Filthy Wal-Mart: A Photo Essay

Honestly, I am not surprised at this store’s condition.
In fact during the ‘peak season’ at our store, the conditions at time are similar, especially over the weekends when customer traffic is so high it is scary.

I say ‘scary’ considering the sheer numbers of the human wave, and the fact there is little to no security in a Wal-Mart.
I’d venture to say there is no company out there that experiences the wild volume that occurs in a large super center on a busy weekend.
And certainly no company that will have that many people under one roof, with little to no concern for the security of its customers.

Furthermore, this is what you get when you drive prices into the dirt, and wages into the dirt.
You get dirt.

Wal*Mart has based its business model on selling at the cheapest price (especially groceries), and to do that a company must ruthlessly cut costs, and Wal*Mart like many large companies choose labor as the opportunity of choice.

Wal*Mart, basically gives away groceries (10-20% less than competitors), to drive volume into its super centers.
They ‘purchase’ consumers, with the cheapest groceries and consumables anywhere.
They also know ‘cheap price’ oriented consumers are willing to wait in line longer for prices, and willing to ‘pick over’ heavily shopped merchandise for bargains.

If Wal*Mart were to raise its prices on par to most grocers, while still maintaining its queues, it would fail in a mere few years.
This is why I say they are ‘purchasing’ the consumer.

As they ‘purchase’ the ‘lowest common denominator’ shopper, they also ‘purchase’ the ‘piggish’ habits of those shoppers.
Shoppers more than willing to open and eat food, throw trash around, tear open packages for fun, vandalize bathrooms, and steal anything not bolted to the floor.

Cheap, begets cheap. Live with it if you plan to shop Wal*mart.

You may find this hard to believe, but you can walk into a Wal-Mart at 7am and find it a showplace, only to come back at 8pm to find what you see in those photos. If the store doesn’t have a top notch day stocking crew, that what you get. Then sales fall, and hours are cut, and the store standards slowly spiral downward. Vicious cycle. Mgmt can fire poor performers without a lengthy coaching process, and can’t spend extra payroll to fix a problem. Mgmt can’t even use overtime to cover a short staffed area of the store w/ out approval from above. And just asking means you are a failure in Wal-Mart’s eyes…

When you combine your points, Don, with the fact that every store manager has to reduce every line of his annual operating cost budget every year (no set amount, just less), it’s understandable why maintenence and upkeep are some of the first things to go.

This plan of building, using up, and abandoning Wal-Mart stores is what some critics refer to as “retail strip mining”. There’s nothing in Wal-Mart’s business model to indicate any desire to become a permanent part of a community.

thats walmart for you, they are taking all our money in wages instead of having enough people to do the work and protect the customers, and they are putting it in the ad agencies to help their image. only problem with that is the more we dont have on the shelves the less people we have to even think about putting it on the shelves because you gotta beat last year, what a laugh. I have been in stores that looked a lot worse than that one. great job with the pictures.

I have always found it fascinating, that people who make “good” choices in life and are financially responsible, are always referred to as: ‘misers’, ‘skin flints’, ‘tightwads’, ‘cheapskates’, etc., and now cazar adds ‘‘lowest common denominator’ shopper” as if people who want to save and invest their money are somehow ‘lowlives’, who are depriving the ‘poor’ of money.  He even used the term, ‘piggish’.

But, mention people who make ‘bad or at least poor’ choices and are financially irresponsible, and they are referred to as, the ‘have-nots’, ‘unfortunates’, ‘less fortunates’, etc., as if they are somehow society’s “deserving”, who have been stepped upon by life, with NO choice.

In another thread, Bob, you accused anti Wal-Marters of posting what they wished were true, not facts. Your characterization of the average Wal-Mart customer fits that description perfectly.

The fact is Wal-Mart’s customer base occupies the lower rungs on the socio-economic ladder.

“About one-third of Wal-Mart’s shoppers are estimated to have incomes of $30,000 or less, according to Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Bernard Sosnick.”

These “people who make ‘good’ choices in life and are financially responsible” are the upscale customers Wal-Mart wished to attract but haven’t.

I wonder if they’e had to re-order those $500 bottles of wine?

