store customers from area to area.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

A few years ago, I met a retail store manager who was transferred out of the area and then back to a near by area. Mrs. and I stopped at the local Walmart yesterday and then stopped in the store where my acquaintance works. The subject of customers came up. Mrs. mentioned that she is afraid to go to our local Walmart unless accompanied. The store manager laughed. He has been manager of five stores around the mid atlantic for the same chain. He said the Walmart we spoke of indeed has big problems, but it is more customers in general in our area. When he ran the store near us, customers constantly ripped packages open, dropped clothes on the floor, let their kids ride the stores bicycles down the aisles, etc. Rudest most inconsiderate bunch he ever had to deal with. People would open packages of food and eat some, then return the rest to the shelf. Some would come in and change underwear in the fitting rooms and leave their soiled items in the fitting rooms. Some women would change their infant's malodorous diapers and leave them on the shelf in the store. He was then transferred to a store 100 miles further north and said the customers were unbelievably better in every way. The incidents of theft and damage to goods was less than 10% of what it was in the nearby town. He claims he found that the customers in each area were different. Some more demanding but also more courteous. He likes the town he is in now (20 miles from the area where the customers are so atrocious.) And he likes it, except that he is in a tourist area and is not accustomed to dealing with some big city folk tourists.

[Ted Calver]

Like my Uncle Vern used to say: People will be people...and some of them are no darned good!

[Stan Calow]

In my suburb the Walmart is the #1 location for 911 calls. Police are there daily. Same for at least two others nearby.

[Mel Fulks]

I like to watch you tube "people of Walmart" as much as anyone. But mine never has any really good nutty characters
beyond some of the people who work there. I think the nutty stuff is just because there are so many customers. Take
your best local restaurant ,make it 20 time bigger and you will see some odd and boisterous carachters.

[Ronald Blue]

I am not sure why you think that it's only Walmart that has these issues. Maybe in some ways it's worse but when I used to work in the Chicago area a lot I frequented a Home Depot when I needed something to get a job finished etc. I was always taken aback by the store condition. By this I mean the shelves were mostly in disarray. Things in the wrong place and mixed up. I concluded it was that area's customer base that was the source of the mess. I just think they couldn't stay ahead of the ability of the customers to trash it. I've never been in another that was remotely close to being in as big of a mess although I am sure they are out there. I will say that Walmart would see more of this because of also selling food and clothing. That brings a whole different crowd in on the 1st of the month with their free money.

[Gary Ragatz]

There are three Kroger stores within ~5 miles of my home. The one I shop at regularly, about a mile from home, is generally clean and well-kept. The staff are almost invariably friendly and helpful. The second, which I visit only occasionally, is about 2 miles from home. It always looks scruffy to me. Not dirty, exactly, and not exactly in disarray, but not what I'm used to. The third store is about 5 miles from home, and in a well-to-do area. Any time I stop in there, the store is pristine - everything clean and organized. The staff don't seem any better than at my "regular" store, but some of that may have to do with familiarity.

[glenn bradley]

Two Wal-Marts in the area 10 miles apart. Store "A" is very close to the atrocious store mentioned above. Store "B" is just a Wal-Mart. Store "A" is in a congested declining suburban area. Store "B" is in the same town at the fringe where horse property is giving way to high end homes.

[Brian Elfert]

I shop regularly at a Walmart in a fairly well off suburb. The store moved to a brand new store a few years ago and is very nice. It is not one of the stores that gives Walmart a bad reputation.

I had an occasion to shop at a Walmart in a lower income area a month or two after a complete renovation. The brand new sidewalk outside was covered in gum and other crap already. The inside of the store wasn't much better.

[Chuck Wintle]

A few years ago, I met a retail store manager who was transferred out of the area and then back to a near by area. Mrs. and I stopped at the local Walmart yesterday and then stopped in the store where my acquaintance works. The subject of customers came up. Mrs. mentioned that she is afraid to go to our local Walmart unless accompanied. The store manager laughed. He has been manager of five stores around the mid atlantic for the same chain. He said the Walmart we spoke of indeed has big problems, but it is more customers in general in our area. When he ran the store near us, customers constantly ripped packages open, dropped clothes on the floor, let their kids ride the stores bicycles down the aisles, etc. Rudest most inconsiderate bunch he ever had to deal with. People would open packages of food and eat some, then return the rest to the shelf. Some would come in and change underwear in the fitting rooms and leave their soiled items in the fitting rooms. Some women would change their infant's malodorous diapers and leave them on the shelf in the store. He was then transferred to a store 100 miles further north and said the customers were unbelievably better in every way. The incidents of theft and damage to goods was less than 10% of what it was in the nearby town. He claims he found that the customers in each area were different. Some more demanding but also more courteous. He likes the town he is in now (20 miles from the area where the customers are so atrocious.) And he likes it, except that he is in a tourist area and is not accustomed to dealing with some big city folk tourists.

