Aces High Bulletin Board
General Forums => The O' Club => Topic started by: Sandman on August 21, 2005, 12:21:51 PM
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Yesterday, my wife and I had a few things to pick up during our seemingly weekly trip into the local Wal-Mart.
In the past few months, I've began to notice the difference between Wal-Mart and any other store in this small city of just 28,000. Sometime in the last year or two (I think), but I'm not sure except that I know it wasn't this way originally, Wal-Mart installed a dozen or so cameras outside facing the parking lot. This got me wondering about the inside. Inside there are dozens of camera domes on the ceiling. I can look around in any other store and they'll have small fraction of the surveillance gear in the store.
So... I've got half a cart full of stuff when I enter the electronics department. Sometime in the past two months, Wal-Mart has decided that MP3 players need to be locked up in a cabinet. They used to be easily accessible. So... I chase down someone to help open it. I make my selection and put it in the cart, a cheap Creative Zen 256MB for $65. The clerk said he had to ring it up front. I informed him that I wasn't done with the rest of the store yet, indicating my desire to check out all at once. He informed me that he could hold on to the player until I was ready to leave. I'm thinking... it's a piece of **** $65 player while looking around at all the more valuable stuff that I could freely walk around with. It was too much... and maybe I was being a bit of an ass, but I told the clerk to forget it, I left the cart there in the aisle and walked out.
I don't think I'm going to go back... ever.
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reminds me of the local Safeway store. The machIII razors were in the managers office and you had to get a clerk to go get them at checkout. It was always a hassle.
And it was only the machIII razors, no other razors or any other thing of value.
This went on for about a year.
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Ever notice that at SAMs Wholesale they have someone rumage through your stuff when you are leaving? I love loosing the receipt between the counter and the door.
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Oh you will be back Candman....you can not resist the urge to roam the aisles of Wal Mart, come on, it's only for a few minutes...hours...days...you can't stop yourself....:)
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Originally posted by nirvana
Oh you will be back Candman....you can not resist the urge to roam the aisles of Wal Mart, come on, it's only for a few minutes...hours...days...you can't stop yourself....:)
We'll see about that. ;)
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Does it bother anyone that the local Safeway tracks purchases thru the club card?
Just to gather data on whether my demographic buys more Snickers or Abba Zabbas, what kind of beer I like etc. So now they have this database on what we buy and if anyone wants to know the shopping habits of Holden or Sandman, all they have to do is fork over some money to Safeway.
All they really need to know is whether they need more stuff to sell when inventory shrinks, not whether I purchase kumquats every other tuesday.
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Originally posted by Holden McGroin
Does it bother anyone that the local Safeway tracks purchases thru the club card?
Those flippen "cub cards" irritate the crap outa me.
and almost every store you go into uses them now.
Particularly the grocery stores where they will list prices up to $5-$6 and more on a $8 item for non club members.
Finally I got fed up and decided to do something.
Way around it?
Get to the register and tell em you forgot yours at home no matter if you belong or not and 99 times out of 100 they will just whip one out and slide one through for you.
If they refuse. tell em if they dont you will just walk out and wont buy any of it.
Or just simply walk out leaving the cart,groceries and all either in the cart or right on the counter. preferably on the counter and after its rung up.
Then they haveta close that isle till they get someone to collect all the stuff and put it away. Which doesnt make store managers very happy.
Eventually they get the hint.
One day some store owner is going to have a brainstorm, and decide to sell everyone the same products for the same low prices as the ones that require clubcards without requiring a card at all.
And their buisness will increase tenfold.
Most people I think would rather not have to deal with any ore cards in their wallet.
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I'm not defending Wal-Mart, they do some silly things sometimes. If Sam Walton could see what its become, he'd shoot half his family. Not that he had anything against making money. One of the shrewdest businessmen I ever saw. Anyway, I digress.
Wal-Mart has all those locked up items for a reason. They've been sued too many times for trying to catch wiley shoplifters. It's gone beyond stealing some high priced stuff. They've learned what the stores can and can't do to catch them, and they set up the loss prevention people. As a result, Wal Mart can't stop people they suspect of shoplifting anymore. Unless a member of the store's management team personally sees the person stealing, and they cant lose sight of them for even a second or its called off. Too easy for the would-be thief to dump what they pocketed and pretend they never had it. The safest way they could come up with to cut down on the thefts while protecting themselves from lawsuits was to either move the more expensive small stuff to the front, and you pay for it when you leave, or they make you pay for it at the counter in that dept. Inconvenient? You bet, but blame the crooks, not the store.