These photo’s don’t surprise me at all. But I am surprised by two things. 1) that the photographer was able to actually take the pictures without being thrown out of the store. And 2) that people ACTUALLY SHOP THERE IN ALL THAT FILFTH.
Don wrote and said a store can be a showpiece at 7 A.M and by 8 P.M. it could look like these photo’s. If he is right than shoppers at this particular Wal-Mart have become slobs, and the store obviously doesn’t have enough employees to clean up the mess.
I am not a fan of Sam Walton. But I read a story about him and I believe it was in his autobiography “Made In America.” Sam went to visit one of his stores and it was dirty and cluttered. He found the store manager and made him close the store so everyone could get busy and clean the place up. Hours later when the store was presentable, they reopened.
Whether you like Sam Walton or not, you can say one thing for him. He would never have stood for one of his stores looking like this one. He would regularly visit his stores and walk in unannounced. He would walk around for a little bit, and then gather all the customers and employees around him. He would then ask them what they liked and didn’t like about his store.
It is my understanding that all the employees loved Sam. From what I have read, Sam had that charasmatic, likeable type of personality. Employees would work overtime without getting paid for it among other things, simply because they liked Sam. They felt he really cared about them.
But Sam is dead. And unfortunately for Wal-Mart David Glass who took over after Sam, and Lee Scott, don’t have the personality of Sam Walton.
As I stated, I am not a fan of Sam Walton. He was cheap and cut corners whenever he could. But he was a good businessman, and one of his stores looking like this would have made him sick.
I guess it boils down to the old saying “you get what you pay for.” If Wal-Mart has enough employees and paid them better than stores wouldn’t look like this would they? As consumers “price” now dictates where we spend our money. People only want to pay the “lowest” price possible for something. When that happens something called customer service goes out the window. Yes, we are certainly getting what we are paying for!

After looking at these pictures, I’d pretty much rule out any raises or promotions for any employees. In fact, the employees should give their money back! Its tough to make a good case for increased wages and healthcare when employees dont do their job properly. It’s a shame that few employees have to ruin for everyone.

I hat walmart as much as the next but some of facts are off a bit. For example, this “Photo essay was taken at 8:30 at night before a night crew has a chance to come in and clean up after the hordes of people who entered Walmart. They came, they saw and conquered. It is not unusual to see many Walmart stores look like this after any given day because of the sheer volume of people who enter and exit Walmart. I work in a Walmart where the shelves are stocked and faced every night, the store is made presentable, and by the next night the store is trashed again.
To comment on the pay. Walmart does not pay the best compared to job market as whole. But if compare it to most of its competitors they pay much better. For example, If a CSM left Walmart and went to Target they would have to take a 40 cent cut. I do not see the outrage with target and how low they pay their employees. Second, yes the benefits suck and yes, the CEO gets paid more than he is worth. But if you had not see that trend in American business lately than you are blind or just plain ignorant.
Finally, when you trash talk Walmart. You need to take into account the associates who work tiressly there and also look at other factors in play before you put sole blame on Walmart. Walmart is a problem but not the only problem. Our current economic situation suck for most of the work force.

@Unknown:
“It is not unusual to see many Walmart stores look like this after any given day because of the sheer volume of people who enter and exit Walmart.”

That is no excuse. Not at all. People work different shifts, therefore people shop at different hours of the day. If your doors are open, then you are responsible for the condition of your store. Wal-Mart doesnt get a pass on these types of atrocities simply because of the amount of business they do. This is unsanitary and uncivililzed. If you have an enormous amount of people coming through your store, great! But you need to staff your store accordingly. This is just awful.

Ken V,

“The fact is Wal-Mart’s customer base occupies the lower rungs on the socio-economic ladder.”

You are assuming that ONLY ‘poor’ people shop at Wal-Mart, many people shop there, who are financially secure and got that way by being conservative with their spending habits.  Sure, the high wage earners may prefer the ‘high cost’ stores, but that is because they feel they are better than others and don’t want to be associated with shopping at a low price business.  They are the people who BRAG about how much they paid for things!!

plexus,

“But you need to staff your store accordingly.”

