Jun 08
13
WalMart: Is the savings worth it?
No retailer seems to evoke more of a reaction from people than WalMart. Some people love WalMart, and some people just hate WalMart. This was pretty apparent in the comments to a recent posting over at Free Money Finance where FMF basically swore off of WalMart forever. FMF’s complaint was the issue of customer service, mainly that on a Saturday afternoon there were no regular checkout lanes open, only express lanes and self-checkouts.
Of course, many point to WalMart’s low prices as their reason for frequenting the retailer. But is the savings worth it? As many Americans will be headed out tomorrow for their weekly grocery store run, it is a good time to ponder that question. My opinion is that it is not worth it. Why? Here are my reasons:
- Inadequate checkouts – Although I have never seen the extreme that FMF cited, it never fails that every time I go in a WalMart less than half the checkouts are open and each line has at least five people in it. Considering shopping at WalMart results in a cart full of merchandise for most people, this means you will be waiting at least 30 minutes to checkout.
- Minimal customer service – Ever try to find an associate to help you? If so, you would know it is about as challenging as the search for Bigfoot or the Loch Ness Monster, or even searching for Bigfoot riding the Loch Ness Monster!
- Cleanliness – It just seems like most Walmart stores are in need of a good scrubbing. It kind of reminds me of most Kmarts around here before they were all closed.
- Monopoly tendencies - Let’s face it – WalMart often gains market share by undercutting the prices of its competitors and driving them out of business. Then WalMart has complete pricing power to charge whatever they want. My family is dealing with this back home in Baton Rouge, where WalMart has all but run all of the other grocery stores out of business.
- Trashy clientele – OK, this may be politically incorrect, but it just seems like the majority of people in WalMart are a little on the trashy side, both the customers and the employees. The basic norms of civilized human behavior just seem to be lost on most WalMart shoppers. Parking buggies in the middle of aisles blocking other shoppers, children running wild knocking stuff of the shelves, shoppers cutting in the checkout line and then cussing using their outdoor voice because the cashiers won’t let them buy beer with their food stamps. Although there is a Target directly across the street from my nearest WalMart, the attitude of the shoppers in the Target is the complete opposite of the trashiness displayed by the shoppers at the WalMart.
- Prices aren’t really that good – I will be the first to admit that in most cases a WalMart regular price will beat a Target or grocery store regular price. However, WalMart never really has sales – it is just the “everyday low price”. If you are a smart shopper, you can usually beat WalMart’s prices just by buying what is on sale.
- The price matching policy is a joke – In many places WalMart has already run everyone else out of business (see #4), so the price matching policy doesn’t really matter anyway. But even in a competitive market, their price matching policy is often undercut by store management. For instance, on a recent WalMart trip we wanted to price match to several local grocery stores, and was in most cases refused for various lame reasons. Some were refused because the price required use of the competitor’s frequent shopper card. Some were not considered to be a local competitor because they were more than three miles away. I have even had price matches to CVS and Walgreens refused because pharmacies aren’t considered competitors (that’s strange, I thought there was a real pharmacy inside the store).
- Complaints fall on deaf ears – Are you dissatisfied with an experience in your local WalMart? Don’t bother asking for the district manager’s information, because store management won’t provide it to you. And don’t worry about sending feedback through WalMart’s website, because you will just get a reply back stating your experience is a store issue that must be handled at the local level.
For all of these reasons, I try to avoid WalMart as much as possible, although I haven’t graduated to a full boycott just yet. However, I know of many people who have. My sister-in-law is quite proud of the fact that she has not set foot into a WalMart store at all in 2008, which in Baton Rouge is an amazing accomplishment. In one thread over at SlickDeals recently, several people bragged that their use of CVS deals had allow them to get great prices without the hassle of going to WalMart.
So what do you think? Is it worth the shortcomings to shop at WalMart? Do you even have a choice anymore, or has WalMart already run everyone else out of business? Let us know in the comments!