As for the cameras in the parking lot, they have nothing to do with you. Wal Mart never had outside cameras until the mid 90s when one of their store managers was killed by some men who waited out in the parking lot for him to leave for the night. They pulled guns on him, forced him to open the doors and take them inside, and to open the safe in the store. Then they shot him and left him for the morning crew to find. All Wal Mart employees are now covered by cameras, and no one walks out to their car alone at night. Not even the boss. If the Manager is the last one there to leave, an overnight janitor is on duty and stands at the door until the last person is in their car and gone. Before that time comes, that person will have gone outside and moved their car close to the doors, with someone else watching. Those cameras have everything to do with keeping their employees safe, and nothing to do with watching you.
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I had a bad experience with Wally World once. I was buying a wireless router from them on sale. The one I got was broke and didn't work and I wanted to exchange it. The elderly lady at the front door put the little orange tape on the box to indicate I brought it in. I had a bag and reciept as well. I went to the isle to grab a new one and then headed to customer service.
When I got to custome service the person behind the counter wondered why they put the tape on the box in a fasion that makes it hard to be removed. The same lady that taped the box proclaimed "I didn't tape that" then, like that I was a suspected theif. I was fuming mad when the lady behind the counter called security to check the tapes and there was a line a mile long behind me. I had a 1.) Receipt 2.) obviously used and opened item 3.) tape on the box to say it was brought in the store 4.) a bag......SHOULDNT THAT BE ENOUGH.
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Walmart=great store for cheap kids stuff, cheap ammo, and cheap summer vacation clothes. Thats all we buy there.
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Originally posted by StarOfAfrica2
As for the cameras in the parking lot, they have nothing to do with you. Wal Mart never had outside cameras until the mid 90s when one of their store managers was killed by some men who waited out in the parking lot for him to leave for the night. They pulled guns on him, forced him to open the doors and take them inside, and to open the safe in the store. Then they shot him and left him for the morning crew to find. All Wal Mart employees are now covered by cameras, and no one walks out to their car alone at night. Not even the boss. If the Manager is the last one there to leave, an overnight janitor is on duty and stands at the door until the last person is in their car and gone. Before that time comes, that person will have gone outside and moved their car close to the doors, with someone else watching. Those cameras have everything to do with keeping their employees safe, and nothing to do with watching you.
That story doesn't cut it. Not in this town.
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Now that we are traveling we tend to buy at wallyworld more than anyplace else. They are pretty well all stocked the same and we know what we can find there in the way of groceries.
We have gone to other chains and I really do not like giving out personal information as a way to insure I get the regular prices. What I do is fill out the form with fictitious info including an e-mail of nunya@business.com then get my stuff. My information is just that, mine, and I'll decide who I give it to and not for some darn store chain to justify overpricing to get your info.
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I don't think I'm going to go back... ever.
Oh, yes; you will. Walmart has the power. Unless you find and destroy the heart of Walmart, you WILL be sucked back.
It's somewhere near the electronics department... the heart.. it's there. Waiting. Watching....
You will return. You must. Because you've been there; you no longer have free will. So, you will... return.
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Oooh there's and S instead of a C, sorry Sandman:) Anyway, i like Drediock's idea of leaving everything there if they won't give to you cheaper, YOU GO GIRL!
And as for Wal Mart's 'always' low prices, I have yet to see them cheaper then target. They are all just corporate potatos waiting for you.
P.S. I believe the heart of Wal Mart has something to do with reflective glass.
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Originally posted by Sandman
That story doesn't cut it. Not in this town.
Then I suppose you'll have to remain unsatisfied. Getting used to it yet? :)
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I love the hatred that is universal for WalMart. Even King of the Hill butchers them and their legendary customer non-service. I've watched CSM's throw customers out of a check out lane and tell you they are not opening a new one. The only way I will shop at WalMart is to price match. I love to watch them squirm when they have to lower their prices, especially if a cashier refuses to do it. I'll bring the line to a screeching halt until they do, and they always do match the price.
