Walmart Crap Getting Crappier?

[woppa 4]

I am not a defender of WM by any means..However, they are a public company, trading on the exchange. Several employees at our nearby store are enrolled in their stock sharing program. These are not exec. types, average folks who's positions were doing quite well, until the markets tanked.(wm held better than average in the down turn, and recovering). I remember the blue light specials, when K Mart was the big cheese. ( Km is dying) My present wife, who worked for a bankrupt firm for 34 years; also a profit sharing participate, receives a whopping $124.00 a month, from the G insured pension fund. I could be wrong, but wasn't the tea-bag company a privately held corp. I will have to admit,a few days ago, I did buy a set of Michelin (us made) tires from WM.(good price) Let's bash Air Stream for awhile, we at least learn some things useful. Cheers Mel

[Jim & Susan]

Originally Posted by wahoonc

That is the one...or should I say what is left of them...

Aaron

Hey, I used to work for those guys. I started out at $2.82 an hour way back in the early '70's. My first "real" job. Didn't take me long to figure out that "this is not a career". So I joined the Army instead. Made much better money there. I think it was about $475 a month, three cots and a hot. Or was it three hots and a cot? They also provided me with me with some really cool clothes and lots of toys that went BOOM!

Ah, those were the days.

Jim

[VIKING]

I made my decision about WM, Costco, and Home Depot about 8 years ago. They are not allowed to have ANY of my money. I do not support their way of doing business. Think VALUE when you shop, and you might do the same thing I have. A low price does not indicate anything about value. You have to consider the quality of the product, how long it will perform, and the eventual disposal cost. If we think of this in terms of only our own wallet at the time of purchase, we disregard the total impact of the purchase of inferior goods: environmental(plastic is OIL), shipping (10,000 miles from the point of production using bunker fuel), and disposal (much too soon for the price you paid).
I have a 90 year old record player, a 90 year old stove, 80 year old dining table and matching buffet and china cabinets. Some of my tools are of a similar age, also. What will be left of the crap they sell at WM in 90 years other than a country full of WM landfills(This is where they will make the real killing, just watch).

Just say NO!

Rich the Viking

[Gene]

Rich, I was looking at the age of your stuff and realized we use a 1930 Magic Chef stove—works great, even the oven thermostat works—a 140 year dining room table and have a 40 year old record player that's been in a box for 20 years. Altogether—260 years. Our china cabinet (10 years old) and buffet (110 years old) don't match though. Both are oak and the table is ash. I restored the old furniture and finished the china cabinet. So, yeh, get good stuff and maintain or restore it.

But in this rural county, there are enough local businesses that treat customers badly and way overcharge. They are the first to go when the big box stores come to town. We often have to drive 75 miles each way to go to the metroplex of Grand Junction to get things, or even Denver (240 miles) or Santa Fe (300+ miles maybe). Sometimes Walmart is the only place to buy certain things. Sometimes the only way to get something new or unusual is to drive a lot or order on the internet.

And, as others have noted, it can be really hard to find something not made in China. My wife's father wanted a certain kind of pajama for Xmas. They were US made but sold out from Land's End. He had seen them in the catalog. We went to 3 stores in Grand Junction looking for similar ones including Sears. I thought Sears owned Land's End, but this strore didn't carry any Land's End products. Typical Sears! All we could find were crappy Chinese or other Asian pajamas that looked similar but would fall apart within a year. Barb ended up ordering US made ones from the internet. In this poor rural county it's not so easy to find quality clothing, food, or much of anything else either. Local business never did compete so they aren't good actors either.

We have lived in various places where the gas stations charge 15 to 25¢ more than the nearest "city" (6,000 people vs. 350 or the town down the road, 1,000). They claim they don't sell enough to get a volume discount. But people put a few gallons in here and buy most of their gas in the city. If they competed on price, they'd sell more, get the discount and make more money than they ever did. Since supermarkets started selling gas, a lot of local stations have gone out of business. Maybe if they had developed a loyal local customer base, they'd still be in business. All they seem to know is charge the same price as every other station and make it as high as possible as if their customers didn't have cars!

