WalMart Info

Katybug

Katybug

Senior Member
Location
Charlotte, NC
I'm not a WalMart shopper, never have been. There isn't one close to me, they offer extremely poor customer service (or none at all -- at least at the ones where I live,) and I hate dealing with the long checkout lines and crowds. Apparently gazillions of others feel differently, including an alligator that showed up at the front door of the WalMart in Apopoka, FL, this weekend! Ha!

Whether or not you enjoy shopping there, these facts are extremely impressive:


  • Wal-Mart averages a profit of $1.8 million every hour

  • 35 million people shop at Wal-Mart every day, as much as the population of Canada.

  • Wal-Mart's $316 billion U.S. retail sales exceed those of Kroger -0.07%), Target -0.49%), Costco -0.49%) and Walgreens -0.63%) combined.

  • The average Wal-Mart supercenter sells 140,000 individual items.

  • Wal-Mart opened between four and five new stores every week in 2012.

  • The Walton family is worth $150 billion, about as much as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg combined.

  • Wal-Mart commonly receives 25 applications for every open job.

  • Between Wal-Mart's opening in 1962 and 2002, the number of single-store retailers in the U.S. declined 55%.

  • Wal-Mart accounts for 25% of Clorox's -0.49%) total sales.

  • Wal-Mart's top-selling item in 2012 was the banana.

  • 90% of Americans live within 15 minutes of a Wal-Mart.

  • Wal-Mart's net sales were $466 billion in 2012. That's more than Argentina's GDP.

  • Wal-Mart has 2.2 million employees, more than the population of Houston.

  • If Wal-Mart were a country, it would be the 26th largest economy in the world
 

I HATE wallly world, but our budget forces us to shop there for things like toiletries, paper goods because their prices are a lot cheaper than the grocery stores. But I never buy meat there, just not sure where that comes from at wally world.
 

seabreezy said:
I HATE wallly world, but our budget forces us to shop there for things like toiletries, paper goods because their prices are a lot cheaper than the grocery stores. But I never buy meat there, just not sure where that comes from at wally world.
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Without question there prices are cheaper, but all the ones here are a good 30 min ride for me in living downtown. With gas being what it is...it's nowhere near practical. For those of you who live close to one, I totally understand your savings and making it worthwhile.
 
We shop there for quite a few household items.

They sell the same brands we can buy at our regular over-priced store, where we get all of our meat and poultry and fish, I won't buy it at Wal-mart, not sure where it is coming from and all that.

But holy cow can we ever save money on things. Quite a few things we can save atleast $1.50-$2.00 an item, that really adds up.
 
Thanks Katybug for the info on Walmart and their obscene profits. They are well known for their low paying salaries to employees, forcing a lot of the employees to be on the public dole just to make ends meet...causing a drag on the economy and tax payers...

I shop there only when there is no other choice.
 
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I have 2 Walmarts close to me, and I do shop at them often for certain things. Not everything they sell is cheaper than other stores, especially in the food department...I stick to Krogers for most of my food shopping (or Costco). Prices on some items are definitely cheaper than other stores. I don't like their fruit, always seems overpriced and bad.

When I was first checking them out years ago, I'd look at say a toaster at Target, KMart and then Walmart...WM always had the lower price. I don't have loads of money, so if I can save a buck I will. I've had good customer service at the WMs I frequent, and the lines are never really long, they seem to have a lot of registers open to choose from.

I've been to Safeway before, with one huge line and one incompetent cashier, no other registers open, and no hope of one being opened. :rolleyes: If their successful businesswise, good for them...that's what it's all about for these large companies, to be successful. Walgreens drug store has a store every three blocks it seems, where I live.
 
Jackie22 said:
Thanks Katybug for the info on Walmart and their obscene profits. They are well known for their low paying salaries to employees, forcing a lot of the employees to be on the public dole just to make ends meet...causing a drag on the economy and tax payers...

I shop there only when there is no other choice.
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Not only that, but they treat their employees in a very demeaning manner and I heard this first hand from my former neighbor who worked there 2 years and have read it for years.

I didn't read this story, only headlines, but one of their employees recently tried to assist a customer in some sort of distress and was fired for attempting to help, but they rec'd so much flack they are now attempting to rehire. That said, you can save $$$, but it's always last resort for me. And given the money spent on gas, I'll keep taking advantage of triple coupon and senior shopping days at my regular store.
 
Leeches, predators and one of the single greatest killers of the American economy. They contract with under-aged, underpaid labor, engage in criminal "bargaining" with their suppliers (think Mafia) and their sameness in every store is a blight upon the land.

Yet they are obscenely successful.



Tells you something about America ... :(
 
Sid said:
Would you define "obscene profits" for me? Please and Thank You
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One definition might be:

Any profit that is derived from a business venture when the employees are not paid a sufficient living wage, foreign populations are placed into virtual slavery and suppliers are threatened with being cut-off if they in turn don't apply pressure to their supplies to make everything in the cheapest manner possible.
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I guess I just don't give a crap.

The Kraft Mayo and Beaver Tarter sauce are all made in the same place. Whether I buy it at one store for 2 dollars more a jar, it is the same stuff.

