Always Low Down
As many of you know, I am not a Wal-Mart fan. I have been to Wal-Mart once in the last 15 months, and I'm not proud of myself for having gone that one time. There are many reasons I don't like Wal-Mart. First of all, I always feel miserable when I'm there. The workers are not happy and they don't even pretend they are. I've yet to see a Wal-Mart employee defer to a customer. They seem to expect us to move out of the way for them. I don't really know how Wal-Mart has grown into a mega-giant-unto-itself when I consider its poor staffing, bad management hierarchy, low pay, lack of service and unpleasant atmosphere. I once stood in line for an hour to return something. There were only 4 people in front of me when I arrived. What was the trouble? The "CM" was required to authorize each return. But the CM was not at the return desk. Indeed, each time she was summoned, it took about 10 minutes for her to show up. She would walk up, scribble her name on a piece of paper, and then walk past the long-suffering customers to disappear into the vast marketing wasteland. The "customer service" counter spent most of its time paging the CM, and the cashiers spent a lot of time paging the CM, and all the customers stood in neat little lines wondering what the heck the CM was doing!
And speaking of lines....there are lines and lines and lines. That's it. About 3 lines. There are 40 cash registers, but they seem to open about 3 lines at a time, no matter how long the lines are. I have discovered that it is faster for me to drive 15 miles further north to do my shopping at Crest, where there are NO LINES. I can drive to Crest and back faster than I can stand in line at Wal-Mart. And, the scenery is better, too!
Then there is the general atmosphere of Wal-Mart. With all that paging going on, and the general expanse of the store, it is just plain loud. You must always be on guard for the employees and customers of Wal-Mart, because they will not hesitate to run you down with their carts. It is a free for all! And it may be one-stop shopping, but if you wander over to the grocery section before you pick up your lotion, you'll have to decide whether the lotion is worth the 4-block walk!
So, this is my longest post yet, but I'm still not finished! I read law cases for a living. Let me tell you, Wal-Mart ain't pretty. They talk big about bringing jobs and economic benefits to communities, but the truth of the matter is the jobs do not pay well and the employees are not happy. I know I'm only reading about the unhappy employees, but I have read enough cases to get a glimpse into the corporate culture and let me just say, I wouldn't want to be working there. The looks on the faces I see at Wal-Mart only serve to confirm my suspicions.
And, finally, there is this: Wal-Mart is homogenizing America. All the towns are starting to look alike. The centers of the community are boarded up and the edges are filled with Wal-Mart strip centers hosting Old Navy, Ross and the like. On our trip to the beach a few weeks ago, we found that once we left the beach, it was just like being home in Oklahoma! All the stores were exactly the same!
I understand that low prices are a great benefit Wal-Mart brings us. But look at all we've lost. Service, community, personality, quality and local cultural differences.
As many of you know, I am not a Wal-Mart fan. I have been to Wal-Mart once in the last 15 months, and I'm not proud of myself for having gone that one time. There are many reasons I don't like Wal-Mart. First of all, I always feel miserable when I'm there. The workers are not happy and they don't even pretend they are. I've yet to see a Wal-Mart employee defer to a customer. They seem to expect us to move out of the way for them. I don't really know how Wal-Mart has grown into a mega-giant-unto-itself when I consider its poor staffing, bad management hierarchy, low pay, lack of service and unpleasant atmosphere. I once stood in line for an hour to return something. There were only 4 people in front of me when I arrived. What was the trouble? The "CM" was required to authorize each return. But the CM was not at the return desk. Indeed, each time she was summoned, it took about 10 minutes for her to show up. She would walk up, scribble her name on a piece of paper, and then walk past the long-suffering customers to disappear into the vast marketing wasteland. The "customer service" counter spent most of its time paging the CM, and the cashiers spent a lot of time paging the CM, and all the customers stood in neat little lines wondering what the heck the CM was doing!
And speaking of lines....there are lines and lines and lines. That's it. About 3 lines. There are 40 cash registers, but they seem to open about 3 lines at a time, no matter how long the lines are. I have discovered that it is faster for me to drive 15 miles further north to do my shopping at Crest, where there are NO LINES. I can drive to Crest and back faster than I can stand in line at Wal-Mart. And, the scenery is better, too!
