Purchasing a washer online from Sears? Prepare to pay $31 more than the sale price.

[Dean Hoffman]

What do you see Walmart doing wrong?

[CRNG]

On Mon, 16 May 2016 16:47:47 -0500, "Dean Hoffman" wrote in

Based on the two WMs (super centers) where we used to shop, one about

20 miles west of us and the other about 20 miles east of us, I would say:

1. Empty shelves - About 15% of the items we try to buy on any given shopping trip are out of stock. There is a place for it on the shelf, but it's not there. The items vary from trip to trip, but there are always a couple.
2. Their on-line shopping seems chaotic and uncertain. It would be nice if anything ordered on-line had the option to be picked up (shipping free$) at the local store.

[Don Y]

Target is even worse, in that regard. If it was an occasional thing, we'd assume someone just botched their JIT MRP. But, it seems to happen too often to write it off to a fluke!

SWMBO ordered a battery for her camera some years ago. Walmart was one of the few online places that carried it. And, we could just pick it up in the store (lots of camera batteries are third party and we wanted to be able to play touchy feely before settling on the purchase). The service was worse than the post office! There wasn't even a person *at* the Will-Call desk (which was hidden in the back of the store).

[The USPS is actually very "efficient" in their counter service; they keep the minimum amount of staff there as possible to address the needs of their clientele. Staff "standing around" might improve service *times* but not "efficiency"! In that regard, WalMart was even MORE "efficient"! :< ]

This sort of thing should be a no-brainer: if you have an online presence, all you should have to do is arrange for the parts to be included in the latest shipment to Store #1234 with a label "To the Attention Of: Online Sales Will-Call".

WalMart appears to be missing the business aspects of The Internet in much the same way that MS did!

[gfretwell]

I have not set foot in a post office in years. Why would I since their online and "doorstep" service is as good as it is. I am not sure why I would even need to go to the PO and I ship and receive from them a lot. I can sell some kind of widget on Ebay, the postage it already computed, I print the postage paid label here, stick it on the box and the mailman picks it up on my front porch the next day. I can do the same thing on Click n ship (USPS web site) for anything I want to mail. They even give me the boxes for free.

I agree about the Walmart "will call" desk. I had to track down someone to call someone to get my package there. In the end, the "package" (a set of tires) was really in the tire shop but you still need the ticket from will call.

[Micky]

I agree. And you can listen to the radio while you do it, or talk to SWHTET, which is hard to do while on the phone.

But it should cost the pizzeria less, not more, for someone to order online, once they have online set up. The important thing is what the advertising said. Weren't there prices on the webpage. If they don't clearly refer only to ordering in person, that should be the webl price.

Once I needed a computer cable from Staples. $6 online and instock. I didnt' want to give them my CC number if I was going to pay in cash, so I went over there. $24 at the store. I found a manager and asked what to do. He said just tell the cashier to give you the online price. I thought she would have that in her computer, but she also took my word what the price was!!!

[Micky]

The net has a lot to do with all this.

Last year was the first year clothing sales on the net exceeded computer and computer accesory sales.

[Micky]

Yesterday, I admit it, I was at walmart** and they had cans of cold soda in a vending machine for 50 cents, and I thought of buying it just because it was cheap. But i wasn't thirsty and I prefer water, so I controlled myself.

** because they were a dollar cheaper than pepboys for starting fluid (that was last fall. They'd gone up 50 cents)

[Micky]

This was a good thing for a long time, because I saw all the things that people sold, things I'd never thought of, a few of which I needed and some that I would need in the future.

But now I'm not so interested in learning about new things. I have too many hobbies, for example.

I buy my water heater there. They have the same spacing as my original one, between the intake and output pipes.

I bought a universal garage door receiver/xmitter there a while back, to replace one a friend had foolishly removed from his house, that turned on 8 flood lights. I got it working, but I never heard back that his wife was happy again, and I asked, and got a vague answer.

Not only did it work from the street in front of their house, it worked another 30 feet into the school yard across the street. Something must have gone wrong, but IL don't know what.

[Micky]

It would help me to picture this if I knew what town and state.

My friend walks in one for 90 minutes 3 times a week when the weather is cold or rainy. A big mall in Baltimore actually went out of business, so now she has to go to a smaller one. She's bumped into one or two other walkers from the first mall. A store often gives her a free pretzel.

[Micky]

Same girl I was talking about likes shoes. Bought a lot from Zappos, usually when they are on sale (of course they play games about that.) Free returns including shipping. But eventually they told her she couldn't buy anymore because she returned too much, even though she kept a lot more than she returned. So she changed her email address and reregistered and that seemed to fool them. (You'd think they could foresee that and would go by shipping address.)

Ace is VERRY good.

[Micky]

3 or 4 Aces in baltimore are small, packed with stuff and one or 2 definitelyh doing good business. One in a west suburb is very busy, larger, and was mobbed 9 days ago (sunday), the firstg good weekend day this year. There were twice as many cars as usual, filling a parking area that is always empty. They were giving free hotdogs that day.

[Micky]

I don't know what products might be missing from their shelves, but neither store here has any empty shelves. Walmart's very restrictive return policy caused me to get stuck with something I coudl have returned earlier.

Home Depot was very good at "ship free to store". Strangely, I thought it would come to them with their normal truckload of stuff, but it seemed to have been shipped individuallly from St. Louis. They coudl have shipped it to me for the same money, but it's really no effort to go there to pick it up.

[Micky]

That's great.

My mother moved from Indianapolis to a town of 50,000 in 1945. The operator would answer and she would give her an exchange and 4 numbers to call. After a while the operator said to her, "You don't have to say OLiver 2, ma'am. They're all OLiver 2. "

[DerbyDad03]

Depending on the time of day, e.g. Friday/Saturday evening, you may be put on hold for longer than it takes to order on-line. BTHT (Been There, Hated That).

[Don Y]

You don't have a POBox, do you? :> When clients send things to my box, they often "don't fit" so I have to take the little slip to the window to "claim my prize"...

Sure! I used to use the "medium shoebox" to mail cookies to friends and family. Finally decided that $11 for postage was making them awfully expensive cookies!

OTOH, in the bakery, they seem to want $10/pound...

[DerbyDad03]

Have you tried PayPal shipping for small packages that can go USPS First Class? Click-N-Ship has a minimum of ~$6 which is much more than it costs for USPS First Class when shipping just a few ounces. PayPal Ship Now lets you buy postage and print 1st Class mailing labels.

No address book though, so you have to keep typing in addresses that you use a lot.

..snip...

[Ed Pawlowski]

Some sores will also kick your ass out if you return too much. It is costly to handle the return.

[Micky]

Also, Amazon bought Zappos about that time so their policy may have changed.

[My 2 Cents]

I noticed in the back of the fridge I still have the full, unopened, like new, can of cream soda I got at the 50 cent pop machine at walmart last summer. I thought I was getting root beer, cream soda ya either love it or hate it.

[Don Y]

No. *MOXIE* is "love or hate"!