(Eric)
At Walmart, 'Chilled Pasta' Is Code For Wine
In an alternative universe in which both the internet and Walmart existed during the 1920s, we would have leaped to the conclusion that this shot by Eric signified a rogue rack of moonshine that was on the flipside of one of those rotating walls you see on Scooby-Doo.
More »
190 Tons Of Walmart Deli Meat Recalled Over Potential Listeria Contamination
A New York company called Zemco Industries has recalled 380,000 pounds of deli meat that it distributed to Walmart under the Marketside label, because it might be contaminated with Listeria monocytogenes. Although nobody has reported any illness and healthy people aren't usually in danger, listeriosis can kill old people, infants, and others with weak immune systems.
More »
Walmart Says Employees Chose To Remain In Store During Flood
Last week, we reported the story of more than two dozen Walmart
who became trapped inside an Ames, Iowa, store by rising flood waters. At the time, it was unclear as to just why the workers were in the store -- authorities had warned managers of the impending flood the night before -- but now Walmart says it was the employees' choice to stay.
More »
Turns Out Walmart Is Quietly Raising Prices
Everyday low prices just got a little higher. A JPMorgan Chase study of a Virginia Walmart (hey, it's a big store, you gotta just pick one to do a decent survey of its inventory) found that in the past six weeks the retailer raised prices on overage of 6%, but on some products, as high as 60%.
More »
Walmart Employees Asked To Stay Behind While Flood Waters Rise?
Earlier today, firefighters in Ames, Iowa, rescued around 30 employees trapped inside a Walmart as flood waters rose around them. But what were they doing in the store to begin with.
More »
Parents Who Named Kid "Adolph Hitler" Lose Custody Battle
The child, Adolph Hitler Campbell, and his siblings, JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbel and Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbel, named for Schutzstaffel head Heinrich Himmler, who first came to our attention
after ShopRite refused to make him a cake with Adolph's name on it - though,
according to the original news article, Walmart had no problem with the request - will remain wards of the state, an appeals court has ruled.
More »
Walmart Asks You To Please Have Your Receipt Ready
So as to mentally prime shopper drones to show their papers, a MI Walmart has taped a sign to its cash registers asking them to keep their receipts out for the greeters.
More »
Walmart Wants You To Get Liquored Up For Back-To-School Shopping
I found these plastic shot glasses nestled among the crayons and glue sticks in the back-to-school section of my local Walmart. I'm not sure what it implies. Do college students use Elmer's Glue now?
My friend with several school-aged children saw it differently, noting, "That might be what I need to survive back to school shopping." For the parents. Brilliant. More »
Buy This Twin-Pack Of Deodorant And Save... Negative $.97
If you're shopping for Right Guard deodorant at Walmart, be careful before you pick up that twin-pack thinking that, like the packaging says, you'll "Buy 2 and Save." Because if you do the math, you'll realize you've just saved yourself out of $.97.
More »
Walmart To Put RFID Tags In Your Undies
In an effort to better track inventory of its clothing items, Walmart is planning to start placing removable RFID tags on individual pairs of jeans and underwear. But some privacy advocates worry that the tags may allow unscrupulous types to learn more about your purchasing habits than you'd generally care to share.
More »
Why Did Walmart Add A $3 Warranty To This DVD Purchase Without Asking?
Would you buy an extended warranty for a DVD? We can't imagine that most people would...and if they did, it would last longer than a year. John, however, sent in this receipt from a Texas Walmart store. He writes that the store tried to sneak a $3 "protection" plan along with his ex's purchase of a $15 DVD. And not just any old warranty: it's an extended warranty that, as far as we can determine, Walmart doesn't even sell for DVDs.
More »
Perdue Recalls 90,000 Pounds Of Chicken Nuggets From Walmart Stores
The USDA and Perdue have issued a recall for more than 90,000 pounds of Great Value frozen chicken nuggets -- all of it shipped to Walmart stores -- because there is a possibility that the food could contain "foreign materials."
More »
Don't Touch Yourself In The Walmart Electronics Department
Of all the feelings one gets while walking the aisles of a Walmart, sexual excitement rarely factors into the spectrum. Unless you were the guy in Louisiana Walmart who was arrested for touching himself while gawking at a young boy in the store's electric department.
More »
Walmart Spends $2 Million To Avoid Paying $7,000 Fine
Talk about sticking to your principles. Rather than simply pay a $7,000 fine stemming from the Black Friday trampling death of a store employee, Walmart has racked up at least $2 million in legal costs to prove their point.
More »
Customer Sues McDonald's & Walmart Over A Bone In Her Burger
Almost two years two the day after she claims she chomped into something hard in a McDonald's double cheeseburger, a woman in Illinois has filed a lawsuit against the fast food giant.
More »
Walmart Aims For Store In D.C.
Now that Walmart has finally
triumphed over Chicago, it's setting its sites on the remaining urban markets that have so far resisted the retailer. The Washington Post says an unnamed source has told them that Walmart is in final negotiations with a plot of land "on New York Avenue NE
near the intersection of Bladensburg Road." The area currently houses an auto parts shop and a strip club, among other businesses.
More »
Walmart Is Trying To Fill My Yard With Plastic Garbage Cans
Shantelle tells Consumerist that she ordered one garbage can from Walmart online. No one is entirely sure how, but she ended up with five cans instead. She could give them away or start a drum circle, but now she's stuck with a dilemma: how does she return something to a store when she never bought it in the first place? Will Walmart ever catch up with her and charge her for the four additional cans...even though there's no documentation that she ever received them?
More »
(Sean)
If You're Looking For An Outdated, Barely Usable MP3 Player, Walmart's Got You Covered
Sean discovered this forgotten relic of the MP3 player evolution on clearance at his local Walmart. He may have slipped through some sort of flux capacitor-facilitated wormhole that took him into a bygone era. At least that's what we're hoping.
More »
Tell Walmart You're Gay And You May Be Forced To Wear A Yellow Vest Of Shame
A temporary Walmart worker is accusing his former supervisors of forcing him to wear a yellow vest after learning of his sexual orientation. The worker, 18-year-old Fernando Gallardo, was quick to compare the retail behemoth to the Nazis in a complaint filed with the Nevada Equal Rights Commission.
More »
Walmart Defeats Chicago, Plans To Open Up To 21 Stores
Like a big city pimp waiting to pick you up off the ground when times get tough, Walmart was able to establish its first stores in Chicago through guile, perseverance, and a few meaningless reassurances. Smaller stores! $0.50 pay raise! Union-built! These are the meager concessions that led Chicago to sell-out their local retailers.
More »
Do Not Try To Sell Your Baby For $25 In Front Of Walmart
Aspiring entrepreneurs, keep in mind: Walmart doesn't want you selling anything in front of their stores. And they really, really don't want you to sell your own children out front at cut-rate prices. Police in Salinas, Calif. say a couple were trying to do just that: sell their 6-month-old infant to a stranger for less than the price of a case of diapers.
More »
Buy A Cheap Blu-Ray Player, Get A Box Of Useless Remotes Instead
If you pick up an electronics box and notice that it has been resealed and is suspiciously.... rattley....you might want to just leave it on the shelf, no matter how good a deal it might be. Unless you need some random remote controls, cables, and manuals to other devices. At least, that's the lesson we're taking away from William's e-mail about what he found inside a Blu-Ray player box at his local Walmart.
More »
Walmart Announces Intention To Open Dozens Of Stores In Chicago
Chicago, despite having Targets galore, only has a single Walmart store on the west side. The big box giant has faced serious resistance from labor unions who claim that the company doesn't pay enough and doesn't provide adequate benefits. Now Walmart says they have a plan called the "Chicago Community Investment Partnership."
