The News of The Day: We’re a Walmart Nation

I was struggling a little bit with today’s column, then I saw this headline:
Vanity Fair Poll: We’re a Wal-Mart Nation.

Let me tell you something, that’s four scary words, right there. We’re a Wal-Mart nation!

I have nothing but respect for Vanity Fair. It’s a first class publication. If you are, by any chance, one of the editors for Vanity Fair, reading my tiny little column, I assure you, this is not going to be a bash against your magazine. In addition, as a writer, let me just add, I hope to hear from you soon.

Vanity Fair ran a poll and 48% of their readers agreed, We’re a Wal-Mart Nation. If you read between the lines you’ll figure out, of course, that means, 52% said, Hell No, we are not a Wal-Mart Nation! I don’t know about Vanity Fair but I’m a fan of majority rules.

If you think, Wal-Mart is a retail heaven put on earth by God himself. Do me a favor stop reading after this paragraph. Because if you don’t, next time you’re shopping, something’s going to happen and you’re going to say, “OMG, that’s exactly what the girl from News of the Day said.” I can’t be responsible for that. Instead, I’ll give you a homework assignment. Go immediately to Amazon and order a book called, ‘Who Hired these People?’ by Peter Laporta. It’s a humorous look at the rights and wrongs of customer service. Learn, laugh, and love. That way when you go back to Wal-Mart, Pete can pop your bubble instead of me. 

Every time you walk into a Wal-Mart store, there are a few things that are going to happen.

 1) Upon entering, you’ll realize the store is the size of a football field. The one item that you desperately need is guaranteed to be in the other end zone. I don’t know how they do it, but somehow they know what you need and scheme to make you walk all the way through the store to get it. By the time you score a touch down, five more things have hit your cart. It’s not about you; it’s about how much you buy.

2) The sale item you are looking for will be blocked by a pallet full of boxes. You’ll stand for a few seconds, working on a way to get to it. You’ll go back to your cart, move to the next aisle, and try to go at it from the other side but alias; a huge, unattended Wal-Mart cart is blocking that aisle. Turn back, go one more aisle up, and then are almost knocked down by the kid running ramped in store, cruising on his sneakers with wheels. You finally get back to your item and you still can’t get to the brand on sale. At this point, you will either spend ten minutes trying to slide your arm past the boxes or pick up the more expensive brand. It’s not about you; it’s about how much you spend.

3) You finally get everything you need, with about fifty impulse buys, and then head towards the registers. Three lights are on with about fifty carts in each line. You wonder to yourself, why don’t they open more lanes? You answer your own question, it’s Wal-Mart. It’s not about you; it’s about the bottom line.

I’m not blind to the obstacles some people face. I don’t have to go shopping for a family of five. Some are willing to have a miserable shopping experience in order to save money. Me, I shop small so I’d rather spend an extra buck so I don’t have to go through all that. When I leave a Wal-Mart store, I feel like I need to take a shower.

There’s more to it than that, though. The mere idea of a Wal-Mart makes me nervous. They are the very definition of conglomerate. I worry about a company that has become so huge, that customer service is a phrase that no longer holds any meaning for them. As consumers, don’t we have the right to expect certain things from companies that want our business? The things I expect, I don’t find on the shelves. Cut coupons and go to a store that respects you as an individual, otherwise you become part of a world of SIMS.

Find out more about me on darlaferrara.com.
Until next time … Peace
Darla