We all have shopped at these stores at one point. Some of us on a regular basis. Where I live I have both near by and the last few times I have been to both stores I've noticed a few things that seperate the two...and now for the shoppers showdown! lol
For one, the toys section in Target destroys Wal-Mart. They have all the new Star Trek movie line toys, always a good selection of Star Wars, Marvel, DC and 25th Anniversary GI.Joe....Wal Mart doesnt come close.
DVD selection, both pretty good I must say. Wal-Mart seems to have some more obscure stuff thats pretty cheap, but now Target has these season 1&2 sets for 19.99 of The Outer Limits, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, The Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy...just basic TV goodness for 20 bucks. I havent seen these anywhere else.
Wal-Mart has a GREAT selection of storage bins and drawers. I use these things constantly for all my 3 3/4 action figures, loose Aurora parts and other things of that nature. They make a size for everything and Im a stickler for order, so these work! Target..they have some...but not like Wal-Mart.
So its pretty give and take..I like both stores..the biggest issue I have? Wal Mart..always seems kind of "dirty"..maybe its due to the traffic or whatever. Target is always gleaming for some reason which is nice. Lastly...Wal Mart has self check out...faaaaantastic because I hate to wait. Target? No matter what, theres 3 registers open and a line wrapped around the store!! I dont get it.
Which do you prefer?
I'd agree that Target seems to have a larger quantity of figures from the recent toy lines. To use the Star Trek line as a n example, I saw both sizes of figures and Enterprises at both stores, but Target had the phaser also. Also, when clearanced, I find that the Target clearance is a lot more appealing. I think there is variation from store to store
As for DVDs, Wal-Mart has their $5 bin, but the titles aren't generally as appealing as they once were. I think Target has a nicer selection and when they put their stuf on sale, you can get some nice stuff for a good price. Overall, I still prefer to buy used stuff from some local shops because they have some more obscure stuff for even better prices (sometimes).
The line thing must vary also. I almost never wait at our Target. Usually only one person in front of me, if that. Wal-Mart lines? Forget it. The 20 items or less line is usually 4 deep. One time they let a lady go through in fron of me with 42 items (I counted). Even the self-checkout lines aren't short and the whole scale thing is a problem with the bagging area. PIA.
Target blows Wal-Mart out of the water at Halloween time also. A few years back they had those great mask display pieces. I had one of the 3-D ones reserved for me, but they saved me the wrong thing and I got a flat piece. It was OK, but not the exact thing I wanted.
Rob
So its pretty give and take..I like both stores..the biggest issue I have? Wal Mart..always seems kind of "dirty"..maybe its due to the traffic or whatever. Target is always gleaming for some reason which is nice. Lastly...Wal Mart has self check out...faaaaantastic because I hate to wait. Target? No matter what, theres 3 registers open and a line wrapped around the store!! I dont get it.
Which do you prefer?
TARGET.
I almost always find something neat at Target around Halloween, while Wal-Mart is already becoming Christmas central. No joke, during the years I worked for Wal-mart they would already have us putting Christmas stuff up three to four weeks before we put out anything for Halloween. Toy collectables: Target. Dvd's: Wal-Mart. Halloween items: Target. Now that I don't work for the evil Empire, I guess I use both about equally. But I still cringe whenever I see a Christmas decoration.
I'll shop TARGET for DVD's because, as noted earlier, they have some great DVD sets for $20. Also, they have regular sales on DVD's and that is always time for savings. Sorry, I haven't set foot in a Wal Mart and never will. David
Wal Mart. We have on within a mile from us. Besides, I think Target is the snootiest of all the cheap stores.
Quote from: CreepysFan on May 15, 2009, 12:57:59 PM
I almost always find something neat at Target around Halloween, while Wal-Mart is already becoming Christmas central. No joke, during the years I worked for Wal-mart they would already have us putting Christmas stuff up three to four weeks before we put out anything for Halloween. Toy collectables: Target. Dvd's: Wal-Mart. Halloween items: Target. Now that I don't work for the evil Empire, I guess I use both about equally. But I still cringe whenever I see a Christmas decoration.
By late August, our local Wal-Mart already has Christmas decorations on display. For a lot of retailers, it seems the Christmas season officially begins on the first day of September.
TARGET.