More »
Brits Stuffing Themselves With Junk Food
Next time someone hassles you about how lousy the American diet is, point them to a new survey which shows that British consumers spend about 25% of their weekly food budget on junk food, including potato chips (or "crisps," as they so quaintly call them), chocolate and soda. Then go finish your bag of chips.
More »
Walmart Deodorant Pricing Scheme Smells Off
Something is funky about how Walmart is pricing these two deodorants.
More »
Walmart Testing Plastic Bag-Less Stores In California
When we posted the seemingly simple question last week to Consumerist readers of
whether or not plastic shopping bags should be banned, we expected some heated discussion. But even we were surprised to see just how heated -- 326 comments at last count! And while we we've been busy chatting about the pros and cons, Walmart has been quietly testing a no single-use bag policy at a handful of stores in California.
More »
How I Regulated When Walmart Botched My Expedited Delivery
When you pay $40 to make sure your product gets shipped overnight, it had damn well be delivered overnight. Reader and frequent commenter ilikemoney coughed up $40 to Walmart to make sure he'd be able to sleep on the futon he ordered the next day, but it took five days for the sweet dream factory to arrive. Instead of flipping out and declaring a national emergency, he stayed cool, sent Walmart a calm, direct letter and got his money back.
More »
I Found My Pre-Paid Walmart MoneyCard Impossible To Use
Chris and his wife got a Walmart Money Card as a gift and thought they'd go spend it, but the money was buried under so many layers of red tape that they weren't able to use it. To activate the card Chris was told he had to give up a litany of personal info, including his social security number.
More »
Walmart Admits "We're Not a Dept. Store," When It Comes To Fashion
While Walmart may currently be the most popular shopping destination in the country, it still hasn't shaken the stigma among many clothing customers of being a place you go for cheap sweats, underwear and tee shirts. And after years of trying to remove that taint, the retail behemoth has thrown up its hands and admitted defeat.
More »
Save On Drugs By Making Your Pharmacy Price-Match
What made Jules sicker than her strep throat was the price Kroger wanted to charge her for a 6-pack of generic Azithromycin. $38.72! "That's highway robbery!" she told the them. Then Jules stumbled onto something most people don't know that could save them serious money on prescription medication: you can price-match your pills.
More »
Shoppers Love Costco And Dillard's, Say Target And Walmart Are Subpar
Consumer Reports asked 30,000 readers to weigh in on the
best and worst chain stores in the country, and it looks like people really love Costco and Dillard's. Both stores received above average ratings in things like merchandise quality and value. On the other end of the spectrum, Target's women's fashion, jewelery and watches were rated below-average in quality.
More »
Walmart T-Shirt Sports Inverted American Flag
If you're easily offended by misrepresentations and abuses of the American flag, retailers will funnel plenty of hate fuel your way -- crotch flag underwear, anyone? xAaronx took issue with this shirt he spotted at Walmart, which has a picture of a flag with the stars in the wrong corner. Not the most patriotic thing to discover on a Memorial Day, when xAaronx wrote us.
More »
(walmart.com)
iPhone 3GS Now $97 At Walmart ... 4G Coming Soon?
Walmart has dropped the price of the iPhone 3GS to $97, which is $2 less than Apple charges for the older 3G model. The move has fueled speculation that Apple plans to announce the next-generation iPhone at its developers conference next month. They may as well. It's not like anybody's going to be surprised to see it.
More »
Trader Joe's, Walmart Sprouts Recalled For Salmonella
Sprouts sold at Trader Joe's, Walmart, Kings Super Market, Numero Uno Stores, Cárdenas Markets, Gonzalez Northgate Markets, Wal-Mart stores, Jons Markets, and Canton Foods have been recalled after an outbreak of salmonella sickened more than 20 people in 10 states.
More »
16 Items They Only Sell At Chinese Walmart
BuzzFeed has compiled 16 photographs of things they only sell at Chinese Walmart. We have chosen three of our favorites.
More »
How Many Walmart Employees Does It Take To Screw Up A Return?
Ournextcontestant has a long, amusing story about the surprisingly difficult ordeal he went through to return a necklace at a Hawaii location while on vacation. He says it took the combined efforts of several employees to complete the transaction, sucking away valuable island enjoyment time:
More »
Walmart Giving Used Games Another Go
After
trying and failing at the GameStop-dominated used games biz, Walmart is taking a mulligan and making another run and used game trade-ins and sales,
partnering with Game Trade in the effort to gives you pennies on the dollar for that not-so-old copy of Mass Effect 2.
More »
Walmart Settles California Environmental Lawsuit For $27.6 Million
Walmart got caught violating California's environmental laws by dumping hazardous materials improperly and agreed to
pay $27.6 million to the state to settle a lawsuit, the L.A. Times reports.
More »
Walmart Facing Mega Sex Discrimination Suit
The Daily Beast spotlights a woman who joined in on the ongoing
Betty Dukes v. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. sex discrimination class action suit against Walmart, the largest civil rights class action suit in American history.
More »
Walmart Manager Hates It When You Donate Loss Leaders To Homeless Shelters
At Walmart, no good deed goes unpunished. Lisa said she tried to buy up a bunch of health and beauty supplies at Walmart to donate to local homeless shelters, and instead got a lecture in economics from the shift supervisor.
More »
I Paid For One-Day Shipping At Walmart, Got TV A Week Later
Matt says he sprung $40 for 1-day shipping for his TV but didn't get it until a week later. When he complained he got nonsense about processing time.
More »
Save Earth, Nothing Else By Buying Avatar At Walmart
Anthony spotted this less-than-amazing sale at Walmart for the eco-conscious epic Avatar. Those who held out when the movie was priced $19.96 now get to pay only $19.96.
More »
Over 1 Million Potential Plaintiffs In Walmart Gender Bias Lawsuit
It was a bad day for Walmart in the courtroom, as a California appeals court granted class-action status to a gender bias lawsuit against the retail giant. That means that over 1 million current and former female employees are now able to join their names to the largest case of its kind in U.S. history.
More »
Walmart Trying Again To Break Into New York City
While Walmart has managed to install outlets in just about every major city in the country, the retail behemoth has never been able to crack the shell of New York City's five boroughs, though it has tried on two recent occasions. A new report claims that Walmart is hoping the third time is the charm, as they look into a spot for a new store in Brooklyn.
More »
I Wrote This Letter To Stop Walmart From Killing Cats
Glennda forwarded us a letter she sent to a Florida Walmart that she says is going to kill a gang of feral cats who have been camping out in the store's garden section.
More »
Woman Takes Clothes Into Walmart Changing Room To Pee On Them
If there's any lesson to be learned from this story it's this: When you decide to take a bunch of clothes into a store's changing room with the intention of voiding your bladder all over them, do
not leave your wallet behind.
More »
Man Spends 24 Hours In A Walmart, Lives To Tell The Tale
Over at Zug.com, Bayan Rabbani shares all the details -- good, bad, and ugly -- of the 24 consecutive hours he spent wandering around -- making friends, eating food, getting a manicure -- in a Super Walmart in Texas "with absolutely no regard for my hygiene or sanity."
More »
PHOTO: Walmart Sells Diabetes... For $24.88
For anyone who ever thought that shopping at Walmart could make you sick... Here's the photographic evidence you've been waiting for.
More »
Walmart Receipt Checker Helps Customer, Justifies Existence
Wes writes that he has discovered a previously unknown use for retail receipt checkers. They can help you to determine when a store is ripping you off, rather than the other way around.
More »
Walmart Regains Top Spot On Fortune 500 List
With over $408 billion in revenue, Walmart has regained the coveted top spot on the annual Fortune 500 list. The mega retailer had slipped to #2 behind Exxon Mobil on last year's list after two consecutive #1 years in 2007 and 2008.