Then there is the general atmosphere of Wal-Mart. With all that paging going on, and the general expanse of the store, it is just plain loud. You must always be on guard for the employees and customers of Wal-Mart, because they will not hesitate to run you down with their carts. It is a free for all! And it may be one-stop shopping, but if you wander over to the grocery section before you pick up your lotion, you'll have to decide whether the lotion is worth the 4-block walk!
So, this is my longest post yet, but I'm still not finished! I read law cases for a living. Let me tell you, Wal-Mart ain't pretty. They talk big about bringing jobs and economic benefits to communities, but the truth of the matter is the jobs do not pay well and the employees are not happy. I know I'm only reading about the unhappy employees, but I have read enough cases to get a glimpse into the corporate culture and let me just say, I wouldn't want to be working there. The looks on the faces I see at Wal-Mart only serve to confirm my suspicions.
And, finally, there is this: Wal-Mart is homogenizing America. All the towns are starting to look alike. The centers of the community are boarded up and the edges are filled with Wal-Mart strip centers hosting Old Navy, Ross and the like. On our trip to the beach a few weeks ago, we found that once we left the beach, it was just like being home in Oklahoma! All the stores were exactly the same!
I understand that low prices are a great benefit Wal-Mart brings us. But look at all we've lost. Service, community, personality, quality and local cultural differences.
posted by Jan at 8:29 AM
4 Comments:
Thats why I like Bloomington. Downtown is still functional. I love going downtown. I hate Wal Mart. They never have what I need and it is crowded. People go there to visit, I feel like I am crashing a family reunion there.
Dawn poses an interesting question: Is it our fault? I pose that it is. There have always been poor people, but there was a social standard that required civility, even of poor people. My grandfather, for instance, was the poorest farmer in his Indiana farming community. But he never went to town without a suit and hat. He taught my father and his four brothers to leave every place better than they found it and to treat others with kindness. Wealth, or lack thereof, did not define certain social standards then. And even (especially?) poor employees were expected to treat customers with respect. I don't imagine all was romantic and perfect, but there was a standard.
Today's America has embraced Wal-Mart because of its low prices and despite its lack of attention to customer service. It is understandable that we would do so. I don't mean to attack anybody on that point. However, when we choose price over service, that's what we get. So, now we have lots of discount stores that set the standard. Most people don't even expect service anymore. But, if you do expect it, you would do well to be rich. There is not much in the way of service for middle-income people like me and virtually nothing for the poor. And that's what I miss.
I agree we are responsible for our own attitudes and that the others may not have had the same wonderful upbringing I have had to mold me into a deferential being, but where home life has failed a person, society can require more. Employers can require more. Indeed, a benevolent employer respects its employees and trains them up for success.
I don't believe Wal-Mart does that. Yes, it provides jobs. But, it doesn't provide a healthy work environment. It understaffs, thereby placing stress on the employees. It is not the employees' fault when 3 lanes are open for 300 customers. (Please see my reference to the corporate culture). Its what happens when you offer low prices at any cost. I think the employees are paying the price.
Look, there are good arguments for and against Wal-Mart. I don't pretend to have the answer. I'm just a lowly blogger spouting off. I do want to be clear, however, that I do NOT walk around Wal-Mart looking all grumpy and angry. I do my best to bring sunshine with me when I do venture in. I am also pretty far from liberal. I am for treating employees right and I am for polite society. And I do spend my dollars where I find those things.
And I'm still friends with Dawn.
OK now I just want to stay home and send the wife to do the shopping from now on. Maybe I will only shop online.
Jan, you may not have done so intentionally, but I don't think it's a coincidence that you've posted the WalMart essay and the soy sauce entry so closely together! More manufacturing processes are being outsourced to places like China, thanks to WalMart's "rollback" on prices. I'm sure that WalMart has nothing to do with this soy sauce plant and surely isn't buying that product, but how many other things made in China are on WalMart's shelves? They put so much pressure on their vendors to keep prices low, that cutting corners, outsourcing, and eventual bankruptcy are eventual results.
I'm with you, Jan. I haven't been in WalMart in months. Besides their business practices, the store closest to me in Edmond is just awful and terribly chaotic and cluttered. And the SuperCenters are not in my neighborhood, so I have another excuse.
I honestly have never noticed the attitudes of the employees or had any problem with customer service there.
Penny E.
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