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I found these plastic shot glasses nestled among the crayons and glue sticks in the back-to-school section of my local Walmart. I'm not sure what it implies. Do college students use Elmer's Glue now?
My friend with several school-aged children saw it differently, noting, "That might be what I need to survive back to school shopping." For the parents. Brilliant. More »
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The place: Walmart. The date: December 23, 2009. The endcap display at Bob's local store: Easter candy.
Hug your loved ones close, my dears, for the apocalypse is nigh. More »
No, really. Guess.
Are you entitled to a refund if your wrapping paper doesn't sufficiently conceal a package's contents? Megan thinks so. Last week when she wrapped her fiance's Christmas present, he got an unexpected surprise. He could tell exactly what the gift was through the opaque wrapping paper. More »
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—>The morning after Thanksgiving, Walmart will make its customers elbow and curb-stomp one another in order to jostle for Sanyon 720p HDTVs for less than $598, a Magnavox Blu-ray player for $78 and $195 iPod Touch that comes with a $50 iTunes gift card, CNNMoney reports. More »
—>After the death of a relative, Mike put together a photo tribute for the funeral, in order to "remember the good times," he says. Only a Walmart cashier put a stop to his purchase. Here's what happened. Do you think Walmart was in the right? More »
—>Robby didn't feel like showing his receipt to the Walmart receipt checker, and when the guy came after him, Robby ignored him. That's when other shoppers started closing in on him, and why he started running. More »
—>Here's a strange story from southeast Missouri. Three years ago a college student was waiting in line at Walmart. Her cousin was waiting in another line that was moving faster. The college student, now a teacher who lives in Louisiana, joined her cousin in the "faster" line. This apparently started a confrontation with other customers (and eventually the police) that may cause the woman to spend 15 years in prison. More »
—>Hoping to avoid anything even close to last year's tragic Black Friday human stampede, Walmart stores nationwide aren't opening at the crack of dawn. Instead of opening their doors at 5 A.M. and inviting sales-crazed frenzies, they will open at 6 A.M. on Thanksgiving Day, then remain open overnight. More »
—>It was a rough day at the office for a Michigan Walmart security guard last week. The Muskegon News reports a guard was physically abused and humiliated as he tried to stop two female shoplifters from making off with some goods that they found priced too high. More »
—>Target has agreed to pay New Jersey $375,000 to settle charges that it sold baby formula and non-prescription drugs that had expired, and that it charged higher prices on some products than what was displayed on the shelves. More »
—>Reader Charles spotted this clinic in his local Walmart in Georgia. He says the local hospital has partnered with the store to offer services right next to the vision center. He sent a snapshot of the prices. It's strange to see a menu board listing illnesses. Is this a good thing? More »
—>Walmart can try to spin itself as being on the side of good all it wants, but if it ever suspects you of shoplifting, you may find that you're powerless to fight back. In the case of a couple accused of shoplifting some Bic lighters in Niles, Michigan this past August, Walmart detained them, the police came and cuffed one of them, their two kids were taken to a security room, and—after a review of security footage proved the couple's innocence—they were banned for life from all Walmarts. To top it off, Walmart's legal team has sent the couple a letter asking to be reimbursed for 10 times the value of the lighters, even though the police determined no shoplifting had taken place. More »
—>"Oh my God, I see eyes!" screamed Carla Hill after opening a bag of greens from Walmart. More »
—>Walmart announced yesterday that it will be slashing prices to below wholesale on 10 of the most popular DVDs that will be released soon, says the LA Times. Target announced that it will be matching Walmart. Amazon has not yet responded. More »
—>Walmart is ramping up the price war on another front. Instead of hardcovers, this time the retailer is cutting prices on turkey and flat-panel TVs, reports Bloomberg. More »
—>If you live in Chicago, New York City, or Philadelphia, expect to start hearing some noise about Walmart in the coming months. The retailer has announced that it's going to "step up efforts to mobilize local political support" so that it can finally open stores in those cities, reports the Financial Times. More »
—>Josh finds himself unable to use his Bank of America check card to make large purchases at Walmart. When he calls customer service, he's told the bank blocks large purchases at the store because such transactions are "considered a risk." More »
—>Independent book stores can't even buy new releases for the low prices that Target, Walmart, and Amazon are offering them to the public — which has led to rationing in order to keep the independents from buying and reselling the books at a profit. More »
—>Walmart now provides for their customers from cradle to grave. Quite literally—since you can not only purchase cribs there, you can now order caskets and funerary urns from the mega-retailer's Web site. More »
—>Ah, lighted ceramic Christmas villages. They're so sweet and timeless. The old-fashioned houses and shops on a surface of sparkling fake snow. The quaint figurines on the town square. The... Walmart SuperCenter?! More »
—>A Florida Walmart has fired one of their security officers for giving chase to a knife-wielding shoplifter who took off running across the store's parking lot. Josh Rutner told the Star-Banner, "I couldn't let him get away. That's wrong." That second sentence may be true, but security guard != officer of the law. More »
—>Walmart just tried to undercut Amazon on, of all things, books. They've announced that they're now selling the "top 10 pre-selling books" for $9 each, with free home delivery. Amazon has responded by dropping its price to $9 on the same titles, but their free shipping doesn't kick in until you buy $25 worth of merchandise (or pay the annual fee for Amazon Prime). Price war! More »
—>Today Walmart announced that it's launching its own wireless service, Straight Talk, on October 18th. The network will piggyback on use TracFone's wireless network. At launch, two pre-paid plans will be offered: a $30 package that includes 1000 minutes, 1000 text messages, and 30MB of data; or a $45 plan that includes unlimited voice, text, and data. 411 calls are free. More »
—>When a soon-to-be mother realized she had bought the wrong laundry detergent at a New Mexico Walmart, she tried to return it. That didn't work out so well, ending up with the store manager insinuating she was a con-artist who replaced the detergent with water. More »
—>You and I can't get past Walmart's receipt checks with a 12-pack of toilet paper, but one criminal made it past the greeter with a cart full of cash. $200,000 from the store's safe, to be precise. How does that happen? More »
—>It's officially a trend now. Old-timey CRT TVs are not only mislabeled as HDTVs at a Connecticut Walmart, but also, according to reader Chris, at a Kentucky location. More »
—>The diet that allegedly shrank Dan Marino's ass will now be available in stores for the first time — and those stores will all be Walmarts. A 14-day starter pack will retail for $148, says Reuters. More »
—>The Wall Street Journal reports Walmart is cutting back DVD displays as part of its effort to appeal to "higher-end" (read: Target) shoppers. More »
—>From a practical standpoint — our Walmart overlords decided what we can and can't have. MentalFloss has put together a list of 11 things they did not approve of — or were forced to remove because others did not approve. More »
—>Shawn spotted Walmart selling an old CRT TV, mislabeling it as an HDTV. He snapped the accompanying incriminating photos and writes: More »
—>A few weeks ago, Kaleb wrote to us with a tale of television woe. The Polaroid TV he purchased at Walmart on Black Friday 2008 simply died, and Polaroid wouldn't perform warranty service without his receipt. All was lost, until a Walmart manager went above and beyond to save Kaleb from his defective television. More »
—>Party time is over at the Red Hook IKEA where, taking a cue from their big-box brethren Walmart and Home Depot, the Swedish maker of flat-packed furniture has instituted some intense receipt checking procedures. More »
—>Historians and conservationists have united in Virginia against a common foe: Walmart, which wants to build a 38,000-square-foot Supercenter near near Wilderness Battlefield, a Civil War site and National Park. The groups filed a suit on Wednesday charging local officials with brushing aside concerns about the site when they approved Walmart's plans in August. More »
—>In a head-scratching display of bravery combined with an alarming willingness to place surely poor-paying jobs above their personal safety, Walmart security guards captured an armed assailant who tried to rob the Pennsylvania store. More »
—>Tony's hands were full with a bookshelf and milk carton as he left a New Mexico Walmart, so he wasn't in a receipt-showing mood. He denied the security guard's request to stop and show him the receipt in the pocket, and says he was stalked and physically threatened as a result. He shares his Executive Email Carpet Bomb letter: More »
—>One good thing about the bad economy: There are plenty of empty storefronts in malls across the country, and the owners are more than happy to rent them to short-term tenants during peak seasons. And, this year, you can add Toys R Us to the usual gang of Halloween and Christmas stores that pop up suddenly in your local Simon, and disappear in the night a few weeks later. Jeffrey and his posse are expected to open 80 temporary stores next month, along with new toy sections in 260 Babies R Us shops. More »
—>Two men have been arrested for playing porn over a half-dozen TV screens in a Fort Smith, AR, Walmart store. The two apparently popped a DVD into a player that controlled several screens, and let it rip. According to police, "the pornographic DVD was visible to the general public as they were shopping" for several minutes. More »
—>Walmart is looking to grow. Yes, grow. Their latest initiative, "Project Impact," aims to make stores easier and quicker to navigate, improve customer service, and to move in on competitors' territory as much as possible. More »
—>Yesterday we posted a photo a reader sent in of a toy aisle in his local Walmart that was packed with junk food. We all got commenty on what exactly Walmart was doing—was it a one-off paid promo by Pepsi? A marketing experiment? A power-mad store manager driven crazy by shelving issues? Nah, it's actually an intentional choice mandated by corporate. More »
—>Reader Edd was shopping at his local Walmart when he noticed something annoying. There's a Pepsi & Dorito display in the middle of the toy aisle. Not at the end of the toy aisle. In the middle of it. Update: Mystery solved. More »
—>Walmart, our nation's largest employer, has eliminated paper paychecks. Now employees can choose to sign up for direct deposit or have their wages added to a pre-paid debit card. ABCNews says that only about half of Walmart's employees use direct deposit — the rest either prefer a paper paycheck or, in some cases, don't have a bank account. More »
—>Chinese state media says that a woman accused of shoplifting was allegedly beaten to death by 2 employees of a Walmart in eastern China. A police report says that the employees stopped the woman on the street near her home (which is also near the Walmart) and demanded to see her receipt. One report says she refused because she was unsure of the employee's identities, another says she handed it over, then took it back. More »
—>Holy crap! A random Walmart shopper apparently just went and slapped some other shopper's toddler because the kid wouldn't stop crying. A police report says that the man told the toddler's mother to keep her quiet saying "If you don't shut that baby up, I will shut her up for you." More »
—>We're not entirely sure Consumerist is responsible for Walmart finally getting back to Jeff on his ruined transmission—and frankly, because of the length of time between the incident and his complaint, as well as Walmart's reputation for silence on consumer complaints like this, we didn't expect much to happen at all. We were wrong, and we tip our hats to Walmart for making good on a very expensive mistake. Read Jeff's update below. More »
—>Update: Walmart has responded! More »
—>Best Buy has been downgraded to neutral from "buy" by Goldman Sachs on concerns that Amazon.com and Walmart are poised to begin a serious asskicking. More »
—>Walmart is selling cheap knockoffs of Girl Scout signature Thin Mint and Tagalongs cookies, says a former Cookie Mom and blogger CV Harquail. She writes, "It's not discriminating against women, strong-arming suppliers, polluting neighborhoods or racing to the bottom of the China Price. No, this time, it's closer to home, and in my case, really close to home. This time ... Walmart is knocking off the Girl Scouts." More »
—>S. is living the dream. My dream, at least. The dream of using one's grown-up status and money to buy an awesome toy that our parents wouldn't buy us in our childhood. In S.'s case, it was even better, since a strange pricing system error meant that he got a $6 remote control helicopter. More »
—>Walmart is developing a universal rating system to help consumers determine which products are truly sustainable. The rating system would scrutinize a product's entire life-cycle by focusing on broad factors, rather than the usual marketing gibberish that extolls isolated virtues. So why is Walmart, of all companies, deciding which products are environmentally sound? More »
—>Mmm, delicious green beans! Oh wait, what's that? Kermit, nooooooo! More »
—>In hard times, with shrinking advertising budgets, who can blame retailers for trying to get the most for their money by convincing their suppliers to promote stores by co-branding? When Walmart is involved...pretty much everyone blames the retailer. See, everyone's favorite retail juggernaut is threatening to take shelf space away from vendors that do not use part of their ad budget to promote Walmart. More »
—>The parents of a seven-year-old took him to Walmart this weekend to spend his saved birthday and allowance money on a pretty awesome looking swimming pool & slide combo. They'd checked online first to make sure the item was in stock—and Walmart said it was, at three different locations in fact. More »
—>One would think that Walmart would have had enough of the drama that results from receipt checking — but according to reader Eric, that's just not the case. He says he politely declined to show his receipt to the Walmart employee who asked to see it because, unlike with Sam's Club, he had not signed an agreement obligating him to show it. Walmart didn't see it that way. More »
—>We know it's stressful out there, but really, there's no reason to start waving your gun around in the Walmart parking lot. According to the Peninsula Daily News, a woman threatened several other customers who told her to stop yelling at Walmart worker who had sold her the wrong ammunition. More »
Usually, to follow someone on Twitter, you click "Follow." So why does Walmart have a 3,379-word terms of use specifically for their Twitter accounts posted on the company Web site? Seriously, we're asking, because no one has any idea. [BoingBoing] More »
—>Chris spotted this Blue Redbox at a Wal-Mart. Poor, confused box. More »
The animals are rising up, and invading our big-box stores. This week, a small (non-poisonous) snake bit a man in an Illinois Walmart, and a woman in Utah reportedly found a black widow spider in a bunch of grapes purchased at Costco. Nature clearly abhors the modern suburban lifestyle, and it's taking back its territory. [Carmi Times] [KSL] More »
—>Remember the Walmart greeter who was attacked by a police officer when he tried to check the cop's receipt? His lawsuit has been settled for $20,000. More »
—>Sure, Best Buy emerged victorious over Circuit City in the Battle of the Big-Box Electronics Stores, but they still have to compete with general discounters like Walmart. Which is why in a new ad campaign, Best Buy calls out Walmart specifically, attacking their employees' presumed lack of product knowledge compared to Best Buy employees. More »
Advice: If the Walmart employees tell you that you can't drink alcohol while waiting to have your car serviced, don't respond by ripping a telephone out of the wall. [Hernando Today via Fark] More »
—>After Walmart wouldn't let him make a return, Phillip R. Wright, 41, of Monroe, Louisiana, pictured, left, looking disgruntled and pretty "arsony," set a men's clothing rack inside the store on fire. More »
—>Max Factor, the venerable cosmetics brand marketed to American women using the faces of familiar film actresses, will disappear from U.S. store shelves forever next year. It will still be available abroad, including in the UK, where it's a top seller for some reason. More »
—>Fortune has an interesting article about a Target that opened up in Walmart country. The store is located about seven minutes from "Wal-Mart No. 1", the first Wal-Mart ever built, and 20 minutes from Walmart's headquarters in Bentonville, AR. At first, Target was concerned that the Walmart faithful wouldn't shop at their new store — but they worried needlessly. Apparently, former CEO Lee Scott and current CEO Mike Duke are regulars. More »
