Your thoughts on shopping in Walmart these days

[Camas Lilly]

Walmart has a pickup place next to the store. We park in one of the pickup spots and they come out with the groceries. I suppose DW texts them or something to let them know that she is there.

I don't have a smart phone yet, but my legacy phone will text one letter at a time!

 

[harllee]

Well I never thought of that! I wonder how they deal with fresh stuff like kale, yogurt, etc.

I only buy nonperishables online from Walmart and I have them delivered directly to my home (paper products, canned goods, cleaning supplies, cereal, juices, etc). Free shipping if over $35. For stuff like milk, veggies, meats, etc. I go to Harris Teeter or Lowes grocery stores but I can shop fast because most of my shopping is delivered to my door from Walmart. I have done this for a couple of years and it works well for me and saves me money since Walmart is much cheaper than my local grocery stores.

 

[Camas Lilly]

There are no Walmart's conveniently located in Chicago near where we live. For groceries we predominantly go to Aldi's and an even closer conventional large box grocery store Jewel Osco. Pretty much we buy other items online or at Target. When we travel to the Walmart's though the local store and rural area stores are clean, but I seldom think to myself "what a deal" like I used to at Kmart when they had the red light specials.

Regarding lack of checkers to "force" the customers to scan stuff ourselves, I tend to just say out loud to the manager near the exit too bad there are no checkers and walk out leaving my cart where the checker should have been. This way there is a cost to them to reshelf the items and the loss of a sale is evident.
I have done the self scan with a couple items but don't like it especially when the employee is there supervising the one or two check out areas. I suppose another method to deal with this is to be extremely slowwwwwww. Stand there talking with someone and pretend you don't know what a scan bar is...
Hold the product an inch from your eye and move it slowly checking for the scan bar. Check the sides with out it several times. Pretty sure after 5 minutes someone will help you. : )

But hey I resisted self clean up at fast food joints for a long time. My logic was teenagers need a first job. Unfortunately my wife had self guilt about me resisting providing free janitorial service to a restaurant.

LOL sounds like you know how to have some "fun"!

 

[Camas Lilly]

now I'm a weird person, I like shopping for my own food. I like picking hte produce I want and seeing what's on sale. so I doubt if I ever do the "shop at home" thing.

I am one of those "weird" people who likes to shop for my own food too. Need to get up off my buns and walk.

 

[Camas Lilly]

How do people that shop for groceries online know what looks good that day?
Went to Wegmans yesterday for seltzer water and on the way through saw the plums were ripe and looking tasty. The peaches were a bit hard but I know they'll ripen in a day or two. Sweet corn was not local but looked good and was tasty.
Shopping for my food is part of the joy of cooking.

Yep, that touchy, feely is part of the process.

 

[Camas Lilly]

I only buy nonperishables online from Walmart and I have them delivered directly to my home (paper products, canned goods, cleaning supplies, cereal, juices, etc). Free shipping if over $35. For stuff like milk, veggies, meats, etc. I go to Harris Teeter or Lowes grocery stores but I can shop fast because most of my shopping is delivered to my door from Walmart. I have done this for a couple of years and it works well for me and saves me money since Walmart is much cheaper than my local grocery stores.

Sounds like a plan!

 

[ShokWaveRider]

This should probably be in the "Pet Peeves" post. I am going to comment on this post for the sake of it, because I have nothing better to do and to add absolutely no value to it. Simply because is annoys me when others do it, and there are a lot of folks here that do.

We like to shop, we like the experience regardless of how long it takes, so this thread is completely of no value to us.

 

[Camas Lilly]

This should probably be in the "Pet Peeves" post. I am going to comment on this post for the sake of it, because I have nothing better to do and add absolutely no value to it. Simply because is annoys me when other do it, and there are a lot of folks here that do.

We like to shop, we like the experience regardless of how long it takes, so this thread is completely of no value to us.

Alrighty then....feelin' the LOVE.

 

[ddoorn]

Walmart? No Thank You!

There are too many aspects to Walmart that turn me off and steer me toward local grocery stores and my favorite food venues at Aldi’s & Wegmans.

Walmart has a poor track record of treating its employees badly and selling guns. The Walmart clan has already made their bazillions off of too many. I’m not interested in adding more to their profits.

 

[Squirrel]

Monday, I arrived at Walmart at 9 am. I had a return. I was the only customer at Customer Svc -- the clerk had me taken care of in about 90 seconds.

They have a few home runs on their products:

They have the best shirt hangers in the world -- plastic tube, swivel top, plastic non-slip pads, instead of that funky velvet. (I never find them online, but they're in the physical stores.)

And their equate-brand cool-and-heat pain relieving roll on. Instant relief.

Also have had good luck with their 100% cotton knit shorts, with pockets. (difficult to find for women's styles.)

 

[rk911]

we hit walmart for groceries when we're out on an RV trip. beyond that wally is not my first choice for just about anything. that "honor" belongs to target. an exception at wally are the Murray sugar free shortbread cookies. i can't find them anywhere so i order a bunch online and have them shipped.

as for the self-checkout, they are just about everywhere. i refuse to use them as i'd like to see people keep their jobs. there's a menard's near us that has checkers but they will not bag anything.

 

[gerntz]

Not the go to place for anything. Prefer others for grocery, particularly fresh items. For hard goods, usually better deals online. It's not that we don't consider them at all, jusdt not first thought.

 

[Kroeran]

One of the stories they might tell at my funeral is the time DW donated a too small shirt I bought from Goodwill back to Goodwill, and the next week I brought the same shirt back into the house after a Goodwill hunting trip.

 

[zippy2020]

How do people that shop for groceries online know what looks good that day?
Went to Wegmans yesterday for seltzer water and on the way through saw the plums were ripe and looking tasty. The peaches were a bit hard but I know they'll ripen in a day or two. Sweet corn was not local but looked good and was tasty.
Shopping for my food is part of the joy of cooking.