How many people per shift, would you suggest per department, to be able to keep the shelves from looking like this?  If, I was an employee, and I was to let my area get this bad, I think I should shown the door.  How long, does it take to survey your area and keep it looking professional?  This condition didn’t happen in five minutes, unless there was a big sale on Kleenex, but even then, the employees should have been aware of this and kept on top of it.  People with ‘Pride’ in their work will fix this problem, not just more employees.

I agree there is no excuse for a store looking this bad.  If I were a customer and saw that in ANY store I would turn around and walk out.  However, you bash Walmart for not paying enough, and then complain about them not having enough employees.  Some of us are just happy to have a job.  And beleive it or not, most Walmart employees DO give a damn.  But we can only do so much at any one time.  We put up with customers all damn day that refuse to be happy, but we still try to smile.  We walk behind them cleaning up THEIR messes and are still expected to clean up the general area and stock and face.  You want to hate walmart, be my guest.  Lord knows I do some days.  But don’t blame the employees.  We are only humans trying to put food on our own tables.

upon my 1st visit to this website i’d heard about, i was struck
by both the “intrepid photographer” of “filthy walmart” and by
the website’s authors put so much energy in tearing down something that benefits others with low prices and employment opportunities.  you guys ever consider constructive uses of your time?  don’t hatem cause they are
number 1!  you know that’s why they are your favorite, pardon my pun, target!

How many that comment on this page actually have or do work at a Walmart. I am not blaming the conditions of this Walmart on the volume of people who Walmart serve. I am just offering a different view point. I would have to agree that Walmart needs to be better staffed. But you also need people who are interested to work at Walmart to achieve the staffing needs to deal with the high volume of people who enter the store. This is Walmarts fault.
To comment on the people who shop at Walmart. Bob in is correct in saying that people with higher economic wealth do shop at Walmart. But if you compare the two Walmarts whose shoppers is economically different you would be surprised. For example, I work at a Walmart where the majority or our shopping base is lower income. That Walmart is generally filthy at the end of the day. Now the Walmart where the shopping base is of higher income the Walmart is cleaner and in better shape at the end of the day. This is because of two reasons the age of each store and where it where it was built. The filthier store is older and is located in an area where it serves more than half the town. The cleaner store is located in the outskirt of town and was built a few years ago.
Finally do not tear down upon something you have never experienced. If you have never been on the side where you say “Welcome to Walmart” or until you walked a day in a Walmart associates shoes do not judge.

I run a maintenance department in a Wal~Mart Supercenter. All I can say is that “Bob” has no idea what he is talking about.

My crew is a group of honest, hard working people trying their best to provide a clean place for people to shop. Unfortunately, they get slave wages from Wal~Mart, the department is severely understaffed, and our customers are the most disgusting group of individuals I’ve ever seen!!!!!

We clean up human excrement form the sales floor almost daily. They go into the restroom and urinate on the walls and floors rather than hit the urinal. They pull out three or four feet of paper towels to dry their hands and throw it on the floor. They routinely flush trash down the toilets causing them to overflow and flood the bathroom. They rip the soap holders and paper towel holders off the walls about once a week. We even had one lady crap in the sink!!!!! We clean the restrooms every two hours and they call us all manner of vile names because we have the bathroom closed for cleaning.

These kind souls think nothing of ploping little Johnie into a child seat in a cart and handing him a coke and an order of fries so he’ll shut up. They then proceed to push him all over the store dribbling coke and scattering french fries along the way. That should be cleaned up promptly right “Bob”? Probably would be except it happens fifty or a hundred times a day.

Do all our customers act this way? Absolutely not. You have to keep in mind that if only 10% behave in this fashion that’s 800 people a day!!! I can assure you that 10% is a very conservative number.

During the day we have a maximum of three maintenance people on duty. They are responsible for not only the restrooms and the sales floor, they also clean the outside of the store, the Associate break areas, the offices, even the back lot.

Three against eight hundred. Try those odds far a while “Bob” and then come back on here and spew your rubbish !

I don’t work, nor will I ever, for Wal-Mart but I damn sure shop there and for you high and mighty types, I’m by no means hurting for money. Maybe that’s part of the reason huh? I spend it wisely. So get off your High Horses.
As for the condition of the store, WORK ETHIC, it’s that simple. Hire people without one, and this is what you get. Pay people a reasonable wage and they’ll generally take some pride in what they do. This is a HUGE Failing of Wal-Mart. Ever since Sam Walton died, Wal-Mart has gone straight down the tubes and will continue until they stop worrying about only the mighty dollar. But then what do they care? The CEO’s and Shareholders have already made a mint. Wal-Mart could go bust today and these folks would all walk away millionaires still.

