by Margaret Radisich Sleasman

Created on: February 25, 2010

We have a local Wal-Mart (although not a superstore) and I really do not think the prices are lower there than they are anywhere else.  Wal-Mart advertises that you can save scads and scads of money if you shop there instead of where you usually go; but sadly that is not true.

Granted, Wal-Mart does provide entertainment (although not knowingly – or they would charge for that too), so if you look around you will find many shoppers and employees that are extremely funny to watch.  This may be worth the extra few cents you spend on an item that is nowhere near the quality of a higher-end store.  Wal-Mart is basically a dollar-store that charges more than a dollar (actually, I have seen some better quality stuff at the dollar store), but you know – now days entertainment is king!

It is very obvious that people believe the ads that tell them they are saving money because the parking lots are always full.  A couple of years ago I could save money on laundry soap, but now the prices are the same as everywhere else unless you buy some watered down “pretend” soap that really doesn't clean things any better than you could by spraying your clothes with a hose and hanging them to dry.

Groceries are just as high or higher in some cases as Fred Meyer, Safeway or some of the high-end local grocery stores.  If you do not watch ads, you will not know this and be broke in no time which will cause the Wal-Mart executives to hum and dance all the way to the bank.

I like to shop early in the morning and I have gone to Wal-Mart at the changing of shifts when the new shift is in the back room doing their hooting and hollering chants (I guess of how to win friends and influence people to buy).  In truth, most of these employees do not know what is on the shelves and are just happy to have a job (without benefits) – so if it means they have to act like an A* and chant before work, so be it.  All they have to do after that is smile and point an inquiring customer in the general direction of what they asked for. 

 I purchased a fuzzy red sweater from Wal-Mart a few years back.  It was really pretty and I wore it right away.  When I got out of my car (the very first time I wore it), I noticed many red fuzzy strings on the back of my seat.  Thinking, “Well it's new, so maybe that is some extra fuzz that ‘naturally’ comes off,” I ignored it.  By the time I got home, my

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