Walmart has cleaned a lot of clocks by being innovative and having a long view, things a lot of local business have not done.

I don't like Whole Foods either—they are the Walmart of health foods—buy out or drive out competition and arrogance, but they did do the health food high end business better than anyone else until they got so big they got predatory.

So, give Walmart some credit for innovation, creativity and determination. They're at the point now they are well hated by a lot of people and someday they too will fail.

Gene

[Foiled Again]

Living in the Airstream has forced me to stop acquiring useless or "one purpose" stuff. I have two fine knives, not the 19 I used to have when I had a house. No blender, no stand mixer, no blender, no food processor - I do have an egg beater and a whisk.

Going "half Galt" and getting rid of a lot of semi-useless crap might really be the best signal we can send the merchants who are eating the earth.

I think the poor economy has helped a lot of people realize that the price of owning too many things isn't worth the stress of trying to pay for them.

There are some wonderful bargains out there - think what a cell phone cost 30 years ago - or ask me how much we paid for our first Apple MacIntosh - the Laserwriter II was $5000! It had 600 dpi resolution.

Not only are new computers 1/10th of the cost of the old ones, the power and storage capacity iis equivalent to computers that used to take up floors of buildings.

So, let's all resolve that fewer things of better quality are what we need and let Walmart drown in it's own inventory of useless chatzkas.

Paula

[wahoonc]

Originally Posted by VIKING

I made my decision about WM, Costco, and Home Depot about 8 years ago. They are not allowed to have ANY of my money. I do not support their way of doing business. Think VALUE when you shop, and you might do the same thing I have. A low price does not indicate anything about value. You have to consider the quality of the product, how long it will perform, and the eventual disposal cost. If we think of this in terms of only our own wallet at the time of purchase, we disregard the total impact of the purchase of inferior goods: environmental(plastic is OIL), shipping (10,000 miles from the point of production using bunker fuel), and disposal (much too soon for the price you paid).
I have a 90 year old record player, a 90 year old stove, 80 year old dining table and matching buffet and china cabinets. Some of my tools are of a similar age, also. What will be left of the crap they sell at WM in 90 years other than a country full of WM landfills(This is where they will make the real killing, just watch).

Just say NO!

Rich the Viking

There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man's lawful prey._ John Ruskin (1819-1900)

Amazing how things seem to stay the same.

I only buy quality products, I attempt to buy US or failing that items made in countries that pay living wages to their workers, and have labor laws in place. I WILL NOT buy a US made product just to buy, if it is of inferior quality. I learned a long time ago to buy the best I can afford and only buy what I really need.

BTW an untracked form of inflation is the cheapening of products. You paid $10 for a gidget 5 years ago, that same gidget is selling for $10 today, but the quality of the assembly and materials has been cheapened and the lifespan has been halved...hidden inflation at it's finest.

Aaron

[woppa 4]

Paula: You make some very sombering points. We do live in a throw-a-way system. I came from a very humble( smart word, meaning dirt poor) background. At 73+. I do get somewhat defensive when some folks complain about minor problems,trivia, etc. My favorite " I remember when coffee was a nickel a cup or my Ford lasted forever,etc,etc" My response. Did it include, AC, Auto, PS, was the color black(oil C very two months) again etc, etc. In those days I didn't have a nickel to buy a cup. Today. I can have all I want. Myself; I do not miss those day,s . What- ever or whenever we buy. It helps someone to have a job; regardless of where they work. Think I will visit Starbucks for a Latte (another smart word).Cheers Mel

[ROBERT CROSS]

Originally Posted by woppa 4

..... or my Ford lasted forever,etc,etc" Cheers Mel

I like to think I select quality also. Our Ford hasn't lasted forever... but at 57 it's do'n pretty good. And the DW at ^# still looks GREAT. Both all original, un-restored.

[craftsman]

I hate Starbucks, (Walmart too) . The coffee always taste burnt no matter what they brew. A lot of the people shopping at Walmart look like a genetic experiment has been going on nearby and they let them out for a day of shopping. Plus most of what they sell is crap which nobody really needs.