—>A reader sent us the following pics of the neglected aquariums in her local Walmart in Carmi, Illinois. She complained to a manager, but when she checked back "several hours later," the tanks remained untouched. Well, the dead fish were probably slightly smaller, since the remaining live fish were eating them. More »
—>Theoretically, if you buy more of something, you should pay less per item, or per unit. That's the entire point of buying things in bulk. Right? Not necessarily. To confuse the logical part of your brain this fine morning, here's a collection of instances where customers pay more when they buy more. More »
—>Is it possible today to buy U.S.-made goods in mainstream, reasonably-priced stores? The answer, ABC's John Donvan learned while reporting a "Nightline" story to be broadcast tonight, is a rather emphatic "no" when it comes to clothing, and otherwise "maybe." More »
—>Earlier this month, Walmart avoided criminal charges in the trampling death of a worker at a Long Island store last November by setting up a $400,000 victims' compensation fund and giving $1.5 million to local non-profits and social service programs. But that settlement didn't stop an ongoing investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Now, the government agency has announced the results of its probe, declaring that workers were put at risk "due to the store's failure to implement reasonable and effective crowd management principles." The company will be fined the maximum penalty allowed: $7,000. Walmart has 15 days to appeal or pay up. More »
—>We received a strange tip from Steve, who says the new shopping carts in his local Walmart shock him every time he touches them. He says he saw another shopper get shocked as well, and that a cashier confirmed it. Has anyone else experienced this? More »
—>If you're a gamer you know how shameful it feels to plunk down a game you played $60 at a used game store counter in exchange for $15 or $20 three weeks later. More »
—>You'll need them to cut off the right amount of penny at the cash register. Or, we suppose you could add something to your cart that includes 6/10 of a penny to even it all out—but that's how they get you, with those "even penny" purchases. (Thanks to Amanda!) More »
Interesting note about that Walmart settlement, the anti-trampling measures are only going to be instituted at the 92 New York area stores. Now, sure, it was part of a deal with New York state but you'd think maybe they'd want to improve trampling conditions at the rest of their stores too. Who knows, maybe they're planning to get around to it. [AP] More »
—>A new survey of American consumers shows something very unusual — they've lost their interest in shopping. Is this lack of interest driving them to discount stores like Walmart? Seems so. More »
—>Wal-Mart will not face criminal charges in the death of temporary holiday worker Jdimytai Damour at its Valley Stream, NY store. Damour was posted at the front of the store when the out-of-control early morning crowd broke the door down, and he was trampled to death. More »
—>Wal-Mart's management is watching their customers during the recession. What have they learned? More shoppers now make lists, instead of buying on impulse. Sales of frozen vegetables are up; sales of Angus beef are down. And mysteriously, $5 white toilet seats are a hot item near Denver. More »
—>Imagine dying in your vehicle in the parking lot of a 24-hour Walmart. How would anyone know? The couple who discovered Patricia Glasscock's body yesterday thought she was sleeping, which is probably what anyone who passed by thought. More »
—>Robert Duvall, a descendant of Robert E. Lee, is really just not cool with Walmart's plans to build a Supercenter near the site of an important Civil War battle. More »
—>Here's another "I bought a box of rocks!" story, only this time there's proof that the victim wasn't pulling a dirty trick on Walmart. Instead, it was someone before her who bought and then returned a Nintendo DS, only they swapped out the unit with rocks before making the return. More »
—>A lot of readers sent us the story of a Florida teen who received the awesome birthday gift of some rocks and crumpled up Chinese newspapers inside a Nintendo DS box. After some fuss and the discovery that another customer had already returned the same box of rocks, Wal-Mart made the situation right. Reader Ryan found himself in a similar situation, but without the happy ending (yet!): a Texas Best Buy sold him a paving stone instead of a Macbook Pro. More »
—>When you think "prescription drugs," you think of clean, sterile facilities, not three stoners driving 100 mph down I-15 with $30,000 of Walmart's prescription narcotics in the backseat. Cops pulled the trio over, which included two illegal immigrants, and called Walmart to confirm that these were the folks employed to deliver their dirt-cheap drugs. "They said yeah they were expecting a delivery and the driver was late." More »
—>We're on to the Elite 8 and things are really heating up! There are so many macroeconomic implications in this match-up! More »
—>When a 6-year-old Tampa Bay boy turned on his "new" PSP from Walmart there was a little something extra included. Lots and lots of porn! More »
—> Which big blue monolith bugs you more? More »
A Walmart cashier from Shreveport, LA was caught copying down customer's credit card numbers and using them to buy items from the store where she worked. As you can imagine, the police caught on to this brilliant scam pretty quickly. She was arrested when credit card numbers were found in her purse. [KSLA] More »
—>The Walmart in Norman, Oklahoma refused to accept bike returns until a district manager, acting on a reader tip, reminded the store that they were violating company policy. Reader Keia tried to return the "shoddily constructed," "dangerous piece of garbage" for a bike that Walmart sold him, but an employee, backed by the store manager, explained that since Walmart could repair the bike, their return policy didn't apply. That didn't sound right, so Keia went over their heads... More »
—>Well, here's a truly weird story, disorderly conduct charges have been dropped against a Texas woman who dropped an f-bomb at her local Walmart. More »
—>Reader Doug bought a TV at Walmart this morning — and then he returned a TV at Walmart this morning. Why? Because even though Walmart's website lets you buy things at the lower website prices and have them shipped to the store for free — you have to wait for the warehouse to ship the TV to your local Walmart — even if they already have the TV in stock. More »
—>A controversial retailer VS a computer company with a black hole for a warranty repair operation. Which will you choose? More »
—>A CBS investigation has uncovered some Walmart and Macy's coats being sold at Burlington Coat Factor — disguised as more expensive designer brands. Apparently, some jackass at a coat supplier thought it would be a good idea to glue Perry Ellis labels on cheap coats. As you can imagine, both Burlington Coat Factory and the customers with the fake merchandise are not pleased. More »
—>According to the Cape Cod Times an unidentified shopper was browsing through the wallets at a Falmouth, MA Walmart, when he unzipped one of the compartments and found a surprise — ten human teeth. One of them even had a filling. More »
A 58-year-old Wal-Mart employee who said he "couldn't take it anymore" lit himself on fire outside the Bloomingdale store where he worked late Thursday night and was later pronounced dead at a hospital, authorities said this morning. More »
—>Ah, the irresistable pull of bargains! A man in Florida is suing Walmart because he was bitten by a pygmy rattler while shopping in the garden center in 2008. His is the third such attack in a Walmart in Florida since 2006, and he's claiming the retailer should have taken better steps to prevent rattler bites after the first two attacks. Our favorite detail, though, is that he won't stop going to Walmart, because "their prices are too good to shop elsewhere." More »
—>Lisa says a Walmart greeter grabbed onto her cart and and wouldn't let her leave because she refused to let the greeter check her receipt. That, my friends, is not legal. Sure, it would make life a lot easier if people just acquiesced to the receipt-checking, but it's not the law. It is against the law, however, to unlawfully detain a customer. Here's Lisa's account: More »
—>Remember the Walmart greeter that got attacked by a cop during a receipt check? Well, he's suing for $21 million, says Chattanooga's News Channel 9. More »
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—>Earlier this month, we wrote about a Tennessee police officer who shoved a 71-year-old Walmart greeter to the ground after he tried to check his receipt. He originally wasn't going to face charges; now he's been suspended and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is looking into it. More »
—> Reader Jeff is confused. He wants to purchase a laptop from Walmart. Upon Perusing his website from home, he saw a nice Acer Netbook for under $300. Of course, upon walking into the store, he was confronted with a slightly higher price. Luckily, he talked to the nice customer service representative and quickly price matched the in store item to the online price and Jeff walked out a happy customer. More »
—>When Michael's son used his Christmas money to buy a copy of Madden 09 from Walmart, he thought he was buying a copy of Madden 09, not a blank disc that said "Redneck Sh*t." More »
Remember that Walmart in Wisconsin that made almost 50 people ill? They are still sick, and the FBI doesn't know why. [JSOnline] (Thanks, Nick !) More »
Remember the father and son team who cut in line at Walmart, then threatened an off-duty police officer with bodily harm, then were arrested? They've been charged with battery, and the off-duty cop has been cleared. A police investigator said, "The [Walmart] video supports [Officer] Kirby's version of what happened." [Indy Star] (Thanks to David!) More »
—>A very nice anonymous reader just sent us contact info for Michael Duke, the new CEO of Walmart (as of February 1st, 2009). Please use it wisely. More »
—>The FBI is investigating an incident in which a mysterious chemical was released in a Wisconsin Walmart sending 47 people to the hospital — and is not investigating a Walmart in the same county that had to be evacuated the next day due to an odoriferous sewer problem. What an odd coincidence. More »
—>When 26-year-old Edward Pluhar Jr. decided to walk past the people waiting in line at Walmart's customer service desk over the weekend, he probably didn't expect one of the men he dissed to confront him over it. What he and his father really didn't expect, however, was for the guy to be an off-duty police officer who doesn't appreciate being threatened. More »
—>Retailers are hoping that the credit crunch ends and consumers will start spending like crazy again — but Walmart's CEO Lee Scott doesn't think that's going to happen. More »
—>Apparently even more annoyed with receipt checking than we are, a Tennessee police officer shoved a 71-year-old Walmart employee to the ground after the employee tried to check his receipt, then pushed a customer through a glass door. That's a bit much. More »
—>Reader Anthony wanted to purchase milk, so he went to Walmart. When he got there, he stood in front of the milk refrigerator for 5 minutes trying to understand Walmart's milk pricing scheme. Attempt this at your own peril. More »
—>Walmart missed its same store sales estimates (considered the most important barometer for the health of a retail operation) for December — leaving analysts "shocked and disappointed." More »
—>And here's the proof: December 26th, and Valentine's Day is already 'Just Around The Corner!' At this rate, I'll be shopping for a Halloween costume mid-April. More »
—>Barry Goldberg decided that this was the season for giving — so he spent $1300 on $10 Walmart gift cards and stood in front of the store handing them out. Until Walmart stopped him. More »
We are so late to telling you this but felt obligated anyway: The $99 Walmart iPhone rumor is just that. That's too bad, it would've been really funny. [Engadget] More »
—>Consumerist Flickr pool member shakerdesigns spotted this poster for the iPhone at his local Walmart. A recent leaked memo said that Walmart would begin selling the iPhone on Dec. 28th. More »
—>The Seattle Times has a disturbing story the describes the scene at the Valley Stream, NY Walmart, where worker Jdimytai Damour died of asphyxiation. Shoppers were apparently cracking jokes and making fun of him as paramedics struggled to save his life. More »
Walmart will sell iPhones by the end of December, says Bloomberg. According to an unnamed Walmart employee, the phone will cost the same as it does at AT&T stores, though there is also some speculation that a forthcoming 4GB model might retail for as low as $99. Try not to freak out. [Bloomberg] More »
—>Artist Jeremy Scheuch made this digital image of Jdimytai Damour, the Walmart worker who was trampled to death by a crowd of Black Friday shoppers after they broke down the front doors and stormed in. More »
—>Two neighborhoods in Milwaukee are considering printing their own currency, which could be bought with U.S. dollars, but would be only accepted at local businesses, in order to encourage people to shop at home instead of Walmart. More »
—>Who is to blame when shoppers attack en masse? The store? The individual shoppers? The police? Two shoppers who say they were injured during the deadly Walmart Black Friday stampede in New York are suing the local police — claiming that they didn't do enough to calm down the crowd minutes before the mob surged through the doors killing one employee. More »
—>We love Walmart's website. We really do. Here's a nice lamp that you can't buy. At all. Deal with it. More »
—>A young mom found an Israeli Gold scorpion in a pile of bananas she picked up from ASDA, a UK supermarket chain owned by Walmart. More »
—>The New York Times is reporting that a temporary employee of a suburban New York Walmart was trampled to death when a throng of shoppers tore down the front doors of the store and surged inside. More »
According to the Boy Genius Report, Walmart will be offering the iPhone starting December 28th... which means that the new "most fun thing to say to people with iPhones" is now officially, "Hey, did you get that at Walmart?" [Boy Genius Report] More »
—>Joseph Gregorie, a (former?) Walmart loss prevention officer, is going to make sure nobody steals on his watch, especially not in this economic climate. After seeing a 58-year-old woman stuff several items in her tote bag and head for the exit, he introduced himself. She dropped the bag but continued to leave the store, so he "grabbed [her] in a bear-hug and threw her to the ground," giving the woman a pretty impressive looking black eye in the process. They've both been arrested. More »
—>The Pennsylvania woman who makes a hobby out of taking retailers to court over pricing errors has struck again. This time Walmart was ordered to pay Mary Bach $100 for repeatedly failing to correct a $2 error. More »
—>Walmart is winning the big box retail war it seems. They reported same-store October sales were up 2.4 percent versus October 2007. Target, however, lagged behind, with same store sales dropping 4.8%. More »
—>Wegmans, an "upscale" grocery chain with stores in 5 Mid-Atlantic states, is cutting prices to stay competitive during the post-Wall-Street apocalypse. More »
—>Joel Sackey in San Antonio, TX reports that both his local Walmart and Sam's Club, effective November 1st, have started playing Christmas music. (Photo: vidaarctique) More »
—>Everyone seems to agree— this year will be the year of the cheap big-screen tv. The only question remains... will anyone buy them? More »
—>This facepaint for kids, sold by Walmart, contains lead. It says it right on the package. What the hell?! Maybe it's the tubes that contain the lead, not the paint? Doesn't sound right. Well, at least it doesn't smear. Large version, inside. More »
—>9 of 10 American families shop at Walmart at least once a year, says USAToday, which puts the retailer in an excellent position to tell us something about consumer behavior. So, what has Walmart been observing? "Disturbing behavior." More »
—>Ricky had a bizarre run-in with "Larry" at his local Walmart, where he was shopping recently with his mother, who needed a new trash can. While Ricky browsed the automotive accessories counter, his mom did mom things in the silk flower department, and she left her new trash can next to Ricky's leg while she wandered off. It turns out, you do not leave trash cans anywhere in Larry's line of sight if you know what's good for you. More »
—>A new study challenging the idea that bottled water is "purer" than tap water found a laundry list of nasty substances in major brand name water, and named two brands that exceeded California's health standards. More »
—>Walmart appears to be having some difficulty matching images to products. Or, then again, maybe they're not. More »
—>You know how sometimes in football both teams will screw up on the same play and the penalties will offset? We've just found the fraud version of that situation. Three men brought a laptop computer box to Walmart and said that they'd been sold an empty box. Walmart thought they were being scammed, so they called the police. That's when all hell broke loose. More »
