Wal mart mentality?

Stopped in at our friendly local Wally world to pick up a few staples (peanut butter, cheese whiz, Ritz crackers etc) last night as part of my trip to the cemetary to pick up the flower urns. Seems after a humbling trip to the cemetary, one has a somewhat philosophical mind set.
Well for me a trip to Wally world is about akin to a trip to the dentist for a root canal and about as enjoyable. Shopping at Wally world is like and easter egg hunt in a 20 acre hayfield. Anyhow being in a laidback sort of mood I took in some of the surroundings and sounds. Not too long after entering the pathway of no return down the dozens of eisles, I hear the announcement ' FULL ZONE DEFENSE' of course I've heard that a hundred times. What do I do? hide behind a clothes hamper? Run? Draw an AR-15? What does this mean? A minute or two later a young kid 4 or 5 years old is stomping down the eisle ahead of his Mom and chanting 'FULL ZONE DEFENSE!-FULL ZONE DEFENSE!' So now I'm thinking, now that we've burned that into his psych, what will he do with that later in life?
Another one that struck me as oddly comical is the announcement of 'security cameras scan departments such and such'. I've got a pretty good idea why they do that, likely to be sure the only reason my hands are in my pockets is to keep them warm and take a load off my elbows. I've never been in the bighouse (so far anyway) but I have to wonder if that's like passing from one cellblock to another. Heck everyone knows that the security cameras are looking down your shirt every second. Must be they feel people have short memories. Maybe next time I need a few staples Mama will be in a better mood and I can talk her into picking them up.

Wal-Mart takes an interesting approach to shoplifting. They "banish" anyone that gets caught red-handed from that store, and they do get the thieves a free ride in a police car as well.

Your local store apparently hasn't adopted the "code number system" for announcing things like that. Around here, you'd hear something like "code thirteen to domestics" or "Manager to cash register something-or-other" instead of "full zone defense".

<img src = "http://peopleofwalmart.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/166.jpg">
Walmartians

Dad used to work at Wal-Mart. Zone Defense is the term they use to refer to cleaning up an area: picking up items shoppers put the wrong place, straightening up the shelves, and removing anything that's not in the right place.

That kid's already excited about being a professional football player!

Steve, My Architect daughter HATES WAL MART calls it Devil Mart. It has to do with how they completely change the landscape and personality and diversity of locally owned Mom n Pop small businesses and/or drive them out of business completely. Whenever I can I hit a Mom n Pop or K Mart or Target or Meirs (spelling???), less crowded and close to same prices. Still when we are in transit to a destination in our Motorhome I park n sleep there just overnight and return the favor by purchasing gas n groceries the next morning. When we spent the winter in deep South Texas we were warned NOT TO SHOP WAL MART FRIDAY NIGHT THROUGH SUNDAY NIGHT many of the locals go there n turn the kids loose and they ride bikes n play with toys n generally run amok all over the store. Its like their Friday night fun n games n unsupervised play time. Im talkin riding/racing lil brother n sis in shopping carts n acting like in an outdoor playground.....Its just NOT safe to be there then.....

SIMILAR thats why I stopped using Google as my Search Engine, getting too big and collecting too much personal info, although how are we to know if we use Yahoo or MSN search same thing happens or its all farmed out to Google anyway???

Ol John T Conservative Fuddy Duddy

I think CODE ADAM is one of the really good ideas. Most cannot appreciate the panic when a kid becones separated from you until it happens.
The other side of the coin is when your a parent with a young kid or two tagging along and they announce 'CODE ADAM'. Seems immediately like if there's anyone under 5' tall and 25 years of age within 50' any direction of you, your a suspect especially from the Granny scooter cart possie They're cicrlin' the scooters paleface! And to think I caught heck from the other half for holding up a 10 dollar bill trying to get somebody to take them.

There are none near me, but I have only been in a Wal-mart 3 times maybe in my lifetime.
(I hate Wal-mart and I wont buy anything) I go to Meijers instead. Walmart is just like Pac-man eating up the small guy and importing crap from China.

As I understand it Ixquick search leaves no footprint. I don't know of any other search engine that makes that claim,

I refuse to buy anything from there. I personally call it ChinaMart.

