I been noticing Dollar Generals has been popping up everywhere.

Started by XamotCGC, June 28, 2022, 12:54:52 AM

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In_Correct

I hate them.


  • They are the supposed to be the answer for customers that like to shop at Walmart yet can not afford to or otherwise just do not drive to Walmart.
  • And also the answer for people travelling on highways where nothing else is around.
  • A substitute of Kmart.

Perhaps it would not be so bad if some of these new Dollar Generals are Dollar General Markets.

Quote from: KCRoadFan on June 28, 2022, 01:06:03 AM
I'm sure HB Elkins would know. He knows many things Kentucky.

I have been pronouncing it as "H. Belkins" the all this time.
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Road Hog

Another big attraction is that you can duck in and buy sundries without driving to Wally World and fighting the crowds. I wouldn't go there for fresh foods, though.

Their business model is interesting. Minimal HR costs, filling a needed niche.

Scott5114

The last job my wife's mother worked at was Dollar General. She started having heart problems. Dollar General was giving her the runaround about her insurance, so she never got to see the doctor. She ended up dying. My wife holds Dollar General responsible for her death, so we have a strict policy never to shop there.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: Road Hog on July 03, 2022, 02:32:30 PM
Another big attraction is that you can duck in and buy sundries without driving to Wally World and fighting the crowds. I wouldn't go there for fresh foods, though.

Their business model is interesting. Minimal HR costs, filling a needed niche.

Does anyone aside from my wife actually enjoy shopping at Wal-Mart?

Scott5114

What's there to enjoy about Walmart? You get crammed into a concrete and metal warehouse with a bunch of other people, navigating aisles that are so narrow you can barely get two carts past each other, looking for things that are constantly being rearranged so you can't find anything, all while the overhead security cameras ching at you incessantly.

The only good thing about Walmart used to be that they were 24 hours, so at least you could go at 2am when nobody else was there, but since the pandemic they actually close, so they're 100% useless now.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

Rothman



Quote from: Scott5114 on July 03, 2022, 04:19:26 PM
What's there to enjoy about Walmart? You get crammed into a concrete and metal warehouse with a bunch of other people, navigating aisles that are so narrow you can barely get two carts past each other, looking for things that are constantly being rearranged so you can't find anything, all while the overhead security cameras ching at you incessantly.

The only good thing about Walmart used to be that they were 24 hours, so at least you could go at 2am when nobody else was there, but since the pandemic they actually close, so they're 100% useless now.

Wow.  Walmarts suck even worse where you're at.  I don't enjoy Walmarts, but they do vary in quality.  There are two in my area.  One has a smaller selection and narrow aisles.  The other's aisles are fine.

Neither has chinging cameras.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: Rothman on July 03, 2022, 04:27:15 PM


Quote from: Scott5114 on July 03, 2022, 04:19:26 PM
What's there to enjoy about Walmart? You get crammed into a concrete and metal warehouse with a bunch of other people, navigating aisles that are so narrow you can barely get two carts past each other, looking for things that are constantly being rearranged so you can't find anything, all while the overhead security cameras ching at you incessantly.

The only good thing about Walmart used to be that they were 24 hours, so at least you could go at 2am when nobody else was there, but since the pandemic they actually close, so they're 100% useless now.

Wow.  Walmarts suck even worse where you're at.  I don't enjoy Walmarts, but they do vary in quality.  There are two in my area.  One has a smaller selection and narrow aisles.  The other's aisles are fine.

Neither has chinging cameras.

The local stores have all the security theater beeping and booping cameras too.  The local Wal-Marts are big on one-way corrals and demanding receipts for even the most insignificant of purchase.  My refusal to show my receipt for a 20oz Mountain Dew at the Kings Canyon Wal-Mart is something my wife will likely never forgive me for.

hbelkins

The Jackson, Ky. Walmart (a smaller WM dating back to 1985, not a supercenter) has the chinging overhead cameras but only in the health and beauty aisles. Do they really have that much of an issue with people shoplifting shampoo or toothpaste?


Government would be tolerable if not for politicians and bureaucrats.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: hbelkins on July 03, 2022, 05:27:30 PM
The Jackson, Ky. Walmart (a smaller WM dating back to 1985, not a supercenter) has the chinging overhead cameras but only in the health and beauty aisles. Do they really have that much of an issue with people shoplifting shampoo or toothpaste?

Yes, generally most Walmart LP managers I've met usually say they expect 200 plus shoplift apprehensions a year.  That number is just what they catch, figure there is a 10-1 ratio for what they miss.

Scott5114

There was one time I was looking around the health and beauty aisles for some thing that my wife sent me for that I'd never heard of, so I didn't know exactly where it was. After having been chinged at by the same half-dozen cameras about 50 times, I finally was so pissed off I left the store without buying anything, went home, and ordered it on Amazon.
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bwana39

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on July 03, 2022, 04:16:36 PM
Quote from: Road Hog on July 03, 2022, 02:32:30 PM
Another big attraction is that you can duck in and buy sundries without driving to Wally World and fighting the crowds. I wouldn't go there for fresh foods, though.