Quote from: BlackLagoon on May 15, 2009, 10:27:27 AM
DVD selection, both pretty good I must say. Wal-Mart seems to have some more obscure stuff thats pretty cheap, but now Target has these season 1&2 sets for 19.99 of The Outer Limits, Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, The Brady Bunch, I Love Lucy...just basic TV goodness for 20 bucks. I havent seen these anywhere else.
:o Are you serious? I have always avoided buying DVDs at Target due to being over priced. I've gotten some great buys at Wal-fart even tho I don't like THEIR grand scheme of running things. So now I'm gonna have hit the Target by me jn the morning and see if I get lucky.
what a cool question!....both can be lucrative.....
TOYS - Target buyers seem very mainstream market concious and corporate, so if Star Trek is hot, they'll have the best selection of Star Trek. Which doesn't help me...I like monster stuff. If they aren't popular Target won't touch them. Exceptions are an accident like finding The Cyclops and Minotaur (in the educational games) and the "Godzilla/Dinosaur" in the dollar spot. Walmart's quest to be cheep cheep cheep means sometimes they try weird stuff like insect jigglers and slime eyeballs and stuff, they also carried the Marvel Monsters set and the Monster Hot Wheels. Winner: WALMART
HALLOWEEN - One of my favorite pieces is one Rob mentioned - the giant Ben Cooper Frankenstein display masks (and the others too) but that happened to be part of a TARGET theme just that year. Also had some neat kids shirts with the same mask. Since then I haven't thought their themes had any cool monster stuff as they tend to stay slightly cute and innocuous. Kind of "Let's have scary fun but don't really be scared because it's only Halloween". Then again guess what I'm wearing my X-one-X or whatever they are Dracula PJs from Target as I type this and I have Frank and Creature also, and Dracula boxers. Much of their actual Halloween decor is really nice, kinda too nice. I just get the feeling they use some sort of formula to gauge what they think will sell. Though I have found a couple cool and reasonable items beyond talking Witches and Skulls but I'm surprised when I do.
Walmart - I don't care what month they put out the stuff. I just want to see what's new. The sooner the better. Because for about a month they seem to have new stuff every time I check. They are also mainstream but just seem to take Halloween less for granted. They seem to try a little harder to be spooky. I look forward to Walmart's cheeep stuff - bleeding skull or zombie candles, the strange mechanical Phantom thing (clearanced for 7.00). Shock Monster copy giant sucker, they also had some very cool t shirts with Wolfman one year. Gemmy hanging Frankenstein (looks like Jack Palance) Walmart has just proven itself more unpredictably cool which makes it more fun to check out. Cooler stuff overall: I guess TARGET, but if I could only pick one - WALMART
DVDs: Both may be equal for selection and price but I admit I buy more DVDs at Walfarge. Maybe because we shop at Target more for family household supplies and always spend so much I don't wanna justify adding a movie, but when I go to Walmart it's likely for something specific like a camping or fishing item, and I'm in "Ok to spend money on myself" mode. Winner: TIE
Happily there might be Halloween fun to be had at Walgreens also, Kmart and TRU carry Bandai Godzilla stuff, Menards and Michaels always worth a few looks. Would you believe I make a list of stores and record what I found at each one as Halloween approaches? I do and the last two years the winner has been - - - - - - a thrift shop!
Thanks for starting this excellent thread sorry to babble. I wish I were at Wonderfest.
PS if anyone wants to see pictures of anything I mentioned please ask
you don't shop wally-world, hammett? good for you! i just don't get the whole cult thing going on there. save money? please. i guess if you're the type not to clip coupons, that three cents you save on dishwasher detergent might add up. otherwise, you save *much* more if you, you know, actually know how to shop....
toys: wallyworld is the world's largest toy retailer. that said, i think target edges them out when it comes to being current, probably due to having a physically smaller department. i'd also venture to say target has a better selection of educational toys (WW's core clientele apparently not listing education as a high priority?). plus, i don't remember WW ever having any exclusives, unlike target. winner: target.
