This morning I was shopping for groceries at my local Super Walmart and had to wait in line for almost an hour because there were 2 women in front of me who were using Walmart's Price Match for almost every item they bought, so the cashier had to manually enter each item. The people in line were complaining and babies started to cry and get fussy as an hour crawled by. I have also experienced people Price Matching in the express lane, so it wasn't "speedy checkout" because the person in front of me was making the cashier go over every item and price match it. I appreciate people saving money and taking advantage of Walmart Price Match, but since they are slowing down all the lines, including the express lanes, don't you think they should have their own lane so that they don't affect others checking out?
Having a separate checkout lane specifically for price matching seems like a good idea in theory, but the chance of Walmart spending the extra money in each store to build another lane just for such purpose is very unlikely. They could always use a lane already in store, but what incentive do they have for such a thing? They most likely see business as mainly successful at the moment and will keep it that way. They have found their successful formula and are going to roll with it. I do, however, agree that it can take awhile depending on the number of items the customer is price matching and can, in fact, make the average shopper wait much longer than anticipated. It is an interesting idea and, who knows? Maybe one day we will see it in action.
No, and by all honesty, why should they?? Wal-Marts no longer have 'speedy checkouts.' They done away with them last year. We all go to the store to shop and save all the money we can while doing so. If a family wants to take advantage of Wal-Marts price matching policy, they are entitled to. The customer can't tell just how long it'll be for them to cash out so the people that get in line behind them should act like adults and wait until it is their turn to check out. The customer that is checking out wants to get out just as fast as they entered the line. If the person in line behind the price matcher doesn't want to wait, they can easily move to another register to check out. Most, if not all, now have self check outs for the smaller orders. I'm a cashier and I see all sorts of negative, childish and immature behaviors from what are supposed to be adults from people that get behind my customers that price match and/or use coupons. Patience is a virtue and something that needs to be retaught, obviously. I'd be ashamed if I acted like some customers I see.
My local Super Walmart still has speedy checkout lanes that are 20 items are less, but it's pointless to have 20 items or less if the line is going to be slowed down by price matchers anyway. I would stand in a different line, but you can't always predict when the person ahead of you is going to whip out a sales circular and start price matching. I'm definitely not rude or childish, and I stand there and suffer in silence but I spent an hour in line with a crying baby behind me because two people in front of me were price matching. I appreciate saving money but why do the other people in line have to wait an hour while one or two people have a lot of time and attention spent on their purchases? Are they special because they're price matching?
No. I do not think Walmart should have a "Price Match" lane. Simply because your experience is not a normal occurrence. It does not warrant creating another checkout lane. Which means another employee for every shift Walmart has to hire. I you think you are over reacting a bit. You had one bad experience. So what? It happens some times. That doesn't mean Walmart should change it's business model.
I never would've stayed in the line that long. I'm shocked that anyone else did either! I am well aware of the idea that "as soon as I leave this line, it'll clear up and I'll miss out" but I wouldn't have tolerated it for more than 10-15 minutes, to be honest. That's ridiculous! I think it'd be handy to have a Price Match lane, but I wonder how much it would actually get used.
Your experience reminds me of Extreme Couponing. Yes, I get it that they are saving tons of money by doing this. But how many people are they inconveniencing at the same time? As far as Walmart goes, I don't think it would be feasible for them to have a separate lane, but courtesy and common sense should be employed. Let someone else go ahead of you in line, or at least don't try to use the express lane. That's just being rude.
My point is. This is nothing new. This has been happening for ever. It is not that frequent of a occurrence for a business to make major changes to the way their business operates. You have to accept the fact that these things happen from time to time. Accept t, and move on we have all experienced this at one time, or another. Your next experience will be better. Trust me,
I never thought of that as an idea, but now that you mention it, it is a great idea. I've noticed when I shop at Walmart that there are some cashiers that don't know how to do price matches. To have a dedicated lane with a properly trained employee would be a great idea.
Walmart was closing a couple of registers even though the place was crowded, so starting over at the back of another line didn't seem like a great option. It was a really bad night. It took me so long to get home that my daughter started to worry that something had happened to me.
I think they should have a price match line. I feel the real reason some people would be opposed to a "price match" line is because they don't want to stand behind other people doing the same thing they are doing. In other words it's fine for them to make everyone else behind them wait forever to check out, but heaven forbid *they* be the ones having to wait in long lines. As some of you said, patience is a virtue, and you're there to save money - get in the long line with other price matchers and simply wait your turn. That is BS getting in a lane specifically labeled for faster service and tying it up like that - they know what they are doing, and they do it anyway because they are selfish self-centered jerks. Plus that type of antisocial behavior and lack of consideration for others around them is more or less sociopathic. I loved it when McDonalds started introducing the double drive through lanes, so whomever doesn't putz around placing their order gets ahead of the other jerk who is taking all day. That totally messes up their games.
Thanks. Your post is excellent. I was starting to wonder if I was crazy. You should have seen the line of miserable people behind me and the crying baby. You can't really switch to a different line when Walmart is closing registers. They have signs on the speedy checkout lanes that say "20 items or less". They should also have signs that say price matchers can't use the express lane, because price matching slows things down as badly as having more than 20 items. It's not a matter of patience, making 13 people wait an hour so that you can check out 2 price matchers is just wrong. They need their own line that they can slow down.
I wish there was a line for couponing and price matching. I don't really price match, but I do use coupons and know that it can be slow sometimes. I try not to inconvenience people with it when I can help it. If they had cashiers at that line who knew what they were doing with coupons and price matching, I would definitely use that line every time that I used coupons.
I don't think they should, not for price-matching. I do think it'd be handy to have a separate check-out for people who are going to use tons of coupons, because that really takes a lot of time at grocery stores. I don't fault them for it, but when I'm only buying 1 item, and there's no self-check out, it sucks waiting in line behind someone with two buggies full and thousands of coupons. Actually, it'd be pretty awesome if stores could adopt what this video talks about. [video=youtube;F5Ri_HhziI0]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5Ri_HhziI0[/video]
This is really interesting, and I guess it kind of makes sense after watching the video. I guess what he is saying is that even if there are 4 checkout lanes instead of one, you only stand a one in four chance of getting checked out before everyone else anyhow. And that as long as there are multiple checkouts, by organizing everyone into one long line, it mitigates any one of them from being held up by a single slow lane.
Yeah that is annoying, but people like to save money so it's understandable. They really should have a separate line for it. then all of those people can be held up in their own line. That would be fair. That way if you wanted to save money, you would have to wait in line while the rest of us could move on through.
To be quite honest, No.. I don't think they should have another line because these people just wanna shop just like you. Just because you don't wanna wait you can't set up walmart in your favor. You can't ask the bus driver not to accept wheel chairs because it takes forever... just like you can't condemn babies in movie theaters just because their crying. If its a public place wait..or go home.
Actually , a lot of movie theaters have a policy that if you have a crying baby, you need to take it outside because other people paid $12 per ticket and bought $6 sodas to see that movie and they should not have to put up with someone else's crying baby. Why would you think it is okay to have a baby screaming over a movie that people paid to see? I think buses should definitely continue accepting wheelchairs because people can't help being handicapped. I do couponing at 6AM when Walmart is nearly empty because I don't want to inconvenience a line of people. At 6AM, I am usually the only person in line, and if I'm not, I let the other person go ahead of me.
From Wal-mart's point of view a specific lane for this is a bad idea. It will just further promote a policy they have because they feel like they HAVE to have it, but they by no means want to. Why not special lanes for people who talk to their cashiers instead of just handing them the money? It's also an inconvenience to people waiting behind them who just want to continue their lives.