More »
Study: Walmart Price Cuts Are Actually Price Hikes
If you've turned on a TV recently, you've probably seen one of the seemingly countless Walmart ads where the retail behemoth brags about its latest round of price cuts. But a new study says Walmart's actually been raising its prices on groceries in 2010.
More »
Walmart Sold Me A Scale With The Wrong Kind Of Battery
An anonymous reader writes in about a bathroom scale bought at Walmart that doesn't include batteries. The item was restocked and robbed of the power sources.
More »
Racist NJ Teens Also Shop, Use P.A. Systems, At Whole Foods
Looks like stupid, racist teenagers in New Jersey don't just
shop at Walmart. A 14-year-old girl in Edgewater, NJ, was caught this weekend using the PA system at a local Whole Foods to announce, "All blacks leave the store."
More »
VIDEO: Hey Streets, What's The Worst Company In America?
I hit the streets of New York with a video camera, asking taxi drivers, youths, store owners and chicks eating donuts, "What's the worst company in America?" Most people laughed and said, "Worst
company?" — and then thought real hard and gave us some answers, answers which may shock you! This video has subtitles so you can watch it at work without anyone knowing.
More »
Introducing Consumer Reports' Weekend Deals
Our smarter siblings over at
Consumer Reports are really on top of things today: After some digging around, they've come up with a list of deals out there this weekend at stores like Walmart, Home Depot and Lowe's to help you stretch your hard-earned dollars.
More »
If You Bring Your Gun To Walmart, Please Don't Play With It
An Arizona man (not Consumerist's Phil Villareal, in case you were wondering) is under arrest after he discharged a handgun at his local Walmart. And no, he wasn't robbing the place; he was just nervously fidgeting with his firearm.
More »
Slap-Happy Pappy Pleads Guilty To Punching Kids At Walmart
It seems like, oh about three weeks ago that we wrote about the grandfather
who was arrested for punching kids in the head while their parents weren't looking at an Ohio Walmart. In an update to that story, the slap-happy grandpappy has decided that, because it's not a little kid, he won't fight the legal system and has pleaded guilty.
More »
Walmart Bomb Threat Suspect Already Waiting Trial For Similar Charge
Police in Oklahoma say that the man arrested over the weekend for phoning in a bomb threat to an Oklahoma City Walmart is currently awaiting trial for doing the same thing to an employment agency office only a few months earlier.
More »
Worst Company In America Sweet 16: Bank Of America VS Walmart
Now it's getting tough. Two giants compete for the battle of the biggest. Will it be our biggest retailer? Or our biggest bank?
More »
Lose Your Receipt? Walmart Has A Hotline For You
Need a copy of your receipt from Walmart? Do what reader Casey did. Call the hotline. If you paid by debit or credit card, they will look up your receipt and fax it to you.
More »
Survey: Everyone's Shopping At Walmart, Even If They Don't Want To
With the economy continuing to circle the bowl, it's not surprising that customers are turning to Walmart's cheaper prices for just about everything. A new survey has the box store biggie as the most frequently shopped-at store in all U.S. regions, even though consumers don't necessarily consider themselves loyal to Big W.
More »
Texas Woman Awarded $9 Million In Walmart False Arrest Lawsuit
After being accused of cashing counterfeit money orders and arrested at a Walmart in 2008, a Houston woman has won $9 million in damages in a civil lawsuit against the retailer. 24-year-old Nitra Gipson spent two days in jail...and the money orders turned out to be genuine.
More »
This Computer Game Is On Clearance At Walmart Because It's Now Defunct
Kain tells Consumerist that he was searching the clearance section at his local Walmart for deals when he discovered something that was an unbelievably bad deal. Ten "collector's edition" copies of the multiplayer game Tabula Rasa marked down to only $25! Too bad that the servers required to play the game
shut down on Feburary 28, 2009.
More »
Police: Racist Walmart PA Prankster Had Done It Before
Remember the New Jersey teen who was
recently busted for announcing over a Walmart PA system that "all the black people should leave the store now"? Well, you probably won't be shocked to find out it wasn't the first time he'd done it.
More »
Walmart Employee Helps Catch World's Sneakiest Bank Robber
WIRED has a cool story about Gerald Blanchard, the world's most ingenious thief and bank robber, who once parachuted onto a Viennese castle to steal the famed Koechert Diamond Pearl, and how he was eventually caught by two grizzled cops in Winnipeg, thanks to a Walmart worker's tip. While Gerald was meticulous in preparing for his heists...
More »
Why Does Walmart Want To See ID To Buy WD-40?
Last week, we learned that Target is now
scanning IDs of customers who buy canned air. Today, we're hearing that Walmart needs to see some identification before it will sell you a can of WD-40.
More »
Study Finds Grocery Store Shoppers Are Honest Folk
The people on that People of Walmart website may wear some ugly t-shirts, but at least they're honest when it comes to dealing with strangers. According to a
new study that looked at how markets, religion, and the size of a community impact concepts of fairness and punishment, Walmart grocery shoppers in Missouri came out on top in terms of treating the other side fairly and punishing selfishness.
More »
My Walmart Broke Away From Corporate Policy By Refusing My Receiptless Exchange
D says he bought some clippers from Walmart, then turned around and decided to take them back and exchange them for something of higher quality. Management turned him down because he had no receipt, despite the fact that the move apparently broke away from Walmart policy.
More »
As The Economy Improves, Shoppers Ditch Walmart
The NY Post says that they've found a correlation between economic growth and same store sales at Walmart. Their theory is that as the economy improves, people run away from the big blue box.
More »
Walmart Racist PA System Prank Culprit Arrested
The police in Washington Township, N.J. have tracked down and arrested the alleged perpetrator of last weekend's unauthorized PA announcement of "Attention Walmart customers: All black people leave the store now." It will surprise absolutely no one that the suspect is a 16-year-old boy.
More »
Walmart-Owned Store Delivers Sex Lube Instead Of Kids' Bubble Bath
Not even a week after Walmart-owned British retail chain Asda
decided that "Fat Balls" might be an inappropriate name for bird food, they also managed to royally screw up an order for kids' bubble bath and sent a bottle of lube instead.
More »
NJ Walmart To End Racism By Reducing Access To PA System
Remember that New Jersey Walmart where some fool
used the store's public address system to tell all the African-American shoppers to leave? They're trying to prevent it from happening again by cutting back on the number of in-store phones that have access to the PA.
More »
Walmart Wants To Know Who Made The Racist Announcement Over Their PA System
This past Sunday, a male voice came over the
public-address system at a Walmart in New Jersey and said, "Attention Walmart customers: All black people leave the store now." Understandably, customers and employees were pretty offended. One of the shoppers made sure that store management and local media outlets were made aware of what happened, and Walmart apologized--over the PA system, fittingly--on Sunday evening. Store officials say they're now reviewing security footage to find out who made the announcement.
More »
Walmart Adding 500 More MoneyCenters Nationwide In 2010
While banks have spent the last two years consolidating and closing, it looks like people have been turning elsewhere for their financial services. Walmart -- you might have heard of them -- just opened up their 1,000th in-store MoneyCenter and have announced they're rolling them out to 500 more locations before the end of 2010.
More »
Grandpa Punched Kids In Head At Walmart For "Thrill"
A $150,000 bond has been set for the 68-year old man accused of punching kids in the back of the head at Walmart while their parents weren't looking.
More »
Store Considering Name Change For "Fat Balls"
For years, avian enthusiasts in the UK have been able to get their hands on "fat balls," bird feed in the form of spherical mixtures of suet and seeds intended for winter use. But now, thanks to a few snickering kids, that could all change.
More »
Walmart Fires Employee For Using Medical Marijuana
Warning: Even if medical marijuana is legal in your state and you have a valid prescription, your employer can still fire you for using it. A Michigan man learned this the hard way after failing a drug test given by his employer of five years, Walmart.
