In the retail world, it’s all about beating out the competition. And if you can offer the lowest prices and thus lure the most customers, well then you’re the winningest of all. A new analysis of retailers has come up with a big old carrot of motivation by saying Amazon has cheaper online prices for toys than major chains like Walmart and Target. Let the price wars begin, just in time for the holiday season. [More]
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For $7/Month, Walmart Will Send You A Box Of Snacks
By 11.14.12
Earlier today, Walmart launched a subscription service called Goodies.co, which will send members a box of food each month for rate of $7. But it looks like one of the main purposes of this program is to entice customers into providing feedback on these items, many of which aren’t currently on Walmart shelves. [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart In The Temple Of America Online
By 11.14.12 — Updated: 8.15.13
If you desperately need a copy of Windows Vista, it seems that your local Walmart is the place to go. That’s what the brave retail archeologists/Consumerist readers known as the Raiders of the Lost Walmart have learned as their excavations continue. [More]
Walmart Workers Toss iPads Around, Post Video Online, Get Fired
By 11.12.12
We should be grateful that stupid people are often stupid across the board. This makes them easier to identify. That was the case with some night-shift warehouse employees at a Kentucky Walmart who thought that it would be fun to toss around what they claimed were iPads, dropping the boxes a few times like [insert name of your least favorite football team here.] Their poor judgement means that they thought it would be a fantastic idea to take a video of the shenanigans and post it on YouTube. [More]
Walmart, Where Math Is Hard But The Fruit Is 110% Delicious
By 11.9.12
You might be able to figure it out from the name, but a Pluot is a hybrid between a plum and an apricot. As for what percentage of each of those fruits are represented in a Pluot, well… Walmart doesn’t seem to know. [More]
Your Guide To Black Friday Start Times: Start Planning Extreme Shopping Strategies
By 11.9.12
We already know that Walmart is pushing back its Black Friday sale start time to 8 p.m. on Thursday (yes, that’s Thanksgiving!), but what about all its competitors? When are those doors going to come banging open to allow the frenzied flow of devoted discounters to get to work? Let’s just say it might be a good idea to scheduled dinner early in the day if you want to partake in the retail madness. [More]
Walmart Redesigns 5.3 Ounces Right Out Of Great Value Mashed Potato Box
By 11.8.12 — Updated: 11.9.12
An anonymous Walmart shopper stopped by to show us how a nice-looking redesign of the mega-retailer’s house-brand mashed potato flakes masks some shrinkage. Wally World took advantage of the packaging change to shave off 5.3 ounces of dehydrated potato goodness. Of course, the box looks the same size from the outside. It’s still a great value. Just a little less great than before, perhaps. [More]
Walmart Pushes “Black Friday” Back Two More Hours To Thursday “Dessert Hour”
By 11.8.12
You can only push something back so far until its name ceases to have any real meaning. Although if Walmart keeps knocking Black Friday back, it could eventually end up on an actual Friday again. This year the mega retailer is starting its Black Friday specials two hours earlier than the year before, starting at 8 p.m. Thursday during “dessert hour.” [More]
Flashing Your Breast Implants & Spitting At Cops Won’t Make You Any Friends At Walmart
By 11.7.12
It is one thing to be proud of your newly gained physical attributes, but you likely won’t make any friends among your fellow Walmart shoppers by flashing your breast implants at them. A Pennsylvania man who reportedly lives as a woman was arrested for doing just that, and compounded his bad behavior by acting up when the cops came for him. [More]
We Are Shocked, Simply Shocked That Walmart Won’t Let You Pay $1.17 For A $228-TV
By 11.6.12
Here at Consumerist, we’ve seen many a bad consumer try to pull off the old retail switcheroo by sticking bar codes for less expensive items on pricier products. But trying to get away with such a move using a clearly expensive TV and a barcode for a hanger? That’s just not going to fly at Walmart, as one man found out recently in Texas. [More]
Walmart Employee Sentenced To 8 Years For Stabbing Customers On The Clock
By 10.31.12
Two years ago, a Walmart employee who worked in the automotive department of a store in New Mexico walked up to a customer shopping with his family and threatened to fight him. Witnesses say that he then stabbed him in the chest and arms with a switchblade. Another customer, who authorities say tried to break up the fight, was stabbed under his chin. He was found guilty in May, and this week was sentenced to eight years in prison for the attacks. [More]
The World Needs More People Like This Walmart Candy Sorter
By 10.31.12
The next time you’re shoulder deep in a big box store bargain bin, you can think about this guy and wish that he’d make an appearance. [More]
The Good, The Bad & The Complicated Of Employee Discounts
By 10.26.12
Between the hours, the pay and the occasional scowling customer, working retail isn’t always the fun times it’s made out to be in film comedy. But at least there’s the employee discount, right? [More]
Someone Should Inform This Walmart That These Beers Are Neither Fresh Nor Local
By 10.24.12
Yes, Virginia is for lovers of all kinds, craft beers and otherwise. But it’s also all about promoting its state’s various foods and beverages, as any state is wont to do. You know how it is — pride, homegrown industry, all of that good stuff. Which is why perhaps someone at either this local Walmart or the Virginia Board of Tourism needs to do a little background research before promoting certain beers as a way to “Buy Fresh, Buy Local.” [More]
Selling Me Hundreds Of Cans Of Soup For Food Bank Is Just More Work For Walmart Employees
By 10.23.12
Johnny went to Walmart early in the morning to purchase a huge amount of soup for a food drive. This is a case where he couldn’t win: visiting the store at 6 AM, it was understaffed and only the self checkout was open. If he had visited later in the day, it would have been busy and cashiers wouldn’t have had time to help him locate hundreds of cans of soup to donate. [More]
4 Black Friday Myths Debunked
By 10.22.12
Black Friday has grown from the day to kick off the holiday shopping season to a bizzaro holiday of its own, with people celebrating by cutting Thanksgiving dinner short to camp outside of a big box store to clamor for deep discounts that are gone by sunrise. During this evolution, Black Friday has also taken on its own mythology. [More]
Raiders Of The Lost Walmart Can Get You VHS Tapes And The Greatest Hits Of 2007
By 10.18.12 — Updated: 8.15.13
Our readers aren’t just ordinary blog tipsters: you’re retail archaeologists. Consumerists across the nation explore discount stores and sale racks, searching for gems of outdated technology. You are the finders of ancient digital junk. You are the Raiders of the Lost Walmart. [More]
Analyst: Best Buy Employees Feel The Most Threatened By Amazon
By 10.17.12
With the holiday shopping season looming on the horizon, and retailers wondering just how much of their business will be lost to Amazon and other online retailers, an analyst for Topeka Capital recently visited some of these bigger stores and came away concerned that their attempts to adapt to online competition might be too little, too late. [More]
