The Problem with Walmart

Let me preface this piece by saying that I think Walmart is a great business concept. It sells goods available at hundreds of locations for cheaper prices so we all save money by purchasing from them. Others can argue whether Walmart is beneficial or not; I don't really care. It's a free market and Walmart is winning in their industry - everything else is just sour grapes.

There isn't another company that I'm aware of that employs people who serve no actual purpose to the company. I'm talking about greeters, of course. They do nothing for the company, they don't make the experience better; I'd even argue that some of the them make the experience just a little creepy. They serve no real function to Walmart. They don't stock the shelves, they don't checkout customers, they don't help customers find items; they just stand around and say "Hello!" and get paid for it - and from my experience there this weekend they get paid for following me around for just a little bit too long.

Anyways, back to my story. I don't shop at Walmart as much as I used to. We just got one down the road from me, but I've been finding that I go to Publix more and more often, even though I can get the same stuff cheaper a few miles away. So this weekend, I decide to go grocery shopping at midnight. Nevermind the overly creepy greeter I encounter tonight; I'm sort of used to that.

But I buy everything I need, including meat and fruit. The fruit, as always, is cheaper than Publix, but it doesn't taste as good either. The bananas have a slightly different texture and less taste as if farmed if in lower quality farms or where-ever. The broccoli tasteless and not fully green like I'm used to from Publix, either. All-in-all, disappointing fruit and vegetables. Sad.

But it's the meat products at Walmart that always disappoint me. It seems that, no matter what I choose, the meat is dry and has a weird aftertaste that makes me wonder what these things are being fed before served to us. Every beef product I've bought at Walmart lately has this same strange quality  - or lack thereof.

So, I guess I'll have to do my shopping before 10 pm now and wander down to Publix for my groceries. No more midnight shopping though, I think I'll miss that. Nothing quite like having a store to yourself and the stock people and the strange greeting people.