Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

vox.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

151–160 of 374 posts

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#151

Post by leesalminen »

adrr wrote: post #95
edgyquant wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

#3 really irks me, because they don’t check everyone’s receipts. I was stopped and asked for a receipt two days ago for a gallon of milk I had in the cart because it “wasn’t in a bag” while other people walked past. I can understand e.g. when I buy a TV, but a gallon of milk is ridiculous and profiling.

Just say no. They won’t/can’t stop you. Costco has it in their membership agreement but stores that aren’t memberships; you didn’t agree to it and you have no obligation to show it. Worst case you get banned.

I just hand them the receipt and keep walking. Nobody’s ever said a word about it.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#152

Post by rsuelzer »

I avoid Walmart because of their absolutely terrible treatment of their employees, the fact the have failed to provide decent wages or benefits for their workers, drove a race to the bottom in retail and did this almost entirely to the benefit of five children who were lucky to be born with the last name Walton and are now the richest family in America. The corporation is seared in my mind as the ugliest side of American corporate greed with a total disregard of social responsibility.

Only very recently did Walmart even attempt to bring up wages, and it's not because they felt some accountability for decimating small towns and family owned businesses, but because they were becoming a dinosaur and suddenly had to compete for workers who would rather work someplace that paid more, even if only marginally and exploited them a little less brazenly.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#153

Post by loonster »

zippergz wrote: post #41
HideousKojima wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>They could likely address this by having a second more upscale brand. That's kinda what Sam's Club is, though Sam's is competing against Costco

Sam's is more upscale than Wal-Mart, but in my experience it is very much the "Wal-Mart of warehouse stores" in that it feels less nice than Costco in the same area. I'm sure it varies, that's just based on the ones I've been to.

The parking lot at the costco near me is insane. Everytime I went there, I felt like I was going to get hit. Sure enough, an oldy was killed in the parking log shortly after I stopped going.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#154

Post by Scoundreller »

Spooky23 wrote: post #138
paxys wrote: post #107

Walmart gets a lot of flak for being old school and allowing Amazon's rise, but they are one of the very few retailers who have actually been able to respond to competitive threats over the last decade or two. Walmart Labs has some great tech and hires top software talent in the industry. They aren't shy about making large acquisitions when needed (like Jet). They have built out their own delivery and logistics netwo…

Walmart has some weird cultural issues that make store operations hard to adapt. It’s a pretty miserable place to work. They hire anyone, turn them out quickly, and have weird work rules for things like gathering in a group. Target’s pickup operation is superior in every dimension. They made the decision to put it front and center, and their employees seem happier. It takes The other issue they have is that their log…

I look forward to a car-wash pickup. You arrive. They scan your plate. You go through the 5 minute car wash and at the end they fill your trunk.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#155

Post by sgsgsgsdgd »

andreilys wrote: post #150
paxys wrote: post #107

Walmart gets a lot of flak for being old school and allowing Amazon's rise, but they are one of the very few retailers who have actually been able to respond to competitive threats over the last decade or two. Walmart Labs has some great tech and hires top software talent in the industry. They aren't shy about making large acquisitions when needed (like Jet). They have built out their own delivery and logistics netwo…

In the last 20 years they’re stock has only gone up 150%.... Yes that’s better than bankruptcy but Walmart is a far cry from a successful old incumbent being able to address new upstarts. Also what makes you say Walmart Labs has great tech and hires top software talent? A quick look on Glassdoor shows the salary is quite low (esp. as it’s based in San Bruno). I know plenty of new grads that are earning much more, eve…

Glassdoor numbers are inaccurate and 99% of the time only reflect base salary for every company I've looked up.

Stick with levels.fyi

https://www.levels.fyi/company/Walmart-Labs/salaries/Softwar...