More »
Woman Attacked At Walmart, Says Security Didn't Stop Attacker
A Houston woman says she was attacked by a man wielding a knife inside her local Walmart and that the store security did nothing to stop the incident or to apprehend the attacker.
More »
Walmart Wins: Top 10 Most Valuable Retail Brands
Interbrand Design Forum-- part of a global brand consulting firm-- has ranked the top retail brands and guess what? Walmart is most valuable.
More »
Thief Gets Everything He Needs To Rob Walmart... At Walmart
It's true — You can get everything you need at Walmart, including everything you need to steal thousands of dollars of Walmart merchandise.
More »
Walmart Sells Black Barbies For Less Than White Ones
Lower prices are not always good things, as Walmart has discovered after pricing black Barbies at half the price of white ones, giving a new definition to the term "price discrimination."
Guanabee reports a shopper at a Louisiana Walmart discovered the price discrepancy.
More »
Judge Sues Sam's Club, Walmart, Alleging Bad Customer Service Led Him To Be Committed
It's a story that sounds too odd to be true, but a judge in Brownsville, Texas, has filed a lawsuit against his local Sam's Club, the store's manager and the store's parent company Walmart Stores Inc., alleging that a bad customer service experience led to his arrest and involuntary commitment to two mental health facilities.
More »
Why Was I Banned From Walmart For Not Showing My Receipt?
Consumerist reader Jeremy says he's recently been barred from entering any Walmart store in the country. Why? Because he politely declined to show his receipt to a greeter.
More »
Walmart Debuts Truly Unbeatable Sale
Yes, we suppose the only way to beat this sale is to have a store
give you money for taking the thing off their hands.
More »
Banquet Spaghetti Meatballs Box Vs Reality
On the left is a box of Banquet brand frozen spaghetti and meatballs. On the right is what is inside. Disappointed at the lack of visible meatballs, reader reader Sonia snapped the photos and sent them in. On the one hand, that's what you get for eating $1.00 Walmart frozen pasta and meatballs. On the other, well, couldn't they have left at least one in?
More »
Walmart: Just Take This Chicken For Free, We Don't Actually Sell It
Reader DW sent us a gross picture of some nasty gray ham from Walmart (see below) and also let us know that there is mysterious non-Walmart chicken showing up in the store. The people who work at Walmart don't know where the chicken is from, but they will give it to you for free.
More »
Great Value Detergent Is A Better Value If You Hack A Hole In The Side
Josh got down to the bottom of his bottle of Walmart's Great Value house brand laundry detergent and made a terrible discovery. Poor bottle design means that most customers aren't using all of the detergent that they pay for. He found an extremely unattractive, yet effective solution to the problem.
More »
Blueberry Rain Check Leads To Epic Battle, Police Intervention, Changes At Walmart
Walmart offers rain checks. Not everyone is aware of this, including people who work at and manage Walmart stores. The mega-retailer has few advertised specials that would require rain checks, you see. That's how a disabled Florida senior citizen ended up having the police called in and being banned for life from Walmart after he tried to get a rain check for a pint of blueberries.
More »
Walmart Putting Pressure On Suppliers To Go Green
In an effort to de-taint its public image (and cut long-term overhead costs), mega-retailer Walmart has been going "green" for over a decade with eco-friendly changes to its operation. And yesterday the company announced it is asking its suppliers to help them in their latest initiative to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20 million metric tons in the next five years.
More »
Walmart Closing Down Vudu's Porn Channel
To no one's great surprise, Vudu has announced that now that it belongs to Walmart it will be
shutting down the adult section. No more streaming HD porn from Vudu, everybody. Their announcement after the jump.
More »
Walmarts Gets Into Streaming Video With Possible Vudu Acquisition
While Walmart sells everything from gasoline to groceries, and they have a pretty sizable online presence, they haven't gotten into the lucrative business of on-demand/streaming video. But that could all change with news that the box store leviathan is about to purchase streaming video service Vudu.
More »
Would You Buy This Meat?
Reader Michael sent us this breakfast-ruining photo of some seriously off-putting meat offered at a discount at Walmart. A quick glance at this
meat spoilage guide suggests "Oxidative Rancidity" which is what happens when you don't wrap meat properly.
More »
Walmarts Kicks Name Brands Off Shelves
Another reason to try/buy generic: you might have to because your favorite name-brand could be getting the boot from store shelves.
More »
Walmart Customer Traffic And Total Sales Down
Is it a good sign or a bad one for the American economy if Walmart's sales are down nationwide? Does it mean that the affluent are back on their feet and no longer forced to shop downscale, or that none of us has any money at all?
More »
Walmart Is Going Fee-Happy On My Money Orders
Dan and his wife Kat are geniuses because they guilt Kat's parents into giving them money orders, but their plans are starting to be foiled because Walmart has suddenly started sticking them with check cashing fees.
More »
Detroit Schools Teach Kids To Work At Walmart
Walmart is teaming with inner-city Detroit schools to offer classes on how to land entry-level jobs,
the raw story reports, citing the Detroit Free Press.
More »
If You Get Mad, Don't Smash 29 Walmart TVs With A Bat
Spring Training isn't quite here yet, but a man at a Georgia Walmart decided to get into the swing of things by taking a baseball bat and smashing 29 TVs before he was arrested for second degree criminal damage,
the AP reports.
(Update: now with video.) More »
Super Fart Spray Forces Walmart Evacuation
A Seattle area Walmart was evacuated this weekend after a man released "stink bombs" and "super fart spray," according to the police. 75 customers and employees were forced to flee the stinky Walmart after the suspect threw vials of foul-smelling liquid onto the floor and sprayed a can of a product called "Super Fart Spray." After apprehension, the 51-year old man said he did it as joke and he thought it would be amusing. He was not arrested. [
Seattle P-I]
(Thanks to GitEmSteveDave!)
Receipt Checker Avoidance Tactic: Confuse Them With Extreme Politeness
Reader Matt wants to share his technique for waltzing past the Walmart receipt checkers with a minimum of hassle. The secret? Be super nice, but don't stop walking.
More »
How I Maneuvered Through The Walmart Receipt Check Gauntlet
Jeff says he did what many dream about but few accomplish -- he kept his receipt hidden from Walmart snoops at the expense despite stiff resistance.
More »
Walmart And Best Buy Bail From Video Game Trade-in Market
Best Buy and Walmart have backed off on
their challenges to GameStop's used game racket, both shelving their short-lived tests of
trade-in kiosks, Industry Gamers reports:
More »
Sam's Club Lays Off 10% Of Employees
Sam's Club, owned by Walmart, is cutting about
11,200 jobs nationwide in its stores. That's about ten percent of the chain's workforce. The part-time employees who currently hand out product samples and perform demonstrations will be replaced with ringers from the outside company that performs the same service in Walmart stores.
More »
Chicagoist Catches Walmart Astroturfing As Populist Local Group
Kevin Robinson at the blog Chicagoist was curious about a commenter who sounded suspiciously on-message on some recent Walmart posts. Walmart wants to come into Chicago, and Walmart's opponents are fighting the retailer at the community level to prevent that. In return, a pro-Walmart community group has formed called "Our Community, Your Choice" that argues, "Everyone else but Chatham and the South Side are making the decisions - It’s OUR CHOICE, NOT THEIRS."
More »
How Walmart Is Going Green
Ideally, companies choose to lessen their environmental impact because it makes financial sense, not because it makes them feel good--which is a good thing, since companies don't have feelings. Today, FastCompany published a slideshow that looks at 12 ways the mega-retailer is trying out various green initiatives. Some of them are more about selling
the concept of green to consumers, which is dumb, but the ones that deal
with shipping,
energy consumption, and
market creation are pretty impressive.