store condition: WW *is* dirty. the supercenters are cleaner, it seems, but you still feel as if you're lost in a big warehouse just wandering around. while my target doesn't have a floorplan that's exactly condusive to getting around as effectively as i'd like, it does have an aesthetic at least. snootier clientele? lol. probably. funny you'd say that as target is actually a french owned company (and why i don't like shopping there). but, yeah, just look at the type of people who bump around the aisles there and you can easily see who the client base is meant to be. and it's no wonder that as a result the target clientele is much more attractive. no joke. target shoppers tend to be pretty put together, while WW shoppers have a lot of trailer trash being serviced by people with no incentive and often few teeth. no offense to anyone, but i'm not going to sugarcoat the obvious, either. if you want more evidence, just pay attention to the cars in the parking lot. not only that, but how many gangs of kids do you find in a target lot? A: none. on the flip side, there's a local WW that closes at 9 pm due to the fact that they can't (read: won't) offer customer protection in the parking lot where people had been almost routinely robbed and beaten. it wasn't much of a concern to them until someone was killed, *then* they took action. that's exactly the width and breadth of how much these places love you; robbed and beaten is okay, but they take a hard line stance against murder. i don't know about you, but i suddenly have warm fuzzies in my tummy.
winner: target.
halloween items: i'm going to give WW the edge on this one, though, as mentioned, you have to be quicker about it. in all honesty, it's sam's club that blows the hinges off the creaky doors, and sam's is owned by WW. owning a convenience store, i have to shop sam's, a case of 'sometimes needs be the devil dryves [sic],' as the saying goes. i can get candy bars there a dollar or so cheaper than my actual candy vendor who needs to get his cut. in a business that counts pennies, i'm rather stuck. as it is, sam's has the most amazing inflatibles anywhere, and a good selection of everything else. not to mention it being *the* place for mass quantities of candy to hand out.
winner: sam's.
DVDs: again, i'd go sam's, but i give WW the edge. target seems a bit higher priced. as a rule, around here WW actually does have a better price (assuming you don't find it on sale, which isn't terribly difficult to do) on average for movies and roughly the same selection as anywhere else. bear in mind i live in an area with just about anything you can imagine and all within a mile or so of one another, so if i don't like meijer's price, best buy is up the road. where i live there's a kroger's literally across the street from meijer's (a large chain), home depot (pfft! people who don't know what the hell they're doing shop there for decorative items) is across the stree from lowe's, with h.h.greg next door (king of the bait and switch). WW is down the street from target, target being much close to the swankier side of town. compUSA (ha!) and circuit city (double ha!) were at each other's throat, and now neither are around. with all these places so close to one another, you get a unique perspective, i think. anyway....
winner: WW and sam's.
check out: i prefer a counter person having a job and putting my things away. i hate stores that would have you believe that self-checkout is a convenience. it's a lie! they have these things because it means they can have one person monitoring customer purchases where four people *should* be. the entire point of sam's and aldi being cheaper is the fact that you have to do *some* of the work yourself. now they'd have us believe that we should pay full retail *and* do ALL the work, and i'm sorry but that's just crap and you'll never convince me otherwise. you know what's *really* convenient? not having to have a perfect twenty dollar bill to hand to a person who rings up your purchase and puts it in a sack for you without having to wait in a long line. and let's be honest here, you *still* have to wait in self-checkout lanes, and the only reason you do that is because the company only has three staffed lanes open.
winner: target.
store greeters: what a ridiculous.... look, these people to me are just another layer of corporate image enhancement meant as a distraction from the fact that everything else has been scientifically devised to take your money. is anyone of the opinion that a greeter is there because the multi-billion dollar company what expects you do check yourself out cares about you and really gives a damn if you have a pleasant shopping experience as long as you keep coming back? then they up the ante by putting elderly or handicapped people in these positions. because, you know, WW is more concerned with hiring quality handicapped people and giving them a job that makes them, the handicapped, feel as if they have something to live for than they are hiring healthy people to check you out ~ or hiring people who *aren't* illegal aliens for as long as they can get away with it. if you really want to know how much WW feels about fairness, get a job there and mention, 'you know, what we need here is a union.' see how far you get. see if you have a job at the end of the week. or if you're one of the ones who's told you have to work overtime without overtime pay. hell, half the time the greeter doesn't even greet people, they're bs'ing with someone off to the side and leaves an empty cart in their place. simply the stupidest waste of an employee i've ever seen is the guy at sam's what 'checks' your purchases as you leave and marks the receipt with a highlighter. just let me get out of there, jackass, as you don't even look at all, you've just made me stop for no real reason.