—>If you've ever seen that video where all those customers stampede into Walmart, knocking people over and even knocking one woman's weave off, you may have wondered what causes people to go bezerk like that. I'm reading Among The Thugs by Bill Buford, reporting on English soccer hooligans first-hand, and this passage gives insight: More »
This can opener really sucks. [Walmart via BuzzFeed] More »
—>Last month, Walmart announced it was shutting down the DRM side of its online music store, and too bad if you were a customer, because they were also going to turn off the DRM server that authorized your music for playback. Apparently enough customers complained, because they came to their senses—at least for the time being—and decided to keep the server running. Read their email below. More »
—>Jacob writes, "I have been trying to make Walmart take back an air mattress for two months now, and they refuse." The store manager at the Walmart on South Duff Avenue in Ames, Iowa (shout out to Leslie Hall!) has started making up new rules on when an air mattress can be returned—including that the federal government limits returns to 15 days "because of the bed bugs, you know." No, we didn't know that, Walmart manager. In fact, after thinking about it, we're still not sure we know it. Because it sounds like you made it up. More »
—>We're trying to figure out who this inflatable crime scene is meant for. With its puffy cuteness, built in lights, and "castle" style walls, it looks like it would be a perfect entrance to a backyard Halloween party for kids. But with its "crime scene noises" and someone-is-being-murdered vibe, it seems more appropriate at a celebration for short police academy graduates. Either way, it can be yours for $125 and a relinquishing of any sense of good taste. [Update: this post is meant humorously—I belly-laughed when I first saw the product.] More »
Walmart just inked a deal to exclusively sell AC/DC's new album as well as the new Rock Band video game, "AC/DC Live: Rock Band Track Pack." Why must you go to Walmart? “If you want to be a physical band, you better make an alliance with a strong physical retailer,” said Steve Barnett, chairman of Columbia Records. “It’s a great way to sell the new album, the catalog, the game, merchandise and DVDs.” [NYT] More »
—>Last week, Walmart sent out emails to its online music store customers letting them know that on October 9th, 2008, they will no longer be able to play any DRM-crippled tracks. Unlike Yahoo, which did the right thing by offering free replacement downloads of unprotected songs when they killed their DRM program, Walmart simply brags about its new unlicensed model and tells you to burn your protected tracks to CD if you really want to listen to them in the future. Good job, Walmart, there goes another betrayed consumer into the welcoming arms of digital piracy. And another. And another... More »
It's hard to think of an object that isn't made of wood or packaged or encounters wood at some point in its journey through the economy. Any number of household items that you can buy at Walmart, like a toilet seat for instance, may very well be made from Russian wood. More »
—> Reader Albert says he took this photo at his local Walmart in Olathe, Kansas. As you can see, Walmart has set a trap for people who love hot dogs and hate math. More »
—>Maybe there's a localized outbreak of inaccurate grocery store scales happening in Kansas City, MO — or maybe grocery store scales in general are just not very accurate? A local KC news team decided to randomly test some grocery store check out scales to see if you were being charged the correct amount for your green beans and whatnot. 5 out of 30 of the scales tested were inaccurate. The news team also went through 2,000 state inspections and found the most egregious examples of malfunctioning scales. More »
—>Local 6 news in Central Florida is accusing Walmart of setting their prices for sugar and other "staples" by demographic — charging more in stores where the population isn't as wealthy as other neighborhoods. Walmart's spokesperson claims to be offended by this accusation. More »
—>A Walmart insider tells us that the price of cellphone chargers nearly doubled on orders from Walmart HQ in the wake of Hurricane Ike. Before the hurricane, chargers cost from $10-$15, but afterwards, they rose to a uniform $19. More »
Highlights From Dealhack
- Abt Electronics: Sony Cybershot S750 7.2MP Digital Camera $129 Shipped
- Office Depot: HP AMD Dual Core Widescreen Notebook $550 & Free Shipping
- B&H Photo: Panasonic Viera 42-inch Plasma HDTV $830 Shipped
- Amazon: J.A. Henckels 8 Piece Stylus Block Set for $49.99 w/ Free shipping
- Walmart: Eastsport Mesh Backpack for $9.88 + $0.97 Shipping
- Timberland: 30% Off Coupon w/ coupon code: FALLEVENT4
- Geeks.com: Four Wireless Day / Night Color Security Cameras with receiver for $130 + $11 s&h
- Newegg: Creative ZEN X-Fi 8GB Portable MP3 / MP4 Player for $112 + free shipping
- Buy.com: Refurbished SanDisk Sansa MP3 Players from $22 + free shipping
—>Those "new" tires of yours could be six-years old and ready to disintegrate on the highway. Tire rubber dries out after six years, but unlike in Europe and Asia, American companies are allowed to sell expired tires long after they turn into death donuts. A 20/20 investigation found that the "new" tires on sale at Sears and Walmart can be up to 12-years-old. Inside, how to tell when your tires were born... More »
—>The New York Times reports that several supermarket and retail chains, including Safeway, Walmart, and Whole Foods, are beginning to experiment with much smaller store sizes that emphasize things like cafes, prepared meals, and produce. The idea is to emphasize speed over choice, and was apparently triggered by UK competitor Tesco, which has launched over 70 small-format supermarkets in Nevada, Arizona, and Southern California over the past year. Of course, the stores also require less shelf space for products than they did a year ago. More »
—>Blogger Kelby Carr says that her local Walmart has totally fake but official looking back to school supply lists posted in their stores. The lists not only contain some extra supplies that are banned from the schools, but are actually missing some supplies. Here's how she describes the lists: More »
If you want to buy that new AC/DC (and maybe Guns N' Roses) album, you're going to have to shop at Walmart. [BusinessWeek & Wired] More »
—>Gregg saw this cheerful environmentally-friendly message on the side of his Sam's Club soda cup. Wait, what? We guess it saves Sam's Club fuel costs to ship the cups, but that sounds more like a profit-friendly quality. Gregg notes another benefit of the cup: "[it] may never biodegrade but at least it's easy on my drinkin' elbow." More »
—>About a month ago, we wrote about Walmart's new logo, and its resemblance to one of Kurt Vonnegut's favorite drawings. It's happened again, although we might be, um, stretching it. While browsing Ikea the other day, we came across their Visen bathroom set, and, well, judge for yourself. More »
—>If you combine a mindless and petty tyrant with Walmart's draconian photo rights policies, you get a story like the one Boingboing reported today, where a woman in Florida was told she couldn't scan an 80-year-old portrait of her dead grandmother, because its copyright is surely held by the studio that took it—and copyrights last forever. More »
—>This is now our third, (yes, our third) post about "buy two and save" or "special value" deodorant two packs at Walmart and Target. This lovely example comes from Tucson, AZ. More »
—>Quick, what's 2 x 2? Did you get 4.32? No? Then you should be able resist Walmart's "Buy 2 And Save" Old Spice "special." More »
—>A mom in West Virginia says her 3-year-old's Diego walkie-talkie, which is supposed to have a range of 20 feet, picked up some blue talk from truckers who may have been 275 miles away. "They said we should go smoke some weed, and were talking about being in a strip bar, some really explicit things," the mother told the Asssociated Press. More »
—>The Grocery Shrink Ray continues its miniature spree across the supermarket aisles of America. Here's 14 more victims that have surfaced in the past week, as spotted by our watchful bands of deputized Consumerist reader-investigators... More »
—>Walmart.com doesn't just sell phantom coolers. They also have awesome deals like this priced-to-move TV stand. We guess when you already have low low prices, there's not much room for extra discounts. (Thanks to Adam!) More »
—>Karen writes, "I am planning a trip to Chicago next month and was looking for a travel cooler, and found exactly what I needed..." Then she noticed something odd. Yes, this leprechaun of a cooler will reward you with awesome in-car chilling, if you can just solve the riddle of how to buy it. More »
—>BikeForums member ReachHigher stripped down to her sports bra and spandex after Walmart refused to let her enter the store with her $600 bike. A manager explained that since Walmart sold bikes, bringing in an outside bike would obviously be too confusing to handle. ReachHigher asked if they also sold shirts. "She said yes so I took off my jersey and said well then I'd better not bring this in either..." More »
—>What began as a troubling rumor has evolved into a troubling fact. Walmart will soon be launching its own version of the Geek Squad as pilot program in 15 stores in the Dallas area. The new "Solution Stations" will supposedly help customers with such tasks as flat panel TV installation and computer repair and will be managed with Dell Inc. Details, inside... More »
—>Mark says he's found fault with Faultless spray starch. The bottle shrunk by two ounces and is being sold for the same price, another victim of the Grocery Shrink Ray. Compare the products here and here. What's interesting is that when he called his mom, she said she had a different brand of starch spray. It too had shrunk by two ounces. Could manufacturers be colluding together to all decrease their products by the same amount at the same time? I've heard of price-fixing, but what about the legality of size-fixing? In any event, Mark emailed customer service about the new package. Their cheery reply, inside... More »
—>Last Friday, we told you about Ashlee from Paonia, Colorado who took her Saturn to a Walmart Auto Service Center in the city of Delta for an oil change. Because they botched the job, the oil leaked out which resulted in extensive engine damage to the tune of $5,875. Since then, she spoke to a representative from Walmart's insurance company who said that they won't pay for the repairs, because when Ashlee discovered the damage, she took her car to a non-Walmart mechanic, and in doing so has "tampered with evidence." Not to be trifled with, Ashlee is gathering evidence and witnesses and hiring a lawyer. Ashlee's, letter inside... More »
—>We've seen "Walmart is a virus" videos before, but this interactive map showing the proliferation of Walmart from the early 1960s until 2007 is especially cool. Zoom in and out as the Walmart infection grows... More »
—> Is Walmart channeling Kurt Vonnegut? When Walmart unveiled its new logo last week, there was only one thing we thought of when we saw that logo. More »
—>The AP reports that a man was bitten by a snake inside the garden center at Wal-Mart in Pembroke Pines, FL. The unidentified 42-year-old man was taken to the hospital and received antivenin for the pygmy rattler bite. Fortunately, these bites are rarely fatal. This is not the first time that a pygmy rattler has attacked a Wal-Mart customer. More »
—>Reader F. put some Consumerist-savvy to work and got Walmart to honor the price shown on their website. You see, when something is out of stock on Walmart.com — the item's description says "Not Sold Online," rather than "Out of Stock." Not being psychic, F. took this to mean that the item was not sold online, and would be available at the listed price at the store... More »
—>Here's your second "Final Four" matchup: #3 Wal-Mart VS #15 Countrywide Home Loans. More »
—>Wal-Mart is getting ready to shed its twenty-year-old blue and white skin in favor of a new store logo which will feature white letters on a burnt-orange background next to a white starburst, according to the WSJ. Wal-Mart will also lose its ubiquitous hyphen and will be known as simply "Walmart." The new logo (pictured left) was revealed when plans for a prototype store in Tennessee were submitted last week. Wal-Mart hasn't yet officially commented on the new design. Details, inside... More »
—>Here at the Consumerist we get a lot of emails requesting more "happy stories." While we wait for some to happen, here are 13 headlines we would love to write. They are in no particular order. More »
—>Wal-Mart and Costco have something new they'd like you to try— a square milk jug. The NYT says the new square jugs "are cheaper to ship and better for the environment, the milk is fresher when it arrives in stores, and it costs less." So what's the catch? Apparently, while the new jugs are helping cut costs, they kind of suck at pouring milk. More »
—>Tipster Toland pointed us toward the Stonecipher Report which contains an entry about a weary traveler who, against his better judgment, decided to get his oil changed at Wal-Mart. After his car was returned, he noticed that his oil monitoring system was still indicating 10% oil life. He asked the Wal-Mart employee if the oil had actually been changed to which she replied, "Yep, I know it was, cause I did it myself." He then went to go check the dipstick and discovered the oil hadn't been changed after all. His post, inside... More »
—>It's down to the final four worst companies in America, folks. The bracket has been updated and the next round will begin on Monday. Congratulations to the four companies that made it this far. You've really achieved something! Who do you think will win it all? More »
—>As we noted in this earlier post, it's technically not possible to cancel an order after you've placed it on Wal-Mart's website. A helpful reader says there are a couple of ways around this, although neither option will immediately free up any hold on your funds. More »
—>Consumerist reader The Unicorn has $550 tied up in some strange Wal-Mart purgatory for a PlayStation 3 bundle that they won't ship to her, even though it clearly states in their online terms that they won't charge you for your order until it's shipped. Her customer service queries are being met with content-free scripted CSR-bot responses. She writes, "Here's the thing: don't ever buy anything from Walmart, ever. I knew this, and ignored it, and now I'm paying the price." More »
—>Here at the Consumerist we'd like you to save money. That's why we've put together a handy list of those $4 generic drug programs that you've been hearing about. We hope this list will make it easier for you to locate the store that has the best deal on all your medications. If your local grocery store is doing a similar program and we missed it, please add a link to the comments. If you need help researching the medicines, we recommend Consumer Reports' excellent site Best Buy Drugs. Enjoy! More »
—>Here's your third "Elite 8" match-up: #3 Wal-Mart VS #43 American Airlines More »
—>Texas wedding caterer Dale Cane found a dead rat's head in one of the twenty cans of Allen's Italian Green Beans he bought at Walmart. Allen's quickly offered Cane $200 if he agreed to keep quiet, and assured him that "the Pasteurization process renders the product sterile and completely safe for consumption." Even worse, this isn't the first time a dead rat's head popped up in a can of Allen's Green Beans... More »
The bracket has been updated as we prepare for Round 4 of our Worst Company In America contest. See the full-sized graphic, suitable for framing or forming the basis of informal office betting pools, inside... More »
—>Reader Richie would like to point out the impressive pointlessness of this Wal-Mart promotion for "Genuine SteakHouse Steak." More »
—>These Sun Chips have shrunk from 11.5 oz to 10.5 oz and are still being sold at the same price. "Not even healthy foods that normally are already sold in smaller portions are safe," says tipster MasonTwo who spotted these on the shelves at Walmart. CNN says the products most vulnerable to the Grocery Shrink Ray are paper towels, potato chips, sticks of gum, toilet paper, detergent and candy bars. Hey, look at the bright side, maybe the Grocery Shrink Ray is just what we need to fight the obesity crisis. More »
—>A few days ago we reported that Cliff didn't receive a $100 gift card when he purchased a PS3 bundle from Best Buy, despite an unpublicized corporate memo that seemed to say otherwise. The manager at Cliff's Best Buy said "You can buy any other PlayStation and you can get the gift card, but not on that one." This didn't match up with what others were reporting, so Cliff sent an email blast to the executive level asking why the offer wasn't honored. Yesterday a Best Buy rep called Cliff and said that they'd be mailing him a $100 gift card. We're impressed the Best Buy resolved this so quickly. More »
—>When Cliff sent us his story about the denied $100 gift card from Best Buy, he also sent it to over a dozen addresses at Best Buy HQ. A few hours ago we got this email cc'ed to us from a VP of Executive Customer Care: More »
—>This guy was trying to make strawberry jam this morning, and he had to go buy 4 bags of sugar. The cashier threw away the original receipt but put the sugar in a couple of Wal-Mart shopping bags, so Ben left the store thinking everything was, you know, normal for a Saturday morning. Then he was stopped by a security guard, a store manager, and an off-duty police officer, all of whom went batshit crazy on Ben over his 4 bags of sugar and lack of receipt. Before it was over one of the shopping bags was ripped open, a bag of sugar lay broken open on the parking lot, the guard had threatened to kick Ben's ass, and the police officer said, "you'd better not be lying to me." Ben was marched back into the store so they could verify with his cashier that he wasn't a sugar thief. Welcome to Wal-Mart, the police-state superstore where prices are low and civil rights don't exist. More »
