Posted on 02/16/2010 10:01:48 AM PST by Star Traveler
Published by diamondpoet
December 4, 2009
What is Walmart really up to.
Walmart is one of the biggest supermarket chains in the world. As of August 31, 2008, Walmart has as many as 100 food categories:
United States 4,227 total units.
International 3,210 total units
This is a time where families needs to make every penny count, Walmart expansion of it’s Great Value brand is replacing many of the name brands, we have used for so many years.
The new improved Great Value products — which has been appearing on shelves and various sections of the store, is slowly being integrated into Walmart stores across the country, within the past few months – will provide families with affordable and possible high quality groceries. This is some sales jargon that Walmart has come up with, but what is really going on?
Walmart is the company, that is famous for their roll-back slogan, and now it would seem that they are also trying to monopolize the food industry. I am all for savings, but I prefer quality products and good taste. I grew up with many of the brand names and it is what I am accustomed to.
There are a few thing that I could settle for, that is not name brand, but when I was shopping during the Thanksgiving holiday, I was looking for McCormick’s vanilla, this is the only brand that I use to make my pies. I discovered that Walmart had completely removed McCormick’s brand and replaced it with their own brand Great Value. I rely on McCormick’s products to prepare many of my meals.
I tried using substitutes, but there is no comparison to McCormick’s Seasonings. I have never shopped anywhere other than Walmart, because I was comfortable and they basically provided most of my needs.
It would now see that I am being forces to shop somewhere else. Walmart no longer stock all the brand names that I desire. Since Walmart is trying to completely eliminate the middle-man, what type of effect will this have on many of the distributors and will this also have a spiraling effect on the economy as well?
Since so many distributors rely on Walmart’s business, will they not suffer and be forced to downsize? I can’t help but wonder is this really going to benefits the consumers or hurt us even more?
It takes two parties; a willing buyer and a willing seller.....each is under no obligation to sell or to buy.
Over the holidays, I bought their Great Value snickerdoodle cookie dough. IT WAS SIMPLY AWFUL!
No, no!!!! No more BUSH!!!! Not now, not ever!!!!
Er, um.... sorry... reflex action...
Before buyng read the lable to make sure what you are buying isn’t coming from China! I do buy some Walmart products. Their plain white paper towels (I think there are 8 rolls in a appack?) are as good of quality as brand name are and fairly cheap.
This is hardly news as many supermarket chains both large and small have house label items for many products.
But, that's not what Walmart is doing and that's the reason I suspect it's going to end up a disaster for them, in the long run.
What Walmart is doing with certain selected name-brand products that compete with Walmart's own "house-brand" products -- is that they are completely discontinuing those name brand products.
There's the "disaster in the making" for Walmart, down the road.
And that's precisely what those other stores, that you are talking about are -- not -- doing... :-)
We shop at our Neighborhood Wal-Mart grocery store. (not a big Wal-mart but one focused on food instead.) Over the past few years, we have noticed prices go up up up on store brand and name brand items. We started buying the Sam’s Choice products because I refuse to buy a can of green beans for $1/can. That’s crazy. Of course, when other stuff is on sale, we buy the other stuff. We haven’t noticed a difference in quality. We buy the Great Value laundry detergent—smells great and seems to work just fine. We buy Great Value vinegar, sugar, canned veggies, and I don’t know what else. I haven’t noticed that seasonings have been replaced with GV stuff. Maybe it’s happened. I don’t know. If Wal-Mart is replacing name brand stuff with the GV stuff, it’s because they’re selling more GV stuff.
The prices at our Wal-Mart started going up when the gas prices skyrocketed. When the minimum wage increase went into effect, prices went up even more. The only products that we have seen decrease in price are milk and butter, and that varies. We watch sales a lot more than ever. The only people who’ve seen wage increases in the past 3 years are the folks on minimum wage, and a lot of good their wage increases did. They now pay more for food. And I’ve noticed that our Wal-Mart grocery has cut back on workers. Government mandated wages have a cost.
Surprisingly enough I bought a bottle of Haggen's brand apple juice for the kids. When I got home I noticed that on the bottle it said "Product of China." This from the company based in Washington where there are lots of apples. That stuff went down the drain, not into my kids.
Moral of the story, Evil Wal-Mart isn't the only company getting products from China. Some of the companies bad mouthing Wal-Mart are doing the same thing.
Before buyng read the lable to make sure what you are buying isn’t coming from China! I do buy some Walmart products. Their plain white paper towels (I think there are 8 rolls in a appack?) are as good of quality as brand name are and fairly cheap.