I think it comes down to the amount of civic mindedness or lack of it in people as the reason for the poor condition of stores in declining neighborhoods. Also when one grows up thinking the world owes you a living and one is not responsible for his/her actions then these stores then these stores are targets. :(

[John K Jordan]

Yikes, where is this area? I wanna make sure I never move there, or maybe even visit!

None of the stores, Walmart, grocery, Home Depots, etc, seem like that to me. Even the discount stores are neat and people seem polite. Of course, I've never managed one - maybe the chean-up squad makes a sweep every few minutes and we don't see the nasty stuff. But kids running wild and playing with bikes and toys in the store - I've never seen that. Occasional whining, though! I've never once seen a police car or a disturbance at one of these.

Hey, there are some nice houses for sale around here and the cost of living is low. :)

JKJ

[Bert Kemp]

There are three Kroger stores within ~5 miles of my home. The one I shop at regularly, about a mile from home, is generally clean and well-kept. The staff are almost invariably friendly and helpful. The second, which I visit only occasionally, is about 2 miles from home. It always looks scruffy to me. Not dirty, exactly, and not exactly in disarray, but not what I'm used to. The third store is about 5 miles from home, and in a well-to-do area. Any time I stop in there, the store is pristine - everything clean and organized. The staff don't seem any better than at my "regular" store, but some of that may have to do with familiarity.I see the same thing in Kroger or in my case Fry's but its Kroger products. The closest one from my home is 12 miles and is okay but the one 25 miles away which I shop at most because its on my way home is really nice .

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Where? York PA. Doesn't matter what store. Walmart, Target, and some lesser chains. Kmart, Sears and Penny's left a couple years ago, Too many of the customers seem to be pigs. My wife and I noticed this a few years ago. The Penny's and Kohl's 120 miles north of here had much nicer merchandise and were so much neater. That is when my acquaintance told me that York PA has a reputation in retail for having terrible brazen customers.

[Tom M King]

Our Walmart is in the middle of the two poorest counties in the state. It's nothing like the atrocious ones mentioned here, and I've never even heard anyone complain. It's not just about people being poor. Lowes, and Home Depot do have good, and poor department managers.

[Bruce Wrenn]

My wife worked retail (pharmacy) for over twenty years. They had a special name for these customers- "The customer from Hell!" She had customers buy a "multipack, and try to return items as individual sales, or open a can of shoe polish, and polish their shoes. Go into ladies room, and find opened boxes of tampons with only one missing. Customer would open up a bottle of mouthwash, then put remainder back on the shelf. Our three local Walmarts (with in ten miles) serve several economic classes. All three are clean and well kept. Only thing I hate about Walmarts is self service check outs. If I wanted to be a cashier at Walmart, then I would apply for a job. Same goes for grocery stores, and other retail businesses. I try to not use self service check outs, as by doing so, I'm helping to get someone laid off. Ever notice that the average Super Walmart has over 300 employees, but only two cashiers at any given time?

[Brian Elfert]

My wife worked retail (pharmacy) for over twenty years. They had a special name for these customers- "The customer from Hell!" She had customers buy a "multipack, and try to return items as individual sales, or open a can of shoe polish, and polish their shoes. Go into ladies room, and find opened boxes of tampons with only one missing. Customer would open up a bottle of mouthwash, then put remainder back on the shelf. Our three local Walmarts (with in ten miles) serve several economic classes. All three are clean and well kept. Only thing I hate about Walmarts is self service check outs. If I wanted to be a cashier at Walmart, then I would apply for a job. Same goes for grocery stores, and other retail businesses. I try to not use self service check outs, as by doing so, I'm helping to get someone laid off. Ever notice that the average Super Walmart has over 300 employees, but only two cashiers at any given time?

For the Walmarts locally it isn't about using less labor with self checkouts. They can't hire enough staff to keep the store fully staffed even though they keep raising the starting pay.

You're welcome to stand in line for a real cashier. That leaves a self checkout station open for me. What I like even better is Sam's Club has the self scan app on a smartphone. No need to unload the cart to pay. You can each item as you load it in the cart.

[Dave Zellers]

What I like even better is Sam's Club has the self scan app on a smartphone. No need to unload the cart to pay. You (s)?can each item as you load it in the cart.

I don't understand how this would work without RFID.