More »
Walmart Customer Arrested For Urinating On Steaks
Either this man was not in his right mind, or this was the stupidest animal-rights protest ever. The police in Canton, Ohio report that a man was arrested and jailed for urinating on a Walmart meat counter, ruining $600 worth of steak.
More »
Walmart Manager Takes Customer's DVD Away Because He Won't Show Receipt
Yep, it's another Walmart receipt checker story! At the end of it, the OP asks, "What should I do?" And I sigh. I really don't know. Don't shop at Walmart anymore? Try to encourage your friends to not give their business to any company that acts in such a hostile way to honest, albeit uncooperative, customers? Spend a ton of money on a lawsuit that Walmart will use its very deep pockets to fight?
More »
Alleged Shoplifter Dies After Encounter With Walmart Security
A South Carolina woman died shortly after a run-in with Walmart loss prevention. Was the asthma sufferer's death a coincidence, caused by the stress of being caught by security, or something even more sinister than that? Test results and a review of surveillance footage should clarify the situation somewhat in a few months.
More »
If You Want A Zhu Zhu Pet, Now's The Time
It seems like only a few weeks ago that fist fights were breaking out in stores over Zhu Zhu Pets. Because
it was. Now that Christmas has passed, the cycle is complete, and retailers are up to their whiskers in robot rodents.
More »
Walmart Holds Another Customer Hostage
Kerri (not her real name) says she was detained last week at a Walmart in Utah, after she declined to show the receipt checker her receipt on the way out. She says a police officer blocked her from leaving, told her to show the receipt checker more respect, and then had her go back inside and let Walmart examine her bags while he wrote down the info from her drivers license.
More »
Walmart Sells You Two Wooden Blocks Instead Of A Hard Drive
Reader Jeff writes in with a troubling but ultimately positive experience buying wooden blocks disguised as a hard drive from Walmart.
More »
Walmart Greeter Punched, Fired
Ed was a Floridau Walmart greeter who said he fought a customer who attacked him in late December, accusing the employee of gross misconduct for fighting with a customer. Because the greeter defended himself,
he lost his job, WESH.com in Orlando reports.
More »
Tackling, Stabbing, & Fake Heart Attacks: A Walmart Shoplifting Gone Awry
A Tennessee couple tried to bum-rush the exit of a Walmart with a cart packed with $2000 worth TVs and a computer. When an off-duty police officer showed his badge after the man tried to muscle past the greeter, the would-be five-finger discounter said it was fake and tried to push through. The cop tackled the man and cuffed him. Then it got even better:
More »
Giant Mold Universe Found Inside Chef Boyardee Can
Larry says that he opened a can of chef boyardee recently only to find a horrible giant mold world growing inside. When he contacted the store he bought it from, Walmart, a low-level employee was openly hostile to them and said the manager "wouldn't believe them." Yes, that's the new scam: steal a can of food, open it up, grow a massive mold culture inside it for several weeks, then try to return it for a buck oh nine.
More »
Best Of Return Policies, Worst Of Return Polices
To aid you in your post-Christmas return-a-thon, WalletPop has put together a capsule list of the
best and worst return policies.
More »
Yes, Walmart Already Has The Easter Candy Out
The place: Walmart. The date: December 23, 2009. The endcap display at Bob's local store: Easter candy.
Hug your loved ones close, my dears, for the apocalypse is nigh. More »
Guess What's In This Package?
No, really. Guess.
Are you entitled to a refund if your wrapping paper doesn't sufficiently conceal a package's contents? Megan thinks so. Last week when she wrapped her fiance's Christmas present, he got an unexpected surprise. He could tell exactly what the gift was through the opaque wrapping paper. More »
Here's A Walmart Perp Walk In Action
Maybe attacking, restraining, and physically marching off suspected shoplifters is the new "Stop, thief!" for Walmart employees. Here's video footage of an actual event that happened in a New Jersey Walmart last Friday, shot by our own GitEmSteveDave.
More »
Alleged Walmart Shoplifter Dies After Being Tackled
Walmart's loss prevention tactics took a morbid turn over the weekend at an Atlanta location, when a suspected shoplifter was tackled by two security personnel and a customer, and then died for mysterious reasons.
More »
Walmart Overcharges Soldiers Stationed Abroad For Shipping
The idea behind military mail is to allow people in a given country to send mail to their loved ones stationed anywhere in the world, for the same price as mailing a letter or package to any other destination in the United States. However, the military paper Stars and Stripes reports that some retailers are increasing prices for customers with APO/FPO addresses, claiming "higher transportation costs." The biggest offender? Walmart. Surprise!
More »
Walmart Accidentally Sells All-Nude Beefcake Calendar Online
A woman in Phoenix was shopping for travel calendars on Walmart.com when she came upon one called "All About the Boys 2010." It wasn't so much about travel as it was about fully nude models of a European porn company, which didn't sit well with Wendy McNaughton.
More »
The Truth About Walmart's Super-Secret Data Center
Reader humphrmi thinks he knows what's up with Walmart's giant unmarked datacenter,
photos of which we posted recently. It's a truth SO REVEALING that it may make you go, "Oh, that makes sense."
Flyby And Driveby Photos Of Walmart's Super-Secret Data Center
Have you ever seen these crazy Walmarts ginormous data center in Missouri? Airplanes and the Google Maps Streetview car have. Dubbed, "Area 71," the facility is built on bedrock so it can withstand numerous kind of disasters. Four years ago, their Bentonville, Arkansas HQ was said to have 460+ terabytes of storage. This is an auxilary facility in Missouri, located 15 miles from their HQ. It's gotta have something in the peta or exabytes. Wonder what they use all that for? More pix inside. Leave your crackpot conspiracy theories in the comments.
Walmart Unfair Pay Lawsuit Settled In Massachusetts
Current and former Walmart employees in Massachusetts (and their lawyers) were awarded $40 million in back wages this week in a class-action lawsuit. The suit was filed eight years ago, and claimed that the mega-retailer owes some hourly employees up to fourteen years' worth of unpaid overtime, missed breaks, and other uncompensated work.
More »
Customer Punches Elderly Walmart Greeter In The Face
It seems that a Pennsylvania man really, really didn't want to show his receipt at Walmart. So, allegedly, he punched the 72-year-old greeter in the face. Now, the greeter is severely injured and hospitalized, with half of the bones in his face broken.
More »
Yay I Haven't Been Crushed To Death By Bargains Yet!
It's easy to pick on the people who end up on
PeopleOfWalmart.com, but... yeah, it's just easy. Especially when they
trap their babies under a mountain of crap. Parents, I wish I could recall you.
More »
Black Friday Shopping Mayhem Roundup
For some reason, Walmart and Toys R Us stores were the focal points of this year's Black Friday mayhem nationwide. Perhaps because the chains offer both toys for children and toys for adults--electronic ones, at least. Fights and other oddities broke out here and there nationwide. However, shoppers and store employees survived the day with no deaths, major injuries, or significant property damage.
More »
Walmart Shuts Down For 3 Hours After Shoppers Go Crazy
The Los Angeles Times says that a Walmart in Upland, California had to
kick everyone out and shut down for 3 hours this morning, because shoppers lost their damned minds.
