Walmart Closes 63 Sam's Club Stores

[mirth]

The main reason I don't like self check out is because most people are idiots and can't check themselves out. Which leads me back to the warm, moist embrace of Amazon. Come to me...

Unfortunately most people staffing the registers aren't much better than the idiots in line.

I also do an ever increasing amount of my shopping with Amazon. Having the Prime membership with the free 2-day shipping is very dangerous.

[Gusington]

I purposely did not sign up for Prime. I had a free month a while back, and it just led to more and more spending by me, just for books. You are definitely right in that it is uber-dangerous.

The Wife, however, does have Prime...

[airboy]

Sams Clubs have not been as profitable as Costco.  There are fears that Amazon will become competitive in groceries, but that has not yet been the case.

Wal-Mart just decided that their expansion of Sams Clubs was not successful and pared them back.  They have been putting more and more money into e-commerce.  Many Wal-Marts will allow you to pick what you want online, set up a specific time to pick up your groceries at the local store, and pick them up without going into the store itself.

US Retailing is the most competitive with generally better selection and lower prices than anywhere else in the world.  If you travel a lot, you can really see the difference.

Since Wal-Mart is such a big company, their strategic moves are heavily discussed in the business press.

[Greybriar]

Sales tax is another consideration now when I shop at Amazon. Up until a few months ago, Amazon did not charge me sales tax. Now they do.

[airboy]

I like self-checkout since it is much faster.

Mirth - Wal-Mart theft controls vary heavily by the theft rate at the store.  All Sams Clubs (and Costcos) will check your receipt when you leave.  Both the availability of self-checkout and checking for receipts when you leave varies at Wal-Marts purely on the basis of the level of theft.

I go to Wal-Mart all of the time for basics.  They are the closest grocery and general store to my home.  It is very well run.  I buy most food staples at Wal-Mart for price and convenience.  But meat and especially fruits/vegetables are purchased at a huge Kroger which has higher quality in those areas.

I've known a bunch of low-level Wal-Mart employees who are either students working at night in stocking to pay for school or those without a lot of education as adults I know through Church.  Most of them like their jobs and the Adults stick with them for years.

[mirth]

I purposely did not sign up for Prime. I had a free month a while back, and it just led to more and more spending by me, just for books. You are definitely right in that it is uber-dangerous.

The Wife, however, does have Prime...

Thing is when you look at all you get with Prime for $99/yr, it's a helluva deal. Prime Video is on par with Netflix (which for the cheapest plan is $7.99/mo). Prime Music has a decent selection of songs even if you don't pay extra for the Unlimited service. Then there are extra discounts for some products as a Prime Member (I noticed on a few recent video game purchases).

Amazon really knows how to get your money.

[airboy]

Sales tax is another consideration now when I shop at Amazon. Up until a few months ago, Amazon did not charge me sales tax. Now they do.

The Supreme Court has taken a case from North Dakota this term to revisit the requirement that a company must have a physical presence within a State to be charged sales tax.  The thinking in the business press is that the Supremes may overturn the original decision based on the huge growth in ecommerce and the lack of a level playing field for retail sales.

[mirth]

Mirth - Wal-Mart theft controls vary heavily by the theft rate at the store.  All Sams Clubs (and Costcos) will check your receipt when you leave.  Both the availability of self-checkout and checking for receipts when you leave varies at Wal-Marts purely on the basis of the level of theft.

I understand the reason's behind it, but I do not care for it at all and it was become an annoying routine at my local Wal-marts.

I have a pretty good understanding of how the law works in Maine (and it's generally similar in other states). Buying clubs can check your receipt because it is part of the terms of membership. You've paid to join and you've accepted their terms.

Other retailers can ask to see a receipt, but you are under no obligation to show it and they cannot detain you unless they have a reason to suspect theft. Even then, the policy of most retailers is not to attempt to detain, but to monitor suspected thieves and report them to law enforcement.

My local Wal-Mart was routinely asking me to see a receipt as I left the store.  Sometimes it was because I had items in my cart that were not bagged. One poorly trained "greeter" informed me I could not leave the store if I did not show a receipt (that prompted a trip to the service desk to return my items and was the last time I shopped at that store).

I sent in an email to the local manager and to the corporate feedback channel. Not surprisingly, there was no response from either. Wal-mart can run their business however they like, but I went from shopping the local store at least twice a month (with an average of $150 spent per trip) to not shopping there at all.

