Watching Wal-Mart at Midnight(bread line of 21 century?)

WSJ ^ | 09/20/10

[TigerLikesRooster]

* September 20, 2010, 6:45 PM ET

Watching Wal-Mart at Midnight

This comment from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has been making the rounds on blogs and newswires the past few days. It says it all about the state of the tepid U.S. recovery. The Journal’s Al Lewis wrote about it yesterday.

Bill Simon, CEO of Wal-Mart’s U.S. business, at a Goldman Sachs conference last week, on behavior at a Walmart store around midnight at the end of a month:

“The paycheck cycle we’ve talked about before remains extreme. It is our responsibility to figure out how to sell in that environment, adjusting pack sizes, large pack at sizes the beginning of the month, small pack sizes at the end of the month. And to figure out how to deal with what is an ever-increasing amount of transactions being paid for with government assistance.

“And you need not go further than one of our stores on midnight at the end of the month. And it’s real interesting to watch, about 11 p.m., customers start to come in and shop, fill their grocery basket with basic items, baby formula, milk, bread, eggs,and continue to shop and mill about the store until midnight, when electronic — government electronic benefits cards get activated and then the checkout starts and occurs. And our sales for those first few hours on the first of the month are substantially and significantly higher.

[TigerLikesRooster]

P!

[Kartographer]

OBAMAVILLE

Gett’n a head fake,
watchin' msn’s take;
All of their pundits oozing foul oil.
Clean’n my six gun on my front porch swing.
Felling my blood--
It’s beginnin' to boil.

Wasted away again in Obamaville,
Searchin' for a job so I can earn my salt.
Some people claim that Bush is to blame,
But I know it's Obama’s fault.

There’s no rhyme or reason,
They are all commitin’ treason
With nothing to show but a brand new tax or two.
But they are real beauties,
Despotic duties, how they got passed
I haven't a clue.

Wasted away again in Obamaville,
Searchin' for a job so I can earn my salt.
Some people claim that it’s Bush we should blame,
Now I think,-- hell with them it’s Obama’s fault.

I blew out my flip flop,
Stepped on a pop top;
Cut my heel, but I just cruise on back home.
Because no medical care will the doctors render
They say there’s little service I can tender
And there’s no need for me to hang on.

Wasted away again in Obamaville
Searchin' for a job so I can earn my salt.
Some people claim that Bush is to blame,
But I know, it's my own damn fault.
Yes, and some people claim that Bush is to blame,
And I know because of my vote it's my own damn fault damn fault.

[Gaffer]

See it all the time at all hours.....more often than not I”m behind an EBT queen with a cart full of groceries and then whips out the little green backround Peach card (EBT card in Georgia). Thus far, I’ve only seen one skinny EBT queen.....

[Gaffer]

See it all the time at all hours.....more often than not I”m behind an EBT queen with a cart full of groceries and then whips out the little green backround Peach card (EBT card in Georgia). Thus far, I’ve only seen one skinny EBT queen.....

[Red_Devil 232]

They can't do that at the newest (3yrs old) super Wal-Mart in my town. It used to be open 24/7 it now closes at 11 or 12 pm.

They had more stuff being stolen than their sales!

[VanDeKoik]

!?!

My wife and I joke about this type of thing taking place.

I had NO idea that it was really happening!

[Feline_AIDS]

The only people I’ve seen at Walmart after 11pm were toddlers. The occasional neglectful parent, of course, but they’re few and far between.

Just the other day at Walmart there was a kid screaming at the top of his lungs in Spanish, and after about five minutes of the mother doing nothing, I went over and leaned down and put my finger to my lips and opened my eyes wide and went “SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.”

And guess what he did? He shut up!

Also, if kidnappers aren’t going to Walmart, they’re missing a fish-in-a-barrel situation.

[facedodge]

Thank you... I now know to avoid walmart on the first of the month. I already know to avoid it late at night, if not in general.

[PrincessB]

First of the month has always been busy in areas that have high populations that rely on government assistance.
I don’t know how long the midnight shopping has been going on, but I bet it’s not that new.

[Red_Devil 232]

Should read; They had more stuff being stolen overnight than their sales!

[PGR88]

...And to figure out how to deal with what is an ever-increasing amount of transactions being paid for with government assistance,

If this continues, we are doomed.

[djf]

The numbers I’m seeing are 70-80% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck...

At any given time, the US is only about one week away from Road Warrior...

[bert]

Know your customers
Serve your customers
and..... thereby become the dominant player in your business

[Buckeye McFrog]

he’s just torked-off because they paid millions of dollars for a computerized automated cashier scheduling system that did not account for this

[Adder]

Love it!

[Moonman62]

The numbers I’m seeing are 70-80% of Americans living paycheck to paycheck...

That's the way the government wants it.

[OCCASparky]

And not-so-basic items like steak, shrimp, etc. Then take a $100 bill out of their pocket, hand it to their significant other to buy smokes and booze (or complain about liquor laws after midnight.)

When those on "gub'mint assistance" eat better than I do, it's time to change the rules.

[Alice in Wonderland]

I went over and leaned down and put my finger to my lips and opened my eyes wide and went “SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.”

LOL, I've been known to do that . . . and it works every time!

[nodumbblonde]

The EBT users I see late at night certainly don’t have their carts filled with “baby formula, bread, milk and eggs”. Try chips, pop, candy and junk food.

I watched one tattooed, pierced-from-head-to-toe, 20ish girl with three young kids unloading her cart and never did see three ingredients you could possibly string together to make an honest meal for those little kids.