Why I Hate Walmart

One of my most popular posts on my blogs is "Wal-Mart Sucks." For some reason both Google and Yahoo put me at the top of the search results for this term. It's kinda funny - my little rant has now been seen so much. I put the link in as my URL. Be sure to check out Wal-Mart fact checker that's linked in my post. There's a link to another great rant in the comments.

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The shopping cart problem is not unique to Walmart and I find it all over when I shop. It is worse when the weather is bad, or when Mom is towing a brood of kids along. Myself ... I often find the cart corrals open only on the side opposite to where I'm parked, or at a distance that makes it closer to walk the cart back to the store. Cars are often parked too close together and the carts won't fit between them. Frankly ... I don't see the difference between Walmart and many of the other big retailers ... other than they tend to have a better selection of goods ... and they still carry men's work clothes.

When I pull into a big box shopping store I always plan my exit-game rather than going for the obvious 'park as close as you can to the entrance' strategy. When I leave will I have a cart in tow? Does the store have a different exit then entrance (thinking Lowes)? Can I find a spot that looks wide enough to keep the neighboring cars' doors from hitting my car? Are there spots available that are not littered with empty carts?

It seems like every time I pull into Walmart, my plan gets mucked up for some reason(s).

I plan my exit strategy too -- close to the cart corral so I can shove my cart in, but not too close so that people ram my car with their carts when returning theirs.

Personally, the reason I hate Walmart most is that they never have enough check out lines open. I've had some shopping trips where I was in the line longer than I was walking through the store. And I think their parking spots are narrower than most, too, because I always feel jammed in. When I consider that along with the political reasons, I just go to Target instead.

Funny I should read this about WalMart carts. While waiting to have my tires rotated on my new Scion xB (vehicle in WalMart service depts possession), a shopping cart was caught by the wind and slammed into my baby busting an indicator light assembly! I was unaware of the situation because my 30 min wait turned into a MUCH longer one. The service dept. actually brought this to my attention after having already having an asst. mgr for the store take photos. Very expeditiously, Wal Mart paid me for the estimated repair costs.

I have to give WM a thumbs up for that one. Had my car not been in their possession would they have been liable and paid for the damages? I don't know. Watch out for those WM shopping carts!!!!

Loose shopping carts in the wind can be a real hazard at times, but I've also seen lazy shoppers try and send their carts to the corral from long ditances too ... sometimes with success, but most often striking the cars parked near the corral. Kroger has shopping carts designed to entertain the kids ... too bad they don't often fit the checkout isle.

I really don't care much for the stores with the small checkout counters like Walmart and Target. It really doesn't make sense that they are selling groceries with such small counters. Quite often you are needing to load stuff back into the cart before you've finished unloading it onto the counter. Meijer seems to have a better handle on the counter problem.

Dunno if you caught this story; Wal-Mart's in hot water over their use of a Nazi image in a political ad they ran in Arizona.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/05/13/AR2005051301423_pf.html

Some macro-economists believe that Walmart is marginally positive for the economy. I do not. I was ranting against the company last night while driving my 14 year-old daughter back from her math tutoring class. After listening to me for a few minutes she said it appeared to come down to one thing -- people who work at Costco are paid a living wage (I have nothing to do with Costco, I'm just a customer), enough to buy a house, drive a car and afford medical insurance. In other words, they can begin to live the American dream. People who work for Walmart have to scrape. Apart from destroying communities and jobs, Walmart compounds its crime by adding to the underclass with its own workers.

Just don't shop there. Don't patronize a company that doesn't care about its employees or the affect it has on communities! Drive on by -- avoid the shopping carts in the parking lot, it may cost a few pennies more for a roll of toilet paper or a carton of milk but it's a 'tax' I gladly pay for the sake of my community and for the meaningful jobs that I'm supporting!

Walmart is for the selfish!

The one thing that WalMart has going for itself is consumerism. It's a simple formula:
Lowest price = best place to shop.
Any other reason = tied for last.
Before every piece of junk on the market realized that they had to spend vast quantities of revenue on overdone, glitzy advertising AND cheapen their products to cover it, shopping for the lowest price didn't guarantee you wouldn't get some SERVICE or CUSTOMER satisfaction by making purchases through most any retailer. WalMart's business model and consumerism in general closed that door a long time ago. When you want lowest price, and you make 100's of truckloads of inventory in arm's reach, who needs to seek out any kind of staff interaction? The preponderant majority of chains have learned that giving the IMPRESSION that they have a knowledgeable, courteous staff is good enough.
I recall attending a hobby organization's regional event a few years back. They picked the "base" hotel that was 20 miles away from the event and about a third-to-twice more expensive than the 35-40 hotels in between because there was a Super WalMart within walking distance of the accommodations. It was picked simply as a potential "convenience" to attendees. Note that this event or its attendees had little use for a WalMart during the course of this event even in the broadest scope of imagination. (It was a 3 day event.) Bewildering.
Moreso, WalMart publicly conspires to set their wholesale prices by holding vendors' feet to the fire. This has directly led to manufacturers'/vendors'/distributors' demise because their operating or other costs didn't fit into the wholesale price scheme that WalMart wants to pay for just about anything. That alone is one of the core devisive methods that WalMart has precipitated throughout the business world. They hurt employees, they hurt manufacturers and vendors, they hurt the quality and availability of products but yet they give the lowest price.
Where will it end? In one place: the consumer. Don't count on that too soon when the consumer believes tomorrow's dollar will be their last. Tell me how many consumers pocket the "savings" they "gain" by shopping at WalMart. How about zero? Ultimately, they just spend MORE in an effort to win the "Look how much I saved" contest.