—>According to this conversation over at the SlickDeals forum, Wal-Mart was offering a $100 gift card with any Blu-ray player purchase, including the PS3—and Best Buy Corporate issued a memo saying they would match Wal-Mart's deal and offer $100 gift cards as well. Cliff tried to take advantage of this unadvertised special when he purchased a Metal Gear Solid PS3 bundle a couple of days ago, but the manager of the store refused, saying the bundle was off-limits: "You can buy any other Playstation and you can get the gift card, but not on that one." Oddly, though, other members of SlickDeals were reporting success with the very same bundle around the country. More »
—>Wal-Mart employee, Ray Canales, age 18, has been arrested for allegedly stabbing a teenage customer inside the store, according to KPRC. The altercation started at about 10:15pm Wednesday night at the Wal-Mart in Pearland, TX. More, inside.... More »
—>Nitra Gipson sold her car to pay for her last two semesters at Texas Southern University, where she is studying criminal justice (of all things), and was paid with Wal-Mart Money Orders. When she tried to cash these money orders at her local Wal-Mart she was arrested and charged with felony forgery — even though the money orders were real. More »
—>In an attempt to tighten their stranglehold on American consumers, Wal-Mart has quietly launched a free Internet classified ad service, directly challenging Craigslist, the reigning Internet ad champion. The Wall Street Journal says, "The service, which the retailer described as a pilot test, carries 30 million items, including foreclosed homes, basset hounds, Madonna concert tickets and a 1981 Ford Firebird, as Wal-Mart tapped into Oodle Inc.'s menagerie of listings." More, inside... More »
—>The epic conflict between shoppers and receipt checkers continues! Reader Michael was unwilling to wait in line to have his cart searched, prompting Wal-Mart to threaten to file a police report as they wrote down his license place... More »
—>MarketWatch says that Wal-Mart is "very interested in expanding into installation and repair services in its fast-growing electronics segment." More »
—>Mary is freaking out because BCBS of Maryland just doubled the copay on her thyroid meds. Times are tight, and Mary doesn't have a thyroid. The insurance companies have been telling her for years that Consumer Reports Best Buy Drugs is a generic, now BCBS has classified it as not being generic. She's pretty ticked, and considering getting married to her fiance early just to get on his insurance. Her letter, and how she might save $200.32 a year, inside. More »
—>The New York Times says that the two most enthusiastic anti-Walmart groups, Wal-MartWatch and WakeUpWal-Mart are starting to take a more subtle approach when it comes to protesting the big blue box. More »
—>12-year-old Megan Templeton was shopping with her father for some watermelons and hamburgers for their Memorial Day cook-out when she was stung by a stowaway scorpion that had made a home in the produce section of her local Walmart. More »
This is Round 41 in our Worst Company in America contest, Wal-Mart vs Citibank!Here's what readers said in previous rounds about why they hate these two companies... More »
—>Houston Texans Wide Receiver Andre Johnson said his foundation ordered 750 bikes from Walmart that were to be given to underprivileged kids, and in return the retailer offered to provide ice and water for the event. TMZ says something got messed up with the order and so Walmart said "No water for you." More »
—>It's been about a year since Kelly Stiles' feet were (somehow) injured by a $3 pair of Walmart flip flops. In that time, Kelly says her feet haven't fully healed and she still can't wear sandals or flip flops. She says she still has pain where she was injured. More »
—>Walmart's $4 prescription plan is getting even cheaper, says Reuters. The big blue box will add 1,000 over-the-counter items for $4 or less and make some drugs available in a 90-day supply for only $10 — thus kicking K-mart's 90-day supply program squarely in the teeth. More »
—>Consumer Reports tells us that Target's strict "No receipt, No return" policy has an "unadvertised" loophole — you can return items of less than $20 for store credit. The catch? You can only do this twice a year. More »
—>Reader Dave said he was shopping with his friend (male) at Walmart, searching for the coveted Nintendo Wii. He was happy to find that Walmart had 7 or 8 of the consoles in stock — enough for both he and his friend to purchase one. Walmart, however, had other ideas. Dave says that Walmart wouldn't let he and his friend each purchase a Wii because they were "together." First they're rationing rice and now men are forced to share their video games? What's going on in America, folks? More »
—>Following Costco's lead, Walmart announced it is now rationing rice. Shoppers at Sam's Club discount wholesale clubs will be limited to four bags of rice per customer. Wal-Mart "working with our suppliers to address this matter to ensure we are in stock, and we are asking for our members' cooperation and patience." It's not as bad as it sounds, the bags are still 500 lbs each. More »
—>Reacting to the news that Canada may classify Bisphenol A as a heath hazard, and following a new report from the U.S. National Toxicology Program that suggested BPA may "cause behavioral changes in infants and children and trigger the early onset of puberty in females," Walmart announced yesterday that it would suspend the sales of all baby products that contain the chemical. More »
—>The Wall Street Journal says that a video production company that earned 90% of its revenue from taping Walmart's internal meetings over the past 30 years has lost the Walmart account—but retained the rights to the video library. More »
—>A 70-year old Wal-Mart worker beat a 81-year-old fellow employee with a pricegun inside a Florida Wal-Mart.
Dennis O'Brien and John Esposito began arguing Sunday and O'Brien swung at Esposito with the tool in his right hand. Authorities say Esposito suffered a swollen left eye and cuts on his nose and mouth. Esposito said both he and O'Brien worked at Wal-Mart. He would not discuss the nature of their argument. The report says O'Brien told a sheriff's deputy he acted in self-defense, but security tape showed O'Brien raising his hand first, striking Esposito in the face and then pushing him to the ground. Officials booked O'Brien into the Palm Beach County Jail on aggravated battery charges.Since they were both employees it couldn't have been about a receipt check, so I'm really at a loss as to what they could be arguing over. More »
—>Reuters wandered around a few Walmarts in Illinois and California and asked shoppers how they were feeling about the groceries they were buying: More »
—>This is Round 17 in our Worst Company in America contest, Wal-Mart vs TJMaxx.
Everyone has their own special reason for hating Wal-Mart. Forcing manufacturers to make shoddier versions of their products is pretty bad. Selling sandals that gave patrons feet chemical burns was pretty bad too. What's yours?
TJMaxx's lax wireless security lead to the theft millions upon millions of customer's debit and credit card numbers being stolen, the greatest bank robbery in the history of the freakin' world. More »
WalMart advertises that generic prescriptions are just $4.00 for up to a 30 day supply. What they don't tell you is that it must be what they consider a "commonly prescribed dosage," so if your doctor decides you need a different dosage they count it as separate prescriptions. For example, if a pill comes in 10mg, 20mg or 40mg strengths and your doctor wants you to take 30mgs. WalMart counts that as 3 - 10mg prescriptions and charges you $12.00 for a 30 day supply. More »
The world's largest retailer said Tuesday in a letter to the family of Deborah Shank it will not seek to collect money the Shanks won in an injury lawsuit against a trucking company for the accident. More »
—>Some shillyshallying office worker came across some papers jammed in the Best Buy shredder that purport to show that Best Buy is going to buy Wal-Mart. Normally I wouldn't sully the pages of The Conglomerist with such treacherous murk, but, irregardless, the news is just too good to keep to myself. If true, this would be the best thing ever to happen to consumers as two of the most kickass companies in America combine forces. Just thinking of of the cost-saving efficiencies provided by the vertical integration makes pleasure crystals ooze shoot out from my pores and explode all over my cat's face (don't worry, he's ok). Oh, and so he can be fired, this traitor's name is Ryan Smith More »
—>A Walmart worker who was hit by a truck and left brain-dead-damaged has lost her final round of appeals and must repay the retailer $469,216. This is because she both had Walmart pay for her medical expenses and she successfully sued the trucking company for medical expenses. While, on the face of it, reptilian, standard employer-sponsored-insurance contracts have clauses prohibiting double-dipping, and, as we all learned from Seinfeld, double-dipping is gross for society. [St. Louis Post Dispatch] (Thanks to Michael!) More »
Greetings from Austin, Consumerist. I thought y'all might like to hear tale of a visit to a local Walmart (store 1185, for those keeping track). More »
—>An affordable electric bike that can go 18 mph for over 20 miles, but isn't sold online or in stores? Detroit, you clever fox, you've done it again! More »
Last night I was grocery shopping at my local Walmart, to beat the insane weekend crowds. Upon finishing checkout, I swiped my card and signed. Then the system beeped, the cashier asks to see ID. I tell her that I don't have it on me. She gets the manager. The manager informs me that due to a recent 8 incidents of credit card theft that she won't process my transaction unless i can prove who I am. I normally do keep my driver's license on hand. I do not carry cash. I have had a credit not work in the past and the manager gladly processed my purchase by manually punching in the numbers. It's insane that a billion dollar company is concerned about $130 cart of groceries. If I was a thief, my cart would have had more than just milk,eggs and bread in it. More »
—>Donald Lynch, certified public accountant, was convicted of misdemeanor assault after pushing a 75-year-old Walmart greeter who wanted to check his receipt, reports The Chronicle. Lynch said the greeter tried to block him by pushing against him with his shoulder. Security tape showed the greeter flying to the floor. While an employee has no right to touch you, you also don't have a right to shove them on the floor, especially if they're septuagenarian! More »
Details are sketchy but a Chehalis Washington man is on trial after being accused of knocking down a Wal-Mart greeter. According to the AP report, Don Lynch says the greeter demanded to see his receipt and then the greeter and another Wal-Mart employee grabbed him. Lynch says he acted in self-defense.Now, we've done a bunch of posts about how, unless you've signed a membership agreement assenting to them, stores have no right to detain you if you refuse a receipt check. However, you cannot react violently. Then you will get in trouble and look like a jerk. Go for non-violent resistance. You must be like Gandhi. If someone touches you, ask them to stop. If they don't, call the cops and complain that this guy won't stop touching you. They're not allowed to touch you, or for that matter, grab you. More »
"Please don't stick me up," a cashier told the shopper on Feb. 2, according to the Nevada chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. More »
—>These receipt checking stories keep coming in and they just keep getting weirder. Reader Patrick was shopping at a Memphis, TN Walmart to buy a firearm, some ammunition and some groceries. First, Walmart refused to sell the groceries and the ammunition because Patrick was buying a firearm. More »
A gas leak at the Plymouth, New Hampshire Walmart has lead to the hospitalization of three workers. [Boston .com] More »
—>Reader J was detained and harassed by some Walmart employees on his way out of the store the other day. J had already put his receipt inside his wallet after purchasing a $25 shower rack when a Walmart employee demanded to see his receipt. J declined and continued exiting the store. That's when things got weird. First, he was grabbed by a Walmart employee, then another customer started pushing him back inside the store. More »
—>The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article about retailers who hire law firms to engage in something called "civil recovery," in which alleged shoplifters are harassed into paying thousands of dollars... even if the case against them has been dropped, or the retailer never intended to sue at all. More »
"I feel we are well positioned for an economic downturn," Scott said. "Our low prices and low-cost business model should give us an advantage over other retailers if things get more difficult for consumers."More »
—>Reader Kyran sent this photo of a hat sold by Walmart and asked the following question: More »
"We've listened to our customers, who are showing a clear preference toward Blu-ray products and movies with their purchases," Gary Severson, head of home entertainment for Wal-Mart's U.S. stores, said in a statement. More »
—>Karen Turner wants to know why Walmart employees told her that their bathroom stalls were unoccupied, even though they contained the body of Karen's husband, 41-year-old airline mechanic Steven Turner. Karen needlessly spent hours searching for her husband, who went missing after dropping off his car that morning for an oil change. Walmart has yet to respond to a letter Karen sent in September. No condolences, no explanation. Nothing but silence. More »
—>Long the land of low low prices, the prices on consumer goods imported from China could rise by as much as 10 percent this year. What's changed in China? More »
Yesterday I sent an e-mail bomb to several executives at Walmart. The concern was that the store was requiring you to provide your receipt upon leaving the store (as in Sam's club, but at Walmart). As we all know, this is a hot topic issue, and I expected Walmart to ignore my e-mails. But to my surprise, after writing my e-mail on Sunday afternoon, I got a reply shortly after 8am! Here is my letter — More »
—>Here are a few Walmart photos that we've noticed. It sort of makes us wonder: More »
—>Walmart says it's going to cut prices 10-30% in order to help "cash-strapped consumers" and keep them "excited about shopping." More »
—>Holy crap! A "multiagency" investigation that started with a single shoplifting incident has lead to the arrest of an 18 person crime ring in Florida, says The Ledger. More »
Walmart is offering $10 gift cards to gamers whose pre-orders for Super Smash Bros. Brawl were unexpectedly canceled. More »
—>Here's a story that makes you wonder what sort of tools the workers at Mattel's factories use. A "shank" (a blade wrapped in electrical tape, to be exact) was found inside a sealed Polly Pocket toy purchased at Walmart. More »
—>The Chicago Tribune is reporting that the first of Walmart's new "high efficiency" stores is slated to open Jan 23, in Romeoville, IL. It's part of Walmart's super awesome PR-tastic, yet characteristically stingy plan to make its stores 25 to 30 percent more energy efficient by 2009. More »
—>Cadmium batteries are cheap and safe to use, but hazardous to manufacture. They'll save you money—about $1.50 for the average cadmium-powered toy, says the Wall Street Journal. More »
This is not funny. This is sad. Very, very sad. They should at least offer Coke. More »
—>Don't worry avid gamers, Walmart has "received your request to cancel" your pre-ordered copy of Super Smash Bros. Brawl for the Wii. Oh, you didn't ask to cancel the order, you say? $19.82 is an amazing price for a $50 game? More »
Hi, Consumerist. More »
—>We asked if anyone had executive contact information for Walmart, and boy did you deliver! Project Walmart Freedom lists 742 numbers from Walmart's corporate directory, and toll-free numbers for 83 Walmart divisions. We were also able to liberate the direct number for Walmart Vice Chairman John Menzer. More »
—>Joe Ellis arranged for Santa to deliver an iPod to his daughter for Christmas. Santa instead left an anti-capitalist rant. The iPod purchased from a Maryland Walmart contained a note written in ransom-letter caps reading:
RECLAIM YOUR MIND FROM THE MEDIA SHACKLES. READ A BOOK AND RESURRECT YOURSELF. More »
Ladies and Gentlemen... Boys and Girls... The final tally for lead recalls is in. More »
—>Daryl Hill of Cookeville, TN purchased an MP3 player from Walmart for his 10-year-old daughter. He handed the player over to his daughter thinking it was new, when in fact the previous owner had filled the player with pornography. More »
—>It's official: Walmart is no longer in the video download business. More »
Police escorted a woman home after she was shopping, eating, and sleeping in a Georgia Walmart for three days straight. She blended in with the general Christmas madness and sustained herself by eating at the on-site Blimpie. When asked by employees at the end why she stayed for so long, she said, "I'm shopping." More »
—>Walmart has pulled the prostitution panties, according to Fox News.