[Jim Koepke]

I don't understand how this would work without RFID.

This also puzzles me. One of our local grocery stores does this. How do the keep dishonest people from taking advantage of this by not scanning every item?

Could it be they have tracking cameras in the store tracking the scanners?

What about items sold by the pound?

jtk

[John K Jordan]

Hmm, maybe it's something in the water.

I grew up south of Pittsburgh and people were not like that so it's probably not just the southern part of the state! (I tell people Pittsburgh is a good place to be FROM, but not because of the people but because of the winters. I don't think I'd last long in the real frozen north. :))

[Bruce Wrenn]

A friend, now deceased, ran a pawn shop. He got some tools in that customer wanted to sell. They were new in the box, which he opened and bought for ten cents on the dollar. He reports purchase to local law enforcement every day as required. Customer returns a week later with more NIB tools to sell, which he refused. Calls HD and tells them that tools are being stolen and resold. Even told them how crooks were doing it. They were using fake credit cards at self service check out to pay for tools. Since there was no one to check credit card, this system worked very well for crooks. Couple weeks later, security guy from HD shows up, and wants their tools back. Tom looked at him and laughed, as he had followed the letter of the law on buying and selling of tools. Told HD guy he should have given him a reward for figuring out how tools were being stolen. As a side note, many years ago, went into local pawn shop, and there were several NICE tools with an individual's name on them. I wanted to purchase some of them, thought they might be stolen, so that night look up owner and called him. He told me they weren't stolen. It seems that local judge had told him that if he had $500 towards his back child support. when he came to court, then he didn't need to bring his tooth brush with him

[Brian Elfert]

I don't understand how this would work without RFID.

They have the employees at the door who check carts as customers leave. They have a hand held device that they scan the bar code on the customer's phone and it brings up the customer's purchases on the device. They are supposed to check the list against the contents of the cart, but my experience is they barely glance at the cart. They check those with paper receipts more than than they do the ones who use their phone. Sam's Club also has self checkouts. The register paper for the self checkouts is/was a different color presumably so that the ones that did self checkout could be checked more closely at the door.

Sam's Club doesn't sell by the pound that I am aware so no issues there.

[Brian Elfert]

A friend, now deceased, ran a pawn shop. He got some tools in that customer wanted to sell. They were new in the box, which he opened and bought for ten cents on the dollar. He reports purchase to local law enforcement every day as required. Customer returns a week later with more NIB tools to sell, which he refused. Calls HD and tells them that tools are being stolen and resold. Even told them how crooks were doing it. They were using fake credit cards at self service check out to pay for tools. Since there was no one to check credit card, this system worked very well for crooks. Couple weeks later, security guy from HD shows up, and wants their tools back. Tom looked at him and laughed, as he had followed the letter of the law on buying and selling of tools. Told HD guy he should have given him a reward for figuring out how tools were being stolen. As a side note, many years ago, went into local pawn shop, and there were several NICE tools with an individual's name on them. I wanted to purchase some of them, thought they might be stolen, so that night look up owner and called him. He told me they weren't stolen. It seems that local judge had told him that if he had $500 towards his back child support. when he came to court, then he didn't need to bring his tooth brush with him

How did the pawn shop owner know how the thieves were stealing the items? How would a fake credit card work with the register? They must have been real card numbers that were stolen or the cards would be rejected.

[Bruce Wrenn]

How did the pawn shop owner know how the thieves were stealing the items? How would a fake credit card work with the register? They must have been real card numbers that were stolen or the cards would be rejected.He put two and two together when same guy came if with a second set of tools. HD happened to be right across the street from his shop. What they were doing is scanning CC elsewhere, and then transferring to VCR tape, which was then attached to a piece of poster board and run thru CC machine. That's why we now have chip and pin cards, but no one ever asks for online purchases.

[Mike Henderson]

They have the employees at the door who check carts as customers leave. They have a hand held device that they scan the bar code on the customer's phone and it brings up the customer's purchases on the device. They are supposed to check the list against the contents of the cart, but my experience is they barely glance at the cart. They check those with paper receipts more than than they do the ones who use their phone. Sam's Club also has self checkouts. The register paper for the self checkouts is/was a different color presumably so that the ones that did self checkout could be checked more closely at the door.

Sam's Club doesn't sell by the pound that I am aware so no issues there.

That's a good system. I wish Costco would do an app like that. There's always a long line to checkout at Costco.

Mike

[Myk Rian]

We had a Walmart in our town that lasted 3 years before they bailed out. We don't have Wal-Martians around here.
A Rural King is there now, and is a very busy store. It's like a Tractor Supply on steroids.