My Quick Trip to Walmart
Last Sunday I stopped by Walmart with an hour to get my daughter to a 3 pm birthday party. Both of my kids and my husband came along with me as we had just finished at another birthday party. An hour was plenty of time to run in an pick up our short list of items and still make it to the party with time to spare. Our list consisted of a birthday present for a little girl, a cd case (the kind with pages that you slide the cds into), a container for outgrown clothes, and a pack of diapers. No biggie right? Well, if you add a simple constraint to your shopping list, your 10-15 minute in-and-out trip takes a good hour!
What is this constraint? My husband challenged me to purchase products that were NOT made in China. For those of you that know better, this is a rather daunting task in a Walmart. Unbelievably I was able to pick up the Good Night diapers and Sterlite container without a single problem. Amazing! However, the other two items caused me to be 15 minutes late to the next party. The cd carry case I wasn't even able to get, because every single case they carried was Made in China. It took a while to go through them all too. What was the gift we bought the little girl? Well after visiting the toy department and then the outdoor sport department, we finally found a few Color Wonder items that were made entirely in the U.S.A. in the school supply department. It took some digging too. Many of the Color Wonder Products were indeed made in China or made in three different countries including China.
I would also like to point out Walmart's not-so-great idea of now adding televisions to each checkout line. This way you can be subjected to even more powerful constant advertising as you wait in line. I'm not sure when Walmart installed this bright idea to their checkout lines, but it will once again be another long while before I go back.
What is this constraint? My husband challenged me to purchase products that were NOT made in China. For those of you that know better, this is a rather daunting task in a Walmart. Unbelievably I was able to pick up the Good Night diapers and Sterlite container without a single problem. Amazing! However, the other two items caused me to be 15 minutes late to the next party. The cd carry case I wasn't even able to get, because every single case they carried was Made in China. It took a while to go through them all too. What was the gift we bought the little girl? Well after visiting the toy department and then the outdoor sport department, we finally found a few Color Wonder items that were made entirely in the U.S.A. in the school supply department. It took some digging too. Many of the Color Wonder Products were indeed made in China or made in three different countries including China.
I would also like to point out Walmart's not-so-great idea of now adding televisions to each checkout line. This way you can be subjected to even more powerful constant advertising as you wait in line. I'm not sure when Walmart installed this bright idea to their checkout lines, but it will once again be another long while before I go back.
posted by Tiffane | 7:18 PM
1 Comments:
Ahh, those TV's. I think that's why I usually choose the self check-outs. No TV's, and the kids love checking out their own items.
Supposedly, Wal-Mart is wanting to put microchips onto all of their products, which will (a) make inventory easier, and (b) send electronic triggers from your grocery basket to the big huge TV's in the aisle to target ads just for you. Big brother or technology at its scariest?
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