“If, I was an employee, and I was to let my area get this bad, I think I should shown the door.  How long, does it take to survey your area and keep it looking professional?  This condition didn’t happen in five minutes, unless there was a big sale on Kleenex, but even then, the employees should have been aware of this and kept on top of it.  People with ‘Pride’ in their work will fix this problem, not just more employees.”
Bob.

Bob,

While I appreciate your points, you still lack the fundamental experience of working inside a Wal*Mart today.
Things are not going good at Wal*Mart America.

Morale has very much declined, as the majority of full time workers absorb the understanding they are more disposable than ever, with wage compression the mantra, and part-time labor the only solution, and that ‘ever shifting schedules’ are now the new ’crystal-ball hope’ of achieving retail labor cost reduction bliss.

There is no ‘bliss’ in the average Wal*Mart worker, anymore.
There is little hope for the lowly Wal*Mart worker today, beyond knowing they are nothing more but ‘day labor’ in a huge corporatacracy.
Every other major corporation in America today is seeking the same thing, just like Wal*Mart, all are seeking to diminish the ‘accounting cost’ of labor, and they are doing it by either ‘outsourcing’ or creating labor turmoil intentionally, much like the broker trick of ‘churning’.

You have no idea Bob, the cultural turmoil inside Wal*Mart, so your ideals of ‘Pride’ and ‘Professionalism’ falls on deaf ears.
Most of these people worry if they will have a job tomorrow, and this is exactly what you get when you ‘gut’ a corporation culturally, and offer nothing to labor in the form of a ‘partnership’ to building a business.

When the average ‘laborer’ sees nothing of his/her stake in the future of the corporation, they give very little notice to your now antiquated ideals of ‘Pride’ and ‘Professionalism’.

Those days of ‘labor partnership, Pride and Professionalism’ are now over Bob, and your beloved corporations with their very highly paid executives and boards, have left us with nothing more than ‘day labor’ mentalities to deal with.
Little wonder political pressure is such to legalize illegal aliens, the next wave of cheap ‘slaves’, for corporate America.

It was stated that a walmart store will look great at 8 am, and bad at 8pm, think about that statement. if a store has a lot of business the shelves will always look a little empty at 8 pm. ( thats the way it works )
I worked in that business for 15 years, (not for walmart) and we had that problem all the time, in the more busy stores, more so than the other stores we had.
Last week i went to visit a son that has a medical condition and cant get out to shop, he wanted two items from the store, i ran to a nearby store, rather than drive to walmart four miles away. when i entered the store i walked all the way to the back looking for the items i wanted, i counted six employes and only seen three customers.
I found the two items and took them to the checkout, i stood there for about one minute waiting for someone to check me out, someone in the office called one of the stock boys to check me out.
Now here is the reason stores like that are always well stocked. the two items i purchased cost me almost $14.00,
the next day i went to a local walmart to shop, i thought i would check the price of those items at walmart, guess what, walmarts price for the same items was around $8.50, ( that is a large amount.)
Walmart is not running any small town stores out of business, they are doing it to themselves, well stocked shelves with HIGH PRICES just wont work.
Most people in that small town drive to walmart to do most of their shopping, ( it,s easy to see why )

With the amount of business that most walmart stores have, it would be very hard to keep the shelves well stocked, and the stores clean all day long, it cant be done......

See you at walmart, where we all, can save money.

A old man that has seen a lot.

It is sad to read these post and the first thing is the employe’s fault, how many of you post your so righteous that it is the employe’s fault for low work preformance work at Wal-Mart ?

First off many Super Centers need 550 employe’s to run the Store do to some Store testing some have been cut down to 200-250 for 185,000 to a 205,000 square foot Store,this figure is for the whole Store grocery general and maintance cashiers unloaders and stockers.

Due to Bentonville now during the schuldes at times there is no one on the floor in maintance or 2-5 cashiers this is the new schudles you have read about .

