Wal-Mart is basically a Soviet grocery store from the 1970s

[Indy Texas]

The pictures are a pretty damning indictment of their management style and business model...

Empty shelves...


What department is this?


You can have 35 pound dumbbells or you can have 50 pound dumbbells. Only the strong survive.


Thank You for shopping at Wal-Mart #16, part of the General Wal-Mart Commissary for the Western Autonomous Region. Please collect your purchases and leave promptly. Dissent will not be tolerated.


I'm afraid our workers did not meet the glue stick quota laid out in the chairman's Five Year Plan.


You want batteries? We have many batteries. As you can see, the Great American Economic System provides citizens with all the batteries their hearts desire. What? You don't see any batteries? Well then you're just not looking hard enough, thought criminal!


As you can see, America's citizens are healthy and robust. And so clean that they buy whole cartloads of cleaning products!


Plenty of food for everyone! What kind of dried meat would you like today?

[Meeker]

I don't shop at Wal-Mart with any regularity, but every time I've been in one it's been tidy and has stocked shelves. Where is this?

[MaxQue]

Looks like a K-Mart or a Zellers.

[Hatman 🍁]

Looks like a K-Mart or a Zellers.

I don't think either of those exists anymore.

[Joe Republic]

every time I've been in one it's been tidy and has stocked shelves.

^^^

Looks like a K-Mart or a Zellers.

I don't think either of those exists anymore.

K-Mart does; there's one here in Vegas, and it's not quite as bad as its reputation.  Basically just like a rougher version of Target.  I've never heard of Zellers.

[MaxQue]

Looks like a K-Mart or a Zellers.

I don't think either of those exists anymore.

That's the point. Both those stores looked like that and disappeared. Wal-Mart could follow the same way if that situation becomes commonplace.

K-Mart does; there's one here in Vegas, and it's not quite as bad as its reputation.  Basically just like a rougher version of Target.  I've never heard of Zellers.

Zellers was a Canadian department store. In my city, it was considered more expensive, but with lower quality than Wal-Mart. It was demanteled. Some became other stores of the parent company, closed or sold to Target or Wal-Mart. Only 2 are still open (Etobicoke, in Toronto suburbs, and Surrey, in Vancouver suburbs), as liquidation stores for the other brands of the parent company.

[badgate]

Hey Indy, how much were the dun bells?

[Hatman 🍁]

I miss Zellers. Haven't been since Target took them over.

I can vaguely remember K-Mart existing around these parts maybe 15-20 years ago?

[MaxQue]

I miss Zellers. Haven't been since Target took them over.

I can vaguely remember K-Mart existing around these parts maybe 15-20 years ago?

Thanks God, the Côte-des-Neiges Zellers became a Wal-Mart. Clean, too (the Zellers wasn't) and I hate Target for some reason. The local Zellers is empty, its area in the mall is currently being split in 4 different stores.

My aunt worked at K-Mart. She lost her job when they closed them all in Canada, and I was 6 or 7, so, 1997-1998? The local one became a Giant Tiger, a good and clean Canadian department store.

There was also an even worse one. The Bargain! Shop. It was smelling bad, the restaurant (with very wierd meat) was throwing used cooking hall under the building, and it was flooded as soon it rained too much. That closed, too, thanks God.

[Goldwater]

every time I've been in one it's been tidy and has stocked shelves.

^^^

[Flake]

Hey Indy, how much were the dun bells?

Looks to be $26.67

[MaxQue]

Aren't those dumbbells?

[badgate]

Aren't those dumbbells?

Safari has this annoying autocorrect now.

[Indy Texas]

Hey Indy, how much were the dun bells?

Are you in the market for some, Ben? Because as you can see, the selection's rather limited.

[badgate]

Hey Indy, how much were the dun bells?

Are you in the market for some, Ben? Because as you can see, the selection's rather limited.

Sometimes at work I do bicep curls with baskets full of wine bottles.

[Bacon King]

Nonsalary member of Walmart management here!