[woppa 4]

OK. I surrender ,last post on this thread: I agree, all Wal-Mart products are cheaply made and should be avoided.(except for the RVer'swho park overnight).I also will agree, that folk's who work or shop there are: 1.retarded 2.Overweight, w/beer belly,s 3. trailer park trash, 4.high school or grade school dropouts etc.( Need to check the sheep skin,might be awarded from a mail order fly by night).5.all wear curlers, etc. May I suggest you visit a major air terminal. Wait; those retards may be Wal-Mart shoppers going on vacation. The mention of star-bucks was a joke. Their latte,s are terrible. Have a good day.Mel

[Foiled Again]

Originally Posted by ROBERT CROSS

I like to think I select quality also. Our Ford hasn't lasted forever... but at 57 it's do'n pretty good. And the DW at ^# still looks GREAT. Both all original, un-restored.

Old joke about Model T's

An old sick man called his family to his deathbed
When they were all assembled he said,
"I want to make ONE request - Bury me in my Flivver"

His son said, "But dad, WHY?"
Dad replied, "Cause I ain't never been in a hole with it...
that it couldn't git me out of!"

Paula

[JStanley]

“We hear a lot more about how corporations are disloyal to their communities and employees and about "corporate greed" (553,000 Google hits) than we hear about "consumer greed" (19,700 hits), but consumer can be pretty disloyal, ruthless and cost-conscious themselves. A marketing aphorism that sums it up pretty well: There's no brand loyalty that the offer of a "penny off" can't overcome it."
Dr. Mark J. Perry is a professor of economics and finance. University of Michigan.

[Kistler]

Target, K-Mart, and a lot of other stores have "made in China" goods. We are retired teachers; 70 years-of-age and trapped by economics

We shop at Wal-Mart. We are careful about models and brands. Our last Samsung for our trailer came from Wal-Mart.

I wish we could be "made in America" only but have a lot of trouble finding those products; even material (Brenda sews) is made in other places.

For staples....like V-8 juice and other brand-names they beat the competiton's prices around here.

I am happy for you Airstream owners that have $$$$$....that was many dollars. We do not.

[VIKING]

Originally Posted by Kistler

Target, K-Mart, and a lot of other stores have "made in China" goods. We are retired teachers; 70 years-of-age and trapped by economics

We shop at Wal-Mart. We are careful about models and brands. Our last Samsung for our trailer came from Wal-Mart.

I wish we could be "made in America" only but have a lot of trouble finding those products; even material (Brenda sews) is made in other places.

For staples....like V-8 juice and other brand-names they beat the competiton's prices around here.

I am happy for you Airstream owners that have $$$$$....that was many dollars. We do not.

I'm not as concerned with the places these things come from as I am with the lack of quality in many of them. If it's made in China and made well, I have no problem with that. The cost of shipping is a concern, of course, but if I only have to buy that widget once, instead of replacing it every year, I am probably getting better value for my money. As for staple foods, I bet I spend a little more than I would at WM. My food(for a family of 3) takes about$600/ month. If I could knock 10% off of that it wouldn't be enough to pay for a cable tv subscription(which I do not have), so I do make concessions to be able to shop where I won't build bad karma. I have a hard time swallowing stuff from those other places anyway.
Rich the Viking

[FreshAir]

Hey, a little bit ago another forums member had a thread about does a certain well known RV Park stinks. The thread was eventually re-titled to a less of a derogatory heading. Whether I agree with the 'crap' being discribed about WM I do believe that the 'moderators' here should apply the same thread title standards.
Neil.

[Catman6]

It is really sad. Anymore I don't even bother other than a few odds and ends, or the beef jerky. For most everything else I go to Target, Kohls, or dare I say Sears LOL

[carmelo]

Foiled Again,

Water Hose

I purchased and have used, constantly for the water supply to my boat, a SEARS best hose for over 20 yrs. It imparts no foul taste to the water.
CCC