Friday, February 7, 2014

Yep, Walmart is the devil...

Y'all mind if I talk about Walmart for a second? Well, I'm gonna talk about them anyway. So I'm sure many of you have heard someone use the phrase, "Walmart is the devil." Some people might use it because of how Walmart treats its employees and refuses to pay them a living wage. Others say it because of how they come into communities and drive longstanding "Mom & Pop" stores out of business. Then, there are those that have had the kind of experience that I had today where we went to get me and the kids new undergarments (T-shirts, socks, and underwear) and left with a receipt showing $290 after all of the PJs and shirts that found their way into the basket from the clearance rack. I mean you can't beat $13 PJs that are marked down to $5 (the devil is a trickster...). Nearly every rack in the Girls' section had a 'Clearance' sign on it.

Anyway, there was one particular set of PJs with the feet in them that my 6-year old daughter wanted that were on the clearance rack but weren't in her size. Since she wasn't interested in any other kind of PJs except "footie pajamas" (her words), we decided to go to another Walmart in search of them. Because when a 6 year old understands how cool "footie pajamas" are, you gotta roll with them.

Well, when we get to the other Walmart, they have the PJs that she wanted and they even had them in her size, but they weren't marked down. In fact, there wasn't a single 'Clearance' sign on any rack in the entire department. Here I was looking at the exact same merchandise that I had just bought for over 50% off at one store being sold for full price in another. I bought the Pjs anyway, because the kid has style and you can't knock that.

Here's where the horns poke out of Walmart's head. The store with all of the discounts and 'Clearance' signs was in Fayetteville, GA (83% White, 14% Black and only 12% of households making below $30k annually). The store with no discounts and no 'Clearance signs was in Forest Park, GA (44% White, 39% Black, 18% other, and 44% of households making less than $30k annually). These evil bastards are selling the same merchandise for pennies on the dollar to people who can afford to pay full price and selling them for full price to people who can barely afford the stuff even when it's discounted.

I had heard that stores charged higher prices in areas that were accessible by public transportation, but had never experienced it firsthand. There used to be a bus that went right into the Forest Park Walmart's parking lot, but that service was suspended years ago. I guess they just decided not to change the business model since they've been still getting away with what they're doing. Fayetteville has never had a bus line...

No matter how you slice it, whether it's for one of the reasons listed here or for your own personal reasons, I think it's safe to say Walmart truly is the devil.

Well, that's my take on it...What's yours?

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