Walmart News

Following in the footsteps of companies like Walmart and Amazon, DoorDash is the latest company testing drone deliveries in the U.S. 

The company has been working with Wing, a drone delivery provider that also works with Walmart in Australia, where drones have successfully been delivering DoorDash orders in Queensland since 2022. Now, DoorDash has started testing the drone delivery system in Christiansburg, Virginia. 

“We are excited to expand our partnership with Wing in the U.S. to integrate drone delivery into DoorDash’s ecosystem,” said Harrison Shih, senior director of DoorDash Labs. “At DoorDash, we are committed to advancing last-mile logistics by building a multi-modal delivery platform that serves all sides of our marketplace." 

Wendy’s is the first test subject

DoorDash’s pilot drone delivery program is officially underway in Christiansburg, Virginia, and the local Wendy’s is the first restaurant to take part in this phase of testing. 

Customers in the area who place a DoorDash order from Wendy’s will have the option to choose drone delivery when they’re confirming their orders. Once confirmed, the rest of the delivery process will take place as usual. 

Wendy’s will pack up the order, and a Wing drone will pick it up and deliver it to its final destination. Wing explained that its drones travel 65 mph, and once they reach the delivery address, orders are lowered from the drone via tether onto customers’ doorsteps. 

Consumers also shouldn’t worry about the quality of their food with drone deliveries. Wing says that deliveries typically take 30 minutes or less, and because of how quickly they’re able to deliver, quality is never compromised by travel time. 

Small, short deliveries

The goal of drone delivery is to make small, short deliveries faster and more convenient for DoorDash customers. 

Another primary goal is sustainability. Drone delivery allows for fewer drivers on the roads and an overall smaller environmental footprint. 

“Wing has now made over 350,000 deliveries across three countries, and looking ahead, we are focused on providing a fast, affordable, and safe service to our partners so they can better serve their customers,” said Cosimo Leipold, head of partnerships at Wing. “This moment continues our meaningful expansion of this service in the U.S. and advances our shared goal to better the last-mile delivery ecosystem.” 

To get a better idea of how drone delivery works, watch this video: 

Even with inflation, dollar stores are having trouble attracting shoppers. Dollar Tree, which owns the Family Dollar chain, has announced it will close 970 Family Dollar stores after a disappointing fourth quarter.

Budget-conscious shoppers will still have plenty of options. Walmart has gotten more aggressive on prices and even Target has made a play for discount shoppers, launching its dealworthy discount brand.

In an earnings call with analysts, Family Dollar CEO Rick Dreiling said dollar stores, in general, are facing changing shopping habits, and Family Dollar is hampered by the macroeconomic environment.

“Our biggest problem right now is getting enough merchandise into the stores fast enough so the consumer can respond,” Dreiling said. 

Because of inflation, the company said consumers are focusing their spending on necessities and not discretionary items, which make up a significant portion of dollar store inventories.

The announcement follows a record fine

Less than a month ago Family Dollar and its parent company agreed to pay $41.675 million in connection with a rodant-infested product warehouse in West Memphis, Ark. Food, drugs and cosmetics were among the products held in unsanitary conditions.

The companies entered a guilty plea to criminal charges and as a result, received the largest fine in a food safety case.

The plea deal also requires Family Dollar and Dollar Tree to meet robust corporate compliance and reporting requirements for the next three years.

In February 2022 Family Dollar temporarily closed 404 stores served by the warehouse after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) discovered the rodent infestation. It’s not clear whether those stores will be among those that will be closed. The company did not release a list of stores targeted for closing.

Company officials say they plan to shutter 600 Family Dollar stores in the first half of the fiscal year and close another 370 at a later time. They said they also plan to close 30 Dollar Tree locations when leases expire. There are currently 16,774 Family Dollar stores in the U.S.

For the last few months, Walmart shoppers have been able to place orders for delivery through 10:00 p.m. 

Now, the retailer is once again expanding same-day delivery services, but this time, for the morning hours. Starting in mid-March, shoppers can set-up orders to be delivered to their doorsteps starting at 6 a.m. Prior to this announcement, 8 a.m. was the earliest orders were delivered. 

“Starting at 6 a.m., earlier than ever before, customers can enjoy the convenience of on-demand delivery,” the company wrote in a statement. “This expanded timing offers them peace of mind knowing they can get things they need at their doorstep to kickstart the day.” 

Fast, early morning deliveries

Whether it’s a last minute grocery order, school supplies that you forgot to pick up, or diapers, Walmart’s early morning deliveries can be on your doorstep within 30 minutes. Baby essentials, work attire, home appliances, and outdoor supplies are all part of the possibilitiesw. 

This new delivery feature is for consumers who can’t miss their early morning meeting, need supplies before a road trip, need to prep breakfast, or just want their orders as soon as possible. 

How it works

Shoppers will be able to start placing orders for early morning deliveries in mid-March. 

To take advantage of early morning deliveries, shoppers can either go to Walmart’s website or mobile app and start creating an order the way they normally would. From there, there are two express delivery options: delivery within an hour or delivery within three hours. 

For one-hour delivery, there is a $10 delivery fee, while the three-hour delivery window comes with a $5 delivery fee. However, for those with a Walmart+ membership, there is no delivery fee. 

“As we continue to innovate and accelerate, the message is clear: shopping should be personal and as tailored to fit your lifestyle as those freshly-delivered work shirts,” Walmart said.

“With Walmart’s On-Demand Early Morning Delivery and a suite of other convenient options, we’re making sure you have what you need, when you need it, so you can reclaim your time no matter what the clock says.” 

Easter is just a few weeks away, and as consumers continue to battle inflation and rising prices, Walmart is rolling back prices for the upcoming holiday meal. 

The retailer is removing inflation from its 2024 Easter meal offerings and meal items will be priced lower than they were in 2023. 

“Saving customers money is central to Walmart’s mission, and that’s never more in focus than during important holiday celebrations,” said John Laney, executive vice president of food at Walmart. “We’re proud to offer an Easter meal priced even lower than last year, so our customers can celebrate without sacrificing the essentials this holiday season and deliver on our promise of helping them save money and live better.” 

Save on your Easter meal

Walmart has curated a full Easter meal for consumers that can run less than $8 per person. It includes everything from side dishes, to appetizers, and desserts. 

The full shopping list features:  

• Sam’s Choice Bone-in Spiral Cut Ham 8-14.6 lbs: $26.56

• Dole Pineapple Slices 20 oz can: $1.97

• White Dinner Rolls, 12 count: $1.38

• Caesar Salad Kit Family Size: $4.48

• Betty Crocker Scalloped Potatoes: $2.68

• Sweet Potatoes: $1.14 each

• Sweet Corn on the Cob: $3.48

• Green Beans: $0.98 

• 18-Count Large Brown Eggs: $3.92

• Paprika: $1.12

• Mayonnaise: $3.34

• Yellow Mustard: $0.98

• Marie Callender’s Dutch Apple Pie Frozen Dessert: $6.97

• Vanilla Dessert Shells: $1.84

• Frozen Whole Strawberries: $2.24

• Frozen Whipped Cream: $1.07

To feed up to 10 people, the total price of the meal comes in at under $73. Consumers can add the entire grocery list to their Walmart shopping cart for easy meal planning. 

Save on Easter baskets too

On top of savings on your Easter meal, Walmart is also offering savings on Easter baskets for kids of all ages. Similar to the curated meal, the retailer has put together a list of Easter basket items for shoppers that come in at under $20. The deal includes everything from candy, to decorations, and even paper grass. 

Additionally, Walmart has a selection of pre-made Easter baskets that range in price from $15-$25. Or, consumers can build their own Easter baskets, with a number of deals on Easter candy, toys, accessories – and even additions for pets. 

Consumers can shop the special Easter deals on meals and baskets through Easter Sunday – March 31. 

Walmart announced its plans to acquire TV company Vizio, as well as its SmartCast Operating System, for over $2 billion. 

The move pushes Walmart forward in the battle with competitors like Amazon, especially where ads are concerned. While Walmart has always been a major seller of Vizio’s TVs, the acquisition also gives the retailer more opportunities for ad placements. 

“The acquisition of Vizio and its SmartCast Operating System would enable Walmart to connect with and serve its customers in new ways, including innovative television and in-home entertainment and media experiences,” the company said in a statement. “It would also create new opportunities to help advertisers connect with customers, empowering brands with differentiated and compelling opportunities to engage at scale and to realize greater impact from their advertising spend with Walmart.” 

What does this mean for the future?

With the acquisition, Walmart is setting up to expand its media company, Walmart Connect. Through Connect, Walmart is able to work with advertisers to get their products in front of shoppers, whether that’s in stores, online, or through sponsored media content. 

“Our media business, Walmart Connect, is helping brands create meaningful connections with the millions of customers who shop with us each week,” said Seth Dallaire, Walmart’s executive vice president and chief revenue officer. “We believe the combination of these two businesses would be impactful as we redefine the intersection of retail and entertainment.” 

In working with Vizio, Walmart will be able to grow that reach even further. Vizio’s SmartCast Operating System currently has over 18 million active accounts, and the company has over 500 advertising partnerships. 

Every Vizio TV comes loaded with SmartCast, which gives Walmart the chance to place ads in these systems. 

A new streaming service? 

Looking to the future, experts predict that Walmart could use this partnership to develop a streaming network, much in the same way Amazon did with Prime. 

“Longer term, Walmart can use the Vizio platform to develop more of its own entertainment content – something it might link with the Walmart+ membership scheme,” Neil Saunders, managing director of GlobalData, told CBS News. 

Walmart’s drone delivery service is expanding to the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area. 

The company has announced that nearly 75% of the DFW population will be able to order via drone delivery by the end of 2024. Including previous drone delivery locations in Frisco and Lewisville, the addition of DFW will give Walmart the edge as the retailer with the largest drone delivery footprint in the U.S. 

“This expansion will bring the ultimate convenience of drone delivery to communities across the DFW area,” said Prathibha Rajashekhar, senior vice president, Innovation & Automation, Walmart U.S. “Customers will have access to a broad assortment of items from Walmart available for delivery to their home in just minutes. 

“Drone delivery is not just a concept of the future, it’s happening now and will soon be a reality for millions of additional Texans.”

A more convenient delivery method 

The expansion of drone delivery services in the DFW area is possible due to Walmart’s partnership with two drone delivery providers – Zipline and Wing. With their help, more than 30 towns across DFW will be able to get their favorite Walmart products delivered via drone. 

The primary reason to order goods via drone delivery is convenience. Walmart says that customers can expect to see their deliveries arrive in as few as 10 minutes, or as many as 30 minutes. 

Consumers can place drone delivery orders for just about anything – grocery items they forgot for their dinner, a snack they’re craving late at night, cold medicine that they need in a pinch, etc. 

These types of deliveries aren’t just for one-off items either. Shoppers will be able to select multiple items to be delivered – quickly – via drone. 

Safety is key

As convenient as drone delivery will be for consumers, Walmart is also reassuring shoppers that the new delivery system is equally as safe. 

The company explained that they’ve been testing the technology over the last few years, and in that time, 20,000 safe deliveries were completed. On top of that, both Wing and Zipline have a history of safety and efficiency with delivering goods via drone. 

How it works

When ordering from Walmart, customers will place their orders as they typically do, and select “drone delivery” at checkout. From there, the delivery will be boxed up and loaded onto an aircraft for delivery. 

Much in the same way that shoppers track packages they order online, consumers will be able to track the flight of their drone delivery. Shoppers will get notifications when the drone is approaching, and a tether will drop down from the drone, unclipping the package at the final destination. 

Consumers will be eligible for drone delivery from stores within 10 miles of their addresses, and more information on eligibility will be available in the coming months. 

While the clock on holiday shopping is certainly ticking, Walmart is offering consumers last-minute shopping opportunities through Christmas Eve. 

The retailer announced that consumers can guarantee gifts get delivered for Christmas Day even if they wait until later in the week to place their orders. In addition, there will be a number of sales on last-minute gift ideas running throughout this week. 

“It’s been an exciting holiday season, and we’ve been busy delivering the kind of holiday magic only Walmart can,” the company wrote in a statement. “But we’re not done yet! We’re finishing the season strong – giving customers new ways to save and convenient delivery solutions on last-minute gifts.” 

Get gifts delivered, or pick them up

If the holiday season got away from you, it’s still not too late to finish your shopping. Walmart has shared its final shipping deadlines for consumers to ensure they receive their gifts in time for Christmas. 

Here’s what to know: 

• Delivery deadline: Thursday, December 21. If consumers place their orders by 2 p.m. local time, delivery is guaranteed for December 25 – just remember to look for gifts that are eligible for next-day and two-day shipping.

• Curbside Pickup & Delivery (from store): Sunday, December 24. Shoppers can place orders by 12 p.m. local time on Christmas Eve for either same-day pickup or delivery through 4 p.m. Walmart will have extra pickup and delivery time slots available for the extra orders expected during the holidays. 

• Express Delivery: Sunday, December 24. Shoppers will be able to place orders for Express Delivery – which get delivered within two hours of being placed – through 4 p.m. local time on Christmas Eve. Walmart+ members receive one free Express Delivery order in the month of December, and non-members can get Express Delivery for a $10 fee. 

Sales are still available

For those looking for deals on popular holiday gifts, Walmart will be running sales through Thursday, December 21, at 2 p.m. ET. 

Some of the thousands of offers include: 

• LEGO Super Mario Penguin Family Snow Adventure Expansion Set: $19.97

• Philips 50” 4K Ultra HD Roku Smart TV: $198

• Barbie Doll and Mountain Bike Bundle with Barbie Car: $34.97

• Farberware 20-piece Aluminum Cookware Set: $59

• Lenovo 14” IdeaPad: $349

More last-minute holiday sales can be found on Walmart’s website, in the mobile app, or in stores. 

Walmart has announced that it will be bringing sensory-friendly shopping hours to all of its stores, every day of the week. 

The retailer piloted these special hours during back-to-school shopping, but they were limited just to Saturdays. 

Now, as holiday shopping is ramping up, Walmart will have sensory-friendly hours every single day, at all stores, from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. local time. 

“Earlier this year, we took a step in making shopping in our stores more inclusive for those with sensory disabilities by taking measures to create a less stimulating environment for a couple of hours each Saturday,” the company wrote in a statement.

“We changed the TV walls to a static image, turned off the radio, and lowered the lights where possible. These changes may have seemed small to some, but for others, they transformed the shopping experience.”  

Listening to consumers’ needs

After testing out sensory-friendly hours for one day a week during the back-to-school season, Walmart has decided to listen to its customers. The company explained that the large majority of feedback it received has been geared towards bringing back sensory-friendly shopping hours. 

The change went into effect on November 10, and currently, there is no end in sight for this more inclusive shopping experience. All Walmart stores in the U.S. and Puerto Rico will follow the new sensory-friendly schedule. 

The goal is to make the shopping experience more comfortable for consumers with sensory disabilities. Less noise, lowered lighting and fewer flashing images around the store will make it easier for all shoppers to make the most of their shopping trips. 

“In our stores during sensory-friendly hours, customers will have a calmer shopping experience,” Walmart’s COO Cedric Clark said in a statement to Good Morning America. “Where we’re able, our stores will turn off the radio, change our TV screens to still images and dim the lights. 

“We’re always open to more feedback from our customers and associates, and listen to what else can help create a less stimulating environment during those times.” 

One would think that with Aldi, Walmart, Target, and now Lidl all throwing their hat in the discounted Thanksgiving deals, that all is well in Thanksgiving Dinnerland. But all is well for now, and not guaranteed if you decide to go shopping the weekend before Turkey Day 2023, suggests Datasembly.

New data from the grocery price tracking company indicates that Thanksgiving dinner will cost American consumers even more this year. For instance, the cost of turkey is up 8.3% this November compared to 2022, with no signs of slowing down. 

Datasembly researchers told ConsumerAffairs that, year over year (YOY), frozen whole turkey prices from the first until the last week of October went up 11.3%, similar to what happened from 2021 to 2022. “It also appears that promotions kicked-in earlier last year as prices started to drop on 10-22 in 2022 but in 2023, we have yet to see lowering of prices,” a spokesperson for Datasembly said.

If turkey is a must, Datasembly says the window on good deals will close around November 15 and, then, start rising again.

Frozen turkeys are also going to be priced lower than fresh ones and fresh bird prices are expected to continue at a higher price point, so keep that in mind. 

This means you might want to savor your turkey like it’s a fine wine

Cargill, the food – and turkey – production giant suggests that with turkey possibly coming under the “premium” banner, this year, consumers are desirous of finding ways to stretch the value of their bird so that they get the best return on investment they can.

In order to help home chefs maximize the value of their whole turkey purchase this Thanksgiving, Cargill Corporate Chef Janet Bourbon shares two tasty tips.

Maximize turkey meat: “Carve the turkey and store the meat in sealed containers to keep it fresher for longer. Explore endless possibilities for your leftover turkey meat, from mouthwatering sandwiches to hearty soups and turkey chili,” Bourbon said. “Don’t forget to consume leftovers within three to four days to ensure food safety and quality or freeze them to be eaten later.”

Check out the potential of giblets: Giblets? Yeah. A lot of older Americans remember giblet gravy when they were having their Norman Rockwell Thanksgiving dinner, but Bourbon thinks the under-60 crowd should give giblets a chance, too. “The giblets, including the heart, liver, gizzard, and sometimes the neck, are flavorful treasures often neglected and thrown away,” she said.

To create giblet gravy, all you have to do is simmer the turkey neck, wing tips, half an onion, carrot, and celery in water. Next, strain and reserve the liquid for your gravy, then sauté the chopped gizzard, liver, and heart in butter until browned and add them to your gravy.

Another use of giblets is to treat your pets. There’ve been lots of back-and-forth about what “people food” pets can have, but Bourbon says that cooked giblets can also serve as a delightful treat for your furry friends, especially dogs.

For more information and recipe ideas, including how to thaw, prep and cook a whole turkey and make the most of your leftovers, visit the “Guide to Good,” found on Cargill’s Honeysuckle White and Shady Brook Farms turkey brand websites.

Walmart+ members are used to getting perks with their memberships: free delivery from Walmart stores, nationwide gas discounts, returns from home, mobile scan and go, a Paramount+ subscription, free shipping with no order minimum, video streaming with Pluto TV, early access to online sales, and Walmart rewards. 

Now, the retailer is adding to that list: travel benefits. 

Walmart has partnered with Expedia Group’s White Label Template to offer Walmart+ members exclusive deals on their next getaway. 

“We’re bringing together the ultimate savings membership and vacation booking site to deliver a first-ever travel-focused benefit for Walmart+ members,” said Venessa Yates, senior vice president and general manager of Walmart+.

“Combined with our other efforts – including free delivery, streaming, and savings on fuel – we’re creating a membership that saves customers time and money, whether they’re at home or having fun at their favorite vacation destination.” 

Earn Walmart Cash for booking your next trip

Walmart+ members can book their next vacation with Walmart+ and immediately start earning as much as 5% Walmart Cash for their trip. 

The booking site has a wide range of options for hotels, airlines, and car rental companies, both in the U.S. and overseas. There are offers for last-minute hotel deals, hotel specials by the beach, family-friendly options, popular road-trip destinations, tours and activities, and more. 

The amount of Walmart Cash varies depending on what members book. Reserving a hotel, car, vacation rental, or activity yields 5% Walmart Cash, while flights offer 2% cash back.

When booking both a hotel and a flight, Walmart+ members will receive each respective Cash Back percentage – 5% for the hotel and 2% for the flight. 

Walmart Cash is the latest version of Walmart Rewards, which members accumulate when they purchase certain items that are flagged with a Walmart Cash icon. That Cash can be redeemed towards future purchases in-store or online, or those with at least a $25 balance can receive cash at their local Walmart store. 

A seamless booking experience

The partnership with Expedia makes it easy for Walmart+ members to navigate the booking process. This includes making changes to their itinerary, answering travel questions, or assisting in the reservation process. 

“We’re connecting Walmart’s customer base with Expedia Group’s extensive array of travel supply partners from around the world,” said Ariane Gorin, president of Expedia for Business. “What’s exciting is that with this collaboration, Walmart customers will benefit from Expedia’s ongoing innovation through TravelOS, our AI-powered travel operating system, as we continue to add new products and feature updates to drive the best traveler experience.”

Walmart+ members can book their next getaway straight from the Walmart app or at WalmartPlusTravel.com. Once they officially book their vacation, the Walmart Cash balance will reflect the changes, and members can utilize their rewards 30 days after their trip. 

With consumers currently balancing several days of huge sales from three of the biggest retailers – Target, Walmart, and Amazon – the summer sale frenzy is still heating up. 

Walgreens is the latest competitor to enter the race. The pharmacy announced that it will host a week full of sales and discounts, myW Days, starting on July 23 and running through July 29, exclusively for myWalgreens rewards members. 

“We’re launching myW Days to thank myWalgreens members and show how much we appreciate them,” said Linh Peters, chief marketing officer at Walgreens. “We know health and wellness is personal and needs change and vary, so our loyalty program is designed to provide valuable and flexible rewards across any Walgreens purchase."

Up to $100 in myWalgreens Cash is available

While Walgreens plans to unveil its full list of sales and specials for myW Days on July 13, the retailer explained that myWalgreens rewards members should expect to see discounts and benefits that are tailored to their specific purchases.

With the primary goal of the sale being to reward shoppers, consumers will be able to earn rewards and score their favorites at lower prices, the company said. 

In addition, rewards members should look forward to earning myWalgreens Cash rewards. According to the retailer, each member can earn up to $100 in myWalgreens Cash rewards over the course of the week of savings. 

During the sales events, shoppers will have the chance to earn extra rewards to double up on their rewards balance. This will translate to Walgreens Cash rewards – which ultimately save consumers money on every visit. 

To get the most out of the sales event, and earn the most possible Walgreens Cash, rewards members are encouraged to take advantage of the deals going on every day of the week. 

Consumers must be myWalgreens rewards members to participate in the savings, and they can join in any Walgreens store or online at walgreens.com/mywalgreens. 

For many Americans, Memorial Day Weekend serves as the official kickoff to summer, which usually means gathering your friends and family for a barbecue. 

While costs of all the major essentials continue to creep up, Walmart and Kroger have announced efforts to keep party supplies cost-friendly for consumers this Memorial Day. 

“As families come together in tribute on this day of remembrance, we join our customers in honoring our heroes, and we are here to make their gathering extra special with holiday staples that are affordable, fresh, and delicious,” said Rodney McMullen, Kroger’s chairman and CEO. 

Walmart’s BBQ sale will get you through July 4

Between now and July 15, Walmart is offering shoppers discounts on everything barbecue-related – and the prices are actually lower than last year. 

Shoppers can get everything they need for a barbecue in one of Walmart’s summer grilling baskets. They include everything – hot dogs, hamburgers, buns, lettuce, tomato, cheese, ketchup, pasta and potato salad, corn on the cob, drinks, chips, dessert, and more. 

The price to serve 12 people comes to $6.15 per person, or a total of $73.76. Whether you’re hosting for Memorial Day, Father’s Day, July 4, or any weekend in between, there are deals on all the summer barbecue necessities.

If you’re in need of a grill or new briquettes before the start of the summer, Walmart is also offering sales on those: 

• Expert Grill’s 14.5’’ Portable Charcoal Grill: $14.97 ($3 savings)

• Blackstone’s 2-Burner 28” Griddle with Air Fryer: $447 ($50 savings) 

• 12 lbs of Instant Charcoal Briquettes from Expert Grill: $6.97 (Originally $7.88)

• 16 lbs of Kingsford Original Charcoal Briquettes (two-pack): $17.92 ($2 savings)

All items and sales are available in-store, online, or with curbside or in-store pickup. 

Choose your budget at Kroger  

Ahead of Memorial Day, Kroger is offering three tiers of menus for consumers looking to stock up for their barbecues: the red menu ($5 per person), the white menu ($7.50 per person), and the blue menu ($10 per person). Each menu comes with options for grilling, sides, and snacks, with the option to also add on a s’mores kit for dessert. 

With the red menu, shoppers get Kroger-brand quarter pound burgers and Nathan’s hotdogs, hotdog and hamburger buns, Colby Jack cheese slices, tomato, southwest chopped salad kit, cole slaw, strawberries, and party size cheddar and sour cream potato chips. 

