Walmart isn't exactly customer friendly.

You can tell Walmart isn't set up for tech savvy shoppers. Because the
other nine places I tried were out of the item I wanted today I ended
up at Walmart for only the third time in ten years. To minimize my
exposure to the hateful place, I ordered online for an in store
pickup. Mistake. Their employees have no idea how to deal with this.
Well. When someone turns up and bothers to help. I stood waiting at
the pickup area for 15 minutes ringing the bell and trying to get
someone's attention. Then it took another 15 minutes for them to
figure out what was going on. Im sure if id walked in and just picked
the item off the shelf it would have been much easier but in theory
that would have taken longer. So much for that great idea. Their
prices aren't brilliant either. They were a good 30% more than
everywhere else which I guess is why they were the only ones with
stock left.
If I hadn't need the item today, and had anywhere else in town had
what I wanted, I would have been happy leaving my exposure to Walmart
at just two visits. But sometime you can't win and today was one of
those occasions.
I feel dirty just having been in the place :-(

Comments

Paul said…
Wow, to be honest this sounds like the words of someone who has absolutely no financial concerns whatsoever. Like it or not (and it's obviously "not") Walmart provides a service for people who aren't so financially secure.
And yes I know there are the videos of the "Wal-Martions" and all the arguments of the business practices of Wal-Mart but to say you felt dirty from just being in there is ridiculous.
And no, I don't work there, no I don't know anyone who works there, yes I do sometimes shop there and I don't apologize for it.
18:49
Chris said…
I see Walmart as a manifestation of everything that is wrong with this country. If they chose to, they could be such a player in the country's economy, but instead they import cheap crap and sell it at cheap prices. If Walmart decided that, for example, its new policy was that 50% of the products it sold were sourced purely from inside America, they could force the economy to turn around in a matter of months because manufacturers would be clamouring for their business. How about a green initiative? Walmart could install solar covered parking on all their blacktops. The panels would help offset the store's power usage and would provide shade or shelter for their customer's vehicles in the summer and winter. But Walmart will never do any of these things because they'd have to put the prices up a little bit. That's the price of being loyal to your country and Walmart refuse to pay it. Instead they undercut everyone in the mistaken belief that price is everything. They put small local businesses out of business, and they lie through their corporate teeth about everything. We're embroiled in a battle with them very locally to where I live. They want to put a superstore just up the road from us when there's three other superstores already within 10 minutes drive. They claim that they will landscape the area, and the new store will be beautiful and blend in with the neighbourhood. Bullshit. It'll be acres of blacktop and a hideous brown and blue box at the back of it, just like every other bloody store they own.
Their employees are rude - and given how they're treated by Walmart, I'm not surprised.
They use underhanded selling techniques, like placing the kids McDonald's menus at knee-height at the checkout to lure kids into eating fatty crap.
I have financial concerns just like everyone else. I'm about to lose my job but for whatever reason, I got a Christmas bonus this year (for the first time in my 24 years of working life) it's all gone already. I paid off my credit card and shortened my car loan by a year. If I was a Walmartian, I would have probably blown the entire lot on a big screen TV and entertainment system.
I don't see Walmart providing any service other than being an outlet for cheap, imported crap that is destroying the economy of both the country and every local area where they exist.
09:23
Paul said…
While I agree with you in some respects (the business practices in regard to how they treat suppliers are terrible so I understand) I'm not so sure Walmart are by themselves for some of your other arguments. You could put most of the large businesses in the same basket e.g. Target, Home Depot, Lowes, K-Mart etc. They all have the same blacktop type of carpark. They could all be described as eyesores. They could all help the economy by stocking more locally manufactured products. So to single Walmart out is a little unfair.
Personally, at our local Superstore, I haven't had the staff being rude to me although they're not jumping all over the place in enthusiastic joy either.
And I'm sorry to hear that you're in danger of losing your job, it must be a stressful time for you. I've been there myself and it's not a nice place to be.
07:16
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