The lovely and gracious Lisa, fromMilehimama, allowed me toattend her walk through at Wal-Mart, with execs and bigwigs. Imanaged to get myself lost, and was way too late for my own liking,but I still got to make a few points, which was terrific. I also gotto eat dinner with Lisa, and had a blast. Adult conversation? TastyTex Mex? I’m all in.
I have issues with Wal-Mart on manydifferent levels, and if you know me in person, you know I’m not shy.
At all.
Ahem.
I also talk a lot, but you’ll find thatout, since this is a really long blog post.
My great-grandmother has been aWal-Mart associate (people greeter) for 20 years. She’s 92 yearsold. I know how Wal-Mart treats their people. The main thing isthat Wal-Mart is made of people too. They have flaws, and they makemistakes, and hopefully, they learn when those mistakes are pointedout to them. I really feel like Wal-Mart was listening, takingnotes, and remembering that everyone needs a touch up now and then. I’ve worked retail jobs; they aren’t fun. They’re long hours andlittle pay and sometimes, hard work. Believe me, I sympathize.
However, what has turned me off ofWal-Mart in the past mainly boils down to stocking, cashiers, andproducts. Stocking is making sure the right products are on theright shelves with the right prices marked. Cashiers should knowtheir store’s polices, procedures, and be aware of any promotions. Products include quality things that I want to buy to feed my familyat a price I am willing to pay. General store atmosphere isimportant.
Having the products on the shelvesmeans actually putting the product out. Not leaving it in pallets inthe aisle. Despite corporate policy, aisles are filled with palletsat both of the stores I visit. I took this picture last nightat one of the two stores near me. Occasionally, I need to use amotorized cart because of my bad back. I shouldn’t have to cut myshopping list in half because I can’t get to items.
Also, it means making sure the price ismarked correctly. Last night, a whole box of Charmin was marked onthe shelf at $3.27. It rang up at $13.98. That’s carelessness onthe stockers’ part. And it’s aggravating. I took a picture with mycell phone camera and showed it to the cashier. She changed it withno problem, and that was great. I really appreciated not having toargue. Although, how can you argue with a picture?
If there’s any one thing I hate, it’shaving to school cashiers. I have never worked for Wal-Mart. It’sbeen 10 years since I worked retail in general. There is no way onGod’s green earth that I should know more about cash registers thanthe actual employees. As a couponer, and an ethical one, I am verycareful to use my coupons correctly. Wal-Mart’s coupon policy doesneed some work. There is no official price matching guideline. There are no examples of “good coupons” available for cashiers. There is no instruction on modifying coupons down to the price of anitem. That needs to be fixed. Cashiers should know what’s expectedof them.
I love to shop. Really. I do. I liketo be able to walk down clean aisles in a clean store and just lookat things. I’m a magpie when it comes to shiny. “Ooh, there’s apeelie coupon there. I wants some, but they’ll be on sale at Krogernext week. I’ll take 3, because I’m not a greedy hoarder that has totake all the coupons off of all the boxes.” Why yes, that ispretty much how my brain works. But I do stockpile. I buy enoughwhen something is on a really good sale, to last me till the nextgood sale. That depends on price, item, and season. I might buy 15bottles of barbeque sauce because it’s so cheap or free, but I won’tclear any one store’s shelves or stock. I’ve bought 10 bottles ofgrape juice at a time, because it was on sale and I had a coupon. When I asked the manager at Kroger to do a special order, she laughedand told me to take all I wanted. What I should never see at anystore, is a completely cleared shelf. My local Wal-Mart was out ofregular, white sugar just this past Thursday. That doesn’t makesense.
I like to see clean stores, with cleanproducts and when I walk through the meat department, I don’t want tosmell anything. All you want to smell is clean, people, when you’rebuying meat. And if you don’t, take yourself on down the road. Produce should smell like, well, clean fruits and veggies. Noexpired products, and no crushed cans. Unfortunately, I see thoseall the time when I go into Wal-Mart. I hope that I stop seeingthem.
To be continued: