Walmart-An addiction

Today was one of my several visits to Walmart. From the time I stepped on the soil of this country if there is one thing that fascinated me ever then that was Walmart. Even Costco does not amaze me just as much as Walmart.

My bitter sweet relationship began with Walmart in the year 2006. I had just got my driver's license and I decided to drive to Walmart since it was much closer to my apartment in Austin, TX than any other super mart. And ofcourse I was also eager to swipe my brand new credit card in a manner that Chethan, my spouse would not notice. I do not remember what I exactly bought but whatever it was I used it well for sure. My first experience was sweet and triumphant because I had visited other stores before and observed their prices and found them to be a few cents cheaper in Walmart. At the time my mind was still in INR mode and I never factored fuel charges into my calculation. Eventually I switched to the $$ mode and factored time and fuel charges into my calcualtion.

All through my stay in different apartments in different areas over the years have made me understand that Walmart is not exactly all about quality. Quality is expensive and Walmart works on cost and volume. Something Prof. Fern stressed althrough my business program. I shop at Walmart for petty things such as, basic cosmetics, lotions, toileteries, sanitary items, and never for clothes. Clothes never fascinated me and then there was this heart wrenching story about how Walmart exploited women who knit clothes in Bangladesh. This ofcourse is a subject of discussion because Walmart claims that thanks to its manufactring plant in third world countries people are getting work which in turn is infact improving their standard of living. But the question is whether those women are able to spend their money the right way? If whatever money they earn helps them just sustain then what's the point of working at Walmart? Any MNC should be able to create a win win situation for itself and the people of the country where it starts its opearation.

Walmart argues that if it went into the act of performing charity then it would not be able to provide that competitive edge that it is currently able to provide over other super marts. Ethics is tricky and it shall ever be. Even Gods in their human form have been known for tweaking truth for a noble cause. So is Walmart a noble organization? Who knows? Its employees are probably disgruntled and so are other suppliers. But ask customers and I for one feel that I am able to buy some of the products at competitive prices and that suits me. It also suits so many unemployed people who cash in their food bank coupons and social security checks at Walmart.

Recently a Target opened right opposite to my apartment complex. Earlier I had to drive over two miles to either Safeway or Walmart. Safeway is not and will never be my first choice when it comes to day to day products. Paying $1 or up over its comparables for a dish washing liquid in other supermarkets is crimminal. We talk about thugs I can show some a few miles away from where I live. Target on the other hand prices its products pretty reasonable. For instance now I do not drive to Walmart for day to day products. Instead I walk to Target and shop there and whatever the petty difference I find between products at Target and same products at Walmart I consider it as fuel charges and time saving benefits.

So the entire picture now has changed for me. My biggest issue with Walmart is that I visit Walmart to buy one thing and then I see the prices on the items and I end up over buying things. Talk about being thrifty. Finally when I look at the reciept I feel like I spent 10 times more than I should have. In fact none of the items would exceed $3/- Walmart tricks people into buying more stuff at cheaper price. Human psyche is such that it believes what it wants to beleive. Its like the odd number game. $9.99 seems cheaper than $10.

Its like this addiction that never ends. Whether Walmart is responsible for this addiction or an individual him or herself is again an ongoing argument.

Arguments apart I for one am happy that Target's here. At least now I won't visit Walmart just as much to buy basic day to day items and buy more than I should. But at the same time I also fear that my addiction instead of ending might just shift from Walmart to Target.