Ever wonder why stores are so strict about receipt-checking and returns? It’s not simply because they hate consumers — they might, but it’s not the sole reason — it’s because there are people out there like the South Carolina man accused of using forged receipts and counterfeit goods to steal at least $624,000 from Walmart over the last few years. [More]
Man Who Stole $624,000 From Walmart Is Ruining It For The Rest Of Us
By May 21, 2013
JCPenney To Require Structural Inspections Of Factories In Bangladesh
By May 17, 2013
Retailers and manufacturers continue to react to last month’s tragedy at the Rana Plaza factory outside of Dhaka, Bangladesh, that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,100 people. Days after Walmart announced its own program to review and inspect manufacturing facilities in the region, JCPenney has outlined its plans to audit factories. [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Find MP3 Player From 2005 Marked Down To Only $100
By May 15, 2013
Exploring the clearance section of his local Walmart, Eric made a rare and fascinating discovery. Well, as we’ve learned on this site, not all that rare, but it is pretty fascinating to see an electronic gadget that’s around eight years old sitting on the shelf, marked down on “clearance” to a comically high price. [More]
Walmart Creates Its Own Bangladesh Factory Safety Program
By May 15, 2013
While major European retailers have moved to sign a legally binding accord aimed at improving working conditions and factory safety in Bangladesh, the large American retailers have yet to join. Now, amid reports that some of its products had been made at the Rana Plaza facility that collapsed in April, taking the lives of more than 1,100 people, Walmart is creating its own program to inspect these facilities. [More]
Why Do My Instant Photos Take 7 Hours?
By May 14, 2013
“Instant?” typed user Jake when he sent us a picture of the kiosk screen after he sent some photos to the printer at Walmart. His “instant” photos were promised six and a half hours in the future. Why, that’s not very instant at all. [More]
At Walmart, “Clearance” Means Trying To Finally Sell Chips With A Year-Old “Best Before” Date
By May 14, 2013
Consumerist reader Brendan is familiar with our Raiders of the Lost Walmart findings, and he thinks those are great, really — ”for general merchandise.” But it’s another story when it comes to finding food items for sale at Walmart that would appear to be way past their prime. [More]
theftIf you put a laptop computer in your Walmart cart, then put a giant bag of cat food on top of it, it’s possible that no one will notice the computer. However, if you walk out of the store without paying for either item, you’d think someone might notice. Police say that one Florida man walked out with four laptops and a lot of cat food on four separate trips before he was caught. [WTSP]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart: Old Crap Isn’t As Useless As it Seems
By May 6, 2013
Sometimes, the items that the Raiders of the Lost Walmart dig up aren’t quite as useless as they seem. They’re still pretty terrible, and the odds are very poor that a person who uses the obsolete video or gaming system required is going to walk in the door. But they’re not quite as useless or obsolete as many of the items we feature in this series. [More]
Study: Nearly Half Of U.S. Consumers Went To McDonald’s In March
By May 2, 2013
A new study attempts to determine the businesses that American consumers visit most often. Not surprisingly, the list is dominated by places that sell food; and that McDonald’s was by far the most-visited business in the U.S. [More]
Walmart Worker Allegedly Prostituted Himself In Store Bathroom During Breaks
By April 24, 2013
A Walmart employee in upstate New York allegedly made very productive use of his time during overnight shifts in the store. Unfortunately, he did so by advertising his services online as a prostitute, then meeting clients in a store bathroom during his breaks. Great efficient use of time, but also kind of illegal. [More]
How My Love Of Diet Pepsi Vanilla Almost Got Me Ejected From Walmart
By April 23, 2013
If our readership understands anything, its fanatical devotion to one product and an almost equally fanatical need to make stores follow their own policies. That is how Tom got in serious trouble with the employees of his local Walmart. Or did the local Walmart’s employees get in trouble with Tom? Walmart promises to price-match local competitors, including the prices with loyalty cards. Except, apparently, when it comes to Pepsi. For Tom.
Sam’s Club Manager Makes Up Own Return Policy, Won’t Take Back Cracked TV
By April 22, 2013
What kind of difference can a local store’s management make? A bigger one than you might think. Shanna ordered a new television online from Sam’s Club that arrived broken. For the sake of convenience, she went to exchange it at the local store after figuring out that it fit in her car after all. The problem was that that store’s management made up its own return policy that has no basis in the actual policies of Sam’s Club. [More]
Mystery Solved: Why Walmart Thinks A Bottle Of Sprite Is A ‘Meal’
By April 18, 2013
On Monday, we shared a reader-submitted photo of a shelf of two-liter soda bottles with some baffling signs. Coke, Sprite, and their diet varieties were declared “Wholesome, Healthy, and Delicious” and “Easy convenient meals.” Delicious and convenient, maybe, but they certainly aren’t wholesome, healthy, or meals. But reader Mindy snapped this picture at Walmart yesterday that might explain where the “meals” shelf tag came from. [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Find More 7-Year-Old GameCube Titles, Ancient Flash Drives
By April 17, 2013
On Monday, we shared with an exciting new discovery from one of the Raiders of the Lost Walmart: copies of Naruto 2 for Nintendo GameCube available for only $39.94. We probably should have expected that Walmart stores all over the country are also expecting a huge surge in demand for GameCube titles from 2006. Knowing something about both technology and commerce, we had not anticipated this. [More]
Walmart Banking On Return Of Nintendo GameCube, Still Charging $40 For Game From 2006
By April 15, 2013
We know there’s a market for classic games and game consoles out there, but one Walmart is holding steady on the price for a Nintendo GameCube title that was released seven years ago. [More]
Soda At Walmart Is Wholesome, Healthy, Delicious, Or One Out Of Three
By April 15, 2013
Reader Kathy sent along this photo that she took at Walmart. She found this display kind of puzzling, and for good reason. “Seriously? So suddenly soda is ‘wholesome and healthy’?” she writes. “Yeah right… good one, Walmart.” [More]
Walmart: Prices So Low, We Have To Raise Them To Put Things On Sale
By April 9, 2013
Welcome to Walmart, where our prices are so low, we have to raise prices to put things on clearance! No, wait, that doesn’t really make sense. Hmm. Most likely, some prankster rearranged the numbers in this sign that reader Anthony found this weekend. That’s the story we’ll go with, because we like to retain some faith in the staff of Walmart. [More]
The Smartphone Killed The Department Store Portrait: Photo Company Closing All Locations
By April 5, 2013
Your mother would yell at you to pull a comb through your tangled hair, tuck in your brother’s shirt for the third time and your dad would awkwardly stand behind everyone with his hand on your mom’s shoulder. It was family portrait time, and for many Americans, it happened inside a department store. But one company that operates thousands of locations in mostly Sears and Walmart stores announced it’s shuttering its shutters for good. [More]
