For the two of you unfamiliar with the term, “showrooming” is the practice of going to a bricks-and-mortar retailer to get an eyes-on experience with a product before ultimately buying it online. A new study confirms what many of us had already assumed — that the practice isn’t relegated to holiday shopping, that price-matching is probably the only way to curb it, and that many showroomers just don’t like dealing with retail employees. [More]
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Couple Who Met In The Aisles Of Walmart Gets Hitched In Layaway Section
By 6.3.13
Proving that not all Walmart romances have to be of the Craiglist “Missed Connections” kind, and giving hope to all those lonely souls wandering the aisles late at night searching for love or something like it (a can of frosting is one serving, right?), a couple who met at Walmart in 2005 got hitched in the store’s layaway. Because sometimes love takes time, see? [More]
Walmart Making Changes In Its Produce Section Because No One Likes Wilted Lettuce
By 6.3.13
Walmart has a problem with its fresh fruits and vegetables. Namely that some of its customers have been complaining that its produce aisle is far from fresh, which has prompted the ginormous retailer to announce steps it’s taking to improve the quality of those products, including sourcing more food from local farms and weekly checks of its produce aisles in more than 3,400 stores. [More]
Pals Realize They Should’ve Added “Get Arrested” To Bucket List As Well As “Retail Theft”
By 5.31.13
Kids these days! They make these pacts, give in to peer pressure and end up– what’s that? Two adult women made a silly deal to do a bunch of stuff on their bucket lists and wind up in jail? Oh, well, that’s different then. And still ridiculous. [More]
Walmart Marks Ancient MP3 Player Down To Slightly Less Hilarious Price
By 5.28.13 — Updated: 8.15.13
We have great news for fans of obsolete technology! If you’ve been waiting to get hold of an MP3 player that’s old enough to receive its First Communion, you don’t have to pay Walmart’s high price of $109.72 for one. No, the glorious MobiBlu is now on clearance for only $60. [More]
Walmart To Pay $81 Million For Dumping Hazardous Waste In California
By 5.28.13
The thing about hazardous waste is… well, it says it right there — it’s hazardous. As in not good for people, the environment, or anything in general. Which is why you can’t just go dumping it wherever you want, like sanitation drains. Walmart just pleaded guilty today on charges that it did just that in California, and is now on the hook for a hefty amount. [More]
Store-Brand Sunscreens From Target, Walmart, Walgreens Outperform Higher-Priced Options In Test
By 5.23.13
If you think you get what you pay for when you buy sunscreen, you might be in for a surprise. Our less-sunburned cousins at Consumer Reports recently put a dozen sun-protection products to the test and the ones that came out on top were also among the least expensive. [More]
Man Who Stole $624,000 From Walmart Is Ruining It For The Rest Of Us
By 5.21.13
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]
JCPenney To Require Structural Inspections Of Factories In Bangladesh
By 5.17.13
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 5.15.13 — Updated: 8.15.13
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 5.15.13
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 5.14.13
“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 5.14.13
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]
Man Uses Giant Pet Food Bags To Steal Laptops From Walmart
May 8, 2013
If 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] [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart: Old Crap Isn’t As Useless As it Seems
By 5.6.13 — Updated: 8.15.13
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 5.2.13
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 4.24.13 — Updated: 4.26.13
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 4.23.13
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.