Unless they have some little kids locked in a room someplace making it just special cheap for Wal-mart.

I know all the arguments for and against Wal-mart, I have to worry about my bottom.
 
Katybug said:
I'm not a WalMart shopper, never have been. There isn't one close to me, they offer extremely poor customer service (or none at all -- at least at the ones where I live,) and I hate dealing with the long checkout lines and crowds. Apparently gazillions of others feel differently, including an alligator that showed up at the front door of the WalMart in Apopoka, FL, this weekend! Ha!

Whether or not you enjoy shopping there, these facts are extremely impressive:


  • Wal-Mart averages a profit of $1.8 million every hour

  • 35 million people shop at Wal-Mart every day, as much as the population of Canada.

  • Wal-Mart's $316 billion U.S. retail sales exceed those of Kroger -0.07%), Target -0.49%), Costco -0.49%) and Walgreens -0.63%) combined.

  • The average Wal-Mart supercenter sells 140,000 individual items.

  • Wal-Mart opened between four and five new stores every week in 2012.

  • The Walton family is worth $150 billion, about as much as Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Michael Bloomberg combined.

  • Wal-Mart commonly receives 25 applications for every open job.

  • Between Wal-Mart's opening in 1962 and 2002, the number of single-store retailers in the U.S. declined 55%.

  • Wal-Mart accounts for 25% of Clorox's -0.49%) total sales.

  • Wal-Mart's top-selling item in 2012 was the banana.

  • 90% of Americans live within 15 minutes of a Wal-Mart.

  • Wal-Mart's net sales were $466 billion in 2012. That's more than Argentina's GDP.

  • Wal-Mart has 2.2 million employees, more than the population of Houston.

  • If Wal-Mart were a country, it would be the 26th largest economy in the world
Click to expand...

Just curious--if you've never shopped at a Walmart, how do you know they have bad customer service?
 
Sid said:
Would you define "obscene profits" for me? Please and Thank You
Click to expand...

Obscene profits - more money than I have in my wallet, my checking account and my savings account put together. ;)

I admit, I have mixed feelings about Walmart. From what I've read, they single handedly destroyed furniture making in the Carolinas, and once the Carolinas couldn't go any cheaper (and the father died), the kids stopped buying American made products, because they could get them even cheaper over seas.

Then again, I hear lots about how they mistreat (underpay/lousy benefits) their employees from all sorts of sources except form most of the employees. Most of the employees that I've ever heard or seen writing about the company, seem to genuinely like them. I've come to the conclusion I don't really understand what they do with employees--just a bunch of hearsay that can fit into anyone's belief system to paint any kind of picture we want. AND, mostly, it's not that interesting to me to do the hard research.

We do go there from time to time.
--The few instances I've needed customer assistance, the employees seemed nice and were helpful.
--The produce is the least fresh of any stores we go to, and we also go to Sav-a-Lot, who save-a-lot by buying old produce. It's fine if I plan to use it that day, but moldy the next day.
--10% of what we had on our shopping list wasn't available on the shelves. (Who runs out of bananas, cheese and cereal in the middle of a weekday?)
--We're both disabled, so we can only go on good-days for us, because it's more walking than a trip through an Ikea store, and the chances of getting an electric scooter are only slightly higher than getting a winning lottery number.
--We started going because our local Foreman Mills closed. (Foreman Mills is a place to buy cheap, irregular shirts, trousers, socks, undergarments and nightclothes, all American made stuff, but irregulars.) Our annual clothing budget is around $50 a year (for both of us), so we understand Walmart clothes are made in foreign-soil sweat shops, but we can't afford American made, since a T-shirt can start at $45 last checked (which granted was 5-7 years ago.) Workers should be paid a reasonable wage, but people ought to be able to afford those reasonable products too. (Mark-up for clothes is generally 400-800%.)

I tend to laugh at people who think anyone who makes a profit is greedy, and yet they tend not to want to work for free. I'm all for capitalism, but part of capitalism is supposed to be that people stop buying what they don't think is fair.

Yes, I see the hypocrisy there, but, hey, if you know where I can buy clothes for two very large people for less money, please tell me. Walmart helped America nudge away from being a manufacturing country. I see no choice but to adapt to that.
 
For us, walmart is the only game in town.I try to fill my freezer with meat when I go into the city though. Much of walmarts meat is 15% to 20% water. Not only are you paying a high price for water it affects the quality of the meat too.
 
Is Walmart just a grocery store like Safeway with Fruit & Veg & Meat or do they sell all sorts of things like furniture etc, i particularily love the colourful and insane outfits some of the customers wear, they are in a class of their own
 
atwhatcost said:
Just curious--if you've never shopped at a Walmart, how do you know they have bad customer service?
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In answer your question...when Wal-Mart first opened here ages ago, I shopped there quite a few times. Enough to form my opinion, and I'm sorry to have misled you. It is a place I no longer care to shop. There is no right or wrong, you either like it or you don't. At the same time, I'm quick to admit there is no way to know how much money I could have saved if I felt differently. I have friends who love the savings and shop there regularly.