The white menu offers St. Louis-style pork spare ribs, boneless and skinless chicken breast marinated in applewood smoked honey maple BBQ, corn on the cob, sweet kale chopped salad kit, southern-style potato salad, watermelon, party-size wavy potato chips. 

Lastly, the blue menu includes Private Select Angus Beef Boneless flank steak marinated in steak marinade, frozen cooked shrimp and kebabs made with yellow squash, onions, bell peppers, zucchini, sliced baby bella mushrooms, ultimate caesar salad kit, cole slaw, and party size sweet and mesquite BBQ potato chips. 

Kroger is also offering a $9 bundle for a full s’mores kit, plus other deals on barbecue essentials, like propane tanks, sunblock, briquettes, and more. Shoppers can access all of these deals however they choose to shop -- pickup, delivery, or in-store. 

Prices for BBQ items are going up, experts say

According to DataAssembly’s Grocery Price index, which collects and tracks weekly grocery store prices from over 150,000 stores across the country, the cost of hosting a barbecue this summer is going to be more than it has been in recent years – making these store discounts all the more valuable. 

Overall, barbecue goods will cost consumers roughly 9% more than in 2022, with the biggest price hike coming to condiments. Ketchup alone is nearly 30% more expensive than it was a year ago, and mustard and relish aren’t far behind, with the former seeing a 13% price increase, and the latter seeing a 12% price increase since last year. 

In terms of popular grill items, ground beef is marginally down in price since last year (0.4% price decrease), and hotdogs have gone up in price by 3%.

Like many retailers, Walmart is putting more emphasis on health services and a weekend Wellness Day promotion at over 4,600 pharmacies is a good example, offering customers immunizations and free health screenings. 

“It’s not only the free screenings and the affordable immunizations that make a difference, but also the opportunity for connections between our pharmacists and the communities we serve, said Kevin Host, senior vice president of pharmacy at Walmart.

Available health resources

Here’s what consumers can expect at their area Walmart pharmacies on Wellness Day:

• Free COVID-19 vaccines

• Wellness resources

• Free screenings for: body mass index, glucose, blood pressure, cholesterol, and vision (at select locations)

• The following vaccines: whooping cough (TDAP), measles, mumps, Hepatitis A & B, chicken pox/shingles, tetanus, flu, pneumonia, HPV, rubella (MMR), and more 

• Time to talk with pharmacists

In addition, consumers can expect their specific Walmart store to handle Wellness Day with different in-store giveaways and freebies. Some stores will have samples of vitamins, nutrition items, or supplements, while others will demonstrate the benefits and uses of different wellness products. 

There are several goals for Wellness Day. For starters, it's an opportunity for consumers to learn more about their own personal health, better manage and track their health, and access resources that are available to them. 

Additionally, Walmart hopes to increase awareness and access to health and wellness services and products. By offering vaccinations and screenings for free and reduced prices, more consumers will have access to important health resources. 

With Mother’s Day right around the corner, Walmart is gearing up to honor new moms in the coming weeks. 

The company is launching a new campaign dubbed, the “Mother of All Savings Memberships,” in which it will donate one year of a Walmart+ membership to as many as 20,000 new mothers during the month of May. 

“Walmart+ brings together benefits that will help save moms precious time,” said Seth Dallaire, executive vice president and chief revenue officer of Walmart. “Whether it’s getting diapers delivered straight to their door or saving on gas for the carpool, we’ve got their back. To celebrate moms, we’ve committed to gifting 20,000 Walmart+ memberships to some of our most important customers, making life a little easier for them.” 

Partnering with Pampers and famous moms

Walmart will be working with a group of celebrity moms as well as the Pampers company to help bring 20,000 new mothers a year of Walmart+ for free. During the month of May, mothers giving birth at hospitals across the country will receive goodie bags that include important newborn and postpartum necessities – and the chance to redeem 12 months of Walmart+ for free. 

Some of the perks of Walmart+ that could be the most beneficial to new moms include: 

• Free shipping with no order minimum

• Returns from home

• Free delivery from your local store

• Walmart rewards for members 

• Mobile scan & go 

In addition, Walmart air commercials and other media items including a group of celebrity moms – Jenny Slate, Stephanie Beatriz, Cardi B, and Janelle James. The women will share their parenting hacks with mothers across the country, as well as explain how they make the most of a Walmart+ membership. 

“The beauty of motherhood is that it brings moms together with a bond regardless of where they are in their lives,” said Courtney Carlson, senior vice president of retail marketing atWalmart. “Every mom loves to trade their parenting hacks, and we’re excited for this campaign to showcase the biggest hack of all being ‘The Mother of All Savings’ – a Walmart+ membership.” 

Getting a gift

While a year of Walmart+ typically costs just under $100, Walmart is also running special deals and offering gift guidance in advance of Mother's Day. The Walmart website has a special page dedicated to gift ideas for moms, aunts, grandmas, sisters, cousins, etc. 

There are gift sets, options for gifts in different price ranges (as low as $15 and under all the way to $100 and under), help with creating themed gift kits, options for different interests like cooking or gardening, ideas for splitting gifts among a group, and more.

Shoppers can choose based on different activity ideas – movie night, paint and sip, breakfast in bed, and more – or “more ways to make her day” – like mommy & me, brunch, or baking. 

After a four-year marriage, Walmart says it’s had all of Capital One it can take. The big box retailer is suing the credit card company over customer service.

According to sources who've seen the lawsuit, Capital One “was consistently unable to meet the customer-service standards” in five “critical” categories over a 12-month period.  Those standards included issuing replacement cards and processing payments and posting transactions in a timely fashion – standards that Walmart alleges the bank admitted in writing that it failed to meet just two months ago.

In a statement provided to ConsumerAffairs, Walmart said it looks forward to bringing its customers a new credit card option "that provides meaningful benefits and rewards soon."

But is it something cardholders should be worried about or is it just a corporate squabble? In comments emailed to ConsumerAffairs, Capital One offered this: "Walmart’s lawsuit is an attempt to renegotiate the economic terms of the partnership it agreed to just a few years ago, or end the deal early.  These servicing issues were immaterial and cured by Capital One pursuant to the terms of the agreement, without harm to customers, the program, or Walmart."

The impact on cardholders

Despite Capital One doing well in the customer service category in a recent J.D. Power satisfaction survey, the company suffered among ConsumerAffairs reviewers regarding customer service.

Some Capital One credit card holders who had Walmart-branded cards have had all they can take, too. One ConsumerAffairs reviewer called the company “a bunch of clowns.” Another said their service was “pathetic.” 

Nonetheless, consumers who have one of the Walmart-branded Capital One cards have to carry on at least for a while. Walmart told ConsumerAffairs that cardholders should not experience any disruptions in service and can continue to use their existing Capital One Walmart credit cards.

Can Walmart get all the eggs in one basket?

This whole ordeal may be part of Walmart’s desire to have every penny coming from someone using one of its credit cards directly into its pockets. Walmart has made noise about offering financial services products for years, and in January, announced plans to acquire two companies that signal a definite move in that area.

One of those companies specializes in earned wage access, a benefit that allows employees to receive part of their paycheck before payday. The other is a neo bank, basically a tech company/online banking services combo that partners with an existing, traditional bank.

However, the biggest component of Walmart’s fintech reveal is credit cards. Even though it had a pre-existing deal with Capital One, the retailer is currently testing “One,” a banking platform it offers its employees with hopes of eventually offering the service to customers. 

Walmart's plans are pretty much like shooting fish in a barrel.

“They don’t need to go acquire customers, they already have them,” David Donovan, executive vice president of financial services for the Americas at digital consulting company Publicis Sapient, told BankingDive. “They just have to roll that service out and make it really easy and simple. It’s like, build it, and they’ll come.”

Walmart shoppers are about to get a special deal on mountain bikes. The company has announced a new partnership with Ozark Trail that will bring the typically high-priced bikes to consumers for a lower cost. 

“We have developed a bike for the weekend warrior that is ready to hit the trails,” said Maddy Johnson, associate merchant for adult bikes at Walmart U.S. “Many of the bikes in this sport come with a high price point. We wanted to offer our customers a more affordable option while maintaining the quality and versatility that the sport requires, and I think we’ve done that with the Ozark Trail bike.” 

Finding the right bike at the right price 

Because mountain bikes are designed to cross different kinds of terrain and hold up under the demands of the sport, that usually means they come with a high price tag. However, Walmart said it partnered with Ozark Trail to bring consumers a durable mountain bike at a better price. 

The new line of mountain bikes with Ozark Trail will be available at Walmart in varying price ranges, and shoppers will have the option to customize and upgrade their bikes to best suit their needs. 

Customers can choose between a 27.5-inch wheel or a 29-inch wheel, and there’s an option for kids that comes with 24-inch wheels. In addition, there are different options for frame sizes, so riders can find the option that best suits their size and needs. The bikes are also equipped with mechanical disc brakes, groupsets from Microshift and Shimano, and short-travel suspension forks. 

Kids’ bikes are priced at $198 at Walmart, while adult bikes start at $298 and can go up to $398 for the most premium option. Walmart will also carry accessories for the bikes, including both youth and adult helmets (priced at $19.96 and $24.96, respectively), a universal bike water bottle cage ($9.96), and 27-piece bike repair tool kit ($29.96). 

Sensing that consumers may forgo a traditional Easter dinner to save money that inflation is otherwise eating up, Walmart is offering ingredients for an entire Easter meal for less than $100.

The company did the same last Thanksgiving and says it was such a hit that it’s doing it again. Starting with the cornerstone of every Easter occasion – eggs – the big box retailer said that instead of cutting the prices on eggs, it’s going to lower the cost of other Easter food traditions instead. 

When ConsumerAffairs took a look at Walmart’s Easter deals, it certainly had everything covered. There are essentials of ham, green beans, pie, and 17 fixings in between appetizers and dessert: including pineapple slices, salad dressings, mayo, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, and Cool Whip. 

“At Walmart, our purpose is to help customers save money and live better. We’re committed to keeping prices low, so families can spend less time worrying about the cost of coming together and more time celebrating with their loved ones,” John Laney, Walmart's executive vice president, of Food, said.

“To ensure our customers can do just that, we’re continuing to invest in the moments that matter this year by offering a Walmart-curated Easter meal and Easter basket at last year’s price.”

Not just green beans, either

The promotion is a double-headed deal, too. On top of grocery staples, Walmart is offering an assortment of Easter basket must-haves at last year’s prices.

“With the savings, you can easily assemble an Easter basket packed to the brim with decorative grass, a Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Bunny, Reese’s Eggs, toys and more, perfect for the little ones,” Laney said.

The new prices are available now both online and in-store and the orders are also available for curbside pickup and delivery. They’ll be good until April 15.

If there’s a buck to be made, consumers can trust Walmart, Target, and Costco to make it. But, according to one big box shopping guru, if there’s a buck to be saved, consumers can get one back from the retail giants if they just pay attention.

When ConsumerAffairs lucked upon Kyle James at Rather-Be-Shopping, it was immediately evident that what he has uncovered is buried treasure, for sure. So good that he should rent out his services as a personal shopper.

Snooping and receipts = savings @ Walmart

“Did you know you can tell if a clearance item at Walmart is about to go even cheaper simply by looking at the price tag?,” James threw out as an example. And, according to one of James’ “anonymous” blue-vested Walmart employee’s tip, all you need to know to crack the price tag code is this:

• Price ending with a 7 is typically the original price. Examples include $2.97 or $5.57. Know that you’re paying full price if you see a price ending in 7.

• Price ending with a 5 or 0 is the 1st markdown price. Examples include $3.25 or $45.00. This price is better than the above obviously, but not the cheapest the item may potentially go.

• Price ending with a 1 is the FINAL markdown price. Examples include $4.91 or $57.01. This is the holy grail at Walmart and is the cheapest price the item will go.

Another gem James says that Walmart has tucked out of the way are clearance deals. Yes, we know, clearance deals should be in the clearance section, but James says that’s not a guarantee – especially for consumer electronics.

“Instead, look down low in the glass cases/cabinets in your local Walmart’s electronics section,” he shared, saying he got this tip from a current Walmart employee who told him, “Most marked down, high-end electronics are held in cabinets near or under their respective items.”

Bonus hint: Most reduced items are not displayed and rarely have price tags.

When ConsumerAffairs asked James for an exclusive tip, he told us that any consumer can make money off their Walmart receipt just by using two cashback apps, Ibotta and Fetch.

“All they require you to do is scan your paper receipt once you get home and you'll quickly build up points depending on what you bought. You'll even get points on generic items like milk, bananas, and bread. I use them both consistently and turn my rewards into $100 Amazon gift cards every Christmas,” he said.

Ask Costco for what… a better price?

Not to be greedy, but ConsumerAffairs also asked for an insider tip for Costco shoppers. James said that members can actually negotiate a better price on some items.

Really?

“Have you ever seen the last of a particular item at Costco? Nothing left but the display floor model, which still works great, comes with the same warranty, but might have a scratch or a couple wear marks on it. Often you’ll find these in the electronics and computers section. They want to get rid of these things, and while they might already be marked down, there is still room to negotiate an even better deal,” he said. “Politely ask for 15% off and settle for 10%. Sometimes all you have to do is ask.”

And, lastly, a little-known Costco fact is that you don't have to be a full-fledged Costco member to actually shop there.

James said that he heard from a Reddit user that Costco sells gift cards that give non-members access to the store. “A friend can buy them for you and even reload them for you online,” he said, pointing us to this link where you do that. 

However…

“Be aware that when using a Costco cash card you’ll be hit with a 5% surcharge on purchases from Costco.com. This applies to non-members only,” he cautioned.

Now that consumers aren’t as nervous about shopping in-store as they were during the pandemic, are retailers pulling back on curbside options? It depends on the retailer.

Target and Walmart are still committed to offering curbside pickup as an option to shoppers. In fact, Target just added curbside delivery for Starbucks Café beverages and food in 240 locations – adding a food component to curbside delivery.

However, curbside delivery is dropping precipitously at other retailers. A recent report found that the offering of curbside pickup dropped from 34% in 2021 to 25% in 2022. And while some retailers are continuing to offer the service as a holiday shopping perk, it’s possible that the number offering it could drop further after the first of the year.

It may make customer service sense, but not necessarily economic sense

Even though customer service is king, the pluses and minuses of curbside delivery depend on several factors. For some customers, it’s a no-brainer, but for retailers who have to set up special holding sections and people to take orders to the cars, it can be a burden. 

It’s also a buzzkill for retailers who count on foot traffic perusing their aisles and maybe doing some added impulse shopping. 

Then, there’s the issue of returns. Not being able to go in-store and look at the products in person could increase the chance of returns and with returns now costing 21% of the value of the order, curbside may not be the best choice. 

“During the pandemic, employees were available to run items out to customers’ cars. Today, the situation is the opposite. Brands are struggling to hire and retain associates, meaning there is rarely enough staff to ensure the curbside process runs smoothly,” Rick Berger, president of NewStore, told ConsumerAffairs.

What are customers missing not shopping in-store?

In terms of experience, is there anything shoppers miss by not going in-store? Berger thinks there is.

“Curbside isn’t ideal when shoppers are looking to purchase higher-price, specialty items. Brick-and-mortar offers a much better experience in these scenarios because shoppers can touch and try out products before they buy,” he said. Walmart was probably thinking the same thing when it recently rolled out its in-store Netflix "experience."

The other plus Berger sees is that at the same time, shoppers can consult with store employees. Something you can’t get from someone who’s delivering an order and putting it in your backseat.

“Associates aren’t just there to bag up items and take shoppers’ money. They are product and brand experts,” he said.

As an example, he used skiing equipment – a product category that shoppers rely on the expertise of their store guides to help them find the right board, bindings, or boots for them.

“Many factors go into this decision, such as skill level, age, body type, riding conditions, and more,” he said, things where personal and professional insights can benefit a shopper.

As another example, Berger said his company’s researchers found that 72% of the brands they looked at in the luxury segment – such as jewelry – don’t offer curbside pickup because it simply takes away from a curated in-store experience certain retailers pride themselves on. 

“In both cases above, shoppers are making significant, long-term investments that require the personalization that can only happen from an in-person shopping experience. It all comes down to the brand and the products it sells,” he added.

Walmart and Netflix have teamed up to create a new movie-watching experience for customers at the Netflix Hub, which is now available in over 2,400 Walmart stores nationwide. 

What was previously just an online store that sold clothes, toys, and games from popular Netflix shows and movies, has now transitioned to include an in-store component that has more goodies for families to pick up before movie night. 

“I have so many fond memories of perusing the movie aisle looking for the perfect film to watch with my family on movie night, sometimes sneaking a bag of candy or popcorn into the cart along the way,” said Frank Barbieri, vice president of content and digital at Walmart. “This is something I thought my kids would never experience, until now."

Themed snacks, gifts, and collectibles

The in-store version of the Netflix Hub will have more movie and TV show offerings than the online store. Shoppers can expect to find themed snacks, toys, gifts, collectible items, and music from some of the most popular things on Netflix. 

The offerings will also change depending on the season and time of year. As Walmart prepares for the holiday season, shoppers can find advent calendars or holiday cards related to shows like Stranger Things or Squid Games. However, these items will be consistently updated throughout the year to keep the offerings as updated as possible. 

With the holiday season fast approaching, the Netflix Hub will also be full of potential gift ideas for the avid movie or TV watcher in your family. Shoppers can pick up t-shirts, board games, or jewelry -- everything from Cocomelon to Cobra Kai. 

To make the movie-watching experience more personal at home, shoppers can purchase new Concession Kits. These are also themed to your favorite movies and TV shows and can include a combination of snacks, drinks, or even collectible cups to enjoy while streaming. 

Walmart will also offer a Netflix Streaming Gift Card, which will allow customers to start streaming the latest movies and shows without needing to link a credit card to a Netflix account. 

Sam’s Club recently announced that it would be raising its membership prices. The membership club owned by Walmart hiked basic memberships from $45 to $50 per year and top-tier memberships from $100 to $110 per year. 

However, in recent news from rival club Costco, the company announced that membership fees won’t go up right now. Currently, consumers can get an annual basic membership at Costco for $60 and an annual higher-tier membership for $120. 

Richard Galanti, Costco’s Chief Financial Officer, recently announced that the company’s fourth-quarter sales were higher than expected. This in turn translates into members’ annual fees staying put for a while longer. 

Galanti said that while the company typically raises membership fees every five and a half years, with the last increase coming in 2017, there’s no rush to do so right now. During a time of inflation when not many things are going down or even maintaining the same price, the news is certainly positive for consumers.

However, consumers shouldn’t expect to get too comfortable with the current prices. Galanti explained that prices are likely to go up again – but the timeline of the increase remains unknown for now. 

“In terms of membership fees and a possible increase, there are no specific plans regarding a fee increase at this time,” Galanti said in an earnings call. “We’re pleased with our growth in both top-line sales and membership households over the last several quarters and in member loyalty as reflected in increasing member renewal rates. We’ll let you know when something is about to happen.” 

Saving money with membership clubs

A recent report from ConsumerAffairs showed that buying in bulk at membership clubs tends to be worth the annual fee. With groceries and gas costing consumers more than usual, going to Costco, Sam’s Club, or BJ’s can be an affordable way to stock up on the necessities – and fill up your tank. 

The report found that something as basic as toilet paper can cost nearly 5.5% more per roll at smaller retailers compared to buying larger quantities at a membership club.

While shoppers with lower incomes tend to not be able to afford to buy in bulk, there are savings to be found when doing so – especially when looking at the costs of these items in smaller grocery or convenience stores. 

The big increase in inflation this year has sent more people to warehouse membership clubs where, for a fee, consumers can buy in bulk and sometimes save money. As demand for these memberships grows, one warehouse – Sam’s Club – is increasing its membership fee.

The retailer, owned by Walmart, is increasing the annual membership fee from $45 to $50 – still less than rival Costco’s $60 annual fee. Sam’s Club’s top-tier membership is also going up from $100 to $110.

The new fees take effect Oct. 17.

It’s the first fee increase for Sam’s Club in nine years and the first for the top-tier membership, known as “Sam’s Club Plus.” The retailer, along with its competitors, has benefited from inflation. Budget-conscious shoppers have increased their memberships, especially as gasoline prices hit a record high in June.

According to CNBC, Sam’s Club CEO Kath McLay disclosed the fee increase in a message to members, saying the company is mindful of the economic pressures that many families face. Because of that, McLay said the company will reimburse members the amount of this year’s fee increase in the form of “Sam’s Club Cash” that can be used in stores.

Membership income is growing

Sam’s Club operates about 600 stores in the U.S. and in Puerto Rico. The company does not report the number of members it has but has apparently seen the membership rolls grow this year. In its most recent quarterly earnings report, Sam’s Club said income from membership fees rose nearly 9% during the quarter that ended July 31.

In addition to food and gasoline, warehouse clubs like Sam’s Club, Costco, and B.J’s Warehouse sell home furnishings, apparel, and electronics. Faye, a Sam’s Club member from Warren Mich., uses the store as a place to purchase hearing aids.

“I came in on April 19, 2022, and he spent a long time preparing my hearing aids and be sure they worked well,” Faye wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. “I left (the) same day and I could hear. I would recommend him to anyone.”

A 2021 study found that members of warehouse clubs do save money if they can afford to buy in bulk. The study found that more affluent consumers shop at these warehouses because they can afford to buy in bulk while lower-income consumers end up paying more for smaller quantities at other retailers.

Chris Cracchiolo, senior vice president and general manager of Walmart+, has announced that Walmart has created a new rewards program for members of Walmart+ – Walmart Rewards. The program is aimed at helping Walmart+ members save more money at the store, which has recently expanded to include discounts on gas and prescriptions. 

“At Walmart, everything we do is in service of the customer,” Cracchiolo wrote. “Sam Walton used to say, ‘Give customers what they want, and a little more.’ This is our ambition with Walmart+ – to offer a suite of benefits that are additive for our members. And as the needs of members evolve, we evolve right alongside them.” 

What can shoppers expect?

The new rewards program is designed to offer Walmart shoppers discounts and special offers on a wide range of products – groceries, pet supplies, and home needs. Right now, the program is only offering rewards on specific items, though future evolutions of Walmart Rewards may include other features. 

To start saving money, consumers simply start shopping. When scrolling through the Walmart app or website, members will see the option to add a reward to a specific item.

The example shown in a video available on the Walmart company blog is the option to add a $0.75 reward to a bottle of ketchup. Once the reward is selected, it will be added to the Reward Center, which is available in the Walmart wallet in the app and online.

These rewards can then be used towards lowering the price of future Walmart purchases, both in-store and online. The more that customers shop, the more rewards they’ll rack up, company officials say.

For current Walmart+ members, this rewards program is live, and no extra steps are necessary to start saving money. If you’re logged into your Walmart account, either on the app or the website, you’ll start seeing items eligible for discounts. 

Currently, Walmart+ members receive:

• Unlimited free delivery on any items ordered online
• Scan and go, which allows customers to use their phones to scan items in the store and pay for them digitally
• Most recently, a subscription to Paramount+.

This latest effort is geared towards saving customers more money on items they’re already buying. 

“We’ve always been committed to saving members time and money, and with Walmart Rewards, we’re rewarding members for shopping with us through added savings on the items they want and need most,” Cracchiolo said. “It’s a little more that adds up to a lot.” 

Just about every online retailer will offer a few products – mostly computers – that are refurbished. The price is usually a lot less than if the item was new.

Walmart has taken the concept a step further by setting up Walmart Restored, a section of Walmart.com that only sells used or refurbished products. In addition to computers, Walmart Restored offers TVs, smartphones, cameras, audio gear, large and small appliances, and video games.

Walmart has struggled recently because consumers have shifted much of their spending away from products and toward food and gasoline because of inflation. The retailer says it is offering a portfolio of refurbished products to counter rising prices.

“In a year when customers are looking for ways to save money, like-new refurbished products have become an increasingly popular way to cut down on costs without sacrificing quality,” the company said in a statement.

Walmart says all products listed on Walmart Restored have been professionally inspected, tested, and cleaned. It offers a 90-day free return policy to help boost customer confidence in the used products.

Example of the savings

The savings from the new offering can be significant. Walmart Restored currently offers a 50" 4K Roku Smart LED TV for $218. The same TV sells for new at a competitor for $300.

