I love the passive language: "It's disappointing that this (thing that we are responsible for) happened."

NFL "Star". Isn't that ovestating it?

Wal-Mart still sucks!

How many fewer bikes did they end up ordering? At what point did Walmart put a price on the water they were giving? 10 fewer bikes? 50 fewer bikes? 150?

Just another way that Walmart keeps their prices low for me. Thanks, Walmart!

Walmarts Fault? What about all the poor kids that are not getting bikes now. How many short was the order? 500

"It's disappointing that this happened" = "we are annoyed that it is getting press coverage"

Did they start to bring the water out, then roll it back?

I would think, taking part in a charity event, Wal-Mart could somehow write off the cost of...um...water.

I actually expected to read they offered juice and snacks, or something...but offering water? Wow, fancy. "Today, Wal-Mart went above and beyond by offering underpriviledged kids water during an event where a third party bought hundreds of bicycles from the company."

They are trying to help the kids out. Everyone knows that if you give an underpriviledged kid water it will quench his thirst for a day. If you take away the water the kid will learn how to call ACLU and sue you and get water for the rest of their life.

why did he even order from walmart? why didn't he just go straight to huffy or some other bike company?

I'd tell 'em "keep it".

@sir_pantsalot:
racist much?

@RandoX: Wow, I didnt even see it that way. GO WALMART!

I think I'm going to go "buy more happiness" or whatever the hell they're slogan is right now.

@thegirls: I think your sarcsm meter is broken.

FWIW here is what I read on another blog:

Johnson ordered 750 bicycles to be given to underprivileged kids at an event sponsored by the Andre Johnson Non Profit Foundation. In return for the purchase, Wal-Mart agreed to donate water and ice for the May 3 event.

But there was a problem.

Johnson had ordered the bikes in various sizes for both older and younger kids. But the bikes didn't comes as ordered (more small than large), so Johnson only purchased 677 -- at full retail price, mind you.

Well, Wal-Mart didn't take too kindly to this, so on the day of the event (it was 84 degrees out) they wouldn't fork over the water or the ice. AJ's people were told that Wal-Mart would not be donating the ice because they hadn't purchased the 73 remaining bikes. That's cold!

IIRC, I read an article (perhaps on Consumerist) how you should not let Walmart assemble bicycles for you, that sales people who aren't familiar with bike assembly (or who are just sloppy) has led to injurys. Imagine how rushed the one or two Walmart employees must have been assembling hundreds of bikes? I hope those kids have helmets!

@thegirls:

I don't find the statement racist at all. The ACLU is an equal-opportunity defender.

Actually, race wasn't brought up in any posts or the original story until you spoke up.

@Wormfather:
You're right, need to fix it.

Sorry

@thegirls: How does that make me racist? The American Civil Liberties Union? If I would ahve said NAACP then you have a point. I guess you are going on the assumption that we all know the ACLU hates white people and America but how does that make ME racist?

@thegirls: Okay group hug but if anyone touches my butt I am calling the ACLU.

@thegirls:

I didn't really see race mentioned in his post. Man we have some paranoid people on consumerist.

maybe they were conserving water to save the environment from the global warmings

I guess we know where the Soup Nazi's brother works...
"No Ice Water for you...Come back 1 year!"

Seriously, where was that manager's head? (okay...I know the answer). You are presented with a tremendous opportunity. 700 kids (and relatives) are at your store. Set aside a section of your parking lot for the event. Give each kid a helmet. Bring in cycling safety volunteers, police officers to teach the kids proper cycling skills and safety. Grill up some hot dogs/hamburgers, dish up some potato salad and serve some cold drinks. Don't forget to invite the local news outlets. Sure, it won't be cheap, but certainly the powers that be would approve a few bucks (and I bet the bicycle and helmet company would kick in a few to help offset costs).

Nope...let's not do that and get some great publicity. Let's be petty and childish and not even serve ice water.

Next time call the local Costco...I bet they'd be happy to help!

It was really a knock on Wal-Mart more than anything else.

But really Wal-Mart already employs their parents for 35 hours a week with out health insurance. Now they also have to give them ice water.

whats fewer bikes then planned, did he buy 5?

@sir_pantsalot:
They need jobs and Walmart gives them jobs...I don't really see the problem.

It's the government's job to give out health care, anyways, isn't it? No? Anyone? Bueller?

I think Walmart special-ordered the bikes, and AJ decided not to buy all of them, so they were stuck with 73 extra bikes, which would be a bit of a pain to deal with. So the local manager gets ticked and decides to withhold the water to prove he's a man.

I understand the reaction, but you gotta be smarter than that.

@GreatCaesarsGhost:looks like it was their fault he didn't buy the extras

It seems kind of an insult that they were offering to donate WATER in the first place. Couldn't they at least have offered some soda or something? Free water isn't really a big deal.

GO TEXANS!

Alright, to the issue at hand. If what APFPilot read is true, it sounds like he didn't get what he ordered so he bought the part of his order that matched what he did order and didn't buy the rest. In that case, I think he pretty much did what any of us would do in not accepting delivery of an incorrect order, and Wal-Mart got pissed.

