The Final Word On Walmart!

[catocom]

KMart? Craftsman?
Sears makes Craftsman brand. 100% guarantee.

Half my tools are Craftsman, other half Snap-on.
Lifetime on both.

 

[Gonz]

KMart bought Sears. Sears still makes Craftsman. I heard they were changing their warranty, somewhat, but I don't recall what it was.

 

[markjs]

Actually the two merged. As if it makes any real difference, Walmart is still kicking both their asses, and Walmart now offers lifetime guaranteed tools by Stanley (but I am still glad I got Craftsman at least til Sears-Kmart folds completely).

 

[catocom]

Oh yeah, dang, I forgot all about that.
Doh!

btw, I won't waste the energy to throw a Stanley in the trash can.
They lost my business long ago, on some tools that they wouldn't honor.

 

[2minkey]

We don't buy meat or produce there. In fact, as I've already said, it's seldom our first stop. We buy our meat at a butcher & our produce (what I don't grow) is bought at a variety of places (never WalMart).

that's cool that you have a real butcher.

what do you grow? wish i had a garden. my front yard is a sidewalk. my back yard is a parking garage.

 

[Gonz]

typically
Tomatoes (between homemade salsa & eye-talian sauce we can many quarts a year)
A variety of peppers
okra
pumpkin
brocolli
cucumbers
asparagus
onions
garlic
lettuce

reality & timing may vary actual garden yearly or even weekly

we have family with corn & melons of various types

I really miss fresh citrus.

 

[BlurOfSerenity]

i always remember the time some relatives of ours in florida shipped up some crates of grapefruit and oranges... most of what we could think to do with all that fruit was to juice it. we soon found ourselves with more juice than we knew what to do with.

but it was awesome.

 

[Professur]

One big difference between the Walmart Stanley tools and Sears Craftsman ... If I ever manage to bust a Craftsman wrench .. I walk into any Sears, drop it on the counter, the kid behind it hands me a new one, and I walk out. end. Walmart, if they'll even do it, requires the middle name of your first born amongst all the other information needed at the returns desk (which then cranks into their marketing computer) before they'll do anything ... or they'll tell you you need to contact Stanley directly.

And I've busted a lot more Stanley tools in the past than Craftsman.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

Stanley tools are one small step above doing without.

Craftsman are among the better tool makers I've used, along with Snap-On.

Power tools, can't beat Milwaukee.

 

[Inkara1]

A funny story:

I went to Kmart to buy some Craftsman tools and when I went back to the rack it advertized my 137 piece mechanics set as being $99.99. So I go up to the front to pay for it (and I was with someone who drove me and they were in a major hurry) and they charge me almost $150. When I call it to their attention they tell me I have to go to the customer service desk. Well the customer service desk tells me that the sale that priced the set at $99.99 is over, so I tell them that's bullshit because it still says on the shelf that it's $99.99. So they went back to check (as if I'd lie about that) and sure enough the sale price was still posted. So she says to me, "Well I can make an ecxeption just this one time only and refund the difference to you." And I'm like getting really pissed now because my friend is waiting and it's been a LONG time by now, so I just go

"whatever" and then when I ask for cash back (like they would have had no problem giving me at walmart), she says,

"Oh we can't do that we'll have to credit your card back." It's a debit card and getting credited back takes a few days. So I am really torqued by this time and I say,

"This is exactly why Walmart is kicking your ass!" This bitch went three shades of purple and chewed me up one side and down the other about how Walmart is doing no such thing (which is funny because Kmarts locally are closing in rapid succession), and then she asks me,

"Does Walmart stand behind their products?" and I am like,

"I've never had any problem with returning anything at Walmart." Anyway, long story short I am glad I got Craftsman tools, so long as Kmart is around, which is likely to not be long, but I definately can see why Walmart is beating them like a redheaded stepchild.

1. By law, if the price is lower on the sign by the product than it is in the computer, they have to give it to you for the lower price.

