Same with suppliers. In Sam’s day Walmart’s buyers were tough negotiators but once the deal was done, it was a deal. Unlike department stores who struck a deal and then played games with chargebacks, delayed payments and after the fact requests for allowances. In those days you could make a handshake agreement and expect them to adhere to it as long as the supplier delivered. In those days buyers had a tremendous amount of power, were decisive, and most were good merchants who knew how to drive sales.
I no longer sell to the company (by choice) but I’m told by people who do it is a different ball game. Buyers no longer have decision making power, they are administrators who do what they are told. The people higher up are indecisive and avoid commitment. It sounds to me as though the company has lost its entrepreneurial drive and is becoming bureaucratic. Likely the store managers no longer have the freedom they once had and will fire employees to be “safe”.