In the small appliance category, a refurbished Panasonic 2.2 Cu. Ft. countertop microwave oven is priced at 169.95. It generally sells new for upwards of $210.

Walmart says it works with sellers and suppliers who are committed to refurbishing top-quality products and preparing them for resale at a fraction of typical costs. Walmart Restored will increase their number and put them together in one place to make shopping easier. Brands included in the section include Apple, Samsung, and KitchenAid.

How reliable will these products be? It may depend on the product. The experts at TechPenny.com say the reliability of refurbished TVs can be hit or miss. One answer may be to purchase an extended warranty, but that cost has to be weighed against the savings from buying a refurbished product.

Back-to-school shopping is underway, and despite inflation that is running at 9%, shopping at major retailers is producing a surprising number of bargains. Food and gasoline may cost more, but shoes, apparel, electronics, and school supplies are getting marked down.

When it reported second-quarter earnings this week, Walmart disclosed that it is feeling one of the many distortions caused by the pandemic. It aggressively ordered inventory over concerns about supply chain bottlenecks.

The goods arrived in abundance at just about the time consumers shifted from buying products during the pandemic to spending more on services and travel. Walmart executives said that left the retailer with piles of inventory that it will need to mark down to sell.

Good timing for back-to-school shoppers

The timing couldn’t be better for parents who are getting their children ready to return to school. Justice girl T-shirts that usually sell for $17 have been marked down to $6.80.

A refurbished Apple 13.3-inch MacBook Air that was originally priced at $269.99 is now selling for $219. It comes in a bundle that includes a headset, case, and wireless mouse. 

Walmart.com is promoting a big sale on apparel, with savings of up to 60% off. The deals are only available to online shoppers.

Walmart isn’t the only major retailer in the position of having to liquidate merchandise, almost at any price. Target announced in May that it was overstocked in a wide range of inventory, with many items now on sale. Kids' shoes are now 20% off, kids’ jeans have been marked down by 30%, and the retailer is selling school supplies starting at 25 cents.

A package of pencils is 50 cents, and a package of three pens is 99 cents. Binders also start at 99 cents.

Savings on electronics

When it reported earnings this week, Best Buy said its inventory levels are about the same as during the pandemic. But the company said it is seeing slower sales because of inflation and is marking down some items to move them.

A check of the Best Buy website shows that a stainless steel Cuisinart air fryer toaster oven has been marked down by $100, to $129.00 – a discount usually reserved for Black Friday.

The best deals are offered to Best Buy Members, who can save up to $370 on select Windows laptops. Inflation-weary consumers may find other bargains at other stores.

"There are [pricing] problems in apparel, home furnishings, furniture and, to a certain extent, electronics," Neil Saunders, the managing director of GlobalData, told NBC News "Those three areas going to be the ones where you'll see the most discounting."

The Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Walmart, accusing the retailer of allowing its money transfer services to be used by scammers who require untraceable methods to take money from their victims.

In its complaint, the FTC charged that Walmart has “turned a blind eye” while scammers instructed their victims to use the company’s money transfer services to send them cash that could not be retrieved once the victim realized it was a scam.

The agency claims Walmart failed to properly train employees to recognize that a customer was sending cash to a criminal or to warn customers when employees suspected they were about to become scam victims. The FTC said the retailer had a financial incentive to allow the crime.

“While scammers used its money transfer services to make off with cash, Walmart looked the other way and pocketed millions in fees,” said Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection. “Consumers have lost hundreds of millions, and the commission is holding Walmart accountable for letting fraudsters fleece its customers.”  

Walmart pushes back

Walmart strongly pushed back against the charges, calling the suit “factually flawed and legally baseless.” In a statement, the retailer said that even the U.S. Justice Department declined to sign on to the complaint.

“Claiming an unprecedented expansion of the FTC’s authority, the agency seeks to blame Walmart for fraud that the agency already attributed to another company while that company was under the federal government’s direct supervision,” the company said. “Walmart will defend the company’s robust anti-fraud efforts that have helped protect countless consumers, all while Walmart has driven down prices and saved consumers an estimated $6 billion in money transfer fees.”

A decade ago the FTC brought a similar action against Western Union, charging the company was negligent in allowing scammers to use its money transfer services. A court ordered the company to pay millions of dollars to victims who used Moneygram to send money to scammers. In fact, victims can still make a claim – the new deadline is Aug. 31.

In its suit, the agency said it is asking the court to order Walmart to similarly compensate scam victims.

Red flag

The reason scammers prefer a money transfer service to receive money from their victims is simple. Once the money is sent it cannot be retrieved or traced, leaving the victim with no way to get their money back.

Scammers also instruct their victims to put money on gift cards and give them the numbers. Once a scammer has drained the funds from the gift cards, there is no way to get it back.

Both requirements — to pay someone with a money transfer or gift card and not a credit card — should be a huge red flag. In nearly every case it is a telltale sign of a scam.

Walmart says there’s a path for everyone at the company – especially students.

On top of traditional part-time roles for high schoolers and college students, the company just announced a new pilot program called College2Career that gives young professionals a way to kickstart their professional lives by managing a Walmart store. Those positions could eventually lead to a lucrative career that earns graduates over $200,000 per year as an annual salary.

We aren't quite halfway through 2022, but Walmart’s hiring efforts are already making it a banner year. The company recently said it would hire more than 50,000 workers in a new business push, and it hiked wages for truckers to as much as $110,000 a year to address a driver shortage.

Program specifics

The new pilot program is for recent college graduates and current college students, including existing Walmart employees who graduated within the previous 12 months. 

Those who sign up for the program will reportedly gain hands-on experience, classroom training, and one-on-one mentoring with company leaders – everything the company feels is necessary to learn the ins and outs of Walmart and qualify to be a salaried member of management at a local store. 

When all is said and done at the end of the program, Walmart said the top performers in the program would be offered the newly created management job of “emerging coach,” complete with a starting wage of at least $65,000 a year. College students will be able to step into the role after they graduate, while recent grads will start immediately.

“That’s just the beginning,” the company said in announcing the program. "We see the emerging coach role as an additional pipeline to develop high-potential talent into future store managers, the latter role with an average wage of approximately $210,000 in 2021. With College2Career, we are aiming to move emerging coaches to store managers within two years."

In an effort to sign and retain more members of its subscription service, Walmart is offering an extra discount on gasoline.

Starting today, Walmart+ members will get a 10 cents a gallon discount when they fill up at participating gas retailers. The company has added 12,000 Exxon and Mobil stations across the U.S. to its promotion, raising the number of outlets where the discount is available to more than 14,000.

Gas discounts are also available at Walmart and Murphy’s gas pumps, as well as at more than 500 Sam’s Club locations.

“Ninety-one percent of our customers are aware of the increased prices at the pump and nearly half of those told us they are changing behaviors because of them,” said Chris Cracchiolo, senior vice president and general manager of Walmart+. “More access to a bigger discount will make a difference for our customers.”

Walmart+ launched 18 months ago as an answer to Amazon Prime. For $98 a year or $12.95 per month, subscribers receive free shipping on online orders, free grocery delivery on orders of at least $35, and discounts on prescription drugs.

Inflation strategy

In late 2021, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon told CNBC that the retail giant planned to use rising inflation to its competitive advantage, offering consumers relief. Since then, nowhere has inflation been more evident than at the gas pump. The war in Ukraine sent gas prices to a record high in March before pulling back slightly.

The company says the new gas benefit will provide real savings on something most consumers have to buy. It also hopes the benefit will attract new Walmart+ subscribers and retain consumers who have already signed up.

Walmart does not report the number of subscribers to Walmart+, but it has said the subscription service is a key part of its strategy to grow online sales. 

To use the new fuel discount, Walmart+ subscribers are instructed to find their nearest Exxon/Mobil location using the location map. Upon arriving at the pump, subscribers sign into the Walmart+ app on their smartphone.

If location services are turned on, customers will get a popup asking if they are ready to fuel. They then enter the pump number and begin fueling.

To make sure its supply chain keeps up with the rest of its business, Walmart is raising wages for its in-house truck drivers. In an announcement, Walmart announced that it's raising its starting salaries for truck drivers to a range between $95,000 and $110,000 a year – up from the current first-year average salary of $87,000.  

Truckers are in high demand, and the industry as a whole is facing a very tight labor market. To ensure that segment stays healthy for the long haul, Walmart is expanding a program to train workers to become drivers. 

For employees who decide to take advantage of that program, all that's required is a 12-week course commitment to become fully certified. After that, those drivers will also have the potential to make up to $110,000 in their first year with the company. And that’s just to start. Walmart said drivers who have been with the company longer can earn even more, depending on factors like tenure and location.

Walmart has been doing a lot of hiring recently, but compared to its other job roles, it says its trucking gigs are “destination jobs.”

“The investments in pay and training build on multiple recent driver bonuses and improved schedules that enable drivers to spend more time at home,” the company claims. “There’s never been a better time to join our fleet. Once drivers are on board, this is a job many leave only for retirement.”

Other companies also likely to raise pay

The carrots that Walmart is dangling are certainly enticing. Compared to the $48,978 average salary a long-haul trucker makes per year, Walmart’s offer is nearly twice as high. However, the company might not be the only one trying to romance drivers to join its ranks.

“To attract and retain drivers, fleets must increase pay, which is now happening at extraordinary levels,” said the American Trucking Association (ATA). “We’re witnessing unprecedented pay increases across the industry, with weekly driver earnings surging at a rate more than 5x their historical average—up more than 25% for long-haul, truckload drivers since the beginning of 2019.”

The ATA said trucking fleets are also offering substantial, five-figure sign-on bonuses and full benefits to compete for the same limited pool of drivers.

Walmart is going on a massive hiring spree. By the end of April, the big-box retailer says it will hire more than 50,000 workers – a push that will make it the largest private employer in the U.S.

In addition to the 3,000 jobs it recently announced for its home delivery service, the new jobs will cross other company lines. That includes more store employees, personal shoppers for the company’s advertising and health businesses, and positions in its expanding direct-to-refrigerator grocery delivery service. 

One of Walmart's biggest employment pushes will happen in its technology sector, Walmart Global Tech, where the company plans to hire more than 5,000 associates globally. Many of those jobs will be located in Toronto and Atlanta, two cities with an abundance of tech talent and large numbers of existing Walmart employees.

Increasing wages to compete for workers

Walmart is not alone in looking for employees; consumers can hardly drive a couple of miles without seeing a few “now hiring” signs. But it might have to increase its pay rate if it’s going after the same pool of job seekers that Amazon, Target, and Costco are.

At present, workers start out at. $16 per hour at Costco, $15 per hour at Amazon, and up to $24 per hour at Target. In comparison, the base rate at Walmart is $12 per hour.

Not withering away from its competitors' wage hikes, Walmart spokeswoman Anne Hatfield told CNBC that the company's magnitude gives employees the chance to move into higher-paying roles. She said hourly pay is as much as $26 per hour for “team leads” at company stores. At distribution and fulfillment centers, pay starts at $16 per hour for supply chain workers’ but can rise as high as $30 per hour.

Because competitors are upping their benefits game, Walmart is stepping up its benefits too. Like Target, Walmart recently added a college tuition perk via its Live Better U program.

In a move that’s certain to ruffle some feathers at Lowe’s, Best Buy, and other competitors, Walmart has announced that it will now be offering installation services. 

The big-box retailer is entering into a new arrangement with in-home services provider Angi (formerly Angie’s List) to help homeowners do everything from setting up electronics to flooring, painting, plumbing, electrical, and assembly services for furniture.

By the time everything is in place, Angi said its services will be available in nearly 4,000 Walmart stores across all 50 states. For the moment, the Walmart-Angi deal is exclusive for a limited time. 

“Since the start of the pandemic, the home is in focus and people across the U.S. are doing more home improvement, maintenance and repair work and they are often turning to Walmart to find the tools and materials needed to start those projects,” said Angi CEO Oisin Hanrahan.

"Things like sprucing up an entertaining space by installing a new smart TV, painting a nursery for a family addition, and transforming an outdoor space and adding a patio are now projects that Walmart customers can get done seamlessly with the help of an Angi pro as part of the Walmart shopping experience.”

Good deal for consumers

If Angi and Walmart can stick to their guns on pricing, what they’re offering looks like a pretty good deal. As an example, ConsumerAffairs did an apples-to-apples comparison on what Best Buy’s Totaltech charges for a flat TV installation vs. what Angi is pitching. Best Buy lists its price for that service at $199.99. Angi says its starting price for the same service is $79. HomeAdvisor estimates that the price range for installing a TV is between $159 and $361, or an average of $260.

The cost of furniture assembly appears to be another plum for Angi. Target lists a price of $76.99 for its “large furniture assembly powered by Handy;" the price Angi/Walmart announced starts at $49. 

There are several things consumers should keep in mind when looking at installation prices, though. One of those is the phrase “starting price” – a factor that a consumer would have to ask for more specifics on before moving ahead with ordering an installation.

Another thing consumers should watch out for is the possibility that Angi’s prices are “introductory” and could change after a certain period of time. Thirdly, advertised prices may not include labor, the TV mount, or reflect the complexity of the job. Smart consumers should be prepared to ask a lot of questions before agreeing to use the service.

Depending on the item, purchasing a service can either be done when buying it in-store at Walmart. For more complicated installations like flooring, consumers can go online to Walmart.com.

Angi’s pitch to consumers is that the process is as easy as purchasing any other item at Walmart. Once the item is purchased, Angi will reach out to coordinate booking and ensure that the service is completed to the customer’s satisfaction.

Empty store shelves, a fixture during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, are back. Consumers around the country report that many items are once again hard to find.

In the Dallas area, over-the-counter (OTC) medications are harder to find. The Dallas Morning News reports that spot checks at eight Walmart, Target, Walgreens, CVS, and Sam’s Club locations in northeast Dallas found many empty shelves. 

In the nation’s capital, a number of stores are offering reduced supplies of products. According to Fox 5, a Washington, D.C. TV station, grocery shoppers are encountering reduced supplies of beef, pork, eggs, and maple syrup. 

Trader Joe’s customers have taken to Reddit to report bare shelves in stores throughout the Mid-Atlantic region. 

Reduced workforce

Industry insiders point to several factors contributing to shortages. While normal supply chain functions have slowly improved, snowy weather along the East Coast in the last couple of weeks made supply chain problems worse.

A bigger factor may be the fast-spreading Omicron variant of COVID-19 that is sidelining thousands of workers who normally load trucks and restock shelves. Helen, of Milwaukee, tells us that she encountered this problem when she attempted to pick up her prescription at a CVS drive-thru.

“Get to the pharmacy, the drive-thru is closed,” Helen wrote in a ConsumerAffairs post. “Call the pharmacy and they said they were short-handed and could not give me my paid prescriptions through the drive-thru, that I had to come in and pick up my drugs. I stated that I am a high risk for COVID. That's why I use the CVS drive-thru. She said she couldn't help me.”

A report by Slate suggests that the latest shortage of consumer goods could last for a few more weeks. It notes that supermarkets have been hard-hit by the Omicron variant at a time when staff levels were already low.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reports that cases of the virus have surged among the staff of SpartanNash, a major Midwest grocery chain and supplier. It reports that about 1% of the company’s employees have tested positive in the last few weeks.

Walmart ramped up its grocery delivery service during the pandemic, and it paid off. Now, the retailer is putting more resources into that part of its business by hiring more than 3,000 more drivers to make deliveries.

Walmart’s InHome service is currently available to an estimated six million U.S. households. Once the expansion is completed, Walmart says 30 million households will be able to receive store-to-refrigerator grocery deliveries.

“Now you’ve got this ultimate convenience where you get home, the refrigerator is restocked and other items like video games, clothing, toiletries, and other non-perishables are on the countertop,” Tom Ward, senior vice president of last-mile delivery at Walmart, told CNBC.

There is no doubt that grocery delivery has been popular with consumers, but some posting reviews at ConsumerAffairs have suggested there are a few bugs in the system. Dave, of Atchison, Kan., said one of his recent orders never arrived but that he received a text informing him that it did.

“Contacted support via text and was told order was canceled and refunded,” Dave wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. “Next day USPS delivers Campbells Chicken Soup then delivery driver brings toilet paper, tissues, ketchup, relish, gum, stuffing, chips and chocolate syrup... ALL other items missing.” 

Susan, of Cape Canaveral, Fla., tells us she was very happy with the delivery service the first few times she used it. Lately, she says it has been unpredictable.

“Even with grocery delivery, they have started sending ordered items different days through the mail,” Susan wrote. 

A bigger stake in the delivery business

Walmart stated that additional staffing may be able to help iron out those wrinkles. According to CNBC, the company’s investment is making it a major player in the delivery business, competing with the likes of DoorDash, Instacart, and Amazon Fresh.

Walmart will charge $19.95 a month, but there will be no additional fees. Amazon Fresh is included with a $12.99 a month Prime membership. A DoorDash subscription costs $9.99 per month but requires a minimum of $12 for restaurant orders.

Target makes deliveries through its subsidiary Shipt. A Shipt membership costs $99 a year and provides free deliveries for members. Non-members pay $9.99 per delivery.

The State of California has filed a lawsuit against Walmart, alleging that the company improperly disposed of products that are considered hazardous waste.

Attorney General Rob Bonta says Walmart has been filling local landfills that are ill-equipped or authorized to handle alkaline and lithium batteries, pesticides, aerosol cans, toxic cleaning supplies, electronic waste, latex paints, and LED light bulbs for the last six years. He cited data from Walmart’s own inspections that show the company unlawfully disposes of more than one million hazardous waste items in California each year.

While typical hazardous waste is bad enough, Bonta’s team said Walmart may have also thrown out customer records with personal information. 

“When one person throws out a battery or half-empty hairspray bottle, we may think that it's no big deal. But when we’re talking about tens of thousands of batteries, cleaning supplies, and other hazardous waste, the impact to our environment and our communities can be huge,”  Bonta said. 

“This lawsuit should serve as a warning to the state's worst offenders. We will hold you accountable. As the People’s Attorney, taking on corporate polluters and protecting public health will always be among my top priorities.”

Walmart doesn’t agree

Naturally, Walmart is defending itself. But rather than making an effort to get in compliance with California’s law, it claims that its corporate sustainability achievements and its past criminal and civil penalty payments fulfill its compliance responsibilities. 

The company said it previously met the requirements of a settlement stemming from a 2010 lawsuit over disposal law non-compliance – one that cost it $25 million to settle. 

E-Scrap News reported that Walmart provided it with data on the amount of regulated waste that was rerouted from its compactors in recent years. That data showed that from 2011 through 2020, the company diverted 40 tons of consumer batteries, 2.8 tons of cell phones, another ton of fluorescent lamps, and larger amounts of materials like tires and vehicle batteries.

The company even provided a court transcript from 2018 showing that the California Attorney General’s office agreed that the retail chain had met its obligations at that point.

However, Bonta’s office didn’t agree and called Walmart a “repeat offender” of disposal violations. 

“Instead of trying to come into compliance with the law, Walmart claims that its corporate sustainability achievements and its past criminal and civil penalty payments fulfill its compliance responsibilities,” Bonta’s office said in a statement.

What exactly is causing supply chain bottlenecks that have created shortages and contributed to higher prices? The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is launching an investigation to find out.

The agency specifically wants to know if any companies have taken advantage of the situation to raise prices or to engage in “anti-competitive” behavior. It’s asking Walmart, Amazon, Kroger, C&S Wholesale Grocers, Associated Wholesale Grocers, McLane Co, Inc. Procter & Gamble, Tyson Foods, and Kraft Heinz to provide detailed information about their supply chains and the problems they are facing. 

The FTC points out that this is not part of any law enforcement action. It’s conducting the investigation under Section 6(b) of the FTC Act, which authorizes the agency to conduct wide-ranging studies. 

“Supply chain disruptions are upending the provision and delivery of a wide array of goods, ranging from computer chips and medicines to meat and lumber,” said FTC Chair Lina Khan.

“I am hopeful the FTC’s new 6(b) study will shed light on market conditions and business practices that may have worsened these disruptions or led to asymmetric effects.” 

Problems started with the pandemic

Supply chain issues began fairly early in the COVID-19 pandemic, and the situation hasn’t gotten much better. Container ships are still backed up in West Coast ports like Long Beach and Los Angeles and are waiting to unload.

Factories in Asia were shut down for several weeks because of the virus and have struggled to catch up. A shortage of computer chips reduced the number of new cars for sale in the U.S. and that, in turn, caused used car prices to skyrocket.

The FTC said its investigation will seek to understand how these disruptions have affected different industries and what effect they have had on consumers. The agency will also try to determine whether some businesses are taking unfair advantage of supply chain bottlenecks to increase their competitive advantage. Specifically, the FTC wants to know how supply chain issues are contributing to rising prices.

What the FTC wants to know

To comply with the FTC order, the companies that are contacted will be required to detail the biggest factors disrupting their ability to obtain, transport, and distribute their products. The agency also wants information about the impact these disruptions are having in terms of delayed and canceled orders, increased costs and prices, and the products, suppliers, and inputs that have been most affected.

At the same time, the White House is reaching out to grocers and retailers to learn how supply chain issues are affecting the economy. President Biden met with a number of business leaders on Monday to get their input. A White House official says other fact-finding events will be held later in the week.

Nagging supply chain issues have limited imports of a wide range of products, forcing consumer goods to compete for space with industrial and commercial products in the nation’s ports.

Frustrated with backups that don’t seem to have an end, Walmart has begun chartering its own cargo ships. The first vessels are currently moving across the ocean with cargos of Paw Patrol Movie Towers, Batmobile Transformers, and Baby Alive Lulu Achoo dolls.

"Chartering vessels is just one example of investments we've made to move products as quickly as possible," Joe Metzger, U.S. executive vice president of supply-chain operations at Walmart, told Reuters.

Consumers struggle to find out-of-stock items

Supply chain issues have resulted in large gaps in store shelves as a wide variety of consumer products are in short supply. Some shortages are caused by a lack of raw materials that have limited production. Other shortages are the result of a product’s popularity.

Ed, of Moorpark, Calif., said he ordered a toy to be delivered to his grandson as a gift for starting kindergarten. He said the toy was available one day but not the next.

“I called Walmart the night before to make sure all okay,” Ed wrote in a ConsumerAffairs review. “Talked to Supv, he said all good. Ready to go. Got email at 2:01 am stating out of stock. What happened from the night before?”

Kev, of Port Richey, Fla., went from Walmart to Walmart in his area looking for controllers for his PS4 video game system. He said he found a store online that had a couple in stock, but they were gone by the time he got there. He said he thought he was having the same experience at the Spring Hill Walmart until Stephanie, the manager, intervened.

“After 15 min she came back with a whole cart fully stacked with new shipment boxes with all sorts of products but she thought she had seen the items I was looking for,” Kevin wrote in his review. “Yes she was right. Much appreciated to save me time and more hustle finding those **** PS4 controllers.”

Walmart looks to alleviate shortages

By enlisting its own fleet of ships, Walmart hopes to make it easier to alleviate shortages and to meet consumers’ needs. The challenge, however, may be finding places to unload. 

The Marine Exchange of Southern California reports that more than 60 container ships carrying a wide range of consumer products are stuck outside Los Angeles and Long Beach terminals and are waiting for space to unload.

As the last holiday season graphically illustrated, the pandemic has created bottlenecks and delays when it comes to delivering consumer purchases. Walmart has announced plans to alleviate that.

GoLocal is a new delivery service that will be operated by the world’s largest retailer. But in a twist, the drivers will deliver purchases from other local retailers, not just Walmart. The company said it will be a “white label” service, meaning its vehicles will not carry the Walmart logo.

Operations are expected to begin by the end of this year, meaning the service may be available during the holiday season. There will be several delivery options, from two-hour to two-day delivery.

Walmart plans to leverage its significant footprint in the U.S. to operate the new service. It will use a combination of Walmart employees, gig workers, and even other delivery companies to make the actual deliveries.

“In an era where customers have come to expect speed and reliability, it’s more important than ever for businesses to work with a service provider that understands a merchant’s needs,” said John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart U.S. “Walmart has spent years building and scaling commerce capabilities that support our network of more than 4,700 stores and we look forward to helping other businesses have access to the same reliable, quality and low-cost services.”

