My sister works at a Wal-Mart and her store is even worse. Out of 23 registers and 8 self checkouts, they typically only have 3 registers and 3 self checkout open in the evenings. The lines will be 15 people or more long and they don't have anyone to call up front. Some weeks she will get 35 hours and the next week 5-10. This article is perfectly describing the Wal-Mart in my town and what Kroger is turning into.
Interesting stuff. Most of it highly accurate. The part not mentoned, however, is the main reason these trends continue: Because customers support this. I see it every day; people bitching and sqwaking (rightfully so) about the lack of staffing, shelf product and open registers; yet they continue to support it by shopping there.
This was pretty much how K Mart had gotten to be by the late nineties, and for similar arrogance based reasons. Their trouble was, they never took Wal-Mart seriously until it was too late. For the fore-seeable future, tho, Wal-Mart has no such similar competition.
It has been interesting to watch how Kroger, as but one example, has sniffed blood in the water and stepped up their game. As I mentioned, I myself have been shopping there almost singularly----as opposed to my own store. THAT is jacked up.
Since we got our new store manager (who is a d!ck), our store has been so much cleaner, much more organized, the displays are awesome and always filled, the shelves are stocked and our OSAT scores have gone up. Our backroom is clean, organized and is a ton better than what it was. The hallway between the breakroom and back room finally doesn't have carts and pallets of alcohol sitting there. We've been way over budget and business has been great in our store. Business for us is getting better, and more people are leaving WalMart to come to us, even though we quit doubling coupons. I hate it when I need to get something really quick and I have to run to WM, because the Kroger I work at is 12 mi away, it's depressing in there, and it takes me FOREVER just to check out. I have no patience for it.
Wish I had your S.M. Sounds like he has his store under control, and at the end of the day it really doesn't matter if he's like Fred Rogers or Attila the Hun. RESULTS is what it's supposed to be about.
Our S.M. is a nice enough guy......But I call him little Houdini. The man is virtually NEVER THERE. I and the rest of our management team are left to deal with the G.M. and grocery ware houses, but with all our notes/other duties, that's why these areas constantly look like plane crashes! At this point, I am seriously amazed that both he AND our Market Manager still have their jobs.
That's absolutely true. The truth is in the numbers. Our dept has been left alone, my RX manager runs a tight ship and our business is up over 35% from last year. The past 4 days we've transferred over 100 prescriptions to our pharmacy. It's been a transferring nightmare, but we have great customer service and people actually enjoy coming to our store. Our employees are friendly, helpful and able to be found.
Our former SM is a very nice guy. He did a great job, but no one was afraid of him like they are this guy. Our co-managers bust their wee little arses when he's in the store. He's super OCD, very particular and is down there getting dirty with everyone else. I don't really like the man, but I don't need to, we're not going out for drinks and I don't need him as a friend. He does his job, but he does need to treat the women with a little more respect, he called one of our co's stupid the other day. That's not good for morale.
It's never going to be a perfect situation, unfortunately.
On tonight's trip to Walmart, solely for Jack and Coke (and ice), they didn't have a single bottle of Jack on the shelf in any size. Jack Daniels; I mean, goddamn. I had to go to Winco. And on the previous trip to the fancy Walmart, a few miles out of the way in a more upscale area, they didn't have half of my shopping list in stock.
At my store, we're not quite there yet. Unless the shelves are cleared by extreme couponers, we have most everything in stock. Except for the liquor department, and that poor girl spends half the morning on the registers. They'd have to hire another cashier and another liquor girl to get things where they should be.
It's really only a problem on holidays, which is a very interesting problem indeed.
Wal-Mart is like wasted space (and wasted money, I might add...)...Lots of aisles, lots of registers, and no one to man them...On the outside, it looks great, but looks can be deceiving, once you get in the door...
The current goal is to eventually remodel all the stores to have at least 25% of our registers as self-scans. My market will be converting over to them this summer.
Trouble is, with no one up front to work assistance/AP for them, it's all a moot point and we will see the greatest wave of shop lifting in the history of retail.
With all that money wal marts making how much would it cost them to hire a few more employees??
You have to remember, the very basis of that much money is greed itself. The top level managers and Board of Directors see this as nothing more than a fixable set back---if that.
If Mike Duke were at the Neuremberg Trials, he'd have said "Ummm......................A N D ?"
All it's going to take to topple the monster is for a competitor to step up their game. Meijer sand Costco are serious challenges that Wal-Mart looks at the way K-Mart did at Wal-Mart in the mid nineties.
And like K-Mart, once Wally realizes it's too late......It will truly be TOO LATE.
Could a multi billion dollar corporate giant such as wal mart ever kick the bucket?? I would have thought that all of walmarts loyal followers wouldn't lett that happen (you know the people who only shop there and won't stop talking about it), but I hope to see it in my lifetime!!
All it's going to take to topple the monster is for a competitor to step up their game. Meijer sand Costco are serious challenges that Wal-Mart looks at the way K-Mart did at Wal-Mart in the mid nineties.
And like K-Mart, once Wally realizes it's too late......It will truly be TOO LATE.
Whew. Isn't that the truth? K-Mart had its heyday back with the blue light specials, now? They're ghost towns. Another thing is, when you go into one, you can't tell who is an employee and who is a customer. At least not at our local one. K-Mart is going to go the way of Hills and Woolworths here within the next 10-15 years.
