No Walmart for me thanks

[ramblnrose]

I would never shop at Walmart because they have no benefits for their employees and even encourage their employees to apply for state aid to get medical benefits.

[derketchup]

I totally understand where you're coming from. I maybe go to Wal-Mart once every three to four months, and it's usually for one to three items I simply can't find anywhere else.

However, there are parts of this country where Wal-Mart is the only grocery store option. Take, for example, my home town in Arkansas. They drove all of the other grocery stores out of business. So if my grandparents want food, they either grow it in their garden or go to Wal-Mart. There aren't many other options for them.

[jujubee]

It’s a valid gripe that a lot of people have against Wal-Mart.

However, don’t think that Wal-Mart is the only profitable company – big or small – that skirts the health insurance debate. Because they’re such a retail giant, they’re an easy target. In our area the media has shed some light on even private Dr. practices that refuse to offer health insurance. The bottom line is – health insurance is a costly expense. HUGELY expensive – the actual figures might astound you. Companies/people are in business to make money, and health insurance cuts their bottom dollar.

Like derketchup, I shop Wal-Mart maybe 3-4 times a year, and I honestly try to avoid it at all costs. However, I live in a large city where there are many shopping choices. It’s too easy to say that no one should shop at Wal-Mart, because you don’t know where people live – it’s easy to forget that for some in rural areas it is the only choice.

[jenjacobs]

I avoid Walfart like the plague but I'm blessed to have many,many other choices around me. I agree where my grandmother lived in Georgia, Walfart was her only choice unless she drove 20 miles and it was too much as she got older.

[austinmomto2]

We tried to avoid Wally World at all costs for reasons already stated. But it is hard to not avoid them completely because there is a Walmart every few miles around here. Our city, Pflugerville, just got a Super Walmart 1 year ago. Our only grocery shopping was HEB since it was closest. They fairly economical but not cheap like Wally World and lack a lot of the "amenities" Walmart offers to its consumers such as price matching; all shopping needs under one roof, etc. Most of the people who live here were so excited to have Walmart come in. One of the many reasons is that it helped our property taxes. We have some of the highest property taxes in the area around 6% because we are mostly residential. Our local businesses haven't seemed to suffer that much. Plus the addition of Walmart has stimulated other types of economic growth and encourages our residents to spend more of their money locally.

While I may despise Walmart's ethics, policies, etc, I can definitely see why some people like Walmart.

[Earthartisan]

My mom has worked at Wal-Mart for 15 years this May. She loves it there. As a matter of fact, when someone complains about Wal-Mart, she takes it personally.

I guess that in our area, there just aren't a lot of jobs that offer medical benefits anyway, so to get a solid 40 hours a week, she appreciates that.

[bexx09]

I shop at Walmart all the time... well at least a few times a month. I get most of my household stuff and some HBA stuff there too. Our SW doesn't have too much of a selection of organics yet... but I do pick stuff up there now and then. Another plus is that they are very coupon-friendly.

I guess all the negative WM talk has kind of gone over my head. A lot of the WM employees really seem to enjoy working there... at least from what I can tell.

[lvg4him]

Can I put a link to an article written about Organic produce not really being organic at Walmart?? It is from the New York Times (so it is a for profit site). But it does not compete with OGD (as far as I know). ;)

[bexx09]

Originally Posted by lvg4him

Can I put a link to an article written about Organic produce not really being organic at Walmart?? It is from the New York Times (so it is a for profit site). But it does not compete with OGD (as far as I know). ;)

Absolutely! News articles are perfectly fine... :)

[lvg4him]

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/ma...wwln_lede.html

[Earthartisan]

Interesting article. I wouldn't say that the article is about Walmart selling non-organic items as organic though. They are basically saying that there is no way that Wal-mart can really supply organic foods at just 10% more than conventional foods. Unless I am misunderstanding it.

But that is just my interpretation and I may be wrong.

[lvg4him]

Maybe **I** am the one who misunderstood. I have not read the article since it first came out and I thought that it was saying that Walmart was not really differentiating between natural and organic.

I do know that they have been caught labeling non-organic as organic. Maybe I thought that was in the article too. I know you can google it. When I did, that article came up and I recognized it and assumed it was the one I had read. Hmmm...

I do know that after reading up on it, at the time, I remember thinking that Walmart is not really selling organic produce.