Building on its delivery experience

Company officials say GoLocal is built on the experience and success of the delivery service that Walmart operates at more than 3,000 stories. After ramping up, the service is expected to employ drones and autonomous vehicles to move purchases to consumers’ homes.

Amazon launched a shipping and delivery service in 2018 but suspended it last year. However, the online retailer operates a fleet of vans to make deliveries to Prime customers.

Walmart executives made a point of noting that GoLocal will be a resource for local, independent businesses that may lack the resources to deliver purchases immediately. They say it could be especially useful for purchases that are of an irregular size or shape.

“We’ve worked hard to develop a reliable last-mile delivery program for our customers,” said Tom Ward, senior vice president, last mile, Walmart U.S. “Now, we’re pleased to be able to use these capabilities to serve another set of customers, local merchants.

Walmart said Tuesday that the Delta variant hasn’t had a major impact on consumer spending. The retailer reported stable earnings in recent quarters. 

"We are not seeing a major shift in consumer behaviors at this point," Walmart Chief Financial Officer Brett Biggs told Yahoo Finance. 

Biggs said customers have recently been buying items like luggage, party supplies, and apparel. Back to school shopping has also gotten off to a “strong” start, and consumers are spending on things like backpacks and items for the classroom. 

Monitoring the situation

The company said its second quarter sales grew 5.2%, beating analysts’ forecasts of growth of 3.12%. Revenue was $141.05 billion, which topped analyst expectations of $137.17 billion. By month, Walmart said July saw the highest sales. All merchandise categories (grocery, health and wellness, and general merchandise) performed particularly strongly that month. 

In an interview with CNBC, Biggs said Walmart is monitoring the Delta situation as it pertains to shopping behaviors, but no apparent shift has been spotted so far. 

“Mask wearing is back up again, but runs on supplies — things we saw last March, April [of 2020] — we really haven’t seen again,” he said.

Walmart has announced that it will give weekly bonuses to warehouse workers who put off taking a vacation in August. The retailer is striving to ensure a smooth flow of warehouse operations through the holiday season, according to the Wall Street Journal. 

Some full-time workers have been offered $200 extra per week, and others have been offered as much as $500. The bonus will vary based on the facility’s location and the worker’s job type, according to a Walmart spokesman. Workers started receiving bonuses this month, and they’ll continue receiving them through the fiscal year. 

Walmart, which has 1.6 million workers, said its distribution warehouses “continue to see high volume as we are preparing for peak season,” a company spokesman told the Journal. 

Perks and pay raises in a tight labor market

Walmart’s decision to add weekly bonuses is seen as an effort to keep business running as normally as possible in a tight labor market with lingering COVID-19 concerns and stretched supply chains. Other large retailers have announced new perks and pay bumps for the same reasons. 

In April, Amazon announced $1,000 hiring bonuses and pay raises for many of its hourly workers. This week, CVS announced that it would raise its hourly minimum wage and eliminate education requirements in an effort to attract and retain employees. CVS said incremental increases to hourly rates will start this month.

In July, Target announced that it would be giving each of its roughly 340,000 hourly workers a $200 bonus as a way of showing appreciation and recognition for continuing to “show up bigtime.” Target also announced this week that it will offer employees a debt-free college education starting this fall. Walmart had already announced a similar education program. 

Walmart’s distribution and fulfillment center workers already have higher pay than store associates, making an average of $20.37 per hour. Earlier this year, Walmart said it planned to give about 425,000 workers raises. 

Walmart announced Tuesday that it will pay 100% of its U.S. workers’ college tuition and books over the next five years -- an investment valued at close to $1 billion.  

The action is an adjustment to Walmart’s Live Better U (LBU) education program. The retailer said it’s dropping the $1-per-day fee previously required for employees to participate in the program to help alleviate the burden of student loan debt. The fee will be eliminated starting August 16. 

The company said the move will help about 1.5 million part-time and full-time Walmart and Sam’s Club associates in the U.S. earn college degrees or learn trade skills without accruing education debt in the process.

“We are creating a path of opportunity for our associates to grow their careers at Walmart, so they can continue to build better lives for themselves and their families,” said Lorraine Stomski, senior vice president of learning and leadership at Walmart. “This investment is another way we can support our associates to pursue their passion and purpose while removing the barriers that too often keep adult working learners from obtaining degrees.”

Adding academic partners and programs

Walmart, which launched its LBU program in 2018, said it is adding four academic partners: Johnson & Wales University, the University of Arizona, the University of Denver, and Pathstream. Existing partners include Brandman University, Penn Foster, Purdue University Global, Southern New Hampshire University, Wilmington University, and Voxy EnGen.  

“We’re adding in-demand college degree and certificate options in business administration, supply chain and cybersecurity,” Stomski said. “These additional offerings join a robust catalog of programs to set associates up for new career opportunities. Our education offerings tie directly to our growth areas at Walmart, and what better way to fill the pipeline of future talent than with our own associates.”

Over the past three years, Walmart said more than 52,000 associates have participated in the LBU program and 8,000 have graduated. Nearly 28,000 associates have been active in an LBU program this summer.

The retailer said it was moved to drop the $1-per-day fee to participate in the program because of changes in the economy and job market.

“Walmart is committed to eliminating the burden of education debt,” Stomski said. “Cost is a leading barrier for earning a degree with student loan debt in the U.S. topping $1.7 trillion.”

Walmart announced Tuesday that it’s begun selling a new low-priced insulin called ReliOn NovoLog -- a private-label version of analog insulin.

In making the drug available, Walmart said it hopes to “revolutionize the access and affordability to diabetes care.” Walmart is hoping the new insulin will be easier for financially strapped diabetes sufferers -- or those without health insurance -- to afford. The prescription-only product will cost about $73 for a vial or about $86 for a package of prefilled insulin pens. 

In an announcement, Walmart noted that more than 34 million people in America live with diabetes, and about 1.5 million more are diagnosed with the disease every year. About 14% of Walmart customers live with diabetes and need insulin.

“We know many people with diabetes struggle to manage the financial burden of this condition, and we are focused on helping by providing affordable solutions. We also know this is a condition that disproportionately impacts underserved populations,” said Dr. Cheryl Pegus, executive vice president, Walmart Health & Wellness.

“With ReliOn NovoLog insulin, we’re adding a high-quality medication for diabetes to the already affordable ReliOn line of products and continuing our commitment to improve access and lowering cost of care,” Pegus said.

Increasing affordability 

Walmart said it worked with pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk to lower costs “without compromising quality.” Compared with competitors in the branded analog insulin product market, Walmart said the drug will offer savings of up to $101 per vial or $251 per package of branded FlexPens. 

ReliOn NovoLog is intended for use by patients with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes -- both adults and children. The drug will also be available at its Sam’s Club stores starting in mid-July.

“This price point, we hope, will improve and hopefully revolutionize the accessibility and affordability of insulin,” Pegus told reporters. “We know that many people with diabetes struggle to manage this chronic condition because of its financial burden.”

Online shopping scams on Prime Day? You bet. 

While Prime Day might be an Amazon-branded event, the online retail giant isn’t the only company trying to attract customers. Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, and others are also trying to draw in consumers with special deals during the annual shopping event. 

Consumers have been hot on the trail of all the deals being offered. Google reports that searches for “show Prime Day deals” were up 600% in the 24 hours leading up to Prime Day’s official start. Searches for “Walmart Prime Day deals” were up 90%, and searches for “Target Prime Day deals were up 50%.

Unfortunately, more deals mean more chances for scammers to capitalize on the hoopla and bamboozle shoppers. The Better Business Bureau (BBB) says there are several scams that consumers should be on the lookout for. 

Phishing expeditions lead the way

First on the BBB’s list is phishing scams -- a type of fraud in which an attacker sends a fraudulent message designed to trick a victim into revealing sensitive information like a credit card number. 

“Phishing scams increase during busy shopping times, such as Prime Day or Black Friday,” the BBB warns. “When you are making a lot of purchases, it’s easy to lose track of exactly what you bought and where you shopped. That makes you more likely to fall for a phishing scam posing as a big name store.”

Phishing attacks don’t only come in the form of emails. They can also be delivered via text messages and phone calls. In some instances, attackers will try to entice you to click on a link or give up personal information so that you can receive a gift. If you see that kind of offer, then you should stop right then and there because it’s likely a scam. 

One recent phishing con the BBB reported on involved a scammer who claimed to be an Amazon representative who was calling to fix an issue with the victim’s account. This is a favorite ruse because a scammer can load up on personal data -- credit card information, account login details, and remote access to your computer -- in one fell swoop.

Phony websites and fake ads are also in vogue

The BBB says misleading ads and copycat websites are also a favorite tool of hackers.

“When searching online or browsing social media, watch out for ads that point to scam websites,” the BBB advises. “Con artists often create lookalike websites that, at first glance, appear to belong to a trusted retailer. But when you look more closely at the URL, you’ll notice that the domain name is slightly different (i.e., Instead of Popularstore.com, the URL might be PopvlarStore.com or PopularStoreOnline.com).”

Some other telltale signs to look out for include bad spelling and grammar used on the fake website and deals that sound too good to be true. The BBB says consumers should remain a little cautious when looking at special sales on Prime Day. If a company claims to be selling the hottest item of the year at a super low price, then it’s possible that they’re trying to pull a scam.

The agency says smart consumers will also pay attention to deals advertised on social media and regard them with a grain of salt.

Walmart thinks its customer service is so important that it has decided to connect much of its employee base together by giving 740,000 associates a new smartphone loaded with a new all-in-one associate app -- Me@Walmart.

Workers will be given a free Samsung Galaxy XCover Pro smartphone that comes pre-packaged with a case and a protection plan, all free of charge. Associates will only be able to access the app’s work features while they’re on the clock, but they can also use the smartphone as their own personal device if they want to, with all the features and privacy they’re used to.

Walmart is being careful not to rule their employees 24/7, though. Realizing that its employees have a personal life that's different from their one wearing a blue vest, company executives said the app will be loaded with ways to plan for life outside of work -- with the promise of no prying eyes. Walmart says the company will not have access to any personal or private data used in the Me@Walmart app.

Focusing on customer satisfaction

Earlier this year, Walmart stated that customer satisfaction is a priority and that it was hiring necessary workers and retooling its stores to make the shopping experience better. One of the key components of that shift is converting existing store space into part retail space and part fulfillment center space. 

As associates learn how to navigate the changing environments, Me@Walmart can help them simplify and connect the new dots quicker.

“A great customer experience starts with a great associate experience, and our people will always be a competitive advantage,” commented Walmart executive Drew Holler. “As we make enhancements for our customers, we’re also rethinking how we can help our associates succeed in their roles today and deliver some of what they’ll need for the future. The right tools can be the difference between fast and frustrating.”

Improving things for associates, retail stores, and customers

Here’s a breakdown of what Walmart associates will find on their new phone:

Scheduling: The Me@Walmart app allows associates to easily view their shifts as many as two weeks in advance, check on their upcoming paid time off, and request changes to their schedule if needed.

Mobile Clock-In: Goodbye time cards! Using geofencing technology, Walmart workers can clock in with a tap of a button once they arrive at their store.

Push-to-Talk: Remember walkie-talkies? The new app brings back that communication method. The push-to-talk feature will allow associates to instantly connect with one another so they can react collectively to customers’ needs.

Ask Sam: A voice-activated personal assistant for work, the Ask Sam feature saves time by letting associates ask the app questions to quickly locate merchandise and get answers for customers on the spot.

Getting Products on the Shelves Faster: Before the year’s out, another feature will be added to the Me@Walmart app that helps speed up the time it takes stocking associates to get items from the backroom to the sales floor. Instead of sticking with the old way of scanning each box individually to find an item, all associates have to do now is hold up their device and use an augmented reality feature to highlight the boxes that are ready to go. In testing out that feature, Walmart claims restocking will now be three times faster than it was under the manual process.

Having a stable, reliable job has become even more important during the COVID-19 pandemic. Walmart, the U.S.’ largest retailer, has announced that it's going all-out to create more of these positions. 

The company announced on Thursday that it expects two-thirds of its U.S. hourly store roles to become completely full-time positions by the end of the fiscal year. That would create more opportunities for around 740,000 workers.

The new full-time positions will have consistent schedules, with the same hours on the same days each week. That will give associates with families firmer schedules so they can take care of things like picking the kids up from school.

The company said it believes full-time schedules will complement the other ways it’s retooling for the future of retail. In Walmart’s mind, that future will be resplendent with pickup and delivery services. The retailer is also working to convert existing store space to be part retail space and part fulfillment center. The fulfillment component is the sweet spot for full-time jobs at Walmart these days. More than 80 percent of the workers at its distribution centers and fulfillment centers are already at that level. 

“We’re uniquely positioned to offer a combination of stability and room for growth that few others can match. We are prioritizing consistent schedules, skills training and new pathways for growth, so all jobs at Walmart can lead to careers,” said Drew Holler, Senior Vice President, Walmart U.S. People Operations.

“We know offering more full-time opportunities along with skills, training and equipping associates with tools to make work easier will help us continue to attract and retain top talent.”

What a job at Walmart looks like these days

Walmart has moved far beyond greeters in blue vests. Its new employee structure is team-based with pods of 8-12 associates focused on a specific aspect or area of the store. The company feels that having a small team will lead to a more connected, productive, and enjoyable work environment, all of which will result in happier customers. 

The pandemic has also caused a shift in how Walmart protects its employees. The company now has a COVID-19 emergency leave policy and paid time away from work to get vaccinated. 

One unique job-related twist that Walmart has instituted is the deployment of an app called Thrive ZP to inspire its workers to make better choices. Participating has a nice payday too. Workers who stick with the app for 21 days and share their stories have a chance to win a share of $1 million dollars.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has changed the way consumers shop and purchase fast-food. As a result of those two trends, McDonald’s and Subway are reportedly closing hundreds of their stores located within Walmarts.

The Wall Street Journal reports that the closings mark the final stages of what has been a relationship spanning three decades. It was brought on by two trends that emerged over the last 12 months.

First, fewer people visited brick-and-mortar locations, moving a larger portion of purchases to online channels. Others came to store locations but never made it inside because they took advantage of curbside pickup.

Restaurants, meanwhile, closed or limited dining rooms and shifted a greater portion of their business to takeout and delivery. Fast-food restaurants within Walmart stores are not exactly set up for drive-thru service.

Plunging profits

With fewer people in stores and in-store restaurants lacking drive-thru windows, these fast-food locations saw profits plunge. McDonald’s, which at one time operated more than 1,000 locations inside Walmart stores, is trimming that number to about 150, according to The Journal.

Subway executives also said they plan to close some of their locations within Walmart stores, a result of sharply declining foot traffic. Even at stores where shoppers are still numerous, people were less likely to purchase or consume food on the premises because of the pandemic. 

“The Walmart locations have been our toughest challenge,” Jim Miller, a Subway franchisee, told The Journal. He said he expects to shutter four of his five store locations within three months.

In-store restaurants have a long history

In the year before the pandemic began, The Washington Post reported that the concept of restaurants located within department stores had become trendy again. Beginning in the 1950s, stores offered restaurants where shoppers could have a meal while taking a break, increasing the chances they would shop longer and spend more money.

In its 2019 article, The Post noted that the revival of in-store restaurants proved profitable because they didn’t carry the same risks as stand-alone restaurants. “They have a guaranteed space, a steady stream of customers, and an ulterior motive: to get you to buy stuff,” The Post noted.

What a difference a year makes. There are now fewer shoppers in stores and, until the pandemic is completely behind us, there may be a reluctance to consume food in the midst of thousands of shoppers.

However, shoppers do get hungry, and the concept of in-store restaurants probably won’t disappear completely. Walmart is reportedly tinkering with its in-store concept and considering restaurant service that can offer take-out and delivery.

Sam Walton’s promise to “Bring it Home to the USA'' is about to hit new heights at Walmart. On Wednesday, the company announced that its support of American jobs will grow its workforce by 750,000 over the next 10 years as part of a $350 billion investment on items made, grown, or assembled in the U.S. 

The big box retailer’s growth plans are centered on six priority categories: plastics; textiles; small electrical appliances; food processing; pharmaceutical and medical supplies; and Goods Not For Resale (GNFR).

Walmart’s commitment will mean an increase in spending and support for small businesses and diverse suppliers and sellers based in the U.S., and it will provide an opportunity for 9,000 entrepreneurs to become Walmart suppliers and sellers through the company’s annual Open Call events. Environmental concerns will also be addressed through initiatives like lowering CO2 emissions by sourcing closer to the company’s customers. 

“We invite basically ANYONE with a shelf-ready product that supports American jobs to pitch it to us,” John Furner, President & CEO, Walmart U.S. said in the company’s announcement.

Introducing “American Lighthouses”

Furner says Walmart is also launching a concept it calls “American Lighthouses.” That concept’s blueprint calls for the company to identify key stakeholders in specific regions of the country to identify and overcome top-down barriers to U.S. production. 

Once those “lighthouses” are established, the trickle-down intent is that they will bring together participants from the supplier community (including manufacturers and non-governmental organizations) with others from the academic community, government, and local and state economic development groups. 

“By bringing together key regions and various stakeholders, we can make the supply chain more efficient. The aim is to bring U.S. manufacturing back in a sustainable, long-term way,” Furner said.

This has to make the Biden administration happy

Furner is certainly singing to the Biden administration’s choir and the president’s recent executive order aimed at strengthening American manufacturing sector.

“U.S. manufacturing really matters. It matters to our suppliers, to entrepreneurs and to the environment. It matters to our customers - more than 85 percent of which have said it’s important for us to carry products made or assembled in the U.S. And most of all, because of the jobs it brings, it matters to American communities and the people who live in them,” Furner said.

Walmart announced Monday that it’s lifting the $35 minimum order requirement for its two-hour delivery service, “Express.” The move may give the retailer an edge over competitor Amazon, which still has a $35 order minimum on its Prime Now service. 

Consumers can get food, pantry items, household essentials, and other products delivered in less than two hours through Walmart’s Express service. 

The service is available at 3,000 Walmart stores and typically costs $10 on top of a standard delivery fee of between $7.95 or $9.95. However, Walmart drops the delivery fee when customers sign up for a Walmart Plus subscription. 

“Many customers use Express delivery for when they’re in a pinch, whether it be a missing ingredient for a weeknight dinner or a pack of diapers,” Tom Ward, Walmart’s senior vice president of customer product, said in a statement. “Customers told us sometimes the items they needed in a hurry didn’t meet the minimum, so we’re removing it, making it even easier for customers to get what they need when they need it.”

Last May, the company launched its two-hour delivery service on a larger scale in an effort to reach more people staying home due to the pandemic. Walmart notes that its free curbside pickup service still carries a $35 order minimum.

Walmart has added some serious muscle to its same-day grocery delivery program. On Monday, the company announced that it's expanding the store-to-door option to 3,000 stores -- giving 70 percent of the U.S. population access to this time-saving convenience.

To stimulate consumer buy-in, the company is waiving delivery fees on orders of $50 or more when customers enter the promo code “Delivery” when they check out online. Walmart typically charges $7.95 or $9.95 for delivery, depending on how quickly a customer wants their order delivered.

Same-day delivery is also a key component of Walmart+, the company’s $98-a-year membership program that gives online shoppers unlimited fee-free deliveries on orders over $35. It also delivers other benefits like fuel discounts and mobile scan-and-go.

The delivery service battle heats up

Until 2020, most of Walmart’s attention had been on same-day store pickup, which is now available from close to 3,700 locations. But the COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything by creating a demand -- and battle -- for delivery services. Walmart had little choice but to try to put itself in the driver’s seat and keep Amazon, Kroger, Target, Albertsons, and others at bay. 

“As Walmart’s store delivery approaches parity with pickup, the company will be able to market increasingly flexible same-day fulfillment to its shoppers — a key to retaining loyalty as experts predict long-term sustained growth for online grocery shopping,” commented GroceryDive’s Jeff Wells. “These store-based e-commerce services also provide a potent weapon against Amazon, which maintains a fraction of Walmart’s store count.”

Although Walmart scaled its home delivery quickly, it wasn’t without growing pains. “The company relies heavily on last-mile services to complete its deliveries, and it’s had trouble holding onto these partners, with Uber, Lyft, Deliv and Skipcart having backed out of tie-ups with the retailer. Walmart declined to sign on with Instacart, the most popular third-party online grocery platform, until just recently,” Wells said.

Walmart has announced that it plans to build more automated warehouses into its stores this year in an effort to handle the surge in online pickup and delivery orders. 

The automated fulfillment centers will either be built into back rooms of stores or next to the stores. Inside, robots will retrieve items from shelves and bring them to an area where Walmart workers can assemble them for pickup or delivery. 

The automated warehouses will house an array of frequently purchased pantry items, frozen foods, consumables, and electronics. While robots will gather a majority of items, human associates will be in charge of picking out products such as meat, vegetables, and fruit. 

In a post announcing the initiative, Walmart’s SVP of Customer Product Tom Ward said the process can “take just a few minutes from the time the order is placed to the time it’s ready for a customer or delivery driver to collect.” 

Picking up the pace

Walmart says enlisting the help of wheeled robots will help speed up the process of getting goods out to consumers, as well as ease congestion in store aisles. By fulfilling orders faster, Walmart will be able to accommodate more online orders. 

The COVID-19 pandemic led to a dramatic increase in online ordering. Walmart reported that its online sales rose 79 percent during the three months ending October 31 compared with the same period last year. 

"Since the pandemic began we’ve steadily experienced record-high adoption of these services,” Ward said during a call with reporters. “We expect we will continue to serve more and more customers who will come to rely on pickup and delivery as an important part of their lives.”

Walmart has stuck another toe into the world of finance with the creation of a new fintech startup offering a range of financial services to its customers, many of whom have no banking relationship.

It’s collaborating in the venture with Ribbit Capital, the company behind investment platform Robinhood and the consumer technology platform Credit Karma.

Walmart says the venture will combine Walmart’s retail knowledge and scale with Ribbit’s fintech expertise to deliver tech-driven financial experiences tailored to Walmart’s customers and associates.

“For years, millions of customers have put their trust in Walmart to not only save them money when they shop with us but help them manage their financial needs. And they’ve made it clear they want more from us in the financial services arena,” said John Furner, CEO of Walmart U.S. 

Left unsaid is what the new venture will be called and when it will launch. Walmart did say that it would hold a majority stake in the new firm. Walmart also did not disclose what types of services the new company would offer. However, typical fintech companies might offer some or all of these services:

• Banking.

• Insurance.

• Loans.

• Personal finance.

• Electronic payments.

• Loans.

• Venture capital.

• Wealth Management.

Revolutionary partner

Ribbit Capital’s Robinhood has revolutionized online trading. A favorite among millennial investors, Robinhood grew quickly because it doesn’t charge commissions on transactions, a move that forced other online brokers to drop end their commissions as well.

Walmart said its existing financial services remain in place. They include Walmart Credit Card, Walmart Money Card, check cashing, money transfers, and installment financing.

This isn’t Walmart’s first foray into the world of technology. Last year it threw its hat in the ring as a potential buyer of TikTok when the Trump administration said it would force a sale by the company’s Chinese owner.

Walmart is looking to up its grocery delivery game by opening the possibility of consumers being able to get their orders at any time of the day or night. 

In a blog post, the company says it will be conducting a pilot this spring that will allow customers in Arkansas to get fresh groceries delivered to their doors in a temperature-controlled smart box. The boxes are made by HomeValet, and they will reportedly be able to hold frozen, refrigerated, and pantry items.

“Beginning this spring, participating customers in Bentonville, Arkansas, will be able to receive deliveries from their local Walmart directly into a temperature-controlled HomeValet-powered smart box placed outside their home. This gives customers the ability to receive secure, contactless deliveries with the peace of mind knowing their grocery items will stay fresh,” said Tom Ward, Walmart U.S.’ senior vice president of Customer Product.

“The prospect of this technology is intriguing, both for customers and for Walmart’s last-mile delivery efforts. For customers, they don’t need to plan their day around when their grocery delivery will be made. For Walmart, it presents an opportunity to deliver items 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” Ward said. 

Ward stated that Walmart probably won’t be delivering groceries on a 24/7 basis anytime in the near future, but he admitted that the idea “certainly has a nice ring to it.”

“If there’s one thing we know about our customers, it’s that they’re busier than ever. Our pilot with HomeValet is one of many solutions we’re testing that can make their days more manageable,” Ward said.