Do you know how Managers have said no matter how the Store looks or how you treat some people they will still come back for the low prices, I bet most of you will dispute this but it is what they say in the back rooms away from customers, you just belive all the PR

Granted most Stores do not look like this now but in time with the new things going on they will, its customers who keep coming back that allow the Stores to look like this.

Like Allen said on Boston Legal last night he wanted to get rid of all the mart Stores,he did not like the idea of buying meat and a cd in the same Store

cazar,

I agree with most of what you said and I would not be happy working at a place that operates as you say, that is why I retired from my last job, I didn’t like the way they operated.  In fact, that is why I left a couple of other jobs as well.

I may not see things the way you do, because I think that ‘Pride and Professionalism’, are something that is INSIDE of a person and I have always worked with ‘Pride and Professionalism’ and a ‘work ethic’, no matter how I felt about the company I worked for.  That is MY reputation, MY ‘values’.  And, money never enters into my decision as to whether or not, I will do my best work.  That is why I can’t figure out, why a teacher would let their children’s education suffer, simply because they feel they need more money.

“Most of these people worry if they will have a job tomorrow”

See, the problem is, we can’t understand why a person would continue to work under these conditions for ‘Years’, unless they were so bad off ‘skill wise’ that they couldn’t find anything better.  And, if that was the case, how can they expect to be compensated at a higher rate?  I have never let myself get locked into a “BAD” job and have always pushed myself for something better, and you are right, I can’t understand people who think so little of themselves that they don’t try to IMPROVE their situation, I continue to LEARN.  If you guys truly think a union would do it for you, go for it and if not try to find a way to fix it, live with it or quit.

WOW! Not only do I work at this Wal*Mart, but I was there the night these pictures were taken. Note: I did not notice the photographer.

I’d like to point out picture #116, look just inside the door. That’s door greater Bob. Bob was working at the garden center entrance that night. Which means that picture was taken after the Garden Center door had closed at 9 p.m..

I’d also like to point out picture #119, that’s my department. If anyone from management is reading this then please take note of the empty cart corrals, D.H. and I did our jobs that night, learn from us.

In defense of the trash that’s along the fence line outside (see pics #117 and #118), the wind blows it there daily… I blame some of the customers for being litter bugs.

It’s a shame the person who took these pics didn’t come a week sooner, then he could have pictured the “WAL*MAR” sign, the lightbulbs in the “T” had been burned out for nearly five months!

And yes, as someone has already mentioned, our store is greatly understaffed. At present there’s somewhere around 250 employees and we have an annual turn around rate in the seventy percent range. Still no excuse for the mess seen inside in those pics.

We actually know of someone who wants his old Cart Pusher job back (he’d quit to try something else), but the manager told him there’s a hiring freeze. Of course there really isn’t a hiring freeze, so why he lied to him is unknown, especially when the manager knows that one of us is about to transfer to another department.

The store I am at never looks that bad. BUT.....there are a few in my area that do look that way. Some stores look great and some are awful. How long will my store look good?  We will see.
All WM stores will look like this eventually if they continue on the current path. You can’t keep cutting payroll hours everyday and then expect good results from fewer and fewer people. You will reach a point when the is more work than staff. I think that is half the problem in these ugly stores. The other half of the problem is just poor and untrained management.

Scott,

“You can’t keep cutting payroll hours everyday and then expect good results from fewer and fewer people.”

Looking at these pictures, either the store has cut down to 20 employees or the employees aren’t doing their job.  If ALL Wal-Mart stores looked like this, you could blame the company, but, they don’t, so it must come down to the employees of certain stores and the local stores management.  To claim that giving these people more money, would somehow spark these employees to do a better job, is like saying that you can get a snail to move faster by feeding it steak.  Bentonville needs to act, and send someone out to these stores and do some good old fashioned firing.

Bob

Why don’t you tell us how you would run a Store with half the employe’s you should have,let me help you a little

Hardlines this includeds houswares party asile and office supplies, so you get how large of an area this is
in this Department 1 Department Manager one asscociate 11-
8 they have to keep the area zoned help customers put away returns at times come in in the morning and put away stock that the night crew did not have enough help to finished also you have to cover lunches and breaks in two other Department which with you lunch and breaks on some days take you from your Department for four hours.

