Why I hate Walmart

Last Updated 12/17/2011

It is possible that I've touched on this subject before, but in an effort to fully "inform" the public, I'm going to begin an updated list here on why I hate Walmart. My primary concern with Walmart is the way it functions in relationship to its consumers. This list will grow, over time, I'm quite sure. Is it going to be nit-picky? Absolutely, but there are so many reasons I hate Walmart that in order for readers to get the full picture you have to see even the tiniest of reasons.

I suspect that management has a lot to do with each store, so I will point out that I'm speaking here of two main stores that I frequent. Those being store numbers 866 and 853.

If I am mistaken, and you are absolutely positive that I am, post a comment and I'll look into it.

Before we start, let me list all the reasons why I like, and actually shop at, Walmart:

1. Low prices.

Yep, that's it. That's the ONLY reason.

So here we go with the bad and these are in no particular order.

SUPER Update:  Sorry, just one more moment. I have had a very bad experience recently on the website that I felt needed sharing. Wait until you get a load of this!

I also am going to even post screen caps because if Walmart sees this (and yes, they've been here to read this blog page) they'll take it down.

Now consider this little tablet. They are (or were, they are suspiciously saying it is 'out of stock' now) falsely selling the wrong product.

This deserves it's own entire entry, so here you go! Click here to read it.
Now, here we go back on subject.

