Hello Big Brother.

Has anyone ever bought meat from Wal Mart? I did once and it tasted awful. Same with their milk.

Interesting thing about walmart is that they tend to be more expensive then other places on anything you usually don't think about. I've compared prices before and Wegmans (who is considered overpriced by many) is overall cheaper then walmart in this area (state college, pa)[for instance, store brand walmart soda is 79c, store brand wegmans (which tastes better anyway) is 68c]. I find perception a very interesting thing, its obviously how walmart is making its massive profits.

There has to be a joke somewhere here about peanut butter and having to use the toilet more often.

@1stMarDiv: I don't buy anything refrigerated or frozen from Walmart. If it doesn't come in a box or a can, I don't buy it. I've seen too many carts full of groceries in the customer service area, waiting to be put away after someone their mind and decided not to buy something.

@Shoelace: You don't understand the term.

I'm not sure if the need to constantly replace your toilet seat says more about the quality of the toilet seat or your weight.

""[Customers are] making buying decisions at the register after [they've] already shopped off a list," Sprague says."

This annoys the crap out of me. Keep track of what you're spending while you walk the store. Leaving items at the front means the cashiers have another task on their hands.

Mostly, it annoys me when we're busy (I'm not at Wal-mart, but at a grocery store) and the items are cold. We have to get them back right away, but hey, there are lines!

Also, ammunition at Wal-Mart is selling like crazy. A guy I know works the sporting goods counter, and they are selling their 9mm and .308 rounds as soon as they arrive. Some people are sealing them inside food saver bags and burying them outside. Weird.

@1stMarDiv: Yeah I buy ground beef there. It's nothing special but I think it's just as good as the typical grocery store beef. Also, their deli counter isn't bad either.

@1stMarDiv:

I bought meat once from WalMart. I don't usually shop there, only about 20 times in my life, but where I live the nearest grocery store is 25 miles away and the only thing closer is the WalMart.

I bought ground beef thinking how can they screw that up? Was I wrong. It was awful, I think cardboard comes to mind.

Now, I just buy my meat in bulk every two weeks from the grocery store 25 miles from town.

@Lonnie Cohn:

I've found the occasional thing that's more expensive at Wal-Mart, but mostly my regular purchases are much cheaper at Wal-Mart. Some are quite substantial. [My example, here in Madison, WI: My favorite frozen chicken strips are a full 30% less at Wal-Mart.]

I guess the point is that we all do have a certain perception, but as you pointed out, its not necessarily correct.

But, where do we go from here? Do we go to 3 or 4 different stores to buy a few select items from each? Kudos to everyone that does that, but I just don't have that kind of commitment to my grocery shopping!

@Shadowfire:

Also, ammunition at Wal-Mart is selling like crazy. A guy I know works the sporting goods counter, and they are selling their 9mm and .308 rounds as soon as they arrive. Some people are sealing them inside food saver bags and burying them outside. Weird.

Man! This scares the bejesus out of me! People are stockpiling ammo? FOR WHAT?!?!?!

@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: Because they are afraid Obama and the Demi-crats are going to take away their precious guns.

@Shoelace: So what? All stores track data like this...it really isn't that hard to do.

It makes sense to bring back the calculator on the cart handle, to avoid slowing the lines up front.

@1stMarDiv: Yes, I do often and both are fine. I don't doubt many folks around here fall victim to the "box store placebo effect," where everything automatically sucks because it came from Wal-Mart, Best Buy, or a "non-mom-and-pop store."

@mbz32190: i'd actually be very interested to look at walmart's sales trends

@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: I've had good luck at Woodman's on price, however I'm leery of their produce. My sense is that Wal-Mart is probably cheaper on the whole than most of the other food stores in Madison.

@1stMarDiv: My wife and I get the ground meat every so often, it's not too bad; but we get it from the Swanky wal mart in Plano Texas

[www.flickr.com]

@dragonfire81:
Actually not really true, they are not afraid that the guns will be taken away as that would cause a revolution the government does not want to face. The reason people are buying up ammo is talk of a 500% sales tax on ammo in the near future. I have one friend who has a closet full of ammo due to this. Myself, I don't own a gun but I do support the right to own one. Just look a Chicago and DC for what happens when lawful citizens are banned from owning guns.

@dragonfire81: Partially, but I think it's more "if the economy goes to shit, I'll be able to hunt and protect my family."

