Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are 'running out of money'

reply to post by Morningglory


Wal-Mart also adjusts its prices depending on where its located. When I lived in Philadelphia, I was within range of 3-4 Wal-Marts. One which was located in a ghetto had significantly lower prices than one that was within a few miles of a suburb. Also; we'd hop the border into Delaware to make big purchases like Televisions, etc (to save money using Delawares no sales tax) and noticed that prices there had been uped a bit to account for the difference. Who's going to notice a 5% increase in price if they're saving 8% off the price on taxes. While I, as a consumer, was still saving money by hopping borders, Wal-Mart was making more of a profit by inflating their prices to account for the drop in tax. (This was back in 2007. I have no idea what the sales tax in Philly is these days.)

reply to post by Mactire

It's the same here. Depending on which Walmart you go to different tax/prices/selections seems to be the norm. They're targeting the local market. For us the southern store with the lower tax rate is the better choice but variety/availability was always a problem. Not the case anymore.

Just seems a bit unusual to ship more products so far south when for years the locals had to just settle for whatever they could get at that Walmart. Now they're better stocked than the larger stores up north which are considerably closer to the distribution centers.

We are shopping at dollar tree and sometimes dollar general. Even some of dollar general prices are too high for me. I would rather pay $1 for cheap toilet paper and run out in a couple weeks then go to walmart spending $6 for like an 8 pack. With dollar tree as long as I have some change I can get the things I need. I usually spend no more than $5-10 at dollar tree that would give me 4-9 items. At walmart I might only get one or two items for my money.
It is simple math for me I get more items for my money. If I have to buy cheap stuff; I might as well go to the cheapest store. If they had a five and dime shop nearby I would go there. It is no longer about quality but about affordiblity.
Now when it comes to food I don't always get the cheapest simply because that effects my health but I find my local Hyvee has much better deals than Wal-mart. Anything else Wal-mart sells is just not really worth it for me. I have plenty of clothes, hand me downs, clothes I bought 5 years a go, 2 pairs of solid shoes. When I do buy clothes or shoes I buy things that last many many years.
Back in the day Walmart was good to get a cheap Tv but since the digital transition cheap TVs don't exist unless you want to get a tiny one. Frankly Target and Kohl's clothes are of much higher quality. They are only slighter higher priced than Wal-Mart. I only shop at Wal-mart if I need something that I can't find elsewhere cheaper.

As i pulled into the lot i couldn't help but notice the mass of bumper stickers on the backs of cars and trucks . Shop America , Shop Union , Look For The Union Label , UAW , AFL-CIO . Union workers who demand fairness and equality with a decent wage and benefits , for themselves , but Saturday morning there were hundreds at Walmart . Probably thousands during the whole day . Everyone else can Shop America and Look For The Union Label , except for unionized workers making the best wages with benefits .

reply to post by BadBoYeed


I am with you.
Well walmart maybe you shouldn't of driven out all the other retailers in the area so you can build your abomination.

Originally posted by WillNiendick
I think it's funny that they don't say that they are worried about the customer, just the fact that the customer is running out of money. Haha I lol'd

But Walmart is great for America and for consumers, haven't you heard?

I hope this stops Walmart from expanding it's cancerous empire of crap.

I have to question whether this means consumers are running out of money or are simply not shopping as much at Walmart. If shoppers are shopping elsewhere that's a great thing.

reply to post by strangefires


American products were top range but unfortunately there's alot more profit to be made by exploiting cheap workers in 3rd and 4th world countries.....

You do recall Obama's state of union speech about helping small to medium size businesses......now he's going to increase their taxes and GM thanks you tax payers for bailing them out by opening a large manufacturing plant in Mexico.

I've been an employee for the Wal-Mart corp for a couple of years and I don't think they're hurting much. Easter weekend, our store had a $400,000 day of sales. I work the graveyard shift and we are highly understaffed. They were forced to fire a few people from the shift AND they told us to cut back on our hours or they would be over their allotted time from corporate.

I think it's a load of crap and Wal-Mart is not hurting one bit. They are contributing to the problem. I'm a hypocrite but hey they hired me and I'll take underpaid over no pay any day.

reply to post by martianmallow


Agreed. You walk into any Wal-Mart at any time of day and they've got 2-3 registers open (maybe a couple of auto checkout machines, if they're working), yet they have 30 aisles of registers. They could easily afford to employee enough people to man every station at every Wal-Mart 24hrs a day and still make ungodly amounts of money, yet money isn't there agenda as much as crippling independent business owners. If they fire enough people to keep a skeleton crew working they lower their merchandise costs a few cent more, killing more of their competitors.
Once they've eliminated their business threats you're gonna see a BIG hike in prices. That little face they use to
use as a logo is going to look a bit more like this in the future as they own every merchandise outlet in the country and force everyone to be a slave to their corporate will.

Who cares if Walmart dies we done just fine before they came along, infact towns and small city's will be better off without Walmart.

reply to post by NeoSpace


Hey now, I'm grateful for Wal-Mart in that they provide me and my fellow 200 employees with a paycheck, and I'm sure the thousands that make up other employees in my area feel the same. If Wal-Mart were gone, so would we, and people wouldn't have anywhere to buy cheap crap.