Then there are days no cahsier’s you are called to the front to help again you could spend have your day up front.

This is not only in hardlines,but softlines toys lawn and garden.

On the grocery side there is no one there during the day except Managers they do not Stock until night.

From the pictures laundry soap and etc cold be sold out during the day,but did you notice the air freshner aslie it is very unlikely that should be that bare,that tells me one of two things the new trucking system is not working or the Store has reached its budget and is not ordering this stuff as not as much turn around since you are such a savy business man I am sure you picked up on this.

My God! Someone snapped a picture of a dirty shelf in a Wal-Mart! Now, you have to assume that a company with 5,000 US stores, each containing thousands of these spaces of shelving would have some problems from time to time. K-Mart, Target, etc. have the same issues and they pay their people worse than Wal-Mart.

ALSO, we earn much, much more per year, as a couple, than this $30,000 figure and yet we shop at Wal-Mart at least once per week and Sam’s Club a minimum of once every two weeks. Wal-Mart will beat any competitors advertised price. All you have to do is bring in the ad or a copy. They will post it over the product and advertise their lower price.

I know quite a few well to do people who shop at Wal-Mart frequentlt. I run into several people, who I know for a fact are very well off, while shopping at Sam’s. Generally, the wealthiest people, and I mean TRULY wealthy (not some suburban soccer mom in her SUV, trying to keep up with the Joneses) do not waste money. They do not buy things they do not need and they could probably be considered “cheap” or “miserly”. Why is it that most people worship someone who will go deep into debt to buy a flashy new car but will not show the same respect for someone who invests their money?

Finally, workers should not base their effort on whether or not their CEO has a good personality. You are there to do a job. Do it or quit. And please spare me the argument that Wal-Mart has “gone downhill since Mr. Sam died”. If I judge Wal-Mart by its’ numbers, it’s been all uphill. Don’t believe for one minute that Mr. Sam wasn’t “cheap” and didn’t try to eliminate every cost he could, including wages and unnecessary employees. He was a brilliant and great man but Wal-Mart employees were not exactly making nice wages then. If you adjust for inflation, Wal-Mart workers in 2006 are probably earning far more than Wal-Mart workers in 1986. Just a fact. Someone look into this if you have time.

Beenthere,

“Why don’t you tell us how you would run a Store with half the employe’s you should have,let me help you a little”

First, you are assuming that a store should have 500 to 600 employees.  Next, you are assuming that from 11 to 8, there will be a run on EVERYTHING in the store, ALL the time.  Next, you mention the fact that people Don’t Show Up For Work, do you expect the company to have on hand, extra employees in case someone doesn’t show up?  And, if they did this, should they be expected to PAY 2 employees if the people DO show up?

I’m sorry, but for a store to get in this condition, was not an 11 to 8 problem, it is a long term problem.  Even during busy times, you do not need 1 person per aisle to keep up with things, shelves don’t empty out that fast.  It is not likely, that if you put out, say, 10 boxes of pots and pans, that they will sell out in a couple of hours.

And, if there are 250 employees per store, where are all these people, if only 1 person is expected to take care of 3 departments?  There are not 750 departments!!!

“On the grocery side there is no one there during the day except Managers they do not Stock until night.”

I can’t speak about YOUR store, but at the ones around here, I see 5 or 6 people in the grocery department during the 11 to 8 hours, constantly stocking and cleaning, not just 1 manager.  I also see many other employees doing the same thing in other departments.  Therefore, I have NEVER seen a local store look anywhere near the condition of the store pictured.

“but did you notice the air freshner aslie it is very unlikely that should be that bare,that tells me one of two things the new trucking system is not working or the Store has reached its budget and is not ordering this stuff as not as much turn around”

There could be another reason, the stuff is sitting in the back room, and the people are too lazy to bring it out and stock it.

So, you asked me how I would run the store, well, I would hire employees who want to work and get rid of those who don’t.  And, if my store looked like this, there would be a lot of people heading for the door, including managers, because managers are not too BIG to lend a hand.  These are local problems, or else they would be happening ALL OVER, and the local people are to blame, not corporate, they mostly depend on information provided by local store’s management.  The one to blame the most, is the Store manager, as he/she is asleep at the switch.