I live in (very) rural Vermont, after all.

@Shadowfire: ...burying it?
what the hell is that going to do?
it's going to corrode faster, be less accessible, and just as easy for "them" to find

@Kevin Goetz: That is a swanky Wal-Mart.

@1stMarDiv: the walmart near me sells a 3 pound box [3 individual packages] of end cuts of gwaltney brand bacon that didn't make pretty slices, for just a couple of bucks. i don't care what my bacon looks like for that price and since it's a preserved meat anyway and presealed at the factory, it's not the end of the world if it's been sitting there a while. the shelf life on it is about 18 months last time i checked.
i just freeze it until i need it

@gStein: Well, actually it probably won't corrode. Like I said, they seal it up in foodsaver bags first, so it's air tight. Also, they bury them in random places... stream beds, under trees, etc. It's weird... survivalists, I suppose.

@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: For when the Social/Fascist Black helicopters take over, of course.
Fox News, Wal-Mart and coming down off a Crystal Meth jag: a consumer trioka made in... Well, I'm unsure if "Heaven" is quite the word.

@1stMarDiv: No, but the meat from Sam's is excellent.

Big brother, are you kidding? You choose to go to their store. They don't intrude on your private life.

As for the soda prices and beer prices for that matter, Walmart doesn't buy those items direct, they are sold through distributors who are holding the line on price concessions - quite successfully I might add.

Get your facts straight.

The Giant I shop at is experimenting with the hand-held scanners. Those things are awesome. You get a running total (plus tax) as you shop!

I can see it being bad for the store - you're more likely to put something back if you see you've already gone over budget. However, it is very consumer-friendly.

I try to avoid shopping at Wal-mart. I have yet to run into any standard item (toilet paper, cleaning supplies, light bulbs, etc.) that are cheaper at Wal-mart than at the closer Target.

@1stMarDiv: I did years ago. They inject the beef with salt water, it states this in small print on the package. It is really low quality beef in the first place, then watered down by 20%. Add 20% to the price and your usually at grocery store prices so go to the grocery store and buy decent beef.

@Shadowfire: "Some people are sealing them inside food saver bags and burying them outside. Weird." @Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: "FOR WHAT?!?!?!"

Every crazy-ass end-of-the-world survival website on teh intertubes will tell you that you shouldn't be stockpiling gold or anything like that for your end-of-the-world economic needs -- the most sought-after trade goods will be common-sized ammo and simple hand tools like hammers.

I know this because these sites are my personal train wreck. CANNOT. LOOK. AWAY. And they make me want to build an underground bunker, stock it with two years of food (which you can buy online as a complete set, shelves and all!), and fill it up with hammers.

My particular favorites are the ones that not only tell you how to survive total societal breakdown in the wake of a huge natural disaster, but the ones that also give you specifics on surviving the Rapture and alien invasions. CAN. NOT. STOP. READING.

@Lonnie Cohn: I actually started checking prices, amount in the package and the ingredients in it when I started a price book.

It was quickly obvious that things really are not cheaper at Walmart on many things. They play a very good game of using perception and human nature.

I noticed a number of name brand products that had slightly different and smaller packages at Walmart than at the other stores. Many of their non food items are unique models to Walmart from that brand.

There are still plenty of people who refuse to believe this.

@Shadowfire: The handful of tin foil hat gun nuts I know are not worried about the economy. They are convinced Obama is going to take their guns, send their kids to reeducation camps and turn the US into commie Russia.

They make Dale Gribbel look calm and sane.

@bohemian: Wal-mart deliberately makes it stores look like warehouses so people think they are getting "warehouse prices", whatever that means. For example, notice how they just have open cases of items setting out on pallets, instead of stacked neatly like a legitimate grocery store. In reality, their prices are very similar to any other grocery store - some things are more expensive and some things less.

@wildhalcyon: Bad for the store in terms of "Gah! You put that bag of Doritos back on the shelf" but good for the store in terms of "Thanks, you came back to buy more food from us each week..."

@Eyebrows McGee (on Twitter: LPetelle): S'ok, Eyebrows - I feel the same way about bad reality cop shows.

They're what my friend calls whore shows: the television programs that you don't want anyone to know you watch but you can't stop yourself. I guess in your case, it would be a whore website.

