Wal-Mart Knife Policy ?

[foghornl]

Ok guys, let's not crack on Wal-Mart again, [too much] but I did run into a strange thing last weekend at my nearest Wally World store......{There is a political point here, please keep reading}

Went in to the Eastlake, OH Wal-Mart, to try AGAIN to get the famous Winchester White Box value-pack .45ACP ammo. Sporting Goods Guy says AGAIN they don't have them, never had them, can't get them. {Maybe the Sporting Goods Manager, guy wearing brown vest instead of the usual Wally World blue vest?}

ME: "I bought 4 boxes of them before...when you guys were next door." [New store built next to old one, old building knocked down late last year]

SGG: "We never had the .45 100-round value pack, just the 9MM & .40's."

Me: "You brought these shelves over from the 'old' store, right?"

SGG: "yes, we re-used many of our old shelves, and got a bunch of new ones, too."

Me: "Look on the shelf, that empty space next to the Blazer .45's. What does the tag on the empty space say?"

SGG: "Winchester 100 round value-pack .45ACP. ??? *** ??? We never had any of the .45 value-packs."

Me: "If you have a tagged space on the shelf, that indicates maybe you DID have the .45's. Call the Sporting Goods Manager at the Heisely Rd & Mentor Ave intersection store and ask how he gets them. That store ALWAYS has at least 4 boxes on the shelf." SGG just stands there with the 'Flounder look' on his face.

Anyway, I was also looking for an extra "Hunting-fishing knife". I noticed that the glass case where the knives are not 'directly' on display, there is a huge cardboard thing inside the case, with pictures, model numbers, and prices. I asked "Whats up with the pix only kinfe display? ? ?"

SGG: "Corporate Policy, we're not allowed to display knives."

ME: "OK, look over there...Aren't those Rapala brand "Fish Filet-er" things actually knives? Now, walk over here with me." Going 2 or 3 aisles over, into housewares, what do we see on the 'pegboards', but sharp pointy things, from small 'paring knives', up to about a 9" blade Butcher Kiife, and the very heavy blade "Meat Cleaver".

ME: "Tell me again about "Corporate Policy" that you can't display knives?" Sporting Goods Guy still standing there with the 'Flounder Look' having just been proved wrong twice by a customer in less than 3 minutes.

political question...Does Wal-Mart actually have a Policy of NOT displaying knives, or what is the deal? If there is such a policy, why are there so many sharp pointy things in housewares? Not to mention the hatchets, machetes, and axes on display.

 

[The Real Hawkeye]

That's hilarious!

 

[7.62FullMetalJacket]

Culinary knives good, hunting knifes bad

When confronted with the obvious, he was flummoxed. There is a space for WWB .45 VP, but we do not carry it, never have.

I like it.

 

[Baba Louie]

political question...Does Wal-Mart actually have a Policy of NOT displaying knives, or what is the deal?

Our local Wal-Marts have also gone to the cardboard photo display. When asked why the SG Manager said smash and grabs at a few stores (elsewhere) forced corporate decision on all stores.
Our Wally World always has 9mm, .40 and .45 in the 100 rd packs, Ya just gotta get there first cause they sell out quick around here. In fact they know me well enough by now to automatically pull out two of the 9's and 2 of the .45's when I go to the counter (that's pretty sad in one fashion, pretty good in another when ya think about it).
If no one else is around the SG MAnager lets me peruse his order catalog and we BS about various guns they have for sell. He likes the associates discount he gets and has more guns than I do. (I wonder why?) Maybe when I retire, I'll see if I can go to work at Wally World. (Yeah right)

 

[Eskimo Jim]

Baba Louie,
Being a regular does have its advantages. You get what you want without playing the 'scratch my back routine' of having to direct the salesman to "a little to the left, down one shelf, no, over to the right a little, little bit more, there stop, that's what I want. Two boxes of those please"