More »
Walmart's Black Friday Plan: Cheap TVs, iPod Touch With $50 Gift Card
The morning after Thanksgiving, Walmart will make its customers elbow and curb-stomp one another in order to jostle for Sanyon 720p HDTVs for less than $598, a Magnavox Blu-ray player for $78 and $195 iPod Touch that comes with a $50 iTunes gift card, CNNMoney reports. More »
Walmart Won't Let Family Print Photos Of Dead Relative For Funeral
After the death of a relative, Mike put together a photo tribute for the funeral, in order to "remember the good times," he says. Only a Walmart cashier put a stop to his purchase. Here's what happened. Do you think Walmart was in the right? More »
Reader Says He Was Tackled At Walmart For Not Showing Receipt
Robby didn't feel like showing his receipt to the Walmart receipt checker, and when the guy came after him, Robby ignored him. That's when other shoppers started closing in on him, and why he started running. More »
15 Years In Prison After Cutting The Line At Walmart?
Here's a strange story from southeast Missouri. Three years ago a college student was waiting in line at Walmart. Her cousin was waiting in another line that was moving faster. The college student, now a teacher who lives in Louisiana, joined her cousin in the "faster" line. This apparently started a confrontation with other customers (and eventually the police) that may cause the woman to spend 15 years in prison. More »
Walmart Takes Steps To Prevent More Black Friday Chaos And Tragedy
Hoping to avoid anything even close to last year's tragic Black Friday human stampede, Walmart stores nationwide aren't opening at the crack of dawn. Instead of opening their doors at 5 A.M. and inviting sales-crazed frenzies, they will open at 6 A.M. on Thanksgiving Day, then remain open overnight. More »
Walmart Security Guard Gets Head-butted, Sat On, Peed On
It was a rough day at the office for a Michigan Walmart security guard last week. The Muskegon News reports a guard was physically abused and humiliated as he tried to stop two female shoplifters from making off with some goods that they found priced too high. More »
Target Pays New Jersey $375K To Settle Fraud Charges
Target has agreed to pay New Jersey $375,000 to settle charges that it sold baby formula and non-prescription drugs that had expired, and that it charged higher prices on some products than what was displayed on the shelves. More »
Walmart Clinic Spotted In The Wild
Reader Charles spotted this clinic in his local Walmart in Georgia. He says the local hospital has partnered with the store to offer services right next to the vision center. He sent a snapshot of the prices. It's strange to see a menu board listing illnesses. Is this a good thing? More »
Walmart Goes Crazy On Couple Suspected Of Shoplifting
Walmart can try to spin itself as being on the side of good all it wants, but if it ever suspects you of shoplifting, you may find that you're powerless to fight back. In the case of a couple accused of shoplifting some Bic lighters in Niles, Michigan this past August, Walmart detained them, the police came and cuffed one of them, their two kids were taken to a security room, and—after a review of security footage proved the couple's innocence—they were banned for life from all Walmarts. To top it off, Walmart's legal team has sent the couple a letter asking to be reimbursed for 10 times the value of the lighters, even though the police determined no shoplifting had taken place. More »
Walmart Refunds For Dead Frog Found In Salad
"Oh my God, I see eyes!" screamed Carla Hill after opening a bag of greens from Walmart. More »
DVD Price War: Harry Potter, Star Trek For $10
Walmart announced yesterday that it will be slashing prices to below wholesale on 10 of the most popular DVDs that will be released soon, says the LA Times. Target announced that it will be matching Walmart. Amazon has not yet responded. More »
Walmart Prepares For New Push Into Major Urban Areas
If you live in Chicago, New York City, or Philadelphia, expect to start hearing some noise about Walmart in the coming months. The retailer has announced that it's going to "step up efforts to mobilize local political support" so that it can finally open stores in those cities, reports the Financial Times. More »
Are Banks Blocking Large Walmart Check Card Purchases?
Josh finds himself unable to use his Bank of America check card to make large purchases at Walmart. When he calls customer service, he's told the bank blocks large purchases at the store because such transactions are "considered a risk." More »
Walmart, Amazon, Target Rationing Below-Cost Books To Keep Independent Bookstores From Cashing In
Independent book stores can't even buy new releases for the low prices that Target, Walmart, and Amazon are offering them to the public — which has led to rationing in order to keep the independents from buying and reselling the books at a profit. More »
Even In Death, You Can Still Shop At Walmart
Walmart now provides for their customers from cradle to grave. Quite literally—since you can not only purchase cribs there, you can now order caskets and funerary urns from the mega-retailer's Web site. More »
Create Your Own Holiday Tableau With This Lighted Ceramic Walmart
Ah, lighted ceramic Christmas villages. They're so sweet and timeless. The old-fashioned houses and shops on a surface of sparkling fake snow. The quaint figurines on the town square. The... Walmart SuperCenter?! More »
Walmart Fires Security Guard For Chasing After Shoplifter Like He's In A Cop Movie
A Florida Walmart has fired one of their security officers for giving chase to a knife-wielding shoplifter who took off running across the store's parking lot. Josh Rutner told the Star-Banner, "I couldn't let him get away. That's wrong." That second sentence may be true, but security guard != officer of the law. More »
Walmart Now Offering New Hardcovers For $9
Walmart just tried to undercut Amazon on, of all things, books. They've announced that they're now selling the "top 10 pre-selling books" for $9 each, with free home delivery. Amazon has responded by dropping its price to $9 on the same titles, but their free shipping doesn't kick in until you buy $25 worth of merchandise (or pay the annual fee for Amazon Prime). Price war! More »
Walmart Gets Into Cellular Business, Offers Unlimited Plan For $45
Today Walmart announced that it's launching its own wireless service, Straight Talk, on October 18th. The network will piggyback on use TracFone's wireless network. At launch, two pre-paid plans will be offered: a $30 package that includes 1000 minutes, 1000 text messages, and 30MB of data; or a $45 plan that includes unlimited voice, text, and data. 411 calls are free. More »
Walmart Thinks Woman Is Laundry Soap Thief, Refuses Return
When a soon-to-be mother realized she had bought the wrong laundry detergent at a New Mexico Walmart, she tried to return it. That didn't work out so well, ending up with the store manager insinuating she was a con-artist who replaced the detergent with water. More »
Robber Walks Through Walmart Receipt Check With $200,000 Cash
You and I can't get past Walmart's receipt checks with a 12-pack of toilet paper, but one criminal made it past the greeter with a cart full of cash. $200,000 from the store's safe, to be precise. How does that happen? More »
CRT TVs Masquerading As HDTVs Plague Another Walmart
It's officially a trend now. Old-timey CRT TVs are not only mislabeled as HDTVs at a Connecticut Walmart, but also, according to reader Chris, at a Kentucky location. More »
NutriSystem To Be Sold At Walmart
The diet that allegedly shrank Dan Marino's ass will now be available in stores for the first time — and those stores will all be Walmarts. A 14-day starter pack will retail for $148, says Reuters. More »
Walmart Move Could Render DVD Sales DOA
The Wall Street Journal reports Walmart is cutting back DVD displays as part of its effort to appeal to "higher-end" (read: Target) shoppers. More »
11 Things Banned By Walmart
From a practical standpoint — our Walmart overlords decided what we can and can't have. MentalFloss has put together a list of 11 things they did not approve of — or were forced to remove because others did not approve. More »
Walmart Tries To Pass Off Antique As HDTV
Shawn spotted Walmart selling an old CRT TV, mislabeling it as an HDTV. He snapped the accompanying incriminating photos and writes: More »
Walmart Manager Is Super Helpful, Saves Dead TV
A few weeks ago, Kaleb wrote to us with a tale of television woe. The Polaroid TV he purchased at Walmart on Black Friday 2008 simply died, and Polaroid wouldn't perform warranty service without his receipt. All was lost, until a Walmart manager went above and beyond to save Kaleb from his defective television. More »
IKEA Starts Checking Receipts
