Can you live without Wal-mart?

If you're pressed for time, I'll make this very quick: YES. Yes, you can live without Walmart.

If you have a few more moments to spare, I will provide proof!


It all started when...

I went to Walmart one day to pick up a few groceries.  At this stage of my life, I had already learned that my trips to Walmart didn't really save me any money...not after, in addition to the groceries, I added a cd I found on sale, a pack of socks I wasn't sure we really needed, and swimming-goggles for the kids for a vacation we'd be taking...next year.  I would usually spend the same amount at Walmart as I did at the regular grocery store - I just came home with more (clutter) for my money. 

So, I'm in Walmart, and I picked up what I needed.  Then (and this was before the "Walmart receipt challenge") I looked over my receipt to see all my savings.  I was in for a surprise.  My most purchased, "non-milk & bread" groceries actually cost MORE!  I remember specifically paying $2.98 for Nutri-grain bars (which are frequently 2 for $5 at the pricey grocery stores), and they had 12 packs of name brand soda "rollback priced" at $6.97...when at that very moment, a sale across town had the sodas regularly priced at $5.99, buy two get THREE free!

So that trip was very disappointing, and a few other issues began to surface that built my current discontent with the super-chain:

1. Clutter - Clutter can easily accumulate in the homes of Walmart shoppers.  How many times have we all picked up a few random things we didn't need because we saw them for a good price?  While this is not a Walmart-specific occurance, I can assure you - I've never come home from Food Lion with 2 yards of fabric "because I really want to learn to make my own curtains".  Am I EVER going to make my own curtains?  Maybe, but probably not.  And how long will that fabric sit around wasting usable space in my home?  Would I even have been thinking about curtains if I hadn't been in a store that sold fabric beside the paper towels?
I had empty picture frames, cheap holiday decorations, fake "Keds" - all things I didn't need, but bought at Walmart anyway because the price was right.  But - if I didn't need them, was the price really right?

2. One word - CHINA.  First, let me say that I respect China for its culture and its determination to be a world power.  I am sure it is a beautiful country filled with fascinating people.  However - I live HERE.  People HERE are hurting financially - and currently, the way they ease their money pain is by shopping at Walmart (and the Dollar Store, but that's another topic) and buying things mostly made...IN CHINA!  We are perpetuating our own vicious cycle! 
I am trying diligently to slow down how much money I personally give to China.  If I pick up a white t-shirt, and one costs $5 "Made in China", and one costs $10 but is made in the USA, I suck it up and spend more money for the USA!  Sadly though, not everyone is in the position to do this - so China is kicking our economic butts and we're bending over for them.
I tried and failed once in an attempt to purchase a can opener from anywhere but China (and I wasn't even at Walmart).  I went to Target and decided I would spend any amount to buy any can opener that was NOT made in China.  Guess what? NOT ONE SINGLE can opener of any brand, electric or handheld, was made anywhere other than China.  Oh well.

Walmart is infamous for associating with China - I've seen many different statistics as to what percentage of their inventory is "Made in China", which leaves me feeling uncomfortable to quote them for fear of presenting inaccurate information.  But just walk through Walmart and pick up almost anything and you will see what I mean.

3. Crowds - Visiting Walmart first thing on a weekday morning, you might not find any crowds.  You may actually get a good parking space and have a pleasant shopping experience.  Go there any other time of the day though, or worse, during the weekends, and you'll be parking far away, walking through a trashed parking lot, and waiting in long lines to check out.  Which brings me to my next issue...

4. Cashiers! - Where are they?  I'd see about 15 people stocking the shelves, a very nice old lady who welcomed me as a I walked in, 2-3 people at Customer Service (where many unhappy people are waiting in line)...but for the whole store, there will be only 3 cashiers with lines 4-5 people deep (carts stuffed full) in each!  So once they know your cart is full and they have you prisoner with your melting ice cream - they've somehow run out of cashiers to assist you?
Beyond that, I can count more than one occurrence where the cashier has actually told me she has either been denied a break, or has been on her feet for more than 8 hours and was supposed to get off 30 minutes ago.  If she HAD gotten off 30 minutes ago - they'd only have TWO cashiers!  So in order to have adequate staff, they have to mistreat the cashiers?  I don't get it.  Which brings me to my next issue...

5. Employee treatment - For many years, Walmart was in the hot seat over alleged mistreatment of its employees, especially its female employees.  I have a horror story that happened to a cousin of mine, but since I have not asked her permission, I will not share her story.   I tried to find current articles or information to support this, but I didn't see anything that was "big news" after 2006.  So I will leave it at this - I don't know if things have changed for the workers of Walmart.  If they haven't, then that is reason enough to never go there again.

6. Personal issues:  We had Shawn Jr.'s first baby portraits done at a Walmart in Charlotte (which has since closed).  We were on a budget and wanted "professional" photos to send to family.  THEY LOST THEM and made us come back to retake them...and then we weren't as happy with the end product, yet still had to pay for it.
Another time, we went in for an oil change (different location) and they FORGOT to put the cap back on.  When my car started acting up, I stopped into an auto parts store to see if their diagnostics could help me before I had to pay a mechanic.  The clerk said "I can literally see the problem and we don't need any diagnostic equipment - your whole engine is covered in oil and your cap is missing."  So I returned to Walmart to make them fix their own mistake, and the manager very kindly said he was sorry and gave me three free oil changes. Yay, right?  Wrong!  When I went back for the "free" oil changes, they would only honor one of them because that manager no longer worked there (type in "Walmart employee turnover rate" into any search engine and you'll understand why this is no surprise to me).  Seriously?  All I got for all that trouble was the one decent oil changed I'd paid for from the start!
(Sorry, I'd forgotten how angry I was about that! I'll move on now...)