I'm sure there are very talented, knowledgeable and skilled people at Wal Mart but I haven't met many of them. Foghorn, that's just mean. The workers at the box store have trouble enough dragging items across the scanner for a price and make change without the aid of the cash register, let alone comprehend corporate policies and connect the dots to conflicting or inconsistant policies. :banghead:

-Jim

 

[foghornl]

Eskimo Jim:

Yeah, that probably was over the edge, but when the Sporting Goods guy tells me "Never had the .45ACP Value Pack, can't get them, because Winchester doesn't make a .45ACP value pack", and essentially was saying that I couldn't have bought that ammo in that store, and was either lieing or delusional....well, he deserves at least a bit of grief. And there is the tagged space on the shelf.

 

[Master Blaster]

AT my local wally world, The nice young lady 21+ years old with the jewel in her navel is always very helpful and pleasant, I enjoy dealing with her, Do you have Xrifle I ask? she brings out the book, and checks the back room retreiveing the model that is not on display even, with a smile.

Thats when she is there.

When the fat lazy 60 year old JERK in the hunting vest is there, I dont even bother last time it took 5 minutes of arguing with him to get him up off his fat lazy you know what, to get me a box of .22lr which he insisted they did not have even though I could see it.

 

[Zundfolge]

political question...Does Wal-Mart actually have a Policy of NOT displaying knives, or what is the deal? If there is such a policy, why are there so many sharp pointy things in housewares? Not to mention the hatchets, machetes, and axes on display.

Funny thing is I just happened to ask the local WalMart sporting goods guy about this policy myself.

He gave me 3 reasons,

He said the main reason is he can fit about 10 times as many knives in the case if he doesn't have to waste the top shelf of the case for displays.

Second, he often runs out of a particular knife but since there's a picture people know about the knife and either order one from him or come back later and buy one ... if he had display knives, once he sold the last one there wouldn't be any in the case for people to see.

and third, in some stores they don't have room for a display case for knives so the cardboard thing just goes up on the wall.

 

[griz]

Their "no knives" policy is probably like the one where I work. It is a government installation and after September 11 a "no weapons" sign was posted. Their interpretaion allowed them to prosecute someone for an "assult knife" while maintaining a cafeteria that has steak knives available to any passing person.

 

[Eskimo Jim]

Foghorn,
Apparently I didn't utilize the smilies enough.

Good show at Walmart, maybe it will sink in but I doubt it. Pointing out the conflicting policy to the rank and file at Walmart is probably pointless because they have no power or inclination to change the corporate policy. Perhaps a politely worded letter to their corporate office would help.

The cardboard display panel might actually save them on labor cost because the employees don't have to stock the shelf. It makes buying a pocket knife a pain because you have to track down a sales associate to get service then most likely they have to track down the supervisor that has the key to the case etc.

If I want a low price and self service or am willing to put up with inadequate service, I go to the big box stores.

If I want good or outstanding service and am willing to pay for it, then I go to a specialty store.

-Jim

 

[sturmruger]

I have worked retail for years. I learned real quick that you have to have product on the shelf if you want to sell it. I still can't figure out why Walmarts are so hit or miss with the 100 round value packs. When I lived in IA I looked at 8 differant Walmarts and never found a Value Pack except in the 9mm. Then I moved back here to WI and all of the Walmarts carry VPs in .40 .45 and 9mm. Why the big difference??? In IA I asked my closest Walmart if he could order me some of the value packs and he said they were not even in the system!

 

[Sean Cloherty]

Is there really a 100 round value pack in .45ACP? I've only seen the 50 Winchester White Box.

 

[Stand_Watie]

Knives at Wal-Mart

I bought one there last fall. To my dismay I discovered that the picture/size on the boxes in the display case are not consistent to the actual product, nor even to each other.

So you need to have them drag every last single knife out to see if it's the right size and compare it to the others

 

[Wedge]

Yes there is really a 100 round value pack 19.96 I believe.

