# Wal-Mart logic; please explain **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 22, 2003, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629 "2003-06-22T21:33:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Mudshark](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@Mudshark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mudshark)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/21 "2003-06-23T06:31:17Z")
The local Wal Mart always smells like a sewer (and fried chicken, even though the “eatery” is never open). The few times I’ve been there the lines were long, and there were abandoned carts everywhere. I couldn’t find what I was looking for, and the aisles were hard to navigate. I don’t go to Wal Mart often, and when I do, its always an adventure. They also don’t like people having empty Altoids cans in your coat pocket, because they think you somehow stole them and ate a whole can of them in the thirty seconds you were in the store. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/22 "2003-06-23T06:37:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Guinastasia \* > \*\*SAME thing at Kmart-purposely understaff and then feed the cashier to the wolves (aka “customers”) when they get hungry. > > It’s insane. And Kmart is going down the tubes-Walmart will probably follow shortly. \*\* HAH! Not with THIS customer (I mean client:D). If this, or something similar happens? I don’t take it out on the poor hapless employee, I go straight to the top, and if I don’t get satisfaction (rarely ever happens that I don’t), I email AND snail mail the corporate headquarters (WITH the store managers’ names). That rarely happens, the store managers almost always make it right. And I make sure that they know that _I_ know that it’s not the clerks fault too!!! I don’t usually go to walmart though (unless “Carrs” [our local supermart], or Fred Meyer doesn’t carry what I need). ---
**Author:** ![Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/5fc32e/32.png) [@Bad\_News\_Baboon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bad_News_Baboon)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/23 "2003-06-23T07:05:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neutron star \* > \*\*They never did. It’s been over a year since I’ve seen a single basket in that shitty store. \*\* I have heard that stores have few baskets (or none at all) because if you are forced to use a cart, you are more inclined to fill it. If you have a basket and it is full, you are less likely to toss in an impulse buy. I honestly don’t know the veracity of this, but it sounds like something stores would do. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/edb3f5/32.png) [@The\_Asbestos\_Mango](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Asbestos_Mango)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/24 "2003-06-23T07:26:50Z")
Well, at Wal-Mart, the coffee is in the grocery section, but if you want to buy filters for your coffeemaker, they’re clear in the hell on the other side of the store in Housewares, with all of those lovely potential impulse items in between Actually, this has become a conscious strategy in supermarkets the past few years. Where they used to have closely related items in more or less the same section (bread, milk, eggs), they now put them on opposite ends of the store so you have to walk past (and hopefully put in your cart) a lot of other items in between. ---
**Author:** ![neutron\_star](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/51bf81/32.png) [@neutron\_star](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/neutron_star)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/25 "2003-06-23T08:04:17Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by jayjay \* > \*\*Wow! Your Wal_Mart actually has a time of the day when there are only 3 or 4 cars in the lot? > \*\* Well, you have to realize that this is Louisiana. It’s not too densely-populated down here. There’s 110,000 people in Lafayette, but it’s spread out like a small town and we have three (or is it 4?) Wal-Marts. Your profile lists you as being from Central PA. I was born and raised in a little town near Harrisburg. The Wal-Mart situation there at 3AM was just as you describe. Still beats the hell out of going at 3PM, though - unless, of course the aisle that has the only product you really want is roped off for floor waxing. > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Bad News Baboon \* > **I have heard that stores have few baskets (or none at all) because if you are forced to use a cart, you are more inclined to fill it. If you have a basket and it is full, you are less likely to toss in an impulse buy.** In a way, this does make a lot of sense and I can see how it might work on some people. It actually makes me buy _less_, though. I **hate** pushing a cart around the store, especially if I know I’ll only need a few things. When I go to Wal-Mart now, I buy what I can fit in my arms. Getting to the register is usually a juggling act, and I’m not a good juggler. Often I drop things. If I’d have had a fancy blue basket I would have been able to fit all of my purchases and maybe a couple of impulse buys into the basket. By the time I’m finished, my hand may well have a handle-shaped red mark on it and hurt a little bit, but it sure beats the hell out of trying to juggle frozen dinners, cases of Coke, and gallon bottles of Gatorade. ---
**Author:** ![NoGoodNamesLeft](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/8797f3/32.png) [@NoGoodNamesLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NoGoodNamesLeft)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/26 "2003-06-23T12:00:11Z")
> [@](#): > > I don’t think I’ve ever seen fewer than 15 cars in our local Wal\*Mart parking lot, and I’ve been there at 3AM, 4AM and 5AM. 24-hour WAL-MART™s?!? Huh… Here (Canada) WAL-MART™ took over another chain (Woolco) so, most of ours are in malls, which I understand is an oddity; but we don’t have any that are open overnight around here! ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/27 "2003-06-23T12:32:41Z")
Ahh, our friends to the North have not yet met the Wal-Mart Supercenter. 24 hours AND a grocery store grafted on to it. ---
**Author:** ![mallocks](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f4b2a3/32.png) [@mallocks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mallocks)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/28 "2003-06-23T12:37:02Z")
Walmart, one of the major bonuses to living in Britan 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 12:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/29 "2003-06-23T12:42:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GMRyujin \* > \*\*Ahh, our friends to the North have not yet met the Wal-Mart Supercenter. 24 hours AND a grocery store grafted on to it. \*\* There’s at least one 24-hour one around here. Oh, and be sure to visit the one in Honolulu - two stories tall! Whee! **NoGoodNamesLeft** , I didn’t realize Woolco was taken over by WalMart. I thought they just plain went out of business - I remember 70%-off sales. Woolworth, the parent company, survived, though. ---