I think one thing to remember is that the bikes were ordered by the Foundation. Even with a rich athlete's name tied to it, it's still a charitable non-profit which probably can't afford to shell out money on things that aren't the right things.

@thegirls:

You know, not everyone who is poor or underprivileged is african american or latino.

Its more insulting that you seems to have concluded that race and poverty are terms that can be used interchangeably.

@scoobydoo: @scoobydoo:
Yes, that's exactly what they mean, they don't seem to mind shafting or mistreating people, but they do seem to mind bad press, they want everyone to think they are a great company.....and that they buy everything from the US.

I am sad for the whole situation; and yes, Wal Mart should have come through with their pledge. However, I think water and ice are okay. It's better for the kids than soda; and we can't get to the point where we start to tell people what they should donate. We get greedy.

Should have just teamed up with Cindy Crawford and distributed a few of the $20 reusable water bottles she is promoting.

@Sonnymooks:
Well, I misread it and did apologize up thread.

FYI - I am a minority!

I know some people try to defend Wal-Mart, but shit, even if you try to give them good press, they turn around and make themselves look bad. It's like they WANT the bad press.

Based on my experience with charities and fundraisers, here's what I guessing happened:

Some volunteer or other underling was directed to call a local WalMart and inquire about how much 750 bikes would cost. They were quoted a price on the same bike. That quote was factored into the charity's budget.

Then someone at a slightly higher lever dispatched a letter to WalMart that something like 'we buy the bikes if you'll donate water and ice'. WalMart readily agreed.

As the event drew near, someone noticed that the recipients of the bikes --who probably were a wide range of ages-- couldn't all use the same size bike. So the order had to be modified, and as a result, the number of bikes purchased decreased by 73 bikes.

I'm not saying this is the charities fault AT ALL. But a simple miscommunication can lead to such glitches.

Now on the WalMart. They were promised an order of 750 bikes and a sale of $XX each. But they lost money on the 73 bikes that were not ordered. They had two choices: overlook the mistake and provide the water and ice as promised, or declare the original contract VOID because the terms were not met. Legally, WalMart may be in the right, but I still think they are asshole for being so nit-picky.

@jjason82: Water beats soda on a hot day, any day!

@ceejeemcbeegee (AKA!):

"But they lost money on the 73 bikes that were not ordered." Not really, they just didn't make a sale so it was paper profits, and the fact they are selling the bikes in bulk for full retail means they were making a killing even after 73 of the bikes were not ordered.

If they did ship the bikes to the store, they still didn't lose money as the store could still sell those bikes at a profit, and if they were concerned about having 73 bikes taking up room in the warehouse just have a sale. Since summer is here and kids are getting out of school there are plenty of parents looking to buy bikes and they should move fast.

I agree that they may have had the legal right not to provide, but it is a truly penny wise, pound foolish move. Especially since I would expect the expense to be able to be written off taxes as a charitable contribution.

@sir_pantsalot: @sir_pantsalot: So Walmart must have calculated that there was no need to provide water because it wouldn't affect their insurance rates...

Am I seeing this correctly? The Consumerist is relaying a story from a celebrity gossip site? :-)

Anyways, this is lame of Walmart to do this. Bad karma and bad publicity.

With all due respect to AJ for giving away bikes to underprivilidged kids, I'm getting a bit jaded about every celebrity and athlete under the sun deciding to start a new charity and name it after himself.

@ceejeemcbeegee (AKA!): A major theme of this story is (a lack of) hospitality. Being inhospitable is very offensive to reasonable people. Wal-Mart made a promise to provide a low level of hospitality to poor children, and then reneged on that.

Even in the event of miscommunication, WM has access to ice and water upon a moment's notice. It's pretty clear that the lack of it was somebody's deliberate attempt at being mean. Things go awry in retail every day; taking it out on disadvantaged children is beyond sleazy.

@rolandsherpa:

Agree.

I usually defend WalMart on these pages from the ignorant fools that think that making money selling stuff is evil. But I gotta come down with the folks that say that if nothing else,this was piss poor PR. Give them the damn water. Give them the ice. Then when they approach you in the future,set down some firmer ground rules.But don't look like an asshat factory outlet when there are kids involved. Sheesh...Who hires these store managers that don't understand the slightest bit about community relations ?

@NameGoesHere: Plus if they'd have offered pop, they'd have caught crap from people criticizing them for the unhealthiness of pop.

@NameGoesHere: But on a really hot day, nothing beats beer, not even water (yes, I'm aware alcohol dehydrates - that's why you keep drinking). Though come to think of it, Wal-Mart should have just offered malt liquor.*

*See, now THAT's racist

@puddleglum411: I think there are legal/financial reasons for that; if MissedTheExit gives ten dollars to the food bank, that's one thing, but if I want to give them $15,000 plus $1000 for every touchdown I score, then it's gotta be prudent to start MissedTheExit Charities LLC (or whatever the abbrev is, if it's not a limited liability thing) and hire accountants to make sure it's all kosher.

@NinjaMarion: Give them SunnyD!

@RandoX:

... Wal-man wheels water out...

"Who wants wa-"

"And that's why we're giving away 700 bikes!"

...Wal-man wheels water back...