Wal-Mart Customers Complain Bare Shelves Are Widespread

[marmar]

(Bloomberg) More than 1,000 e-mailed complaints signal that Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s (WMT) restocking challenges are more widespread than the world’s largest retailer has said.

Wal-Mart customers from Hawaii to Florida and from Texas to Vermont wrote to express their frustration after Bloomberg News reported March 26 that there aren’t enough workers in the stores to keep shelves stocked, cash registers manned and shoppers’ questions answered. In response to the original article, Brooke Buchanan, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said in part: “The premise of this story, which is based on the comments of a handful of people, is inaccurate and not representative of what is happening in our stores across the country.”

The e-mails began arriving shortly after the article was published and were still coming a week later. Most were from previously loyal Wal-Mart customers befuddled by what had happened to service at a company they’d once admired for its low prices and wide assortment. Many said they were paying more and driving farther to avoid the local Wal-Mart. Some had developed shopping strategies, including waiting until the last minute to grab ice cream, lest it melt in the lengthy checkout lines.

Wal-Mart founder “Sam Walton must be rolling over in his grave to see what has become of his business,” said Tony Martin, a 54-year-old forklift driver who once frequented a Wal- Mart store in Glen Carbon, Illinois. ...............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-02/wal-mart-customers-complain-bare-shelves-are-widespread.html

[xchrom]

1. du rec. nt

[lunasun]

2. Maybe they are in areas where Walmart lowballed the competition

in to extinction...now WM can do what they want re: service and product quality
ooops!

[Proud Liberal Dem]

3. My wife shops at Wal-Mart

I've heard her complain on more than one occasion that Wal-Mart is awful when it comes to re-stocking items that she buys on one trip but can't find on the next one. Come to think of it, I've noticed an increasing difficulty in finding various things there that I was for sure Wal-Mart stocked at one time. It's still pretty much the cheapest place to buy food that is acceptable to my wife (she refuses to shop at Aldi) and I don't believe we have a Costco anywhere nearby and we are still usually spending $400-450 bi-weekly on all of our groceries and household supplies.

[rurallib]

4. Since Costco came in we shop Walmart for a few certain items

so now I only go in there once a month or so. Usually less then $20
Even the few specific items we buy there are frequently out or quite low.

[99Forever]

5. Weren't these "unhappy Walmart shoppers" listening when ..

... those of us that saw this kind coming, were warning of how the monopoly capitalism style of this rotten corporation works? (That's a rhetorical question.)

And now, Walmart has entire areas by the short hairs, and every time some one says "don't give your business to Walmart, they will destroy your neighborhood," we hear, "some people have no other option."

A classic Catch 22.

But here's the bottom line, until you starve Walmart out of business by not giving them 1 cent of your business, this trend will continue.

[BrotherIvan]

9. Ayup!

A wise friend once said to me, "People don't change when they see the light, but when they feel the heat."

So suddenly everyone who had no choice but to shop at a store that pays slave wages and ruins local economies, willfully putting local business owners--your friends and neighbors--out of business to save a few pennies, is now perfectly able to shop elsewhere. Hmm, that old self-interest again.

And before I get piled on to all the people screaming about how Wal Mart is the only store within 100 miles, please answer this question: How did any one in your town ever survive BEFORE Wal Mart moved in?

[Purplehazed]

6. Walmart pays poverty wages...

P-O-V-E-R-T-Y, that means poor. While working full time, if your lucky, you will still qualify for government assistance. Walmart opposes minimum wage increases.

In the meantime Walmart, CEO raked in $23.15 million dollars and the Walton family making more with profits measured in the billions of dollars.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/29/walmart-ceo-pay_n_2978180.html

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/10/1141724/-Walmart-fuels-inequality-epidemic-taking-advantage-of-our-safety-net

[4_TN_TITANS]

7. When your supply comes on the slow boat from China, you can't react as fast to economic pressures.

I'm having to deal with this, as welll as swamped U.S. suppliers, at the moment. There's more demand for goods than most people expected this far into the year and it will take 2-3 months for supply to catch up. That's what they get for placing most of their eggs in one basket, thousands of miles away.

[TeamPooka]

8. K&R!

[MichiganVote]

10. Its not just Walmart. All stores are reducing their inventory as people shop online more.

[wilsonbooks]

11. Bloomberg has really been going after Walmart.

Some kind of feud going on? I love it.

[Rex]

12. Let them eat cake.

nt.

[L0oniX]

13. It's so bad you have to bring a cooler with ice to keep your stuff from going bad in the checkout

lane.