I don't shop at any of them either....

Can't say I blame you...........but, shopping, in general, is not very satisfying.

If I can find it on the internet and the shipping is not egregious.........that's satisfying.

You pay shipping and I pay $10/hour plus $.48/mile. Probably works out close to the same since I get to write off the expense

Amazon.com is my new best friend.

__________________
2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

Must be nice.

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2016 Corvette Stingray 2LT
1969 280SE
2023 Ram 1500
2007 Tiara 3200

But unless you buy it with instant shipping (not sure how to do that), you'd still have to wait.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow

I shop at Wal-Mart at least twice a week ...... buy 90 percent of everything there and much of it is Chinese, of very good quality. The world has changed and today you have to buy the best available product at the lowest price. That is what Wal-Mart offers in almost every area. Those who have gripes about US companies going out of business should realize that the ones that do were probably not the best in the world even before other Asian or European goods started to hit our markets. Griping about Walmart and going out of your way to shop on Ebay and drive 10 extra miles to go to "Auto Supply XX" isn't really to effective.

We all drive German cars because they are great vehicles ..... why aren't you all buying Fords and Chevys??

Ben Carter

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Ben Harrison Carter
1999 Mercedes ML320 87K
1992 Mercedes 300CE 89K
1995 Corvette 29K -- Sold Dec 09
1989 Mercedes 420SEL 99K -- (Sold 4/08)
1968 Mercedes 230S (106K) (Sold 9/06))
1976 Mercedes 450SEL 130K (Just sold - 06)
1961 Mercedes 220Sb (sold years ago)

Yup. America has changed. I see a lot of small towns where main street is boarded up and once-thriving businesses are now pawn or consignment shops. Invariably there is a WalMart or such 2 miles away with a full parking lot.

Just remember, the same system that gives you cheap disposable goods also supresses freedom in Tibet. Or do we really care?

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1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

Walmart does not have good quality. How do you think they can go so low in pricing? It's well know manufacturers make lower quality products just for Walmart. Levi is a perfect example. The Levi jeans you get at Walmart are not the same jeans you get at a Levi's store.
You get what you pay for, Walmart is no exception.

Danny

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1984 300SD Turbo Diesel 150,000 miles

OBK member #23

(\__/)
(='.'=) This is Bunny. Copy and paste bunny into your
(")_(") signature to help him gain world domination

Simple: The store employees (that are R'tards) don't do their jobs properly...either pricing the stuff w/the correct price when they stock the shelves w/the item, change the tag that should be reflecting the current price for the item or someone not double-checking the computer entry to determine that it was entered correctly and "stuck" as is was intended.

BINGO! The computer couldn't/can't make the mistake...it's the R'tards!

Nope...just lazy...

No conspiracy...just laziness.

Where you run into even more of it is when you buy a consumable (on a regular basis), and even when you find the error (it's in your favor, so you go through the "correcting the price" (CTP) time-wasting-torture test) and you think it's been corrected. Only NEXT time you buy the same item, it's still the SAME incorrect price, go through the same CTP procedure and it happens again and again...(yep, four times, same chit...) - THEN I personally call the store manager (his/her name is on every receipt, at the top) and watch him enter the price in the computer and test it out.

After the 3rd time, I'm starting to think that THERE, I might be looking at a conspiracy...but I'm chalking it up to just plain, dumb-ass laziness.

Remember...these folks (SOME of the employees) aren't getting top dollar for what they're putting out...some have health-issues that MAL*FART isn't paying for to correct and some have issues co-operating w/society...i.e.: getting up in the morning, showing up for work on time, having a decent work record in attendance, let alone their personal hygiene is debatable...-

Go through your local store and look at their eyes...some are just blank...nothing but "living from paycheck to paycheck" energy...they could care less if you were their manager, district manager or on the board of MAL*FART itself...they want their check and they're out of there.

And if they went to another job, I seriously doubt they'd exhibit any other attitude. Initially, maybe, but within a month...drag-city.

Each store has a different personality...and since it's the only place that's open 24/7/364 (I believe they shut down on X-mas), I've seen my share of stores...they are all different in their own way...some are top-notch all the time...others have problems keeping the "greeter" in a cheery manner.

But conspiracy?

Only in that they do wipe out the small "Ma & Pa's" when they first move into a community...but I've seen family businesses sell out to the first Ya-Hoo that'll plunk down a dollar and they run like hell, off to retirement...only because those owners know how business really works...and they just don't have it in them to try to compete with the Chines...err...ahh...MART*FARTS of the world.