The panties, which were sold in the juniors department, seemed to suggest that girls don't need money, they just need a sugar daddy — in this case Santa Claus. More »
—> Over at Feministing, a reader noticed these panties in the "juniors" section at the Wal-Mart on Kildare Farms Road in Cary, NC. More »
—>If you were planning on getting a Talking Jesus Action Figure this Christmas (or whatever) you're almost out of luck. Walmart has completely sold out of the toy and Target.com has "very limited supply," according to the manufacturer's spokesperson, Joshua Livingston. More »
—>Walmart has pulled copies of the Superbad DVD that contained a promotional "McLovin" Hawaii license after Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann objected to the item. The "license" appears to be made with a lenticular lens, and when viewed at different angles shows either Fogell or his ever-sexy alter-ego, "McLovin." More »
—>According to a poll cited by the Chicago Sun-Times, Sears is the #2 holiday shopping destination this year (after Walmart.) So why can't they make any money? More »
—>Ars Technica says that Walmart has given an ultimatum to "some of the largest record labels, including Warner Music Group and Sony BMG Music Entertainment, to provide more of their respective music catalogs in MP3 format (that is, without DRM) next year." More »
—>Based on an advocacy group's "10 Most Dangerous Toys" list, an Arkansas man became convinced that a Dora the Explorer lamp sold at Walmart posed an imminent electrical shock threat to any children for whom which it was bought, so he conducted his own personal recall... More »
Walmart Watch is raising funds to help pay for the ongoing care of the woman who was hit by a semi. [Walmart Watch] More »
A PDF containing the results and brands tested is available here. More »
—>A Walmart employee was hit by a semi, leaving her permanently brain-damaged and in a wheelchair. Walmart paid for her medical fees and her family successfully sued the trucking company. Now Walmart wants all the money she got from the trucking company. The family only has Social Security benefits and medicaid to pay for her 24 hour medical care. The company health plan contains a clause that allows it to recoup medical expenses it paid if the person also wins damages in an injury suit. This cost-effective management of the employee health plan is just another way Walmart delivers America everday low prices. More »
—>Is Billy Bob Thornton available? For the first time ever, every single Walmart will feature Santa. Also, there will be free 5" x 7" photos to be had while supplies last. More »
—>Consumer Reports seems sort of disappointed by Walmart's Black Friday ad: More »
—>What are you feeding your children tonight? How about a hearty helping of lead? KUTV did a followup on their report yesterday about lead in dinner plates. Their investigative reporter bought more plates from Walmart. After heating them to 85 degrees, the plates leached out lead at .381 parts per million. The plates were made in China. The government says that anything below 2.0 is acceptable. But unlike a toy where you're mainly just coming in skin contact with the toy, with a plate, the lead is actually seeping into the food and you're eating it. More »
—>A Utah child developed painful constipation after it was discovered that her family was using lead-tainted plates sold by Walmart. Investigators found the plates had lead levels of 11. Utah considers anything about 1 "unacceptable." More »
—>Walmart's new ad campaign says that the store saves the average American family $2,500 a year. What is doesn't say is that you don't actually have to shop at Walmart to take advantage of the savings. More »
—> One of the unintended consequences of so many toy recalls is that holiday catalogs, printed far in advance, are now full of recalled toys. More »
—>Walmart received an $89,705 fine after the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection found 280 weights and measures violations at nine Walmart stores. The gargantuan retailer failed to subtract the weight of packaging materials, or "tare weight," when pricing bulk items like coffee, broccoli, and sweet potatoes.
Judy Cardin, section chief for weights and measures with the state, said that in the case of bulk coffee, the weight of the packaging materials was included when the price of the product was determined. The state had tested one-pound bags of Cameron brand coffee beans, which were found to be 3/100ths of a pound over the actual bagged content. More »
—>ABCNews asked a optometrist to write a bifocal prescription and have it filled at Costco, Target, LensCrafters and Walmart, then they asked him to rate the quality of the glasses. More »
—>Best Buy met one of Walmart's "secret deals" punch for punch but soon found itself in a bind trying to go up against the discount retailer. Walmart was selling Toshiba HD-A2 HD DVD players for $98.97. BestBuy countered by dropping the price on theirs to $99.99. There was a run in-store and online quickly ran into backorders, backorders which would probably be never fulfilled, seeing as the Toshiba HD-A2 is a discontinued product. BestBuy could have told all the shoppers to shove it, but instead Best Buy said they would fulfill the orders with the HD-A3, retailing normally for $299.99. More »
—>Walmart is moving "Black Friday" to this Friday in a desperate attempt to make some money this holiday season. Never mind that this "holiday season" is weeks away. Black Friday is here, folks. More »
—>Thanks to everyone who participated this year. The offenses against Halloween and Thanksgiving that you documented were many and varied. More »
—>Workers at one particular Walmart in Louisiana are going to notice if you keep buying meth supplies at their store. They've busted two different meth cookers says the Associated Press:
The Wal-Mart worker alerted Slidell police Friday after he saw a man buying material used to make the drug, police spokesman Capt. Kevin Foltz said. More »
A Derby, Kansas Walmart was evacuated after an unknown substance caused 125 people to become nauseated and have difficulty breathing. "This is not a terrorist incident," said Derby Fire Chief Brad Smith. They think one of the photo machines might have malfunctioned. [Wichita Eagle] More »
—>Walmart CEO, Lee Scott recently told analysts that he feels: More »
—>Starting today at 9:30 a.m., the Senate Commerce Committee will examine the lives of the young Chinese workers who assemble our Barbies and Tiggers without the workforce protections or social safety nets enjoyed by western workers. More »
—>A plague of lead has stricken Walmart's stock of "realistic animals". Affected animals include farm animals, jungle animals, and even the feared dinosaur. The animals are currently trapped in chinsy cellophane bags clad shut by a brandless cardboard strip that proudly boasts: 88 Cents!
"Wal-Mart said independent testing revealed excessive levels of lead in the base material, not the surface coating." More »
—>Consumers in twenty-seven states are suing Aurora Dairy, the nation's largest organic dairy for selling milk that failed to meet basic organic standards. The suit is bolstered by findings from USDA inspectors, who found that between December 2003 and April 2007, Aurora: "labeled and represented milk as organically produced, when such milk was not produced and handled in accordance with the National Organic Program regulations." More »
—>You must wait until Nov. 19 to know what delicious deals Walmart has in store for America this "Black Friday." The Mart of Wal is threatening legal action against any website so bold as to post the coveted "Black Friday" circular before that date. More »
—>The Des Moines Register would like you to know that Walmart is test marketing some talking Jesus action figures. The dolls will set you back $14.97. More »
—>Today's free gift that social network site Facebook users can electronically give to each other appears to be a frosting-coated ghost cookie in a plastic bag. Oh, and the cookie says Walmart on it. Spooky. Now is time for a fun Halloween game. Make this simple marketing ploy into a metaphor, and then read a lot into it. More »
—>Police say that two soft drink workers, one representing Pepsi (David Paulina, 42) and one representing Coca-Cola (Robert Koscho, 48) "tried to run each other over with pallets full of soda bottles" at a Pennsylvania Walmart. The violence escalated outside the store, and the Coke rep ended up with a broken nose. More »
—>The latest issue of GOOD Magazine has a sweet graphic showing the comparative landmass taken up by the world's largest retail chains. Walmart leads with a total square footage larger than Manhattan. By comparison, McDonald's has a net footrprint of about 1 and 3/4 Central Parks. The image also shows 7-11, Blockbuster, Subway, KFC, GAP, Burger King, Starbucks, and Wendy's. More »
—>When returning a toy gun to Walmart here are two things you should not do: More »
—>Apparently, there is a Halloween display at Walmart that is so scary its giving one Texas woman's three children nightmares. More »
—> Today, Wal-Mart announced that it will start re-selling HughesNet satellite broadband Internet access, starting at 700Kbps for $59.99 a month, through 2,800 of its stores "including locations throughout most of rural America where terrestrial broadband services, such as cable and DSL, are often not available." To help spur initial sign-ups, Wal-Mart will give new customers $100 RFID-enabled "ExpressPay" cards to use while shopping at the retailer. More »
—>Reader Rob wrote to Bealls, the outlet store that was selling the infamous Walmart Nazi T-shirts, and they responded by thanking him for making them aware of the situation and promising to destroy the shirts. More »
—>Walmart workers who were forced to work through breaks won an additional $62 million Wednesday. Sounds like a ton of cash, but the AP says, "The payments for lost wages are expected to range from about $50 to a few thousand dollars, depending on employment history." More »
After independent tests show lead in Walmart pet toys, Instead of solving the problem or even fulfilling a pledge to test the toys, Walmart summoned one of its PR minions from a pile of feces located under a cesspool in Chernobyl to try to bully ConsumerAffairs.com with legal threats and disinformation. [ConsumerAffairs] More »
—>Walmart will price match any store...except other Walmarts or Walmart.com. From KJRH: More »
—>It's October, the new official start to the holiday shopping season. At least according to Walmart. They're already discounting toys. More »
—>Attention women who like the idea of $9 birth control: Target has announced that they will be matching Walmart's program. Target will also be matching the additions to the $4 generic program. More »
—>Walmart says it's going to save "one of our most precious natural resources", water, by offering only concentrated laundry detergents from now on. More »
—> It's too bad that they seem to only have one left. More »
—>The New York Times is reporting that Walmart has decided to expand their $4 generic drug program. The program will now include generics of "widely used heart medication Coreg and the anti-fungal drug Lamisil." More »
—>According to BusinessWeek, Walmart is using its considerable power to pressure its suppliers to reduce manufacturing energy consumption, and in doing so, cut costs. More »
—>Walmart.com doesn't want to talk to you, so they're disconnecting their phone as part of their new "Customer Contact Reduction Program." More »
—>Besides the obvious misspelling, it seems now that Walmart considers a measuring cup a "gadget." Ooh, look at these fancy graduated lines! Futuristic. Someone send Gizmodo a press release. More »
—>Nowadays it seems like anyone can make a sign. I yearn for the olde days of sign making when you actually had to know something about signmaking to do it. Signmaking was restricted to knowledgeable guild workers. The penalty for non-guild workers making signs was death. By signmaking. More »
—>Walmart knows more about us than we do, according to ABC News. More »
—>Walmart says it has pulled thousands of cheap sandals that had of customers complaining about painful, lingering rashes, WFTV in Florida reports. More »
—>A Walmart security guard demanded a woman hand over her baby at checkout, thinking it might have been a baby that was reported missing in the store, according to a Myspace post by the mother, Stacy Arrington of Parkville, MD (pictured): More »
—>It's Walmart's policy, clearly visible on their website and in their stores, that all sales of guns and ammunition are final. One San Diego man didn't like that policy so he tried to return the ammunition in another way. By firing it in the Walmart parking lot. More »
When it got worse the dermatologist said that it was definitely not a fungus... More »
—>Reader Jonathan's son snapped this photo of a Walmart price "rollback" in Tawas City, Michigan, this Labor Day Monday. The current price is $1.98, the previous, $1.82. "I do see the irony of being in a Wal-Mart on Labor Day," writes Jonathan, "and I still feel unclean for it." More »
Rich in Michigan writes that a Michigan Sam's Club employee foiled his efforts to circumvent the receipt-checking line.