I wish they would get Costco in our part of NY State. Has the efficiencies of size and merchandise cost without the ethical issues.
As I said in a previous post, I do much business as humanly possible away from WalMart. I suppose some communities lack competition to the point that dealing with Wally is unavoidable. I can usually arrange my grocery, clothing, and automotive purchases so I can hit Wally's competition and make out as good if I had hit Wally. This usually spans out over a month's time but I think if more people looked at that type of planning, they might see Wally's competitor's to be more appealing.
One of the things I like about dealing with the regional grocery chain (Wegmans) is a much higher amount of money spent stays in the area. They sponsor a lot of college scholarships among other things.
Mom and Pop stores are not perfect but their owners frequent the local auto dealer, bank, lawyer, doctor, etc. People sometimes do not realize you need a a certain economic core for some of these businesses to stay viable.
Anybody I have talked to that's had WalMart stay for more than a decade in their community thought the community was the worse for it.
By the way, Wally is expanding to a superstore here. The neighbors job at the mom and pop grocery will soon be gone. She's probably too old to have WalMart want her for much (too young for a greeter, however).

I don't know, I like to walk or ride though Wally world, its like going to a circus and not having to pay to get in.
Walt

SuperCrapMart......'nuff said!

Almost all things posted here are correct except:
You can never get to old to work at w-mart.
Our w-mart appears to be good at hiring the handicapped.
They catch shoplifters everyday so apparently our locals have never caught on about the security cameras.
I don't think its w-marts fault that all of their suppliers moved their factories to China. Their stocking is a result of our manufacturing base moving off shore and the American demand for cheap products.
Of course as we are all religated to jobs at Mickey's or the equivalent it will only get worse.

Stopped at one on the way home today and got two pair of jeans for $8 apiece.

I've been to the Wal Marts all over my region, I like them generally.

Its exactly Walmarts fault their products come from China. They pressure their suppliers for the cheapest products. They pressure companies which build in the US to switch to China and drop their prices. I've taken a few business classes and their are plenty of case studies on companies that towed the Walmart line vs shunned them.

I agree with that.Some days it can really be fun.

I get my prescriptions filled at Wal-Mart because the Rite-Aid 5 minutes from my house always seems to have some "problem" with my insurance card that amazingly never arises at Wal-Mart.

My wife and I also have been buying canned sodas at Wal-Mart because they honor competitors' ads...and K-Mart and Target are 20 miles further from the house than Wally's.

But our cat litter comes from Family Dollar,and most of our grocery items come from Jay C [owned by Kroger]. I get my oil changed at the Pannzoil quick-lube, and I have a local tire store that does all my tire repairs. And my first stop for stuff for the riding mower is Tractor Supply.

Well put! They have single handedly worked to destroy American manufacturing.

(quoted from post at 12:25:16 09/21/09) There are none near me, but I have only been in a Wal-mart 3 times maybe in my lifetime.
(I hate Wal-mart and I wont buy anything) I go to Meijers instead. Walmart is just like Pac-man eating up the small guy and importing crap from China.

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I have never been in a Wal-Mart. There is one 4.0 miles east of me on a major road in the suburbs of Detroit. They are building a brand new Wal-Mart 1/2 mile west of me on the same major road. That means 2 Walmarts within 5 miles of each other. The new one was fought by the township for years. Finally, WalMart won a court battle. Funny thing is the NEW WalMart is right next to a new development that includes an upscale shopping mall (Nordstrom's, etc) and a subdivision with hundreds of half million dollar homes. Wonder if the BMW crowd will make the new WM a little classier.

I'm trying to think of a retailer that encourages their suppliers to make their products as expensive as possible.

Can you help me out on that?

Go to most "mom and pops" and you'll see the same Chinese made crap - with a higher price.

Yep, I'm not seeing how that business model could ever succeed.

I buy alot of stuff at Wal-Mart. I work for a living, and the old mom and pop stores require you to set up a appointment to get in there store. They opened at nine, and were at the golf course by four. Saturday afternoons or Sundays? heck no!

Where do the mom and pop stores buy their junk? The highest priced stuff? They sell crap also, I can't find made in USA anywhere.

Our country has been under the rock, selling by deception, phony guarentees, and tricky sales for years.

Our Wal-Mart stores give you a pretty good guarentee, and are great for returns.

Are you worried about a security camera? They have more cameras, than employees regardless where you are in that store. Anyone care to guess how many dollars they loose to shoplifters anyway?

I guess I do not understand that if a farmer makes a million often by inflation, he is a super farmer. Same thing for salesmen, insurance companies etc. Heck even JD is considered a good company. Yet Wal-Mart is bad bad bad? They found a need for their products 24/7 at the cheepest price in town, and I get labled bad because I shop there on Sunday night after ten PM?