**Author:** ![kiz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/7feea3/32.png) [@kiz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kiz)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/30 "2003-06-23T13:39:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GMRyujin \* > \*\*Ahh, our friends to the North have not yet met the Wal-Mart Supercenter. 24 hours AND a grocery store grafted on to it. \*\* Not just them – there aren’t any 24-hour Wal-Mart Supercenters around my way either, thank goodness! ---
**Author:** ![Doomtrain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/0ea827/32.png) [@Doomtrain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doomtrain)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/31 "2003-06-23T13:51:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dantheman \* > **There’s at least one 24-hour one around here. Oh, and be sure to visit the one in Honolulu - two stories tall! Whee!** You guys haven’t lived until you’ve gone to one of the two story targets with the thing by the escalator that moves the cart up and down floors. A friend and I were going to strap ironing boards to the carts and go Target surfing… ---
**Author:** ![Neidhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Neidhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neidhart)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/32 "2003-06-23T14:03:27Z")
Anyone ever read [The Store?](http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0451192192/qid=1056377310/sr=1-5/ref=sr_1_5/103-2342093-0651005?v=glance&s=books) 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/33 "2003-06-23T14:08:02Z")
On the infrequent occasion that I do shop at Wally World, I use the Garden Center checkout. It’s usually much faster. ---
**Author:** ![pencilpusher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d6d6ee/32.png) [@pencilpusher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pencilpusher)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/34 "2003-06-23T14:10:11Z")
I hate Wally World but my sis in law drives 40 miles one way to go to the super center in the next town over even tho there is a Super Target and two KMarts 5 miles from her. I swear shes addicted to the damn place!!! I think shes a moron. ---
**Author:** ![FaerieBeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e95f7d/32.png) [@FaerieBeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FaerieBeth)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/35 "2003-06-23T14:16:27Z")
Okay, I confess. I shop at Wal-Mart, but not because I like it! It’s just…just…the baby formula and the diapers are cheaper there, and with a familiy of five _shrug_ Now, I don’t think Wal-Mart is the be-all end-all of the retail discount stores. That would be Target. Target rocks. I love their housewares! They sell Tupperware, man! (at least they will for a little while longer, stupid Tupperware people) Target has nice stuff, and the one that’s just down the road from the largest Wal-Mart in our state has recently started making so much money that they’ve refurbished and expanded. Go Target! ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/36 "2003-06-23T15:49:15Z")
We’ve got the convenient “icky” Walmart and the farther-away “not-so-icky” Walmart. I like that I can get the stuff I need, but I mostly hate the experience. And the clothes. I just HATE the clothes. ---
**Author:** ![bernse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9a28c/32.png) [@bernse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bernse)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2003, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/37 "2003-06-23T17:10:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GMRyujin \* > \*\*Ahh, our friends to the North have not yet met the Wal-Mart Supercenter. 24 hours AND a grocery store grafted on to it. \*\* Oh no. We’ve got those too. You don’t have a monopoly on them by anymeans. Actually, I like shopping at my local Wal-Mart. The store is almost always neat and tidy and the staff is for the most part friendly. The only problem I have with them is their knack for hiring handicapped people (for which on its own I have no problem) and putting them directly in customer service positions when these particular people have a very difficult time communicating, period. There are a couple in my local store that quite literally, have a difficult time speaking. But, at least they have jobs. ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/38 "2003-06-24T03:16:22Z")
Oh goodie… perfect timing… Saturday afternoon, went to the HellMart to pick up the new HP. Granted, it had been a month or so since I had been in this HellMart, but I figured they would have it (versus Target, who I figured would not have it and I try not to give the Dayton family any money as much as possible). When you walk into the HellMart, there is the book section right up front. I mean, it’s an actual _department_. Well, it was. Now it’s the HellMart Fun Arcade, filled with .25C cheesy helicopters that mildly vibrate for a minute. So, I go looking for the book, thinking I would find SOMEONE who knew where they would be. 10 minutes later, three “associates” who did not speak a lick of English later, and no book in hand, I left the store. But not before I was accosted by another “associate” wanting to know why I was leaving their wonderful store empty handed. Bah. ---
**Author:** ![Poysyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Poysyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Poysyn)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/39 "2003-06-24T04:42:39Z")
All of our WalMarts, although originally located in shopping malls moved out when their lease was up, abandoning the malls and opening their own big-box locations. And yes, the local WalMart has started carrying grocery items. Used to be one row of candy and cookies, now it’s milk, bread eggs etc. ---
**Author:** ![CanvasShoes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/74df32/32.png) [@CanvasShoes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CanvasShoes)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2003, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629/40 "2003-06-24T05:40:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GMRyujin \* > \*\*Ahh, our friends to the North have not yet met the Wal-Mart Supercenter. 24 hours AND a grocery store grafted on to it. \*\* Alaska doesn’t have those yet either, the walmart does have sort of a "snack/grocery section, but it’s only a few aisles and consists mainly of snack type foods. Maybe ours aren’t nearly as bad as the ones you all describe because they’re all fairly new. (10 years? maybe a few more). They’re clean, and well organized, and I’ve never seen anyone just throw baskets any old where. The only problem ours have are the occasional unhelpful employee, or manager who stuck some poor clerk out during rush hour on her first day with 15 minutes of training. **Blonde**?? How are the ones in Texas?? And do they have “Fred Meyer” stores there? 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wal-mart-logic-please-explain/183629.md?page=3)