Wal-Mart Starts Rare Newspaper Ad Blitz

[yardwork]

U.S. National - Reuters
Fri Dec 3, 1:12 PM ET

By Martha Graybow

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc, hurt by sluggish sales over the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, on Friday launched a rare advertising blitz in newspapers across the United States touting price cuts.

The No. 1 U.S. retailer took out full-page color ads in newspapers in as many as 50 markets to promote price reductions of up to a third on products ranging from portable DVD players, appliances, tools, to stuffed Elmo toys.

The ad campaign follows poor November sales reported by the retailer on Thursday. Wal-Mart does not typically advertise in newspapers, preferring to promote its products in its monthly circulars and on some television spots.

Edit: Forgot the link:

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=1896&ncid=1896&e=5&u=/nm/20041203/us_nm/retail_walmart_advertising_dc

[NMDemDist2]

1. boohoo poor Wally Mart, is it coming home to you now that when all the

jobs go overseas there is no one left to buy your crap??

d'oh!

[schultzee]

33. F Wal-Mart, I hope they keep losing business

[Born Free]

40. todays so called "good christians" buy at Wal-Mart

They want you to remember; Christ wants more Wal-Mart to make more profit and the only way to really show Christ you care is to give more of your money to Wal-Mart, after Christmas you can go back to sending it all to Jerry Falwell or Pat Roberstson. This is a "CHritian" country rember to do the "Christian" thing and give all your money to Wal-Mart.

[NMDemDist2]

41. yeah except WM supports state run abortions in a big way

after all China is the only country on earth that FORCES women to abort healty wanted children

but who cares about life when DVD's are only $30

[blondeatlast]

44. "Wal-Mart funds FORCED abortions."

I like it, I like it!

[The Zanti Regent]

45. Stand up for LIFE and shop Costco

http://www.costco.com/

Shop at Costco, where workers are treated with dignity and the management tells the Whore Street Journal to go CENSORED itself!

[blondeatlast]

54. They did? Oh, my--got a link?!

The only two big boxes I patronize are Target (they are very generous to the library I work at--on Monday I get to spend 25,000 of their donated dollars on early literacy books; that's all LOCAL, too!) and CostCo.

I have a friend whose husband is a CostCo manager; they really helped her out when hubby went to Afghanistan and they held his job for him.

I need that story; hope you can provide a linky?!

Anyone?!

[joeunderdog]

67. I'm there.

I only patronize stores that treat their employees and customers respectfully. I'll pay extra if I have to.

[ally_sc]

60. serves them right

a friend of mind's parents have sam's club stock and shop at Wal mart constantly, and are real right wing chrisitians, ugh...freedom to beleive whatever ya know.
i know i was guilty for a long time...now i just use dollar stores but have been thinking about joining costco.

[yardwork]

2. They're fighting back! Don't succumb!

Don't buy at Wal-mart. Avoid all big boxes. Buy at local stores. Starve the Beast.

[MindPilot]

5. not all big boxes

Costco is ok. Unionized and donated a lot of money to Dems.

[progressiveBadger]

12. I heard that before...

good to get a confirmation. Now I know I will shop there. Stupid WalMart Sams....

[Fleshdancer]

19. I LOVE Costco

I got my membership last Monday and I love it. Knowing that they donate to the Democratic party and treat their employees well makes the experience that much better. :)

[TwentyFive]

20. I LOOOVE my local hardware store & natural foods market. Avoid big boxes!

Thank you. My local Cole Valley hardware store here in San Francisco is 100 times better than all the walmarts combined. I can go in there, ask for some obscure item, and they always have the product for me. Also, the management seems to treat the employees well.

Local stores are a great system...big box retailers screw it up, so a few stockholders can get obscenely rich.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

23. I know that store

A scene from a Clint Eastwood movie - a car crash - was filmed across the street from a hardward store in Cole Valley one day when I was there. I can't remember the name of it, but it had two very wide front windows, and it was a really great, old-fashioned place.

This was long ago - 1988, I think.

[yardwork]

25. CostCo is good, that's true. In general, though, avoid big boxes

[genieroze]

69. I don't buy junk anymore, Walmart sells junk.

Everything I have ever bought there was defective, the only things that aren't are things like soap. Now I won't go there at all, they kiss republican butt, so I gave them the kiss off.

[durablend]

3. I'll bet you they don't really reduce anything

All they'll do is fix the signs to make the items look cheap...for example, a certain widget will go from:


((($19.94)))

to:


(((WAS $24.94)))

(((ROLLBACK)))

((($19.94)))



And the freeper sheeple will lap them up like there's no tomorrow.

[JNelson6563]

7. Yes, that's exactly what they do

I know, I spent a couple of years in the belly of the beast, marketing dept.

