Hidden cost of markups at WalMart!

[gtaus]

I have some non-perishables I stock up on when they're on sale. If I'm getting low-ish on something, I'll add it to the shopping list with IOS (if on sale) written after it.

Well, we must think alike. I will tell Dear Wife to put something on her shopping list but only buy it if it is on sale. Things that we are running low on, but not in any great need to restock immediately. For some reason, that concept is a bit too difficult for her to understand. So, I usually just write it on my list to check if on sale. I like your "IOS" abbreviation. I think I will do that too.

 

[NatJ]

Until this post, the supervisors have always honored the shelf price. I was taken aback when this supervisor told me she could not mark the item down to the shelf price. I hope this is not a sign of the future.

I met something similar, about a year ago.

A store (not Walmart) had many items with signs saying "limit one."
So when I found an item with no limit on the sign, I put 10 in my cart.
At the checkout, they said the limit was one. I said, no limit on the sign.

They sent someone back to check (I was right), called a manager, and he said even he couldn't override it. It was a store where you had to have a membership card to purchase anything, and the limit was tied to the card, so the manager let me buy one extra using his card (I still wanted 8 more!)

In that case, I assumed it was a special case because they didn't want anyone "hoarding" things when there were shortages.

 

[Cluckerdoodle]

WalMart is not to be trusted anymore. They play games with sales on line. They advertise a great price but when you go to checkout the item is not available. However the item is available in the store for a much higher price. Mr Walton is probably turning over in his grave.

 

[gtaus]

In that case, I assumed it was a special case because they didn't want anyone "hoarding" things when there were shortages.

Yep, when the panic shopping hit our area, lots of personal hygiene products had limits on purchases. Frankly, I thought maybe they should have placed limits on those items as soon as they started seeing stock going low. Mostly, around here, they did not impose any limits until after the shelves were already bare.

I was content with buying an extra pack of toilet paper or paper towels during that time, but, let's face it, I think we all know of some people who were loading up their SUV's with paper products, clearing out the shelves, and leaving nothing for anyone else. So, I was all in favor of limits on purchases during that time. After the panic shopping period settled down and shelves were restocked, then Dear Wife started to stock up her pandemic closet with essentials just in case of future panics. Hope we never have to go through that again.

 

[gtaus]

WalMart is not to be trusted anymore. They play games with sales on line. They advertise a great price but when you go to checkout the item is not available. However the item is available in the store for a much higher price. Mr Walton is probably turning over in his grave.

I am old enough to remember WalMart advertising everything was American made in the store. Or was it just certain items? We did not have a local WalMart back in those days, but I don't think you can find much stuff made in America at WalMart anymore.

BTW, I know a guy who worked at WalMart in California way back when, and he actually met Mr. Walton when he visited his stores. He tells me WalMart was a different (better) company back then and he can hardly recognize it now.

True to their nature, WalMart came to our community and drove out lots of small businesses with their lower prices. After the small business closed down, WalMart increased their prices. For what I normally buy, WalMart is not usually the least expensive and it is my last stop on the list. But I mainly buy tools and hardware, etc... and not clothes or food, which is what Dear Wife shops for at the stores. Still, she goes to a few different stores in town and not just WalMart.

I am not anti-WalMart, but I could easily live without them at the same time. They are the biggest and busiest box store in our community, and I don't suppose they care much if I show up once every other month to make a small purchase.

 

[Sally PB]

but, let's face it, I think we all know of some people who were loading up their SUV's with paper products, clearing out the shelves, and leaving nothing for anyone else.

And how many later sold it online...

Off topic, sort of...

A neighbor is very good at gardening and preserving food. She tried to talk friends into learning some of the techniques, but they laughed at her. Well, they got really interested in 2020, that's for sure.

 

[gtaus]

A neighbor is very good at gardening and preserving food. She tried to talk friends into learning some of the techniques, but they laughed at her. Well, they got really interested in 2020, that's for sure.

Lots of people also started thinking about raising a backyard flock of chickens when there were no eggs at the store. Good year for chick sales as the stores sold out almost immediately. Most of us on the BYC forum know that "free" eggs are not free and actually cost more than the $1 per dozen sold at the big box stores. But when the big box store has no eggs on the shelf, then the economics of a backyard flock to provide eggs for your family is much more attractive.

We used to can our garden goods, but Dear Wife got to the point where it was too much work. There were some health issues involved, too. Anyway, she gave away all her canning setup to one of our younger relatives who was just starting out into canning.

I felt bad that part of our life was behind us, but sometimes life throws you a curve ball and you just need to move on. At least all our canning stuff went to someone who is using it.

Now we just eat fresh food in season and there are some things that are bagged and frozen for later, but not as much as when we used to can goods at home.

I'm so old that I can remember when guys learned how to fix and maintain the family car in shop class and the girls learned how to cook and sew in home economics. Real life skills that were deemed important at the time and those classes were mandatory at our rural, small town, school. Anyway, I never thought those life skills should be taught based on your gender as I thought it was good for a girl to know something about car maintenance and for guys to know how to cook for themselves. When my youngest brother and sisters went through school, you could pick which class you wanted to take. That was a step forward. Later I think they made it possible to take some of both classes, which I think was the best option. However, somewhere along the line, neither of those skills classes are being taught in school and my young nieces and nephews in a big town have no exposure to those life skills at all.

If you get a flat tire on your way to McDonalds, I guess you just call a tow truck and something called Uber Eats or Door Dash to bring the food to you. God forbid you change the tire yourself or cook at home!

OK, pretty far off the initial post topic, but had to respond to your comment just the same. I guess another hidden cost to the way we now raise our children is that we are becoming more and more dependent on big box stores and cannot fend for ourselves. I was complaining about a hidden 5 cent markup on a cup of soup, but I know a number of people who spend more on a single night of take out food than Dear Wife and I have on our food budget for almost a month.

 

[STACEYH]

That's interesting, because I've found that stores typically will honor the price on the shelf-- after they waste a lot of time sending someone back to look at it in person.

(Yes, there have been a few times when I really did read the wrong label, the price really was higher, and I didn't buy the item.)

Hmm, it looks like some states have laws requiring prices to be accurate, so I'm looking for Minnesota...

https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/325F.53
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/325F.67

The first one requires that the price be clearly displayed, and the second requires all advertisements, price stickers, etc. to be accurate.

quote from the second one:
"it shall be the duty of the county attorney of any county wherein a violation of this section shall have occurred, upon complaint being made, to prosecute any person violating any of the provisions of this section."

So depending on how much effort you're willing to put into the matter, you might be able to get them in legal trouble over this. Presumably you would need to complain to the county attorney of whatever county the store is in.

(And if it happens again, and you want to insist, you could ask her to walk WITH YOU to look at the price. If the price tag says the correct item and the correct price... )

I have an issue here in Illinois. How can I find out what the law is here. I assumed bait and switch was againits the law everywhere. I know assuming is the wrong way to go.

 

[NatJ]

I have an issue here in Illinois. How can I find out what the law is here. I assumed bait and switch was againits the law everywhere. I know assuming is the wrong way to go.

I usually try googling, then looking at the results. Sometimes that works, sometimes I don't find the answer, and sometimes there is no answer to find (if there is no law that applies, then of course no amount of searching would find it.)

You might try search terms like "Illinois law false advertising" or "Illinois law accurate prices" or something like that. Sometimes the results appear under slightly different terms (false advertising, deceptive advertising, misleading advertising, etc). If there is a state law, the best terms to search are the ones closest to what the law actually says-- which of course you don't know until after you find the law! It can get frustrating

 

[gtaus]

I assumed bait and switch was againits the law everywhere. I know assuming is the wrong way to go.

I think the real life problem is that no lawyer is going to waste their time on small dollar amounts. There is the law, and there is reality.

FWIW, I live close to the Red Lake Nation where the natives net fished out the entire lake of Walleyes, the native game fish. I talked to a tribal elder about that situation, and she told me that the tribe had passed laws fining people for using illegal nets (too small mesh) but that the fine was only like maybe $100 for getting caught, whereas someone fishing illegally could bring in tens of thousands per night with illegal small mesh fishing nets. So, they scooped everything out of the water and all the young fish were left to die in the nets. After a few years of unsustainable greed, all the fish were gone and the lake was designated as dead. The DNR had to step in and restock the lake and impose a 10 year ban on all fishing. Point is, the law was so ineffectual that illegal fishing was done in plain sight and they did not care if they got fined.

I imagine that WalMart and other stores that are advertising one price on the shelf and scanning it at a higher price, probably have figured out that they will not have to pay any fines or fees for breaking any bait and switch laws by just saying that it was an honest mistake and it's up to you to prove otherwise.

Years ago, K-Mart used to have a policy that if an item scanned at a higher price, you would get $3.00 off that item, or get it for free if less than $3.00. One day I bought a 6 plug outlet adapter for the wall outlets that was on sale for $2.99, regularly $4.99. Of course, when I brought it to the checkout, it rang up at the $4.99 price. I told them that item was on sale for $2.99 and there was a huge bin full of them in the center isle with a great big sign showing the sale price. So, the check girl had some employee go verify the sale price and they came back and said there was a bin full of those adapters for sale at $2.99. She was going to mark down the item, but I reminded her of their store policy, on a plaque behind her at the checkout, of their price guarantee. So I stated that I would be happy to take the item from free because of the $3.00 off. OK, so she had to call over a manager to work everything out but I got that item for free.

Just to be a pain in the butt, I went back there six more times over the next few days and played out the same routine with them. They never fixed the price problem in their checkout computers. I ended up getting six of those adapters for free and every time I would tell the manager on duty what number of those items I got for free and how many days they did not fix their price problem. I don't think they cared. Over that week, they must have sold hundreds of those adapters from that bin to people who thought they were buying the item on sale, but not noticing that they were getting charged full price.

Eventually, K-Mart just dropped their price guarantee. Solved that problem, I guess.

Oh yeah, one of my last shopping experiences at K-Mart I purchased 5 items and 3 were scanned at higher prices than the shelf. I pointed that out to the manager, as I got my items marked lower, and asked him how they are able to stay in business when 60% of the items I purchased scanned at higher prices then advertised on the shelf. Well, we no longer have a K-Mart in our town. They were wiped out by Wal-Mart, but the old advertise one price on the shelf and scanning at a higher price at the checkout is still the game they play on us. Same game, different players.