Posted on 02/21/2010 11:45:36 AM PST by Captain Peter Blood
About six months ago Wal-Mart instituted a new reorganization at the store level and I would like to know in this space of time what your shopping experience at Wal-Mart has been.
Before the reorganization there seemed to be enough help to service the customers, keep the floor stocked and take care of the store. Since the reorganization it seems the opposite is true.
Six months ago the store management structure was changed along with hiring and staffing procedures.
Wal-Mart now has a store manager, at least two shift managers, they supposedly handle all day to day operations; Several assistant managers, a new position called Zone Merchandise Supervisor, and the Department Managers.
The Zone Merchandise Supervisors are in charge of what is known as pads, those are large areas of the store such as Apparel, Entertainment, Grocery and Hard Lines. These people took over several of the functions that the assistant managers had except they are paid hourly. They supervise the Department managers and merchandise their areas. A lot of responsibility for basically a two dollar an hour raise.
All hiring is done through a district hiring office, there is no hiring allowed at the individual store anymore. Wal-Marts plan is for most all stores to be 70% part time workers and 30% full time. All hiring needs for a store have to be in the form of a requisition to the district hiring office, especially if it is for a full time position.
All hiring and staffing needs are based on the allotted hours for a particular department and more importantly how many pieces of merchandise are sold on an hourly and day to day basis. These figures are updated on a monthly and quarterly basis.
The implementation of this plan though has lead to staffing shortages and an inability for management, especially the Zone Merchandise Supervisors to be able to do their jobs as originally outlined.
The following is a typical day in Wal-Mart Store management routines:
At around 7:00 AM the Store Manager tours the store with the day Shift Manager where they take notes of what needs to be done.
At 8:00 AM there is a management staff meeting where various notes are given out to the assistant managers for their areas.
At 8:30 AM the assistant managers meet with their area Zone Merchandise Supervisor to give them the notes they got and the ZMS divvies those notes out to the area Department Managers to get done usually by the close of business that day.
Next up is, starting at 9:00 AM the Shift Manager, and a assistant manager along with an area ZMS do a more detailed tour of an area where more notes are generated that will be given to a specific Department manager to do in a specific time frame.
These type of tours go on all day to catch every ZMS’ area to tour at least one department.
Then at approximately 2:30 p.m. and again at 4:00 p.m. ZMS’s and then assistants meet with senior store management to see how many notes were completed for the day.
So you see the new structure is about giving out tour notes, things that need to be addressed or done in departments , Zones of the store and, a lot of meetings.
One of Sam Walton’s most famous quotes for Associates was that,” We’ll take care of the associates and they will take care of the customers”. I am not sure I believe that is true anymore.
What have your shopping experiences been in Wal-Mart these last several months? Have you found things about the same or have you found customer service lacking? Are the front check- out lanes always crowded with not enough cashiers?
I would like to hear feedback on this in order to gauge what is going on in other parts of the country.
I just recall lots of kids, out of control, running around screaming and their parents who looked as if they were not capable of raising a goldfish.
DITTO! my shopping trips to Wal-Mart are down to about twice a month and I get as little as possible, mostly my coral Calcium and hubby’s jelly beans. When there was a fabric department I bought other grocery items there...clothes are shoddy made in china crap now geared for teens, not my old qeezer age.
The last time my sister went to walmart the bonehead ghetto cashier asked her if she “had enough kids” (she’s got 8 beautiful children ranging in age from 3 to 16). My sister answered her, “Somebody’s got to contribute bright, beautiful children to the gene pool.” ‘Nuff said.
My closest Walmart is the only one still selling guns/ammo.
There are some great deals at Costco, the quality is good, the store is clean and their shoppers actually change their children’s diapers on a regular basis.
Gone from bad to worse. We have two in Idaho Falls. One sucketh mightily. I avoid the other like the plague. Seems like I have problems finding what I want because they are out and they don’t seem to care anyway.
My problem is the people that frequent the stores. Low class, overweight, and slovenly. The parking lot is littered with trash; the store is too. There is merchandise on the floor, no customer (except me?) will ever pick it up... people waddling around buying cheap Chinese garbage that they don't need and can't afford on their credit card with their ugly, dirty kids running around...
