Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
1. My time is worth more than my money. I don't like to deal with checkout lines, clueless customers and slow employees. Customers often don't have their method of payment ready and wait until the total is announced before starting to dig in their bag.
2. You get what you pay for. I will choose quality over quantity, always. Does it really save you money if you have to use twice as much of an off-brand detergent to wash a load of clothes? Or if the cheap quality clothing shrinks or falls apart and has to be replaced?
3. The shopping environment is depressing. Why do so many Walmart shoppers look like they have lost their last hope in life? Or are morbidly obese with carts full of junk food? And why do the kids of Walmart shoppers run, climb, shriek, scream and misbehave in general?
1. My time is worth more than my money. I don't like to deal with checkout lines, clueless customers and slow employees. Customers often don't have their method of payment ready and wait until the total is announced before starting to dig in their bag.
2. You get what you pay for. I will choose quality over quantity, always. Does it really save you money if you have to use twice as much of an off-brand detergent to wash a load of clothes? Or if the cheap quality clothing shrinks or falls apart and has to be replaced?
3. The shopping environment is depressing. Why do so many Walmart shoppers look like they have lost their last hope in life? Or are morbidly obese with carts full of junk food? And why do the kids of Walmart shoppers run, climb, shriek, scream and misbehave in general?
I'm willing to bet these aren't the real reasons you don't shop at Wal-Mart, or else you couldn't shop anywhere.
1. My time is worth more than my money. I don't like to deal with checkout lines, clueless customers and slow employees. Customers often don't have their method of payment ready and wait until the total is announced before starting to dig in their bag.
2. You get what you pay for. I will choose quality over quantity, always. Does it really save you money if you have to use twice as much of an off-brand detergent to wash a load of clothes? Or if the cheap quality clothing shrinks or falls apart and has to be replaced?
3. The shopping environment is depressing. Why do so many Walmart shoppers look like they have lost their last hope in life? Or are morbidly obese with carts full of junk food? And why do the kids of Walmart shoppers run, climb, shriek, scream and misbehave in general?
I would dispute your second paragraph as a general rule, even as I admit it is true in certain situations. Let's take clothing. I have purchased most of my socks and underwear at Walmart for the past 10 or more years and I cannot notice any lack of longevity. At higher end department stores, let's consider what you are actually paying for (in addition to the items themselves): higher priced real estate in better neighborhoods, advertising in more expensive publications, a higher sales clerk to customer ratio (great for convenience but doesn't add any quality to the merchandise), brand names with greater "cachet" (nice for feeling good about oneself, but questionable as an indicator of quality).
I have also purchased men's dress slacks at Kmart which seem to last forever.
Where do you draw the line on stores? 20, 30, 40 years ago (I am 70) I bought most of my clothing at Sears and JCPenny and it seemed to last forever. Could never understand the rational and objective reason for shopping at higher-end places. Could it be that there is a real difference between men's and women's clothing in this regard?
I don't shop at Walmart often as it's not possible to only get what was wanted. Last time my wife and I waddled in to get a $30 pre-paid smart card (T-Mobile, $30 per month, 100 minutes talk, 5 gigs of 4G data and unlimited texting), then $150 later we checked out. Frozen meals are half the price at Walmarts, and I just KNOW the frozen Stouffers at Walmart is inferior to the frozen Stouffers at my local supermarket even though they have the same SKU. I also know the ripe bananas at Walmart at 25 cents a pound are inferior to the same Chiquita bananas at my local supermarket. Heck the T-Mobile card I bought is probably inferior (or it would be if Walmart didn't have an exclusive) than the same thing at another store.
Confusion gets really bad when I see the same thing at Wal-Mart for $3 and at my local dollar store for $1 ... don't get me started about the .99 cent store!
I was never a Walmart shopper until they opened a Neighborhood Grocery, with a pharmacy. Now I've bought many household staples there (detergents, shampoos, medications, etc. as well as packaged food) and saved quite a bit of money. I can't do all my shopping there, but I wouldn't do it all at Whole Foods either. Pick and choose.
1. My time is worth more than my money. I don't like to deal with checkout lines, clueless customers and slow employees. Customers often don't have their method of payment ready and wait until the total is announced before starting to dig in their bag.
I was shopping there less because of this but recently our local WalMart installed self service check out lanes which I have learn to use pretty well and the checkout process goes much quicker. In and out with much less fuss.
Walmart always seems to attract a very peculiar sub species of homo sapiens. One which I never notice anywhere else in the wild.
I don't shop there, but will accompany friends.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Escort Rider
I would dispute your second paragraph as a general rule, even as I admit it is true in certain situations. Let's take clothing. I have purchased most of my socks and underwear at Walmart for the past 10 or more years and I cannot notice any lack of longevity.
Socks is an awful comparison.
It's no secret producers create cheaper products for walmart. The Samsung TV you buy at walmart and somewhere else aren't the same TVs.
When I told this story to some friends, they were surprised because they had similar tales. One had purchased a computer printer and couldn’t get some of the features she wanted to work. When she called the factory, the first question they asked her was if she bought the printer at SAMS. When told that she did not, they were able to guide her through her set up problems. At the end, however, she asked them what SAMS would have had to do with it. The answer: that model, when sold at SAMS, was a stripped down version without the features she wanted.
Called the factory.
If it's the same model #, it's the same item. End of story. All the Wal-Mart specials have different item numbers, often you can't even get them anywhere other than Wal-Mart at all. In that case, yes, different Samsung TV since it's sold exclusively at Wal-Mart. But that's about the same as saying a 24" inch TV isn't the same as a 72" TV. Duh.
1. My time is worth more than my money. I don't like to deal with checkout lines, clueless customers and slow employees. Customers often don't have their method of payment ready and wait until the total is announced before starting to dig in their bag.
2. You get what you pay for. I will choose quality over quantity, always. Does it really save you money if you have to use twice as much of an off-brand detergent to wash a load of clothes? Or if the cheap quality clothing shrinks or falls apart and has to be replaced?
3. The shopping environment is depressing. Why do so many Walmart shoppers look like they have lost their last hope in life? Or are morbidly obese with carts full of junk food? And why do the kids of Walmart shoppers run, climb, shriek, scream and misbehave in general?
The third is embarrassing but true, Wal-Mart attracts freaks. Just look at People of Wal-Mart. I can disagree with points in the first two and even parts of three. I've found Walmart items to be no better or worse than others. Dumb customers exist everywhere even though you may notice more in Walmart for whatever reason. The kids, I find unruly kids just about anywhere especially in movie theaters because I am always behind the kid who backs into my knees with their seat back several times during a movie. I think that is more or a less a sign of the times where parents do not install fear of punishment into their child and rather be a big sister or brother to them.
Quote:
Originally Posted by smalltownblues
I'm willing to bet these aren't the real reasons you don't shop at Wal-Mart, or else you couldn't shop anywhere.
Maybe not likely but it is possible that is the case.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Do we really "get what we pay for"?