Julie

[Streetdoc270]

22. I go there just to walk the isles and point that out

The local Wall Mart has all these 'rollback' tags that say (no joke)

19.92

Was

19.99

I wait untill theres a crowd and usually a manager type nearbyand in my most sarcastic voice say "WOW Look at how much I can save on that!!!"

Drives 'em nuts :devil:

[NMDemDist2]

42. be sure to say "CHINA??? great! they force women into abortions

as a state run policy!!!!!"

make em think on that one a minute

[girl gone mad]

29. Or they have one or two reduced items..

as bait and everything else in the department will be priced HIGHER than other local stores.

They mentioned this on the Frontline program about Wal-Mart. They said most consumers would be lured by the sale item and would be too lazy/busy to shop around. Based on the lure item (and Wal-Mart's undeserved reputation), they would just assume that Wal-Mart had the lowest price on everything else as well.

[yankeedem]

48. Link to frontline program, watch it online

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/view/

Although I didn't see what the big news was there, lots of companies have been doing it for a hundred years. It's only a bait and switch if the sale item isn't available.

[jmowreader]

61. The funniest was/is I ever saw

We had a lamp we were trying to get rid of because no one liked it, so we called Atlanta and told them we wanted to clearance it. They said fine, no problem, let us change its status to Clearance for you; how much would you like to sell it for? Great, wonderful, consider it done. In about an hour print out a tag and get rid of them.

In an hour we put yellow paper in the printer and ran a tag. It read:

Was $24.95
Now $24.95

It really "was" $39.95, so it was a savings, but we had LOTS of people ask what the hell we were doing.

[Lefty48197]

4. The boycott is working! Keep it up!

Fuck Walmart.

[ladjf]

15. Damn straight! I believe that the 3.9% drop in sales for

WalMart may be DIRECTLY the result of people's displeasure with the way they are running the company. Don't buy anything from them.

[Just Me]

28. I said I will never shop at Wal Mart,...and I freakin' meant it!!!

I'm sick of feeding the sharks that eat the dolphins.

[MichiganVote]

6. Yes to locals. Yes to Costco. No to Walmart.

[ikojo]

8. The two Americas are becoming evident even to

the average person. I was with a friend last week and we were driving down Lindbergh Blvd in suburban St Louis. We passed Plaza Frontenac, an extremely upscale mall in wealthy West St Louis County, the parking lot was full.

We passed the Galleria Mall, still kind of upscale but with a far more diverse clientele both socio-economically and racially. The lot was not nearly as full as the one at Plaza Frontenac.

If Wal-Mart is hurting why don't they follow Henry Ford's advice and pay their people a wage that allows them to purchase the stuff they sell.

[sambird90]

16. South side hosier!

I love that we have kept them out of our city.

[uncle ray]

34. actually they're following henry ford way too closely

he made a cheap product too y'know. for example the cheap bastard reused shipping crate wood as floorboards. he even required suppliers to provide their crates to the proper dimensions, sound familiar?

and walmart doesn't have to pay their slaves much to buy $30 dvd players.

[sendero]

43. Perhaps Ford's greatest insight...

... was that in order for cars to become a mass-market item, people had to be able to afford them. He paid his own worker $5 a day, a very high salary for comparable labor at the time.

Ford did lots of stupid things but that wasn't one of them.

[yankeedem]

49. The rest of the story...

Henry Ford had detectives looking into the personal lives of his $5 a day factory workers, if their "morals" were "questionable", they were summarily released.

If Walmart were to increase starting wages to $10/hr and give benefits after 30 days (you know, like most companies) that would be a start.

[Brundle_Fly]

9. BAN WALMART!

[Straight Shooter]

10. I haven't shopped for years at W-Mart

Not since they pulled that bait-and-switch of forcing American companies down on prices so they could have their "Buy American" campaign, many companies lowering wages for their employees in the process, and then W-Mart dumping them for cheap Chinese goods.

W-Mart is evil.

[roguevalley]

11. either the economy is worse than we know or someone is

boycotting these geeks.

[NMDemDist2]

13. it is and we are n/t

[electricmonk]

14. In related news...

Dollar General (DG:NYSE - news - research) Wednesday reported a lower third-quarter profit, as higher energy prices hurt spending by low-income consumers, the company's core customer.

http://www.thestreet.com/_gfn/stocks/retail/10196810.html

When people can't afford to shop at the Dollar store yo know things are bad.

[ellie]

17. I think Dollar General

is a big repuke contributor but I can't find the thread where it gives that info.

[arkie dem]

47. Wasn't the * tax cuts supposed to put more $

in our pockets to spend at the Dollar Generals and Wal Marts??? I thought * was doing us lower income wage earners a favor by screwing with the taxes. Who would have thought energy prices would go through the roof if we had a successful texas oil barron as president???

Just think of all the lower to middle income wage earners who voted for the evil bastard. Stopping Gays from marrying is more important to them than their financial well being.