1. The grocery aisles are not wide enough. While there is enough room for 3 carts (one on each side and one in the middle) the space for three barely allows for it. This means that if two carts are not ALL the way off to the side, you cannot pass and this is important because aisles are very often VERY crowded. I've had to wait nearly ten minutes to fight my way down one stuipid aisle.
2. They stopped carrying the ONLY sodium free instant bouillon (that I'm aware of) on the market. That being Wyler's Sodium Free Bouillon. Do they want their consumers to have a heart attack because of sodium? Low Sodium isn't a good choice at all! I'm no health nut but there should be only two choices: Regular and NO sodium. Low Sodium and Regular are entirely stupid. There is still salt and this means that their shoppers are now having to go elsewhere to buy what they need. If low sodium is okay, let them add their own salt to it.
3. They only put their cigarettes on an express aisle. How fair is that? This means that someone with a full cart or even two full carts, are FORCED into buying their cigarettes on an aisle where people are waiting with only 12 items or less. Why should I have to wait for them? I don't blame the consumer, they have a right to purchase whatever they want that the store sells. I blame Walmart for ruining shoppers experiences altogether with idiotic policies like that. They don't even CARE that they are doing this to their shoppers. Where is the logic? It makes absolutely no sense. On the other side of the coin, how fair would it be to someone going in there ONLY to buy cigarettes are forced into a line that is NOT an express lane? They need to consider TWO lanes at the minimum: One express, one regular. In truth, they should be able to buy them in any lane at all.
4. It is obvious that Walmart has trouble with true marketing understanding. Let's discuss for a moment the basic ideology of both inventory and its direct relationship with supply and demand. Pretend for a moment that you are a store owner. You are obviously working for profit and want to make money. You have a choice, you can either sell items that you know people will buy or you can sell items that people will not buy. Which one would you choose? The answer seems simple, but Walmart evidently cannot grasp the concept because they are continuously out of the same products ALL the time. Why is that? If you KNOW that a product runs out quickly, then this means you should order more next time. What an elementary conclusion, but not so for Walmart. Let us make a list of those products that immediately come to mind here:
• Cheaper seasoning, such as 5th Season. Ever notice that you are lucky if you get a single one?
• Plus sized clothing, not that this is my size but I can't even buy gifts for others! The problem that I see are racks and racks of size 8-12 (even on clearance they cannot get rid of them) but the plus sizes are just G-O-N-E! No clearance, no nothing.
• Fat free Great Value creamer. I get so annoyed when I see that they are out because I would buy this in droves. Yet I never can buy any, because they are always out.
• My particular hair color is seldom on the shelf. I find this annoyingly amusing because I don't see a great number of women walking around with the same hair color as myself. I guess its because they can't find it either!
5. Why oh why are there 40 registers with only 4 open? What is the point of all those other registers? Are they there for decorative purposes only? While we're on the subject, who cleans off all that dust anyway?
6. Backwards thinking. Now admittedly Walmart is absolutely not the only guilty party here. I charge this against all grocers, but there is absolutely no way, whatsoever, that I will ever go into a Walmart to only buy a gallon of milk. The store is huge enough, but I am not going to fight the hordes of people, stand in line with an excess of 20 minutes and then fight to get out of the parking lot over a gallon of milk. Spare me. Get a clue Walmart! We just won't go.
7. The store layout is completely and utterly inconvenient and this is a primary reason I do not buy more at Walmart. Oh no, I don't fall for their stupid tricks in trying to make you buy more by making the store so expansive. Pots, pans and kitchen gadgets should be by the grocer aisles, but alas they are in the complete opposite direction. This is another serious infraction on their respect for their customers. I'd say a large percentage of their shoppers are elderly. What does this say about their respect for those who have trouble walking distances? I personally believe that it speaks volumes.
8. No egg separator to be found? What kind of kitchen gadget aisle is that?
9. No drive through for their prescriptions? In fact, we are greeted with a 1 hour wait just to turn the stupid script in! It should come as no surprise to anyone when I say that I dropped Walmart altogether and went with Walgreens (about 2 blocks from Walmart) instead. I suggest you do the same and if you're using the $4 generic program, try Target who does the same thing for the same price. Target will get you in and out in a flash and you just cannot beat that trademarked bottle of theirs.
10. It takes an act of God to return anything at all, that you ever buy from Walmart. I have never had to wait for less than 30 minutes to return a single item. Their returns are probably the worst customer service on record. Don't even ask me about holiday returns. The line was longer than that of Splash Mountain, in July, at Disney!
11. 2-liter drinks are always on the top of a very high shelf and never move forward as Walmart stupidly believes they will. I cannot count the times I've heard people cursing because they cannot reach the drinks. What idiot designed that stupid shelf? 
12. If you have them do your pictures, their sheets come without any space between the pictures themselves. For example, let us say you order a sheet of wallet sized photos. None of those photos have a white space between them, so you end up cutting some of each picture off.
13. The parking lot cart returns make no sense. It's no wonder no one ever wants to return their carts! I hate people being so lazy to leave their carts out, but I have to admittedly empathize with their frustration. When I'm done shopping at Walmart, my back hurts and I'm so freaking frustrated that I just want to LEAVE! I can see why others say to heck with it and just leave the cart there. Anyway, here are the reasons why this happens:
• To begin with, if you're unlucky enough to visit on a very busy day, you are additionally punished for having to park a million miles away. When you leave, you will not find a cart return nearby. Oh no! Those are only reserved for the people who are lucky enough to park closer. Be prepared because you'll have to walk back to the middle of the lot to return your cart.
• The second problem are the stupid cart return designs. Any idiot would know to design it so that you can return the cart on either side of the return. After all, the parking space is already taken on both sides, so what's with only allowing one side to return a cart? It never fails, I'm always on the closed side and cars are always parked so close that I can't get through. I have to walk through a maze just to return a stupid cart.
14. The store has no idea where to put things and don't bother asking an employee because 9 times out of 10, they have no idea what you're talking about anyway. Let's use cheesecloth as just one example of many. Anyone who uses it knows what it was originally used for, or at least what you do with it most. Why then can you only find it in the crafting section? It has the word cheese in it, think about that for a moment. Would I look for cheese in the crafting section? Of course not! I'd look in the grocery section!!! It is worth noting here that it has taken me 4 years to find the cheesecloth that I didn't think Walmart even carried. That's 4 years of losing a profit that went to Winn Dixie instead.
15. Going back to #'s 7 and 14, I should also add that isn't cake decorating and scrapbooking also crafts? Why then are crafts on the opposite end of the store from scrapbooking and cake decorating?
16. Is it too much to ask to double bag the 2-liter drinks? Why oh why do I have to ask them to double bag them, every single time I ever shop there in my life? One of the cashiers even had the nerve to roll her eyes at me. Then I told her about my last trip from Walmart. Here's exactly what I said to her, "The last time I came to Walmart, I bought several 2-liters of diet drinks. She also didn't double bag them and when I got home, every single bag, which had 2-liters, broke. When my husband asked me if there were any more groceries, I told him, 'Yes, check the bushes.'" Even the cashier laughed, this after rolling her eyes. My point is that it only takes a little thought on bagging here.