winner: any store that doesn't have a greeter that the state probably pays a portion of their paycheck to employ.
security: i always see a security guard at target. WW has a deathtoll.
winner: target.
price: target runs sales. WW relies on customer laziness and ignorance. WW has for years been the market leader in outrageous milk and tobacco prices. as mentioned, any savvy shopper knows *much* better deals are easily found, especially if you know how to download coupons off the computer. versus a real grocery store and WW fails miserably on almost every level.
winner: a real grocery store and target. unless you find yourself in need of a head of lettuce, a set of tires and poorly made 42" LCD t.v.. in fact, it's not difficult to find WW's prices much higher. there's a scam involved amounting to lowering the prices on, say, hot dogs buns and slightly raising the price on hot dogs. the illusion is you've just saved a lot of money, but you really haven't. at least when you go to vegas you know upfront that things have been designed in a certain way to take your money. to think it's any different at WW is just naive. give me a fist full of coupons and i'll absolutely destroy WW 'low' prices every single time, guaranteed.
actual convenience: no question that a store that offers practically anything you need is more convenient. all things being the same, WW probably edges out the competition if you're really out to do some shopping. for a few items, however, i'd pick a smaller store where i didn't have to park out in the boondocks, slog through a mass of unwashed (sometimes literally) humanity, to get to the item i'm needing located a half mile back in the corner somewhere where not even the security guys are brave enough to patrol.
winner: it depends.
censorship: well, all stores are welcome to stock whatever they feel like. WW, however, feels that by stocking potentially offensive material they risk a certain customer base. music and books have and are altered to fit wal*mart's criteria of 'good taste.' 'good taste' is another word for censorship. quite simply, if you want to sell your artistic endeavour to WW then you have to abide by their standards of conformity lest you offend their customers. other retailers 'enjoy' the trickle down effect, but it doesn't make much difference anyway as something offensive and they'd not sell it to begin with. the difference is WW has the power to influence artistic product, and, i dunno, that's not good to me. no, i'm not talking about the harmless, albeit stupid, labelling system. that's kids stuff. of course, most people are probably aware of the economic censorship WW imposes in the form of 'we're going to tell you how much we're going to charge for your product and how much we're going to pay you for it, now it's up to you to figure out how to bring it in at a price you can live with. otherwise we won't carry your product and you'll slowly go out of business.' if you wonder why everything is made in china, that's the reason. it's not a complicated business formula. ask vlasic and levi, among others. then go out and buy a pair of levi's from WW and see if it's the same quality as you remember.
winner: not us. our society and economy suffers from WW's practices. while alive, sam walton always said 'buy american!' maybe he had a good reason for saying that, ya think? it's one thing to be a stark, lifeless repository of junk for the mainstream idiots, but it's another to influence through brute force art and economics and bully city commissioners into opening unwanted stores in certain locations. and it's certainly another level of insidiousness to swipe away all the anti-trust and predatory sales practices that proctect consumers and competition from being undercut into bankruptcy for as long as it takes, then raise your prices once the competition has bowed to the pressure. drug stores were particularly susceptible, it seems. if, by chance, you find a product more than three cents cheaper at WW, rest assured that it's because it's of inferior quality.
electronics: were WW such a great place to shop for great quality electronics at the cheapest prices anywhere, then why is there so much competition still in business? the answer is simple: while the prices on some thing may be cheaper, so is the quality of the product. name brand or not, the LCD tv at sam's club is *not* the same as the one for a thousand dollars more at best buy. were that true, simple logic would tell you best buy wouldn't be in business. the old axiom 'you get what you pay for' could not be more appropriate. that said, if you want gold printer cables, do yourself a favour and go right to WW. don't even contemplate somewhere else, as i guarantee they'll be more expensive. well, i base this on my experience from several years ago, lol. computer prices are so up in the air right now as it's just one of those things you have to shop for. we just got a new HP from sam's mostly because they were hawking a monitor upgrade. a great price? eh. i probably could have beaten it if i was shopping for it and not my wife and our computer was seriously acting up. a lot of places will meet or beat a competitor's deal (except for WW and sam's, of course).