I have one thing to say to them.

Merry FUCKING Christmas

[yorkiemommie1]

18. been to walmart twice

found them to be dirty. after the LA Times published a series of articles on how they treat their suppliers, squeezing every little bit out of the sweatshops to the point where there were no bathroom breaks, just to shave a penny or so off their costs there was no way my conscience would let me to there. Costco is great. I even get my contact lenses there. I'm glad we have one here.

[Dulcinea]

68. I hate Walmart too.

The aisles are too close together. Makes me feel claustrophobic. Also, cheap, low-quality merchandise, censored magazines & music, rednecks...an all-around miserable shopping experience. I avoid it like the plague.

[GHOSTDANCER]

21. WATCH IT NOW!!!! Do it.......Doooo it!!!!

<http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/view/>

[NYC]

27. Walmart FORCES American companies to move to China.

Refuses to pay the prices required for the companies to stay in America. Is that the Frontline program you are recommending? If so, everyone should watch it.

Also clear is that the savings of buying cheaper products from Chinese manufacturers increases Wal-Mart's profits, not the consumer's costs.

[girl gone mad]

31. Exactly.

Saving a penny or two on a pair of socks won't make one bit of difference to the average consumer. Wal-Mart saving two pennies on every pair of socks they sell, however, makes a huge difference to Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart forces their suppliers to cut costs down to the bone, and then they keep bulk of the savings for themselves.

Wal-Mart is just about the most horrible shopping experience a person can have in terms of the aesthetics of the store and the customer service available from employees. It's clear that customer satisfaction is not a priority. The priority is to make as much money for the founders and executives as is humanly possible.

[Z_I_Peevey]

24. Wow.

Things must be unpleasant in Bentonville.

I know the boycott effort is spreading. My eldest daughter called me prior to Thanksgiving to let me know about boycotting Wal-Mart. She said she has talked several of her 20-something young mother friends into boycotting Wally World.

[Chicago Democrat]

26. Oh people had enought of cheap tatty crap...

:boohoo:

[napi21]

30. What do you suggest for food shopping that's a cheap as WM?

I never shop there, but my son, who agrees that he hates them, says there staple stuff like canned goods, cereal, etc is enough cheaper that his other options, he can't afford not to buy that stuff there.

It's a long divorce story that you don't care about, but he really doesn't have any spare money.

[Chicago Democrat]

32. well then good for him....

I can afford to not support the nazis; I understand that everyone can't. I judge no one, especially the poor.

[Erika]

35. Costco Can't Be beat on Meats!

You may have to break the large packages down but it's still a great savings. Like 40 to 60%. The same goes for much of their groceries. Their fruit and veggies trays for parties are about 30 to 50% of the cost you buy elsewhere. I'm really sold on Costco because I had never been there until about a month ago and am totally impressed.

[NuttyFluffers]

46. they do have excellent meats and produce.

it's just hard to eat it all, i suggest getting a Food Saver product or 5 -- from costco!

seriously though, their meats are excellent. i trust them thoroughly in comparison to the other groceries (except maybe andronicos or something high-end like that). and with meats, never go cheap, it means your health.

produce is awesome too, love buying pallets of fruits in season. it's time people learn to buy products in season too. not everything was meant to be eaten year round.

if you buy in bulk you get real savings, you just have to sit there and do the math to realize it. most people are easily swayed by price labels, but don't calculate net weight:cost ratio. if you do you'll realize costco is the real deal.

[flygal]

36. Look at sales fliers from other stores

my mom looks every Wed and plans her shopping accordingly. Clip coupons, buy store brands. The meat at Walmart is disgusting. Learn to cook economically. Don't feed the beast.

[lakeguy]

37. damn, i hate walmart almost as much as *!

i hope those tax stealing, poverty wage paying m-fers get their due!

[Piperay]

38. I doubt that their typical

shoppers even read newspapers or much else for that matter.

[saigon68]

39. I agree---- toothless wonders

[GreatCaesarsGhost]

50. has anyone seen their new ads about

their new reading program. i saw it friday. i doubt it's anything
more than pr, or maybe they are having problems finding literate workers.

[Mr_Spock]

51. Boycott those losers.

BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART, BOYCOTT WALMART!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm never EVER going into that Repuke trash outsourcing censoring employee bashing Bush supporting ChinaMart again.

Good riddance.

[steely]

52. The word smarmy comes to mind when I think of these guys...

and their tactics.

[GoldenOldie]

53. WalMart's are Fire Hazards

Has anyone been in a Walmart that wasn't dirty, with crowded aisles of "SALE" items sitting atop wooden pallets that jut out and trip unsuspecting customers. It is it is difficult to steer one shopping cart never mind passing one going in the opposite direction. The heavy-laden, indiscriminate placement of wares, and the smells /odors offends the sensibilities that the shopper departs the stores in a state of confusion, headaches and nausea. Shopping at Walmart's may save a few pennies but it sure isn't conducive to a healthy life-style for their customers or for their employee's. Imagine having to work in this environment on a daily basis?

