Do managers have the key to Wal-Mart's (WMT) success?

I'd recommend getting in touch with Brian White.

As a Wal-Mart employee, I agree that the company is having problems. To keep it short, the company needs to look at keeping employees. Insurance that actually helps families and not the catastrophic care stuff they have now. True vision care not an in-store discount program. Listening to customers and their concerns. The company really needs to try to get back to having a fun place to work. Let local management actually run the store, instead of constantly being watched by upper management. And my big problem, allow loss prevention associates to do their jobs, and stop tying their hands because the company is afraid of being sued. If this company could lower its theft loss by 1%, then it would recover nearly $1.8 million this year. But fear of lawsuits are literally making it impossible for loss prevention to stop this increasing problem.

Hmm, I actively tried (successfully) to get my company to provide us with catastrophic coverage, as opposed to the comprehensive plans. I would never go back to comprehensive. The difference in cost to the company is deposited into an account that we get to use for routine medical expenses throughout the year. I never use healthcare and I always felt like the patsy that was paying for everyone elses healthcare, I only need health insurance for heart attack, cancer or a major car wreck, other than that health insurance for me was a waste of money.

I hope that maybe Lee Scott and gang will read these ideas put forth. Maybe before the ship sinks the shareholders like Warren Buffett will use their clout to bring Lee back into the real world. He could be put back on probation for 6-12 months ,if WMT lasts that long, then terminated with no severance of any kind as a condition of the probation. Points to ponder maybe?

What is wronge with Wal - mart ? Well they are cutting thier own throats. to many ,to close together
. one walmart was doing 1.2 million aweek
built another aprox 10 miles away sell went 150,000
what does this say? Then they have hired outsiders
to set pay scales with no way of getting raises like before. they hired a competetion man . that came in and changed things .To the compettions way , Then he quits and and goes back where he came from. huh? they have no idea what goes on at store level
then there are to many chiefs and not enough indians.. every has to add a new policy.

I left after 15 years with Wal-Mart. There are too many people making decisions that affect stores and the people who work in them, without seeking input from the people affected by their money-saving plans. The company makes changes without considering all of the ramifications to all the different people the decision will affect. Trying to keep investors happy, Wal-Mart has forgotten about two main groups that kept the company growing during its first 30 years - the associates and the customers. Needing to show a profit to keep Wall Street happy, has cut employee morale and irritated Main Street.

I do not work at Wal-Marts nor would I ever want to.

In BloggingStocks, who exactly, are you referring to when you say "managers"? Are you talking about the individual store managers? Is there actually a "real" person who is the store manager?

I cannot tell you how many times I have been in Wal-Marts & asked to speak to the manager in the past 4-5 years. NEVER have I been able to speak to a "manager" for various reasons, mostly because I'm told he/she is unavailable [not in the store].

Instead, the usual MO is for some 'kid', who probably isn't even old enough to buy beer, pointed out as the person in charge.

I won't bore you with all the details but these 'kids' all seem remarkably alike. Always male, very young, unkempt, look like they slept in their clothes, need hair cut/combed, shoes untied, pants dragging on the ground, gum chewing, shirt tucked halfway into pants [belt optional even if pants have loops]. Most more or less speak English as a first language but their language & grasp of grammar leads one to believe perhaps they are thinking about working on getting their GED in their spare time. They also have the attention span of a flea & are incredibly inempt. As a group they are rude and more interested in talking up girls or goofing around with other guys working in the store.

I have been called a liar, told "shut up & leave me alone" & asked if I'm hard of hearing. I have had two of these "managers" say nothing, turn around & walk away before I've even finished speaking. Others shrug & say "lady, what do you want, everything?", etc, etc, etc. Rude! Rude! Rude!

Emailing Wal-Mart's corporate office gets one zero satisfaction. I have sent no less than 6 emails in the last 2 years and have never received the courtesy of a reply not even one of those annoying computer-generated one-size-fits-all useless responses.

While individual employees may well care about their jobs, their company & the customers, I believe the attitude(s) exhibited by "managers" is a top-down issue. If I, as a customer am treated like dirt, I can only image how the employees are treated!

My local store is a filty, disgusting mess. Common items are frequently missing from the shelves for weeks or months. There's never anyone working in the store to ask for assistance who knows anything about a particular department [and that's assuming you can actually locate any employee]. The noise level is so high most of the time that you cannot hear yourself think. Even though there are 10-15 checkout counters, never are more than 3-5 open at one given time no matter how busy/crowded the store is. One person usually works the Customer Service counter & there's always a line at least 10 people deep. In my opinion, sections of the store harbor fire hazards with narrow aisles, blocked aisles, etc.

In the past 2 years the quality of the merchandise has deteriorated noticably. Brand name products are being systematically replaced by no-name bargain-basement made-in-China brands. I also have noticed a increase in damaged merchandise [seriously dented/smashed boxes, etc].

Most items in the store have no prices. The shelves either have no price stickers or the items on the shelves don't match the stickers. The price readers hidden here & there rarely work & there's normally a mob waiting to try to use them.

Common items that have been carried for years are frequently just dropped. This is frustrating & annoying. This is primarily in Health/Beauty Aids, First Aid items and the vitamin section, although this practice is systemic throughout the store.

It is quite obvious that whoever is sending merchandise to my store has no clue what items are "popular" in my area of the country.

Whoever decides what size of clothes come into a store for sale should take a look at the customer base. We have a fair amount of larger size folks who shop at Wal-Marts. The clothes racks are chuck full of extra-small/small & if you're lucky 1-3 of each item in larger sizes, which get snapped up the day they are put out for sale.

To add insult to injury in the women's clothes section, about 18 months ago they changed the sizing. An extra large used to be 18-20. Now it's a 16. Pity the woman who needs a 26-28 as they've pretty much done away with that size altogether. Factor in the piss-poor quality which almost always equals clothes made smaller to save a buck or two & Wal-Marts has single-handedly wiped out clothes for people who already have difficulty finding their size.

Obviously the larger sizes sell out. When there's an after-season markdown rack, it's usually filled with very small sizes; all the large sizes are long gone. To my way of thinking, this is blantant discrimination based on size, never mind just poor business practices.

All Wal-Mart employees of assistant-manager & above, need to take some basic Marketing 101 classes in addition to sensitivity training. Some persons could benefit from personal hygene/grooming classes as well as basic common social skills, such as every day manners and courtesies. I have to wonder about the "manager" who did the hiring of some of these folks......

I used to be a regular Wal-Mart shopper but not any longer. It is quite obvious they do not want my business or even care if they're loosing business. Sam Walton must be twirling in his grave at what has happend to his "dream".

To those of you who are brave enough to work at Wal-Marts, you have my respect and sympathies.

Is the grass growing over Sam Walton's grave?

I don't think so!

Why? Because he would be turning over and over in his grave from seeing what HAS BEEN DONE to his company.

When Sam was alive, "Life was Good for Everyone!!!"

From a former Wal-Mart A....... (nix the "A" word) battered, abused, worn-out, and discarded slave