The employees are different. The older, non cashier workers are nice, friendly and helpful, especially the guys who help with returns that stand by the door at night. The younger kids are worthless and would be better off forced into building a Giza-sized pyramid out of the thousands of plastic soft drink bottles that line the parking lot and surrounding landscape
Depends on the location of the Walmart. The SC store in high class Los Colinas is poorly stocked 9/10th of the time, while the other SC just 10 miles down the road in middle class Grapvine is cleaner and ALWAYS stocked plus the employees are friendlier and helpful. The Walmart on Midway in Dallas is Spanish only but is well stocked and the employees are helpful.
The Walmart on Forest is DREADFUL.
The employees and customers openly curse and are rude to the each other.... but it just seems normal to them in that part of town. Cell phone talk by employees is everywhere. When you ask for help it’s like “Can’t you see I’m busy and on break”? The local customers are LOUD and rude. I’ve seen them dump merchandise on the floor and just leave it there to go talk on the cell phone. The lines are long and people actually block the main thoroughfare in front of the check out lines trying to prevent the line from being broken by people walking though. The parking lot is race track and ear splitting music is played from guys just waiting in cars for their current girlfriends to finish shopping.
I come really close to having an anxiety attack when I go to Wal-Mart. Way too many people, too many kids running around unattended, the aisles are too narrow, and too few check out lanes. The parking lot is always packed like the day after Thanksgiving shopping. I only go there if it’s the only place I can get whatever it is I need. Thank goodness that only happens about 3 or 4 times a year.
I haven’t been to WM in a while. Sounds like they are centralizing in a way that Sam Walton would have hated.
My Wal-mart has gone way downhill starting last fall.
They used to greet you with a smile, and offer a cart at the door. Now when they actually staff a greeter, they turn their backs when you walk in, and/or stand around talking to other staff while you maneuver your cart around them.
The shelves aren't stocked properly anymore either. I called one manufacturer who said that Wal-mart had lots of their product in stock, but the woman I spoke to in the store told me they weren’t allowed to order product from the warehouse. “Only head office does that.”
Yep- since they do not carry fabric I basically do not shop Walmart because that was what took me into the store, even though it was only so so fabric. Where my daughter lives, fabric went out, scrapbooking was expanded. The comment I made online to Walmart at the time was there were four other stores in that town to buy scrapbooking supplies. None to buy fabric.
“their shoppers actually change their children’s diapers on a regular basis.”
You just summarized a huge amount of information in very few words!
“...and I would like to know in this space of time what your shopping experience at Wal-Mart has been.”
The Wal-Mart in Stoughton, WI is superb. ‘Little Old Norwegian Grandmas’ run the registers (all Farm Gals; you should see them throw around 50 lb. bags of dog food!) while their Grandkids manage the store and the departments.
The store is always neat as a pin, super-clean, well-stocked and organized.
There isn’t a single thing I buy there ever few weeks that is not from a local distributor and Made in the USA.
But then, a few towns over, the Wal-Mart where my Mom shops is a dirty, filthy mess with surly help. She hates it.
How the owners can allow such extremes is a puzzle...but IMHO, the younger generation of owners are just milkin’ it for the cash, now that Sam Walton is gone.
A great many variables impact the operating overhead that MUST be met simply to open the doors, turn on the lights, bring in the cashiers, and stock the shelves, long before the company can even think about a profit. All of these costs are part of the price of every single item.
This is not just specific to Walmart. A lot of national chains function this way.
At least one WalMart here in ABQ still has fabrics - noticed them day before yesterday.
Last time I went, I waited 30 min for someone to open the case and sell me the only box of .357s.
rscully—
Good for your sister.
I remember back to the early 90’s an on the job interaction I had. I was working with one woman (who was “PC when PC wasn’t cool,”) She was just aghast that another woman in the office was pregnant with her third child. In her view, 2 should be the absolute max and more than that was a drain on the environment and everyone else’s resources.
At the time I was already pretty sure I would be single for life and not have children so I simply told her, “Oh, that’s okay, she can have one of mine.” It was one of the few times she was actually left speechless.
—
CatDancer— “your favorite place and mine (sarcasm) ping”
Wally-world is the store of last resort.
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