The online website is just as annoying. Most of these require screen caps, to illustrate, but what the heck, right? Click on the caps themselves to enlarge the picture to full view.

1. Okay so I was trying to see how much lawn fertilizer costs. It seemed a simple enough thing to do and I happen to know that they sell it. I went to the homepage and selected Home Furniture & Outdoor > Lawn & Garden Care > Fertilizer & Soil. Now look at the only freaking results! The results are neither fertilizer nor soil. How could this happen? Also did you notice the typo? Safflower seek! So stupid.

2. So I was at the website and I decided that I wanted to see if any reviews I'd been given were helpful. I thought that would be simple. I went to My Account and looked for something that says, "My Reviews" and there is nothing there. So then I looked under help, nothing is there either. There is no way at all, that I can find, to view your own review history. This seems like a simple thing, so I email Walmart asking how I can view my reviews. They email me saying it takes 5-7 business days blah blah blah. Not what I asked! It says to reply if your question is unanswered, so I reply with the same details I said before, only this time I give them an example of a link for a user (you know how it says next to reviews "view all my reviews") saying where are mine. They email me back with instructions on submitting reviews. I email them back again and say this doesn't answer the question, I'm not explaining this further. They email me back again saying how some reviews aren't posted because of certain reasons. I email them back again saying re-read my question. What kind of morons work tech support there anyway? Stay tuned to see how far this goes. This alone may needs its own blog entry by itself... and oh, I did find my reviews, but only because I used Google to search for my user name. I want to see how long it takes them to actually understand what I'm asking and find out HOW to actually find my review history under my account. UPDATE: I did decide to make an entry about this.

Now let me discuss my reasons why I am not bothered with so-called controversial Walmart issues. It is only fair that I point this out.

1. Human rights issues are not of a business concern. Walmart is not the least bit responsible on how China mistreats its citizens. Liberals enjoy arguing that by trading with China, they are actually supporting a government's laws, and this is utter nonsense. The only real responsible one is the Chinese government. Now if you really want to go there, fine. By giving Obama a bed in the White House you have successfully supported human rights violations. What about the treatment of women in Arab nations? I am much more concerned with that than prisoners in China. Obama will never care about the citizens of other nations. If you want someone to care, then vote Republican. Isolationism is an Obama (hence liberal) doctrine. Learn it, live by it. My point is that Walmart is not responsible, the government is.
2. Employees are responsible for themselves. It is not Walmart's responsibility to make employees happy. This country's foundation allows us to make great choices in our lives. If you are being abused, you can walk right out without ever looking back. You'll not be blacklisted, you'll not be discriminated against. If you're unhappy, find another job. This is the most power anyone can have because if Walmart has trouble keeping employees, then they will disappear forever. Use your freedom as a voice instead.

All in all, I think the picture is rather clear. Walmart really needs to get a better grip on reality if it wants to truly succeed in being a good store.

My other post(s) you may be interested in:

• Walmart is falsely advertising products.
• In the news: Walmart Grapples With Its Worst Sales Slump Ever
• How many Walmart employees does it take to answer a question?