If they are so bad in someones opinion, maybe their opinion doesn't add up to the opinion of the millions of Wal-Mart shoppers that buy their products.

Their workers are treated just as good as most of the miners years ago, and factory workers. They made their company rich at their health expence also.

In case you are wondering why the rant on my behalf? I have been trying to replace a copper tubing cutter with a quality one for two weeks now. I ended my chase with a auction the other night. So I will take my meds, and get to doing something!

as to walmart "forcing" suppliers to deliver a cheap product-- they are simply supplying what the public demands-- im a wood sculptor ( and have a farm) i go to shows-- do a great santa face-- each is individual and unique-- they are $250. one comment i get at every show is " i can get the same thing at walmart for 19.95" that is simply not true. but much of the population thinks so.. they want to earn 100K a yr-- and expect to buy every thing at mass produced prices- you cant have it both ways.

For the most part,any company doing business with Wal Mart goes by their rules.No legitimate company can compete with slave labor.Slave labor is not allowed in the United States,yet.So if Wal Mart says to lower your price to do business with them,you have to move to China maybe,or at least Mexico.Just like anything else a business ever does,they want as much profit as possible.Somehow business has ran things for at least 30 years now.Wonder why?Business does not care about you,whether you are an American or not,if you live or die,they just want more profit.Things werent always that way completely.Most of the stuff in Wal Mart was once made in the USA and things were arranged so that Americans made a living making this stuff.Now nothing means anything any more.People only buy the lowest price.Next they will want to have slaves here,and the government will probably agree.Tyranny is still with us.
Somehow we went from an attitude of helping each other to not caring about anyone else.
Most of it is because of the lies spread by the right wing nut cases.Left wing nut cases are just as bad about causing problems if they get riled up too.However the right side arguments will suck you in,and then you will learn its a total lie.They have worn out their welcome politically,and before we run them out of politics we will already be mad at the left wing.
Life was way better when we were going to the moon,before we got there.We had a goal,you still had things you liked about the country.We were the best in the world,but still kind of dumb.Seems the more education we got,the dumber we got.Work develops character.Education creates ignorance,at least the communist way its taught in America
We came a long ways from the turn of the century of 1900 to 2009.People rode horses everywhere,steam trains,and worked hard.Now we ride something,car,truck,motorcycle,hardly do anything and now have slaves making our products for us.1900 wasnt even 40 years from when we had a Civil War about slavery among other things.I guess as long as humans are on Earth the stronger ones are going to try and enslave the weaker ones.Weakness seems to be which group has more knowledge than the other one.Everybody is not an educated fool.Lots of people worked their way up,but the liars and the people who run things dont want hard working knowledgeable people,they want people that are smart enough to do what they are told and not much more.So when you put Wal Mart in the recipe and a few other ingredients,you get some rich Arkansas people,and lots of damage.They wouldnt have got this far if there were other companies that cared about America.They only are a little worse than the rest of the crooks.Thats all it took for them to get this far,just because the Government was friendly to them,and they got away with stuff other companies wouldnt try,until they did it.Now the whole country is suffering from Wal Martization.There are some things we have Government for.One of them is to keep companies from running the government.There are some things only the government can do,like run the military.The lie that government was too intrusive and had to be smaller,only helped rich people.Working people got the shaft.Wal Mart is like a slap in the face on top of all the rest of the crap they did,and its not entirely Wal Marts fault,they just grew in an environment that was dragged in by a bunch of rich crooks who wanted to get rid of government oversight.Yeah its long,but its true.

Wal Marts not cheap any more.You might beat their price if you look hard.No mom and pops around any more to compare.Dollar store and Dollar Tree or K Mart.Dollar Tree has lots of stuff cheaper than Wal Mart,they just dont have as much stuff.

Cheap to an unfair advantage, most other countries have some form of protectionism.
Whatever happen to illegal monopolies?
At some time in WMs history, probably early 80's, it was our government's job to rein them in, keep jobs and production in the USA, but I imagine the congress was full of the same greedy SOBs them too, like the ones that will kill health care reform.