I have gone - reluctantly - into a Wal-Mart 3x in my entire life, and I'm now 68. That's 3x too many, IMHO. But YMMV, obviously.

I'm considered a very good cook, although if I had my way we'd dine out 10x/week instead of just 3x/week, LOL. When you live in the San Francisco Bay Area food is quite literally everywhere. Cooking is a hobby, not a requirement.

Yes, Wal-Mart is cheaper on many things. But not enough to warrant my shopping there. And we tend to be brand-specific; we don't buy the cheapest item anyway, unless we like it better than its peers.

For a great many grocery/staple items, I shop on-line from our local supermarket, who delivers. For fruit and veggies, it varies - cabbage, for example, isn't going to vary no matter who you buy it from.

There are some specific items I prefer, which aren't available on-line so I pick them up in person. We love the Dulcinea brand Tuscan melons, for example, and only the local supermarket carries them. They are not cheap, but they beat any American canteloupe I've ever had, even the best ripe ones. We love romaine for our salads, and Artisan Brand (out of Paso Robles, CA) grows a variety of gourmet romaine that is amazing - also only available at our local supermarket.

Both are CA brands with limited production. The supermarket chain was based in the state for decades and 10 yrs ago decided to upgrade its produce vendors to include as many local, organic, and quality produce suppliers as possible.

Most of our fruit and veggies come from a local CSA who delivers weekly - again almost all regional farmers, or grown in Mexico under contract for the Northern CA market.

We're fortunate to have multiple specialty grocery markets nearby, including several independents. There is a Trader Joe's nearby but I seldom shop there; their meat and produce is inferior to the sources I use, and I have no use for most of their pre-packaged foods. There's a couple of items I like, but it tends to be very crowded every day, all day; and there's nothing so unique that I can't find a suitable or even better substitute from another source.

I also use an on-line only, specialty vendor which offers high-end products that are otherwise difficult for me to find: Tartine breads, Stemple Creek lamb, Rancho Llano Seco pork, duck and quail eggs, etc. It delivers to my doorstep so again, no need to drive anywhere.

I find the most frequent grocery shopping I do is at the Asian ethnic markets. Just can't get those guys to deliver the inarizushi skins and Cantonese roasted ducks, darn it!

 

[mystang52]

Walmart has a poor track record of treating its employees badly and selling guns. The Walmart clan has already made their bazillions off of too many. I’m not interested in adding more to their profits.

At one of my j*bs my company had a business relationship with Walmart in one state, and I was the front person. What I saw was, for the most part, the opposite of the comment above. If one had a good work ethic, then regardless of background or education one could have a reasonable career there. I don't know which of our impressions is the correct one, but FWIW I felt I should mention my thoughts on this.

 

[isisdave]

Once school starts, go on a weekday about 8 or 8:30. Empty.

 

[brucethebroker]

Walmart has a poor track record of treating its employees badly and selling guns. The Walmart clan has already made their bazillions off of too many. I’m not interested in adding more to their profits.

I respectfully disagree. Walmart is despised by the media, and the media takes every shot it can to make that point. Many times, in current society, the number one player in a particular field receives far too many negative stories: McDonalds is another example of a #1 company that cannot do anything right apparently.

And if the criteria for not shopping is store owners/families making too much money, Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Ford, Morgan/Chase, etc., etc. most likely fit that category. BTW, Jack Bogle left a 180 million dollar estate-so much for investing with Vanguard.

 

[street]

I like Walmart it may have issues that are no different then any other store in the US.

 

[Jerry1]

If I go there, it’s because I have no other choice. I think the last time I went there it was because I snatched a video game for the grand kids that was hard to get around Christmas time. The only time I’ve bought food there is if I’m out of town and I’ll grab some bananas and such for breakfast or to have some drinks and snacks at the hotel for the night. Personally, I like Amazon and for food, a local market. For a chain, we use Kroger for a few things and their gift cards to get the points to save on gas.

 

[ransil]

Convenient buy guns, ammo and food 24 hours a day, just gotta find that time slot the creepy people are not there.

 

[red714]

Ditto

We place an order online at WM and schedule the pickup at our convenience. They pull the order and do a great job of it and it's free if you buy over $30 worth of goods. Very rarely we need to go in the store. Pretty simple.

We use WM for this service a lot. It is so easy and the site is very used friendly. Don't need to go inside store for much of anything anymore. And, if their is an "out of srock" the substitution is generally a better product for the same price.

 

[Monterey298sc]

I hate Walmart, have not been in one for 10 years. Buy American not China crap

 

[Koolau]

With Walmart, just like any other store, you soon figure out what they do best and what to avoid. You soon learn when to come and when not to.

One of our Walmarts is co-located with Sam's. Between the two, we can do a lot of shopping from the same parking garage. It's a bit of a drive, so we often visit after our Dr. appts. or other excuse to be in the area. Because of traffic, we only go between 10AM and 2:00PM. Yes, that's a bit confining, but it does work. We figured that out the first time we went. YMMV

 

[Lienlord]

Boy, there are a lot of long-winded, pretentious answers to the simple question about best times to shop Walmart! Especially just to say they DON'T shop at Walmart, or as my relatives in the country call it,
"The Walmart's".
Oh, and just so I don't get called a hypocrite...we like to shop Walmart on weekday mornings. Sundays after morning church services are the absolute worst times!

 

[ckelly78z]

I rolled into Walmart the other day (before work) at about 5:15 am, and it was good. Only the stocking employees were in the aisle ways, and no screaming kids, or disgusting adults in sight.

It was the only time I have ever used self checkout (no cashiers on duty).