I was detained in a Sams Club receipt-checking line today. When I attempted to steer my cart around the line and out the exit door, an employee with a nametag of 'Linda' stepped in front of my cart and asked me to surrender my receipt. When I asked if I was being detained, she assured me that I was...More »
—>If you're going to pay twice as much for milk because you like the idea that the cows have a yard to play in—that's your business—but you'd better be getting what you pay for. More »
—>Walmart share price falls after Merril-Lynch downgrades stocks to "sell" from "neutral." In a note to clients, a Merril analyst cited shrinking profit margins as a concern for the retailer. This would be the first time in 2007 the stock has been marked as sell. More »
Like Kerry, Walmart told her to file a complaint with the Chinese manufacturer of the bargain sandals. More »
—>The Wisconsin Department of Revenue is irritated with Walmart. They've just noticed that Walmart has been charging itself rent in a (successful) attempt to avoid paying taxes. Teehee! More »
—>According to Wired, Facebook users have hijacked Walmart's dorm decoration discussion page, choosing instead to discuss the way Walmart "destroys communities and prevents unionization." Oh, my! More »
In recent visits to five Wal-Mart stores in the San Francisco Bay Area, however, TheStreet.com found a company still struggling to find its footing in the rough world of retail. More »
"Wal-Mart's not addressing the larger problem of why Chinese toy suppliers are cutting corners with lead paint and melamine," spokesman Nu Wexler said, referring to a harmful additive found in pet food made in China. "It's because they're under enormous pressure from buyers like Wal-Mart, and they're sacrificing child safety to keep costs low."Walmart has hired three firms to help it ramp up the testing. Walmart says:
"We know this is an issue at the top of mind with our customers, and we know we can play a role to reassure them that we have great, safe toys in our stores," said Laura Phillips, Wal-Mart's merchandise manager overseeing toys."More »
—>This sign, snapped by reader Logan, shows how a Oklahoma City Walmart Supercenter "rolled back" prices on an unknown item negative ten dollars and two cents for a certain period of time on August, 19th, 2007. Wonder if some people just see the rollback sign and don't do the math between the old price and the new. Someone pick up the Batphone and speedial the OK Weights and Measures department. More »
—>Remember the dog treats that Walmart quietly pulled from its shelves instead of recalling? Walmart's own tests have shown they were tainted with melamine, the same chemical that killed all those pets back in March. Fun. More »
—>Walmart pulls Chinese-made Chicken Bestro Jerky Strips from shelves after customers complain about their pets getting sick. No full recall announced, but they put a transaction block on the item. Then a woman's Chihuahua dies from a toxic bacteria after eating the strips. Now another woman says her dog died from eating the strips. More »
—>Walmart's everyday low low prices are thanks to department managers sneaking into local competing Kmarts with price guns, scanning everything, and then setting all of their prices 10 cents lower, according to a former employee and current Consumerist reader Altered Beast... More »
A list of things currently being stolen from Walmart. Of interest, Alli is still popular with the shoplifters and DVDs of 300 are rising in the charts. [Behind The Counter] More »
—>[Columbus, Ohio. July 2007] More »
—>[Texarkana, Texas. August 9] More »
—>Bad news for people who were enjoying Publix's policy of price-matching Walmart's $4 generic drug plan—they've discontinued it, opting instead of offer free antibiotics. More »
Kerry, whose feet broke out into some sort of awful rash/burn after wearing Walmart flipflops, has been wearing latex gloves to determine if she's allergic to latex (so far she's not.) She's also collecting photos from more people who have had reactions to the same flip flops. If not latex, then what? Suggestions welcome! [Kerry's Site] More »
—>An article from the Hattiesburg American claims a Mississippi women bought a recalled can of hot dog chili sauce (the same product that has sickened 4 people with botulism) at a Walmart after the recall had been announced on July 19th, but before it had been widely publicized in the newspapers. More »
—>Walmart is Mexico's largest private employer, according to Newsweek, and that doesn't include the 4,300 unpaid teenagers that it lets "volunteer" to bag groceries at its Mexican stores. More »
—>Meet Anenide Cherry. Walmart banned her from entering their Palm Bay, FL store after she was caught using her three kids to steal merchandise worth over $300. Loss prevention officers observed Cherry's tikes, ages 6, 12, and 15, bagging unscanned items at the self-checkout counter. From Local6: More »
—>Walmart will offer 10 to 50 percent discounts on 16,000 items to boost sales during the lucrative back-to-school season. The cuts are part of Walmart's broader plan to abandon its pursuit of the upscale market, which "confused customers," and return to its core business of undercutting competition and instigating price wars. More »
—>Talking Jesus dolls will make their Walmart debut early next month as part of a spiffy new line of religious action figures. Walmart claims it is responding to the needs of kids who want to ditch their G.I. Joe for a Samson, and will only stock the religious toys in stores where the bible is a best-seller. Walmart has always catered to the family values crowd, but that hasn't stopped some Christian ministers from questioning Walmart's faith:
"They'll carry anything that sells," says David Croyle, president of FamilyLife, a non-denominational ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ. "This simply signals intelligent buying within Wal-Mart." More »
—>Let's face it. Your average body-type does not look good in tapered-leg skinny jeans. We're not even saying "average body type" as code for "fatty." We actually mean it. Regular people look bad in these fashions and do not want to purchase cheap Walmart versions of them. People want to buy socks at Walmart. Big bags of socks. More »
—>Kerry, the woman whose feet suffered some sort of burn from wearing flip flops, has written in to defend herself against the comments on Consumerist. More »
—>A woman from Florida claims to have purchased some flip flops from Walmart, put them on her feet... only to suffer some sort of severe chemical burn along the lines where the straps of the flip flop met her feet. More »
—>Walmart has announced that it will add "amazon" style customer reviews to its website, according to the Wall Street Journal. More »
Walmart doesn't just aggregate items once found in Mom and Pop shops - they aggregate criminals, too! "To me, there is an absolute nexus between Wal-Mart and increase crime generated in an area," [West Boylston, PA Police Chief Minnich] said, adding officers respond to shopliftings, thefts and assaults. More »
—>With increased shoplifting and employee theft hurting Walmart's bottom line, the store says it will now go after first-time shoplifters who are as young as 16. Previously, it was Walmart's policy to only prosecute first-time shoplifters who were at least 18. More »
—>Reader Sean is the most recent reader to purchase food at a major "big box" store, find it unacceptable, and send us a picture. More »
—>Most stores pulled their stock of Chris Benoit action figures after the WWE wrestler murdered his family, but the toys can still be found by those morbid individuals, and reporters, who look hard enough. More »
—>A woman has filed a lawsuit after ground beef made by Tyson and sold by Walmart put her in the hospital for 3 weeks, she says. From KOTV:
Melinda Pierce says she bought some Tyson hamburger meat at the Muskogee Wal-Mart on June 4th and made enchiladas with it two days later. More »
—>Here's a cheap way to replace your cellphone if you lose it while under contract. Just go to Walmart and buy one of their pre-paid cellphones, then call up your provider and ask for them to activate the phone under your account. You'll need the provide the serial number and the ESN of your old phone. Those are found underneath the battery (so it's a good idea to write them down BEFORE you lose your phone). More »
Armatrout was one of about 350,000 employees Wal-Mart secretly insured nationwide, said Texas attorney Michael D. Myers, who estimated the company collected on 75 to 100 policies involving Florida employees who died. More »
Maine Gov. John Baldacci last week signed into law a measure requiring developers of retail stores exceeding 75,000 square feet to conduct studies gauging the project's impact on municipal services, the environment and local businesses. The proposed store can't be approved if the studies find it is likely to cause a quantifiable, "undue adverse impact" on more than one of those fronts and is expected to have a harmful effect on the community overall. More »
—>The dumb scams people try to pull never cease to amaze us. Take Chandon L. Simms, 23, of Monroe, LA. He walked into his local Walmart, grabbed a 42" Sanyo Plasma TV, removed its price tag and affixed one that would scan for only $4.88. More »
—>Taking a page from Comcast, T-Mobile sold Shelby Hinds a phone containing 60 images from an online porn gallery associated with another user's account. Shelby purchased the phone from a T-Mobile kiosk at Walmart, where she "watched the salesman take the wrapping off two new phones and program them. " T-Mobile said the porn was Shelby's fault:
...the representative on the phone told her the only way the phone could have those images was if she took the photos herself or if the pictures were sent to her in a text message.Shelby brought the smut phone to a T-Mobile store, where the employees said they had "never seen a problem like this before." T-Mobile is now attributing the porn to a "technical glitch," and will replace the phone free of charge and waive Shelby's activation fees. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER More »
"We respect the jury's decision but we feel that it did not reflect the facts in the case, so we are studying the decision and have not ruled out an appeal," said Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley, in a phone interview on Wednesday. "Ms. Haddad was dismissed because of numerous violations of company policy."More »
Hey consumerist just thought I'd let you and every other customer out there know that Wal-mart sucks at making cakes! It was my daughter's 3rd birthday yesterday (06.17.07) and my wife ordered a cake a week ago to be made for this date. When we picked it up with a little less than an hour until the party started, we were extremely disappointed to say the least. We complained and they gave us 20% off but that wasn't enough as far as we were concerned. I told customer service "We shouldn't have to pay more than half for a half-assed cake" (I just couldn't resist making a pun haha). All they said was "twenty percent is the most we can give you". We didn't have time to get another cake and just went ahead and bought it but we will never buy another cake from Wal-Mart again that's for damn sure. I mean look at at it, it looks hardly anything like the advertisement! That strip with black lines on it, yeah that's supposed to look like a film strip. Oh and to boot my wife ordered butter cream filling and they put strawberry instead. Is it really that hard to follow directions and deliver a worthy product? Apparently.Indeed, that cake is pretty weak. They should probably get rid of the picture if they can't actually make that cake. More »
—>According to the AP, so-called "shrinkage" at Walmart could rise to more than $3 billion this year. The shrinkage comes from a combination of supplier fraud, employee theft, bad bookkeeping and, of course, shoplifting. More »
—>"Would you like to load your check onto a Wal-Mart MoneyCard?" More »
—>29 weeks after Walmart agreed to remove shirts bearing Nazi iconography from its shelves, and 17 weeks after getting a letter from Congress demanding the shirts removal, they're still there. Adam writes:
So I'm at Wal Mart in Commerce City, CO looking for a gift for a friend and start rummaging through the T Shirt section not looking for anything in particular, just killing some time. Suddenly I notice this familiar looking skull peeking out at me. "Surely it can't be..." I think to myself. Oh, it is.... I grab it and pull it out; there it is in all its glory. It's like finding a piece of history. Nazi Wal Mart history.We keep posting these to show you how some businesses manipulate the by-the-books media. A fracas erupts, the company send out a public statement apologizing and pledging to change their ways, the press publishes it, everyone feels goods, and we turn to a clip of Scrappy the Jet-skiing squirrel. Guess what, the company doesn't always do what they said they were gonna do. — BEN POPKEN More »
—>Here's something we don't really understand. Why do public officials feel they need to give government subsidies to the nation's largest employer? It's sort of baffling. More »
—>Jennifer Lopez was the main attraction at Walmart's 4 hour long "shareholder's meeting", along with American Idol winner Jordin Sparks and comedian Sinbad. Less important? The shareholders. Walmart allotted 3 minutes to each of the resolutions shareholders had put forward. Why was such little time available for shareholders to discuss the company they own? "Time-constraints!" Walmart had to make room for the following: More »
So I took my wife over to the Wal*mart store in Chelmsford, MA for some cheap, low-quality Chinese goods, and as we were walking out I spotted the now infamous 3rd division Totenkopf logo high atop the men's clothing department's shelves. I walked over to the wall, and it appears that while they actually took the shirts off the shelves, the logo itself is still being proudly displayed among the other non-nazi designs. Talk about missing the point!— BEN POPKENRecent updates to this story.
Backstory.
—>June and James Medema of Blue Grass, Iowa have filed a lawsuit against Walmart after June slipped and fell in a puddle of vomit. The owner of the vomit has not been identified, nor does the lawsuit specifically state how Walmart was negligent. More »
—>Watch out, kids. Don't try to be funny on the internet or you'll be fired by Walmart. More »
—> According to a confidential report leaked to the New York Times by WakeUpWalmart.com, Walmart's low prices may be working against it when it comes to selling plasma TVs and more expensive clothes. From the NYT:
A confidential report prepared for senior executives at Wal-Mart Stores concludes, in stark terms, that the chain's traditional strengths — its reputation for discounts, its all-in-one shopping format and its enormous selection — "work against us" as it tries to move upscale. More »
—>Walmart takes TVs people return and sells them as new, according to this unverified report we received. More »
—>Dell announced today that Walmart will be selling Dell Dimension PCs in-store as part of a new retail strategy. From
In a statement, Dell spokesman Bob Pearson said, "Our customers are asking us for additional ways to purchase our products and we plan on delivering on a global level. Offering Dell Dimensions in Wal-Mart is a great example of this approach."Dell seems to be contemplating offering their computers in other retail outlets as well.
Dell declined to make executives available for an interview, and Mr. Pearson declined to give further details. He suggested that other retail moves might be in the offing, however. More »
—>27 weeks after Walmart agreed to remove shirts bearing Nazi iconography from its shelves, and 15 weeks after getting a letter from Congress demanding the shirts removal, they're still there. Don found some in Sterling, Washington: More »
—>The House is poised to pass a bill that will keep Walmart, and all who seek to follow them, from ever having a bank to call their own. The measure, H.R. 698, prevents industrial loan companies (ILCs) from being owned or chartered by any institution that doesn't derive at least 85% of their revenue from financial activity. More »
Schwinger alleges that his dog Sandy, an otherwise healthy 2-year-old, had to be euthanized as a result of eating Menu Foods' Ol' Roy Pet Food and Del Monte's Canine Carry-out Bacon Bite, which were purchased at a Wal-Mart store in Cassville. More »
—>A toy that was recalled in March of 2006 after killing a small boy and seriously injuring 2 dozen others is still for sale at a California Walmart according to Reader Kevin. More »
"We think there will be a lot of Wal-Mart shoppers who will not be familiar with Skype," said Don Albert, general manager for Skype North America, a unit of eBay Inc. More »
—>Convicted shoplifters are no longer welcome at Walmart, even if they wear signs proclaiming: "I am a thief, I stole from Walmart." Walmart was initially gung-ho about the decision to publicly shame the thieves, and even planned to keep the signs for future use. Their dreams of shoplifter shame now lie slightly worn at the return desk after a Walmart attorney told Judge Kenneth Robertson that the shoplifters were persona non grata at Walmart.
Robertson said the attorney said WalMart was afraid "that people might try to run [the shoplifters] down or throw something at them.''Walmart does not want blood on their
—>Magnetic toys that killed one boy and injured more than 2 dozen others are still available for sale in many Illinois stores according to Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan. The attorney general's office found the recalled toys at several stores all over the state, and a Chicago Tribune reporter was able to purchase the toys Wal-Mart, Target and Big Lots stores in the northwest suburbs. More »
—>Awhile back we posted some videos that show how butchers get away with vacuum pumping water into meat to make it weigh more. Some of them try to be "honest" about it by throwing a little soy sauce in there and calling it marinade. Whatever. We don't pay by the pound for our marinade and neither should you. More »
—>People in Wisconsin take their organic food seriously, Walmart. Don't mess with Wisconsin. They wear cheese on their heads, for pete's sake. More »
22 weeks after Walmart agreed to remove shirts bearing Nazi iconography from its shelves, and 13 weeks after getting a letter from Congress demanding the shirts removal, they're still there. S.G.W. found some in Indianapolis, took a video, and writes: More »
—>Millions of Americans don't have health insurance, and many of them are Walmart shoppers. Heck, many of them are Walmart employees. The solution? Walmart is opening 400 more "health clinics" in the next 2-3 years. Eventually, there will be over 2,000 of these clinics. More »
—>Don't steal from the Walmart in Attala, Ala or Judge Kenneth Robertson Jr. will make you wear a sign that says, "I AM A THIEF I STOLE FROM WALMART." More »
—>A group of Benedictine nuns in Texas are shocked that Walmart considers them a threat and ordered a "threat assessment" from their crack security team. The nuns had filed a shareholder resolution that was critical to Walmart. "The Benedictine Sisters of Boerne, Texas have written a letter to Lee Scott, Wal-Mart's chief executive, to say they were "deeply disappointed, appalled and shocked." More »
—>The director of the Arkansas State Police, Colonel Steve Dozier, has resigned from his position, (with provides a salary of $98,400 a year), to join Walmart's security force. According to WMC TV, Walmart spokesperson Sarah Clark says that Dozier will "oversee several elements of the company's security program" and will report to Ken Senser, Wal-Mart's senior vice president for global security, aviation and travel." More »
—>We just found this picture in our inbox with no explanation attached. Why did Shane take a picture of his Walmart pizza and send it to us? More »
Fluoroquinolone was reportedly banned by the FDA in 1997, but Florida food safety experts officials told CBS-4's Al Sunshine that it is not an imminent threat to public health and it's more of an issue of keeping unneeded antibiotics out of the human food supply. More »
Workers digging at the site of a future Wal-Mart store in suburban Mesa have unearthed the bones of a prehistoric camel that's estimated to be about 10,000 years old. More »
In past decades, deejays and music critics helped shape musical trends. Today, many music industry executives agree, the big boxes have become the new tastemakers. Even as compact disc sales fall, their choices dictate which CDs are widely available on store shelves across the U.S. Big boxes are the industry's biggest distribution channel — and the rock, hip-hop, jazz and classical music titles they choose not to carry face drastically reduced chances of reaching mass audiences. More »
To measure the "Wal-Mart effect" on profits across different industries, Forbes analyzed information compiled by Revere to compare the percentage of sales that various firms generated through Wal-Mart in fiscal 2006 to the gross margins those firms produced during the same period, as compiled by FactSet . The survey covered 333 companies in six industry sectors—apparel & accessories, consumer games & electronics, household accessories, food & beverage, personal care and leisure goods—that Revere identified as heavy Wal-Mart sellers and their competitors.We've summarized their results inside. More »
—>Walmart is dropping 3,000 Sam's Club managers. according to an article in the WSJ. The managers, who used to be in charge of specific sections of the store (i.e. bakery, meat, photo). can now choose a severance package, quit, or remain on as hourly workers. More »
—>Former CIA or FBI intelligence expert? Want to train your eye on more... "innocent" suspects than you did during your days in law enforcement? Look no further than Walmart's Global Security division, which is headed by former senior CIA and FBI senior officer Kenneth Senser and Army Special Operations veteran David Harrison. More »
I don't know if I'm the only one who finds this a little odd, but Wal-Mart is starting up a TV series about its associates. It's going to be called "In-Front with Wal-Mart" and is set to air April 28 on USA. I've attached a screenshot capture of walmartbenefits.com where I found this info. Seems kind of likely a silly PR stunt. Even though I work for Wal-Mart (and love it) I still think this is kind of ridiculous.Hmmm, would USA really do a Walmart TV show? Sure! Why? More »
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22 weeks after Walmart agreed to remove shirts bearing Nazi iconography from its shelves, and 10 weeks after getting a letter from Congress demanding the shirts removal, they're still there. More »
—>Back in November, Walmart slashed the price on this sewing machine by 13 cents. Now they've pulverized it by another $1.11! OH MY GOD WE LOVE YOUR EVERYDAY LOW PRICES SO HOT! — BEN POPKEN More »
Reports said the man, from the 2000 block of Arlington Avenue, used a lighter and tissues stuffed in his pocket to ignite his jacket, which became "severely burnt." More »
—>Kottke has linked a map drawn as if the size and existence of countries was based on how many products Walmart buys from their nation. China is huge, Europe is tiny, and Canada is less than the size of Alaska. —MEGHANN MARCO More »
—>We're not saying you shouldn't shop at Walmart. We're not telling you who to give your money to. That's not what we do here, (although some people think it is, but whatever.) What we are saying is that you should think about to whom you entrust your property. If you have a bad experience, learn from it and don't give them the opportunity to mess with your stuff again. Reasonable? More »
In letters to both agencies, Comptroller William C. Thompson Jr., citing a recent article in The Wall Street Journal, said he was "particularly troubled by reports that Wal-Mart engaged in chilling and truly outrageous surveillance activities." More »
The suit and restraining order were filed two days after Wal-Mart apologized to activist shareholders for Gabbard's revelation that they were considered potential threats and ahead of a story in Monday's editions of the Wall Street Journal on Gabbard's claim that Wal-Mart had a super-secret "Project Red" aimed at bolstering its stagnant share price. More »
—>Walmart is recalling tainted pet food during the day, only to restock it again at night. This egregious display of corporate ineptitude was detailed to The News & Observer by Walmart merchandise supervisor, Johnnie Walker.