(Obligatory remark that I am speaking as an individual and not on behalf of the company in any manner, per Walmart's Social Media Engagement Policy and related guidelines)

(Yes it probably doesn't matter but I'm not going to get fired over this so I'm just playing it safe k)

Based on the pictures, the problem here appears to be horrible staffing issues and a probable lack of leadership. And I'm not talking about "staffing issues" as in "sales are down so they cut hours and now these jobs that require four associates are only alloted three!" That's a well known grievance because it's a standard (often mandatory) policy that forces the entire store to be stretched just a bit too thin. It's probably the reason why you have to wait a long time for help at places like the paint counter, fabric counter, or fish tanks; those places are rarely used and relatively labor intensive so they're often the first places that associates are pulled to help elsewhere.

This travesty is another story entirely, though. Something has gone horribly wrong here. It appears that is zero overnight presence, a complete lack of stockers, and a management team that's either absent or blisteringly incompetent. The features have been built with no rhyme or reason and the entire store needs some intense zoning.

In your first picture we see a half empty shelfcap of motor oil with the paper show how the shelfcap should be organizing still taped to the front of the shelf. This either means it was just recently set up like that, or that it's been days or weeks and nobody has even cared to take the paper off.

Your second picture: as best I can tell that is Department 9 (i.e. Sporting Goods). This picture shows that nobody at the store is zoning, and that the managers either don't know or don't care. Zoning is what it's called when you straighten up and organize merchandise on the shelf, putting things where they belong and making it nice and neat. Most stores require Sales Associates to drop whatever they're doing and do nothing but zone for an entire hour at a specific point in their shift.

Overnight, stores do the "returns" which is stuff people return at customer service plus anything found out of place throughout the previous day. They're all brought together and sorted by department, then they go to that department and a stocker there places items back in the correct places. The full buggies are the sorted returns, which appear to have been brought to each department and subsequently ignored. Most stores use bins or boxes instead of buggies so it doesn't look as trashy, but I've heard of buggies being used before.

The fourth image is a pallet of breakpack boxes that's been unloaded from a truck, a "to be stocked" bin placed on top of it, brought onto the floor and subsequently ignored. This demonstrates it's not an inventory problem (at least not entirely). This would probably take fifteen minutes at most to do but appears to have been ignored completely.

That last image though. That's Department 82, impulse buys. Those go on the side of the register so you see it while you're waiting on the cashier to finish. Probably one or two things of slimjims per register. Instead, it's all been placed on the endcap of a single register, where front end features are supposed to go. There's some ridiculous arbitrary shelf placement there, and gratuitously excessive barcoding (those things are probably all the same price, there shouldn't even BE any barcodes, just a big sign above the top that lists the price).

The bottom line is that none of this is remotely sane or acceptable. I'd be writing people up if I saw something from any of these pictures in my store. I'd be written up for even allowing it to happen. The chain of command appears to be completely nonexistent at this store. Competent management would have rectified these problems. This store is either missing like its entire complement of salaried managers and/or those who are present either don't give a s[Inks] about anything or are literally retarded. It's plainly evident that nobody is being held accountable and I have no idea how it could have gotten this bad.

[politicallefty]

I've seen stores like that before, but only when they have an ongoing going-out-of-business sale.

[angus]

Looks like a K-Mart or a Zellers.

I don't think either of those exists anymore.

There's a K-mart not far from me.  Many K-marts do have disorganized and largely empty shelves, but the one closest to here is pretty good.  As for Wal-mart, I've never seen any that look as bad as that one, or even as bad as the average K-mart.  I suspect that it isn't really just "a day at Wal-mart taking random pictures" but rather pictures collected from various walmarts over a long period of time with the specific goal of making a "WOOT!!!1111 Walmart sucks LOL" montage.

FWIW, those folks who did move here from the Soviet Union, when it existed, didn't complain about the paucity of goods at Wal-mart.  In fact, those I talked to had exactly the opposite complaint.  Too many choices.  And it wasn't just Walmart.  The other common complaint was the lack not only of public transport but of sidewalks, so they had to walk home carrying bags along the shoulders of highways.  Russians may not have much on the shelves, but what they do buy they can apparently carry safely home either on buses or along sidewalks.