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Sorry Folks..the Moose out front should of told ya ..the parks closed
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Originally posted by nirvana
Oooh there's and S instead of a C, sorry Sandman:) Anyway, i like Drediock's idea of leaving everything there if they won't give to you cheaper, YOU GO GIRL!
Girl?
IF Im a girl then I'm one of the hairiest girls seen since PT Barnum's bearded lady LMAO
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Guess you guys dont have a Target near you.
Almost the same selection, at the same prices and about 1,000 times cleaner
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But Target dont have the fine quality wimmen folks to check out while yer gettin yer fishin license (that you also caint get at Target, so there) and pickin up some live nightcrawlers (again, that you caint get at Target).
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I hate Wal-mart. It smells like stale popcorn, the employees are less informed than I am, and dressing rooms are too protected.
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Originally posted by GreenCloud
Sorry Folks..the Moose out front should of told ya ..the parks closed
Word.
Regarding receipt checking at the door: Screw 'em. They have no legal right to stop you for your receipt. I tell them that if they want to charge me, they'll have to accuse me of shoplifting first, and that they'll be looking at false imprisonment charges if they bar my way out of the store.
The only purpose of the receipt check is to intimidate people, and since I'm not stealing, I won't let them do it. I'm very polite, but not apologetic.
"Your receipt?" they say, usually not bothering to ask anymore because of the sense of power their position has given them.
"No thanks," I answer. This usually throws them for a loop. I continue walking.
"I need to see your receipt!" Sometimes, they jump in front of me, sometimes it's not until I've passed them that they realize I'm not falling into the expected groove.
"No you don't, have a nice day." I continue walking, or, if they've put themselves in my way, pull out my cell phone and dial a couple numbers, then hover my finger over Send. "With respect, you can't stop me and check my receipt unless I give you permission, and I don't."
"Yes we can. Show me your receipt or I'll call the police." This is usually the point of maximum bluster. You can almost physically smell the adrenaline pouring into the bloodstream of the door guard at this point, so I don't make any sudden movements. Calmly and confidently, I speak.
"According to the law, you can only stop me if you have cause to believe I've shoplifted. I haven't, and I'm not going to show you my receipt for the purchases I made. If you don't let me past, I'll complete this call to 911 and report you to the police myself for false imprisonment. If you don't believe me about the law, call the manager over right now."
At this point, they usually back off, but on occasion, they play it to the hilt and call management or security. At one point at a Best Buy in Los Angeles, I had two security guards 'holding me' at the door while the door guy called a manager over. The receipt checker was confidently telling me how I was in a bunch of trouble and they could do whatever they wanted.
When the manager got there, he stuck his chest out proudly and told her how he had gotten me and how I wouldn't show my receipt, and scornfully mentioned how I had tried to tell him that they could not legally hold me if I didn't want to show the receipt.
With infinite sadness in her eyes that the bluff had been called, she pulled him aside and told him in no uncertain terms that I was right, and that he could NOT actually hold me. She apologized to me and I walked out.
I don't blame the door guys, they're in the classic situation of having all the responsibillity without any of the authority. Management tells them to do something without letting them know what the law is so that they'll be confident, and 99% of the sheep let them get away with it.
Rights that you give away are meaningless. Rights exercised are rights kept. Don't let fear of 'being difficult' keep you from doing it.
Just a thought.
BTW, I don't shop at Wal-Mart. They suck.
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They used to have one of their door sentrys here until a middle aged lady called their bluff and they called the police only to find that she was right and they couldn't stop her.
They we're embarrassed enough to get rid of the receipt guard.
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I don't mind Walmart checking for reciepts - there is a lot of pillfrage where I go... I keep my reciept ready and they just wave me past most of the time.
I had an experience similar to Sandy's tho - really cracked me up - I bought a $20 dollar Daisey BB-gun for my 10 yr old daughter and they wouldn't let me carry it to the checkout. I asked the guy why? He didn't have a clue. I guess they were afraid I was going to go on a rampage in the store with the bb gun. I didn't bother telling him I had a real gun with me.
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Ahh I see someone broke out the liberal handbook again.