I think a better idea would be for Wal-Mart to sell and manufacture American goods exclusively and give even more jobs to us ailing Americans.

Originally posted by martianmallow
reply to post by NeoSpace

 

Hey now, I'm grateful for Wal-Mart in that they provide me and my fellow 200 employees with a paycheck, and I'm sure the thousands that make up other employees in my area feel the same. If Wal-Mart were gone, so would we, and people wouldn't have anywhere to buy cheap crap.

I think a better idea would be for Wal-Mart to sell and manufacture American goods exclusively and give even more jobs to us ailing Americans.

Guess what? Sam Walton had that mindset but he's dead and gone now a profit demanding board representing "aggressive" investors are running the show and sadly they're not loyal to American plight, it's about more profit. Chinese products are cheap because they pay their people considerably less with no benefits, heck some of the companies use slave labor where the people literally are forced to work themselves to death earning not one cent for themselves or their families. Walmart don't see people anymore they see consumers and employees neither of which have their loyalty.

reply to post by Agent_USA_Supporter


I have never shopped in a MallWart. I have no inclination, nor have I ever, of buying substandard products manufactured or grown in any country. I don't understand the allure of that. Thus, I am a bit amazed that it has taken this long for MallWart shoppers to "run out of money". I can't be certain as I have never shopped there but I hypothesize that having to repeatedly replace substandard items might be a reason for this phenomenon.

One online example and there are many:

Adidas Accuses Wal-Mart of Selling Unsafe, Substandard Athletic Shoes

Wal-Mart’s relentless pursuit of lower costs has meant copying designs and reducing product quality, but both of those strategies have come back to haunt the retailer.

None of these accusations have done much to detract from MallWart sales over decades. I suspect that some of their customers are delighted with the values they find there. I live very happily without shopping at MallWart but that's just me.

Death to the Roman (oops I mean wal mart) Empire!!!!
All those that are working in substandard conditions and slave wages for walmart that are found to be without jobs will most definitely find better paying more honorable jobs in the long run or they will be the new entrepreneurs, so don't fret!

reply to post by liejunkie01


That is exactly what i say
They have had many deaths of workers and customers yet business as usual and the one store in Canada brave enough to fight for and was able to get into the union was closed.
The only thing they ever got turned down for was trying to become their own bank which i guess would've interfered with TPTB banks.
They even have a real estate office set up in Delaware with an empty office and use it for a tax write off.
Seems they got their hands in everything and their noses in all the politicians asses.
They have a whole building in Massachusetts full of lawyers just to handle all the lawsuits with the intent of prolonging these suits as long as possible with no intention of paying regardless of being in the wrong.
Yes the communist, fascist, totalitarian gov't is here and present in Nazi America.

I see a rise in aldies, dollar general and kmart..good ridence walmart you greedy bastards

why are so many missing the major issue here.

ok, so nobody cares about wal mart, you can say they are evil, they are greedy, serves them right, bitch , moan, bitch , moan. they did this to me, they did that, the list is endless.

the very simple problem here that so many of you fail to see is that people are running out of money. it is drying up. many people have run out of money, many more are running low and soon will have none left.

it doesn't matter if its wal mart or any other big business. the money is evaporating.

this is not going to have a happy ending.

Originally posted by JohnySeagull
why are so many missing the major issue here.

ok, so nobody cares about wal mart, you can say they are evil, they are greedy, serves them right, bitch , moan, bitch , moan. they did this to me, they did that, the list is endless.

the very simple problem here that so many of you fail to see is that people are running out of money. it is drying up. many people have run out of money, many more are running low and soon will have none left.

it doesn't matter if its wal mart or any other big business. the money is evaporating.

this is not going to have a happy ending.

Actually yes it is, it will bring us back to reality stop depending on money and depend on ourselves instead of government handouts and corporate crap that falls apart and is a waste of resources. We will live in balance with nature once again and that's a good thing!

Maybe people could start picketing at the store locations telling them they are no longer welcome in their towns and politely ask them to vacate and take their cheap products with them.

I saw where one poster mentioned Aldi's, I am not so sure about them either they seem to be one of Monsatos distribution points.

Originally posted by JohnySeagull
why are so many missing the major issue here.

ok, so nobody cares about wal mart, you can say they are evil, they are greedy, serves them right, bitch , moan, bitch , moan. they did this to me, they did that, the list is endless.

the very simple problem here that so many of you fail to see is that people are running out of money. it is drying up. many people have run out of money, many more are running low and soon will have none left.

it doesn't matter if its wal mart or any other big business. the money is evaporating.

this is not going to have a happy ending.

Well, from my perspective the "money is drying up" point wasn't missed. Most of those who responded to the thread pointed out Walmart's greed and indifference. Walmart is a symptom of what's wrong from the highest levels of government to corporations, consumed with greed looking to raise the profit bar into infinity within a finite financial system.