Walmart has announced that it’s giving consumers the option of returning orders without having to leave their home. In a blog post on Monday, the company said it’s teamed up with FedEx for a new service designed to make returning items a “hassle-free” experience. 

“Now, customers can schedule a return through our new service, Carrier Pickup by FedEx, which is an incredibly convenient way to make that unwanted gift *magically* disappear,” Walmart said. “Even more magical, this new return option is not only super-easy but also free, and here to stay beyond the holiday season.” 

To use Carrier Pickup by FedEx, customers can print out a shipping label from Walmart’s website, then schedule a time for FedEx to pick up the unwanted item. 

The service is free for items shipped and sold via Walmart.com. The retailer noted that the service is available to “all customers where FedEx provides Small Parcel Pickup service.” Walmart customers can still choose to drop off their returns at FedEx locations instead of using the pickup service. 

Changes to in-store return process 

Walmart said it’s made several changes to its normal in-store returns process in order to keep customers safe and maintain social distancing during the pandemic. 

Customers can start their return online via the Walmart app or website to cut down on time spent in line. At many stores, Walmart said it will open alternative return locations to help keep customers distanced from others in the store. 

“Top that off with more good news for customers: No matter how customers choose to return the item, we’ve worked hard to speed up the time frame for which customers get their money back,” Walmart added. “For many online returns, refunds will be credited to customers’ payment account sometimes as soon as the next day, and same day for in-store returns.” 

Walmart has announced that it will give its hourly workers another pandemic-related bonus, this time on Christmas Eve. Full-time hourly employees will receive $300 on December 24, and part-time and temporary employees will get $150. 

The retailer has given out three other bonuses to its employees since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the fourth bonus, Walmart also announced that it will be extending its COVID-19 emergency leave policy to July of 2021. 

Factoring in the fourth round of employee bonuses, Walmart will have paid a total of $2.8 billion in quarterly and special bonuses to its hourly employees this year. The company said it has done so in appreciation of workers who have helped stock shelves, ship online orders, transport goods, and serve customers during the pandemic. 

“As we come to a close on this historic year, I’m filled with gratitude for how our associates have led through one of the most trying periods for our company and country,” said John Furner, president and CEO of Walmart U.S.

Cold weather surge in COVID-19 cases 

The end-of-year bonuses are coming during a surge in coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths across the nation. Health officials have warned that hospitalization and death rates could increase further in connection with indoor gatherings during the colder months. 

Grocery and food retail workers, who are often forced to be in relatively close proximity to customers, have risked their health by going to work. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has acknowledged that these workers face unique risks. 

The agency recommends that grocery store workers “encourage customers to use touchless payment options, when available.” Additionally, these workers are advised to “minimize handling cash, credit cards, reward cards, and mobile devices, where possible” and to wipe down counters between each customer at checkout. 

Walmart is dropping its $35 minimum order requirement for Walmart+ members to receive free shipping, a move that is seen as ratcheting up the competition with Amazon.

Starting Friday, Walmart+ members can get free next-day and two-day delivery on all orders from the company’s website, regardless of how much they spend. Company officials hope the perk will attract more consumers to Walmart+.

“Customers have been clear, they want this benefit,” said Janey Whiteside, chief customer officer at Walmart. “Being able to toss an item into your cart, regardless the total, and check out right away lets them knock little things off their to-do list in no time.”

Deliveries from Walmart stores still carry a $35 minimum. Walmart+ members currently get unlimited free grocery deliveries, fuel discounts, and the ability to use Scan and Go in stores, which lets customers shop and check out with their phone.

The move matches Amazon Prime’s policy of offering members free delivery regardless of the size of the order. While the two programs have different costs and benefits, Walmart has now leveled the playing field in one area that consumers appear to value.

More places to use fuel discounts

Walmart said it is also expanding the number of locations where members can use their fuel discounts. They will now include Sam’s Club fuel stations across the country. The discounts are already available at Walmart, Murphy USA, and Murphy Express fuel stations.

Walmart+ launched earlier this year with an annual membership just under $100 a year, making it slightly less costly than Amazon Prime. The rollout included same-day grocery delivery and reserved delivery windows. 

A report cited by CNBC put total Walmart+ membership in mid-November at 19 million U.S. households, based on a survey. The same report puts Amazon Prime membership at an estimated 126 million people.

Did someone say free Thanksgiving meal? Yep... Walmart. The mega retailer has looped in Butterball, Campbell’s, Coca-Cola, and others to offer consumers everything they need for a Thanksgiving dinner -- from cranberry sauce to the turkey itself -- compliments of the brands involved. 

Walmart locations nationwide are participating in this event through Thanksgiving Day, November 26.

The freebies

In total, there are nine gratis food products in the promotion, though some include caveats about specific sizes and other factors. Here are the details:

• Butterball Turkey Breast Roast: Offer valid for 100 percent cash-back on all flavors of the 3 lb Butterball turkey roast, which includes a gravy packet. Also valid for $9.98 cash-back on Butterball whole turkeys.

• McCormick Gravy: Offer valid for all 0.87 oz. McCormick gravy packet flavors.

• Great Value Stuffing Mix: Offer valid for all 6 oz. Great Value Stuffing Mix flavors.

• Idahoan Mashed Potatoes: Offer valid for all 8 oz. Idahoan Mashed Potato flavors.

• Campbell’s Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup: Offer valid on 10.5 oz. can only.

• Great Value Cranberry Sauce: Offer valid for all canned 14 oz. cranberry sauce varieties.

• Great Value Green Beans: Offer valid on Great Value Fine Green Beans, 12 oz. frozen bag.

• French’s Crispy Fried Onions: Offer valid on French’s Original Crispy Fried Onions, 2.8 oz..

• Coca-Cola: Offer valid on 2-liter bottles of Coca-Cola: Cherry Zero Sugar, Vanilla, Caffeine Free, Caffeine Free Zero Sugar, Original Taste, and Zero Sugar.

A 12 oz. bag of green beans or a 3 pound turkey may not go very far for some families. To get enough for everyone, it might take multiple people using separate Walmart accounts connected to Ibotta to stretch “free” into a family-size windfall.

“Free” takes some doing 

In all fairness, while Walmart and its partners are throwing around the word “free,” it’s a slight misnomer because the promotion is really a “cash-back” one. 

In reality, a consumer can’t just walk into a Walmart, load up their cart with the foods that are part of the promotion, and then check out without having to scan their credit card. To take advantage of the deal, a consumer has to complete two key steps:

• Install the Ibotta browser extension on their computer

• Link their Walmart account with the Ibotta plug-in

Once that’s done, the consumer simply logs in to their Walmart account. They’ll immediately find all nine free Thanksgiving items in their browser extension (and via the Ibotta phone app within an hour) in the form of cash-back for the entire purchase (approx. $20.27).

Consumers are likely to see more “thanks” from major retailers and brands in the run-up to Thanksgiving. On Monday, Zoom announced that it was lifting its 40-minute time limit on the free version of its software so families could enjoy a longer virtual Thanksgiving together. BJ’s Wholesale Club also announced that it’s handing out free turkeys in advance of Thanksgiving.

Walmart has started selling pet insurance from Petplan and connecting customers to pet sitters and dog walkers through a partnership with Rover. 

The retailer has revamped its website to include a new section called Walmart Pet Care, through which consumers can get pet supplies and find pet care services, including insurance. 

Melody Richard, vice president of Walmart Pets, said Walmart customers can save up to 10 percent on insurance policies by going through Walmart. They’ll also get Walmart gift cards in exchange for booking pet sitting or dog walking through Rover on the Walmart website. 

“We’re focused on bringing our customers and the beloved pets in their lives trusted, convenient and affordable programs at one destination,” Richard said. “And we’ll continue to focus on that.”

Increase in pet ownership

Walmart’s expanded roster of pet services coincides with an uptick in the number of consumers who recently got a new pet. The pandemic spurred a wave of pet adoptions as consumers sought companionship and found that they had more time at home. 

Subsequently, demand for pet supplies has increased, and pet supplies and seasonal costumes are expected to be popular gifts this holiday season. 

Walmart estimates that 90 million pet owners shop at Walmart. Last year, the retailer introduced Walmart PetRx, an in-store and online pharmacy that sells prescriptions at prices “significantly below competitors.” 

The company says its new Walmart Pet Insurance offering “provides coverage for veterinary fees due to accident, injury or illness, including chronic and hereditary conditions.” Customers can also file claims and schedule appointments through Petplan and get access to “$1000 worth of online virtual vet appointments at no additional charge.” 

Walmart, the nation’s largest retailer, has apparently decided that humans are just as efficient as robots.

The Wall Street Journal cites people familiar with the decision in reporting that Walmart will shelve plans to have robots wander its aisles keeping track of inventory. Instead, it will stick with store employees that the report says were shown to achieve similar results.

Walmart began deploying robots at select stores in 2017. Initial results proved to be positive and the company moved ahead with the project. 

Walmart expanded the use of robots in 2018 and a year later, deployed the machines at more of its stores to carry out specific tasks, such as unloading cargo and scrubbing floors. As recently as a year ago, the retailer appeared to be sold on adding robots to the workforce.

“Smart assistants have huge potential to make busy stores run more smoothly, so Walmart has been pioneering new technologies to minimize the time an associate spends on the more mundane and repetitive tasks like cleaning floors or checking inventory on a shelf,” the retailer said in a 2019 statement.

COVID-19’s influence

So what happened? Why are the robots heading for the unemployment line? The Journal reports the experiment ended because Walmart discovered different solutions that worked out just as well.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) may also have hastened the robots’ demise. The surge in online shopping since the pandemic began apparently requires a human touch for the stores to operate at maximum efficiency.

The Journal reports Walmart now sees the need for more employees to collect online orders and keep up with inventory irregularities.

Not a good look

One source told The Journal that Walmart CEO John Furner was concerned about the optics, questioning how shoppers would react to seeing a robot working in a store. That said, not all robots are getting pink-slipped. The company will reportedly staff its cleaning crews with mechanical workers, who will do their jobs after hours.

As recently as January, Walmart predicted its reliance on robots would grow, putting them in about 20 percent of its stores. A Walmart spokeswoman told The Journal that about 10 percent of stores were using the robot assistants when the company decided to discontinue their use.

“We learned a lot about how technology can assist associates, make jobs easier and provide a better customer experience,” she told the newspaper. “We will continue testing new technologies and investing in our own processes and apps to best understand and track our inventory and help move products to our shelves as quickly as we can.”

Walmart has walked back its decision to keep firearms and ammunition off store shelves ahead of the election. 

Last week, the retailer announced that it would pull the products over concerns of “civil unrest” stemming from the election and other politically charged incidents. The company said it temporarily moved the products to a secure location in the back of the store out of an “abundance of caution.” 

But Walmart said Monday that it has since determined that “incidents,” such as recent protests in Philadelphia stemming from the police shooting of Walter Wallace, Jr, remain “geographically isolated.” 

“As the current incidents have remained geographically isolated, we have made the decision to begin returning these products to the sales floor today,” a company spokesperson told various media outlets.

The company made the decision to return firearms and ammunition to U.S. store shelves just days before the presidential election. Many are worried that the result of the election could sow unrest and incite violence. Some businesses have begun preparing for that possibility by boarding up store windows and taking other security measures. 

Walmart is removing guns and ammunition from its display shelves, citing concerns about potential civil unrest that could lead to the firearms being stolen.

A Walmart spokesperson told media outlets that the move is not anything new, that the practice has been observed several times over the last few years. The items will still be available for purchase, however.

"We have moved our firearms and ammunition off the sales floor as a precaution for the safety of our associates and customers," the spokesman said.

Several Walmart stores were damaged after George Floyd, an African American, died in May while being arrested in Minneapolis. Video of the incident went viral, resulting in criminal charges against the arresting officer and setting off widespread protests that turned violent in many cities.

A week before the election

Walmart’s move comes less than a week before a presidential election that has been marked by passion on both sides. Because of the overwhelming number of early ballots cast, due to concerns about the coronavirus (COVID-19), results of a close election might not be known for days, increasing the possibility of rising civil tensions.

Walmart, in recent years, has responded to public pressure and reduced some types of firearms and ammunition sold in its stores. But the company remains an outlet for sporting rifles and shotguns.

In August, NSSF, the firearm industry trade association, updated its retail sales survey and estimated 5 million Americans purchased a firearm in the first seven months of 2020. Of that number, it estimated 40 percent of the sales went to consumers who had never purchased a gun.

‘Tectonic shift’

Lawrence Keane, NSSF’s senior vice president, called it a “tectonic shift” in the marketplace -- something that promises to transform today’s gun-owning community.

“These first-time buyers represent a group of people who, until now, were agnostic regarding firearm ownership,” Keane said. “That’s rapidly changing, and these Americans are taking hold of their God-given right to keep and bear arms and protect themselves and their loved ones.”

NSSF tracks the background checks associated with the sale of a firearm based on the FBI’s National Instant Background Check System (NICS). NSSF-adjusted NICS checks for January through July 2020 is a record 12.1 million, which is up 71.7 percent from the 7.1 million NSSF-adjusted NICS January through July 2019. 

Walmart has announced that it plans to offer its own online deals in October, the same month Amazon is holding its Prime Day sales event. 

The retailer announced on Monday that it will hold a “Big Save” online sales event Oct. 11-15. During those days, Walmart says it will offer “Black Friday-like savings.” Price cuts will be applied to thousands of items in categories including electronics, toys, beauty items, and more. 

Walmart said some orders over $35 will be eligible for free two-day shipping, and others may be eligible for free next-day delivery or in-store pickup. 

Amazon confirmed on Sunday that it’s annual Prime Day event will take place on Oct. 13-14. The event is normally held in July, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced Amazon to postpone this year’s event.  

Walmart’s rival sales event will kick off Sunday, October 11, at 7 p.m. EST and end Thursday October 15. Some of the deals the company says it will offer include: 

• JVC 55" 4K HDR Roku Smart LED TV – $248 (was $399, $151 savings)

• Super Mario Party video game for Nintendo Switch – $39.99 (was $59.88, $19.89 savings)

• Roku Ultra LT Streaming Media Player – $69 (was $79, $10 savings) 

• Pioneer Woman 6 Quart Instant Pot – $49 (was $99, $50 savings)

• Tzumi Ion Robotic Vacuum – $99 (was $179.88, $79.89 savings) 

• Best Choice Products 250-Piece Kids STEM 3D Magnetic Building Blocks Play Set (Marketplace Item) - $64.99 (was $114.99, $50 savings)

• Hunter Women's Original Tall Rain Boots (Marketplace Item) – $59.99 (was $79.99, $20 savings)

• Scoop Women’s Printed Maxi Shirt Dress – $39.99 (was $59, $19.01 savings) 

Halloween is more than a month away, but Walmart is already rolling out its plans for Black Friday and the holiday shopping season. But then, this holiday season is likely to be like none other.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has changed the way consumers shop and what they buy, so Walmart says those factors have been taken into consideration. Instead of expanding store hours to accommodate shoppers, the retailer is maintaining its reduced schedule as a safety feature.

At the same time, it’s staffing up its e-commerce division to meet the expected surge in online holiday shopping this year. Fulfillment centers around the country will hire more than 20,000 seasonal workers, in jobs ranging from filling orders to operating power equipment. Walmart says some of these jobs will likely become permanent positions.

“As more people turn to online shopping, we want to ensure we’re staffed and ready to help deliver that special gift to their loved ones while continuing to fulfill our customer’s everyday needs,” said Greg Smith, executive vice president for supply chain for Walmart U.S. “We’re also proud to be able to continue to provide employment opportunities across the country when it’s needed most.”

Changing habits

Walmart says customers’ buying habits have changed over the last six months and it expects that to be reflected in the choice of holiday gifts. It’s stocking up on things it expects to be in high demand, such as athleisure, loungewear, and sleepwear for the family, outdoor grills, bicycles and exercise equipment, and outdoor sporting equipment. 

Noting that millions of families have adopted pets since the pandemic began, the company said it has increased its assortment and supply of pet products in its stores and online. For example, it has acquired more than 3 million pet beds.

Since baking and cooking have become pandemic trends, Walmart said it’s expanding its Holiday Bake Center to more of its stores and is increasing its inventory of popular kitchen appliances, like the KitchenAid Plus Stand Mixer.

Walmart said it’s also stocking up on traditional gifts, such as TVs, laptops, and video games, as well as 1,300 new toys, games, and puzzles.

Shopping differently

“Over the past six months, our customers have been shopping differently, and we expect that will continue into the most important shopping season of the year – the holidays,” said Scott McCall, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer for Walmart U.S.

As for Black Friday, McCall says that’s going to be different too. It’s going to start earlier and offer a wider selection of merchandise.

Walmart also expects a significant portion of its Black Friday shopping will take place online, in the safety and comfort of the customer’s home. Stores will continue to be closed in the overnight hours to allow for cleaning and restocking. 

In-store shoppers will use separate entrances and exits to minimize contact. Social distancing floor decals will remind shoppers to stay apart and the public address system will air constant safety reminders.

Say hello to “Free Assembly,” Walmart’s newest attempt to gain the attention of fashion-conscious consumers. 

The product line comes complete with items for both men and women at a $9 to $45 price range, which the big box retailer hopes is a sweet spot and produces more uptake than its previous fashion endeavors.

Starting out, Free Assembly will focus on a fall collection with more than 30 items for women and 25 items for men.

“Customers will discover well-designed, high-quality pieces at prices below other American clothing brands – including a $45 structured blazer with an updated silhouette, a $39 viscose tiered maxi for women and a $30 fishtail parka at a fraction of the price found at specialty retailers,” wrote Denise Incandela, SVP Women’s Group, Elevated and Online Brands at Walmart. “What I’m most proud of though is the $40 organic selvedge denim that retails at an incredibly low price.”

To help Walmart gain some traction in the fashion space, it’s tapped Dwight Fenton, who’s worked his magic at Old Navy and J. Crew. 

But will it work this time?

The words “Walmart” and “fashion” haven’t proven to be a winning combination for the company. Some 10 years ago, it came up with "Project Impact" to try and upgrade the persona of its apparel, but that idea died hard and fast. 

In 2018, the company rolled out four other clothing lines and went on a buying spree of direct-to-consumer labels that included the menswear line Bonobos, the plus-size women’s line Eloquii Elements, and ModCloth, which took its cues from indie- and vintage-inspired women’s clothing. In 2019, Walmart sold ModCloth and downsized Bonobos. Eloquii is still part of the store’s brand lineup.

“Through our ongoing strategy of expanding our assortment for our customers, we’ve shown that we’re serious about establishing Walmart as a fashion destination,” wrote Denise Incandela, SVP Women’s Group, Elevated and Online Brands at Walmart.

“And, now we’re doubling-down to offer customers something they couldn’t find at Walmart before – a fashion essentials-inspired brand for both men and women created by our in-house design team.”

Walmart announced on Thursday that it’s raising wages for 165,000 of its hourly employees across the U.S. 

In a statement, Walmart chief operating officer Dacona Smith said the retailer is implementing a more “team based” staffing model. New hourly and salaried leadership roles will be created at its supercenters. 

Pay for these new “team leader” positions will range from $18 to $21 an hour, and some will pay up to $30 an hour. The new system will result in a boost in pay for tens of thousands of the company’s hourly workers, Walmart said.

“We’re investing in new roles and skills training to give us the flexibility to serve customers anytime and anywhere. In turn, associates will have more room for career and pay growth,” Smith said.

Pay increases 

Pay for bakery and deli employees will increase to $15 an hour from $11 an hour. Many employees in Walmart’s auto care centers will see $1 per hour added to their pay. The changes will be reflected in workers’ pay starting in October.

"We are re-investing in several ways to provide associates with higher and more consistent base pay," the company said.

In announcing the changes, the retailer said "associates have done an incredible job serving customers and making a difference in their communities," especially in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“They’ve gone above and beyond to make sure customers have access to the items they need while making health and safety a top priority,” Walmart said.

Walmart has teamed up with on-demand drone delivery company FlyTrex to test a program through which consumers can get grocery and household essentials delivered via an automated drone. 

The retailer started piloting the program in Fayetteville, N.C. on Wednesday. Walmart said FlyTrex drones are controlled over the cloud using a smart and easy control dashboard. 

“We know that it will be some time before we see millions of packages delivered via drone. That still feels like a bit of science fiction,” said Tom Ward, Walmart's senior vice president of customer product, in a blog post. 

Through the pilot, Ward said the company is hoping to gain insight into how the program would look when implemented on a larger scale. Walmart, like other retailers, is currently attempting to expand its pickup and delivery services amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

"At the end of the day, it’s learnings from pilots such as this that will help shape the potential of drone delivery on a larger scale and, true to the vision of our founder, take Walmart beyond where we’ve been,” Ward said.

Amazon also testing drone delivery

Last week, the Federal Aviation Administration gave Amazon approval to begin using drones for commercial package delivery. The agency said it’s confident in Amazon’s drone operating and safety procedures. 

"The FAA supports innovation that is beneficial to the public, especially during a health or weather-related crisis,” the agency said. 

This year, Walmart is planning on changing the way it usually has children test and rate toys ahead of the holiday season. 

Instead of inviting hundreds of kids to test toys at a convention center near its headquarters in Arkansas, the retailer has developed an online tool that will let kids test and play with toys in a safe way during the coronavirus pandemic. 

Walmart says the virtual alternative to toy testing, dubbed the “Walmart Wonder Lab,” will give kids a way to engage with over a hundred of its Top-Rated By Kids Toys List offerings, the company said in a news release. 

“Starting today, kids can play and engage with hundreds of toys from the aisles of America’s Best Toy Shop,” Walmart said. “The Walmart Wonder Lab transports kids into a choice-driven experience where kids can unbox, test and play with this holiday season’s hottest toys without leaving home.” 

In anticipation of a higher-than-usual number of online purchases this holiday season, the retailer said it shipped more toys to fulfillment centers this year.

"Toys play a critical role in families' lives as they spend more time at home and parents seek ways to keep kids engaged with learning-based play," said Steve Ronchetto, vice president of Toys at Walmart.

As expected, Walmart has announced the launch of a membership program similar to Amazon Prime. The program, Walmart+, costs $98 per year and launches September 15.

Details of the program leaked in July, and today’s announcement confirms most of them. Members get unlimited free delivery from Walmart stores, fuel discounts, and access to a range of tools designed to speed up the shopping process.

Payment options include the annual fee of $98 or a monthly charge of $12.95. The program is being introduced with a 15-day free trial.

“We are a company committed to meeting our customers’ needs,” said Janey Whiteside, chief customer officer at Walmart. “Customers know they can trust us and depend on us, and we’ve designed this program as the ultimate life hack for them.”

What’s included

Walmart says members will receive:

• Unlimited free delivery: Delivery will be as fast as same-day on more than 160,000 items from nearby stores. It replaces Delivery Unlimited – a subscription service that allowed customers to place an unlimited number of deliveries for a flat yearly or monthly fee. Current subscribers will automatically become Walmart+ members.

• Scan & Go: When members are in a Walmart store, they can unlock Scan & Go in the Walmart app and use it to scan their items as they shop and pay using Walmart Pay. 

• Fuel discounts: Members can fill up and save up to five cents a gallon at nearly 2,000 Walmart, Murphy USA, and Murphy Express fuel stations. Sam’s Club fuel stations will soon be added to this lineup.

Not included are items purchased from Walmart.com. However, Walmart already offers free shipping on most orders of $35 or more.

Competing with Amazon Prime

It’s no secret that Walmart+ is aimed at Amazon Prime, another subscription service designed to make the online retailer top-of-mind with consumers.

Prime costs more -- $119 a year -- but offers additional perks like music and video streaming platforms that are included in the monthly fee. Most recently, it added AmazonFresh grocery delivery for customers who have a Prime subscription.

Walmart’s ad slogan is “always low prices.” With the introduction of Walmart+, it’s going after consumers who also value convenience.

“Life feels more complicated than ever,” said Whiteside. “Walmart+ is designed to make it easier – giving customers an option to not have to sacrifice on cost or convenience.” 

Walmart is teaming up with delivery platform Instacart to offer same-day delivery in four markets. Under the partnership, consumers in parts of California -- Los Angeles, San Francisco, and San Diego -- and Tulsa, Oklahoma can get delivery in as little as an hour. 