[DemPGH]

I try to avoid Wal-Mart as much as possible, but in the event that I do go in one for something like fruit juice or nuts or things like that, or sometimes for printer cartridges, I never see them looking like that. I usually go in them during off hours as well (Saturday morning, Sunday morning to avoid the lines and crowds) and even then they're stocked and fairly tidy, unless someone just rifled through whatever, but I'm confined to electronics and specific grocery items where they're fine.

My preference for groceries is Giant Eagle, and the larger Giant Eagles are wonderful.

[angus]

I go for the Irish Spring eight-pack, the Charmin Ultra-Soft 24-pack, Crest Triple Protection, printer cartridges, and "school supplies."  In other places I've lived I also went there for El Yucateco Salsa Verde, Mission tortillas, Hennessy Cognac, and batteries.  Here I don't buy that stuff in Wal-mart.  Probably because, respectively, (1) there aren't many Mexicans in Lancaster and the few who live here shop at El Pueblito so there's not much Mexican stuff in Wal-mart here, (2) the state of Pennsylvania doesn't allow Walmart to sell Hennessy Cognac, and (3) I get batteries closer to home now.  

For most other things I go to ALDI.  That's a really cheap store.  Cheaper than Wal-mart even.  But they don't have good brands of stuff, so for things I'm picky about (toilet tissue, toothpaste, soap, etc.) I go to Walmart, which seems to have the lowest prices among those stores that stock good stuff.

I used to also get batteries at Wal-mart.  Now, for batteries I go to the battery store near my house.  It has batteries.  Nothing else.  Just batteries.  Any kind of battery you want.  It's probably not the cheapest place to get batteries, but it's about 500 meters from my front door, it always has exactly whatever battery I need, and it's next door to a liquor store.

[True Federalist (진정한 연방 주의자)]

Yeah, my biggest complaint about Wal-Mart has always been a lack of associates, both on the sales floor and at times on the registers.  But none of the ones I've seen has the problems I see here.  However, the staffing problems are not the same at the various Wal-Marts I shop at.  Of the four I shop at often enough to make a judgement, the one in West Columbia has the worst staffing problems.

(If you're wondering why I shop at four different ones, it's like this.  One is close to where my mom lived (and since the house still hasn't sold, I have to go back there from time to time to check on it), one is close to where I live, one is close to where my sister lives (and since she can't drive, I get to take her shopping), and one is on the way back home from church.  There's a fifth in the area I've gone to occasionally, but not often enough to make a judgement on it.  It's the one over on Harbison, next to the Sam's Club, but I don't often shop out that way, and when I do, it's not because I want to shop at Wal-Mart.)

[Likely Voter]

In Walmart store, food eats you!

[DemPGH]

I sometimes shop at Aldi for produce or things like cashews. Quick in, out.

the state of Pennsylvania doesn't allow Walmart to sell Hennessy Cognac

You can stomach cognac? Good man!

Actually, I just the other day stopped at the liquor store and the lady said devilishly to me as I walked in the door, "You've got to try something for me." Okay. On wines they often pass along to novices my recommendations, which is funny. Anyway, you're aware of the Chairman's selections? Those are usually pretty good wines at discount prices, which our [sarcasm] god-awful Communist state run system [/sarcasm] procures. I snagged up a bottle of import Taurasi, which is what she was talking about - retails $44.99. I got it for $12.99! It's a Chianti with definite citrus flavors; lemons or oranges are often used to soften the initial pop of a grape like Chianti / Sangiovese. Recommended! Pick up a bottle if you like Chianti. Your stores out there should certainly have it.

[angus]

Taurasi... for $12.99!

haha.  Same here.  I got two bottles.  They weren't sampling when I was there yesterday (but often I am there when they're sampling).  I usually cruise the Italian aisle as a matter of habit.  I happened to notice a bottle that was regularly 45 dollars selling for 12.99 and I just couldn't pass that up.  Bought two of them.  Haven't tried it yet but I imagine I will tonight.

[Simfan34]

Bacon King for Wal-Mart COO! That was a rather thorough explication there, and a revealing read at that.