i really really hate walmart! i was driving by the store one day, and all of a sudden one off those ***king blue car killers came crashing into my 2 week old nissan Se-r spec v!. Well i went to management told what happened and the manager took pics and then fax them to main office, the next day i phone to see if the could fix it and he said no!"we have people to get the carts and we hold no responsability to them". so if you are even driving by walmart those cart can still ding you car!!!

If you hate wal-mart so much, what are you doing in the parking lot to be bothered by the carts? Stand by your comments and stay away from Wal-mart. Yes, stuff is cheaper there, but it is not the same stuff found in other stores. Wal-mart products are knock-offs made in their Chinese factories.

Your worried about walmart shopping carts cluttering up parking spots? the walmart we have cleans up shopping carts dailey and hourly....i think your purposely parking in front of the shopping cart section!!

There are other reasons to hate walmart....why care about the shopping carts?

After my shopping at Walmart I returned the cart to the cart correl which was located directly behind my car. I then proceeded to walk to my car and got in. As soon as I shut the door I felt a thump. The shopping cart along with 2 others, rolled out and scraped and dented the rear bumper and trunk of my car. I then noticed that this particular cart correl was on a hill with no precaution on Walmarts part to make sure that the carts actually stayed in. I made a claim with Walmart and this is the letter that I received back "One of the biggest reasons that people shop at Wal-Mart is for the quality merchandise at a low price. In order for Wal-Mart to continue to provide low prices to all of its customers, Wal-Mart can not pay the property damage for every vehicle that is in its parking lots. We can only pay for damages that are Wal-Mart's fault. I suggest that you submit your repair bills to any insurance company that provides you with auto insurance."
Well this is what I say, "This was Wal-Mart's fault and furthermore, when I went into the store to make the claim, I was told that they could not really be sure that this truely happened in their parking lot even though I presented them with a receipt dated that day and I could match up the damage lines on my car exactly to that of the cart. It looks to me like that just won't take responsibility." This damage to my car was $1300. Wow - how sad, cheap sible on Wal-mart's part -

This shopping cart thing goes beyond the parking lot. In Texas, Walmart does nothing to prevent the Mexican habit of taking the carts home, then leaving them around the sudivision. When I went to the management (third time this month) about the eyesore they are accomodating and abetting, I was treated like some kind of hater. I asked if they regard the removal of the carts as theft, and management answered in the affirmative. I then asked what they were doing to let their patrons know that taking the carts was, in fact, theft. I was told, "we can't tell them that it is stealing. We can't do anything to stop them." With that, I suggested that I should take some things from the shelves, without paying, take them off property, and as long as I leave the stuff in the streets after I'm done with it, it looks like I'm home free. Of course the manager protested there was a difference. I asked him what that difference was, precisely, and I got nothing but a blank stare, then the suggestion that I call `1-800-WALMART.....
I'm at war with these idiots.

Why don't all of you fat asses get a job at a place like walmart and kroger and see what it is like to pick up after you people!
I work with the public and I hate how you all bitch and complain about pettiness....Go fly your fat ass over to China and see if they provide you with a shopping cart with wheels and bag and take your groceries to your car!!!!!!!!!!

In reaponse to comment # 15 I mostly feel sorry for most of the employees especially the checkout clerks who seem to have to work frantically almost non-stop because there are not enough checkout lanes open to handle the flood of people simply trying to purchase their items and get the HELL out of the damn store. And yeah, most times you go into Wal*FART they have numerous checkout lanes but only several maybe more actually manned by checkout clerks and the rest vacant, with the long customer lines sprawling back into the store. And what is so goddamned stupid *especially* @ Wal-FART is the self checkout kiosks that many times are NOT EVEN OPEN. I don't care why they are NOT open--just open them/fix them/ whatever! If they're broken, whatever, F'ing fix them---it's Wal*Mart--like they can't afford to fix them! And yeah, you might save 25 cents here, 5 cents there, but all the time you waste WAITING IN LINE to checkout, I'd rather spend more someplace else and at least get the hell out faster. And by the way, I have found numerous identical products @ Target that that are cheaper priced than @ Wal*Mart. So much for the Wal*Mart logo/motto/whatever of "lower prices...always" or something to that effect. Wow, what a freaking joke Wal*Mart is these days. Somehow I think Sam Walton would be ashamed if he were alive today and saw the joke that it is today. I'll continue steering clear of that "place" like I have been for a long while now.

