– Half the shelves weren’t full (not empty either, but not having shelf space full was really weird for an early evening.)
– They’ve apparently abandoned the “All Lanes Open between 5 and 8 pm” policy. So fewer than half the lanes were open. At 6:30 pm.
– All of their self-service lanes were closed. Thus combining the two above, there were lines at least 6 people deep in every line.
– I couldn’t find two of the five items I was looking for. It’s not like I was looking for a specific brand and model, all I was looking for was cough syrup with only DexHBr, and a sports bottle.
I wonder how long it will be before I only go to Wal*Mart to buy clothes, just like I used to only go to K-Mart for, since that’s all they would reliably have.
Well, it’s odd you should bring this up; hubby and I were at Wal-Mart yesterday for groceries, and he went into the automotive dept. to buy transmission fluid, and they were out of the kind he needed. They also didn’t have any of the 4 lb. for $1.00 bananas. We went back tonight (he really needs transmission fluid), and they still didn’t have it, or the bananas! Weird.
To be fair to MalWart (and, really, you have no idea how much this pains me), much of their stuff is/was probably being diverted to Katrinaland, along with the trucks to ship the stuff. It’ll probably take a while before their supply lines are back to normal.
I feel icky typing that, but take comfort in the fact that I can still lay the blame for piss poor staffing problems directly on the store, not the weather.
Wal Mart is massive powerhouse with real time inventory control. They knew the transmission fluid was out when they last one blipped across the register reader. The hurricanes could have trucks and supplies fouled up or something but I don’t think the wal-mart ship will be sinking in our lifetimes.
WM’s supply line is second to none in its sophistication and ability to keep the stores from running out of anything. Usually.
But… I was at a WM six weeks ago, before anyone thought of tranferring warehouse stock, much less on-shelf stock, from California to Louisiana. RV sewer hose? Out. 2-gallon gas can? Out.
It was like that a few days ago at our local WalMart. My mother threw a fit about having to wait in a checkout line (they had 4 lanes open, and they were all quite long lines), that was backed up into the aisles. The manager opened a new checkout and then told the customers that 75% of the employees were out sick with the flu. I don’t know if it was true or not, but that’s what he told them.
There’s a nearly brand-new Wal-Mart in Shippensburg, where I get non-perishables, along with the occasional emergency T-shirt. (You don’t want to know.) It’s the only one in the area with the self-serve checkout lines.
The reason those lines are closed much of the time is a customer does something to it that requires a cashier to come and clear it out. The Wal-Mart in Shippensburg does not have cashiers that can do that. So the line sits, unused because no one’s cleared it out.