Agree, but I never blame the consumer. My family is my job and I have to spend our money wisely. I can't spend next weeks gas money just to shop at a mom&pop. It isn't the job of each consumer to try to figure if somebody else spent their money at mom&pops, it's the job of the government to take leadership.

i buy absolutely nothing at walmart. wake up people walmart is ruining this country. when they drive everyone else out of business see what they charge you then. they spent tons of money fighting the country of origin labeling. i would eat dirt before i would eat groceries from walmart.

Yea but when they drive everyone else out and then raise their prices wont't everyone else be able to jump back in and sell for less?

Oddly enough, Wal-Mart is the only grocery store around here that carries any significant amount of locally grown food, whether it's sweet corn, pumpkins, other vegetables. It's like pulling hens teeth to get anything local at the other chains.

They are cheaper for the first few months to a year after they open in a new location then they are anything but competitive. If they stay cheap then it's to drive a competitor out of business locally.
I have to agree with those that say it's the public's appetite for cheap products that fuel this. It's always easier for someone to swallow somebody else getting screwed over trying to make a living than having done to themselves. I think it is because of general ignorance versus conspiracy that this goes on. I wish some of the people that preach the "new" economics would get hosed over in situations like that. There is a consequence to sending so much money out of a local economy nevermind the US. If people want to go back to what it was like 100+ years ago (no middle class and very little upward mobility), then keep on talking up WalMart. People need to go see some of the communities where there was little prosperity before and then WalMart sucked the life out of it.

s.crum said" Must be they feel people have short memories. Maybe next time I need a few staples Mama will be in a better mood and I can talk her into picking them up."
People DO HAVE SHORT MEMORIES,just read what was said here. Long before Wal-Mart,there was an outfit called Sears&Roebuck who had retail by the tail with a down hill drag. Then Sears decided to increase thier profit by cutting employee benifits and staff with part time help. Gibsons,Spartens and other junk peddlers flourished overnight. All the overseas junk was here long before Wal-Mart came to prominance. So the rant is about 30 years late. It is simply free interprise at work. Majority including consumers,want to reap high income and buy as much with least money as possiable. Other than that,I agree,we don't seem to be improving things despite experience and advanced technoligy. Humans have always been greedy along with a few other traits we don't like to admit.

Randy how do you take your dirt? Walmart has been around for 40 years or so and no one has been forced to shop there.They are no different as retailers than Home Depot,Lowes, Dillards, Kohls and I could go on nameing to infinity.Most of the american public in need of basics shop Walmart on a weekly basis and I bet you do too.

Your mistake is, and your not going to like this, back in the late 70's and early 80's when Wally world was gettin revved up, was the time to buy STOCK. You are all grumbling about things that happen to companies that grow way to fast, and yes I agree they're pigs, but during the earlier years they were a small(er) local store which offered everything. I can remember in 1979 my two brothers and I went to wally world to buy deer rifles which they were the cheapest at that time and we still have those rifles today. The stock has doubled I don't know how many times but you could buy it cheap then trust me I know my mom and sister did just that, someday I'll have it a little easier because of this.

There are plenty of slaves in this country already. They are slaves to the welfare and entitlements that are dribbed and drabbed out to them to buy their votes and keep nnalert in power. They produce nothing, they live off the sweat of other peoples brows and they are too lazy to work, all reasons why they will continue to be slaves. Todays slavery is a whole lot crueler than the slavery of 150 years ago, at least those people had hope for the future.

Read the constitution and you will know what the goverments ''job'' is, very little, and a very good reason for that. The men who wrote the constitution knew that the federal goverment was the enemy of a free people and so protected us accordingly. The problem now is that most people have no idea that the constitution is rode over on a daily basis and they don't care as long as some charlatan is promising them something for nothing.

I'm curious where they are putting the two stores that close together. I used to haul out of the grocery warehouse they have in Auburn IN and ran Detroit a lot. Much preferred it over Chicago.

Well, according to the Cherokee Scout in Murphy NC, the Walmart got a new Security person and they had 8 arrests for shoplifting in the first week. Also, the night manager and several other night personnel were arrested for stealing the week before. So if Walmart has a problem I think whatever they do to prevent theft is ok. Im not worried as I dont steal.

This is a free country, spend your money where you want to.

I like houston Texas it has 32 different wal-mart stores.
R.E.Lee

Ok, I will play along.....

I like Walmart. We buy a lot of our groceries there and they match prices. My wife is a big coupon shopper and saves us a lot of money. As far as my stuff, I buy all of my oil there and most shop supplies like carb cleaner etc. Their price on Rotella is the cheapest around and since my truck takes 3 gallons at a time I am happy to buy it there. I like Tractor Supply but their oil prices are much higher. I use them for specific parts like pins and really like the buy it by the pound hardware at TS.

