To “America’s Big Box Store”:
You know, I spend some time deriding you and especially the... let’s just say “unique characters”... that show up at your big box stores at any given time of the day or night. And not all of that is your fault. It would be wrong to insist that people show up at your stores dressed in their Sunday best, or even business casual, or even just casual. I suppose just enforcing “no shirt, no shoes, no service” is a struggle in and of itself. But there are a few things that we need to discuss.
First, I get it. You’re just trying to be the biggest and best all-purpose soup-to-nuts store in America. The store that everyone will turn to for anything and everything they want or need. Get your car serviced, your proscriptions filled, your teeth cleaned, your eyes checked, your taxes done, your kids clothed, your family fed, the latest movies, your hair done, and maybe stop off for a bite to eat before you head home, all in one building. And maybe top off the gas tank on the way out. It’s what any business owner would want of a franchise like yours.
And now you’re having to compete against a huge corporation that doesn’t have a physical store. I mean, it’s one thing to compete against Target and Publix and Kroger. At least they have physical stores. And, of course, you’ve been single-handedly shutting down small mom-and-pop stores in small towns with your cheaper products from... let’s just say “far away”. Amazon, on the other hand, gets sales from people who don’t even have to leave their homes and have them delivered to their front door in some instances that same day.
How can you compete with that, right?
But, gosh darn it, you’re trying to!
Now there are some things that I have to give you credit for. For instance, the pull-up and drop-in service which came during the pandemic. Having customers order online and having your people pull the products and then put them in the back of the customer’s vehicle when they pull into a special designated spot, that was certainly needed during the pandemic and you pulled it off well.
Then you did yet another remake and remodel, and, while I like the color theme, I’m not happy with yet another shuffling of departments and products. And believe me when I say I’m not the only one voicing displeasure at whole departments being shuffled around and stuff continually moving.
So, one week I have bandages and antibiotic ointment on my shopping list, and while they used to be on a shelf in the isle next to the pharmacy, suddenly not only are the first aid items not on the shelf, but the whole isle is gone. Removed completely. So I pull up the app on my phone and do a search for the antibiotic, and it says that it’s in isle J-23, except there are now two isles marked J-23 and neither of them have anything related to first aid stuff. One isle is for nail polish and the other is for dog food. I’m searching isle after isle, and it’s just not there. I end up going to the town pharmacy for what I need. Then, the next week, the first aid stuff is in another isle next to hair dyes. And then just the other week, it got moved again, this time across from the feminine products.
I understand that every so often you have to shuffle some stuff around to keep your physical customers on their toes. Don’t get them used to where things are so they have to search for them and maybe come across some other things for them to buy. But this? Doing it repeatedly? This is just chaos. And, you know what? This gives me reason to go to those local stores or to Amazon for those things.
The other thing I’ve noticed is that when you do all that shuffling, Walmart, you have an excuse to not keep the shelves stocked after that shuffle. So if I’m looking for cat food for my cat, I’m seeing more shelves empty than the food that used to be there after being relocated. Same with detergent, toys, and whatever else gets shuffled around. More empty shelves. And if I can’t get trust Walmart for that stuff, then guess where I’m going? Either Target or the local stores or Amazon.
But probably the biggest and most aggravating of changes you made, Walmart, is changing the majority of checkout lanes into self-service checkout kiosks.
Let’s get brutally honest here... and I’ll be as blunt as possible...
Nobody really wants to use the self-service checkouts.
Yeah, there are people who are using them at the store I go to, but that’s only because there are an obscene amount of people who are waiting in line for the two cashiers that are open and they don’t want to wait forever for their turn. And a lot of those folks in line have maybe five-to-ten items total. You know, the very folks that should be using the self-service checkout kiosks in the first place.
You know, I remember a time not too long ago, Walmart, when you proudly boasted in your TV commercials that if there was more than 3 people in line that you’d open a new cash register. Now it seems like all you want to is have them fend for themselves and do the work of your employees.
By the way, it really doesn’t help when you have your “cheerful associates” trying to steer the full-cart people to the self-service kiosks when they should be working on the folks with five-or-less items. Guaranteed you’ll knock down the waiting lines a lot faster.
I can understand why you’re doing this too, Walmart. You don’t want cashiers anymore. You want gophers. You want people to grab those online orders and prep them for pick-up or for delivery so you can be like Amazon.
But forcing your customers to use the self-service checkout kiosks by limiting the number of human cashiers only serves to piss those customers off even more, and, combined with the ever-changing locations of goods, will force some of them to turn to Amazon or the local stores.
I might suggest giving your customers an incentive to use those self-service kiosks other than shorter wait times. Maybe $5 off all purchases over $20, $10 off all purchases over $50, and $20 over all purchases over $100. You don’t have to do that forever, but that certainly would encourage people to use the kiosks instead of burdening the cashiers, and isn’t that what you want anyway?
If you want to truly continue to dominate the local marketplace as well as beat Amazon at their own game, then you need to give your customers a reason for them to stay with you, Walmart. I know you’re used to taking advantage of plenty of people, but if there is one group that you should not take advantage of, it’s your customers. After all, they are the reason why you are America’s big box store.
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