Walker said he had removed the products earlier in the week, but clerks restocked the shelves overnight, unaware that the pet food had been recalled. "At night they didn't know better," Walker said. "It's just confusing."Though the pet food recall has expanded to over 100 brands, Walmart has been unable to implement a recall strategy that extends beyond blocking the purchase of tainted items at the register. If your pet wants food, consider shopping somewhere other than Walmart. — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGER More »
—>A Disney Princesses Easter basket sold exclusively at Walmart has been recalled by the CPSC today. The silver beads and ribbons attached to the basket can detach, posing a choking hazard to young children. Parents can return the basket to Walmart for a full refund. More »
—>The WSJ goes in depth today about Walmarts intense surveillance operation. According to the recently fired employee who intercepted calls and text messages from a New York Times reporter (and a few other Walmart employees) Walmart's surveillance tactics include: More »
My parents had a similarly horrible experience at Walmart last year here in South Edmonton Common, Edmonton, AB. They took their car into get an oil change, and left it there to do other errands. When they got there, the clerk at the desk could not 'find' their car and got all nervous. After about 15 minutes of 'checking the lot' the clerk gave in and said one of the mechanics had taken their car to go pick up a friend who's car had broken down! My parents immediately got the manager involved, and the manager seemed to be taking the appropriate actions, and when the tech came back ~10 minutes later he wasn't even apologetic about stealing their car to get his friend, he seemed to think he had the right to! My parents, being the nice pushovers they are, and seeing it as someone helping someone else and no harm was done other than ~20 minutes of time let it go. Walmart even made them pay for the oil change! The manager said he would call them back with a resolution, but none ever came.Jonny's parents should have explained to the manager that they charged $5.00 a minute for unauthorized car rental. —MEGHANN MARCO More »
The Minneapolis-based retailer views Wal-Mart's move as "an opportunity,'' but will take its time to find the right space at the right price, Jim Hogan, Target's group vice president for New England stores, told M.B.A. candidates at Harvard Business School on Sunday.Target is already alive and well in New York City, but has not yet made the move to Manhattan. —MEGHANN MARCO More »
The employees and their manager spent most the time spraying each other with air hoses and windshield fluid. 3 hours later, after seeing other folks come and go, we were told our vehicles were ready. We paid and left quickly, trying to avoid any other confrontation that would delay us even more. Flash forward to last week, my wife told me that her check engine light came on while going to work and the same on the way home.We have to admit we didn't know there was such a thing as a Walmart oil change before this letter. More »
Frustrated by a bruising, and so far unsuccessful battle to open its first discount store in the nation's largest city, Wal-Mart's chief executive said yesterday, "I don't care if we are ever here." More »
The Edelman team assigned to Wal-Mart, I learned, is divided into three groups: "promote," "response," and "pressure." The Jobs and Opportunity Zones notion came from the promotions team. The response-team members—veterans of political campaigns—are supposed to quickly counter criticism in the press or on the Web. The pressure group works on opposition research, focussing on the unions and the press. More »
1. Wal-Mart is notified that they're selling the Gravy Train of Death. Or Ol'Roy's Six Feet Under Special.Number four is important. Emails can go unread. Sales restrictions can be circumvented.Walmart's success is largely attributed to precise supply-chain management. Why is it so difficult for the largest retailer in America to deploy an effective recall system? — CAREY GREENBERG-BERGERLand sakes a mercy! It's been RECALLED! [Behind The Counter]
2. Wal-Mart's Bentonville drones place a "sales restriction" on the item(s) in question. This is done by looking in a computer and seeing which of the products the company is selling, finding the appropriate UPC(s) and blocking those UPC(s) from being scanned at the register. Any register. Anywhere there is a Wal-Mart. Yes. The computer in Bentonville has tentacles all over the planet.
3. The Bentonville drones send an e-mail to the Dept. 8 [pets] manager and some other people, including the Service Desk (because customers can of course return their recalled items) telling them to pull the merchandise from the sales floor.
4. Oh wait. There isn't a #4.
PREVIOUSLY: Woman Buys $1,000 In Tainted Pet Food At Walmart
Recalled Pet Food Still On Walmart Shelves
—>Stolen TJX data has been linked to 6 arrests in the Miami area. According to the AP, the ID thieves exploited a Walmart gift card loophole that allowed them to buy multiple $400 gift cards without showing ID, which they would then redeem or sell. More »
A woman said she was so worried about reports of tainted pet food she spent more than $1,000 buying all the product she could find at her local Wal-Mart. Margaret Trask said she filled a shopping cart full of canned pet food made by Canadian company Menu Foods at the Beaufort Wal-Mart after hearing about the recall Friday. More »
We found over three shelves full of Ol' Roy, one of the recalled brands. More »
—>Rats! In the Walmart! New York City may have more than its share of rodents, but one pest we don't have is Walmart...which is why for this rat infestation report we'll be traveling all the way to sunny Phoenix! From KTAR:
A health inspector said he found mouse droppings at a Valley Wal-Mart on Monday after shoppers reported seeing rodents in a bakery case. More »
"Since the approval process is now likely to take years rather than months, we decided to withdraw our application to better focus on other ways to serve customers," said Wal-Mart Financial Services President Jane Thompson in a statement. More »
—>UPDATE: Walmart has responded. They are abandoning their plan to become a bank. Caught! More »
We have removed the slides. More »
—>UPDATE: Walmart Wins Because We Fumbled More »
"Our job was to plug any information hole," Gabbard, a systems technician, said in the Journal. "That was the primary reason for our team to be there."Both Gabbard and his boss were fired. —MEGHANN MARCO More »
—>People. You need to toss your Peter Pan or Great Value brand peanut butter if the jar says "2111" on it. The plant that produced the peanut butter has been closed for 3 weeks, but cases of salmonella linked to the peanut butter continue to rise. More »
It's also possible to intercept unencrypted or poorly encrypted messages directly as they're broadcast over cellular channels. (If the network uses sophisticated encryption, you might be out of luck.) To steal messages with your phone, you would need to upload illegal "firmware" onto your phone. This essentially turns your phone into a radio and allows it to pick up all the texts broadcast on a given channel—instead of limiting you to the ones addressed to you. You'd also need to know the network for the target phone—Verizon, Cingular, T-Mobile, etc.—and you'd have to make sure that both your phone and the target are within range of the same base station. This method isn't too expensive since you don't need much more than a computer, a phone, and some firmware that any serious techie could find online for free.Hmm. We do not know anything about illegal firmware, so we'll take Slate's word on that. More »
—>Here's the results of last-weeks poll where we asked, of the three core customer types Walmart is focusing its efforts on, which are you? The definitions of the types are: More »
—>We're down to the Final Four gladiators to determine the Worst Company in America. Or at least, which company this year most offends the netizen's liberal sensibilities More »
Thousands of products carried online at Walmart.com are eligible for the Site to Store service. Specific Site to Store messaging is featured on eligible product pages to let customers know the online item can be shipped to a local Wal-Mart store for free. During checkout, customers can choose the Site to Store option, select the store where they'll ship their items and even see the amount saved on shipping.Will any of you use this? It'll be available nationwide by the end of the summer.—MEGHANN MARCO More »
"What we're told here is that Wal-Mart had security officials who were monitoring e-mails, but somehow the monitoring got out of control," said Williams, who broke the news on CNBC.No word yet on the extent of the problem or who was targeted by the Walmart spies. —MEGHANN MARCO More »
Walmart announced it's revitalizing its business plan by focusing on three core customer types. We know we've been totally cracked out on polls lately but... More »
—>After a series of marketing and merchandise blunders, Walmart is trying to turn around its falling profits by breaking down existing customers into three groups and refocusing on these shoppers, NYT reports. More »
—>15 weeks after Walmart agreed to remove Nazi tshirts from its shelves, they're still there. More »
—>Well, this is gross: Now included with your bag of Walmart's "Great Value" house brand chicken breasts...a steel hex nut off of a very large bolt. We've heard of getting a prize in a box of cracker jacks, but this is ridiculous. Our tipster assures us:
No word if the nut also comes in BBQ flavor.The chicken's owner has informed the USDA, but has not heard back. Ew. Just, ew. More photos inside.—MEGHANN MARCO More »
—>Walmart refuses to address the plight of Jason Page, whose hand is paralyzed after a bite from a 1.5 foot-long pygmy rattlesnake. Page is the seventh known victim to suffer a snake bite at a Walmart.
Reaching down for a second pot, he said, he felt a sudden pain, and after lifting up his arm, discovered the rattler "still hanging on to my finger." More »
—>SUNY Fredonia warns a cheap decorative lamp is setting dorm rooms on fire. Pretty, inexpensive lamps like these can often be found in college dorms and studio apartments.
In two separate student rooms, the plastic shades melted on the lamps. In one room, this caused the build-up of toxic fumes and the melted plastic from the shade burned a hole in the bedspread. The second instance involved another student who had turned on the lamp and, within 15 minutes, the shade melted and the heat began to turn a poster on the wall brown.Underwriters Laboratories, the group that certifies that things won't burn down dorms and studio apartments, believes the lamp in question is different from the one they approved. They are withholding their seal from new lamps, effectively shutting down production. More »
This formula has generated fierce loyalty among both shoppers and workers while rewarding long-term investors...the company also has managed to make discount shopping fashionable for affluent Americans by offering fine wines, books and big-screen televisions at low prices, and staples such as paper towels and razor blades in bulk. More »
The typical conversation goes something like this: More »
"The changes follow disappointing sales growth in the United States after store renovations disrupted business and customers balked at some attempts to sell trendier merchandise."Yeah, but how does Vazquez feel about hentai? —MEGHANN MARCO More »
Walmart's Nazi Tshirts are in the Chicago Tribune, and drawing the ire of members of Congress, thanks to the dogged flow sightings and pictures by Consumerist readers published on this site. More »
Walmart responded to a letter from Congress exhorting the retailer to remove tshirts bearing Nazi insignia, apologizing for letting some shirts fall through the cracks, as evidenced in a statement forwarded to us by a hill source. More »
—>12 weeks after t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia were discovered in Walmart, the retailer has yet to remove them from all their stores, despite initial promises to do so within days. More »
Santa Maria, CA
Lancaster, CA
Jacksonville, FL
Rome, GA
Americus, GA
Marietta, GA
Valdosta, GA
Columbus, IA
Elgin, IL
Naperville, IL
Durham, NC
Salem, NH
Hamilton, NJ
Piscataway, NJ
Ledgewood, NJ
Rochester, NY
Farlawn, OH
Cleveland Heights, OH
Shaumburg, PA
Cordova, TN
Lubbock, TX
Houston, TX
Neenah, WI — BEN POPKENRecent updates to this story.
Backstory.
—>The Hobbs News-Sun ran a front page story this week about how t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia could be found on local Walmart shelves, nearly three months after the store promised to pull them. More »
—>We tried to take a look at Walmart's new video download service, but hey, guess what. It doesn't work in Firefox. So our review is this: More »
—>Last week we asked our readers to create captions for this picture of a fine feline on a Nazi insignia shirt sold by Walmart. More »
—>11 weeks after t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia were discovered in Walmart, the retailer has yet to remove them from all their stores, despite initial promises to do so within days. More »
—>Here at Consumerist we've worked really hard to try to motivate Walmart to follow through on their promise to pull the Nazi paraphernalia from their store shelves. So far, we've failed. In honor of our failure, we'd like to announce the "Cat On A Walmart Nazi T-Shirt Contest." More »
—>Here's the real deal on why there was Japaneses cartoon porn on Walmart.com, much of it of the homosexual male, or, as its known to connoisseurs,"yaoi" variety. More »
Steven Mandel, associate solicitor in the U.S. Labor Department's Fair Labor Standards Division, said the case — involving nearly 87,000 employees nationwide — resulted from Wal-Mart coming to the department in early 2005 and asking for a review of its overtime calculations. More »
—>CNN has put together a list of the 101 Dumbest Moments in Business and Walmart's choice to hire Edelman PR took home the golden dunce. More »
—>10 weeks after t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia were discovered in Walmart, the retailer has yet to remove them from all their stores, despite initial promises to do so within days. More »
—>UPDATE: More Walmart Porn Found More »
—>The lucky golden shit awards for the best flog of 2006 have arrived! More »
—>Sixty-six days after t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia were discovered in Walmart, the retailer has yet to remove them from all their stores, despite initial promises to do so within days. More »
—>The Walmart is Taylors, SC is disgusting! One Flickr user decided it was up to him to document the filth. His Flickr set features over 100 photos of how positively post-apocalyptic this Walmart has become. More »
They've got everything you need: free weights exercise bikes, treadmills, and even fishing poles! (Taffeta not included) — BEN POPKEN More »
—>Sixty-two days after t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia were discovered in Walmart, the retailer has yet to remove them from all their stores, despite promises to do so within days. More »
Walmart knows you don't like them, and they're making ads in response. From ABC News: "Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will run national television ads starting Monday praising its record as an employer and corporate citizen, taking its arguments straight to the public in an ongoing battle over its reputation with unions and other critics." More »
—>Fifty-six days after t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia were discovered in Walmart, the retailer has yet to remove them from all their stores, despite promises to do so within days. Rahnee in Americus Georgia writes: More »
—>When the Walmart Nazi thirt story first broke, the shirts appeared on eBay the very next day. Bidding was scarce and we never saw the prices rise above their $10 retail value. Now reader David points out they're selling for up to $31 a pop. More »
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Fifty-two days after t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia were discovered in Walmart, the retailer has yet to remove them from all their stores, despite promises to do so within days. These pictures were taken on December 31 by reader John. Apparently, Walmart wants to go into the new year putting the right goose step forward. More »
—>Based on reader votes, we anoint Sony's Alliwantforxmasisapsp as the best flog of 2006. More »
—>Two men, seen here, were apprehended after being caught by beach police while throwing merchandise over Walmart's fence. On Dec 27, a Walmart employee flagged down the Virginia Beach Police and informed them, "there was a customer in the store who was taking items outside to the Lawn and Garden section and throwing it over the fence." More »
—>UPDATE: Results are in! More »
—>Forty-eight days after t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia were discovered in Walmart, the retailer has yet to remove them from all their stores, despite promises to do so within days. HJ Choi spotted this one today in Durham, NC. More »
Last week we posted a gallery of pictures of overweight and "odd" looking Walmart customers and employees. We framed it like Gawker's "Blue States Lose" party photos, and let loose the image dump. More »
UPDATE: Do be sure to read, "That Walmart Photo Gallery Was Pretty Tasteless." More »
CHANELL: "And she asks me what is this? And I'm like, I don't know what that thing does. So she gave it to me, and it was a homosexual orgy... that they had videotaped for an hour and 44 minutes." More »
—>Chanell Martin bought her 12-year old daughter a Zune from Walmart, pre-loaded with gay porn. More »
—>Since nobody should be allowed to move on from their mistakes, we're holding a knife fight to see who had the "best" flog of 2006. We are pleased to announce... The Floggies. More »
Welcome, New York Times readers. Here's a bit of an intro to The Consumerist, if you're curious and want to learn more. More »
We hope we are not dignifying this obvious publicity stunt with coverage, but Walmart has "found" 4,000 of those stupid Extreme Tickle Me Elmo pieces of crap and will be "make [ing] the toys available "around noon E.T. on a first come, first serve basis" for $39.97 apiece." So, if you're one of those people who wants a zombified psychotic Elmo beast that will amuse your brat of a kid for about 10 seconds total, here's your big chance to hit refresh 300 times and still not get one. Have fun. —MEGHANN MARCO More »
Retailers are getting stricter with their return policies this year. If you're not hot about the Marshmallow Shooter or Toshiba SD-4990 DVD Player grams got you, keep the receipt and don't take it out of the package. Here's the return policies of some of the major retailers. — BEN POPKEN More »
If you've got something on layaway at Walmart, this Friday is your last day to pick it up. Of the major retailers, Kmart still supports layaway. More »
Wii fans in Washington state queued up for the Wii at 10pm last night, only to be told they weren't going on sale until eight this morning. A dispatch from the front lines: More »
Backstory.