i was told once by the return lady at WW as i was returning an xbox that had gone bad after less than 40 hours of playing time (and a major reason why i opted for a PS3 instead of a 360) that i'd bought from somewhere else (yes, i'm evil, too, so i should recognize my own kind, don'tcha think? i was encouraged to do so by an ex-WW employee) that WW doesn't even own the electronics department, that it's essentially an in-store subcontractor. not her words, i had to piece together her malformed sentences into some semblence of english. if that's true, and i really question whether it is or not, that makes some kind of sense. but, i can't say for sure as i know they subcontract those rugs you can have images put on. i want to say their photo lab is subcontracted, too (probably like most others). knowing that coke and pepsi actually rent the floor space in stores and have to stock their product themselves, it makes me wander if electronics might be the same way.
winner: it depends. at full retail, i'd venture to say WW and sam's wins given the idea you find the same exact product somewhere else. some places, like h.h.greg, are at the bottom of my list *unless* they have a sale. products that are on sale, hm, i'll take my chances by shopping around first. first thing i do is see what the prices are like online to get a basic idea. still, if there's a place more convenient than WW, i might save a few bucks in gas and hassle and go to a place that's staffed by a person who knows about digital cameras than some old lady selling DVDs today and stocking potatoes tomorrow.
bottom line: when you're on the top, you're against everyone. WW doesn't have as good prices as they'd have you believe, particularly if you know how to shop. there are way more items i can find cheaper at regular price than WW's cultists would have you think. their grocery is a joke. some things they sell cheap, no doubt. still, all things considered and you get what you pay for. every store uses psychology to a certain degree, some more than others.
target versus WW, i think target wins as they have sales, coupons, generally higher quality merchandise and fairly reasonable prices considering they're smaller and attempt to provide a sense of obvious security, cleanliness and visual appeal, whereas going to WW is like shopping in the wild west.
i live for the day when they close the first wal*mart. i'm sure someone somewhere said the same thing about k*mart (and i hope they understand the irony). i love how WW claims to get as much produce locally as possible. i've shopped roadside fruit and veggie stands all my life and let me just tell you that what you're getting at WW, if local at all which i find highly suspect, is *not* of the same quality. if they come from the same field, they're keeping the good stuff for themselves and their stands and what's left over the local grocery stores deal with. it's why you have to spend ten minutes picking out a fruit at the store that's not disgusting whereas you can go to an average roadside stand that you don't have to look at the things at all and know it's good. you do anyway just because it's common sense, but the difference is markedly lopsided.
the real bottom line is i'm willing to pay more for quality. the trick is to know what's quality and what's not, and know how to save. by this standard, WW is shopped at by me strictly as a last resort.
Aw,c'mon Preyer. Don't hold back. Tell us how you REALLY feel. ;). The wife dragged me to Walfart today where we spent about $70 on various things ranging from beverages ,spray paint ,mouthwash etc. Had we bought these items elsewhere I would have spent another $10-15. That savings I took down to the beer superstore and am having a fine weekend. They had a freakin BBQ on sale for $30 that at the hardware store they wanted $49. Guess where I'm headin back to in the morning. I guess it depends where you live that makes a difference in the customers and who works there. I live in total middle class suburbia. Yes, at least 1/4 of the employees don't speak fluent English. And there is always going to be a mix of way different people. I think the economy is getting more people to hit Walfart more often when normally it was once in a while. I saw 15 year old beaters in the lot as well as newer BMWs and even a Porsche. Our store was pretty clean,staff friendly and they had 7 or 8 lines open. Sometimes when the $ ain't there you gotta cross the lines.
I prefer Target all the way around. That being said.
DVD's Target has better first day sales with better enticements than Wal-Mart's give away's with the DVD
Clothes - Target definately has higher quality.
Household goods - while Wal Mart has cheap stuff and lots of it, I like the quality and selection of household items at Target, especially for the bathroom
Toys - No question or doubts Target all the way
Electronics - Higher Quality for Target
Stuff for kids and babies - Always go Target, if they are gifts the parents will like them
Halloween - No need to wonder, Target hands down for more cool stuff.
Sales - Target does well with sales. Wal-Mart generally has decent prices all around but I still choose quality over cheap most of the time.