"The new partnership brings thousands of items -- from groceries, alcohol and pantry staples to home decor and improvement, personal care, electronics and more -- at everyday low prices from Walmart stores to customers' doors in as fast as an hour,” the company said in a statement. 

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said in a call with analysts in May that the COVID-19 pandemic has heightened consumer interest in ordering items for pickup or delivery.

“As this crisis created a need for social distancing and required people to stay at home, customers embraced pickup and delivery even more. Pickup and delivery are attracting greater numbers of new customers,” he said. “The number of new customers trying pickup and delivery has increased four times since mid-March.”

Competing against Amazon

The partnership will help put both companies in a better position to compete against Amazon and Whole Foods, CNBC and CNN reported. 

“The new partnership brings thousands of items — from groceries, alcohol and pantry staples to home decor and improvement, personal care, electronics and more — at everyday low prices from Walmart stores to customers’ doors in as fast as an hour,” Walmart said in a statement.

Instacart already has relationships in place with Target, Costco, and Kroger, among others.

News of the partnership comes at a time when consumers are expecting greater speed when it comes to delivery times amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Walmart announced earlier this summer that it expects to have Express Delivery in 2,000 stores. 

“We know our customers’ lives have changed during this pandemic, and so has the way they shop,” said Janey Whiteside, chief customer officer, Walmart, in a statement. “We also know when we come out of this, customers will be busier than ever, and sometimes that will call for needing supplies in a hurry. COVID-19 has prompted us to launch Express Delivery even faster so that we’re here for our customers today and in the future.”

Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in a July testimony before the House Judiciary committee that Walmart and Instacart are major competitors to it and its subsidiary Whole Foods. 

“Every day, Amazon competes against large, established players like Target, Costco, Kroger, and, of course, Walmart,” Bezos said. “... We also face new competition from the likes of Shopify and Instacart.”

Here’s one from the whodathunkit department: Walmart is going to turn its parking lots into drive-in movie theatres.

With only 16 percent of consumers saying they feel confident going to a movie theatre in the middle of the pandemic, the retail chain feels that families who have been playing by the rules are ready for some good, clean -- and safe -- fun.

The experience -- Walmart Drive-in -- is free and debuts in the parking lots of 160 Walmart stores in the U.S. starting August 14.

“We recognize the challenges our customers and their families have faced over the last few months, and we wanted to create an experience where they could come together safely to create new memories,” said Janey Whiteside, Walmart’s chief customer officer.

What’s on tap

Walmart is partnering with the Tribeca Film Festival to help make Walmart Drive-in a reality. The promotion will run from August 14 through October 21. 

All told, there will be 320 showings of movies with the following set as part of the line-up:

• Friday Night Lights

• The Karate Kid

• Space Jam

• Black Panther

• Pokémon Detective Pikachu

• The Lego Batman Movie

• Spider-ManTM: Into The Spider-Verse

• Spy Kids

• Teen Titans GO! To the Movies

• Wonder Woman

• E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

• Ghostbusters

• Men in BlackTM: International

• Back to the Future

• Beetlejuice

• The Goonies

• The Wizard of Oz

• Dolphin Tale

• Selena

• Cars

• The Iron Giant

• The Lego Movie 

• Madagascar

Celebrity guest appearances 

The folks at Tribeca and Walmart promise that, as a bonus, filmmakers and special guests might swing by to say hi -- either live or virtually. Drew Barrymore will serve as virtual hostess for all events, but she’s committed to showing up in-person at one location. Families will also be treated to surprise virtual or in-person appearances from Jennifer Garner, LeBron James, and Chrissy Metz at select showings.

To reserve a space for the Walmart Drive-in, customers can visit TheWalmartDriveIn.com to pick their desired date and location. Once confirmed, customers will receive an email with a QR code, which will grant their vehicle entry on the day of the event.

As thanks for the hard work its associates have put in during the pandemic, Walmart will be treating them to a day off on Thanksgiving. The retailer announced that it will be closing all of its Walmart and Sam’s Club locations.

“We know this has been a trying year, and our associates have stepped up. We hope they will enjoy a special Thanksgiving Day at home with their loved ones,” said John Furner, President and CEO of Walmart U.S. “We are certainly thankful to our people for all of their efforts.”

Walmart stores and Sam’s Club locations will operate during normal hours on Wednesday, Nov. 25, but the company said that store and club hours for Friday, Nov. 27, will be shared at a later date.

The move signals a huge shift for the retailer. Walmart has not been closed on Thanksgiving Day since back in the late ‘80s. The move also follows a trend started in 2019 when Costco, Lowe’s, Marshalls, T.J. Maxx, and others took the initiative to give its workers the day off.

Preventing a potential health hazard

Walmart didn’t come right out and say it, but the downside of packed stores in the middle of the coronavirus menace had to be a factor. 

“This year, the decision for retailers is about much more than company values or even bottom lines,” said Ben Unglesbee of Retail Dive.

“With COVID-19 still racing through the U.S., and some top experts predicting a potentially dire fall and winter in terms of the virus' spread, it's a safety issue for both customers and employees. Customers packing into stores for sales during the all-important holiday shopping weekend present a potential public health hazard.”

Walmart passes extra gravy to its employees

Walmart also announced on Wednesday that it’s passing out another special cash bonus to store, club, distribution center, and fulfillment center associates for their dedication to serving customers, members, and communities during the pandemic. 

Bonuses will range from $250 for part-time hourly and temporary employees to $300 for full-time hourly associates. Drivers, managers, and assistant managers in stores, clubs, DCs, FCs, and Health & Wellness will also receive a bonus. All told, the bonuses will add up to about $428 million.

“Our associates have been working at an incredible pace, they’ve solved problems, and they’ve set an amazing example for others,” complemented Furner. “To further appreciate their incredible work, we are pleased to share another special cash bonus this summer.”

Walmart’s response to COVID-19 has moved up a notch. The retailer issued a new mandate on Wednesday afternoon that will require all shoppers in both Walmart and Sam’s Club stores to wear a face covering.

The change will go into effect starting Monday, July 20, to allow customers time to prepare. 

“While we’re certainly not the first business to require face coverings, we know this is a simple step everyone can take for their safety and the safety of others in our facilities,” said Dacona Smith, Chief Operating Officer, Walmart U.S., and Lance de la Rosa, Chief Operating Officer, Sam’s Club in a news release.

Expect two other changes

The chain says there’s two related changes customers should be prepared for. 

Health ambassadors: The first change is the addition of the role of Health Ambassador. The company plans to station these employees near store entrances to remind those without a mask that they’ll need to adhere to the policy to gain entrance. The company said that the ambassadors will be easily identifiable by their black polo shirts and will try to find a solution for any customer who shows up at a store without a face covering. Various solutions are currently being tested, but the goal is to have a single solution by July 20. 

“We know it may not be possible for everyone to wear a face covering. Our associates will be trained on those exceptions to help reduce friction for the shopper and make the process as easy as possible for everyone.” the company said.

Single-point entrances: Secondly, to help ensure across-the-board consistency with this new process, all stores will have a single entrance.

Can I be forced to wear a face covering?

Local governments have the right to impose safety measures on businesses, and individual businesses can take it a step further and implement additional restrictions of their own. In Walmart’s case, the new mandate won’t be that much of a change since 65 percent of all of the retailer’s stores are located in areas where face coverings are already required.

Nonetheless, the company is hoping that customers in areas where there’s no face covering requirement will understand the need for the new mandate and will adjust accordingly.

“We know some people have differing opinions on this topic. We also recognize the role we can play to help protect the health and well-being of the communities we serve by following the evolving guidance of health officials like the CDC. We appreciate the understanding and cooperation of our customers and members in wearing face coverings to protect their safety and the safety of our associates,” the company said.

Walmart is reportedly planning to launch a membership program called Walmart+ later this month. The program will include many facets that mirror Amazon Prime, including same-day grocery delivery and reserved delivery windows. 

The retailer’s new membership program will purportedly cost $98 per year, and consumers will get access to same-day delivery, discounts on fuel at Walmart gas stations, and more. The program was initially slated to launch in late March or April, but Walmart was forced to delay the launch after the nation began battling the COVID-19 pandemic, according to Recode. 

Meeting demand

Walmart said last month that the pandemic has fueled an increase in demand for certain items. 

"We experienced unprecedented demand in categories like paper goods, surface cleaners and grocery staples," Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said on an earnings call in May. "For many of these items, we were selling in two or three hours what we normally sell in two or three days."

Like other retailers, Walmart has struggled to compete with Amazon. Amazon launched its Prime membership service in 2005, and it now has more than 150 million members globally. 

Walmart has unveiled several new services to try and keep up with Amazon, including free one-day delivery options and an “InHome” service in which a Walmart delivery person comes to a consumer’s home and puts their order of fresh products directly in the refrigerator.

Walmart hasn’t said whether its new membership program will first launch on a national or regional level. 

Walmart announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with online thrift store thredUp to sell pre-owned clothing. The partnership marks the retailer’s entrance into the resale market.

More than 750,000 items, from all new to “like new,” are now available to purchase from Walmart’s online storefront. Sellers send their items directly to thredUp, which then photographs and lists the items. 

In a statement, Denise Incandela, head of fashion e-commerce with Walmart.com, said the retailer had been exploring the partnership for roughly a year and is launching it at a time when many households may have a more limited budget due to the pandemic.

Curated selection

Incandela said that over the last few years, Walmart has made a concerted effort to expand its assortment of “quality, on-trend, accessible fashion” to help consumers find clothing that fits both their personal style and budget. 

“The resale prices are outstanding, and we are thrilled to offer our Walmart customers the opportunity to reuse garments,” Incandela said. “Items have been carefully evaluated and selected by thredUP for sale based on their overall quality and condition. Only pre-owned garments and shoes deemed “new” or “like new” by thredUP are available on Walmart.com.” 

Nordstrom and Abercrombie & Fitch have also branched out into selling more environmentally conscious clothing. Incandela noted that millennial consumers tend to be interested in making more environmentally conscious clothing choices, so the partnership with thredUp may increase Walmart’s appeal to millennials. 

“We know that customers, especially millennials, are interested in shopping resale clothing,” she said. “In fact, according to thredUP’s upcoming 2020 Annual Resale Report, 70% of consumers have bought or are now willing to buy secondhand. This partnership is our latest move to establish Walmart.com as a destination for fashion and offer customers the pre-owned items they might be looking for. We think they’ll be surprised and delighted by what they find, and we’re excited to inspire customers to look and feel their best."

Walmart has announced that it’s shuttering Jet.com, which it purchased in 2016 for $3 billion.

The retailer said in its first-quarter earnings report that the acquisition of Jet.com “was critical to accelerating our omni strategy.” However, Walmart will be discontinuing the online marketplace “due to the continued strength of the Walmart.com brand.” 

Since acquiring Jet.com, Walmart -- like many other retailers who have attempted to grow their online sales -- has faced competition from e-commerce giant Amazon. 

Walmart’s recent efforts to head off competition from Amazon have included expanding its two-hour Express Delivery service to nearly 2,000 stores across the U.S. through the end of May. It’s also been reported that Walmart may be gearing up to test a subscription service similar to Amazon Prime. 

Looking ahead 

In its earnings report, Walmart said online sales increased by 74 percent year-over-year “with strong results for grocery pickup and delivery services, walmart.com and marketplace,” in part due to the sudden increase in consumers shopping online due to the coronavirus pandemic. 

Despite the current boom in online sales, Walmart appears to be focusing on a path to long-term success. In 2019, the Wall Street Journal reported that Walmart’s online division lost roughly $2 billion in one fiscal year. Axing Jet.com is likely a bid at avoiding future uncertainty after the pandemic is over. 

“Our business fundamentals are strong, and our financial position is excellent. Customers trust us to deliver on our brand promise, and I’m confident in our ability to perform well in most any environment,” said Brett Biggs, Walmart Inc. chief financial officer. “While the short-term environment will be challenging, we’re positioned well for long-term success in an increasingly omni world.” 

With the coronavirus continuing to drive up demand for items such as toilet paper and disinfectant wipes, Walmart has hired more than 100,000 new workers in the past three weeks. 

In mid-March, Walmart announced that it was looking to fill 150,000 positions.

“We’ll easily hit the 150,000,” Dan Bartlett, Walmart’s executive vice president of corporate affairs, told CNBC’s Courtney Reagan. “We’ll do an assessment to see if we need to do more.”

Providing fall-back job opportunities

While most of the jobs are temporary, about 10-15 percent are permanent, Bartlett said. Most employees are working for Walmart in order to make ends meet “until their traditional jobs come back online,” he said.

“People are keeping their eye on the horizon to see when industry and when the economy will crank back up. But in the meantime, they’re providing a critical service, and we welcome them with open arms,” Bartlett said. 

Walmart said Thursday that demand has remained strong since the beginning of the coronavirus crisis. Bartlett said paper goods “are still under pressure,” adding that the retailer is selling enough toilet paper over a five-day period to allow every U.S. citizen to have their own roll. 

The company said that while toilet paper continues to fly off shelves, other products have also risen in popularity.

“All the do-it-yourself types of items like hair coloring and beard trimmers are selling quite well,” he said. “Sewing machines are flying off the shelf as well because a lot of people are selling and making their own masks at their house.” 

Walmart appears to have abandoned its free, no-membership approach to compete with Amazon Prime.

The retailer is reportedly preparing to take on Amazon with its own paid membership program with the free shipping that Prime includes, along with other perks. Walmart has beefed up its online business over the last few years but has yet to catch up to Amazon.

According to a report by technology site Vox, Walmart will soon start testing Walmart+, in part by rebranding its Delivery Unlimited service. That service currently charges customers $98 a year for unlimited same-day grocery deliveries at more than 1,600 Walmart locations. The report says the retailer may also test a feature that would allow Walmart+ members to place orders using a text message.

But Amazon Prime offers more than just free two-day shipping, and in some cases one-day delivery. Members get access to streaming video through Prime Video and to a streaming music service.

Walmart also reportedly plans to sweeten its deal with additional perks. According to Vox, those perks could include discounts on prescription drugs and gasoline at Walmart fueling stations.

Walmart has made no official announcement of its plans, but a company spokesman confirmed that a membership program was indeed in the works in a statement to Vox.

Prime’s rise

When Amazon launched Prime in 2005, few could see what a powerful force in the retail economy it would become. For an annual fee of $119 a year, members get free expedited shipping on their orders.

For many consumers, knowing that delivery won’t cost anything has made Amazon the go-to place to shop. When Amazon sweetened the deal with entertainment services, it almost became irresistible.

Amazon Prime currently has a global membership of more than 150 million and, besides the free expedited shipping, it offers same-day delivery from Whole Foods or Amazon Fresh.

Walmart in recent years has made Amazon its prime target. It has increased delivery services and made a point of saying that it doesn’t require a membership. In 2019, the retailer appeared to be making some headway.

A 2019 survey by First Insight, a retail analytics firm, found that 55 percent of consumers preferred shopping at Walmart rather than Amazon.com. That was an increase from 47 percent in 2018.

Consumers are increasingly shopping at Walmart instead of Amazon, according to a new survey by First Insight. The retail analytics firm polled 1,000 consumers and found that 55 percent prefer shopping at Walmart rather than Amazon.com. 

In 2018, the same survey found that 47 percent preferred Walmart. First Insight found that the percentage of people who favor Amazon has fallen to 45 percent from about 53 percent last year. 

“The excitement of the Amazon box coming to your house is kind of dwindling off,” First Insight CEO Greg Petro told CNBC. “I think the novelty of Amazon is wearing off.”

Going head-to-head with Amazon

Walmart and other retailers have been struggling to keep up with Amazon, which earlier this year promised even speedier deliveries. The company also recently announced plans to start delivering grocery products for free within a two-hour window to Prime members in regions eligible for its Amazon Fresh service. 

Prior to the announcement that Amazon Fresh would become free for eligible members, Walmart announced that it had begun testing a program that delivered groceries directly to people’s refrigerators. The retailer has also established more than 2,700 grocery pickup locations for online orders across the U.S.

″[Walmart’s] speed is allowing them to leapfrog and get hyper-competitive with Amazon in a short period of time,” Petro told CNBC. 

Holiday deal battle

The publication noted that the “true test” could come this holiday season. 

Walmart and Amazon have both already started offering deals ahead of the holiday season, which is a few days shorter this year due to a quirk in the calendar. Black Friday falls on November 29, leaving 25 days before December 25.

Walmart unveiled its holiday shopping deals online on October 25 -- the earliest any major retailer has begun rolling out its discounts normally reserved for the days leading up to Black Friday.

“Saving our customers time is also paramount at this time of year, especially with fewer days to get ready for big family meals, parties and gift-giving,” Steve Bratspies, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer of Walmart, said in a statement. “We’re making sure this season is the easiest yet for our customers with nine tech-enabled ways to shop for everyone on their list – when and how they want.”

Amazon still preferred by some consumers

While Walmart appears to be winning over -- or winning back -- many shoppers, some consumers have said Amazon’s online marketplace has an edge over Walmart’s. 

ConsumerAffairs reviewer Martine of Hempstead, New York said last month that while Walmart has good prices, “their search engine is horrible and cannot seem to process more than 1 or 2 filters without messing up the search results.” 

“Furthermore, better prices can often be found on Amazon and the items are often coming from the same third party seller,” Martine added. “Walmart is trying to compete with Amazon with their next day delivery, but I haven't been able to get my time right in terms of ordering early enough to get that option even if the items are marked 'next day delivery' eligible; also, Walmart's 2 day delivery isn't as good as Amazon's.” 

Walmart is getting a jump on Black Friday by rolling out holiday shopping deals before Halloween.

In announcing its move, the retailer points out that there are fewer shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas because of a quirk in the calendar. Black Friday falls on November 29, leaving 25 days before December 25.

“Saving our customers time is also paramount at this time of year, especially with fewer days to get ready for big family meals, parties and gift-giving,” said Steve Bratspies, executive vice president and chief merchandising officer, Walmart U.S. “We’re making sure this season is the easiest yet for our customers with nine tech-enabled ways to shop for everyone on their list – when and how they want.”

Walmart will begin revealing its holiday shopping deals on October 25. Called the “early deals drop,” the promotion will be available online.

Earliest ever

Walmart says October 25 is the earliest any major retailer has begun rolling out its discounts that are normally reserved for the days leading up to Black Friday. It promises deals on electronics, gaming, toys, home, and sporting goods.

In a preview, Walmart says consumers can expect to see savings on the BouncePro 7-foot My First Trampoline, the Faberware 3.2 quart digital oil-less fryer, and an array of TV sets.

At the same time, Walmart says it is introducing new technology to make shopping easier and simpler. Among the new features for the holiday season are:

• Gift Finder: A new way to search for gifts on Walmart.com, with gift options for 40 different types of gift recipients. Customers provide information based on the recipient and their price range and are served up personalized recommendations so they can choose the best gift for anyone on their list, even the hardest to shop for.

• Scannable Toy Catalog: Customers using iOS devices can use their phones to shop for the hottest toys of the season right from the pages of Walmart’s seasonal toy catalog. 

• Free NextDay Delivery: Customers can order from up to hundreds of thousands of eligible items and have them delivered to their house the very next day without a membership fee.

• Expanded Check Out With Me: This feature is now available in all Walmart Supercenters, allowing customers to avoid lines at the register and check out with an associate right where they are shopping, like in Santaland in the garden center, the electronics department or near the registers.

Competing with Target’s new association with Disney, resulting in Disney stores in 25 Target locations, Walmart is also putting new emphasis on in-store experiences. Over the next few weeks, Walmart says it will host themed events from some of this year’s popular movies, including Pokemon, Star Wars, and Frozen 2.

Do you remember the grocery delivery service Walmart promised over the summer? Well, that service -- called InHome Delivery -- is officially here.

Yes, the online grocery game is flooded with 12 other players vying for the store-to-refrigerator market. But the biggest of the big-box stores probably figures it can withstand the competitive heat and convert its physical in-store customers to online customers because it owns a large section of the overall grocery segment.

“We’re obsessed with simplifying grocery shopping and finding ways to make our customers’ lives easier,” wrote Bart Stein, Walmart’s SVP of Membership and InHome. “That’s why InHome goes the extra step so that our customers can live their lives without worrying about making it to the store or being home to accept a delivery.”

A Walmart spokesperson told ConsumerAffairs that there’s some additional perks, including no additional delivery fees, service charges or tips, and free Walmart.com returns.

Walmart’s service will start in Pittsburgh, Kansas City (Missouri and Kansas), and Vero Beach -- three markets with a million customers already in place to try and leverage. All consumers who sign up for the service get the first month for free.

How it works

The nuance that Walmart is betting on as the chief difference between it and other grocery delivery services is that its delivery person will put the groceries into the consumer’s kitchen or garage fridge.

While that seems simple enough, there are some hurdles that consumers need to take into account.

The biggest of those is buying a “smart lock” ($49.95) and having it installed. Walmart offers free installation, but just like waiting for the cable guy, someone is going to have to be at home and waiting for someone to come and do the installation. If a customer cancels the service, the smart lock is theirs to keep.

The second consideration is the price. Once the lock is in place, consumers will have to sign up for the delivery service at $19.95 a month, not to mention a minimum of $30 of goods per delivery. If a consumer wants to pause or cancel the service at any time -- say during a vacation -- they have the option of doing that at no cost. However, if a subscriber forgets to cancel or pause the service within a month, they will still be charged the monthly $19.95 fee.

Easing security concerns

Giving a perfect stranger access to someone’s house takes trust. That concern isn’t lost on Walmart, which says it wants to make the end-user as comfortable as possible.

As a precaution, the company has built these safeguards into the process:

• Delivery associates will have on a wearable camera allowing customers to control access to their homes, as well as the ability to live stream the deliveries on a phone or desktop computer. If the delivery person’s camera is not functioning, the consumer’s door will not open.

• The smart lock will only let an associate open a subscriber’s house or garage door once -- only within the delivery time window and only with the subscriber’s specific order.

• Delivery associates have to meet some standards by undergoing multiple types of background checks. They also must have a minimum of one year of experience as a  full time, in-store Walmart employee.

Walmart plans to temporarily offer sales on items from third-party vendors on its website in an effort to compete with Amazon, Bloomberg reports. 

The vendors “will still be paid the same amount that was listed before the cuts, with Walmart subsidizing the difference,” Bloomberg said, citing confirmation of the plan’s description from a company spokesperson. 

The program is similar to one launched by Amazon several years ago. "Discount provided by Amazon," which launched ahead of the holiday shopping season in 2017, reduced the prices of third-party products without taking a cut of the money received by sellers. 

More recently, Amazon introduced “Sold by Amazon,” which allows invited sellers to grant the company permission to reduce prices on their products in exchange for a guaranteed payout. Amazon described the program as a “new, hands off the wheel selling experience” that gives sellers “peace of mind that they will never receive less than the agreed upon amount for that product.”

Walmart’s new sales plan, called the “Competitive Price Adjustment” (CPA) program, will similarly be applied on an invite-only basis to “selected sellers and selected items only,” according to Bloomberg. 

"It's a no-brainer," Juozas Kaziukenas, founder of data tracker Marketplace Pulse, told Bloomberg. "They give up some revenue, but it buys them sales instead."

Walmart has teamed with Capital One to launch a co-branded credit card and a store charge card just for Walmart purchases. Both cards will be available September 24. Customers may apply for the card at Walmart.com, by using the Walmart app, or at CapitalOne.com.  

If new cardholders sign up for Walmart Pay or already have an account, they can add their card to the Walmart app to use for in-store purchases and on Walmart.com so they won’t have to wait to receive the actual card. 

The credit card provides unlimited 5 percent cash back on purchases at Walmart.com, inclusive of grocery pickup and delivery. It provides 5 percent back on in-store purchases when using Walmart Pay for the first 12 months after approval as a special introductory offer. 

The card also provides 2 percent back on Walmart store purchases after the introductory offer, as well as 2 percent on restaurant and travel expenses. It pays 1 percent back on all other purchases and carries no annual fee and no foreign transaction fee. Rewards can be redeemed at any time for travel, gift cards, and for purchases on Walmart.com.

"Walmart's mission has always been to help customers save money so that they can live better, and our new credit card program—which both helps customers earn more when paying for things in and outside of Walmart, and offers many other incredible benefits—is squarely aligned with that mission," said Daniel Eckert, senior vice president, Walmart services and digital acceleration.