That's my take on this...

__________________

M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

Competition is the very heart of capitalism.
If you do not like Wal Mart--then do not shop there.
Wal Mart is successful because they provide goods and services at what is perceived to be good prices for the value rec'd.
If you can provide higher quality at lower prices, then by all means, go into business and drive Wal Mart out of business in a fair and competitive manner.
However, to complain about how bad Wal Mart is just sounds elitist whinning.
By the same whinning, we should be still subsidizing the buggy whip manufacturers...

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1982 300SD " Wotan" ..On the road as of Jan 8, 2007 with Historic Tags

That's their way of keeping the prices low.

When was the last time you saw a TREK bike on their racks? Or a REAL Schwinn? (Not the crap that's being sold as Schwinn, now.) OR even a Huffy?

Look for Rubber-maid...that stuff is rare...only see it at other "high-end" retail outlets now...they couldn't stay open/viable for what MAL*FART was requiring Rubber-maid to price their stuff to sell to them.

"Do this or we won't buy your stuff to put on our shelves."


So the brand name you use to trust for quality has three options...

#1.) Tell MAL*FART you'll sell your product at whatever price you want - MAL*FART drops your product line from the shelves.

#2.) Drop the price to where MAL*FART wants it priced. Quality has to go somewhere so the company can still meet margins...

#3.) Drop MAL*FART and try to retail your product at a different style of store...until such time that that store itself ends up going out of business because even they can't compete against MAL*FART themselves...


Welcome to "Retail Business World-101"...throats beware! Turtle-necks optional.

__________________

M. G. Burg
'10 - Dakota SXT - Daily Ride / ≈ 172.5K
.'76 - 450SLC - 107.024.12 / < .89.20 K
..'77 - 280E - 123.033.12 / > 128.20 K
...'67 - El Camino - 283ci / > 207.00 K
....'75 - Yamaha - 650XS / < 21.00 K
.....'87 - G20 Sportvan / > 206.00 K
......'85 - 4WINNS 160 I.O. / 140hp
.......'74 - Honda CT70 / Real 125
.
“I didn’t really say everything I said.”
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ~ Yogi Berra ~

WalMart is a model of streamlining and capitalist efficiency. No doubt about that. It's very successful and good at what it does.

BUT.

Capitalism by nature implies exploitation - be it natural resources, people, or other businesses. WalMart exploits cheap Chinese labor obviously, and forces businesses to comply with its rigid standards. However there is another exploitation that is less obvious and unprecedented, and that is the widespread weakening of the social and economic infrastructure of Anytown USA. Where money used to change hands amongst locals and spread around for the good of the community, it now funnels directly into WalMart centers and the profits are enjoyed in Bentonville, Arkansas. Potential business owners (aka taxpayers) don't even bother setting up shop because the merchandising giant out on the bypass will always undercut them by a couple pennies. Diverse job opportunities dry up.

Then theres plain old esthetics. Big boxes surrounded by broiling swaths of asphalt - show me one Walmart that isn't a blight on the landscape?

__________________
1985 380SE Blue/Blue - 230,000 miles
2012 Subaru Forester 5-speed
2005 Toyota Sienna
2004 Chrysler Sebring convertible
1999 Toyota Tacoma

The outsourcing of jobs is a trend that has been going on for a while and it's full effects will take a while to be seen. Initially, there were lower prices that made it look beneficial, but over the long run I believe the loss of jobs and more importantly the US trade deficit, will become a HUGE problem. (I think it already is a big problem)

I have a computer program that I use to trade commodities and currencies. I have been trying to get better results from the program so I back tested the system against every major commodity and currency back to 2001. That was as far back as I could go due to Microsoft and the way they don't make things forward compatible. I was looking at whether the program worked better trading long or short or both. What I found is that with many of the grains and currencies, the program worked much better going long as there have been long uptrends over the last decade. For some commodities, the system worked well both long and short, such as copper or soybeans.

There was only one market that I could find that traded best going short only, which indicates long down trends. I'll give you one guess what it was.

The US Dollar.

Have a nice day

And they flatten their dissidents arguments by flattening the dissidents. Do I give a rip what they do there? Let me dig a little deeper. Nope, still nothing.

__________________
01 Ford Excursion Powerstroke
99 E300 Turbodiesel
91 Vette with 383 motor
05 Polaris Sportsman 800 EFI
06 Polaris Sportsman 500 EFI
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Red
03 SeaDoo GTX SC Yellow
04 Tailgator 21 ft Toy Hauler
11 Harley Davidson 883 SuperLow