Lines - I agree that is "must" vary store to store because I will take the short Target lines any day and twice on Sunday over our Wal-Mart lines and check this, we have four Targets within driving distance and six Wal-Marts, all super except one. I have been to them all and still say I will take Target lines over Wal-Mart any day.
My wife and I shop at both stores often. When alone I almost always choose Target unless there is something specific I know only Wal-Mart has. My wife also really prefers Target.
Food - This is the number one reason we shop Wal-Mart since none of our Targets are super ones.
Body Count / Death Toll - sorry, this one goes to Wal-Mart, they are the murder/death/kill MDK masters.
Target definitely wins for Halloween. Every year we pick up some cool stuff for the next year and at the end when it's 75%-90% off you can clean up.
Target. I almost never go to Wal-mart. Example I have yet to step foot in a Wal-mart in 2009.
soylent green is people? so is arby's roast beef sandwiches. funny how whenever they have those '5 for $5' deals you start not seeing those transients selling flowers on the off-ramp, eh? i'll leave the math up to you....
yeah, sorry, i hadn't realized i'd rambled on like that. a touchy subject for me, wal*mart is. jeesh, now i'm starting to sound like yoda. i'm really not too hep on GM at the moment, either, or folk driving around in a new honda or toyota (no offense if you do, that's capitalism). i've always maintained that capitalism works as long as the limits and laws are abided by, that unchecked levels of greed are actually harmless to the bottom-line in the long run. wal*mart is essentially above the law and inexplicably pretty clean in the court of public opinion despite mountains of evidence to the contrary easily amassed in a cursory research.
i'm in ohio, so perhaps few others can appreciate the width and breadth of how these places and practices affect a community. more specifically, i'm in dayton, a GM town second perhaps only to detroit. literally down the road is/was huffy, and what a screw-job those folk endured. i had even worked at GM and know first hand how it feels to lose your job to a foreign plant.
so what does that have to do with anything? well, there used to be a plant here in lorraine (? it's been awhile since looking this stuff up, so bear with me) that made something or other. the town relied on this plant for employment and taxes. here comes WW, threatening no to sell their wares unless they could bring the cost down to where WW wanted. the only possible way to do this was to close the plant and ship the job to china. needless to say this devastated the town.
and what does WW do next? why, build a super wally*world in lorraine, of course! and what do these idiots do instead of burning it down and crushing each and every brick? they shop there!
wow. i mean, just... wow.
to me, when a corporation flaunts the law, goes against the wishes of a community who actually doesn't want a WW, and controls the lives of people by virtue of happening to own a lot of warehouses to shop in, you've uncovered the basic flaw in capitalism.
i used to shop WW for one reason, to get a particular brand of dog food that i had to buy lots of to save any real money (and even then the savings wasn't that great). i'm not sure why, but they raised the price to more than a store closer. better savings? no.
funny, but as i was wondering around for no apparent reason (i mean, how can i complain if i'm *completely* ignorant about them, eh?), there on an end cap was *snicker* a CARDBOARD grandfather clock! now, imagine for a second what a grandfather clock represents. it's a classy piece of beautiful, functional furniture to be sure, but it's also, well, it's also a status symbol of sorts. it's why a person would opt to drive a GMC over a chevy.
so what does owning a cardboard grandfather clock say about a person? 'hey, wanna grab a milwaukee's best ice, look at my clock, then later check out my collection of plastic spray-painted in indonesia angels?'
i dunno, i just have the idea that target is somehow unwilling to go to such depths. like i mentioned, i believe their core clientele is classier than that, as snobbish as it sounds without really meaning to sound that way. i've been called a snob before, though, lol, though i defend my right to be more discriminate in the cheap crap i buy. (poor as i may be, i still go up to the post office person and say i'd like to ship this the fastest, cheapest way possible.)
my wife actually had a business dealing with WW a few years back. these two guys come in from WW and want to order some trophies for a car show they planned on having in the parking lot. sure, no problem. it wasn't a big order, so we didn't get any money down. (yeah, not the best way to do business, but it's honestly not been an issue except in that one instance. we've found a certain amount of friendliness is generated when you extend this modicum of trust to someone, and people respond positively to that.)
anyway, we did the work and called them up. they never showed up. we left another message, knowing the time was getting close for them. the event passed and they never picked up the work. we now had a problem.