Growing competition among rewards cards

The introduction of the credit card marks yet another escalation in the growing competition to sign up credit card customers. In August, J.D. Power and Associates reported that the competition is almost overwhelming for consumers, who have to constantly scan the marketplace for the best value.

"The average credit card customer today has roughly 16 different benefits available, yet only about one-third of customers say they completely understand all of the benefits available to them," said John Cabell, director, Wealth and Lending Intelligence at J.D. Power. 

As credit card companies have ramped up the rewards to win over customers, consumers have reported increased customer satisfaction, enjoying cash back on purchases and increased rewards for travel. But J.D. Power reports that consumers are now having a hard time processing it all.

The report concluded that credit card issuers need to do a better job of helping consumers understand the benefits that the cards provide. 

Daniel Mouadeb, senior vice president and head of Walmart partnership at Capital One, said the bank is harnessing technology to help the card’s users to get the most out of the rewards it offers. He says the card offers simple, intuitive digital tools that help people get more from their money.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) believes Walmart discriminated against nearly 200 female workers in 30 states by paying them less or denying them promotions, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal. 

Documents shared with the Journal by a law firm representing the women claim there is “reasonable cause to believe” that some of Walmart’s female employees were discriminated against because of their gender. 

In a statement published to its website, the law firm said its evidence of “decades of sex discrimination” at Walmart stores is based on “over one hundred depositions, review of tens of thousands of documents, and multiple expert analyses of Walmart’s personnel data.” 

Walmart responds

Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove said the reasonable cause findings are “vague and non-specific.” However, the company has told the EEOC that its “willing to engage in the conciliatory process with all the cases.” 

“In the vast majority of them, the EEOC’s reasonable cause findings are vague and non-specific even though we have asked the EEOC to provide detail on their findings,” Hargrove said in statements to the media. “We have urged the commission to move forward on them for years.” 

Hargrove noted that the allegations are more than 15 years old and are “not representative of the positive experiences millions of women have had working at Walmart.” At least 1,700 similar complaints of discrimination against female workers at Walmart are pending, according to attorneys handling the case. 

There is currently no deadline for the parties to reach a settlement, but the law firm notes that the EEOC will eventually be able to file a lawsuit of its own if it decides Walmart’s resolution efforts have fallen short. 

It’s National Baby Safety month, and Walmart has joined up with social enterprise company TerraCycle to give consumers a way to recycle their child car seats and get a $30 gift card for doing it.

The new initiative takes place at some 4,000 U.S. Walmart stores from now through September 30. 

“Safety -- especially car seat safety -- is a top priority for Walmart’s Baby department,” said Melody Richards, Vice President, Walmart Baby, “... so we wanted to use our size and scale to create an event that offered unprecedented access to trade in an outgrown car seat for a gift card -- perfect for using on your baby’s next car seat.”

And for consumers interested in the program, the process is pretty simple:

1. Take the car seat to a participating Walmart Supercenter. Any brand of car seat will be accepted.

2. Bring the car seat to the Customer Service counter.

3. Collect your $30 Walmart gift card. (Note: There’s a limit of 2 gift cards per household and booster seats are not eligible for trade-in.)

What happens to the car seats?

It may be hard to imagine how all the various parts of a car seat can be reused, but every single part has a new life waiting for it in some fashion.

“We break down the seats to their raw components -- fabric, metal, etc. -- and once the seats have been disassembled, the component is then processed further as raw material to make new products,” TerraCycle’s Sue Kauffman, North American public relations manager, told ConsumerAffairs.

Tom Szaky, CEO and Founder, TerraCycle, put a hard number on the impact of the promotion, estimating that his company expects to divert the plastic equivalent of roughly 35 million water bottles from landfills. 

Is this a one-time thing?

Walmart is home to this specific recycling promotion, but others -- such as Target and Tom’s of Maine -- have held similar initiatives in the past.

Kauffman told ConsumerAffairs that there’s not always a gift card or coupon payoff. Nonetheless, when consumers are looking to dispose of baby-related items at any other time during the year, TerraCycle offers “Baby Gear Zero Waste Boxes” where parents can purchase a special box for recycling toys, playmats, and other baby things. All they have to do is fill it up and send it in for recycling. 

Walmart said on Tuesday that it will be limiting sales of guns and ammunition in the wake of a series of deadly shootings.  

In a company memo, Walmart announced that it will cease sales of short-barrel rifle ammunition and handgun ammunition after it’s current inventory is gone. The retailer will also end handgun sales in Alaska, which will mark Walmart’s "complete exit from handguns."

Walmart CEO Doug McMillon said the chain’s decision to reduce sales of guns and ammunition was spurred by a mass shooting at a Walmart store in El Paso, Texas, as well as an incident just a few days earlier at another location in Southaven, Mississippi.

"In a complex situation lacking a simple solution, we are trying to take constructive steps to reduce the risk that events like these will happen again," he said. "The status quo is unacceptable."

Still catering to hunters and sportsman

While Walmart will be halting the sale of certain types of ammunition, the retailer said it will continue to “treat law-abiding customers with respect” with a “very non-confrontational approach.” 

"Our remaining assortment will be even more focused on the needs of hunting and sport shooting enthusiasts,” McMillon said.

Going forward, the retail giant is asking shoppers not to openly carry firearms at any of its stores, including those located in states that allow open carry. 

Walmart is also urging Congress to develop “common sense” gun safety measures in light of recent incidents, which have included mass shootings in Dayton, Ohio, and Midland and Odessa, Texas. 

"We encourage our nation's leaders to move forward and strengthen background checks and to remove weapons from those who have been determined to pose an imminent danger," McMillon said. "Congress and the administration should act. Given our decades of experience selling firearms, we are also offering to serve as a resource in the national debate on responsible gun sales."

Walmart has reached a settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which completes an investigation of the retailer’s international operations.

The company will pay fines totaling $282 million to settle charges that it violated provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), which governs how U.S. corporations deal with foreign governments.

The settlement, announced by both parties, ends a seven-year investigation that began when Walmart alerted U.S. regulators that it might have violated the law.

The settlement relates to Walmart’s anti-corruption internal controls in Brazil, Mexico, India, and China prior to April 2011. Walmart says it conducted a thorough internal investigation and cooperated with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the SEC.

“We’re pleased to resolve this matter,” said Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon. “Walmart is committed to doing business the right way, and that means acting ethically everywhere we operate.”

McMillon said the company has enhanced its policies, procedures, and systems and invested significant resources into ethics and compliance.

“We want to be the most trusted retailer, and a key to this is maintaining our culture of integrity,” McMillon said.

Failures in oversight

The SEC said Walmart suffered failures in oversight of its foreign operations and did not sufficiently investigate anti-corruption risks. The agency said the retailer allowed subsidiaries in Brazil, China, India, and Mexico to employ third-party intermediaries who made payments to foreign government officials without reasonable assurances that they complied with the FCPA.

“Walmart valued international growth and cost-cutting over compliance,” said Charles Cain, chief of the SEC Enforcement Division’s FCPA Unit. “The company could have avoided many of these problems, but instead Walmart repeatedly failed to take red flags seriously and delayed the implementation of appropriate internal accounting controls.”

While settling with the SEC, Walmart also entered into a non-prosecution agreement with DOJ. That agency has agreed not to prosecute Walmart if the company meets its obligations under the agreement for the next three years.

Later this year, Walmart will launch a new grocery delivery service called inHome Delivery, which will take the idea of home delivery “one step further.”

After a customer places their order online and selects a delivery day, one of Walmart’s employees will deliver fresh groceries and put them directly in the customer’s refrigerator.

In a blog post, the company explained that its workers will be able to access the customer’s home through the use of smart entry technology. Additionally, employees will wear a wearable camera to give security-conscious consumers a way to see the delivery happening in real-time.

“At the time of delivery, associates will use smart entry technology and a proprietary, wearable camera to access the customer’s home – allowing customers to control access into their homes and giving them the ability to watch the deliveries remotely,” wrote Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart's U.S. e-commerce division.

Walmart workers will also receive training that will prepare them to “enter customers’ homes with the same care and respect with which they would treat a friend's or family’s home,” as well as how to select the freshest groceries and efficiently arrange the items in the refrigerator.

"Now, we can serve customers not in just the last mile, but in the last 15 feet," Lore said.

Launching in three cities

The new service will roll out to more than one million customers in Pittsburgh, Kansas City, Missouri, and Vero Beach, Florida starting this fall. Soon after that, Walmart says it will begin accepting returns for items purchased through the service.

“Customers can just leave them on the counter and their InHome Delivery associate will return the items on their behalf,” Walmart said.

Amazon has already launched a similar service, called Amazon Key. The service allows Prime members who have purchased an Amazon Key-compatible smart lock and Amazon Cloud Cam to have deliveries deposited inside their home, even when they aren’t there. However, consumers can’t have groceries delivered through Amazon’s in-home delivery service.

In a shot fired across Amazon’s bow, Walmart has announced the launch of one-day delivery on a wide range of general merchandise from Walmart.com, with a minimum purchase.

The service is rolling out first to consumers in Phoenix and Las Vegas, with plans to expand it to  Southern California next. Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart eCommerce U.S., says NextDay delivery will roll out gradually over the coming months, with a plan to reach approximately 75 percent of the U.S. population by the end of the year. Lore says that will include 40 of the top 50 major U.S. metro areas.

“Walmart’s NextDay delivery offers a stand-alone, curated shopping experience where customers can browse up to 220,000 of the items most frequently purchased, ranging from diapers and laundry detergent to toys and electronics, with more assortment to be added,” Lore said in a statement. “It is available on eligible orders of $35 or more, with the specific assortment varying by customer location.”

Keeping up with Amazon

The move follows Amazon’s announcement in late April that it intends to make one-day delivery the default for Prime members, who currently pay $119 a year for free two-day shipping, along with other perks.

Amazon said it had already planned to invest $800 million in the second quarter to make the change, but it didn’t provide a time frame for the launch of the shortened shipping plan.

“It will take us a significant amount of time to achieve,” said Amazon’s CFO Brian Olsavsky on a conference call with analysts. “We want to ensure we have good delivery experience for our customers as we evolve this offer.”

No membership fee

In announcing its plans, Walmart underscored the fact that its new shipping service will be available to all consumers and will not require a membership fee. The company said a customer need only go to Walmart.com and click the NextDay delivery tab to view items that are available for one-day delivery.

“After adding items to their cart, the customer proceeds to checkout,” Lore said. “Everything in the cart must be eligible for NextDay delivery to qualify. Cut-off times vary by location.”

Lore said the company will benefit along with customers. He said delivering items in one day will actually save money because the eligible items will come from a single fulfillment center located in close proximity to the customer. The order is more likely to come in one box and travel the shortest distance, two factors that contribute to shipping costs.

Beginning July 1, consumers looking to purchase tobacco or e-cigarette products at Walmart or Sam’s Club will have to be at least 21 years old.

The retailer announced this week that it’s raising the minimum age to buy tobacco products as part of a larger effort being made by regulators to reduce teen nicotine addiction. In addition to raising the minimum age to buy tobacco products, Walmart will stop selling e-cigarettes in sweet flavors, which have been found to appeal to teen users.

Walmart said the new policy is intended to improve its less-than-perfect track record regarding sales of tobacco products to minors. In a letter recently sent to Walmart, the FDA said it conducted 13,000 compliance checks since 2010 and Walmart passed only 93 percent of them.

"While we have implemented a robust compliance program, we are not satisfied with falling short of our company-wide goal of 100% compliance," the company wrote. "Even a single sale to a minor is one too many, and we take seriously our responsibilities in this regard."

Increasing the minimum buying age

The FDA, which has described the dramatic rise in e-cigarette use among teens as an “epidemic,” threatened earlier this year to fine Walmart, Kroger, and several convenience store chains for illegally selling tobacco products to minors.

In response to the warning, Walgreens announced in April that it will increase the minimum age to buy tobacco products to 21 starting September 1.

Lawmakers in several states have also sought to address the issue by raising the minimum tobacco-buying age to 21 under a new policy dubbed “Tobacco 21.” The initiative aims, in part, to prevent the tobacco industry from “recruiting young adults as replacement smokers” in an effort to sustain their business.

Walmart has announced that it’s partnering with subscription-box company Kidbox to launch a subscription box service specifically for baby and children’s clothing.

The retailer’s online shoppers will be able to purchase as many as six personalized, seasonally appropriate boxes of children’s apparel each year. The platform’s “stylists” curate each box by taking into account shopper’s responses to a short style quiz.

Each box contains four to five items of apparel for around $48. Walmart says the cost of each box is about 50 percent off the suggested retail price for the group of bundled items. After receiving the box, parents can either keep all the items or return everything for a full refund.

Growing its apparel business

The launch of the subscription box for children’s clothing joins other efforts by Walmart to expand its online apparel offerings.

Last May, the company announced that it was teaming up with Lord & Taylor to add premium brands to its website. Walmart has also added more than 100 brands to its children’s apparel lineup over the past year, including Betsey Johnson, The Children’s Place, Kapital K, Levi’s, and Limited Too.

“Walmart has done a lot over the past year to establish itself as a go-to retailer for all things fashion, and we’re honored to partner with the retailer to expand its kids’ assortment online, while also saving parents time and offering them the value and convenience of a stylebox,” said Miki Berardelli, Kidbox CEO, in a statement. “At Kidbox, we pride ourselves on understanding kids’ fashion preferences while also creating moments for them to learn about the importance of giving back,” she added.

Competing with Amazon

Walmart’s new partnership with Kidbox comes just a few months after Gymboree declared bankruptcy and said it planned to close 800 Gymboree and Crazy 8 stores.

Walmart and other retailers are continuing to shift their strategies in an effort to compete with Amazon, as well as fill the void left by retailers who were unable to adapt to changing consumer preferences.

“Our partnership with Kidbox enables us to round out our offering with additional national and premium kids’ brands,” said Denise Incandela, head of fashion for Walmart’s e-commerce business in the U.S.

Walmart announced plans today to expand its reliance on in-store technology -- such as floor-scrubbing robots, so-called “Fast Unloaders,” and new Pickup Towers -- in an effort to give employees more time to focus on other tasks.

“Smart assistants have huge potential to make busy stores run more smoothly, so Walmart has been pioneering new technologies to minimize the time an associate spends on the more mundane and repetitive tasks like cleaning floors or checking inventory on a shelf,” the retailer said in a statement.

“This gives associates more of an opportunity to do what they’re uniquely qualified for: serve customers face-to-face on the sales floor,” the company added.

Walmart’s push to rely more heavily on technology will involve the rollout of 1,500 new autonomous floor cleaners (called "Auto-C”), 300 additional shelf scanners (called "Auto-S), 1,200 more FAST Unloaders that automatically scan and sort items from trucks, and 900 more Pickup Towers that will assist in retrieving customers’ online orders.

“When a customer receives a notification via email that the item is available, they can use the Pickup Tower like a giant vending machine to retrieve their purchase,” Walmart said of its new Pickup Towers.

Expanding reliance on technology

In December, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said it planned to bring robotic floor scrubbers to 360 stores by the end of January 2019. In its latest announcement, Walmart said it’s bumping up that figure; it plans to deploy the technology at 1,500 additional locations this year.

The retailer said last year that it had debuted 30 Fast Unloaders in the U.S. and that it was on track to add 10 more each week. That figure also ballooned significantly in the latest announcement, with the company now saying 1,200 more are being added to stores.

Walmart promises that customers will benefit from its increased reliance on robots.

“It means a store that can function seamlessly and associates who are there when customers need them. It also means the items are on shelves where the customers expect in smarter stores all over the country,” the retailer said.

The company said the technology will be deployed in U.S. stores “soon.”

“Hey, Google, I need some milk.”

And voila -- a half-gallon appears on your doorstep, right?

Close.

We’re not at the genie-in-a-bottle point in technology yet, but Google and Walmart have officially launched their make-life-easier initiative using Google Assistant in tandem with Walmart’s grocery pickup and delivery -- a plan that’s spent the last year and a half in the incubator.

“Hey, Google -- say hello to Walmart Voice Order.”

“With the new voice ordering capabilities we’re building across platforms with partners like Google, we’re helping customers simply say the word to have Walmart help them shop … literally,” blogged Tom Ward, Walmart U.S.’s senior vice president of Digital Operations.

Ward noted that the service is currently in limited release, but he has intimated that the new functionality will help consumers quickly shop for the items they need.

“Sometime later this month, customers can say, ‘Hey Google, talk to Walmart’ and the Google Assistant will add items directly to their Walmart Grocery cart,” said Ward. “Best of all, customers can be extra confident that we can quickly and accurately identify the items they are asking for with the help of information from their prior purchases with us. The more you use it, the better we’ll get.”

Walmart’s timing couldn’t be better. Ranging from Sony and LG TVs to Guess watches, Google Assistant is integrated into an insane number of digital devices. According to 9to5Google, that number increased 600 percent over the past year and is on target to be part and parcel of 1 billion devices by the end of 2019.

How easy is this going to be?

With the Spiderman-like ascent Google Assistant has made in the last year, it’s likely you already have the app on some device you use. However, if you don’t, Google suggests the following tips for helping you get caught up:

• Make sure you have Google Assistant installed on the device you use most often. For most consumers, that would be the phone. While Assistant is “cross-platform,” it’s not necessarily a given that it will be on every brand. iPhone users, in particular, should double-check to see if it’s installed on theirs.

• Invest a few minutes to better understand how Walmart and Assistant work together. You can visit the Walmart overview on Assistant’s site, or watch Walmart’s how-to video.

• To jumpstart your Assistant’s connection with Walmart, do a simple command like “OK Google, ask Walmart to add bananas to my cart.” That will get the ball rolling in the right direction.

• Patience and product specifics are important to start. Like Ward said -- “The more you use it, the better we’ll get,” meaning that if a customer says “add milk to my cart,” Walmart wants to make sure it adds the specific milk the customer buys regularly. Once Walmart knows the exact type of milk you want, consumers will only have to say “milk” instead of saying “1 gallon of 1 percent Great Value organic milk.”

• Don’t worry about doing it all in one sitting. “We know when using voice technology, customers like to add items to their cart one at a time over a few days -- not complete their shopping for the week all at once. So, this capability aligns with the way customers shop,” Walmart wrote.

Are Walmart and Google in an exclusive relationship?

Technology partnerships have to start somewhere, and Walmart chose to dance with Google first.

“We’re kicking off the work with Google, adding others to the mix as time goes on,” Ward said. “Over the next few weeks, the service will roll to more and more customers. We can’t wait to hear what they think about it and how it’s making shopping easier for them.”

Five Walmart greeters across the country, as well as complaints filed with the EEOC and in a lawsuit, say that Walmart is eliminating greeter jobs in a move that disporopationaly affects its disabled workers.

NPR reports that Walmart is eliminating greeters at 1,000 stores around the country. The stores wll still have front-door greeters, but the new position will require greeters to lift up to 25 pounds, collect carts, climb ladders, and do other tasks “that can be impossible for people with disabilities,” the station reports.

One disabled greeter who worked for Walmart for 12 years said he was abruptly laid off without any severance.

Walmart confirmed to the station that the traditional greeter positions are going away, but it claimed that 80 percent of its disabled workers will be able to find other work within the store. Greeters interviewed by NPR said that they have not been offered any other position at Walmart.

A leaked 2005 memo revealed that Walmart executives at one point considered making physical labor a requirement of all of its jobs in order to keep healthcare costs down.

On average, truck drivers take home a nice check. In 2017, truck drivers in the United States earned 56 cents a mile, $21.97 an hour, or $44,500 a year, significantly better than recent minimum wage initiatives.

If a truck driver is lucky enough to be one of the 8,000 that carry loads for Walmart, they’re taking home a wow-worthy $86,000 in his or her first year. Now, Walmart’s truckers’ deal is about to get a lot sweeter.

On Wednesday, Walmart announced that its fleet drivers will get a penny more a mile plus an extra $1 each time they drop off their trailer at a designated location. Drivers in the Northeast are on tap to get a 5 percent raise on both mileage and other trucking activities.

If you’re scoffing at that penny raise, don’t; that’s because it adds up to about an extra $1,500 a year. And, while you’re at it, tack on perks of 21 days of paid time off and quarterly bonuses.

Walmart can afford this

One thing you have to keep in mind is that Walmart is upping its investment in self-driving trucks which, if successful, could save the company millions. CleanTechnica reported that fuel savings for Walmart’s self-driving trucks could be as much as $200,000 for every million miles traveled.

With the company enjoying its biggest sales results in a decade, Walmart is putting the hammer down to fill hundreds of job openings fueled by that growth.

“These hiring events are both improving the skill level of our candidates and enriching their onboarding experience,” said Lori Furnell, Walmart’s director of driver talent acquisition. “We’re leaning heavily on the expertise of our Walmart road team and our certified driver trainers to grow our skilled fleet of professional drivers.”

Fancy yourself a truck driver?

To qualify for Walmart’s onboarding, drivers have to have 30 months of experience in the past three years under their belt and a clean safety record to boot.

“Walmart’s fleet has a reputation for high standards and that can be intimidating,” Faller said. “But you see people getting emotional after the process they go through here, and I think that’s largely because they can sense that we’re here in it with them and we’re committed to their success. I don’t think you get that elsewhere in the industry.”

Walmart has given another hint that it plans to increase its competition with Amazon in e-commerce and in technology in general. The world’s largest brick and mortar retailer says it will staff up in 2019 to improve its technology, not just online but also in stores.

In an interview with Bloomberg Television, Walmart Chief Technology Officer Jeremy King revealed that the company plans to hire 2,000 people to join the retail technology group. That group currently employs about 7,500 people.

The new employees will work in areas such as design, software engineering, and data collection and analysis. They’ll join about 1,700 new Walmart employees in that group who joined the company last year.

The increase in hiring in this area shouldn’t come as a surprise since Walmart spent much of 2018 deploying robots in its stores to help with maintenance and inventory control. Someone, after all, has to oversee the electronic workers.

Other new employees will work on developing algorithms that will help employees fill online orders faster by outlining the best routes to take when moving through the aisles. Walmart offers curbside grocery pickup in more than 2,000 stores in the U.S. and hopes to add it to as many as 1,000 more this year.

Competing with Amazon for talent

The new employees will work in high-tech centers both in the U.S. and Asia as Walmart appears to be ready to compete with Amazon to sign the best technology talent.

The new technology group employees won’t be working on a system to replace cashiers, such as Amazon’s cashierless stores. King says that is not currently practical for Walmart.

“We’re talking about a huge scale,” King told Bloomberg. “Those sort of 7-Eleven-size stores [that Amazon operates] are one thing but when you talk about a Walmart Supercenter, it’s going to be some time before we can go completely cashierless.”

But King did say that the company is continuing to work on expanding the number of ways customers can check out without standing in line.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has introduced legislation to prevent the nation's largest retailer from buying its own stock until it raises workers' wages.

The bill, called the Stop Walmart Act, actually targets all large publicly traded corporations. It would prevent companies from buying their shares on Wall Street unless they pay all employees at least $15 an hour.

Sanders and bill co-sponsor Rep. Ro Khanna (D-Calif.) say Walmart plans to use its profits to purchase $20 billion of its own stock over the next two years when it could be using the money to raise the standard of living for its employees.

Stock buybacks are common among large companies since it generally boosts the companies' stock price. It benefits shareholders, as well as the company, which sees the value of its stock holdings go higher. Stock buybacks usually increase the value of a company's stock while raising workers' wages often reduces profit margins, which sends stock prices lower.

In recent years, most publicly traded companies, including Apple, have embraced stock buybacks as the preferred method of returning cash to shareholders. Another method is the payment of dividends.

Takes aim at Walton family

Sanders made his proposal unusually personal, pointing out the family of Walmart founder Sam Walton owns 50 percent of Walmart stock with a reputed net worth of around $180 billion. Sanders claims 55 percent of Walmart employees are food insecure.

“While tens of thousands of Walmart workers are struggling to survive, Alice Walton had no problem amassing a private art collection worth half a billion dollars," Sanders said. "Enough is enough. The time is long overdue for the Walton family to pay its workers a living wage. If large, profitable corporations like Amazon and Disney can pay all of their workers a minimum wage of at least $15 an hour, so can Walmart."

