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Walmart - "February Sales are a Total Disaster"

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posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 11:53 AM
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After years of the city of Chicago fighting to keep big box stores, errr, specifically Wal-Mart out of the city the company finally shoehorned their way in with promises of helping to solve the food desert epidemic plaguing lower income and high crime areas without a grocery store which cause residents to rely on corner stores/convenience stores for groceries within a reasonable distance from their home.

I do not live in a Chicago food desert, I proudly live in the gayborhood (Lakeview/Wrigleyville/Boystown) with four grocery stores (Jewel-Osco, Treasure Island, Whole Foods and Trader Joe's) within a mile of my home. Wal-Mart who rode in on that white horse to solve the food desert problem has in the last year opened TWO locations within that same mile: a Walmart Neighborhood Market (full grocery store) and Wal-Mart Express (almost a full grocery store).

While I have never been a Wal-Mart shopper, I decided to give each a try and shopped there less than 10 times in the last year. While the prices were low, the employees and management were absolutely awful. In the Express store the cramped aisles are filled with employees restocking and chatting with each other, obstructing the customers and generally being rude while one of the seven checkout lines is open with a lengthy line and absolutely no employee giving a care. This is not a one time experience, it has been my consistent experience.

After a streak of poor experiences, I made the decision that I would never use my spending power at a Wal Mart owned business again. Nothing would make me happier if others in my neighborhood with similar poor experiences exercised their spending power too by not shopping at those stores and eventually causing the locations to go out of business.

Spending power is critical and if you don't like Wal Mart, don't shop there and send your message that way; if enough folks do, it can make a difference.

Meanwhile while my upper middle class neighborhood now has six grocery stores, the people in those food deserts are still waiting for Wal Mart to keep their promises to their neighborhoods, ones that actually need it.



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 11:55 AM
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reply to post by nixie_nox
 

Off topic and subjective.

Comeon Nixie Nox .. find us some information showing that WalMart has done something in the past four weeks to scare off customers. Otherwise, the management of WalMart has a very good point about less customer money equaling 'february sales are a total disaster' due to payroll tax increases by the obama administration.



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 11:57 AM
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reply to post by nixie_nox
 



It is not a free market when manufacturers can't charge what they want for a product because Walmart has taken over the industry and forces them to lower prices. Than that manufacturer has to pay sub standard wages to its employees to make up for the manipulation.


THAT IS A FREE MARKET! The market has dictated the price and it’s lower than mom and pop can provide. Thanks for proving my point.




It is both of our business when they don't pay their employees that now have to collect food stamps and medicaid when they can't afford to feed their families. But you conveniently ignored that point.

Then don’t work there!!! Who in the hell is forcing these people to work there???

If it was so flipping bad then nobody would work there and Wal-Mart would go out of business!! Find another job! Obviously its not so bad there because they don't seem to have a shortage of willing employees!



Is that seriously what you just came up with? You call me a hater when I explain Walmart's manipulation tactics to you? Which means you couldn't come up with a viable answer.

YEP, that’s all I had!


When people complain about how much profit a company makes I tune it out!



I didn't realize this was a game of football. Especially with economics and people's welfare on the line.

It’s not a game. People vote with their pocket books and obviously more people agree with me, otherwise WallyWorld wouldn’t be so big, would it?





edit on 16-2-2013 by seabag because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:05 PM
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People that work and shop at Walmart get exactly what they deserve!



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:09 PM
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Originally posted by kosmicjack
Maybe the February numbers are a disaster because the stores are a disaster - dirty and junky. Or maybe people don't support their unfair labor practices. Or maybe people are weary of crappy Chinese products. Or maybe people don't support how Wal Mart drives globalization and unfair trade practices. Or maybe people don't support their gun and ammo sales.

Maybe, just maybe, it has little to do with Obama and everything to do with Wal Mart.
edit on 2/16/2013 by kosmicjack because: stupid phone


Maybe because when I applied for a job there they discriminated against me because of a disability, so I don't want to fund hiring managers that think that way.

Maybe because whenever I shop there I see the rest of the village buying crap that is making them some of the worst examples in society: fat, stupid and broke. It's a walk of shame when I go to a store and there is an aisle just for a hundred different kinds of soda pop (which could get obamacare dental tax), and an aisle for a hundred different kinds of chips (which could get obamacare heart tax), and an aisle just for a hundred different kinds of cookies (which could get obamacare diabetes tax), and an aisle just for ice cream (which could get obamacare obesity tax one day)! There are your Walmart four food groups: soda pop, chips, cookies and ice cream.