In the Corperate America is evil section, Page 32 the Hate Walmart at all cost section.
Hate walmart even if every other big retailer does the same things, it is all walmarts fault.
:D
Target and several other retailers do pretty much the same things as you are talking about Sandy. It'e the price you pay when people steal stuff.
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If they want to stop shoplifting, then hire store detectives or watch from above. Don't use a shotgun style approach that treats everybody like a criminal.
Ironically, they people that they're 'protecting' themselves from with the receipt check is the cashiers. Their rationale is that if it weren't for the receipt checkers, the people they hire would ring up CD players as Snicker bars for their friends and let them walk out.
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When the super walmart opened up here, the prices were HIGHER (yes higher) then the old small walmart and it drove about a half dozen stores out of business within the past 2 years.
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BTW, I don't likes the Wal-Mart, but not because they're a corporation. Hells bells, I'm CEO of a corporation! I own restaurants, investment properties, etc etc etc.
I don't like Wal-Mart because I end up paying for their employee health benefits through my taxes because the majority of their workforce is classified as living under poverty.
I also like to buy american and support local businesses. I am discontented by Wal-Mart's economic support of the red chinese, but that's how business works. I'm not trying to 'kill wal-mart' or put them out of business, but I don't have to be a fan, right?
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I guess they were afraid I was going to go on a rampage in the store with the bb gun.
Hey! You could put an eye out with that thing.
Charon
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Originally posted by Chairboy
If they want to stop shoplifting, then hire store detectives or watch from above. Don't use a shotgun style approach that treats everybody like a criminal.
Other than a casino, Wal-Mart is the most heavily surveilled building I've ever been in.
From what I understand, it's not because of the customers. It's because of the employees.
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I dont really like Walmart.
I hate going to them around here, always crowded and filled with the rejects the local prisons wont take.
But they are no worse then target or kmart.
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Originally posted by GtoRA2
I hate going to them around here, always crowded and filled with the rejects the local prisons wont take.
That the employees, customers, or both?
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Both lol.
Nothing like watching customer take **** out of boxes then put it back on the shelf when they dont want it, all the while an employee watches and does nothing.
Lawyers, I blame the lawyers, cause thats why no one ever tells a "customer" hey you cant do that.
They might get have to deal with a law suite.
Dirtballs are people too I gues.
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Two weeks ago I was in a dollar type store when a kid walked in wearing a long black wig that went down to his waist. Because this was in a small town I was not really worried about armed robbery, but I followed him anyway.
Sure enough, he made his way back to the food section and started stuffing stuff in his jeans. I made my way to the front to try and find a manager, but could not find one. All of the elderly cashiers shrugged it off and said that the company doesn't want them to confront shoplifters.
I followed the kid out when he left without paying in hopes of getting licence plate number. Unfortunately he didn't drive there and I ended up walking a distance behind him, talking to a police dispatcher on my cellphone, all the while this kid was pulling the various items out of his jeans and consuming them. By the time the 3 cruisers showed up (about 3 blocks later), he had already eaten everything.
Shoplifting pisses me off. We all end up paying for it in the end. The fact that many stores are willing to write it off instead of trying to have these idiots arrested is even more maddening.
And the lawsuit arguement doesn't wash with me. If you have probable cause in Ohio you can detain them by law.
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2935.041. Detention, arrest of hoplifters; protection of library, museum and archival institution property; motion picture piracy.
(A) A merchant, or an employee or agent of a merchant, who has probable cause to believe that items offered for sale by a mercantile establishment have been unlawfully taken by a person, may, for the purposes set forth in division (C) of this section, detain the person in a reasonable manner for a reasonable length of time within the mercantile establishment or its immediate vicinity.
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I know facts are the last thing any of you really care about, but I'll attempt to inject a couple just in case.
First, Chairboy, Wal Mart does have Loss Prevention people. Thats all they do. They wear plainclothes, they watch cameras, and they go out in the stores and follow potential shoplifters and try to catch them. Because of lawsuits, they have to cross all their T's and dot all their I's, everything has to be perfect. I think their SYSTEM needs to be better managed, but the people doing the work try. It's just dang near impossible with the restraints they have. The other things are there as roadblocks. Wal Mart's system is, put as many things in the way of a potential shoplifter as possible, and make it not worth the time and effort to get away with. Thats why some of them have switched to trying to run cons on the workers, and get someone to stop them without any merchandise on them so they can sue. I do agree with your comments on the health care though. They once had excellent insurance benefits, but those are largely gone now.