Bob

Why are you so closed minded.see if I can explain it in more simple way 250 for the whole store which is a 24 hour Store that is three shifts that is about 83 per shift of that you need
about 20 of which is called Service Areas so that leaves 63 to do in stock help customers do returns and cover for breaks and lunches.And also call ins of which is not many since these are the working poor and most come to work no matter what,will you please quit assuming that these associates are lazy most are not

No I am not assuming any thing I was told in a meeting in your Home State when the new Super Centers were begin build that the studies and the size of these new Super Center ‘s needed to operate, I was also told in this meeting Managers are not to get their hands duty which is also told on the Store level we are to Manage and look clean and ready to meet the public at all times so please do not tell me that I am a assuming any thing hence my name been there have you?
Yes maybe some is setting in the back room when the night crew comes in there may be only 4 on this shift due do some begin off how are 4 people that came have up to 4 trucks in a night unload and put the product out in a even the smallest is 185,000 square feet

Any Wal-Mar that I have been in in Ark. or not the normal Wal-Mart these Stores are to be perfect at all times no matter the cost these are the ones used for commercial tours for vendor;s ect.did you know that ?

Also,for all you maintance people I bow to you there is no amount of money that I would do the work you do. I have seen the stuff you have to put your hands in to clean up.

And yet I have seen Store Managers treat you all like dirt.

Bob wrote: “If ALL Wal-Mart stores looked like this, you could blame the company, but, they don’t, so it must come down to the employees of certain stores and the local stores management.

Local store management is part of it. Understaffing is a major part of it, but even a crackerjack management team can’t keep a store up forever if they must trim their operating budget annually. It’s just a matter time time before any Wal-Mart looks like this one.  Tome to build a new one and move on.

Ellis wrote: “I know quite a few well to do people who shop at Wal-Mart frequently.”

That would skew the averages, Ellies.  Do you mean 1/3 of Wal-Mart shoppers make less than $30K per annum?

Ken V

I have to question these averages. I have been shopping at a Wal-Mart for more than 15 years and I have never, ever taken part in an income survey or given Wal-Mart any information, directly or indirectly, that would grant them knowledge of my finances. We generally pay with cash or a debit card. If Wal-Mart or anyone thinks they can gauge my income on that basis, so be it. That is not even close to being an accurate measure.

I can’t believe that even a tiny minority of Wal-Mart’s 130 million weekly customers have shared their income information with the company. Perhaps if you apply for a Wal-Mart credit card, they can get this info. Generally, the only people who would apply for a credit card through Wal-Mart are lower income and so it will appear that Wal-Mart’s average customer is dirt poor. However, $30,000 per year in Mississippi is different than $30,000 in New York, Chicago or LA. Wal-Mart is not in many high cost areas and so its customers need less to live on. I would expect Costco’s customers to have higher incomes because:

1. Costco is strictly a $50 per year members warehouse.
2. Costco has less than 1,000 US stores.
3. Costco locates only in higher income areas. In Pittsburgh, for example, they are in Robinson Township and Cranberry Township, both areas with many, many well to do families.

Perhaps this could skew Costco’s numbers. I’m sure that if they started an everyday retail chain similar to Wal-Mart’s model and opened in the Deep South, in rural areas and in small, middle class towns, their average customer income would drop.

This is really all a ridiculous argument.

Bob,

In many ways I think you and I are on the same ‘coin’, just different sides.

Much has to do with our age, and the values of our generation.
But we cannot somehow superimpose our values , on those younger than us.
They will learn only from the tools they are given, and the subsequent opportunities presented to utilize those tools.

“I think that ‘Pride and Professionalism’, are something that is INSIDE of a person…”
Bob.

I could not disagree more Bob.
There is no genetic predilection for pride, or professionalism.
These are traits that are formative in every human being (barring severe mental disease).
These are traits molded from any number of influences and experiences.
Family, faith, education, work environment, peer-pressure, economic opportunity, to name some majors.

And as you see, we are not talking necessarily about different things.
I only wish to point out the fact, you are ‘who you are’, professionally, and with pride, only because of certain circumstances in your life, that evoked that higher self.
You did not pop out of Mama, proclaiming “Damn, I’m good!”, and then hop off to become a hard working prideful, professional. Did you?