Go easy on the Wal-Mart guys. They are primarily stockers and if you have a problem find the dept. manager or the store manager. The quickest way to get what you want out of a retail store is to go straight to the store manager. If anything gets to him/her they will generally set it straight. The store manager probably doesn't know that they are not stocking such a popular item so let him know personally.

 

[longeyes]

Maybe they should change the name to Kafka-Mart.

The Wal-mart where I buy the ValuPacks, in Duarte, CA, seems to be in the throes of rethinking its arms and ammo policies. Last time I went there the regular counter was gone. I was told they were just re-doing the store. We'll see. One of the Wal-martians told me there was "some legal problem" with selling guns. We'll see. I think Wal-mart wants to find out how many of "us" there really are and whether it's worth it offending the peripatetic soccer mom who stumbles across our nasty vice at the back of the store while looking for Pampers.

 

[goalie]

Just picked up 5 boxes of Winchester 9mm value packs at Wally-World today.

 

[RobW]

Wal Mart is a "Politically Correct" company, so expect all sorts of non-sensical and often moronic "policies".

Remember, PC has NOTHING to do with logic and reason, it only has to do with making people "feeeeeel gooood".

"Political correctness is a nasty form of social censorship" (Jeff Cooper)

 

[fjolnirsson]

My problem isn't finding the 100 round wwb, it's finding a sporting goods employee. I make a point to cruise past whenever I have reason to go to Wallyworld. If someone is there, I buy several boxes. If not, I keep going.

Longeyes,
Walmart had a problem with firearms sales last year. Thyey weren't complying with some law or other in regards to the training of their employees about firearms sales. Don't recall the exact violation. I saw a news report when it first occured. They have signs up in all of my local stores(4), saying that they will begin selling as soon as the employees are retrained.

 

[Yowza]

longeyes

My local Wal-mart recently reconfigured the sporting goods and electronics areas. The sporting goods section used to have a single glass counter where the long guns and ammunition were stored behind it but they changed it to an "island" configuration with much more counter space. It's the same configuration I've seen in Wal-marts in other parts of SC and Georgia, so it's probably a change of design on the corporate level.

Rick

 

[Heraclitus]

I walked into my Wal-Mart just a couple of days ago. The knives in their "photo display" looked awful darn real to me. No smash & grabs yet. Or could it just be the laminated polycarbonate glass they're cased in?

Definitely not Company policy (Not with a capital "C" anyhow. But then, Texas is like a whole other country).

 

[stevelyn]

A spankin' new Sportsmans Warehouse just opened in Los Anchorage with overwhelming selection, great prices, and new, knowledgable employees falling all over themselves to help customers.
Except for 100 round ValuPaks of shotgun shells, I doubt I'll being buying much gun stuff at Wally World from now on.

 

[sturmruger]

Stevelyn I agree 100% I just had the chance to visit a Sportsmans Warehouse. I was very impressed with their selection and their pricing. It was the best pricing I have ever seen is a large format sporting good retailer.

 

[Zundfolge]

Wal Mart is a "Politically Correct" company, so expect all sorts of non-sensical and often moronic "policies".

Yeah ... and you don't have these problems at K-Mart, or Target ... oh wait they don't sell ammo because they caved to antis and political correctness.


I agree there is too much PC in our culture, and too much of it infects business. But frankly WalMart is the least PC of any large retailer. WalMart is a target of political correctness ... they prove that Capitalism works and works well (plus they where started by a white southerner) and they haven't caved to the Michael Moores of the world and removed guns and ammo from their sporting goods counters.

 

[Andrew Rothman]

What Zundfolge said.

I try to encourage this non-PC behavior by buying all my ammo there.

And when I go in, I always take all of the WWB 9mm they have.

It sure is easy to buy a "case" at a time. And 800 rounds for $96 ain't bad.

 

[ducktapehero]

I like those 100 round 45acp value packs. It's kinda hit or miss around here. The Super Wal-Marts up in Springfield sell them but are usually out. If I see them I will grab a box or 2. The little Wal-Mart in my town doesn't stock them but they are building a Super Wal-Mart right now so it won't be long.