Sandman, you'd be surprised just how few cameras there really are in a Wal Mart store. All those black domes you see are there so you dont know where the cameras REALLY are. Most of the store is covered, yes. But only minimally so, the most coverage is in the likely spots. Watching the cashiers, the jewelry dept, electronics, and sporting goods (esp. if they sell guns). Entrances and exits have cameras. Probably one in the management office. All the rest of those "domes" are empty. They are just there to keep you guessing. Ever heard those announcements on the PA "Security switch cameras to zones 2, 5 and 9" or something like that? Heh. They dont "switch" cameras. They made it up. Its so potential shoplifters think someone has spotted them and they are switching the cameras to cover them. You are no more surveilled at Wal Mart than you are at the local 7-11. You just feel that way because Wal Mart is a convenient target for your ire. Mostly their fault, because they no longer try to cultivate their customers. A little bad press, one or two bad experiences, and suddenly everythign they do gets more scrutiny from you and a bad rap. Just sayin. They need to get their heads out of their butts for sure, but they arent as bad as you make them.
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Originally posted by Sandman
We'll see about that. ;)
Resistance is futile!
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Originally posted by Sandman
That story doesn't cut it. Not in this town.
He who repeats the montra "It can't happen here" is doomed to see just such a thing occur!
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C.S. Lewis said it well: "Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one - the gentle slop, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts."
People who accept these encroachments without struggle are walking this road, and I hope you are not surprised when that first tentative flame licks your ankle.
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Support China's economic war on the US, shop at Walmart.
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Originally posted by StarOfAfrica2
But Target dont have the fine quality wimmen folks to check out while yer gettin yer fishin license (that you also caint get at Target, so there) and pickin up some live nightcrawlers (again, that you caint get at Target).
Actually I find the Target wimmen to be much more pleasing to the eye then Wallmart Wimmen.
Then again I guess that would all depend on what your tastes are.
But If you like wetbacks or overwieght housewives with 3 teeth and dressed in tutus with unshaved legs. Hey, go for it.
whatever floats your boat:p
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Hey Sandman. just noticed your Avitard.
Guess that male enhancement stuff works for ya huh? LOL
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Originally posted by DREDIOCK
Hey Sandman. just noticed your Avitard.
Guess that male enhancement stuff works for ya huh? LOL
Bah... I wish I could afford Enzyte.
Not that I want the drug. I want the money.
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Do they sell that at Target Dred?
I also enjoyed Chairboy's interraction. I need to try that sometime. I believe as they say, "PWNED!" Pretty soon there will be ID Nazi's asking for your driver's license at random point's throiughout the stores, hell they check ID's randomly in school's now. Target sell's ammunition for BB guns right? They are closer to me anyways.
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I'll sleep more soundly tonight knowing you big, brave, macho types are facing down the geriatric ladies manning the doors of Wal-Mart.
Extremism in the defense of personal liberty is no vice!
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Originally posted by nirvana
Do they sell that at Target Dred?
No Idea. Dont need it And my wife probably wouldnt let me near her if I got some. Not that she lets me near her now
Thought perhaps Sandman was using it though. what with that smile and all LOL
Just curious if it worked
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Shuckins has franchised a Wal Mart?:p
I actually went into that POS store tonight for a cleaning kit for my gun, well first they didn't have the daisy kit, so I went to the other kits, no help from the staff. Blah blah blah, we go to check out. We wait half an hour (parents are overly patient) before we switch lines. There were about 5 check out lines open with the manager watching in what appeared to be sheer bliss. I was about ready to let him have a piece of my mind as we walked by. Too bad there aren't any receipt sentry's at our Wal Mart though, I may have delayed us another 20 minutes.
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Whah?
Walmart is for welfare folks in small towns who have let Walmart come in and beat the snot out of everyone else, forcing them into welfare and subsisting on Walmart's welfare prices.
Sandman - yer in San Diego, right? What's your excuse for even going there in the first place? Surely you have alternatives.