Their business model is interesting. Minimal HR costs, filling a needed niche.

Does anyone aside from my wife actually enjoy shopping at Wal-Mart?

My sister-in-law loves it. It is like a day at the mall circa 1990. I used to work there and on my day off, i would stay away.

Let's build what we need as economically as possible.

bwana39

Quote from: hbelkins on July 03, 2022, 05:27:30 PM
The Jackson, Ky. Walmart (a smaller WM dating back to 1985, not a supercenter) has the chinging overhead cameras but only in the health and beauty aisles. Do they really have that much of an issue with people shoplifting shampoo or toothpaste?

The most commonly shoplifted item in Wal-Mart is in the HBA department.  No, it isn't shampoo, toothpaste , or even adult diapers (note humor.) It is condoms and pregnancy tests.  They tend to take them out of the boxes and ditch the boxes in the shelves.  The running joke was / is  we (the Associates) hope the shoplifter still needed the condoms.
Let's build what we need as economically as possible.

SectorZ

Quote from: bwana39 on July 04, 2022, 11:07:45 AM
Quote from: hbelkins on July 03, 2022, 05:27:30 PM
The Jackson, Ky. Walmart (a smaller WM dating back to 1985, not a supercenter) has the chinging overhead cameras but only in the health and beauty aisles. Do they really have that much of an issue with people shoplifting shampoo or toothpaste?

The most commonly shoplifted item in Wal-Mart is in the HBA department.  No, it isn't shampoo, toothpaste , or even adult diapers (note humor.) It is condoms and pregnancy tests.  They tend to take them out of the boxes and ditch the boxes in the shelves.  The running joke was / is  we (the Associates) hope the shoplifter needed the condoms.

I can confirm this working in one from 1996-2001, you would find TONS of empty packages of each of those all around the store. That dept. in general has one of Walmart's higher shrink rates.

I can also confirm my hometown location has the overhead dinging cameras all over the place. When I worked there (pre-Supercentre conversion) those theatrics were missing, though having the women's fitting room associate (who took all outside calls) page "security cameras A and B now scanning" every hour was almost as ridiculous. Actually, now thinking of it, it was much more ridiculous. I guess any era of Walmart has something dumb going on at it.

Scott5114

Quote from: SectorZ on July 04, 2022, 06:17:00 PM
having the women's fitting room associate (who took all outside calls) page "security cameras A and B now scanning" every hour was almost as ridiculous. Actually, now thinking of it, it was much more ridiculous.

Pffft. "Security cameras A and B now scanning" implies that the rest of the time, security cameras A and B aren't scanning. Just steal shit then.
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US 89

Am I really the only one who doesn't really have much of an issue with shopping at Walmart? I don't give a shit about whether there are one-way gates at the store entrances or whether there are security cameras above me. If someone wants to see my receipt, whatever. It takes like 5 seconds of my time.

Sure, their huge size does make it kind of difficult to find stuff on occasion if it's an unfamiliar location, but I find their lower prices worth it.

hotdogPi

Quote from: US 89 on July 04, 2022, 07:59:24 PM
Am I really the only one who doesn't really have much of an issue with shopping at Walmart? I don't give a shit about whether there are one-way gates at the store entrances or whether there are security cameras above me. If someone wants to see my receipt, whatever. It takes like 5 seconds of my time.

Sure, their huge size does make it kind of difficult to find stuff on occasion if it's an unfamiliar location, but I find their lower prices worth it.

The issue with Walmart is with their business practices and how they treat their employees, not the customer experience inside the store.
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epzik8

Stand-alone stores have been Dollar General's approach for some time now. They're convenient for small towns without big-box prospects.
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Scott5114

Quote from: US 89 on July 04, 2022, 07:59:24 PM
Am I really the only one who doesn't really have much of an issue with shopping at Walmart? I don't give a shit about whether there are one-way gates at the store entrances or whether there are security cameras above me. If someone wants to see my receipt, whatever. It takes like 5 seconds of my time.

Sure, their huge size does make it kind of difficult to find stuff on occasion if it's an unfamiliar location, but I find their lower prices worth it.

I mean, is it a deal-killer? No, not necessarily, especially if they have something I need right away or which is impractical to order online (heavy, fragile, perishable, etc.). But the shopping experience is so much better at the local Crest grocery store, and the prices are more or less the same (some things are cheaper there, some are cheaper at Walmart, so it evens out), that I would rather just avoid it altogether and use Amazon whenever I need something Crest doesn't have.
uncontrollable freak sardine salad chef

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: Scott5114 on July 04, 2022, 08:50:22 PM
Quote from: US 89 on July 04, 2022, 07:59:24 PM
Am I really the only one who doesn't really have much of an issue with shopping at Walmart? I don't give a shit about whether there are one-way gates at the store entrances or whether there are security cameras above me. If someone wants to see my receipt, whatever. It takes like 5 seconds of my time.

Sure, their huge size does make it kind of difficult to find stuff on occasion if it's an unfamiliar location, but I find their lower prices worth it.

