Community Chat

[Spurt]

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@chickenbutt wrote:

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@FiddleDeeDee wrote:

I agree 100% that Sam Walton would be disgusted as to how his dream/creation is so radically different than when he was alive. What's interesting is that you can say the same thing about many companies that started out amazing and then as the the next generation took over, changed it to the point it's nothing like the original (Nordstrom, for example).

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My father knew Sam Walton.  After Sam died I vaguely recall him telling me about some things that Sam would not have wanted, that his kids did to the company after his death.   I wish I could remember details but, yeah, he said Sam would be rolling over in his grave at what they did to his company.

I haven't been in Walmart for quite a while (several years?), but I did order a couple of things online a couple of times that I stopped finding at my grocery store and that went well.  Not the grocery ordering thing they do now, but just the regular online purchasing with FedEx or one of them delivering.

I'm not one for self check-out, although I certainly don't begrudge it others.  But I wonder how the over all effect of that will be.   I wonder what percentage of people will leave if/when they make it 100% self check-out.

I won't go there.   I really never shopped there that much anyway, especially after they got busted a couple of times taking old meat, applying dye to it, and changing the best by dates. (*shudder*)  Plus, I never found the produce there appealing.  It always looked kind of like it had been left out for a while.   I always wondered if one of the reasons they would have lower prices on many things was that they purchase from places that pick up food that's getting older because I did learn that you really have to look at 'best by' dates on packaging.   I would find the bb dates in general to be much closer than what I would find at the grocery store.

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@chickenbutt 

One time due to circumstances beyond my control I was "forced" to shop at Walmart for groceries...and like you said the Produce was awful....the veggies and fruit was shriveled, bruised or mushy....I ended up buying frozen produce that day....Their deli was very limited and unappealing.... Now they did have a bigger variety of national brands in a lot of categories...But I much prefer HEBs or Central Market...

[beckyb1012]

One image I will never get out of my head was the trip to my Walmart grocery after the 8 days locked up from the snow and ice here in Texas this year.  Not one single item left in produce, nothing.  In the frozen food aisle(s) one box of frozen waffles.  Everything else gone.  I got some paper products then just hit the McDonald's drive thru and went back home to wait for the Trucks roll in and stock us back up.

[donovan]

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@sunshine 919 wrote:

I always thought that the self check outs were for people with 20 items or less so I was real happy because I never buy a cart full of items.  However people with a cart full will get into the self check out line, that defeats the whole purpose of a self check out.  I hope the stores will not go to all self check out it will be a mess. 

Other grocery stores still clerks and self check outs.  There is a Winco where I live and self check outs are for 20 items or less which I love.  In fact I was there this morning.  If you have too many items they will tell you to go to a cashier.

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Last Friday morning about 11:30 am I was at Walmart.  There were 2 cashiers open (and one was the 12 items or fewer line) - they had people in line wrapped around the women's clothing section. 

I went through the self check out with a very full basket - I would have much rather been checked out by a cashier as I had lots of multiples of the same item.  But 2 cashiers on a Friday?  

[Sooner]

I will bet their sales will drop drastically because people will think, gee I don't want to check all of that stuff out and bag it up and drag it to the car.  

I'll bet anything that will happen.  Especially with things like glassware, cute little things, impulse buys. . . 

[Lipstickdiva]

At the beginning of the year, WM was testing self-checkout only models of stores in Arkansas.  They said if it went well, stores in other areas may switch to that model.

I haven't been to my WM in so long, maybe they are making the change and I don't know.  I know our area is having a terrible time getting employees.

I normally shop at Giant Eagle and we've had to bag our own groceries there for about a year. They are so short staffed that many of the cashiers don't even try to bag, they just expect the customer will do it themselves. 

[geezerette]

Even though Walmart is about the only place to shop in my small town, if they go to all self-check here they'll lose a lot of business.  Many people just refuse or can't use them for various reasons.  They'll stand in line for a real person, no matter how long it takes.  People will drive to another small town to the small independent stores of lesser quality where they still use live people.

I used to use the checkers all the time.  I rarely get out and it was nice to talk to someone.  I knew several of the employees.  But since most of the manned checkouts are now unmanned, I mostly use the self-check now, even when I have a lot of stuff.  I just get too tired to stand in line that long nowadays to wait for a checker.

I just wish they'd put in more self-check stations.  They have at least a dozen manned checkout stations, but they only have one or two with actual people to check you out!  Meanwhile, people are having to stand in line for the self-check stations.😖

[decaf]

Walmart will save a ton of money and that's all that matters to them.

Eta- This is just the next step.  They don't care. They originally put  many small businesses out of business but told towns they'd create sooooo many jobs. Then they do this. It's terrible for small towns and the people that live there.

[RainyDayGal]

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@sann wrote:

If a self checkout is available in any store I will always use it.

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I tend to agree.  I use it when the lines are long and I'm in a hurry.  I really have no patience for long lines at checkout, in any store, so why would I not want to get out as quick as possible?  I don't understand why people would have an issue with them.

As long as someone is standing by to help if necessary, easy peasy lemon squeazy.

[RainyDayGal]

You can google it, but it does not appear all Walmarts are doing this.  I only read about 4 states, and Miami was mentioned.  I did not read the entire article.

[decaf]

@RainyDayGal  In retail, big changes such as this are tested in small markets before they roll it out regionally or, eventually, nationally.  I think all big boxstores should have both self checkout and cashiers because they have customers that want or, in manycases, need a cashier to handle and bag purchases.