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Although I am a pretty cheap lady, there's one place that I don't shop: Walmart. I tried to shop there 6 or 7 years ago when I was looking for cheaper diapers and formula. But I was annoyed at the empty shelves and crowded aisles and Target just seemed to be a much better store. But, I was looking to cut some of my expenses, so I thought I would give Walmart another shot.
In order to avoid the crowds, I got there before 10 am on a Sunday morning. A half empty parking lot greeted me and I sailed into a spot a mere 200 feet from the front door. So far so good. As I entered the store I saw the patriotic American flag which I inwardly chuckled thinking that it must be Made in China.
I was greeted by a plethora of grand entrance bargains that I ignored and went straight to the groceries. In the first 20 minutes I had nearly all of my grocery items complete and everything was going well. The deals were very good, Oscar Meyer Bacon for $3.00, Philadelphia Cream Cheese for $1.58, and Kraft American Cheese singles for $2.00. Those prices were definitely lower than Target and about half what the supermarkets wanted at retail (which of course I would never pay!).
As I headed to get toilet paper, paper towels, and cleaning supplies the store started to fill up. Soon the isles went from busy to congested and I had to pull my son out of the way of a speeding shopper on several occasions. They probably wanted to get out of there as much as I did. I resigned myself to leaving my cart in one place and navigating the isles with my son’s hand tightly gripped. I found this the fastest way to get down the isles.
Then the Walmart empty shelf syndrome began. This happens at Target too but at least there I can find someone to ask if they have more in the back. First the Lysol was picked clean and then the juice boxes only had one flavor which my son didn’t like. Then I swung into the Home & Garden to find nearly empty shelves in many places. I then looked at Walmart’s pool stuff as my husband needed some liquid chlorine and something called Polyquat which I couldn’t remotely find. The chlorine was a great deal though at $5.97 and I probably would have gotten 10 of them if I could fit them since they were $2.50 cheaper than what my husband normally pays at the pool store. CFL lightbulbs for $0.92 were an amazing deal so I got some of those.
Although I had a few things left on my list, I looked at the isles and my son who was probably on better behavior than any Target trip I had ever taken him on. We stopped for 2 minutes to get him a Hot Wheels car as a token of my appreciation and we hit the check out lines. WOW, I am used to waiting for a few minutes at Target but the lines at Walmart were more like the lift lines skiing. “You have to be joking” I thought to myself. Of the 40 or so check out registers, maybe 10 of them were lit up and each one of them had a line stretching back into the aisles. I made my way to the one that I hoped would move the fastest which based on my luck, I knew would move at a snails pace. I looked at my watch and it was 11:18AM, please God not more than 15 minutes I thought.
As the line moved slowly, I had my first chance to really look at the store. Not the merchandise, but the actual store. Each of the checkouts had a little sign on it that said, “Speedy Checkout”, no doubt some marketing geniuses’ work to make people suspend the reality of the situation. For the first time, I also noticed hundreds and hundreds of those black security camera domes. They were everywhere. I mean there are casinos that would blush at having that many cameras. And every few minutes I would hear the computerized “beep, beep, beep, This is the Walmart Inventory Control System….” I am sure Target has security, but at Walmart it felt like a prison.
I was almost there. After 20 minutes in line, I was next. But next would turn out to be a very long way away. The argument started over the price on some socks. A five pack of socks for $1 the lady in front of me contended. I looked at her husband who was sporting a Hooters T-shirt with cheap sunglasses on top of his head…..she let him go out of the house wearing that? Soon the manager was there and the price check in the isles was underway……we waited, and waited and finally the manager came back and lowered the sock price to $1.00 because they had been put into a section that was a dollar. (Although the package was clearly marked $5.00). But getting a deal that you would have a hard time getting in foreign countries wasn’t enough, now it was time to abuse the clerk and complain to the manager….. I let the Asian lady with 5 packs of marshmallows behind me get in front but I wondered if she would be waiting for another 20 minutes too. A 25 minute wait in line for 5 packs of Marshmallows, crazy. Well when the Hooters family was finally done complaining I chatted with the clerk and tried to lighten her day after the verbal assault. We were done in just a few minutes. My total just $132 which I know was a very good deal. The time however: 11:42…24 minutes to get checked out.
Will I be heading back to Walmart? Maybe, but I’ll have to get up really early and there is no way I would take any of my kids. The bottom line is I probably saved $10 to $15 over what I would have paid at Target, but the check out wait was excruciating. Maybe I am just not a Walmart person.
Bottom line: Definitely the cheapest prices on many items, store traffic is annoying, and the checkout process is miserable.
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