[airboy]

Mirth - Wal-Mart theft controls vary heavily by the theft rate at the store.  All Sams Clubs (and Costcos) will check your receipt when you leave.  Both the availability of self-checkout and checking for receipts when you leave varies at Wal-Marts purely on the basis of the level of theft.

I understand the reason's behind it, but I do not care for it at all and it was become an annoying routine at my local Wal-marts.

I have a pretty good understanding of how the law works in Maine (and it's generally similar in other states). Buying clubs can check your receipt because it is part of the terms of membership. You've paid to join and you've accepted their terms.

Other retailers can ask to see a receipt, but you are under no obligation to show it and they cannot detain you unless they have a reason to suspect theft. Even then, the policy of most retailers is not to attempt to detain, but to monitor suspected thieves and report them to law enforcement.

My local Wal-Mart was routinely asking me to see a receipt as I left the store.  Sometimes it was because I had items in my cart that were not bagged. One poorly trained "greeter" informed me I could not leave the store if I did not show a receipt (that prompted a trip to the service desk to return my items and was the last time I shopped at that store).

I sent in an email to the local manager and to the corporate feedback channel. Not surprisingly, there was no response from either. Wal-mart can run their business however they like, but I went from shopping the local store at least twice a month (with an average of $150 spent per trip) to not shopping there at all.

I understand your irritation with them.

[mirth]

I sympathize with the greeters who are told to check receipts. Most of them are older folks looking to picking up a little extra money. I'm really not interested in arguing with a grandmother who is just trying to supplement her retirement income. I think it's a bit ridiculous of Wal-mart to put those folks into a position of loss prevention. Anyway, it's not worth the hassle to me.

[Gusington]

Amazon Prime is totally worth it but I can't police myself well enough to have it. So I didn't get it.

When I shop at Amazon I always buy enough of what I want to get the free shipping anyway.

Unless I buy from Amazon vendors. And usually then it's like a book for a penny anyway so who cares, you know?

[OJsDad]

I've had Prime for years, never been an issue with controlling my purchases though.  The price isn't always the best, but the 2 day shipping can make the big difference, or even finding what you need.

I've never had my receipt checked at Wal-Mart.

With both Wal-Mart and Amazon, you need to check prices.  Amazon is especially more expensive than local grocery stores. 

[mirth]

I've never bought groceries from Amazon.

A classic trick with Wal-mart is to sell a product that is visually identical to a higher priced product from the same manufacturer, but the Wal-mart version is made with crappy parts and thus can be sold for less. It's important to check product ids when comparison shopping.

[trailrunner]

I gave up shopping at Costco a long time ago. We didn't buy too many groceries there, and when we did we would overbuy. For electronics, I don't think their prices were anything special. A lot of other stuff were impulse buys, which would usually cause us to over spend. Plus, their parking lot would get jammed, and their employees were very surly.

I actually shopped at Price Club when they opened in San Diego. Initially they were supposed to be selling stuff to other businesses, such as restaurants. They also allowed government employees to be members, and when I was a sophomore in 1980 or so, I had a student engineering job with the city. Price Club was also close to the facility I worked at, so it all made sense (except that I was a poor college student with no money to actually spend there). When they allowed anyone to join but members had to pay a fee, I didn't understand that logic, so I wanted to drop my membership, but my wife wanted to keep it. So we've kept it, but I never go there. 

I've had an Amazon Prime membership for a while. For me the primary advantage is that I can find just about anything I need with a search engine, and I don't have to drive all other the place looking for things. I don't care that much about price. However, some of the stuff they sell can have questionable authenticity.

They only time I go to Wal Mart is when I buy synthetic oil. I made the mistake of buying that through Amazon once.

[em2nought]

At least Walmart has really good self checkouts.  Easy to deal with fruits or veggies that have to be weighed, easy to use coupons, even water refills aren't too bad once they showed me how to do it.

I go to Sam's club for a slice of pizza, hotdog, or four berry sundae, the pharmacy, and free tire repairs no matter if the tires are purchased from them or not.  That's important in my state since the only construction people left are the dirtbags who can't leave the state for some reason.  They're the ones who always spilled nails or screws on the roads in the first place.  Just as many nails as there were when construction was booming so that must be the answer. LMAO  :DD

If I don't buy pizza by the slice, I'll just order a whole pizza and eat the entire thing.  Not good!  So Sam's Club is helping me at least maintain my weight if not reduce it. lol