The few times I have entered a Walmart I ponder what would happen in the event of a fire? Aisles and exits are difficult to manipulate. What would confused and panic-ed customers do? I vow never to cross their threshold again but occasionally am with someone who just has to buy that one thing they can only get at Walmart? But, immediately upon leaving the store I have pointed out those sensibility issues that my shopping partner had felt but had not associated to the store...I have convinced a few that Walmart is not a healthy/safe or really inexpensive environment.

[at colo liberal]

55. They are fire hazards! Here's what to do....

All big stores like Walmart will have fire exit doors spread around the building in case of a fire. They are NOT allowed to block those doors in anyway, shape or form (from the inside or the outside of the store). I know that in a good majority of the stores around the country, if you were to take a walk around the inside and the outside of the store and look for the fire doors you will be amazed at what you will see. I have seen fire doors with storage racks up against them, merchandise against them, dozens of bikes blocking the way, and that's not even looking at the outside of the store. Often on the outside of the store, they'll have pallets or merchandise blocking those doors as well.

What to do? Fire marshalls have a funny way of not appreciating that kind of thing... Take a trip to your local walmart this afternoon, take a walk around the building, find ANYTHING blocking the fire doors, and write a letter over the weekend to your local fire marshall. Take the letter to their office first thing Monday, and they WILL do something about it. Or you can call the fire marshall monday morning. A funny thing about fire marshalls is that once they find a problem like this at a certain spot they will hound them from that point on. Better yet, if you find a particularly scary fire exit blockage, call your local news channel, tell them that you are scared of the possibility of hundreds of lives lost if there were to be a fire, tell them what you saw - and it might make it on the news keeping people out of that walmart.

[lolly]

56. Welcom to DU, colo liberal

And thanks for the ideas!

Taking a picture of any violations might help too!

:toast:

:bounce:

[at colo liberal]

57. Thanks!

Thanks for the welcome lolly!

I despise Wal-Mart, and haven't shopped there since early 1998.

Pictures are a great idea! I used to have some prime examples of some pictures, but I lost them when I changed computers.

There was one store that had three 10' tall storage racks filled with merchandise against the inside of a fire door, and the outside of the fire door was one of their chainlinked storage areas. The storage area was probably 10' wide x 20' long x 10' tall and it was PACKED with merchandise. If there would have been a fire in that store, there is no way that anyone could have used that door, even if you had cleared out the items blocking the door from the inside, you wouldn't have been able to get out because of what was stacked outside.

[mountainvue]

58. Starve the beast! n/t

[SoCalDem]

59. I saw 50% off of Christmas merchandise...TODAY

Robinsons May had a whole section of stuff at 70% off, AND there was a 20% off coupon on ALL purchases in one day, that was sent to me..

Stores are GIVING stuff away....Things that used to go on sale AFTER Christmas are already on sale..

and after Christmas they will be all but paying YOU to take the stuff..

Last year I got a Donna Karan leather bag for $4.00..I kid you not:)

Yesterday I got a new jacket for my husband (not for christmas..just because the seatbelt had done a number on the collar of his favorite one)..

Perry Ellis..very nice lightweight jacket.. $29.99...

[NMDemDist2]

62. i went to Kohl's today and got 2 new largish rugs for my kitchen

100% cotton, rubber backed and cushy for 60% off

we paid less for two than we would have for 1 +tax

i needed new rugs so bad to save my legs on the tile floors and just hated giving the money out to a retailer

if I can't get it used I really drag my feet, but this sale had the whole darn store at 30-70% off the first weekend of December

they are hurting big time

[SoCalDem]

63. Wow.. I need some new rugs.. Maybe I'll go to Kohl's tomorrow.

I need a few more gifty things, and I DO need rugs :)

[NMDemDist2]

64. one day sale til midnight tonight so it's now or never

call your local store, but it was a one day only sale.....

[SoCalDem]

65. Bummer.. I guess I don't need than that badly after all

I am all comfy, and don't want to get dressed and go out now. Maybe we'll go tomorrow anyway.. It's a good excuse to go out for lunch and hang out with my buddy :)

[NMDemDist2]

66. LOL we went at 7AM in yesterday's clothes and hats on our bed hair

in and out we were :eyes:

[Az_lefty]

70. All the retailers are feeling the pinch

the so called "black Friday" may have started off OK but it petered out after that. A friend of mine works in the retail business and he's saying sales are way off from last year. So where's the 51% who think the shrub is the ticket? Maybe 'Boy George' didn't really get 51%?????

[bhikkhu]

71. Blitz on, Walmart

This consumer is never buying from you again.