Well, :) now I will have to re-read the article. I might be eating some humble pie. :)

[jujubee]

I read the articles, too, about WM mislabeling the shelves. They really took some heat for that, so hopefully they've stopped mis-marketing.

Remember the tip that was posted about the label numbers for organic produce - organic produce will start with a "9". WM is definitely at fault for misleading the public, but it's also up to the public to become knowledgeable consumers.

I haven't read the article that Paula posted yet (I will later), but I know that with so many negative articles written on WM it's certainly hard to keep them all straight! :D

[queenofthehivemomof5]

Dude I would be happy if my Walmart carried organic produce! The only thing they have is bagged organic carrots. Slim pickings.

I know that some folks hate and dispise Walmart but I live in an area with few choices. Not really for groceries per se as I can usually find good deals elseware. But we don't have a lot of options for things like kids clothes, toys, electronics, CD's. DVD's etc. There is no mall here and the other retail outlets are more specialty stores with higher prices.

That being said, Walmart has not closed any businesses since they went to a super walmart October 06...the buisnesses that were here learned to adapt. Smaller downtown shops went more into specialties/high end and are prefectly fine. We have nice high end stores down town that sell clothes, toys, books, etc but they are pricier and geared to the wealthier clientel.

I think Walmart is capitalism at its best. Supply and demand. If the demand was not there for cheap goods they would not be supplying them. Not all walmarts pay low wages (walmart here starts at 12 an hour, or provide no insurance. The market here would not let Walmart to get away with that. There is such a low supply of employees and so many high paying jobs on the market here that Walmart has to pay and offer benifits to meet the competition for employees. If they didnt they would not be able to find anyone to work the registers because they can find better jobs elseware.

That being said I try, whenever possible to shop elseware. I know that to save time I could price match the sale ads at Walmart but I prefer to give my money to the other stores in town when I can. But I also like a good deal. And when I need a staple in my house and can get a better deal on it at Walmart then I will buy it there. And if my kids need some t-shirts I am willing to pay $4 for a t-shirt at Walmart rather than $16 at the specialty store downtown.

[kristen.c]

Those are good points Heidi- my DH feels the same way about Walmart. A store won't stay in business for long if the community at large is against it. When all is said and done, for most people the low prices are just too hard to pass up.

I have to say that I do have my days where I come home muttering under my breath about a Walmart experience. It usually has to do with customer service issues at my store. To wait at the site-to-store desk for over 20 minutes while I see employees standing around chit chatting while they should be working just really gets under my skin. When we go into the store there are always a cloud of employees on bread standing immediately outside of the store doors smoking even though by law in our county they have to be a certain amount of feet beyond the door. The language they use and the attitudes we get from most of the employees and managers at our local store is just ridiculous. I also don't want to hear detailed descriptions of employee # 237's sexual encounters (in graphic detail) from the night before. It's become commonplace that you have to put up with this crap from the moment you walk in until the moment you walk out. I seriously DREAD going there.

With all of that being said we had an experience with one guy who was just the most helpful person ever that DH and I have come into contact with at any store, Walmart or otherwise. When we thanked him he replied with "No reason to thank me, I'm just doing my job." I really appreciate that attitude and I wish that the managers in my area could inspire more of their employees to adopt that work ethic. Not only at Walmart, but also at the other stores who have let customer service and proper employee behavior fall by the wayside.

[queenofthehivemomof5]

See that to me is a local problem and not really a "walmart" problem. The word on the street here is that Walmart has better customer service than K-mart next door. And in fact the manager at K-Mart is a butt head IMO, who yells and screams at his employees in front of customers.

A few weeks ago I had a site to store pick up at Walmart (my first one) and went to the customer service desk up front and the lady at the desk told me that there was a site to store area in the back and actually walked me back there. They were having a employee cheer meeting back there and I was not sure what I was supposed to do and the lady told me to go ahead and push my way through. And she got my package and checked me out. I overheard the cheer meeting and it seemed that the employees were actually pretty happy and they were talking about a weight loss motivation goal or something like that and about gym membership offered in thier employee package etc. I thought that was pretty cool.

I know the manger at Walmart here and he is a very nice guy and never have many issues with cashiers (even with coupons) and so I find it hard to sterotype all Walmarts as evil. I guess some are and some are OK.

[kristen.c]

You're right about it being a local thing. DH and I shopped at Superwalmart every week when we were living in Albuquerque and never had a problem with the store until we moved to this area. I think I'd call it more of a regional problem though since it's all of the Walmart stores in our region as opposed to just the one closest to us.

