Walmart Work Release?

[338Shooter]

I don't like shopping at walmart because they only carry lower end goods. I'm not saying that isn't OK, but I also wish they'd offer some higher end products as well. We split groceries between Wally, Homeland, and Sams. That's the way to save money.

 

[nofearfactor]

If you were doing the higher paying job (I assume you mean PG4 Inventory Control rather than PG2 stocker) more than half of the time and documented it, all you had to do was call the District Manager. If the DM didn't want to fix it, you had one word to say back: "Regional". The RMs HATE getting called to fix a problem, because the protocol generally includes them traveling out to the store.

The AMs are supposed to keep documentation of what your assignment was that day if it changed from what was generated by the scheduling program. If they don't, DMs get very angry.



Call the health department. I can think of at least one store (not Weatherford) that had that issue. And that's an employee issue, not a Wal-Mart issue.

+1 to everything.

My daughter has been at the newer store in rural BA while shes been in HS and is planning to transfer to a store near wherever she decides to go to college next year as she is more than satisfied with working there.

A friend of ours used to babysit for one of the boys kids in Bentonville and they were supposedly some of the nicest most community minded people around. Not evil at all. Alice might have had a little trouble with her drunk driving around Springdale but she has spent alot of money in the area. Probablyu just trying to make up for it.

Hunt money

JBs trucking success went right along with WalMart success. Their headquarters is pretty nice.

I met Mr Sam at a jobsite once in Ft Smith,late 80s. And he did come driving up in an old Chevy pickup with overalls on. He gathered up the people inside who were going to be working there when we finished and they went to the parking lot and sang the WalMart song. Bizarre because I had heard about it but never seen it,and kind of cool in a way. I got to shake his hand and he was nice to every one on the site.

WalMart isnt perfect. Their tactics of bullying manufacturers into their price structures and bulk selling and manufacturering goods just for and to them,not exactly honestly selling all American made products or all products in the store are not the lowest you can find,they do go into these small towns and put in stores and almost close up their downtown districts,etcetc- some pretty ****** stuff. Sams beginning philosophies though have most likely had to be adjusted. A company who leads the world in retailing in a global market, a company that has gotten so big so fast that it just couldnt stay the same as when Sam opened his first store. New people coming into corporate with new ideas. WE might bitch about them and looks like alot of people hate them but we do shop there. My son jokes that theyre going to take over the planet and some day we all will be working there. Maybe so.

 

[vvvvvvv]

We split groceries between Wally, Homeland, and Sams.

I just want to note that I have a friend who spends too much energy grocery shopping... as in she keeps a spreadsheet with prices and schedules when she's going to stock up on certain items. She generally save 65%+ off her grocery bill.

An observation she made: Homeland's double coupons still generally result in a price that is higher than just using the coupon at Wal-Mart. Of course, there are some gems and that's why she keeps the spreadsheet (such as one time when the basic Lunchables were on a "Red Hot" sale for $1, and I had a stack of $0.50-off coupons and "paid" for each of them individually).

Even though we don't get that deep into it, we generally only buy stuff that we have a coupon for. And we found that if we are planning on spending any more than $15, it's cheaper for us to drive 15 more miles to Weatherford (even with the increased sales tax) to go to the Supercenter than to shop Homeland, United, and K-Mart in Clinton.

I try to shop Cordell as often as I can since those tax dollars will actually benefit me, but there's only so much extra I am willing to pay for that, especially on consumables.

 

[vvvvvvv]

Their tactics of bullying manufacturers into their price structures and bulk selling and manufacturering goods just for and to them

I always laughed when Coca-Cola or PepsiCo would threaten to pull their product. When more 50% of your revenues comes from a single retailer, anyone with half a brain knows when you're bluffing.

That said, most of the tires you buy at Wal-Mart can only be warrantied through Wal-Mart. They are manufactured to a lower specification just so that they can be sold at a lower price point, and dropping the warranties from the tire manufacturers was part of the negotiation. The TLE is a very profitable door for Wal-Mart. The average shopping cart of a TLE customer is worth quite a bit more than the average shopping cart of a regular customer. When certain manufacturers threatened to walk away from the lower specs, Wal-Mart had to make concessions to keep them around.

 

[ewheeley]

JB Hunt is a different story here in NWA. Rogers, my hometown, is the primary recipient of most of his development. Sure, HQ and the big terminal are both in Lowell, but Hunt Ventures was the catalyst for the majority of growth here since 2000. Any of you who have seen the west side of I-540 in Rogers know what I'm talking about. 15 years ago it was all farmland, and now it looks like the outskirts of Dallas. It's also been the hardest hit by this recession. Two of the huge banks that developed out of it went under real early, both mainly due to mismanagement (I was actually glad to see one of them go, president was an *******). But after JB died, there was some sort of power struggle that most of us don't even know the bottom of, and it ended up with Bill Schwyhart, JB's main partner, with a $60 million bankruptcy, and at the receiving end of a Johnelle Hunt lawsuit.