Maybe because their clothes are made out of petroleum products, like polyester, which is full of endocrine disruptor chemicals. Maybe because their hygiene products are made out of the same petroleum products. Maybe because it's 2013 and there are still coin operated junk vending machines at the front of the store -- do we care about our population, about our neighbors, when we let them fitter away their money on junk like that? Get it? I can't bear to see my neighbors, my village, my town, spend their money on products like that. It's a giant animal pen in those WalMarts, like a dirty traveling carnival that rides into town and give you the cheapest dirtiest rides.

The latest annoyance is those annoying TV marketing screens in aisles, with some actress pretending to be a housewife hawking the latest stack of junk on display. Okay, rant done with, there is a time for big marts to lose popularity and die. I hope WalMart fades and something neater comes along.



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:09 PM
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reply to post by americanwoman
 


I don't think that you realise that shopping at Walmart as well as the very Existence of Super Stores such as Walmart and others are a very large part of the reason behind our current economic problems.

Super Stores which exist all over the United States and include Walmart have destroyed a VERY LARGE aspect of the American Small Business tapestry that once covered the United States in the form of small Mom and Pop stores such as the Butcher, the Baker, the Hardware Store, the Paint and Tile Store, the Privately owned Corner Pharmacy, the Down Town Main Street Dress Shop, Shoe Store, Toy and Hobby Shop, the little shop that was open at 5am so you could buy Shiners and Nightcrawlers as well as Fishing and Hunting Gear, the Flower Shop, the Landscaping Supply and Grower, the small Furnature and Bedding Outlet, the Town Lumber Yard, the local Car Dealership that was Family Owned and Runned as well as that Family only selling ONE Auto Companies Vehicles as well as primarily selling only the Used Cars and Trucks that Customers traded in when purchasing a New or Newer Model, the several Privately Owned and Operated NON-CHAIN Restaurants, the ONCE EXISTING IN ALL CENTERS OF EVERY TOWN....GENERAL STORE...which are TREASURES to find...if a person could...as they have been driven out of business along with Local Gasoline and Repair Stations by Multi-Billion Dollar Chain Stores....etc...etc...etc...

A Superstore will enter a Town or City and by way of promises given to the Town that are specific to the how much Tax Revenue the Town will recieve by allowing this Superstore to set up show which usually means the Superstores people have already secured Prime Business Land by either purchasing a small rural communities Forested Areas or bought out Small Businesses located in such Prime Business Zoned Land where such Family Owned Small Businesses have stood for 50 to over 100 years as they have existed in Harmony as part of the community as well as employing members of the community and through the Business sense and sweat of the Owners have thrived as well as given back to the community in the form of Jobs, Multiple Decades of Donations and Participation in the Communities Schools, Police and Fire Department charities and programs, Holiday Decorations for the Town...etc...ONLY FOR GREEDY TOWN OFFICIALS TO APPROVE PLANS THAT ALLOW THIS IMMENSE PREDITORY PRICING MACHINE TO SET UP SHOP EVEN IF IT MEANS ALLOWING WET LANDS TO BE FILLED IN AND CONCRETED OVER FOR PARKING ENDING FOREVER THE CHARACTER OF THE TOWN, SELLING SLAVE LABOR CREATED CHINESE POLITICAL PRISON MADE GOODS, FORCING OUT OF BUSINESS EVERY SMALL BUSINESS WITHIN 15 MILES, AND CONTINUING THE DESTRUCTION OF SMALL BUSINESS WHICH EMPLOYES 80% OF ALL AMERICANS. SI



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:09 PM
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Originally posted by olaru12
People that work and shop at Walmart get exactly what they deserve!

A lot of people who work at Walmart are those at entry level positions. They have no education and they have no special skills. They do clerking or 'greeting' because that is all they can do. So I don't understand why you are spitting venom at these people who are out earning a living as best they can. It's a heck of a lot better than having them suck off the taxpayer via unemployment or welfare. And the people who shop at Walmart pretty much can't afford the prices that are at Sears or Boscovs or Macys (etc etc).

Why so much anger at the unskilled and/or poor people??


And where else would you have unskilled laborers working and lower income/poor people shopping?



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:14 PM
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reply to post by FlyersFan
 


Absolutely it is everyone's business. Sad that you want to hold Obama accountable but you don't want to hold Walmart accountable. Very sad. No one has the right to make millions on the backs of communities. They don't have the right to do it with bad business ethics and shady dealings.

Whereever a Walmart opens, there is a jump in food stamp claims and an increase in poverty.




A study focused on the effects of Wal-Mart stores on poverty rates found that an estimated 20,000 families nationwide have fallen below the official poverty line as a result of the chain's expansion


business journal




Walmart store openings destroy almost three local jobs for every two they create by reducing retail employment by an average of 2.7 percent in every county they enter.[1]


meetthewaltons

As for other influences, there are dozens of them. My aforementioned gas prices, walmart raising their prices, their atrocious environmental record, their atrocious union record. Other competition, Aldi is now quietly competing with Walmart.