Party time is over at the Red Hook IKEA where, taking a cue from their big-box brethren Walmart and Home Depot, the Swedish maker of flat-packed furniture has instituted some intense receipt checking procedures. More »
Walmart Vs. Historians In Battle Over Civil War Site
Historians and conservationists have united in Virginia against a common foe: Walmart, which wants to build a 38,000-square-foot Supercenter near near Wilderness Battlefield, a Civil War site and National Park. The groups filed a suit on Wednesday charging local officials with brushing aside concerns about the site when they approved Walmart's plans in August. More »
Walmart Security Guards Go John McClane On Armed Thief
In a head-scratching display of bravery combined with an alarming willingness to place surely poor-paying jobs above their personal safety, Walmart security guards captured an armed assailant who tried to rob the Pennsylvania store. More »
Non-Receipt-Showing Walmart Customer Says He Was Physically Threatened
Tony's hands were full with a bookshelf and milk carton as he left a New Mexico Walmart, so he wasn't in a receipt-showing mood. He denied the security guard's request to stop and show him the receipt in the pocket, and says he was stalked and physically threatened as a result. He shares his Executive Email Carpet Bomb letter: More »
You Will Not Escape Toys R Us This Christmas
One good thing about the bad economy: There are plenty of empty storefronts in malls across the country, and the owners are more than happy to rent them to short-term tenants during peak seasons. And, this year, you can add Toys R Us to the usual gang of Halloween and Christmas stores that pop up suddenly in your local Simon, and disappear in the night a few weeks later. Jeffrey and his posse are expected to open 80 temporary stores next month, along with new toy sections in 260 Babies R Us shops. More »
Attention Shoppers: Free Porn Available On Walmart TVs
Two men have been arrested for playing porn over a half-dozen TV screens in a Fort Smith, AR, Walmart store. The two apparently popped a DVD into a player that controlled several screens, and let it rip. According to police, "the pornographic DVD was visible to the general public as they were shopping" for several minutes. More »
Walmart's New Competitor-Crushing Initiative
Walmart is looking to grow. Yes, grow. Their latest initiative, "Project Impact," aims to make stores easier and quicker to navigate, improve customer service, and to move in on competitors' territory as much as possible. More »
Walmart's "Junk Food In The Toy Aisle" Mystery Officially Solved
Yesterday we posted a photo a reader sent in of a toy aisle in his local Walmart that was packed with junk food. We all got commenty on what exactly Walmart was doing—was it a one-off paid promo by Pepsi? A marketing experiment? A power-mad store manager driven crazy by shelving issues? Nah, it's actually an intentional choice mandated by corporate. More »
Walmart Puts Doritos, Pepsi In The Toy Aisle
Reader Edd was shopping at his local Walmart when he noticed something annoying. There's a Pepsi & Dorito display in the middle of the toy aisle. Not at the end of the toy aisle. In the middle of it. Update: Mystery solved. More »
Walmart: No More Paycheck Here's Your Pre-Paid Debit Card
Walmart, our nation's largest employer, has eliminated paper paychecks. Now employees can choose to sign up for direct deposit or have their wages added to a pre-paid debit card. ABCNews says that only about half of Walmart's employees use direct deposit — the rest either prefer a paper paycheck or, in some cases, don't have a bank account. More »
Chinese Police Say Walmart Shopper Beaten To Death After Botched Receipt Check
Chinese state media says that a woman accused of shoplifting was allegedly beaten to death by 2 employees of a Walmart in eastern China. A police report says that the employees stopped the woman on the street near her home (which is also near the Walmart) and demanded to see her receipt. One report says she refused because she was unsure of the employee's identities, another says she handed it over, then took it back. More »
Police Say Walmart Shopper Slapped A Stranger's Kid
Holy crap! A random Walmart shopper apparently just went and slapped some other shopper's toddler because the kid wouldn't stop crying. A police report says that the man told the toddler's mother to keep her quiet saying "If you don't shut that baby up, I will shut her up for you." More »
Walmart Responds, Fixes Ruined Transmission
We're not entirely sure Consumerist is responsible for Walmart finally getting back to Jeff on his ruined transmission—and frankly, because of the length of time between the incident and his complaint, as well as Walmart's reputation for silence on consumer complaints like this, we didn't expect much to happen at all. We were wrong, and we tip our hats to Walmart for making good on a very expensive mistake. Read Jeff's update below. More »
Goldman Sachs Thinks Walmart And Amazon Are Gonna Kick Best Buy's Ass
Best Buy has been downgraded to neutral from "buy" by Goldman Sachs on concerns that Amazon.com and Walmart are poised to begin a serious asskicking. More »
Walmart Rips Off Girl Scout Cookies
Walmart is selling cheap knockoffs of Girl Scout signature Thin Mint and Tagalongs cookies, says a former Cookie Mom and blogger CV Harquail. She writes, "It's not discriminating against women, strong-arming suppliers, polluting neighborhoods or racing to the bottom of the China Price. No, this time, it's closer to home, and in my case, really close to home. This time ... Walmart is knocking off the Girl Scouts." More »
Reader Gets RC Helicopter For $6 After Incompetence Discount
S. is living the dream. My dream, at least. The dream of using one's grown-up status and money to buy an awesome toy that our parents wouldn't buy us in our childhood. In S.'s case, it was even better, since a strange pricing system error meant that he got a $6 remote control helicopter. More »
Walmart To Rate Product Sustainability
Walmart is developing a universal rating system to help consumers determine which products are truly sustainable. The rating system would scrutinize a product's entire life-cycle by focusing on broad factors, rather than the usual marketing gibberish that extolls isolated virtues. So why is Walmart, of all companies, deciding which products are environmentally sound? More »
Walmart Frozen Green Beans Come With Free Frog
Mmm, delicious green beans! Oh wait, what's that? Kermit, nooooooo! More »
Walmart Seeks Incredible Deals On Suppliers' Advertising
In hard times, with shrinking advertising budgets, who can blame retailers for trying to get the most for their money by convincing their suppliers to promote stores by co-branding? When Walmart is involved...pretty much everyone blames the retailer. See, everyone's favorite retail juggernaut is threatening to take shelf space away from vendors that do not use part of their ad budget to promote Walmart. More »
Walmart Doesn't Want 7-Year-Old's Birthday Money
The parents of a seven-year-old took him to Walmart this weekend to spend his saved birthday and allowance money on a pretty awesome looking swimming pool & slide combo. They'd checked online first to make sure the item was in stock—and Walmart said it was, at three different locations in fact. More »
Walmart Enlists Help Of Local Police Officer To Force You To Show Receipt
One would think that Walmart would have had enough of the drama that results from receipt checking — but according to reader Eric, that's just not the case. He says he politely declined to show his receipt to the Walmart employee who asked to see it because, unlike with Sam's Club, he had not signed an agreement obligating him to show it. Walmart didn't see it that way. More »
Woman Pulls Gun And Threatens Walmart Customers After Being Sold The Wrong Ammunition
We know it's stressful out there, but really, there's no reason to start waving your gun around in the Walmart parking lot. According to the Peninsula Daily News, a woman threatened several other customers who told her to stop yelling at Walmart worker who had sold her the wrong ammunition. More »
Usually, to follow someone on Twitter, you click "Follow." So why does Walmart have a 3,379-word terms of use specifically for their Twitter accounts posted on the company Web site? Seriously, we're asking, because no one has any idea. [BoingBoing] More »
Blue Redbox Experiencing A Severe Identity Crisis
Chris spotted this Blue Redbox at a Wal-Mart. Poor, confused box. More »
The animals are rising up, and invading our big-box stores. This week, a small (non-poisonous) snake bit a man in an Illinois Walmart, and a woman in Utah reportedly found a black widow spider in a bunch of grapes purchased at Costco. Nature clearly abhors the modern suburban lifestyle, and it's taking back its territory. [Carmi Times] [KSL] More »
Rumble In The Strip Mall: Best Buy Calls Out Walmart