Well.., that's not going to catch it all. I've been told by someone else that some manufacturers of apple juice buy 50-gallon barrels of apple-juice-powder (don't know what to call it...) and then these companies "reconstitute it" here in the U.S. -- and thus, it's made in the U.S. -- but it's Chinese Apple juice (only the water is from the U.S... doncha know... LOL...).
You are 100% correct.
All one has to do is google “packaging plant” to get the real skinny.
Yes they have.
Our local Walmart almost didn't happen. They had to build outside the city limits because of being told no by local anti big box types. At first it was the cheapest, then as it became clear they weren't going to shut down other retailers in town, up went the prices.
Now the only reason to go there is it's more of a "one stop shopping" deal. Personally, I still prefer going to the other stores. I may have to drive to more than one, but I don't end up walking a half mile to get the few things I need.
LOL I thought I was the only one who had that pet peeve. I hate hearing Walmart called Walmarts!
We shop at our Neighborhood Wal-Mart grocery store. (not a big Wal-mart but one focused on food instead.) Over the past few years, we have noticed prices go up up up on store brand and name brand items.
Get this! I've got another one for you... :-)
I've noticed at the neighborhood Walmart that they sell their products for a higher price than the SuperCenter one, that is two miles away from the neighborhood store.
On one particular item that I have bought, it's 52-cents at one and 42-cents at the other. There's another product that I buy for $1... that is 90-cents at the bigger Walmart.
Now, that really suprised me when I found that out... hoo-boy!
And this is done consistently over a wider variety of products with the pricing difference varying, but always with the SuperCenter store being the cheaper place than the Neighborhood Walmart...
My Mom has been a name brand shopper for 50 years and wouldn't consider "white label" food items so I bet her 20 bucks she couldn't tell the difference. The law of averages said she should have been right 50% of the time. She was wrong 100% (we took 5 generic items from Wally World (canned corn, canned green beans mac-n-cheese etc.) and fixed them with no seasoning same for her brand name stuff (green Giant Kraft etc.) put them on matching plates.
She was wrong every time!
She now is a convert and buys only "white Label" stuff from Wally World, Krogers, etc.) she cut her food bill by over 40%!
There are some things that can't be replaced, A-1 Steak sauce is one example.
We are frugal food shoppers, we buy half a beef and a whole pig each year and then we look for chicken on sale at the market. We always try white label stuff and if it tastes good we take it over stuff that is nothing more than colorful labels and glitzy ad campaigns!
Most things are that way. There was a battery manufacturing plant in the town I used to live in... same thing. Stop the line, start putting "Duracell" labels on instead of "Eveready."
I shop by store flyer and am not loyal to any one store. Who ever has he best price is where I buy. I am lucky that all of the stores are within a 10mi radius to me. I don’t buy a lot from Walmart and even less now that they remodeled and thir prices went up so much. I do buy a 2# block of white Cabot cheese there because I can’t get it anywhere else but outside of that it is mostly cleaning products and paper products I buy there. Here they are most expensive that the grocery stores.
That's your choice, and that's nobody's business but your own.
I strongly disagree with your blanket statement, though. It is true that quality standards are lower for some generics, but it's also indisputable that some come off the same line and contain the same product as the more expensive national brand.
Think what you will, but your premise is not correct in all instances.
I have noticed that there are items that are sold cheaper at the big Wal-Mart down the street, but we only go there when absolutely necessary. lol It’s like shopping in Mexico. We also have noticed a difference between the big Wal-Marts. I much prefer the big Wal-Mart that is in another area of town. They have better produce prices. But for convenience, we usually go to the neighborhood grocery Wal-Mart. And we buy only what is a good deal at the regular grocery stores. (I always laugh at cake mix prices at Safeway. They’re like $2.25/box when not on sale. That is crazy.)
I bought a jar of apple juice years ago from WalMart. It was an old name brand that I liked but rarely bought because it was more expensive than other brands. White House maybe? After I brought it home and started to drink it, I found something about China on it. Maybe Processed in China? It was written in dark ink on the outside of the clear bottle, but you couldn’t see it because of the juice itself until after you drank it. It’s the last time I ever bought anything to eat or drink at WalMart.
HEY FOLKS, THEY CHANGED THE PACKAGING!!
Before, Great Value had different colors and logos on their products. Now the packages are predominantly white. They stand out more and people are noticing.
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