The fact that Walmart now has reached a point where it can no longer sustain itself. Which is an epic concern of theirs since they gave the University of Arizona's sustainability program a 30 million dollar grant to help find it more sustainability.



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:16 PM
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reply to post by FlyersFan
 


Well, we can always compare and contrast:

For example, Costco is up 7% over January sales from the same period last year:

www.marketwatch.com...

And Costco is so good to it's employees, the market punishes it, though employees and consumers are loyal because of it.

www.usnews.com...

goodmenproject.com...

Target is up 3% for the same period:

www.marketwatch.com...

Here is an article detailing how Wal Mart's competition is getting a bigger piece of the pie:

www.cnbc.com...

Of course the competition's clientèle also faces smaller pay checks.

Another article mentioned how, this time last year, some $19 billion in tax refunds had already been put back in people's pockets, but not this year...however, we have Congress as a whole to thank for that delay.

So...it would seem there is a lot at play here as to why Wal Mart's February start is such a disaster, but it's clear "Obama" is likely the least of it.



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:17 PM
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Originally posted by purplemer
reply to post by FlyersFan
 



I am really impressed with this health care thing. It is nice to see the USA doing something positive for her people for a change


Yes, Penalizing people for not being able to afford Health care is really positive.

Obama care was a major cash grab for the insurance companies, how you liberals don't see that I don't know...



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:21 PM
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Originally posted by seabag
reply to post by nixie_nox
It’s not a game. People vote with their pocket books and obviously more people agree with me, otherwise WallyWorld wouldn’t be so big, would it?


Seabag, just chiming in to give you a laugh because the above quoted text reminded me of this:



Now, I owe it to myself to tell you that if you're taking the whole tribe cross-country, the Wagon Queen Family Truckster... You think you hate it now, wait 'til you drive it.



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:24 PM
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Originally posted by nixie_nox
Sad that you want to hold Obama accountable but you don't want to hold Walmart accountable. Very sad.

Sad that you want to give Obama a free pass for his failing economics. Very sad.

No one has the right to make millions on the backs of communities.

EVERYONE has a right to make millions. Everyone.

Whereever a Walmart opens, there is a jump in food stamp claims and an increase in poverty.

ONE study was quoted by Social Science Quarterly. And it said this -

During the last decade, dependence on the food stamp program nationwide increased by 8 percent, while in counties with Wal-Mart stores the increase was almost twice as large at 15.3 percent, according to the study.

Dude .. WalMarts traditionally open in poor areas. And under Obama .. the poor have gotten poorer. It's IMPOSSIBLE to state that WalMart caused that. There are too many factors, including Obamanomics. Your one study that is being quoted was published in a left wing rag that calls any religious group a 'hate group'.


As for other influences, there are dozens of them.

List the influences that have hit Walmart specifically in the past four weeks that would cause a drop in sales like this. If there are dozens .. it shouldn't be too hard to list at least a handful that have hit IN THE PAST FOUR WEEKS.



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:26 PM
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i'm sure some of this may have to do with people having less money to throw around, or fearing for financial security.

However, I wonder if there might be other factors people aren't considering.

For one, the desire of certain segments of the population to not patronize mega-businesses like wal-mart.

Or even better.... how about their own incompetence?

I may know a person or two who works at a local wal mart. This may be the largest and busiest store in the region. The manager of this store has been there less than a year, and is a transfer from another district (where he had problems.) From what I hear (and what I have noticed shopping there) is this person can't manage a requisition for stock to save his life. I have seen periods of weeks, up to a couple months where some of my favorite, regularly purchased products have not been available-- which I have been told is due to this one high-up store manager who has his head so far up his donkey, he can't order straight. This store has run out of bags, even, repeatedly over the last several months.

It's no wonder they lose business, with stuff like this....

But sure, let's also blame Obama.



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:27 PM
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reply to post by kosmicjack
 

EXCELLENT POST.
Now we are getting somewhere.
Hard core facts with business stats. That's what we need for discussion.

Target and Costco. Can it be assumed that the people who shop there also got hit with the payroll tax hike like the people who shop at Walmart? I'm thinking it's probably close enough of an income level to be able to say yes.

Those stores are up ... WalMart is down.

Now to ... why?