Sure, Best Buy emerged victorious over Circuit City in the Battle of the Big-Box Electronics Stores, but they still have to compete with general discounters like Walmart. Which is why in a new ad campaign, Best Buy calls out Walmart specifically, attacking their employees' presumed lack of product knowledge compared to Best Buy employees. More »
Advice: If the Walmart employees tell you that you can't drink alcohol while waiting to have your car serviced, don't respond by ripping a telephone out of the wall. [Hernando Today via Fark] More »
Man Causes Thousands In Fire Damage After Walmart Refuses Return
After Walmart wouldn't let him make a return, Phillip R. Wright, 41, of Monroe, Louisiana, pictured, left, looking disgruntled and pretty "arsony," set a men's clothing rack inside the store on fire. More »
A Big, Red, Shiny Kiss Goodbye To Max Factor
Max Factor, the venerable cosmetics brand marketed to American women using the faces of familiar film actresses, will disappear from U.S. store shelves forever next year. It will still be available abroad, including in the UK, where it's a top seller for some reason. More »
Current And Former Walmart CEOs Shop At Target
Fortune has an interesting article about a Target that opened up in Walmart country. The store is located about seven minutes from "Wal-Mart No. 1", the first Wal-Mart ever built, and 20 minutes from Walmart's headquarters in Bentonville, AR. At first, Target was concerned that the Walmart faithful wouldn't shop at their new store — but they worried needlessly. Apparently, former CEO Lee Scott and current CEO Mike Duke are regulars. More »
Buy Your Dead Fish For Less At Walmart
A reader sent us the following pics of the neglected aquariums in her local Walmart in Carmi, Illinois. She complained to a manager, but when she checked back "several hours later," the tanks remained untouched. Well, the dead fish were probably slightly smaller, since the remaining live fish were eating them. More »
Punishing Customers For Buying More: Now Worldwide
Theoretically, if you buy more of something, you should pay less per item, or per unit. That's the entire point of buying things in bulk. Right? Not necessarily. To confuse the logical part of your brain this fine morning, here's a collection of instances where customers pay more when they buy more. More »
Buy American? Sure, If You Can Afford It
Is it possible today to buy U.S.-made goods in mainstream, reasonably-priced stores? The answer, ABC's John Donvan learned while reporting a "Nightline" story to be broadcast tonight, is a rather emphatic "no" when it comes to clothing, and otherwise "maybe." More »
Walmart To Pay $7,000 OSHA Fine In Worker Death
Earlier this month, Walmart avoided criminal charges in the trampling death of a worker at a Long Island store last November by setting up a $400,000 victims' compensation fund and giving $1.5 million to local non-profits and social service programs. But that settlement didn't stop an ongoing investigation by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Now, the government agency has announced the results of its probe, declaring that workers were put at risk "due to the store's failure to implement reasonable and effective crowd management principles." The company will be fined the maximum penalty allowed: $7,000. Walmart has 15 days to appeal or pay up. More »
Are Walmart's New Shopping Carts Shocking Customers?
We received a strange tip from Steve, who says the new shopping carts in his local Walmart shock him every time he touches them. He says he saw another shopper get shocked as well, and that a cashier confirmed it. Has anyone else experienced this? More »
Walmart Goes All Redbox On GameStop's Racket
If you're a gamer you know how shameful it feels to plunk down a game you played $60 at a used game store counter in exchange for $15 or $20 three weeks later. More »
Better Bring Some Wire Clippers With You When You Shop At This Walmart
You'll need them to cut off the right amount of penny at the cash register. Or, we suppose you could add something to your cart that includes 6/10 of a penny to even it all out—but that's how they get you, with those "even penny" purchases. (Thanks to Amanda!) More »
Walmart Only Institutes Anti-Trampling Measures At NY Stores
Interesting note about that Walmart settlement, the anti-trampling measures are only going to be instituted at the 92 New York area stores. Now, sure, it was part of a deal with New York state but you'd think maybe they'd want to improve trampling conditions at the rest of their stores too. Who knows, maybe they're planning to get around to it. [AP] More »
Walmart To Rest Of Planet: "What Recession?"
A new survey of American consumers shows something very unusual — they've lost their interest in shopping. Is this lack of interest driving them to discount stores like Walmart? Seems so. More »
Settlement In Shopper Stampede Case; Wal-Mart Avoids Criminal Charges
Wal-Mart will not face criminal charges in the death of temporary holiday worker Jdimytai Damour at its Valley Stream, NY store. Damour was posted at the front of the store when the out-of-control early morning crowd broke the door down, and he was trampled to death. More »
Recession Scenes At Wal-Mart: Beef, Peanut Butter, Toilet Seats
Wal-Mart's management is watching their customers during the recession. What have they learned? More shoppers now make lists, instead of buying on impulse. Sales of frozen vegetables are up; sales of Angus beef are down. And mysteriously, $5 white toilet seats are a hot item near Denver. More »
Woman Dies In Walmart Parking Lot, Discovered Two Days Later
Imagine dying in your vehicle in the parking lot of a 24-hour Walmart. How would anyone know? The couple who discovered Patricia Glasscock's body yesterday thought she was sleeping, which is probably what anyone who passed by thought. More »
Robert Duvall Is Not Cool With Building A Walmart Near A Civil War Battlefield
Robert Duvall, a descendant of Robert E. Lee, is really just not cool with Walmart's plans to build a Supercenter near the site of an important Civil War battle. More »
"Box Of Rocks" Scam Caught On Walmart Security Camera
Here's another "I bought a box of rocks!" story, only this time there's proof that the victim wasn't pulling a dirty trick on Walmart. Instead, it was someone before her who bought and then returned a Nintendo DS, only they swapped out the unit with rocks before making the return. More »
$2164.89 Paving Stone in a MacBook Pro Box Looks Nice, But Won't Run Photoshop
A lot of readers sent us the story of a Florida teen who received the awesome birthday gift of some rocks and crumpled up Chinese newspapers inside a Nintendo DS box. After some fuss and the discovery that another customer had already returned the same box of rocks, Wal-Mart made the situation right. Reader Ryan found himself in a similar situation, but without the happy ending (yet!): a Texas Best Buy sold him a paving stone instead of a Macbook Pro. More »
Walmart's Prescription Drug Couriers Arrested For Speeding, Smoking
When you think "prescription drugs," you think of clean, sterile facilities, not three stoners driving 100 mph down I-15 with $30,000 of Walmart's prescription narcotics in the backseat. Cops pulled the trio over, which included two illegal immigrants, and called Walmart to confirm that these were the folks employed to deliver their dirt-cheap drugs. "They said yeah they were expecting a delivery and the driver was late." More »
Worst Company In America: AIG VS Walmart
We're on to the Elite 8 and things are really heating up! There are so many macroeconomic implications in this match-up! More »
Mom! My "New" PSP Is Full Of Porn!
When a 6-year-old Tampa Bay boy turned on his "new" PSP from Walmart there was a little something extra included. Lots and lots of porn! More »
A Walmart cashier from Shreveport, LA was caught copying down customer's credit card numbers and using them to buy items from the store where she worked. As you can imagine, the police caught on to this brilliant scam pretty quickly. She was arrested when credit card numbers were found in her purse. [KSLA] More »
Walmart Violates Company Policy, Pretends Not To Accept Bike Returns
The Walmart in Norman, Oklahoma refused to accept bike returns until a district manager, acting on a reader tip, reminded the store that they were violating company policy. Reader Keia tried to return the "shoddily constructed," "dangerous piece of garbage" for a bike that Walmart sold him, but an employee, backed by the store manager, explained that since Walmart could repair the bike, their return policy didn't apply. That didn't sound right, so Keia went over their heads... More »
Shopper Arrested For Saying "The F Word" At Walmart
Well, here's a truly weird story, disorderly conduct charges have been dropped against a Texas woman who dropped an f-bomb at h