2. You paid with a debit card, but did you enter your PIN or did you do it as a credit transaction, with you signing for it and not entering in your PIN? If you entered your PIN, they can give it to you as cash because it's an instantly clearing transaction. If you did it as credit, then as far as the system and the law is concerned, you used a credit card, and by law they must put the refund on your card.

 

[jimpeel]

If you want to see the comical side of the Wal-Mart bashers, go to the wakeupwalmart.com site run by the unions. I work at Wal-Mart and I get a real kick out of their contentions about how Wal-Mart trains their employees -- I hate the word "associates" -- to go on the dole to supplement their meager wages or how we have no benefits. I guess they have never seen the Wal-Mart benefits book which is about 1/2" thick.

The dental plan is $3.00 per pay period and the medical runs from the low-end coverage for $.22 / hr to $1.75 / hr for the high-end coverage for a full time 40 hr employee. Anyone else here have coverage that low?

I have the Value Plan which covers me and my wife for $.28 / hr.

The unions want those 1.8 million dues paying Wal-Mart employees on their roles so they can continue to ride around in limos telling their rank and file how to vote, and who to vote for, in the elections. They claim Wal-Mart is the worst place in America but just let Wal-Mart go union, with no changes to the current business plan, and they will be the absolute best place in America to work and shop.

 

[jimpeel]

By the by. The link does not work and a search on youtube for "henry rollins walmart" or "henry rollins wal-mart" returns "No Videos found". How about a good link?

 

[unclehobart]

The link was a good one. I wonder if it was yanked after complaints by Wal Mart... he said in a consipiratorial voice.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

I work at Wal-Mart and I get a real kick out of their contentions about SNIP how we have no benefits. I guess they have never seen the Wal-Mart benefits book which is about 1/2" thick.

Tell that to my aunt, who paid for disability insurance for twelve years at WalMart, then when she became medically disabled, was not allowed access to one red cent of it, THEN unceremoniously shown the door for "agitating her co-workers" when she complained.

I will do without before I buy it from WalMart, and I don't care what the "it" is. I will and do drive five times farther and pay twice as much to keep from buying it from WalMart. Every time. Every person in my life who I consider important knows one thing: Should you need me desperately on a moment's notice in time of dire crisis, I can't tell you where I might be but I can DAMN sure tell you where I ain't.

Do as you please, gentle reader(s). I don't ask for anyone to join my boycott. All I ask is that you think about where you spend your money. In the town closest to where my parents live, WalMart is the ONLY option for most things. The prices at that WalMart average somewhere around 20% higher than at the ones in surrounding towns. The Waltons have won there; they have no competition. Amazing how quickly those "everyday low prices" went for a ride in a handbasket. It could happen where you live next. If you are content with having your home decorated identically to everyone else's, then be my guest. I'll not be among you.

But do as thou wilt. Sheep will be sheep. The Waltons have made billions proving it...everyday.

 

[jimpeel]

Um, disability insurance is paid by the employer, not the employee. An employee can choose to enroll for long term disability insurance but that is with the insurance provider for the plan that the employer goes through for their coverage. All claims go through that provider and not through the employer. Only the short term state disability insurance is handled by the employer.

Your aunt did not pay anything to Wal-Mart at all. She paid into her account with the provider. If she had any beef with anyone, it certainly was not Wal-Mart. She should have taken her case to the provider. Instead, according to what you have given us, she took her case to the store break room. I would have given her the boot as well.

If I am getting bad bread from Bimbo, I surely will tell the store, whatever the store; but my case is with Bimbo bread. The same goes for the insurance which in my case is Blue Cross/Blue Shield. Blue Cross is not in any manner owned or operated by Wal-Mart. They are merely a vendor to Wal-Mart.

