Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats • Hacker News Board

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#331

Post by lotsofpulp » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 2:51 PM UTC

lostapathy wrote: post #328

lotsofpulp wrote: post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are better than Amazon. You can filter search results on Walmart so that you don’t see third party reseller Aliexpress garbage and only stuff sourced by Walmart themselves. Last I checked, Amazon had removed that option as of maybe a decade ago, and they commingle inventory so they do not assure me of any supply chain integrity. And they are more expensive for any dense, heavy, especially liquid products.

Does that filtering on Walmart’s website actually work, though? It’s broken half the time I try it.

I don’t use their website much, but that would be a shame if true. I did notice on the left I can checkmark Walmart as the seller.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#332

Post by laurent92 » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 2:54 PM UTC

kevinventullo wrote: post #180

maxtheman wrote: post #177

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dividends don't always "hurt". They let one automatically claim profits on a trade, without the hassle of divesting shares.

What I mean is, if I get a stock grant spread out over four years, then the shares I receive in year 4 have implicitly had their value decreased by the dividends paid out in years 1-3.

But that assumes the company has the choice of keeping dividends and investing it smartly.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#333

Post by totalZero » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 3:01 PM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #2

I think Wal*Mart has an image problem. I’ve gone into their stores. Their stock assortment isn’t bad compared to the competition. In fact, aside from Whole Foods on the organic/bio side of things, they measure up very well and better compared to their competition. They are more of a hypermart where you can do one stop shopping ala Carrefour. The issues I see are: very drab color palette. Working class shoppers. Sure,…

> Working class shoppers. Sure, it’s elitist, but people like shopping alongside people in their own stratum.

The thing about America is that you honestly cannot tell the social status of a person based on appearance alone. The middle class is large and we value frugality and humility.

I think of this as a collective tendency: rich or poor, when you go to Wal-Mart you just wear whatever you're wearing.

I don't know if you have ever heard of Chris Arnade but he is an ex Wall Streeter who wrote about the "McDonald's Test," which probably lines up with Wal-Mart too.

"Eventually I came up with what I call the McDonald’s test. The broad thesis of my book is that our society sorts people into what I call the front row and the back row – the privileged class to which I used to belong, who are financially secure and live in safe neighborhoods with good schools and public services – and everybody else. The test is to ask a person: how do you view McDonald’s? In my experience, the answer usually reveals whether someone belongs to the front or back row."

https://www.plough.com/en/topics/justice/social-justice/econ...

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#334

Post by ericbarrett » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 3:08 PM UTC

jvolkman wrote: post #325

ericbarrett wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve commented on this before—you kind of don’t. It will be a true KitchenAid brand, of course. But the actual machine may be compromised. Walmart places intense pressure on their suppliers and often sells Walmart-only SKUs made of inferior parts and materials. I bought rope there (in a physical store) a few months ago, for tying down furniture in a truck. Got home, cut the rope, it was a foam core with braiding arou…

Maybe you just bought floating rope? There are a bunch of floating rope products that advertise foam cores.

Nope. I know what floating rope is and that was nowhere on the packaging. It was also the only rope for sale in the store, alongside (very cheap) carabiners etc. and not in a boating or pool section.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#335

Post by mikelward » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 3:09 PM UTC

mensetmanusman wrote: post #310

Still annoyed that Target and Walmart refuse to accept Apple Pay so that they can continue to collect identifying data on all the customers that pass through their doors.

Target does accept Apple Pay and Google Pay.

https://help.target.com/help/subcategoryarticle?childcat=Acc...

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#336

Post by draw_down » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 3:13 PM UTC

taurath wrote: post #271

Scoundreller wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorta. Took them a while to turn it off criminal mode. Wasn’t long ago you had to bag an item before you could scan the next. But I have more than 1 hand. Sometimes multiple people. French ones still run in criminal mode.

They’re in criminal mode in the US depending on the store location. 2 Safeway’s about a 10 minute drive from each other have opposite policies, also the more poor the area the less likely to have self checkout at all

I’ve walked out of more than one Safeway because the self checkout refused to let me proceed and nobody was helping. Those machines are so shitty, they’ve gotten better but I still try not to use them.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#337

Post by lostapathy » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 3:16 PM UTC

lotsofpulp wrote: post #331

lostapathy wrote: post #328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does that filtering on Walmart’s website actually work, though? It’s broken half the time I try it.

I don’t use their website much, but that would be a shame if true. I did notice on the left I can checkmark Walmart as the seller.

Yeah, sometimes it works sometimes it doesn’t.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#338

Post by lttlrck » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 3:50 PM UTC

totalZero wrote: post #333

mc32 wrote: post #2

I think Wal*Mart has an image problem. I’ve gone into their stores. Their stock assortment isn’t bad compared to the competition. In fact, aside from Whole Foods on the organic/bio side of things, they measure up very well and better compared to their competition. They are more of a hypermart where you can do one stop shopping ala Carrefour. The issues I see are: very drab color palette. Working class shoppers. Sure,…

> Working class shoppers. Sure, it’s elitist, but people like shopping alongside people in their own stratum. The thing about America is that you honestly cannot tell the social status of a person based on appearance alone. The middle class is large and we value frugality and humility. I think of this as a collective tendency: rich or poor, when you go to Wal-Mart you just wear whatever you're wearing. I don't know i…

Fantastic article. Thank you.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#339

Post by pbourke » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 3:54 PM UTC

varsketiz wrote: post #323

Scoundreller wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorta. Took them a while to turn it off criminal mode. Wasn’t long ago you had to bag an item before you could scan the next. But I have more than 1 hand. Sometimes multiple people. French ones still run in criminal mode.

What is criminal mode?

I think they mean when the machine is set to a strict weight measurement tolerance (or similar) so that for nearly every item it complains about putting things into or taking them out of the bag. You often have to call the checkout area minder over to fix it. It makes the process take much longer than it should.

Re: Leaked Walmart memo reveals competitive threats

#340

Post by lotsofpulp » Sat, Jun 05, 2021, 4:01 PM UTC

frankish wrote: post #327

rsuelzer wrote: post #152

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 Amer…

To your point, Dan Price recently posted some related stats and perspective: > Minimum wage > Costco: $16 > Walmart: $11 > > Average pay > Costco: $24 > Walmart: $15 > > Employees on food stamps (subsidized by you) > Costco: Virtually none > Walmart: More than any other company > > Founder net worth > Costco: not a billionaire > Walmart: $220+ billion; up $30 billion in the pandemic > > Both companies have similar bu…

Costco’s customers are the top 3 socioeconomic quintiles, Walmart’s customers are the bottom 3 (or middle 3).

Either way, Costco’s customers are richer, and they have a different business model. They are objectively a good employer, but a lot of that has to do with their customer not being extremely price sensitive and being able to afford to buy large quantities, which also results in less loss due to theft.

You can find the richer parts of any town by searching for Costco.

As for founder net worth, it’s not very meaningful if a founder owns it or others own it in 401k. Divide the Walmart founder net worth by employees and it still would not give them a meaningful improvement in wages for long. They’re simply a low margin business selling to customers who cannot afford to spend extra.