Originally Posted by queenofthehivemomof5

See that to me is a local problem and not really a "walmart" problem. The word on the street here is that Walmart has better customer service than K-mart next door. And in fact the manager at K-Mart is a butt head IMO, who yells and screams at his employees in front of customers.

A few weeks ago I had a site to store pick up at Walmart (my first one) and went to the customer service desk up front and the lady at the desk told me that there was a site to store area in the back and actually walked me back there. They were having a employee cheer meeting back there and I was not sure what I was supposed to do and the lady told me to go ahead and push my way through. And she got my package and checked me out. I overheard the cheer meeting and it seemed that the employees were actually pretty happy and they were talking about a weight loss motivation goal or something like that and about gym membership offered in thier employee package etc. I thought that was pretty cool.

I know the manger at Walmart here and he is a very nice guy and never have many issues with cashiers (even with coupons) and so I find it hard to sterotype all Walmarts as evil. I guess some are and some are OK.

[jonjaktez]

I beleive it's a fed law that Drs, dentist, or etc cannot offer health insurance (drs- drs insurance, dentist-dental insurance) due to the fact that the dr, dentist, etc can file false claims and defraud the insurance companies. Usually drs and dentist offer free care in their office to their employees. A friend of ours works for an orthodontist and she doesn't have dental care because of the law. She is able to get discounted dental care with local dentist offices that works with her office. Other friends who work for doctors receive free doctor care and if they are referred to other doctors they receive discounted fees.

Originally Posted by jujubee

It’s a valid gripe that a lot of people have against Wal-Mart.

My parents are small business owners, and they take pride in offering their full-time employees health insurance, so it’s an argument that comes up a lot in my life. My parents firmly believe that companies with xxx profit should be required/mandated to offer insurance to full time employees. I think Wal-Mart gets around that argument by not offering many full-time positions.

However, don’t think that Wal-Mart is the only profitable company – big or small – that skirts the health insurance debate. Because they’re such a retail giant, they’re an easy target. In our area the media has shed some light on even private Dr. practices that refuse to offer health insurance. The bottom line is – health insurance is a costly expense. HUGELY expensive – the actual figures might astound you. Companies/people are in business to make money, and health insurance cuts their bottom dollar.

Like derketchup, I shop Wal-Mart maybe 3-4 times a year, and I honestly try to avoid it at all costs. However, I live in a large city where there are many shopping choices. It’s too easy to say that no one should shop at Wal-Mart, because you don’t know where people live – it’s easy to forget that for some in rural areas it is the only choice.

[Sammysmom]

I only shop at SWM for Tabasco sauce, really. Or if I have coupons for $.55 and over since Kroger only doubles up to $.50, and I better get that item for a good price. I maybe go once a month and have found a wonderful SWM. Sad thing is we have one 5 mins from our house but Im willing to go to another that is 30 mins away due to the fact the employees are always helpful and friendly and they actually keep items in stock.

[aaahchuu]

Glad you posted, I didn't know.

Originally Posted by jujubee

Remember the tip that was posted about the label numbers for organic produce - organic produce will start with a "9".

Our tiny town only has 1 grocery store & 2 dollar stores which I like to support.
I only shop at Walmart for free items using coupons, Equate brand OTCs, and a few food items I can't find here.

Thank goodness I can find locally homegrown fruits & veggies now! Oh yum, I'm in the mood for squash!

[anjilynn]

Originally Posted by queenofthehivemomof5

They were having a employee cheer meeting back there and I was not sure what I was supposed to do and the lady told me to go ahead and push my way through. And she got my package and checked me out. I overheard the cheer meeting and it seemed that the employees were actually pretty happy and they were talking about a weight loss motivation goal or something like that and about gym membership offered in thier employee package etc. I thought that was pretty cool.

I know that was posted a lonnnng time ago but - those 'meetings' are mandatory. When I worked at WM, we were told that we would either audibly participate in the cheer or we would be leading the cheer the next day. One time of that and you get very energetic!
When the supervisor decided that we would all just looove to do the hokey-pokey....we did the hokey pokey & we smiled and laughed; same with the bunny hop - we laughed but not because we were having fun.
To this day, the word 'squiggly' makes me cringe.

[Emikat]

Originally Posted by lvg4him

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/04/ma...wwln_lede.html

Thanks for the article link.