On a side note though, my dad told me that whenever JB would interview someone, his biggest determinant was the shoes that the man wore. I guess he figured that if someone didn't pay attention to keeping their shoes looking nice, that they wouldn't pay attention to the fine details of running a business.

Also, if you're ever in Fayetteville, consider taking AR 45 east for a while towards Goshen. After a while on the right you'll see his old ranch. Nice place.

 

[338Shooter]

I just want to note that I have a friend who spends too much energy grocery shopping... as in she keeps a spreadsheet with prices and schedules when she's going to stock up on certain items. She generally save 65%+ off her grocery bill.

An observation she made: Homeland's double coupons still generally result in a price that is higher than just using the coupon at Wal-Mart. Of course, there are some gems and that's why she keeps the spreadsheet (such as one time when the basic Lunchables were on a "Red Hot" sale for $1, and I had a stack of $0.50-off coupons and "paid" for each of them individually).

Even though we don't get that deep into it, we generally only buy stuff that we have a coupon for. And we found that if we are planning on spending any more than $15, it's cheaper for us to drive 15 more miles to Weatherford (even with the increased sales tax) to go to the Supercenter than to shop Homeland, United, and K-Mart in Clinton.

I try to shop Cordell as often as I can since those tax dollars will actually benefit me, but there's only so much extra I am willing to pay for that, especially on consumables.

Yeah, we don't use Homeland much, but walmart will match homeland's flyer.

We buy groceries 6-8 weeks at a time. We make a calendar of meals and then use that to make a shopping list. Then we subtract what we have from the list and go shopping. We only go back to the store to get stuff like milk, bread, fruit and veggies. It works out well for us keeping our grocery bills down. The less trips to the store getting a few things + what looks tasty is big savings for us.

 

[RWS]

if you guys have one nearby, you should try a Reasors for your groceries. good local people from right here in Oklahoma, good groceries, better fresher meats, and i've found them to be as cheap as wal-mart on most everything. there is one right across the street from wal-mart in my town. makes it a no-brainer for me.

 

[HMCS(FMF)Ret.]

How can anyone hate Walmart? They have great ammo prices!

 

[nofearfactor]

Most of the tires you buy at Wal-Mart can only be warrantied through Wal-Mart. They are manufactured to a lower specification just so that they can be sold at a lower price point, and dropping the warranties from the tire manufacturers was part of the negotiation.

Ive been running BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KOs on my 88' S-10 Blazer 4x4 for as long as I can remember. Before I got my Blazer I drove around San Diego in a Jeep and we had BFG Krawlers on it I think. I bought the Blazer new and now have 205k on it so probably have run a few sets of BFGs on there,and I usually buy them at tire stores in California where I'm from and still live part time. The last set I bought though I bought at Robertsons in BA cause a buddy of mine works there. Theyre great in mud and snow,etc,but theyre not so good in the front on wet rainy roads at semi high speeds,IMO. And Im on the road alot traveling between Oklahoma and Iowa and between either state and California and alot of the time its on wet roads. Ive been scared a few times on some crazy wet roads up in northern California and out in Nevada and Wyoming. So while shopping at WallyWorld one day I checked on what they had,yaaa I knew they wouldnt be as quality of a tire,but I saw some some Uniroyal Liberator A/Ts that looked pretty cool and had a crazy tread design. I went home and read all I could about em. Sure nuff,Uniroyal is made by BF Goodrich, and the Liberator is made for WalMart only,and only warrantied at WaLmart also. Still,WTF,I went and bought a couple in LT,put em on the front and put the 2 BFGs away in the garage. As long as you know theyre budget tires then theres no problem,its your fault if they dont work out. I paid less for two of em than for one BFG. Supposed to get about 50k out of them,thats 10k less than a BFG. Almost all reviews I read were positive,which doesnt mean **** really. I'll see how long they last. So far they do what I needed them for, they run alot better at high speeds on wet roads than the BFGs did up there,and theyve been decent in the mud down at my land. I'll be in Iowa next month and can see what theyre like in snow too. Im not expecting much out of them though so I wont be disappoined when they fail.

 

[Jefpainthorse]

Free enterprise and competition in the market place are a bad thing. Local businesses that fail do so all by themselves as they fail to adapt to the changing marketplace. WalMart draws in business. The small business owners adapt to that and capitalize on the increased traffic to the area. It's all about finding the niche and filling it.

I sure don't see many local downtown retailers moving out the the out-parcel pads around any of the Walmarts I travel past (at least 35 states worth).

Chili's, Mickey D's and a raft of chain stores... yep... Benny's Family Hardware? -not so much.

Walmart typically leaves your small town downtown empty... JC Penny's ends up being a consigment junk store eventually after Walmart comes in... small grocery stores fold, drug stores close up...

Yea... Walmart helps the locals out... everyplace they go