Walmart sells cheap crap, and by cheap I mean garbage at a very low price.
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Originally posted by Nash
Whah? Walmart sells cheap crap, and by cheap I mean garbage at a very low price.
The voice of wisdom.
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Originally posted by Nash
Sandman - yer in San Diego, right? What's your excuse for even going there in the first place? Surely you have alternatives.
Not even close... I'm in Ridgecrest (100 miles east of Bakersfield, and a couple of valleys west of Death Valley). The nearest real alternatives (other than K-Mart, Rite Aid, or Walgreens) are eighty miles away in Lancaster/Palmdale.
In the past, I avoided K-Mart because they were fairly apathetic WRT customers. I've discovered that I prefer apathy to distrust. Rite Aid is limited for selection and costs more. Walgreens is also limited.
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It's worth the effort, Sandy.
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Ah.
Turns out you live in the middle of a desert. You have dick-all for choice.
No wonder a Walmart store turns up there. Makes total sense.
If they can't force a town into having no other choice, they will pop-up in places that literaly already have no other choice.
Me - I'd drive the 80 miles over handing my money over to those leeches.
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When I decided on which model of GPS I wanted to buy, I searched around online for the best price. The best I could find from a reputable online only retailer was $149 - from Amazon. I then searched around for prices from stores I could pick up from...including Walmart, which as luck would have it, was selling the same unit for only $134. I thought that was great, since I could get it immediately. So, I went to the Walmart closest to me, but they didn't have it. They are kind of a Walmart and a half, but not a full blown super duper Walmart. So, I went to the SD Walmart on the other side of town, and sure enough, they had the unit. Only, instead of $134, it was priced at $169.99. After managing to get the counter guy to help me, I asked if I could get the item for the price posted on the web site. No was the answer, followed by a rambling of other garbage including "different supply sources", "shipped out of Texas", and blah blah blah. Whatever, not worth arguing about, so I just left.
I decided to check Circuit City just for the hell of it, 'cause I didn't figure they'd be selling it, and if so, I didn't figure it'd be at a decent price. Wonder of wonders, they do sell it, and it's on web-only sale for $144. Of course, with Circuit City, web-only doesn't mean you can't get it from the store, it just means it's extra convenient to get it from the store. I ordered it online with my CC, selected in-store pickup, and had my new GPS waiting for me when I dropped into the store an hour or so later.
Moral of the story? I like pizza. Also, Circuit City has the biggest friggin' receipts I have EVAR seen! I think an acre of rainforest and a thousand species of stinkbugs no one has ever seen had to die just so I could get a receipt from 'em. But still, pretty neat setup with the online order / in-store pickup. Oh, and Walmart blows.
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Originally posted by SOB
Also, Circuit City has the biggest friggin' receipts I have EVAR seen!
Which is odd, because Circuit City doesn't need them for a return.
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It's for gift wrapping your purchase.
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For every story of a Wal-Mart destroying the fabric of a community, there is probably another story of a Wal-Mart building a store in a remote location which becomes a draw and causes OTHER stores and small businesses to pop up all around it, ultimately resulting in a considerable economic bonanza for the community. The latter is a good description of the last 10 years since a local Wal-Mart was built.
As for their security:
Depending on the individual store, a lot of those black globes in the ceiling may well be fakes with no cameras inside. Many of the ones which aren't fakes will be focused on the employees, not the customers. Employees are a massive souce of shrink, actually worse than shoplifters for some specific stores. If you think these stores don't trust YOU...well, they trust their employees even less. Between employee theft and "normal" shoplifting, the costs add up fast. One local K-mart lost a little over $620,000 dollars worth of merchandise in '02--and they were bragging about how GOOD that was for them. That works down to about $1700 worth of stuff a day, all year long. $1700 at K-mart prices is a lot of stuff. Stock room employees are known for stealing entire boxes of jewlery and other such high-value merchandise. CD's seem to be the most common item stolen by regular customers, although items ranging from lipstick to underwear disappear with surprising frequency.
J_A_B
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Heheheehe,
I just went to wallyworld today. I got a couple RV water filters, some fishing gear (hooks and stuff) and checked out the "bargain" software for anything I didn't have already. On the way out no one wanted to see my receipt either.
