Our local Walmart has ONE lane for buying cigarettes. My wife & I don't smoke, but that's the side of the store that she parked near on this one particular day. Well, the cigarette lane also happens to be the ONLY "10 items or less" lane on that side of the store. She went to that lane with just a few items. She and another customer in that lane found themselves behind a woman with a shopping cart overflowing with merchandise! They talked about it between themselves, and the woman overheard and said "When I get my cigarettes, I'll be nice and go to another checkout", and that's what she did. When my wife got to the cashier, she said "I hope you would have asked that woman to move to another lane", and the cashier said "Oh, NO! I'm not allowed to do that! This is the only lane for purchasing cigarettes, and I have to take them, no matter how many items they have."

So:
(1) Why can't a cashier at a full-cart checkout send an employee to that lane to get cigarettes? Why do customers buying cigarettes HAVE to go to THAT lane, and that lane only?
(2) If they're going to make that the ONLY lane where you can buy cigarettes, why make it "10 items or less", and then tell the cashier she has to take everyone even if they have a full cart?
(3) Why isn't there another "10 items or less" lane on that side of the store?
(4) Would it do any good to complain to someone at the store, on the website, or anywhere else in the Walmart organization?
and
(5) Why did I spend all this time writing this post, when I know it won't do any good?

Why do you shop at Wal Mart?

I have no answers sorry.

I went to wally world last night. I got 2 thing and there was one lane open. Guess who i got stuck behind? Yep, the 400lb heifer with a cart loaded of little debbies. I feel bad for the fate of those delicious snack cakes. But anyways, all walmarts are the same. Full of hicks, fat people on scooters and dumb ass employees.

quote Originally posted by Cheever3000: Our local Walmart has ONE lane for buying cigarettes. My wife & I don't smoke, but that's the side of the store that she parked near on this one particular day. Well, the cigarette lane also happens to be the ONLY "10 items or less" lane on that side of the store. She went to that lane with just a few items. She and another customer in that lane found themselves behind a woman with a shopping cart overflowing with merchandise! They talked about it between themselves, and the woman overheard and said "When I get my cigarettes, I'll be nice and go to another checkout", and that's what she did. When my wife got to the cashier, she said "I hope you would have asked that woman to move to another lane", and the cashier said "Oh, NO! I'm not allowed to do that! This is the only lane for purchasing cigarettes, and I have to take them, no matter how many items they have." So: (1) Why can't a cashier at a full-cart checkout send an employee to that lane to get cigarettes? Why do customers buying cigarettes HAVE to go to THAT lane, and that lane only? (2) If they're going to make that the ONLY lane where you can buy cigarettes, why make it "10 items or less", and then tell the cashier she has to take everyone even if they have a full cart? (3) Why isn't there another "10 items or less" lane on that side of the store? (4) Would it do any good to complain to someone at the store, on the website, or anywhere else in the Walmart organization? and (5) Why did I spend all this time writing this post, when I know it won't do any good?

No walmart cashier can tell any customer to go to another lane. If a customer were to tell another customer to go to another lane, likely as not, security would be called and the cutomer with the "overage" would be allowed to stay and the complaintant would be ejected.

Why?

The customer with the most items in his/her cart is far more valuable to walmart than the one with the fewer items.

Walmart!!!???

quote Originally posted by 87antuzzi: ..... and there was one lane open.

Must have only been a little more than three hundred shoppers in the store.

(1) Why can't a cashier at a full-cart checkout send an employee to that lane to get cigarettes? Why do customers buying cigarettes HAVE to go to THAT lane, and that lane only?
Because people put up with it.
(2) If they're going to make that the ONLY lane where you can buy cigarettes, why make it "10 items or less", and then tell the cashier she has to take everyone even if they have a full cart?
Because people put up with it.
(3) Why isn't there another "10 items or less" lane on that side of the store?
Because people put up with it.
(4) Would it do any good to complain to someone at the store, on the website, or anywhere else in the Walmart organization?
It would do no good at all. Wal-Mart does not care about one. One does nothing, One Thousand does nothing to their bottom line. IT would take a large hit to their bottom line to get Wal-Mart to change. Why are people not saying anything, see 1-3.

Brad

Our Wal-Mart is a stupid center. It had 28 lanes, but only 1/4 of them are ever open at any time. During the Christmas Madness they may have 1/2 of them open, but I have NEVER seen all of them open at any time. They recently remodeled and removed 6 lanes, replacing them with self-checkout lanes that nobody uses (because they SUCK).

I fail to see the logic in this.

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1986 SE 350 V8

China mart is into controlling you, just like every other corporation. They want you to buy what THEY want you to buy.

They have been trying to heard us into this
“Well if they don’t have what I want I guess I have to settle for what they have.”

