in the world rather ..."


When did it become illeagal for you to send supplys to the hungry?

[Lanya]

Xavier:
http://www.sprawl-busters.com/search.php?readstory=1662

and

http://www.walmartovercharge.com/

[Xavier_Onassis]

I have yet to catch Wal*Mart overcharging on anything, but they do charge more for some things in Miami and Tampa than they do in small towns like Brooksville and Immokalee.

The worst offenders at this here are Winn Dixie and the Walgreen's Drugstore two blocks from my home. I have given up on the Dim Pixie, but Walgreens is open 24/7 and I can walk there anytime.

 They have a sale on chocolate bars, the big 7 oz.  ones, advertised in their flyer at two for $3.00, but I take it to the register and it scans at $4.00. I show the salesgirl the sticker from the shelf and the ad in the flyer and she tells me she can't sell it for $3.00 and I don't need to "yell" at her.

I was not yelling, but it did seem like she was pretending to be deaf. I suppose that I am supposed to agree that the cash register is a more truthful indicator of the official price than several hundred full-color ads and the sticker on the shelf. I am supposed to pay a dollar because of this belief.

 I am the only white (and non-Haitian) guy in the store and somehow I am Mr Mean because I am insisting that she sell me a $3.00 deal for $3.00. Finally a manager (an Indian or Pakistani, I think) appears and I triumphantly purchase my Hershey bar and go home.

[BT]

have yet to catch Wal*Mart overcharging on anything

Me either, and if there is a price dispute they ring up the lower price.

[Xavier_Onassis]

The only way to really make sure that you aren't overcharged is to do what I used to to at the Winn-Dixie: write price from the shelf on the item with a grease pencil.

You have to double check the UPC shelf sticker, matching it up with the UPC on the product, because often previous customers will move the 15 oz size to the 12 oz shelf. Sometimes the stockers make mistakes.

I refuse to buy anything until I am sure what the price really is.