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Originally posted by J_A_B
As for their security:
Depending on the individual store, a lot of those black globes in the ceiling may well be fakes with no cameras inside. Many of the ones which aren't fakes will be focused on the employees, not the customers. Employees are a massive souce of shrink, actually worse than shoplifters for some specific stores. If you think these stores don't trust YOU...well, they trust their employees even less. Between employee theft and "normal" shoplifting, the costs add up fast. One local K-mart lost a little over $620,000 dollars worth of merchandise in '02--and they were bragging about how GOOD that was for them. That works down to about $1700 worth of stuff a day, all year long. $1700 at K-mart prices is a lot of stuff. Stock room employees are known for stealing entire boxes of jewlery and other such high-value merchandise. CD's seem to be the most common item stolen by regular customers, although items ranging from lipstick to underwear disappear with surprising frequency.
J_A_B
Gee, I wonder if that is because they pay for ****, so they only get people who think it is O.K to make up for the money they aren't getting working by taking it out of the store's inventory. You think that might be part of it.
Wal-Mart can't have it both ways forever, they've built a retail empire by lowering the wage floor across the board, but eventually the only people that'll be willing to work there will be stealing from them more than they are working for them.
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So it's the store's fault that people steal from them? Give me a break. Being poor isn't an excuse to steal. At the same time, the underlying suggestion there is that only poor people steal, which we know is patently false.
J_A_B
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Originally posted by J_A_B
For every story of a Wal-Mart destroying the fabric of a community, there is probably another story of a Wal-Mart building a store in a remote location which becomes a draw and causes OTHER stores and small businesses to pop up all around it, ultimately resulting in a considerable economic bonanza for the community. The latter is a good description of the last 10 years since a local Wal-Mart was built.
Odd the only place I ever see Wallmart stores popping up here are places where other stores already are.
Wont say I wont shop at Wallmart but I dont particularly like to. Will still rather hit the smallers stores whenever I can.
One thing I lerned though. Never buy anything mechanical at wallmart not matter what the brand. Dunno if they get the seconds or whatever it is but everything mechanical I ever got there didnt last very long.
Though my wife seems to like to buy vacume cleaners there. On the upside she simply returns them every few months and gets a brand new one for no extra charge.
This has been going on now for like 4-5 years LOL
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Sticking it to the man known as 'Wal Mart'?
Think of all the money they are losing! Possibly $600+ depending on the price and how often she returns it. You must be very proud of her Drediock:)
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Originally posted by J_A_B
So it's the store's fault that people steal from them? Give me a break. Being poor isn't an excuse to steal. At the same time, the underlying suggestion there is that only poor people steal, which we know is patently false.
J_A_B
Jab, who is more likely to steal something? Someone who is paid well enough to be able to afford the things they need and the things they want, or someone who is not paid enough to afford the things they need, much less the things they want?
I realize this is going into the realm of the theoretical, but it is an easy enough question.
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and dressing rooms are too protected.
hmmmm? standing on the chair lookin into the other guy's dressing rooms again? freak.
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"Jab, who is more likely to steal something?"
I have found that the people who steal are those who are put in a position to do so and lack moral character. It can be a $5/hour clerk at a gas station, or it can be a $200k/year consultant. I've seen both, and everything in between. The truth is that dishonest people come in all shapes and sizes and come from all sorts of backgrounds and income brackets. Even if retailers were to double their wages, I doubt it would have any noticable effect on the amount of shrink they suffer.
That's not saying I support Wal-mart's generally poor wage policies in any way. However, those who dislike the wages Wal-Mart pays can thank the free market economy for that--Wal-Mart wouldn't pay such low wages if they couldn't find people to work for it, or were regulated to pay higher wages.
J_A_B
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Originally posted by nirvana
Sticking it to the man known as 'Wal Mart'?
Think of all the money they are losing! Possibly $600+ depending on the price and how often she returns it. You must be very proud of her Drediock:)
eh. Im indifferent to it really.
I personally woud much rather go out and deny them the initial investment at the outset and go someplace else and spend a couple hundred on a good machine and not have to worry about it or returning it.
But I gave up trying to figure out how she thinks or why she does some of the things she does long long ago.