Walmart Convenience

Walmart has a convenience that is unparalleled, or so it seems. It is very convenient being able to buy a movie, groceries, and cash your check in the same place, but when it comes to a routine grocery store run, it may be the most inconvenient place there is. You go in to buy about 6 items to keep your pantry stocked and get stuck in the express lane behind someone who clearly has trouble counting to 20. 

Suddenly getting in and getting out has turned into a 45 minute grocery store visit. Not only does the person in front of you have well over 20 items, but they argue with the cashier over the price of an item being ten cents more than what they thought it was. So then you're standing there waiting for the manager and meanwhile people in other lanes are just breezing through. 

Finally you decide you've had enough and you decide to get into another lane. While you're standing in the other lane behind 2 other  people, the manager shows up and the issue gets resolved and the person who was behind you is now going through the lane. Suddenly the lane that was moving so fast is now moving slow. You wait forever for the people in front of you to go through, then when you're finally up, the cashier's shift has just  ended and you're waiting for the next person to log into the computer. 

Before the new cashier can ring you up, they have to go and get quarters, which is bad for you, because you were going to pay with a credit card. Now the cashier is back with the quarters and after waiting for he or she to break open the rolls and put the quarters into the register it's time to finally ring you up. The cashier smiles and asks you "how are you doing today?", you were doing fine until your 5 minute grocery store visit turned into 45 minutes.

 

Walmart

Walmart is a store which has a little bit of everything. In the past, Walmart stores were known for having things like toys, clothes, and electronics. Walmart decided to put up supercenters everywhere and really became big. With the addition of a grocery section, Walmart became a true onestop store. 

Walmart has always kept a central theme of rolling back prices. Typically customers will see the price of some items on a BIG sign and under the sign, the former price. For example $4.36, was $5.13. An intrigued customer looking to save money may see the price and think he or she has to buy the product, because it's a good price. 

Walmart has some pretty good prices that many other stores can't compete with, but the problem with Walmart is the fact that many people are so drawn into Walmart that they don't know what a good deal is. One thing I've noticed is that Walmart will have a sale price on something for a little while and then jack the price back up and say what the price was. Example: Walmart had Kelloggs poptarts for sale $1.99 for the box of 16, but then they jacked the price up to $3.29 and stated that they were $3.79. 


One of the worst things about Walmart is that there aren't enough companies competing with them, K-mart is a joke and many stores that exclusively sell groceries, fail to offer competitive prices. Walmart is a monopoly and even though they have pretty good prices on things, the prices could be a lot lower.