I would like to share a funny story, tho, and one I laugh about every time I think back on it. My g'son wanted a particular CD, one that he had seen there and, of course, it would be the least expensive place to buy it. The CD wasn't in place as he had seen it the day before, nor was there an employee in sight to ask for assistance -- as usual. Must have been a bad day for me, but I began very quietly saying to myself, "I hate this place, I hate this place, I hate this place." From out of nowhere an employee appeared and said, "I don't blame you, lady, I hate this place too and if it didn't pay my salary I would never set foot in here." We all got a big laugh out of it.

Obviously there are multitudes of millions who love shopping there, I'm just not one of them.

 
Jillaroo said:
Is Walmart just a grocery store like Safeway with Fruit & Veg & Meat or do they sell all sorts of things like furniture etc, i particularily love the colourful and insane outfits some of the customers wear, they are in a class of their own
Click to expand...

The Walmarts by me started out as more of a department store, they had a hardware section, clothes, electronics, housewares, linens, limited furniture section, etc. Then they changed the stores to add a section that was like a supermarket, with a limited choice of drinks, canned foods, produce, frozen seafood, meats, bakery, etc. Recently they started opening Walmart Neighborhood Markets, I haven't been in one of those, but I understand it's only like a food supermarket, no other things sold there.
 
atwhatcost said:
... Yes, I see the hypocrisy there, but, hey, if you know where I can buy clothes for two very large people for less money, please tell me. Walmart helped America nudge away from being a manufacturing country. I see no choice but to adapt to that.
Click to expand...

I buy my clothing from the Salvation Army - on average I pay $2-$3 for a shirt or pair of pants, and they have sizes all the way up. If I were really diligent and wanted to save even more I'd go there on Wednesdays when they have 1/2 off most of the clothing.

You say Walmart helped nudge America away from being a manufacturing economy as if that were a good thing. Yet in an earlier paragraph you tell the tale of the Carolinas losing their furniture businesses. Which is it?
 
AT WHAT COST says....from what I've read, they single handedly destroyed furniture making in the Carolinas,

You nailed it on that one! A couple friends of the man I work for (from High Point, NC, which used to be a furniture mecca and then some) were yrs ago put in the position of having to close their furn mfg businesses & go bankrupt, or move their operations to Shanghai....and move they did. They despise every aspect of it, but with families to provide for, it was either sink or swim. They "single handedly" blame the infamous Wal-Mart, and say they will never get over the heartbreak of having to put so many here out of work. Staying open would have helped nothing, as American made furniture was not selling, or anything else made here -- as we all well know.
 
I do what I can to "shop local" and keep small businesses in business.

I shop at my local little family owned Drug Store and pay more, but I want to help keep them around. I bought my computer from a local business who builds and sells their own computers and I have my internet access through them.

I do what I can in some small way.

We were just talking about this at work yesterday. I don't know what the answer is, but Wal-mart is not going away. And those of us who do like to save $$ were we can, we do. I personally would rather shop at Wal-mart than the over priced Safeways and Albertsons.

As far as furniture goes, Wal-mart sells cheap junk and if anybody wanted some quality furniture, they sure wouldn't go there to buy it. I am not arguing with anybody, but I don't see how crappy press-board tables and cabinets would put a good furniture business out of business.
 
SeaBreeze said:
The Walmarts by me started out as more of a department store, they had a hardware section, clothes, electronics, housewares, linens, limited furniture section, etc. Then they changed the stores to add a section that was like a supermarket, with a limited choice of drinks, canned foods, produce, frozen seafood, meats, bakery, etc. Recently they started opening Walmart Neighborhood Markets, I haven't been in one of those, but I understand it's only like a food supermarket, no other things sold there.
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Jill, all the Wal-Marts have always been over sized stores, but a few years ago they began Super Wal-Marts, with an average sized grocery store on one side (offering everything every other large grocer offers) and all the other tons of aisles of non-food items taking up the rest. It truly is one-stop shopping and those I know who shop the larger ones say they are completely exhausted afterward. To me, the "Supers" appear to cover well more than an entire block.

I'm not familiar with the Walmart Neighborhood Markets. There aren't any in this area, those offering food only, but the other two types surround the outskirts of the city in every direction
 
Old Hipster said:
... As far as furniture goes, Wal-mart sells cheap junk and if anybody wanted some quality furniture, they sure wouldn't go there to buy it. I am not arguing with anybody, but I don't see how crappy press-board tables and cabinets would put a good furniture business out of business.
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Just a thought ... I agree that their furniture is garbage, but just the fact that it's cheap and available is alluring to the masses who don't have a lot of expendable income. If Wal-Mart weren't around then perhaps a lot of local craftsmen - including retired ones - could set up home shops to produce economical yet quality furniture to fill that niche. You'd having thriving small businesses across the country, employed seniors, an improved economy and happy customers, with nothing bearing a "Made in Taiwan" label.

In addition, there will always be a high-end market, so those folks can go to their usual furniture stores and spend $5,000 on a canopy bed with hand-turned oak spindles. :rolleyes:
 

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