No, you had some help somewhere.
Either from parent(s), pastor (faith, church), teacher (school), mentor (work), friend (lover, companion), you add your own here.(……..)
You had help, becoming your higher self.

How many times have you seen a young man, perhaps shy, non-assuming, not very disciplined go off into our fine military, only to return remarkably changed, a striking man, full of himself and proud, professional to the best of degree?

I have had the most awesome luck in my life, to have had not only a loving family, but some great world class mentors. Top notch professionals.

So it pains me when I see so often things like your post ( and others similar):

“See, the problem is, we can’t understand why a person would continue to work under these conditions for ‘Years’, unless they were so bad off ‘skill wise’ that they couldn’t find anything better.”

Bob, there are many in America, just do not have the basic tool-kit to understand what you and I understand.
Many were not given what I just spent an hour writing about.
Many just do not know, nor were they given the guidance to their higher self.

cazar,

I agree with all that you have said, that is why I stressed these as ‘values’.  My upbringing had much to do with who I am today and my values, but, I also had a hand in determining my lot in life.  My father, who instilled my work ethic, does not totally approve of the direction I went in.  He was a working man all his life and expected his children to do the same.  He stressed the SAFE path, work 40+ years at a labor job and retire.  I chose to try to better myself and go for jobs that had upward mobility, I invested in the stock market, and went into renting apartments, all things he would never even consider.  What I’m getting at, is people can learn and change, but, this will never happen, as long as people are finding excuses for those people.  It’s the old “give a man a fish and he eats for a day, teach a man to fish and he eats forever”, thing.  And when people choose to continue on the same path into poverty, why is it wrong to try to get them to follow another path away from poverty, instead of saying to them, stay where you are and we will fix it for you!!

Ellis wrote: “I have to question these averages.”

Your beef’s with Bernard Sosnick of Oppenheimer & Co. but I think with Wal-Mart’s data capabilities a reasonably accurate profile of the average Wal-Mart shopper is possible.  The New York Times recently ran this gem:

“The average Wal-Mart shopper lives in the suburbs, is roughly 5-foot-2 and wears a size 14.”

My question is, if many well-to-do people already shop at Wal-Mart, who is this ‘upscale’ crowd Bentonville is trying to appeal to?

Well, Ken, if well to do people are already shopping at Costco and Target, what crowd can they appeal to? Poor people will not switch from Wal-Mart to Target and Costco. Where will they get new customers?

Bob,

“To claim that giving these people more money, would somehow spark these employees to do a better job, is like saying that you can get a snail to move faster by feeding it steak.”

I never mentioned paying anyone more money, where did you get that?
I am saying more people are needed, I don’t care if they make $10 an hour or $10 a day. It is pretty hard to get a store in shape with just 10 to 15 people a night. The main problem is probably bad managers but I would bet it is pretty hard to find an employee after 6:00pm.

Who is to say that this picture isn’t a “Rite-Aid”?

Scott,

“I never mentioned paying anyone more money, where did you get that?”

This site says that!!

“It is pretty hard to get a store in shape with just 10 to 15 people a night.”

Better talk to Beenthere, he says: “a 24 hour Store that is three shifts that is about 83 per shift”

I would LOVE to hear what the Market Team and the Store Manager has to say about this.  I’d be so ashamed.  Not only does that management team need to hit the doors but the new team should hold the associates more accountable.  Yes, I work at WM and know we are shorthanded but I also have been to MANY WMs (including the 4 I have worked in) and seen associates goofing off or working in slo-mo. RIDICULOUS!

On another note, I went to the Anderson, SC walmart, about 30 minutes away from the one we speak of, yesterday, and they had no less than 8 employees on each aisle in the grocery dept completely clearing shelves and wiping them down with lysol.  Guess they got the memo.  There were 15 on the ethnic foods aisle.  yes, I know, that would mean over 100 employees on duty at the same time, yes, that’s what I saw and i have pics.

I used to work for store # 644 and I can honestly say that it never looked like that.  Most of all we got alot of misplaced food items. that was it.  The following stores are kinda like that too. #396, 1244, 641, 1123, 1122, 631, and 2753. If you would got to some of the stores I mention they look gross on the grocery side of the store. It looks like a chemistry lab.