I mean, is it a deal-killer? No, not necessarily, especially if they have something I need right away or which is impractical to order online (heavy, fragile, perishable, etc.). But the shopping experience is so much better at the local Crest grocery store, and the prices are more or less the same (some things are cheaper there, some are cheaper at Walmart, so it evens out), that I would rather just avoid it altogether and use Amazon whenever I need something Crest doesn't have.

On a professional level as someone who has worked in Loss Prevention for 20 years it's hard to shop at Walmart.  They do basically all the wrong things for theft deterrence and try to sell through their inventory shrink.  It's hard for me to walk through a store and not see things I've been trained to see as being bad for two decades.  Granted it generally works out for Walmart, all the same why would I subject myself to having to shop within their security theater hell scape if I didn't have to?

thenetwork

Walmart is making money hand over fist.  I'm sure they have budgeted for the annual amounts of shoplifted products just like how the spend $$$ on frequent remodels of their stores.  I have a 4 year-old Walmart Neighborhood Market around the corner from me that has gone through no less than 3 "remodels".   That's 3 remodels more than what the dinosaur Sears and Kmarts have done in the last 50 years!!!

Walmart really capitalized on their nationwide growth during their "Made In The USA" campaign era.  Once in place, they quietly opened up their inventory to overseas exports.  THAT'S my beef about WALLY World.

Max Rockatansky

#45
Quote from: thenetwork on July 04, 2022, 10:42:49 PM
Walmart is making money hand over fist.  I'm sure they have budgeted for the annual amounts of shoplifted products just like how the spend $$$ on frequent remodels of their stores.  I have a 4 year-old Walmart Neighborhood Market around the corner from me that has gone through no less than 3 "remodels".   That's 3 remodels more than what the dinosaur Sears and Kmarts have done in the last 50 years!!!

Walmart really capitalized on their nationwide growth during their "Made In The USA" campaign era.  Once in place, they quietly opened up their inventory to overseas exports.  THAT'S my beef about WALLY World.

Yes, on a Profit and Loss Statement it usually is designated as a Shrink Reserve.  Considering the  Inventory Shrink dollar amount is divided by Net Sales to get a Shrink Percent it is easy to hide a bad shrink result with high sales.  Where retailers get exposed is when Net Sales fall below forecast expectations.  I'm far more impressed when a store can operationally obtain a low Shrink Percent result and remain profitable with lower Net Sales.

Regarding Sears, they had over $10,000,000,000 in cash reserves before the last big recession.  They chose to try to own most of their properties outright rather than reinvest into store remodels.  It bit them in the butt, but really get them into a death spiral was getting into bed with Kmart and Eddie Lampert. 

The question in my mind is, how long can Walmart sustain it's current model before pushing customers away?  They found a way to adapt to online competition, but really the Walmart model remains low cost and lowest common denominator customer experience/service.  At some point just like Sears before them, someone will come around who can offer what Walmart does and not have it come off as the ghetto-police state. 

Rothman

Walmart's the only gig in town for a whole lot of people.  They're never going to lose significant numbers of customers.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: Rothman on July 04, 2022, 11:01:46 PM
Walmart's the only gig in town for a whole lot of people.  They're never going to lose significant numbers of customers.

People did say similar things about Sears.  If one thing is true about corporate America, it's that nothing is forever.

Rothman

Quote from: Max Rockatansky on July 04, 2022, 11:02:54 PM
Quote from: Rothman on July 04, 2022, 11:01:46 PM
Walmart's the only gig in town for a whole lot of people.  They're never going to lose significant numbers of customers.

People did say similar things about Sears.  If one thing is true about corporate America, it's that nothing is forever.
Walmart's customer base is different than Sears.  They have a lock on the lower classes.

Stop giving me hope to the contrary.  Of course, they'll probably be replaced by something even worse for our society.
Please note: All comments here represent my own personal opinion and do not reflect the official position(s) of NYSDOT.

Max Rockatansky

Quote from: Rothman on July 04, 2022, 11:04:50 PM
Quote from: Max Rockatansky on July 04, 2022, 11:02:54 PM
Quote from: Rothman on July 04, 2022, 11:01:46 PM
Walmart's the only gig in town for a whole lot of people.  They're never going to lose significant numbers of customers.

People did say similar things about Sears.  If one thing is true about corporate America, it's that nothing is forever.
Walmart's customer base is different than Sears.  They have a lock on the lower classes.

Stop giving me hope to the contrary.  Of course, they'll probably be replaced by something even worse for our society.

To your point, that's the hook that Walmart caters to the lower income demographics.  It's not as though the lower income brackets tend to have much choice than Walmart when it comes to a big box store.  The other big box retailers don't want to compete because they know it will take big sales numbers to make it profitable.  At present moment it's only smaller retailers like Dollar General who tend to find niches to exploit where Walmart doesn't have much of a presence.  It might not coming any time soon, but someone will inevitably find a way to exploit Walmart's niche.  I would be curious to see how Walmart would react if it suddenly had legitimate competition for their customer base.



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