For my family the bottom line is the bottom line. I dont do the idealism thing - lowest price wins. And for all of the dissenters out there; its is a free country (or whats left of one) if you can come up with a better marketing plan by all means do so. Then you can put Walmart out of business and erveryone can complain about you.

One definition of Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.So why do people that don't care for Walmart keep going there?Maybe its their overwhelming desire to complain about all things great and small.

WRONG!!!!! Just like the drug problem its the end consumer that makes the decision what is offered for sale.If you don't like Walmart put your Money where your Mouth is and go someplace else.

Nope!!, Same answer I'll spend my money wisely for my family. The consumer can't make change as a group without the product being super bad or taking a long time. WM doesn't have a bad product so it's was up to the government to protect American jobs and manufacturing.
You and I've both been to crappy places and we don't shop there anymore, but ten years later they're still in business.

Henry E, are you from Murphy? My father in law was raised near there.

The constitution was written in the 1700s and guess what, they made amendments to it, so they knew it had to be a living document because the founding fathers couldn't see into the future.
I see some of these strict constitutionalists on TV, especially the lady that shouts, you've woke the sleeping giant and the government needs to get out of our way. She was a housewife, nothing against housewives, but what sleeping giant did they wake, did she almost fall off the couch, never saw her husband? What was his take on health care reform when he's out there trying to keep coverage for his family? And get out of the way for what?

(quoted from post at 23:04:37 09/21/09) I'm curious where they are putting the two stores that close together. I used to haul out of the grocery warehouse they have in Auburn IN and ran Detroit a lot. Much preferred it over Chicago.

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The existing store is at the intersection of I-94 and M-59 in Chesterfield Twp, MI. The NEW one just going up is at the intersection of M-59 and Romeo Plank Rd, 5 miles west.

That is absolutely right! And dont B**ch when you dont have a job or cant buy anything that doesnt break in 15 minutes.

Wrong again -- there was never any intention for the constitution to be a ""living document"" that is hog wash dreamed up and sold by your masters in the Dimwitocrat party. The Constitution is more relevant today than when it was written because the goverment has taken most of the power away from the people and gotten away with it. History always repeats itself, the Bible was written over 2,000 years ago and its message has not changed or grown irreleveant. Think about it.

The bible is more of a living document than anything, how many versions, how many different religions based on it?

I saw a piece about walmart forcing companies to move to china. Supplier go to walmart to sell their goods. (they pretty much have to since walmart had taken so much of the market) The supplier makes a deal with walmart and many of them have to ramp up production to sell to such a big outfit. They borrow money and ramp up production. The next year they go to Walmart to negotiate the next years contract. Walmart cuts the price way down from what it was the year before even though the price of raw materials has gone up. The supplier has to keep selling to walmart to stay in buisness...they have invested lots of money to increase production for walmart so they go to china where labor is super cheap. Walmart supposedly makes a MUCH larger percentage of profit from chineese goods than american so guess which ones they are going to sell. Not just walmart but a lot of the big box stores. Rubbermaid was one of the companies that walmart did this to.

I agree with 200cs. Tractor Supply burns you good on oil. The other day I needed a long plastic funnel, $1.99 at Wally World, $4.99 at tractor Supply. But, no knife sections & rivets at Wally World

S. Crum you really opened up a can this time.After reading or attempting to read and giving up on some of the responses below I will throw this in. I live not to far from Surprise Az. Go to Surprise and the surrounding area and all the major players for the working man's dollar are on every Intersection or Mall area and all of them stock items forign made mostly from China. Walmart.Kmart,Target,Sams Club,Costco,Kohls,Dillards,Sears.JCPenney,NAPA,Checkers,O'Reillys,Shucks Kragen,Discount Tire,Big O Tire,Interstate Battery,Discount Auto,Ace,True Value and the list goes on and on and by and large these Merchants and all the others stock merchandise from China and the rest of the world. so why the big flap over Wal Mart? The only Forign countries products I have a huge problem with is Pakistan and Affganistan. Why are these two Heroin producing countries allowed to sell their goods here in this country when they by and large would like nothing more than to see the USA terminate? If a handle isn't gotten on the smuggling of drugs into our country we will have no country left.Boycott Pakistan,Boycott Affganistan!!