—> Walmart will replace its employee's trademark smocks with navy shirts and khaki pants. More »
- "Police are hunting for some big time thieves this morning in Philadelphia. Two armed men robbed a Northeast Philadelphia Wal-Mart Sunday morning. It happened shortly after 2 a.m. at the store on Roosevelt Boulevard. The suspects were wearing Walmart smocks. They made their way into the store, forced a manager into a safe and duct taped another employee before fleeing with about $300,000 in cash. No one was injured."
—>Twenty-two days after t-shirts bearing Nazi insignia were discovered in Walmarts, the retailer has yet to remove them from their stores. Matt spotted this one on Friday in Rochester, NY. More »
—>Analysts noted that Walmart set the pace this shopping season with four consecutive price point drops. But maybe they should be looking at how much those drops were by.... — BEN POPKEN More »
—>A little bird told us that Walmart's products don't ring up for the same price they are listed as on the shelves, so we went and tested one of their stores. More »
—>Walmart is announcing its first November sales slump in a decade, "In a season of what has been pretty healthy numbers from retailers, Wal-Mart has been lackluster, to say the least," said Adrianne Shapira, an analyst at Goldman Sachs. "Houston, there is a problem." More »
—>CNNMoney is reporting that Walmart will begin offering video downloads, beginning with an exclusive "Superman Returns" DVD bundle containing a video download option with purchase of the physical DVD: More »
—>19 days after a blogger first discovered Walmart selling shirts with Nazi insignia, the shirts can still be found on the shelves, this time in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. John writes: More »
Flat panel TVs are shaping up to be the most popular purchase this holiday season. Why? You consumers are too "confused" (read: too smart to get drawn in) by the format wars between HD DVD and Blu-ray, and you can't get your hands on a Wii or a PS3. That leaves your ugly, bulky old TV. Ugh! Time for a new one. Also, in addition to a flat screen, you want a bigger TV. "Screen size is very important to consumers this season, with a majority of them looking at screens of 30 inches or more and spending an average of $1,950. The 42-inch size will be the most popular of all, IDC said. " More »
—>18 days after a blogger first discovered Walmart selling shirts with Nazi insignia, the shirts can still be found on the shelves, this time in Ledgewood, NJ. More »
—>All the newscasts seem determined to show Black Friday shoppers as an orderly stream of value-conscious consumers, en masse as they are. More »
Target is set to begin offering its $4 generic drug program at all of its 1,287 pharmacies. Previously, Target only offered the program in markets where Walmart was offering their $4 program. No longer. From Reuters: More »
Not to be outdone by Best Buy's Seven Hour Specials, rumors suggest Walmart will release 8 Secret Deals. More »
Backstory.
—>The understocked PS3 has become the Paris Hilton of the gaming world. Demand is so fever-pitched that several opening day sales have resulted in violence and political defamation. More »
Backstory. More »
—>Third quarter profit reports are out today and both Walmart and Target did well. More »
Backstory.We interview the blogger who first spotted the Nazi Walmart shirts, Rick Rottman. He discusses how he first saw the shirts, why he posted it about them, and what happened next. By the end, you may never think about the number 88 the same way again.
Backstory.Warning: baseless conjecture ahead. One of our readers is trying to track down who made Walmart's Nazi skull t-shirt.Muckraker: I have reason to believe that the shirt comes from a tattoo flash catalog.
Muckraker: flash is what they refer to as pre-made logos that people choose from when they pick out a tattoo
Muckraker: But I have no corroborating evidence except that it's a popular tattoo
Muckraker: for neo-nazi's...
Muckraker: but is quite likely popular enough that it's distributed...
Muckraker: It's quite likely it's local to Arkansas Arkansas? That's interesting, Walmart's HQ is in Bentonville, AR. Who says Walmart destroys local economies? — BEN POPKEN
The mob shopping savings just keep rolling in. Hooray. We may show up at one of these sales, just to document the depravity. — BEN POPKEN More »
—>On October 3rd, Long Beach California passed an ordinance banning large-scale retail super-stores. SuperTargets and Walmarts are no longer allowed. More »
"We learned last week that ACS experienced a security breach involving a computer stolen from its Denver office. We believe it is very important to report this information to you. According to ACS, this computer may have contained the names, addresses, and Social Security Numbers of employees of many companies - including some Wal-Mart associates hired in the last eight months, whether or not they live in Colorado." More »
Will Walmart's extremely early holiday price cuts, or "rollbacks," inspire other retailers to follow suit? More »
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—>Walmart dampened our holiday spirit today with a forecast of flat sales throughout November at stores open longer than one year. What's the problem? More »
—> More »
Over at TomPaine.com they're a little suspicious of Walmart's PR darling, the $4 generic drug plan. Why? More »
Walmart announced today they've created a composite of the perfect Walmart customer. The ideal Walmart customer is, "a woman in her early 40s, lives in the suburbs and has "several" children. "We call her Nancy," Walmart said. More »
—>Reader something_amazing pinged us on our thoughts of the fallout over Edelman, Walmart, PR and blogs. It serves as a nice excuse to vent on this subject so we thought we would share them with you. More »
Walmart's PR firm today publicly disclosed two more fake blogs shilling for Walmart and took steps to increase their transparency. More »
Dovetailing with the whole Wal-Marting Across America scandal, we thought flogs, for fake blogs, was pretty good. More »
—>Yesterday, Edelman president, CEO and namesake, Richard Edelman, apologized for Walmarting Across America. More »
—>Yesterday, a jury of its peers found Walmart guilty of forcing workers to toil through rest breaks and slave extra hours without pay, a violation of Pennsylvania labor law. More »
—>The recent wage caps on veteran employees are supposed to encourage employees to advance through the ranks rather than staying in the same job, year after year. More »
More from the Walmarting Across America website that had to be pulled. More »
—>Before the Washington Post made Jim Thresher take down the pictures from pro-walmart blog, Walmarting Across America, BusinessWeek noticed the effort and cried foul. But how did Jim and his girlfriend Laura St. Claire get roped into the affair? More »
Walmart's minions may have pulled down the photographers blog that was a blatant front for Edelman PR. But that doesn't stop us or you from using the magic of Google cache to see what flackery filled the pages of Wal-Marting Across America. More »
A Washington Post photographer has been disciplined for taking a cross-country RV trip to shoot photographs for a pro Walmart blog. More »
—>A reader reports seeing a series of strange Wal-Mart ads that seem to exhibit a subversive, latent, homophobia on the part of the big box retailer. More »
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—>Despite breaking a non-disclosure with a PR rep (above, far left), we slept soundly last night. More »
—>Blogosphere hall monitor for Walmart, Mike Krempasky, took the time to reply to our post disclosing emails we exchanged about a meeting we had several months ago. A meeting he would rather we not discuss, but we did anyway on behalf of the No Respect! podcast. After the jump, his remarks and our ripostes, wherein we ponder the ethics of lying to a PR flack... and whether that's even technically possible. More »
—>Earlier this summer, we did an interview with the No Respect! podcast. They asked us about The Consumerist in general and Walmart in particular. Especially of interest was our meeting with Mike Krempasksy (above, center, tie), who runs the Walmart blog war team at Edelman PR. After a series of disapariging posts, Mike wanted to meet up with us for drinks. He opened the meeting with, "This is all off the record." The next thing out of his mouth was, "What can we do to get you to stop writing about our companies?" You can hear more about it in this episode of the No Respect! podcast. More »
—>Lego is recalling 358.000 LEGO EXPLORE Super Trucks because the wheels could detach, leaving exposed metal that has resulted in "serious puncture wounds." More »
Running low on gas and stuck with nothing but a gift card WalMart won't let you use? Far from home? Screwed? In your desperation, don't try to sell the card at a loss to another customer. Wal-Mart will call the cops on your soliciting ass. Then they'll throw you out of their parking lot and call you a "vagrant." More »
—>By all accounts, it appears Bob Snead's up with Walmart parade went off very well last Saturday. More »
—>Walmart today announced they are phasing out their layaway programs. November 19th is the last day to place items for Christmas and they must be picked up by December 8th. More »
—>Bob Snead will give you a Walmart vest and Tshirt if you walk with him during the Deitch Projects Art Parade this Saturday. More »
Jennifer's letter is perfectly ordinary. It's the tale of one day in the life of a consumer, a mother, trying to run some errands. Her ToDo list reads: Send letter at post office, return grandma gifts at Walmart, shots at Kaiser. Of course, it's not as easy as that, because nobody knows how to do their jobs anymore and the dang sauce pitchers exploding off the shelves and whatnot. More »
—>As sometimes happens when we are searching both for images on a topic as well as suffering from groggy brain cramps impinging our desire to dash off consumer affairs riffs, we stumble into something interesting. The subject is TARGET and the puddle is a Citizen of the Month entry, almost a year old, jazzing on one of the most gripping paradoxes of our time. More »
—>For some strange reason, "T" prefers clear and bright aisles filled with well-labeled merchandise, chipper employees who direct him to appropriate departments, and a well-running checkout line with open registers to match how many customers are in the store. More »
—>In the latest round of cosmetic tweaks to make itself appear less evil, Walmart has affixed itself with a strap-on dildo and railed a few poppers... in the form of hiring a gay-marketing firm, joining the National Gay & Lesbian Chamber of Commerce and initiated talks with activist groups about giving domestic-partnership bennies to employees. More »
—>It seems that it's not just boiling babies that Walmart is under-trained to deal with, they also can't handle registered sex offenders exposing themselves and groping customers. More »
—>Somehow we got on the fast track as the go-to guys for Southern Walmart complaints. The latest comes courtesy of Tiffany-Anne Everett who thinks we somehow have the power to fire a Walmart manager. More »
Rising fuel costs for customers and Walmart itself, among other factors, led to Walmart's first quarterly profit loss in a decade. (Thanks to Graham!) More »
—>Yesterday we spoke at length with Ritta over the phone. According to her statement these are the More »
Dramatic photos of Ritta's car in the Walmart parking lot after they broke the window to get her trapped baby. Note, these were taken a few hours after the incident occurred. More »
—>A friend of Ritta's has written in to corroborate what Ritta reported and answer some of the questions that were raised by Consumerist's readers. Kathryn says: More »
—>NYT reports Walmart wants to close its German stores, after years of failing to crack the Teutonic market. More »
—>Rita, who had a baby trapped in the van in the Walmart parking lot in 104 degree weather, wrote in to make sure we got one detail straight: More »
—>With the heat wave searing American soil lately, it becomes more and more important to not lock your baby in the van in a Walmart parking lot. More »
Someone with enough money to shell out for a Nielsen "BuzzMetrics" account is watching The Consumerist for Walmart mentions. More »
An influx of America swelled our inbox and IM line as our segment played on Nightline last Friday. Among them, a girl from a small town who couldn't understand why people would speak disparagingly about Walmart. We had a little IM chat. More »
Until now, you wrote off Walmart and refused to get suckered into the self-righteous indignation game, purple ribbons aside... More »
—>A Jury found Wal-Mart was not negligent in hiring a convicted sex offender who molested a 10 year old girl in a Wal-Mart electronics aisle six years ago. More »
Jury deliberations are underway to decide whether a teenager molested six years ago for 90 seconds by a WalMart employee deserves to receive up to $5 million in damages. More »
—>According to the New York Times,
- "Until a few days ago, a search of Amazon's catalog of books using the word "abortion" turned up pages with the question, "Did you mean adoption?" at the top, followed by a list of books related to abortion."
—>More signs point to OfficeDepot/OfficeMax and Sam's Club/Wal-Mart as being the retailers suspected of letting thousands of customer's debit cards and PINs to be stolen (see ATM Fraud UPDATE: Wal-Mart, OfficeMax, Sam's Club, Office Depot Suspected). More »
—>A new article by ConsumerAffairs.com claims that the Citibank investigation into thousands of stolen debit cards and PINs centers on two 3rd party retailers. More »
Here's an email Mark Thomas, an economics blogger, received from Wal-Mart via an employee of Edelman. More »
—>Walmart is drawing bloggers into the fold to help burnish its tarnished image. More »
Ladies and Gentlemen, your Tier 1 champions! Some no-brainers, squeakers and absolute pummeling. More »
—>The newer the redder, brown is an elderly hue, which of these steaks looks fresher to you? More »
—>Here's how much Robert Greenwald doesn't like Wal-Mart: A lot. So many lots, in fact, that he made a movie about them and their evil ways. More »
We're off duty today, but we've gotten some great emails over the weekend so we thought we'd pass the goods on before it got stale. More »
—>Robert Sterling forwarded us this story, entitled 'Unmarked cemetery found near Wal-Mart'. We offer it to you as a test. More »
—>Detailing the means through which the Arkansas giant continues its retail dominance, WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price is now in wide community screening and available for purchase online. We haven't seen it yet, so must reserve judgement, but are intrigued by the website's promise of sweaty Chinese laborers named Princess. More »