While their RSUs are not at a FAANG level, the base + bonus are more than in line with top paying companies in CA.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#156

Post by JohnJamesRambo »

bobthepanda wrote: post #83
handrous wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Observations about the nearest Wal-Mart: 1) All the employees look sad, all he time. 2) They've obviously carefully tuned their check out staffing so that the lines are always long. This is such a constant that it has to be intentional, and they're doing a good job of it. 3) Sometimes they attempt to check receipts at exit. I don't get that at any other non-membership store. 4) All the shoppers look sad. 5) It's the…

Also, it doesn’t quite help that their color palette is fluorescent white and blue, which is something that evokes, say, a dreary clinical setting, and not necessarily somewhere you want to shop.

Always ™

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#157

Post by kevinventullo »

andreilys wrote: post #150
paxys wrote: post #107

Walmart gets a lot of flak for being old school and allowing Amazon's rise, but they are one of the very few retailers who have actually been able to respond to competitive threats over the last decade or two. Walmart Labs has some great tech and hires top software talent in the industry. They aren't shy about making large acquisitions when needed (like Jet). They have built out their own delivery and logistics netwo…

In the last 20 years they’re stock has only gone up 150%.... Yes that’s better than bankruptcy but Walmart is a far cry from a successful old incumbent being able to address new upstarts. Also what makes you say Walmart Labs has great tech and hires top software talent? A quick look on Glassdoor shows the salary is quite low (esp. as it’s based in San Bruno). I know plenty of new grads that are earning much more, eve…

In the last 20 years they’re stock has only gone up 150%....

To be fair, they’ve been paying ~ 2% dividend yield that whole time. Still, if your comp is mostly in stock, those dividend payments hurt versus something like a buyback.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#158

Post by Scoundreller »

MiddleEndian wrote: post #137
handrous wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Observations about the nearest Wal-Mart: 1) All the employees look sad, all he time. 2) They've obviously carefully tuned their check out staffing so that the lines are always long. This is such a constant that it has to be intentional, and they're doing a good job of it. 3) Sometimes they attempt to check receipts at exit. I don't get that at any other non-membership store. 4) All the shoppers look sad. 5) It's the…

>They've obviously carefully tuned their check out staffing so that the lines are always long. This is such a constant that it has to be intentional, and they're doing a good job of it. Macy's has a similarly annoying policy. They deliberately keeping their cash registers unmanned, which they apparently tell their employees is to "avoid intimidating customers" so you have to stand around waiting or seek out an employ…

I think that’s their public justification. The reality is there’s a camera pointed at each one and a couple of pool cashiers that run to any as needed.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#159

Post by bytelines »

krapp wrote: post #17
cogman10 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Probably the best thing about COVID is now all stores here do curbside pickup. I don't understand why it took COVID to make companies realize that "hey, a large part of your clientele don't want to wander your aisles."

>I don't understand why it took COVID to make companies realize that "hey, a large part of your clientele don't want to wander your aisles." Because making shoppers wander the aisles leads them to buy more things than they intended to. There's a reason best-selling items are always placed at eye level.

What prevents that from happening in a web-based experience?

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#160

Post by Jakobeha »

nitrogen wrote: post #112
Jakobeha wrote: post #104

I've used both Instacart and Walmart delivery because I don't have a car and live ~3miles from the nearest supermarket. In my experience, Instacart has worked very well: the only issues (2-hour delivery window, tip for delivery) are upfront, but I rarely get messed up / late / bad orders. The website is also great. The only time I used Walmart, my delivery was rescheduled to the next day, something which never happen…

That probably comes down to location and competence+availability of staff. I've had basically equal results from the three different grocery stores I've ordered from in my current location, one of which is Walmart, one is a Kroger subsidiary, and one is a local higher-end chain. But when I was in SF, I had terrible results with Instacart, and resorted to shopping in person.

Honestly I still wish I could shop in person, it's just too far :)

Not trying to be rude but maybe you didn't tip enough? The default tip is 5% but I usually do ~20%.

Post reply on HN