All they care about is the dollar that you give them, the more the better. They put a few and I mean a very small number of items on sale in their flyers to pull you in. I know all stores do that, but they are worse than all of the others combined.

The cigarette prices are higher than the local gas station and the only reason the cattle that shop there buy them is then they don’t have to make another stop.

Even if it is on the way home.

I personally drive 2 miles to go to a tobacco shop for smokes cheaper by a buck a pack from china Mart and still cheaper by a few cents than anyone else in town.

There is no reason you can’t have a register clerk go over to the one that sells the smokes and get them for you. Now they used to do that, but I am not sure if they still allow that. Ask the next time you are in there.

I am sure I will have to go there today for something and will ask, if I remember. Ain’t that a joke, me remembering anything?

Steve

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Technology is great when it works,
and one big pain in the ass when it doesn't.
Detroit iron rules all the rest are just toys.

quote Originally posted by tesmith66: ... replacing them with self-checkout lanes that nobody uses (because they SUCK).

Self-check works great when you have a few items and want to get out fast by avoiding a slow cashier.

Unfortunately... there's always 2-3 people (when you have 4 self-checks) who don't know what they're doing or have a cart load of stuff (or both) that bog everything down. Self-check should also be an express 15 or less items line.

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My World of Wheels Winners (Click on links below)

3.4L Supercharged 87 GT and Super Duty 4 Indy #163

quote Originally posted by fierosound: Self-check works great when you have a few items and want to get out fast by avoiding a slow cashier.

The day they give a discount for using the self check-out will be the day I start using it. I don't work for Wal-Mart. I refuse to do their job for them.

I use the self checkout at Walmar, at Home Depot or any place that has them. I can check the prices and get through faster. Anytime I use a checkout lane the person in front always seem to have some issue at the register, the debit card doesn't work, the credit card doesn't work, some item doesn't have the USP code in the computer or wait until everything is bagged and in the cart and then fumble opening a purse, finding the wallet, finding the cash. Then stand in the way so I can't get into the line. I find this is a problem with most stores.

quote Originally posted by Cooter: The day they give a discount for using the self check-out will be the day I start using it. I don't work for Wal-Mart. I refuse to do their job for them.

I don't have all day to stand in line while they slowly "do their job".

quote Originally posted by Old Lar: I use the self checkout at Walmar, at Home Depot or any place that has them. I can check the prices and get through faster. Anytime I use a checkout lane the person in front always seem to have some issue at the register, the debit card doesn't work, the credit card doesn't work, some item doesn't have the USP code in the computer or wait until everything is bagged and in the cart and then fumble opening a purse, finding the wallet, finding the cash. Then stand in the way so I can't get into the line. I find this is a problem with most stores.

Amen! Not only do I want to get out faster, but I feel it's my duty to not hold up those behind me. If I do have to use a conventional register, I have my debit card in hand and run it though the machine before they are even done with a total. It drives me up a wall to see someone wait until everything is bagged and at the last instant, pull out a bunch of coupons. Once that is done, pull out a checkbook and start to write the check.

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84 2.5
87 328 GTB replica.
87 Coutach replica

Every month my cousin was the shopper that everyone would get annoyed at for being in that lane with literally 2 carts and around $400 worth of items. Every single time she had to have a manager called over and go through the same arguing routine, because she didn't want to purchase cigarettes in one lane, and then go wait in another lane to buy everything else and also having to make 2 separate purchases as well. Eventually the cashier would be told to handle the entire order, the customers would be redirected and even some times another register opened for them.

My cousin would have had no problem going to a normal lane, and getting the cigarettes there, but they would never ever allow that for some reason, even with a store manager involved. It was crazy.

Coupons and checks will be things of the past at Walmart. You are going to see more and more government funded debt cards (welfare).

Sad... but hey, checkout will go faster

quote Originally posted by Cooter: The day they give a discount for using the self check-out will be the day I start using it. I don't work for Wal-Mart. I refuse to do their job for them.

I agree 100%

If people would stop and think for a minute what those self checkout lanes mean.

Every self checkout that is being used is a cashier out of a job.
If a self checkout saves the company money by not having to pay a cashier, shouldn't the user get a discount?
Most "bag yourself" grocery stores say that by bagging yourself you are saving money on products, why would you do the same thing for more?
Almost every time I am at Wal-Mart I see someone waiting for a member of management at the self checkouts. Don't they know that the cashiers get paid by the hour for that?

I personally will wait in line for a real cashier, then while they are checking out we can discuss how much we both hate the store.

Brad

Forgot to comment on the original post. My other half worked for Walmart years ago as a cashier. She would get into arguements with her superiors because if a customer had more than the 20 items in the express line, she would tell them to go to another line. The supervisors said that she was supposed to let them through anyway, well..... my girl was stubborn and would argue the point of "Then why have a sign and an express lane?" Eventually her supervisor gave up and just wouldn't post her on the express lane. LMAO!