As a side note - You will notice that I have not listed "Community Killer" as one of Walmart's faults. The discount giant is constantly accused of killing the small businesses with unrealistic price comparisons. This is not one of my reasons for disliking Walmart and here's why: WE KILLED THE SMALL BUSINESSES by choosing to shop at Walmart. Walmart does what all companies do - they try to grow, increase their revenue and make their stock holders happy. But it is you and I who make the decision where we will shop - and we shopped at Walmart because they were cheaper. Then we cried when our local grocer went out of business and now complain about the empty storefront where the local grocer used to be.
In short - we are killing our own communities to save pennies on the dollar and I blame us for that; not Walmart.


For all these reasons, I decided to go on strike - no Walmart for one year...just to see if it could be done. It can.


My Year Without Walmart...

There were only a handful of times we had any issues with it - times when grocery stores are closed and you think you "need" something, times when you need multiple items and do not have time to travel to multiple stores, and when you're out with friends and they just need to run in Walmart for a quick second with you along for the ride. Truth be told, my husband DID go to Walmart a few times during the year (against his wife's wishes!), and I did enter the store from time to time if I was with friends who needed to stop in for just a couple things. However, I MYSELF did not purchase a single thing in any Walmart store for 12 months solid.

My year without Walmart was in a word, uneventful. I didn't miss it, we didn't go broke, and we didn't have to do without anything. I felt better supporting other entities and much less stress at the check-out counter. We handled all the major holidays and birthdays, school projects, illnesses, oil changes, photo printing, and clothes shopping perfectly fine without Walmart.


Does Walmart actually save you THAT MUCH money?

Today, I went on a mission: I searched 4 local grocery stores including Wal-Mart for 15 items I typically buy and compared the prices. I shopped for the following items:

Nutri-grain Bars
Cheerios (14 oz.)
Quaker Oatmeal (individual packets)
*Frozen, cooked Shrimp (16 oz.)
Weight Watchers frozen Entrees
Kraft Shredded Cheddar (7 oz.)
12-pack Coca-Cola products
Goldfish crackers
**Ortega Whole Grain Taco Kits
Mott's for Tots juice
Skim Milk (store brand)
Bread (cheapest loaf, store brand)
***Bread (Merita SmartWheat or SmartWhite)
8 Pack of Juicy Juice boxes (6.75 oz.)
Fiber One 90 calorie bars

The stores I shopped:
Walmart
Harris Teeter
Target
Food Lion

The results:

1. *I had to throw out the results for the frozen shrimp because not all stores had a 16 oz. bag. 
**I deleted the Merita bread (which is a staple of mine) from the results because Walmart didn't carry it and Harris Teeter was currently out of stock. 
***I also had to delete the Ortega whole grain taco kit (another staple to which I'm typically brand loyal) because Walmart and Food Lion don't carry Ortega kits at all.

2.  In Walmart's defense - most items were, in fact, cheaper.  ONE CENT CHEAPER.  ALSO, the prices seemed static - meaning that they weren't on sale today to be potentially marked back up tomorrow.

3. All four take coupons.

4. Walmart also honors a "lowest price guarantee" IF you can produce an advertisement with the lower price IN PRINT.  I admit that I didn't attempt to ask if they would match other prices based purely on my word - Walmart is supposed to be the great time-saver, having everything you need under one roof, so fitting in time to negotiate prices with management does not fit the time-saving model.

5. Harris Teeter doubles and sometimes TRIPLES coupons. 

6. Walmart was NOT THE CHEAPEST for the remaining 12 items on my list!  I went, not by the regular prices, but by what I would have spent TODAY only.  Here are the comparisons if I bought these 12 items today, Thursday, May 10, 2012:

Walmart
$32.03

Harris Teeter
$39.87

Target
$29.56

Food Lion
$36.24

Due to in-store specials, Target was the cheapest by at least $2.47! 

A few other facts:

1. The cheapest milk today was actually at Harris Teeter - on sale for $2.77, compared to Walmart's next cheapest at $3.48

2. Harris Teeter's 12 packs of Coca-Cola were buy 3 get 2 free, however if I only wanted to buy one, I would have to pay the regular price of $6.39, compared to Walmart's lower price of $3.98, and Target's sale price of 4/$11 (or $2.75 each!).

3.  Food Lion had the cheapest Quaker Oatmeal (on sale 2/$4), but had the most expensive milk ($4.08).

4. Harris Teeter was the most expensive on 8 of the 12 items.

5. Walmart's prices were lowest on 10 out of the 12 items, but typically by 1-3 cents only.



.
 I admit my weakness is now Target, where many of the non-food items also come from China.  However, the prices seem best by comparison, the atmosphere is pleasant, the employees are friendly and are not complaining (to me) about being mistreated, and they have Starbucks!  I can always continue to check labels for "Made in USA".  I can also support my local grocery stores when I have time for an extra trip and they have items I know to be on sale. 

As for Walmart, I won't say I'll never shop there again and I won't criticize anyone who shops there regularly either.  I set out to prove that you can survive without Walmart, and now I know it can be done.  So as I say to my children, "Be smart and make good decisions!"   Do your best to take care of yourself and your family, while trying to stay conscious of supporting our country and our communities.  Is it worth the Walmart hassle to save 1 penny on Goldfish crackers?  Maybe for some of the people, some of the time.  But not for me.