What to I buy at Wal Mart?

1) I buy food there. It’s a very good supermarket that’s only four miles away. It’s clean, uncluttered, and well stocked. The next closest supermarket is a very nice Albertsons that’s eleven miles away, and the next closest beyond that, another Albertsons, is twenty miles away. The products are the same at all three. I can’t see any advantage to driving more to get the same products at higher prices.

2) I buy generic products there, such as oil for my vehicles, a broom for my floors, bags for my vacuum, duct tape for my garage, and so on. Again, these are the same products I could buy elsewhere, but I would drive further and pay more.

What do I not buy at Wal Mart?

1) Obviously, things they don’t sell. (That’s a joke — get over it.) I’m a big customer of Lowe’s and I have a favorite hardware store, both over twenty miles away.

2) I buy products elsewhere when there is a noticeable advantage to doing so. Lawnmowers come to mind, and here’s why it’s a good example. I used a Honda tractor-style riding lawn mower, purchased new, from 1993 to 2001. It was a magnificent machine: two cylinders, water cooled, comfortable, quiet, …, I could go on and on. I sold it to my brother when I moved to a place that had no grass to cut. Then I moved here and the miserable so-and-so wouldn’t sell it back to me. It’s been through twelve seasons and still runs like it’s new. It works great and looks great. So, I bought a new Scag, spending over $6,000 on it. It will still be running fine, and will be worth some thousands of dollars, twenty or thirty years from now. My brother’s Honda still is, as is his Grasshopper. All three are high quality, serviceable tools, not throw-away consumer trash.

So, I’m picky about what I buy. I buy quality where it matters, and I go where I have to and pay what I have to when I do so. But, when I buy generic, I buy it where the price is the lowest and convenience the highest, which is Wal Mart.

For example, CDs .. want to stick it to them? They sell some of those at a loss. Go into Wal-Mart and buy those CDs where you know that’s the story and nothing else. Buy items where Wal-Mart loses and guess what happens to them if enough people do that … or don’t shop there period?

And Wal-Mart hasn’t succeeded at everything they’ve tried to do. Remember the Wal-Mart music download service?

I don’t have a ton of money, frankly, but even I refuse to shop at Wal-Mart anymore. The guilt just isn’t worth it.

They’re building a WalMart just 11 miles from here in Poulsbo. I’m dreading the traffic and riff-raff that’ll draw.

I used a Snapper mower for years when I was a kid. The thing never broke down. Good on ‘em for pulling out of WalMart.

1) Availability: They are open 24hrs. It was 9:30 PM. Nevermind what I was doing vacuuming that late at night.

2) Price: The vacuums there range from $45-$100 something. So I dropped $65 for another vacuum cleaner.

I knew that I could get a cheap vacuum, and I don’t expect it to last more than 1.5 years or so. I consider them ‘disposable vacuums’. Ever feel and smell a carpet cleaned by a new vacuum? Ever smell what a 2-3 yr vacuum does to your carpet?

Of course we could spend $800-$1,200 on a nice brand new Kirby that will last 10-20 years. Thats not very good math though. Because it’s really a wash in the long run spending.

Iv’e had some friends who have worked at Walmart. According to their claims, they were treated terribly.

On those notes, I think it was smart of him to move his snapper mowers from them. Most people who shop Walmart aren’t going to drop that kind of cash for a quality product. At least I know I wouldn’t. If I was in the market for a mower or anything in that higher price range I would do more window shopping first. Walmart wouldn’t even be on the list. After checking online first I would probably visit Sears, Home Depot, Menards and the local hardware merchants.