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84 2.5
87 328 GTB replica.
87 Coutach replica

quote Originally posted by WBailey1041: Why do you shop at Wal Mart? I have no answers sorry.

x2

The customer is always right. The 10 items or less is just a suggestion to keep smart people out of them.

Regarding self-checkouts, when I started seeing them pop up in the stores, I thought "customer service" has hit a new low. And like others here I will not use them until there is a discount for doing the work myself. Every time my wife inists on using it, something goes wrong (and we're intelligent people who know how to push buttons and read the damn screen and follow directions), and the employee watching them is always helping somebody else at the time. Plus, at any given time, some of them are out of order.

The good news is I recently read that Walmart and others are removing self-checkouts because of people constantly trying to take stuff they didn't pay for. It can't happen soon enough, imo.

Regarding why I shop at Walmart - there is a growing list of items we routinely buy that are cheaper there. And don't preach to me about buying American, because I'm living paycheck to paycheck and MUST get the best value. Don't blame me if that means it was imported, blame someone else, whether it's the company, other countries, or our own government. I'm just doing what I gotta do. It's simple economics.

Every week on grocery shopping day, we go to 3 stores on our side of town. For over a year, I have been tracking prices of things we buy at all 3 stores plus the dollar store and the health food store. I call it our "price book". I use it to compare not just regular prices, but whether something is cheaper on sale at the higher-cost store vs the regular price at the lower-cost store (often it isn't). The different stores sell different sizes, so I write down what the prices are by ounce or by serving, etc. That book also helps us spot trends and then we may switch brands or switch stores for certain things.

Anyway, just thought I would address those subjects. As for the original problem, I guess it does no good to complain to Walmart. They aren't listening and they don't care. They just want our dollars. I sometimes wonder if the savings is worth dealing with the scum of the earth who also roam the aisles there, but I simply can't afford to buy everything at the upscale grocery store that I like to shop at.

One more thing. We gave up taking re-usable bags at Walmart. We got tired of the cashiers cursing because they won't fit on the little bag rack thing. But what made us totally quit using them was when the cashier tried to find the PRICE for the BAG. We said no, we brought that WITH us. She said "Oh, you want me to put your groceries in this?" OMG!!!

I'd love to see the "XXX Items or less" lines actually stop at XXX Items, and that be that. but - in the end - the "XXX Items or less" is NOT a law. its not even a rule. it is a suggestion.

and - for the orginal post - you CAN in fact go thru any line you like, and then ask the cashier for the smokes of choice, and they will go and get them for you. no 2 lines required.

Call me crazy but I HATE going to Wal-Mart and aviod it like the plague! There are a few main reasons I aviod the store. All the product they sell is CRAP; they do not sell a quality product. 2) they jam pack the main isles with pallet displays so that two carts cannot pass. 3) their staff is only slighly better than trianed monkeys 4) the lines to check out are insane 5) " the people of WalMart.

I'm not a rich person but shopping WalMart isn't worth the hassle. I would rather go to K Mart or Target or the local chain discount store. Most of the time if I keep my eyes open I can find better deals at these other retailers.

quote Originally posted by Hank is Here: I'm not a rich person but shopping WalMart isn't worth the hassle. I would rather go to K Mart or Target or the local chain discount store. Most of the time if I keep my eyes open I can find better deals at these other retailers.

The problem is that the majority of the country does not have other stores readily available. We can now get to a Wal-Mart with a 20 minute drive. The nearest K Mart, or Target is at least an hour away, and I think Target is twice that. If we want a "super" K-Mart, or Target, (do they have super Targets?) I wouldn't know how far we would have to go.

We have a choice here, Wal-Mart, or local small town Grocery Store. When I was earning enough to be able to afford it, we drove to Springfield and did our main shopping there. These days that's just out of the question.

I have a route. The wife writes down a list of everything we need. I then drive past Wal-Mart to the local grocery store, I go down the isles and write down every price and the size of everything on my list. (some things are not always available), then I go to Wal-Mart, and I do the same thing, whenever I get an item that is less I put it in the cart. After Wal-Mart I go back to the other store, if I have to I leave the car running, and lock the car with my backup key to keep food from going bad.

Usually on the "average" 75 dollar a week food budget I can save 25 dollars (sometimes more, sometimes less). Right now I am working in an area where there are decent priced grocery stores, so I can save even more.

I also add the difference between stores since I have the totals, I have thought about starting a website, if I had purchased everything at Wal-Mart instead of price shopping I would spend an average of $10 more per trip than just getting it at the local grocery store.

Some of the "low price guarantee" items at Wal-Mart are priced 3-5 dollars more than the other store, people don't even notice how high it is, they just pick it up, and believe the big smiley face.

Brad