SCUMCO(Costco)sucks as bad as Walmart. Scumco has bullied small cities into using eminent domain to take private property and than getting tax breaks beyond even Walmart. They can pay their employees (which are always under staffed, hence the long lines at the two open registers)more considering local governments are subsidizing these scumbags with a better P.R. department than Walmart.

Well....I hate WalMart because it feels like a prison - everywhere you go in or out of the store, you're under surveillance.

I also hate WalMart for their return policy...before you can even go to the return desk, they make you stop and get little pink stickers put on everything before you can even return your stuff....this wastes time!... Not only that, it's ridiculous and very inconvenient...NO OTHER store I have EVER been to does this to their customers!

Yea, I HATE WalMart!!!

There are many reasons why I cannot stand WalMart. For one reason they don't help you find anything, they don't help you bag your crap and they don't even help you take it out to your car....If this makes any sense to the American public, all WalMart wants is your MONEY!!! They sell crap made in China, yes it is cheaper, but cheaper is just that CHEAP!!!! They want you to buy their clothes, food and tires in the same place, Isn't that having the MONOPOLY on crap??? I look for the local mom and pop stores, where they actually HELP you and are appreciative for the business. And they learn your name, and remember you on the next visit. You will NEVER get that sort of service at WalMart.

If you don't like Walmart, shop somehere else then. And hating Walmart because you work their is pretty ignorant. You should have got an education,because obviously you can't work anywhere else.

Lauren, before you go off suggesting that others get an education you should learn the difference between they, they're and their. Insert spaces after your commas please. You're ignorant. Also, Don't start a sentence with 'and'.

i was actually a Loss Prevention Associate at Wal-Mart. It was my job to stop shoplifters. There were so many rules to follow and it seemed the suspects had more rights than I did. I was recently fired because I mentioned to a Pregnant customer , that it was not a good idea to drink the stolen alcohol in the store. She became enraged and because she was pregnant ,as per Wal- mart rules I didn't detain her. She became highly upset and kept saying she didn't steal anything...she didn't think drinking wine coolers counted(unpaid). I was confident that I would be ok since She was the one that broke the law and I followed the book. All my immediate managers agreed. The woman ended up calling corp and the PAID HER a sum and agreed to fire me

i was actually a Loss Prevention Associate at Wal-Mart. It was my job to stop shoplifters. There were so many rules to follow and it seemed the suspects had more rights than I did. I was recently fired because I mentioned to a Pregnant customer , that it was not a good idea to drink the stolen alcohol in the store. She became enraged and because she was pregnant ,as per Wal- mart rules I didn't detain her. She became highly upset and kept saying she didn't steal anything...she didn't think drinking wine coolers counted(unpaid). I was confident that I would be ok since She was the one that broke the law and I followed the book. All my immediate managers agreed. The woman ended up calling corp and they PAID HER a sum and agreed to fire me

Garrett, That really sucks you got fired for doing your job. I am hopeful all turned out to be a better opportunity elsewhere where your work ethics are appreciated and properly compensated.

I hate Walmart because it does not value my time. It is not a type of store for anyone who knows the cost of standing in line for 20-45 minutes. If you can make more money per hour than you save standing in line for your purchase, is not a good use of your time and energy. Investing that time wasted in yourself, your work, your job hunt, your business, or your family will pay dividends on the few bucks you'll save on the items there. In over 20 years of shopping as an adult, have shopped at a Walmart under 10 times in my life out of necessity. They don't deserve to have a cent of my valuable, hard earned money. My intention is for you to consider the same.

A point of view from an outsider: I moved to Indy very recently from Florida. I find this place to be vastly different in many ways: there is more courtesy on the roads, people in general -specially people like cashiers, waiters, or anyone behind a counter really- seem to be much more polite. And yes, the shopping carts. Indeed, whenever I go to Wal-Mart I always find shopping carts out of their corrals. But here's what I wanted to say: back in south Florida, I hardly -ever- saw shopping carts -inside- their corrals. At all. It's almost seen as -weird- back there, for a customer to take the effort to put the shopping cart in the corral, and people looked at me funny whenever I'd do that.

Yeah, I'm liking Indiana so far :)

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