The Big Box Blog AKA Wal-Mart Rants

First off, I have to make a statement: I'm not a person who hates Wal-Mart. Regardless of the demonization in the press, they serve a function, especially in this economy. Henry Ford created a revolution by announcing that he wanted to pay his people enough to be able to afford to buy his products; Sam Walton obviously thinks in a similar manner, only he wants to pay people enough that they can ONLY afford to buy his products. But....

Anyway, my local Wal-Mart is remodeling. They have only been open since 2004, but apparently the whole store set-up was totally wrong, so now in 2009, they are redoing everything. I don't mean that they are moving the towels to where the kitchen ware used to be; I mean that they are ripping out and redoing the whole store. Dust, clutter, paint fumes, the works. The first department to go was the pharmacy. It used to be conveniently located next to the door. You go in the right hand door, take a right and there it was. Now they have located it on the left hand side, near the rear of the store. That's right, when you are sick you need to walk through the store, almost to the back, spreading your germs to the nameless hoards as you go, in order to get your prescription. I'm sure they had a study done on why this is the optimal location for the pharmacy, but it sure doesn't make sense to me. And even if you're not contagious-sick, if you have any kind of debilitating illness, is walking to the back of the store going to help? Are they trying to encourage health by instituting a walking plan? Unless they think most of their prescription-filling customers are healthy individuals.

The other remodeling choice they have made is to take out the self-checkout lanes. They used to have 6-8 lanes that were self-service; one cashier was on hand to sort out problems, but overall, when you just went in there for one or two things, it was really nice. Last time I went in, I just needed to get a box to ship something. That's right, one item. But..... where's my self-service lane? For that matter, where's the 1-10 item express lane? Answer: they aren't there. There are three cashiers open, each one has 3-4 people with huge carts in their line. So I start to wait in line, but after 10 minutes, I decided I didn't need the crummy box that much and left. I really don't know if I'll be back, at least to that Wal-Mart. It's uber convenient, but ....

I'm not someone who will go to Wal-Mart to save 8 cents on toothpaste. But at some point, it's worth the trip. My husband likes a certain kind of breakfast bar. At my local supermarket, a box will run $3.98; at Wal-Mart, the same box is $2.50. The TP we buy is $6.98 at the supermarket, $4.70 at Wal-Mart. Those savings are significant, especially since this is stuff that doesn't spoil readily.

It has been said that Wal-Mart is able to sell their products so much more cheaply because they don't pay their people or provide benefits. That may be true. But if my local supermarket is paying their people more and providing benefits, wouldn't you think that they would also be getting the people who provide better service? After all, they are asking me to spend $40-$50 more each month, but I'm not getting anything in return for this. I'm still getting poor service (see last blog) and a large amount of irritation, plus I'm paying more for this privilege? That just doesn't make sense to me.

So, I'll avoid Wal-Mart for a few months, until this remodeling thing sorts itself out and then we'll see if it is worth it. If not, there is another Wal-Mart an extra mile or two away; maybe I'll try that one. Or maybe my local supermarket will get a clue and start providing customer service.