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:36 PM
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WalMart will get one less Straight Talk customer next month (March 2013)
I understand that WalMart is the exclusive retailer for those monthly minutes cards

so they might as well chalk up another losing month of revenues...
i would guesstimate that Wal;-Mart has lost lots of formerly paying 'Straight-Talk' users to the freebee Obamaphone entitlement crowd


i am eligable to get one of those Øbama Phones, and i sent in my applications, proof of living on -135% of the $15k minimum limit and all the required paperwork on Friday the 15th


The plan i am getting will have: free phone, 125 minutes per month with remaining time carried forward and 1250 Texts per month...(i wonder if the gov't pays for replacement batteries or just gives you a new phone)



yep... i going to act just like the rest of them Lotus Eater voters that voted themselves a bunch of crappy perks by reelecting the guy...the middle class is doomed anyhow... no use doing the morally right thing by not jumping on the free-ride that will further expand the Federal Debt... FS or SNAP will be nest week... then seeing if i can get free internet access on top of it
edit on 16-2-2013 by St Udio because: (no reason given)

edit on 16-2-2013 by St Udio because: (no reason given)



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:41 PM
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Thrift/second-hand stores seem to have fairly packed parking lots in my area. Odd Lots is fairly busy as well.

Craigslist may kill Walmart in the end. Funny how the old "horse traders" that scrounge and fix things have a leg up on the largest corporation in the world.



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 12:48 PM
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Headed to walmart right now to help them increase their sales. I will ignore the poor service, growing lack of choices, and long long lines. Because it would hurt me deeply to see walmart suffer because of Obama's income tax delay and Bush tax cuts not being renewed. Walmart and its well paid executives deserve and need my money. It is my obligation as an American to give them my money for cheap overseas made products. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if these executives had to abandon their 10 bedrooms home for a 9 bedroom home. I would feel guilty that thousands of workers who have no education(ops words) might lose their measly low paying jobs and would be only have left the one benefit they do qualify for as a walmart worker---- foodstamps.

Yes, I will do my patriotic duty, I will give my money to walmart.


Well, actually my mom's money. She is the one who wants to go. I am just taking her so I can remind myself why I don't shop at walmart.

See ya later.



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 01:01 PM
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I feel really bad for them


Im going to go out and buy a bunch of stuff from walmart



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 01:02 PM
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reply to post by nixie_nox
 


Ok, I see.
You make some valid points, but I'm not sure I agree completely.

“ATSers have this very, very bad habit of complaining that president has too much power but constantly turn around and give the President power they never had. Which means it is nothing but the usual smear campaign”

I find a fairly wide range of opinions on ATS, with varying degrees of rational thinking behind them.
Interesting point you make about people projecting power on the president though.

It does seem to me that he is able to influence the economy, and is doing so through through the EPA, FDA, SEC, DOJ, etc. He does set the policy for these agencies, and the recent policies have been very detrimental to the economy.


“First off, it was the end of an SS holiday, it wasn't an increase it went back to normal. Secondly, it was approved by Congress, not Obama.”

The tax cuts were an effort to bolster a weakening economy. The economy is not back to normal, so why should the tax rate go back up.

You're right, the Congress is just as much to blame as the President.
However, he made it pretty clear that he would block an extension of the tax cuts, so it's understandable that people would single him out.


“Thirdly, not everyone's taxes were delayed. Most people I know got theirs back just fine. Fourth, if this were the case, it should very much concern you that everyone's tax returns are going to Walmart, if what they are claiming is true.”

Assuming that you got a refund.

I had a bad year, work was hard to come by. The small businesses that I worked for this year, for didn't want to put on regular employees, so they hired me as a “contractor” and issued 1099 forms at the end of the year. That way, they didn't have to pay worker's comp or unemployment insurance, and could easily dismiss me when they were caught up.

They didn't do this from greed so much as from necessity. The economy and business climate are so bad that they are struggling for their very survival. As are most of us.

If people did get a refund, they are using it to get much needed basic essentials. Wal-mart, sadly is where they go to shop.


“Lastly, if anyone thinks this isn't grandstanding against the minimum wage increase, is sadly deluding themselves.

No one should defend the rights of shareholders to make millions over the rights of American's to a decent wage. Also, people should stop to consider what other outside influences are affecting walrmart rather than their very public statement.”


I'm not too sure about this being targeted at the minimum wage directly, but Wal-mart is definitely a poster-child for worker abuse.

I can't help but enjoy the irony of Wal-mart suffering the effects of an economic climate that they were so instrumental in creating.

As some of the oldtimers like to say...
“The chickens have finally come home to roost.”



posted on Feb, 16 2013 @ 01:10 PM
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reply to post by ImaFungi
 


Me too, well maybe not buy. I think I'll just load a cart with all the neat shiny Chinese made crap that I would like and push it around for a while. When I get all the "shopping" out of my system I'll park the cart in sporting goods and go home. Thanks wal-mart, 100% savings!




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