@Shadowfire (reply still not working for me) Where I live, people are stocking up on ammo like crazy also. You can't easily find the more common rounds. The folks I know who are stockpiling actually shoot their weapons regularly - either for fun/sport, competition, food, or defense of the farm. They are quite aware of talks/plans in Washington to require a kind of "serial numbers" on ammo. This will dramatically increase the cost of ammo, possibly up to 300%. So, their stockpiling efforts are not that wierd or crazy. Some are also buying certain types of weapons (semi-automatic rifles mainly) on speculation that they will no longer be for retail sale, and therefore can be sold later for substantial profit.

@Lonnie Cohn: Wegmans overpriced? Not around here. We make the 15 mile drive once a week because we save so much there

@ecwis:
We're lucky enough to have a local family-owned smokehouse, founded by first-generation German immigrants. Wal-Mart, I guess ultimately as a cost-cutting measure, stocks a lot of their stuff. So the deli counter is a cold-cut paradise at our local store.

But I agree with the others here, probably a good idea to stay away from refrigerated items that aren't quite cold.

1. Buy ammo and bury it in foodsaver bags.
2. ????
3. PROFIT!!

Well you figure most people's lives are in the shitter right now, so they may as well get a new toilet seat to make it more fitting.

@edwardso:

Heck, we drive about 40 miles away to Wegmans and use a quarter tank of gas (approx $4.50-$5.00 at current prices) 'cause it's still cheaper for us to shop there than at Acme/Shop-Rite/Pathmark (the three big supermarkets in Vineland/Millville, NJ). I refuse to shop at Wal-Mart and have for years so have no idea what prices are at the shiny new Super Wal-Mart that was built last year (have never even stepped into it).

Price example: At Acme in Vineland, NJ, the 16 oz bag (which suffered from grocery shrink ray...it used to be 18 oz) of Purina Cat Chow (Indoor Formula) that we buy for our five cats is $18.99. At the Wegmans in Cherry Hill, NJ that same bag is $10.99 (regular price). Even if ALL I HAVE TO GET is cat food, it's still cheaper for me to drive forty five minutes and use a quarter tank of gas to get there since $18.99 - $10.99 = $8.00 - $5.00 (quarter tank) = $3.00 still in my pocket!!

What people are looking at when they talk about the high prices at Wegmans are the fancy things such as the "organic"/"wheat-free" etc. stuff that you might find at Whole Foods (when compared with regular groceries). For the record, they are cheaper than the Whole Foods for equivalent expensive brands/products. Yes, some cheeses/meat cuts/seafood may be seen as expensive, but they are also items that are more luxury. Normal cheeses/meat cuts/seafood are WAY cheaper than at equivalent supermarkets (deli meats for example. Higher quality deli balony is cheaper than at the other places and better taste).

@zandar: I find the meats from Costco, wal-mart and target to be boring. Not bad, just not much flavor, to the point that we'd just as soon not bother with it and have veggies for dinner. (Hint: we do know where the good butchers in town are however)

The milk however does seem to be worse and to spoil sooner. That's not a placebo affect, we're ocd enough that we've tracked it.

@Shadowfire:
That's all well and good until some kid digs it up...

@edwardso: I also unabashedly love Wegmans. Let's hear it for 39 cent cans of veggies and $2 orange juice that tastes like real orange juice.

@dewsipper:
You do realize the reason it's hard to find the more "common rounds" is because all of these conspiracy-theory nutbags (ie Obama is gonna take me guns away) are stockpiling ammo, and then they blame the high prices and short supply on the guv-ment, when it's their own damn fault!

@Yoko Broke Up The Beatles: I once made a spreadsheet of the basic stuff we actually buy and compared several stores around.

Wal-mart was a bit cheaper, about 2% than other stores. By the time you add in the hassle factor, it was worth it to go to a different store for us, but at least we had some idea of what the price break would be.

@Sean Mac: You're assuming most people can properly add...I feel that most people will possibly try it, forget to add tax, and when they get to the register, they'll realize they were off by a few items and forgot to add tax and will have to play the negotiating game with themselves. "Do I need the donuts or the ammo?"

@humphrmi: I think at least for the store, a benefit is that you're putting the Doritos back on the shelf, rather than have their people put a smashed bag of Doritos on the shelf after it's been sitting in your cart squeezed between the other items.