we talked to their supervisor who informed us the event had been cancelled. sorry to hear that, pay us. 'but, we didn't have the even,' he said. failing to see how that affected me one way or another, i told him, 'that doesn't affect me one way or another. you contracted work to be done, we did it, and we need to get paid for it.' obviously i wasn't dealing with a vulcan here as his logical processes seemed to be lacking, he continued to insist that since no one picked the order up he didn't owe anything for it. au contraire, jackass. upon informing him the order was his, he owned it when his subordinants put the order in, and he can do what he wanted to with the trophies (i refrained from offering my opinion on what he should do with them), he got the hint that i wasn't going to just allow myself to get screwed and the next day he sent a stooge down with payment. here's the final score:
little guy: 1
piece of management: 0
i'm not sure where this bozo got the gall to think i was one of his suppliers he could just push around, as if i cared whether or not WW burned down tomorrow and if it did that would somehow affect my business. the arrogance in the man's voice was maddening, sounding as if he had the right to bend me over and have his way because he was another brick in the wall of the WW machine. (okay, i know few bricks are actually part of a machine, but i love mixing metaphors.)
you know what they say, 'as long as the economy is good people will vote for the devil.' same thing: if people think they're saving money, they'll keep shopping there. problem is, that 'savings' is costing communities, families, and the economy, nay, the american way of life (won't someone please think of the children!) more than it's worth.
ah, but then again it's hard to make someone understand that of course it costs more than a penny to make a penny, but that's not a valid reason in and of itself to stop making them. (a penny pays for itself within a few transactions. given that a penny can last years, that's a pretty good return on investment.)
interesting....
Green Day lashes out at Wal-Mart policy
AP, May 21, 2009 12:00 pm PDT
Green Day has the most popular CD in the country, but you won't be able to find it at your local Wal-Mart.The band says the giant superstore chain refused to stock its latest CD, "21st Century Breakdown," because Wal-Mart wanted the album edited for language and content, and they refused.
"Wal-Mart's become the biggest retail outlet in the country, but they won't carry our record because they wanted us to censor it," frontman Billie Joe Armstrong said in a recent interview.
While Wal-Mart sells CDs from acts known for raunchy content, including Eminem's latest, they offer customers the "clean" version of those CDs, which are edited for content that may be objectionable. But in Armstrong's view, "There's nothing dirty about our record."
"They want artists to censor their records in order to be carried in there," he said. "We just said no. We've never done it before. You feel like you're in 1953 or something.""21st Century Breakdown" contains curses and some references considered adult.
Wal-Mart said that it's the company's long-standing policy not to stock any CD with a parental advisory sticker.
"As with all music, it is up to the artist or label to decide if they want to market different variations of an album to sell, including a version that would remove a PA rating," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Melissa O'Brien said. "The label and artist in this case have decided not to do so, so we unfortunately can not offer the CD."
But bassist Mike Dirnt said: "As the biggest record store in the America, they should probably have an obligation to sell people the correct art."
Not being sold at Wal-Mart didn't stop the band — which kicks off a U.S. tour summer tour in Seattle on July 3 — from landing at the top of the album charts this week. "21st Century Breakdown" sold about 215,000 copies since it's debut on Friday.
The album is the follow-up to their multiplatinum, Grammy-winning CD "American Idiot," and like that album, deals with weighty topics. While "American Idiot" spoke to the frustration over the presidency of George W. Bush and the Iraq War, this CD speaks to the loss of innocence and confusion in today's society.
While Armstrong, Dirnt and drummer Tre Cool are still top-sellers without Wal-Mart, Armstrong said the store's policy is disappointing, considering it has become the dominant seller of CDs with the decline of traditional music stores.
"If you think about bands that are struggling or smaller than Green Day ... to think that to get your record out in places like that, but they won't carry it because of the content and you have to censor yourself," he said. "I mean, what does that say to a young kid who's trying to speak his mind making a record for the first time? It's like a game that you have to play. You have to refuse to play it."
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On the Net:
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Not a huge fan of Wal-Mart but I had to stop in there today and was surprised the stock was significantly lower store wide. I don't know if that reflects Wal-Marts in general but it might be a sign of the times.