Let’s say you’re a multi-national corporation worth billions upon billions of dollars. Your business is built on an empire of discount retail establishments, most of which are so large one could get lost inside. Your stores, in fact, contain more items than actually exist in reality, all of which (both the real and the theoretical) are priced at low, low prices and ready to move.

Now, sure, you have to deal with the problem of shrinkage. Not of the George Costanza variety, but the kind that entails product leaving your stores without an exchange of money taking place. Theft is a real problem, especially if the thefted item happens to cost a couple thousand dollars like, say, a laptop computer might. The solution, it turns out, is simple. Put out for sale empty boxes.

Most would think such a strategy couldn’t possibly exist, let alone have unintended positive consequences, but you’d be wrong. It seems three men in Chandler, Arizona, purchased a laptop from a local Wal-Mart. Apparently not realizing they had bought the lightest laptop this side of an Apple thinbook, the men left the store with what they would later claim was an empty box. Low and behold, Chandler police were called when the three men returned with an empty box, claiming a laptop was never in it. Long story short, when police arrived, one of the men made a run for it tossing away what turned out to be forged credit cards in the process. Wal-Mart’s shrinkage-protection scheme strikes again, only this time thwarting a Phoenix-wide credit card forgery ring instead of a simple shoplifter.

And the best part:

Store employees later discovered they had indeed sold an empty box to the three men.

Walmart Sells You An Empty Box Instead Of A Laptop—But You Bought It With Stolen Credit Cards [The Consumerist]

SANTA TO WORK LONGER HOURS WITHOUT OVERTIME THIS YEAR
Wal-Mart announced this week that it will start cutting toy prices almost three months before Christmas. To which Santa Claus replied, “Seriously?”

Wal-Mart starts the discounting early this year [BloggingStocks]

According to The Wall Street Journal, “Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. said it will cut prices on some of the most popular toys and speed up the opening of Christmas shops in its stores nationwide as it tries to lure budget-conscious shoppers and jump start its biggest selling season.”

Wal-Mart: Coal In The Retail Industry’s Stocking [24/7 Wall St.]

Wal-Mart’s action is a typical method for burying the competition. It can afford almost endless inventory build-ups for the busy shopping season. It can pull in the very modest amount that the consumer has to spend and leave other retailers with scraps off the table.

In which Walmart explains why we’re all doomed. [Writing on the Wal]

Obviously, I’m a masochist. I actually read Walmart’s press release on its early rollback of toy prices. While the Play-Doh Ice Cream Shop would be tempting if it weren’t Walmart we’re talking about here, I was much more struck by the survey results at the bottom of the document. Most notably:

Sixty-one percent of Americans do not plan on making cut-backs on how much they spend this Christmas season.

*Those who do plan on making cut-backs, plan on cutting back $50 or less.

Don’t you think that result seems just a tad self-interested? Why is that stat there if not to convince people to spend more whether they can afford to or not? I suspect Walmart has declared Christmas early because they’re afraid nobody will have any money left in December.

After the jump, Wal-Mart shuts down DRM music downloads, managers make up their own rules and 210,000 toasters get recalled.

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It’d be nice of the Wal-Mart Managers to take a break on the PR team and maybe wait a few weeks before distributing fake back-to-school lists. But by then school would have already started, and the opportunity’s out the window…

Kelby Carr, via Consumerist and Boing Boing:

My daughter is about to start kindergarten, so naturally we did some back to school shopping. Our state sales tax break weekend happened recently. When we noticed the local Wal-Mart had shopping lists not only specific to school and grade level, but to teacher, we were thrilled. We started tossing items in the cart to spend, spend, spend.

Weren’t we a little surprised to learn afterwards that Wal-Mart invented those lists. Not only were we a bit surprised to learn they did not, in fact, base the lists on anything remotely suggested by the school. Wal-Mart, in fact, put items on the list that are BANNED from being brought to school.

Our daughter’s school said Wal-Mart makes up those lists on their own, and a number of items (such as crayons) are on a list from the school. A list of items parents are specifically told not to have their child bring to school. Seriously?

(No scanned copies of the actual lists have yet been posted, but we’ll keep an eye out for them. )

Gawker breaks down a strange story from the Washington Post today. You can read the full story here, but we’ll add a third point to Hamilton’s argument: the story also shows just how powerful Wal-Mart’s political contributions can be, and the depths organizations will go to to stay in Wal-Mart’s good graces. (We won’t even get in to the pros and cons of Wal-Mart’s credit cards, but for those interested, read our blog archives on the matter here.)

The New Civil Rights: Keeping Wal-Mart Happy [Consumerist]

The story we’re about to bring you is sad on so many levels. Well, two levels. First, it illustrates the disappointing and kind of disgusting decline of a legendary civil rights institution, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), former home of Martin Luther King, Jr. Second, it shows what a farce half of the things you see on editorial pages are, if they come from public figures. We’ll give you a condensed version of this ongoing media vs. advocacy group vs. PR firm controversy—as you read it, ask yourself whether MLK would have found himself caught up in this crap.

Charles Steele, Jr., president of the SCLC, wrote an editorial which ran in several southern newspapers. The editorial was against upcoming legislation that would limit credit card fees—a bill favored by retailers (which would save money) but not by credit card companies (which would lose money in fees).

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Wal-Mart has spent the last year desperately trying to improve its reputation. The company has bombarded consumers with new marketing, including a new logo, a new company tag line, and a new, friendly name - “Walmart.” The retailer also hired a new ad agency and launched a massive environmental marketing initiative, all aimed at eradicating criticisms of the company’s business practices.

Two new polls show these efforts are failing. The two surveys - from Harris Interactive (PDF) and the Reputation Institute (PDF) - indicate shoppers still don’t trust Wal-Mart, in spite of the retailer’s massive marketing overhaul.  The poll results support Wal-Mart Watch’s fall 2007 public opinion poll findings, which showed shoppers increasingly cite Wal-Mart’s poor business practices as a reason not to shop at the retailer’s stores.

Wal-Mart’s reputation remains the biggest obstacle to the company’s long-term growth potential, as its reputation affects both its ability to reach new shoppers and to build new stores. Both of these strategies are crucial to the company’s long term success, but are hampered by Wal-Mart’s recurring reputation problems.

Wal-Mart Watch Executive Director David Nassar said in a release, “There’s no doubt that Wal-Mart is profiting from the economic downturn and cash-strapped consumers. But, recent public opinion surveys indicate that although people are shopping there, they aren’t happy about it because they are still concerned about Wal-Mart’s poor business practices.”

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