 

[Gonz]

Short-term disability is handled by the state, from employers funds. There are also additional short-term, as well as teh previously mentioned long term, disability coverage you can buy. Typically, the employer will fight disability because it cause their costs to go up. Whether it's Wal-Mart or Grannies Five & Dime.

Each case is different.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

Your aunt did not pay anything to Wal-Mart at all. She paid into her account with the provider. If she had any beef with anyone, it certainly was not Wal-Mart. She should have taken her case to the provider. Instead, according to what you have given us, she took her case to the store break room. I would have given her the boot as well.

But when WalMart disputed her claims, which way you think their insurance carrier went?

And it was not Norma Rae in the breakroom, she simply asked about trying to get some help with how to handle it. For that she got canned. Tell me you haven't done similar with co-workers.

As I said earlier, do as you choose. Just know that some of us can see right through the mirage into what is really happening here. And in ever increasing nmbers we are fighting back with the only two weapons we have: our dollars, and word-of-mouth. You and anyone else are free to spend your money where you like. As for me, WalMart and everything it stands for can rot in hell. This makes the second time I've boycotted them. Once in the 1980s...went 12 years without seting foot inside one. I relented out of convenience for a couple years, then got tired of being treated like a shoplifter every time I patronized them, so I stopped shopping there. Then the stories started coming out. My ex mother-in-law was similarly treated like trash by WalMart, and that started my personal crusade of simply keeping my eyes open. Amazing what one can see with their eyes open. I saw enough to convince me that WalMart is bad for local economies. Then the incidents discussed earlier. Now, they can rot. I'm sure they don't miss my spending, there's 14 million sheep waiting to take my place. Welcome to it, I'll shop where I can park within the same area code as the store thankyouverymuch.

 

[Inkara1]

I still maintain that my town is living proof that Wal-Mart doesn't necessarily mean the destruction of the local downtown. Downtown here was mostly vacant before Wal-Mart came in and now it's revitalized.

Why Paso Robles seems to be so different from all the towns in Tennessee as far as what Wal-Mart does is a mystery to me.

 

[SouthernN'Proud]

I'm told that our local retailer of the damned has a big ol' display (right near the 68 cash registers...you know, where they take your last dime? You came in for toothpaste and a bag of dog food and now your receipt says $217.92...) about how WalMart CARES for the community. They put a couple Polaroids of them giving a $200 check to a booster club and everybody's supposed to feel all warm and fuzzy and go spend another $45 on 10 gallon buckets of peanut butter or whatever.

Wunnerful. Simply wunnerful.

Just about 12 miles down the road, in the same county, there lies a WalMart Regional Distribution warehouse. One of them big ol' suckers where they supply all that[sarcasm] unique, one of a kind[/sarcasm] stuff to stores for hundreds of miles around. They tell me truck and trailer leave that place on average every 18 seconds around the clock. That's a lot of Cheez-Its people. Yeah, they employ a lot of local folks too. Major contributor to the local economy and all that stuff they like to yack about on the courthouse steps.

They built the damn thing on a [misnomer] Civil War [/misnomer] battlefield.

So tell me again how concerned you are about the community, you rat bastards. I ain't heard enough of it yet.

*SnP goes off to target practice with his newest Sam Walton photo*

 

[Inkara1]

I didn't say Wal-Mart bankrolled the revitalization of Paso Robles' downtown... just that instead of Wal-Mart resulting in the death of downtown, the downtown found a way to thrive instead. If Wal-Mart comes to your town and you're a small business owner, don't try to beat Wal-Mart on its own turf. You know what Wal-Mart is about: low prices, one-stop shopping, minimal customer service. Instead, beat Wal-Mart where you can... proper advice on what to buy, service after the sale, etc. Why so few small business owners grasp that concept, I don't know.

As for the other side effects of having Wal-Mart around... every large company does it. Wal-Mart is just bigger and is singled out because of it. Note I didn't say it makes it right what they do... just that Target and KMart aren't shining beacons either, or Home Depot or Lowes, etc.