SHOPPERS are fed up with the new safety features that have been added to stores since the pandemic.
A Walmart shopper posted his frustrations on X and complained about the terrible customer service he experienced while inside.
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“I stopped at Walmart to pick up some spray paint real quick,” the post began.
“And, of course, it was locked behind glass,” he continued.
“I had to wait 10 minutes for someone to come and unlock it,” he explained.
“Literally, fuck this place.”
“Absolute rubbish staff and customers.”
“Walmart is hell,” they concluded.
Walmart responded to his tweet asking the poster to DM them.
“We would like to know more about this experience,” the Walmart account said in its comment.
Other customers shared similar sentiments online about the chain.
From most items being locked to issues with self-checkout, extra receipt checks, and a general lack of staff with a limited amount of checkout lines – customers have plenty of reasons to complain.
“The self-checkout process is already crazy, but they want to check my receipt for diapers and wipes in my cart,” said one customer on X.
Another customer went so far as to describe her shopping experience since Covid as “dystopian”.
She says the lack of staff, combined with the fact that everything is locked down, “makes it really impossible to shop in person.”
Major retailers like Walmart expect to lose more than $150 billion in combined shoplifting losses this year alone, according to research from Capital One.
It’s for this reason that many chains say they need to implement security policies such as receipt checks and extra glass shelves.
However, over the same period, corporate profits now represent the majority of national income over the past decade, according to the National Bureau of Economic Analysis.
In May, Walmart reported a quarterly profit of US$5.1 billion, triple the amount obtained just one year earlier, in the same quarter.
But even though the chain literally tripled its profits, Walmart continued to lay off thousands of workers, citing the need to cut costs due to those same losses resulting from theft and inflationary conditions.
Walmart continues to cut labor costs at stores, even announcing its plan to invest hundreds of thousands of dollars in expensive digital price tags that can be changed instantly.
After this news was first announced in early June, many customers and economists expressed their concerns on social media.
KEY INSIGHTS: Locked Items
In November 2023, WSL Strategic Retail interviewed shoppers about using theft-proof lockers for its How America Shops report.
Here are the key findings:
- 70% of shoppers have faced blocked merchandise when they were hoping to purchase an item.
- 78% of these shoppers said they received help from an employee and waited to purchase a product, although this number dropped for customers under 26.
- 12% of buyers said they refused to buy the product and many turned to the Internet or another store.
- Meanwhile, 10% said they had purchased a similar product that was available in the same store. Again, among Gen Z customers there was a difference, with 19% of them saying they did this.
Why 22% of customers didn’t wait for service?
- Most wanted to avoid additional complications.
- Many were unable to find a store employee and those who did said the employee had difficulty opening the locker.
- A third were angry that products were locked away
- A quarter said they did not have time to wait for assistance.
Source: WSL Strategic Retail
Some have pointed out that these new, instantly changing price tags could lead to inconsistent prices, raises and more layoffs, as fewer workers would be needed in stores.
“If it’s hot outside, we might raise the price of water and ice cream,” said Phil Lempert, a food industry analyst. NPR about the new change that will take place at Walmart.
“And if there is something that is close to its expiration date, we can lower the price – that’s the good news,” he continued.
It’s currently unclear how much Walmart plans to invest in these new labels going forward, but just 10,000 electronic shelf labels could cost between $60,000 and $100,000, according to wireless communications technology maker Solum. wire.
Wendy’s, for example, announced earlier this year that the chain may be planning to invest $20 million in similar high-tech digital menu boards, prompting a nearly identical reaction.
“Why is it so much easier to justify investing in technology than in people?” asked one person on X.
This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
