Walmart...good news story.

I needed some antifreeze so I went to Walmart this morning.

It's painful for me to walk but I did hobble to the corner of the store to check the automotive section.

There were just a few bottles of antifreeze left...Prestone only and marked down from $14.48 to $10.00. The bottle I took even had a $10.00 sticker on it.

Anyhoo, when I got to the checkout the price came out at $14.48 plus taxes.

I objected and the cashier phoned the auto section. She was told the $14.48 price was correct. The sale stuff was sold out apparently. (how convenient eh!!)

I hobbled back to the auto section and argued with the dumbass lady there without success. Told her to piss off and left.

I complained to the manager before leaving. He went and got me the $14.48 stuff and gave it to me without charge!!!

I almost dropped dead.

So....it pays to complain.

yeah when the twins were younger diapers went on sale for like $5 on all sizes. Considering how much we went through we were like SWEET!!!... but alas.. none of our sizes at the one walmart. so we said what the heck we could save $30 by zipping up to the other walmart and buying six packs...
We got there.... and diapers were not on sale.. WTF??? so I got the manager and said.. so ... i thought all walmarts have the same prices.
They do . he said.
I said so where is the sale on diapers..
well there is no sale/// he said
I said well I was just at....XXX store and they were on sale there.... he called the store up... they said.. nope no sale.. I told him to ask the person on the other end.. really.. so why was I just in your store and there were signs all over the diapers. I will go check he said... came back.. nope.. I dont know what you are talking about.. no signs..no sale on an diapers this week I dont know what you are talking about.
This is where I pulled the size 4 sale sign out of my pocket and handed it to the manager at the new store.. really I said.. so why was I just able to get this at that other store.. the new manager looked at me... looked at the sign...said I will be talking to ZZZ about this as soon as I have helped this gentleman in a very grave sounding voice.... HOLY frick!!! the other manager just lied on the phone to this manager...
I got the deal, but had to fight for it... I can only hope that other manager was severly reprimanded for lying... doubt it though.

I got to start making up some signs and taking them with me shopping....

Another tip from a gal I know that used to work at Safeway. Take a black marker with you, write 10¢ on a can of anything, and your price will be 10 cents.

Or even better
Switch the arrows on the shelf lining price tags.

Why pay 10 cents when you can put things in your pocket that have no barcode like bananas, apples, oranges lemons, etc???
i haven't paid for produce or bulk things in many years.
Downside - I have large , stretched out, very dirty pockets!!

FlyingRat wrote:Another tip from a gal I know that used to work at Safeway. Take a black marker with you, write 10¢ on a can of anything, and your price will be 10 cents.

And they will add it to the price you pay for everuthing else most stores write off 250 to 300 thousand every year to un explained loss. You people make it up with the prices you pay .

yup.. stores that lose money.. close. stores that make money.. pass on all costs to the customer.

As I was waiting for the manager to get the antifreeze, I noticed a sign on the wall telling of all the good deeds the store has done.

They've given away millions of dollars to charitable organizations.

It's nice to see that, dispite their low prices, they are able to make enough money to be able to give millions away.

Hmmmm....would it be better if they dropped their prices even more, rather than give money away?

I'm a charity case. Why not send moola my way?

grumpy old man wrote:I'm a charity case. Why not send moola my way?

Here Grumpy:

Moola For You

FlyingRat wrote:Another tip from a gal I know that used to work at Safeway. Take a black marker with you, write 10¢ on a can of anything, and your price will be 10 cents.

That's also known as theft to use a less polite term.

I would say its the more polite term

I wish I could find the article I read, but there's a test store in the US for a new checkout system.
Quite simply, you put everything you're purchasing in your cart, and a computer scans the cart and registers each item then gives a final tally at the end.
No need to weigh anything, or count it. It somehow does it all with computer chips and technology.

AGEsAces wrote:No need to weigh anything, or count it. It somehow does it all with computer chips and technology.

All done with RFIDs. The very thing I'm researching right now!

man they have been testing that technoology for about 4 years now. umm..Orlando?? hmm.. somewhere with a crap load of old people.

You mean this:
http://books.google.com/books?id=KHj7ZkEPosYC&pg=PA87&lpg=PA87&dq=shopping+checkout+automatic&source=web&ots=Piq44ZQdel&sig=EfNjKoTLV37nk-y8erzA6x0BIJI&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=10&ct=result

That's not what I was talking about. It was a news blurb I saw on TV (some tech channel), where they had setup a fake store and were running tests. The technology was in the products and the checkouts.

Just like retailers require things to be barcoded now, this relied on a chip of some kind being attached or embedded in each item. When you push your cart through the "checkout", it would read all the chips in the cart and charge accordingly.

The cart comes out the other side, and if you have an "account" with the store, you are automatically billed, if you don't...then you get the option to pay. There was nothing to indicate in the video that you had to carry a personal computer component around.

Deank wrote:man they have been testing that technoology for about 4 years now.

The technology has been around for a long time - I used to implement warehousing/inventory management systems in the US at my previous job, and several of our customers were keen on getting in on this "emerging technology".

I used to tell them "wait until it's perfected, unless you want to be perpetual beta-testers". That was 10 years ago.

They'd still be waiting.

RFID is the technology...

yeah I know what you mean.. everyting is preweighed.. and has an chip in it, on it whatever... just push the cart through and go.. At least 4 years ago it was in testing in an actual store.
Hell when I was in college 12 years ago we projected the ability to do this and all that was lacking was the cheap way to do it.

All I am saying is this is not new.

Yeah...I didn't see the video recently...this was several years ago (as in about .

I can't find anything more recent about it. Maybe they've given up on that idea?

Personally, I think that's the way it should be. I'm sure the cry (probably from the Unions), is that it would eliminate too many jobs...cashiers, baggers, shelf-stocking, etc.

Deank wrote:...and all that was lacking was the cheap way to do it

Therein lies the rub, which is what I'm researching!

Don't really have an alternative, as I am flat broke right now!

Aside from retail and tracking old people, the benefit for a lot of industries (logistics, inventory management, etc) is phenomenal.

not too mention border crossing gaurds..
whats the value you have to declare.... oh I dont know about $200 I guess. oh really well when you crossed into the US you never had that laptop or those 33 pairs of jeans... you sure you dont want to change what you are declaring???

Some states in the US are issuing drivers' licenses with RFIDs, and their passports will all have RFIDs shortly...

... where's Zwickster when you need him?