The measure, which has little chance of passage in a Republican-controlled Senate and being signed by a Republican president, also would require Walmart and other large publicly traded companies to allow employees to earn up to seven days of paid sick leave to be used to care for themselves or a family member.

It would also place controls on executive pay, limiting the CEO's salary to 150 times the median pay of the company's employees.

At the beginning of this year, Walmart raised its minimum wage to $11 an hour. Since then, however, Amazon has boosted worker pay to at least $15 an hour.

Walmart doesn't like long lines at the checkout counter any more than consumers do. This holiday season, the retailer says it's doing something about it.

To reduce the backlog of customers waiting to get out of the store with their purchases, Walmart is launching its "Check Out With Me" program. Starting Nov. 1, employees will be stationed in the most active departments with payment-scanning equipment to process payments on the spot and print out a paper receipt.

Customers paying with a credit or debit card can then skip the checkout counter on their way to the parking lot.

“Every day we’re committed to providing customers with the broadest assortment of quality products at great prices, but, during the holidays, we take that promise up a notch,” said Steve Bratspies, chief merchandising officer at Walmart U.S. “We’ve never been in a better position to help our customers deliver for their families than this holiday season.”

Not really a new concept

The concept isn't really new. In most Walmart stores, departments such as cameras or electronics have their own checkout counter where consumers can pay for their purchases. By spreading it to other departments during the holiday shopping season, the company hopes to attract consumers who enjoy the hustle and bustle of holiday shopping but don't like waiting in long lines to check out.

The announcement comes on the heels of this week's announcement that Walmart subsidiary Sam's Club is opening its first store without cashiers in Dallas. Shoppers will simply pick up items and leave the store while a smartphone app records the purchase, similar to the technology employed in Amazon Go stores.

Customer experience appears to be the emerging battleground as retailers fight for market share, especially during the holiday season. Walmart has updated its app to include store maps, making it easier for shopping to find what they're looking for.

Last week, Target said it will offer same-day delivery through Shipt in hundreds of markets in 46 states while expanding its Drive Up service to nearly 1,000 stores.

Starting Nov. 1, all Target customers can get free two-day shipping on hundreds of thousands of items, with no minimum purchase.

In a bid for more online holiday shoppers, Walmart is extending free two-day shipping to millions of items sold by third-party marketplace sellers.

The eligible products will be shipped to customers under the same terms as those sold directly by Walmart if the order is for at least $35.

Starting in mid-November, customers purchasing from Walmart.com won't have to check to see if the items they are buying are coming directly from Walmart or from a third-party seller. If the items in a customer's cart are eligible for free two-day shipping and the total order is more than $35, Walmart pays for the shipping.

In early 2017, Walmart launched its free two-day shipping program to counter Amazon's growing Prime membership, which costs more than $100 a year. Walmart took every opportunity in its marketing materials to point out free shipping is available to all customers, just so long as their order totals at least $35.

Simplified return process

Now, that program is being extended to many of the items third-party marketplace sellers  market through Walmart.com. As part of the program's expansion, Walmart says it's also simplifying the process for returns.

"All a customer has to do is log in to his or her Walmart account, print out a return label and ship back to the seller," the company said in a blog post. "This experience is beginning to roll out now."

Customers who purchase products from third-party marketplace sellers will also have the option of returning the items to most Walmart stores. Customers will be required to package the items for shipping before taking them to the nearest Walmart store.

Walmart will then ship the item back to the seller, and the customer will receive a refund directly from the seller.

The move comes just before the start of the holiday shopping season in which the stakes for retailers have never been higher. Both Walmart and Target have taken steps in the last 12 months to improve their competitive position against Amazon.

The end of a long-running class action lawsuit involving the lack of seating for Walmart cashiers could be near now that Walmart has agreed to pay $65 million as part of a proposed settlement.

The suit, originally filed by former Walmart employee Nisha Brown in 2009, alleges that the retailer has been in violation of a 2001 California wage order that determines employees must be given “suitable seats when the nature of the work reasonably permits.”

If approved, about 100,000 current and former California Walmart cashiers are eligible to receive a portion of the payout, depending on how long they were employed, The Los Angeles Times reported on Friday.

Walmart’s counterargument

Walmart doesn’t agree that it’s in the wrong regarding the matter. The retailer has maintained that the nature of work as a cashier doesn’t permit cashiers to sit down.

The Bentonville, Arkansas-based company has argued that cashiers need to move around to greet customers, stock shelves, and bag items. Among other reasons, the company says cashiers are less efficient when they sit down, customers prefer standing cashiers, and providing seating to cashiers would lead to a loss of revenue, according to the LA Times.

As part of the settlement, Walmart will commit to beginning a pilot program that would provide stools to cashiers “who express a desire to use them.” The retail giant would also promise not to discriminate or retaliate against workers who choose to sit down.

“Both sides are pleased to have reached a proposed resolution,” Walmart spokesman Randy Hargrove said in a statement, noting that a judge still has to approve the settlement amount.

If approved, any California cashier employed by Walmart between June 11, 2008 and the date the settlement is approved would be eligible to claim part of the settlement money.

With Toys “R” Us having permanently closed its doors nationwide, the market for toys is certainly any retailers’ game.

However, Walmart is hoping to become shoppers’ go-to location for all things toys, especially as the holiday season approaches -- the first without Toys “R” Us in many years.

The world’s largest retailer will be ramping up its toy selection both online and in stores in preparation for the holidays. The toy selection in stores will be increased by 30 percent, while the toy selection online will increase by 40 percent.

Consumers can expect hands-on demos of toys in-store, in addition to hundreds of new brands that will soon be available both in stores and online. Moreover, Walmart will soon be partnering with young YouTube star Ryan (“Ryan’s World”) to produce a line of toys that he recommends.

It’s not just toys. Walmart will soon be expanding its retail options for babies, as the nursery page on its website is undergoing a redesign, and the options for car seats and strollers are being upgraded.

“We are making even bigger investments in the category to ensure we have the widest selection,” said Anne Marie Kehoe, Walmart’s vice president of toys.

Competitors with similar ideas

Walmart isn’t the only company looking to up its game in the wake of Toys “R” Us’ demise.

Both JCPenney and Kohl’s have announced additions to their baby and toy offerings in recent weeks, while Party City plans to open nearly 50 toy pop up shops.

“It is likely that the Toys ‘R’ Us news has kept toys top-of-mind for parents and grandparents when shopping for kids,” said Juli Lennett, a senior vice president and industry advisor for toys at NPD Group.

Experts in the field think Walmart has a good shot at capitalizing on Toys “R” Us’ mistakes, as studies have shown that Walmart and Target shoppers have the most overlap with former Toys “R” Us shoppers.

Target has taken a similar path as Walmart by increasing its toy options in stores, with the company reporting double-digit sales growth just in toys.

“Given the strong affinity between families with young children and our brand, both toys and [baby] are key categories for us,” said Target CEO Brian Cornell.

Toys “R” Us’ decline

Back in January, Toys “R” Us announced it would be closing 180 of its stores in an effort to reorganize the business under bankruptcy protection. The toy chain filed for bankruptcy in September of 2017, as it needed to restructure $5 billion worth of debt.

The pressure came from retailers like Amazon and Walmart, who were more competitive to consumers -- particularly in online offerings.

By March, the company announced all of its U.S. stores would be closing. Toys “R” Us was unable to find a buyer or restructure its debt. The company was confident that the 2017 holiday season would help it return to profitability, as it announced the hiring of thousands of seasonal employees. However, sales came in way under expectations, thus prompting the initial closing of stores in January of 2018.

Walmart says it is phasing out paint removal products long criticized by environmentalists as being toxic to humans.

Even though the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classifies the products as legal, Walmart says it will stop selling paint-stripping products with the chemicals methylene chloride and N-Methylpyrrolidone (NMP) at U.S. stores, as well as stores in Canada, Mexico, and Central America.

Walmart joins Lowe's, Home Depot, and Sherwin-Williams in taking that step. Walmart says all such products will be removed by February 2019.

The retailer said it is reacting to customers' expectations and notes the company has worked with suppliers and industry groups in other areas of sustainability. Nearly a decade ago it stopped selling plastic children's products containing Bisphenol A (BPA).

Zach Freeze, senior director of strategic initiatives for sustainability at Walmart, says the company has consistently gone "above and beyond" what's legal when it comes to sustainability, a practice that gained the notice of the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).

Environmental groups praise

“Walmart’s action to save lives by no longer selling dangerous paint strippers is a significant step forward in protecting public health," said Sujatha Bergen, Policy Specialist with NRDC. "We now live in a nation where retailers like Walmart are acting more quickly to protect public health from these toxics than the EPA."

Walmart's move also won praise from the Environmental Defense Fund, which cited the retailer for being a leader in promoting sustainability in chemical products.

"We applaud this recent step to expand that area of focus and to remove paint strippers with methylene chloride and NMP from store shelves," said Boma Brown-West, senior manager of consumer health at EDF.

Methylene chloride is clear and colorless liquid that emits highly toxic fumes of phosgene when heated to decomposition, according to the National Library of Medicine, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). It's assessment of the chemical is that it's a "possible mutagen and is reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen."

Just weeks after the last Babies “R” Us store closed its doors, Walmart is ramping up its assortment of products geared towards new parents.

Last week, the Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer updated its website to include a larger selection of baby products.

Walmart said searches for baby and/or nursery items on its website have increased nearly 40 percent within the past year. In an effort to fill the void left by Babies “R” Us, the company has added more than 30,000 baby-themed items to its website.

With the help of a new “shop by style” tool, consumers shopping for baby gear on Walmart.com can choose from six curated baby collections: wanderlust, boho chic, mid-century modern, baby boy, baby girl, and gender-neutral nurseries Shoppers can also narrow their search to a specific area or need, such as storage, nursing, or diaper changing.

"Having to shop for the nursery as a first-time parent can be overwhelming,'' Lauren Uppington, Walmart eCommerce U.S. vice president and general manager for baby, said in a blog post. "That’s why we wanted to make it as easy as possible for new parents to shop for everything they need for their babies’ nurseries.''

Hitting the summer baby boom

Uppington said Walmart timed the introduction of these new shopping features for families for mid-summer because it has historically been “when most babies are born.”

“It also follows efforts to create a new in-store experience in the baby department in more than 2,000 stores across the country,” she said in a statement.

The retailer’s push into the baby business follows other changes to its online shopping experience. In May, Walmart added high-end items to the fashion section of its website in the hope of becoming a “fashion destination” for shoppers. The company also made changes to the home categories on its site.

Several other retailers have set out to pick up where Toys “R” Us and Babies “R” Us left off.

Earlier this year, Target expanded its private-label brand Cloud Island with more diaper bags and crib sheets. BuyBuy Baby offered to help consumers with Babies R Us gift registries recreate them at its stores.

Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Apple, Sony Crackle, Google Play… and now, Walmart might be jumping into the video streaming game.

As if it’s not crowded enough as it is, Walmart seems primed to try and carve out a share of the 55 percent of American households that subscribe to at least one video streaming service, spending a whopping $2.1 billion a month.

According to The Information, Walmart sees an opportunity in the sub-$8 a month market, a price point that could sap competitors’ more price-conscious subscribers. Walmart is said to be considering an ad-supported free service as well.

“Discussions are still ongoing, and the retailer may eventually decide against offering a service,” The Information reported.

“But Walmart executives believe their customers, particularly in the middle of America, would be interested in a lower-cost option than what is currently available, the person said. Netflix and Amazon are seen as more popular with people on the East and West Coasts of the U.S., one of the people said.”

Research shows that there’s probably enough room for Walmart to enter the fray if it can find and offer enough original content.

In a recent research study, financial advisory service Deloitte found consumers seek out original, high-quality content, and are less willing to pay for packages containing programming they’ll never watch. Netflix reigns supreme in the original content field and its investment is paying off handily.

Deloitte’s study also found that video consumers demand the ability to watch content wherever they are -- mobile, phone, or on their computer. Furthermore, if a streaming service can’t make the consumers’ wishes come true, it’s likely to lose their business.

How bad does Walmart want this segment?

Walmart has to decide how bad it wants the video streaming consumer and how it can create a unique enough niche to sway consumers away from competitors.

Creating original content isn’t cheap. It’s estimated that Netflix ponies up as much as $4 billion a year to produce shows like ‘The Crown’ and ‘House of Cards.’ And, if Deloitte’s research is correct, Walmart will have to step up if it wants to play with the big boys.

The retailer certainly has the cash coming in. Walmart rings up sales totaling $36 million every single minute. Lately, however, the company has been shuttering both Sam’s Club and its own underperforming stores. To stay ahead of the pack, the retailer has little choice but to maintain Sam Walton’s business model of providing low prices for its customer base while preserving narrow margins on costs.

Unbeknownst to most consumers, Walmart began wading into the video streaming pool in 2010 when it spent $100 million to acquire Vudu, a movie rental service consumers have probably seen pop up as a channel when surfing through content on their smart TVs or PlayStations.

Walmart, the country’s largest retailer, has long been absent from the country’s largest city -- New York. The chain has not had one retail location within the city’s five boroughs -- but that’s all about to change.

The company’s Jet.com subsidiary will be moving to the Bronx this fall in an effort to start a grocery delivery service in the Big Apple.

“We are excited to bring hundreds of jobs to the greater New York City area through the opening of the Bronx Fulfillment Center this fall,” said Simon Belsham, president of Jet.com. “This is a key building block that is part of Jet’s strategy focused on urban centers.”

With Jet.com’s headquarters across the river in Hoboken, New Jersey, this is the company’s first big push to make its way to New York City. Set to open later this year, the facility will be designed to deliver fresh grocery items, consumable goods (toothpaste and paper towels), and other merchandise to NYC addresses with either same-day or next-day delivery. The warehouse will only stock items sold on Jet.

Walmart’s quest to compete

Walmart acquired Jet.com in 2016 for $3.3 billion, as the company sought to reach a younger demographic. Since then, the retailer has expanded its digital sales, with an increase of 33 percent last quarter. Additionally, the company has been able to reach shoppers in bigger, wealthier cities -- a market base where Walmart has statistically had a limited presence.

To deliver groceries under this new service, Jet will use Parcel -- a last-mile delivery service that Walmart bought last year at an undisclosed price. Acquiring Parcel allowed Walmart to compete with the likes of Amazon Prime and Amazon Prime Now -- services that offer customers same-day and next-day delivery.

According to Business Insider, the “last-mile” problem -- figuring out how to deliver packages to consumers who don’t have porches or doormen -- is a recurring problem for online retailers -- particularly in cities like New York. However, Parcel’s vans read: “No doorman? No Problem,” a sign to consumers that it’s addressing this issue.

As grocery shopping continues to evolve, consumers are flocking to services that deliver their orders straight to their doors -- and all but instantaneously. This move by Walmart signals an effort to compete in this new arena with fellow retailers like Amazon (which acquired Whole Foods and offers competitive delivery options), InstaCart, MaxDelivery, FreshDirect, and most recently, Target.

In another move to help it compete with Amazon, Walmart has launched Jetblack -- a new concierge-style shopping service that lets customers order items via text message with same-day or next-day delivery.

The service is currently available in parts of New York City, but only via invitation. Membership costs $50 a month. It’s being marketed as a service for “time-strapped urban parents.”

“Consumers are looking for more efficient ways to shop for themselves and their families without having to compromise on product quality,” said Jenny Fleiss, co-founder and CEO of Jetblack.

“With Jetblack, we have created an entirely new concept that enables consumers to get exactly what they need through the convenience of text messaging and the freedom of a nearly unlimited product catalogue. We are confident this service will make shopping frictionless, more personalized and delightful,” Fleiss said in a statement.

Targeted at moms

The new service -- which was developed in Walmart’s in-house incubator, Store No. 8 -- touts itself as "the easiest way for busy moms to shop."

Shoppers can request “everything from birthday gifts to household essentials” from Walmart, Jet, Saks Fifth Avenue, and other New York shops. A few perks of the service include free gift wrapping, “handwritten gift cards,” and party favors. Consumers can also request product recommendations. Jetblack won’t deliver groceries, prescription medicines, or alcohol.

"All of our products are researched, curated, and tested by real NYC moms you can trust,” the company’s website says, adding that there is no minimum amount to spend.

The service has been operating in beta in Manhattan for the last eight months, but it just opened its waitlist to New York City residents. Consumers can join Jetblack's waitlist here.

The company says it plans to expand the service beyond New York City in the future, but it didn’t provide a timeline for when that might happen.

Jetblack’s launch comes less than a month after Walmart unveiled a website redesign that focused on “upscale” fashion.

Walmart will start paying for its workers to pursue a college degree, the company announced Wednesday.

Through its new associate education benefit program, employees will be able to access affordable, high-quality associate’s and bachelor’s degrees in Business or Supply Chain Management. Workers will only need to contribute $1 a day, or the equivalent of about $75 per semester.

“Just a $1 a day. That’s all associates have to contribute to start earning a college degree,” said Beth Harris, internal communications manager at Walmart, in a blog post. “After that, Walmart takes care of tuition, books, and fees.”

“That also means there’s no need for a student loan — wiping out the thousands of dollars of debt associated with other degree options. What’s even better: Associates can earn college credit for paid training at Walmart Academies, saving them substantial time and money,” Harris added.

Three universities

Degrees will be offered through the University of Florida, Brandman University, and Bellevue University -- nonprofit schools selected for their high graduation rates among working adult learners, as well as their online offerings.

The program -- which will be made available to all Walmart U.S. and Sam’s Club associates who have worked at the chain for at least 90 days -- will be made possible through a partnership with education benefits company Guild Education.

“Walmart has kicked off what might be the nation’s most scalable approach to creating educational opportunity for America’s workforce, now available to its U.S. associates and their families,” said Rachel Carlson, CEO and co-founder of Guild Education.

“Walmart is also leading innovation at the intersection of workforce development and higher education by helping associates earn college credit for their on-the-job training,” Carlson said.

Walmart executives estimate that as many as 68,000 employees (as much as 5 percent of the company’s 1.5 million employees) might sign up for the program in the first five years.

The retailer, which has been criticized over its treatment of staff, has made several other changes to its business in an effort to retain employees and improve engagement at work. Earlier this year, Walmart raised its starting wage rate for hourly employees to $11. It also expanded maternity and parental leave benefits.

Walmart has announced that it’s adding high-end items to the fashion section of its website as part of a site upgrade first teased back in April.

Consumers will soon see two different categories on the fashion section of Walmart’s website: Premium Brands and Walmart’s Everyday Brands.

The company’s Premium Brands section will include offerings from more than 125 Lord & Taylor brands, including Tommy Bahama, Vince Camuto, Miss Selfridge, and Lucky Brand. A separate tab will house Walmart’s Everyday Brands, which will be “part of Walmart.com’s broader fashion destination.”

The assortment of Lord & Taylor products available at Walmart.com will include men's, women's, and kids' clothing, as well as shoes, accessories, and jewelry. The range of offerings will be updated “regularly,” the company said.

“We want each category to feel like you are shopping a specialty store,” said Marc Lore, president and CEO of Walmart's U.S. e-commerce business, adding that similar partnerships with other apparel brands are planned for later this year.

Competing with Amazon

Walmart and Lord & Taylor first announced their partnership last November. The Bentonville, Arkansas-based retailer said at the time that it wanted to turn its website into a “premium fashion destination.”

"We see customers on our site searching for higher-end items, and we are expanding our business online to focus on adding specialized and premium shopping experiences, starting with fashion," said Denise Incandela, the head of fashion for Walmart US e-commerce.

Walmart says the new shopping experience will be rolled out “in the coming weeks.”

"The new experience is aligned with how customers shop the category, with editorial elements that inspire customers to browse and buy, and has already generated positive customer response,” Incandela said in a statement on Tuesday.

"The next step is the launch of the Lord & Taylor flagship store, which introduces exciting new premium brands to our customers,” she added.

Adding new retail brands and products to its website will help Walmart compete with Amazon, which is poised to surpass Walmart to become the number one apparel retailer in the country later this year.

Walmart has reached a deal to buy Flipkart, the largest e-commerce retailer in India, for $16 billion dollars. The partnership will give Walmart a 77 percent stake in a rapidly growing market which is currently comprised of 1.3 billion people.

Softbank, one of Flipkart’s biggest investors, held an earnings presentation on Tuesday and let news of the deal slip slightly early.

“Walmart is purchasing Flipkart,” Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son said during the presentation (speaking in Japanese with translation provided by a SoftBank representative). “Last night there was the official announcement.”

After being handed a note that said the announcement had not yet been confirmed, the CEO backpedaled a little. “With regards to Flipkart, it’s not officially announced yet. Maybe I should not have mentioned that … Well, I can’t take it out!” he said.

Announcement confirmed

Earlier today, Walmart made the official announcement. In a statement, the Arkansas-based company said the partnership represents a “significant opportunity to partner with local leader” in a key growth market.

The partnership will be supported by Walmart, Tencent, Tiger Global, and Microsoft.

“India is one of the most attractive retail markets in the world, given its size and growth rate, and our investment is an opportunity to partner with the company that is leading transformation of eCommerce in the market,” said Doug McMillon, Walmart’s president and CEO.

“As a company, we are transforming globally to meet and exceed the needs of customers and we look forward to working with Flipkart to grow in this critical market. We are also excited to be doing this with Tencent, Tiger Global and Microsoft, which will be key strategic and technology partners.”

The deal gives Walmart more power over Amazon in its ongoing battle for e-commerce supremacy. As we previously reported, Amazon put in a competing offer to buy Flipkart earlier this month.  

However, Flipkart’s board reportedly believed regulatory hurdles could ensue in an Amazon-Flipkart deal since Amazon is India’s No. 2 online retailer and Flipkart’s primary competitor.

The Flipkart-Walmart deal is the largest-ever in e-commerce, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Walmart promises to be part of the “solution” to the massive opioid epidemic in the United States with new policies that it says will curb opioid abuse and misuse.

Within sixty days, Walmart and Sam’s Club plan to restrict some opioid prescriptions to a seven-day supply with a maximum of 50 milligrams of morphine per day.

In a press release, Walmart describes the new policy as applying to “initial acute” prescriptions and one that is in alignment with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) guidelines.

The CDC says that prescriptions for acute pain should be targeted in the fight against the opioid epidemic because “long-term opioid use often begins with treatment of acute pain.” The agency adds that three days or less worth of opioids “will often be sufficient” in acute pain cases for new patients, while “more than seven days will rarely be needed.”

Walmart criticized over return policy

It is unclear how Walmart’s policy will be enforced, as it does not appear to apply to people seeking treatment for chronic pain or people who have already been prescribed opioids in the past.  

But by 2020, Walmart and Sam’s Club will require e-prescriptions for all controlled substances. The corporation says that e-prescriptions cannot be altered and are “electronically trackable.”

Walmart’s policy follows a similar initiative introduced by CVS last September to limit opioid prescriptions for new patients to a seven-day supply.

Last October, not long after the new CVS policy was announced, a judge in Pennsylvania criticized Walmart for what she described as being a ”huge part of the problem” and “contributing to this [opioid] epidemic.”

According to the judge, the problem wasn't the way that Walmart sold opioids; it was its policy of allowing customers to return items without receipts. The judge alleged that people were stealing merchandise, returning it to Walmart, and then using the money they received from the stolen goods to fund their addictions.

Walmart did not respond to a local newspaper’s request for comment about its return policy at the time.

Fighting the opioid epidemic

It’s not the first measure to curb opioid use that Walmart has taken in in recent months. Earlier this year, Walmart introduced  a product called DisposeRX. The product, when mixed with warm water, can turn any opioid product into a soft gel, rendering it unusable.

While experts agree that safe disposal of leftover opioid drugs is an important measure to fight the epidemic, they point out that plenty of options for the safe tossing of painkillers already exist.

The CDC advises consumers with unused opioid drugs to participate in their local pharmacy’s drug take-back program or simply “flush them down the toilet.”

India’s largest e-commerce platform Flipkart has approved an agreement to sell roughly 75 percent of its stake in the Walmart group, which also includes Google parent Alphabet, Bloomberg reported Friday.

The report states that Japan’s SoftBank will also sell its stake in Flipkart, which is 20-plus percent. The agreement would give Flipkart, a company founded by former Amazon employees, a value of around $20 billion.

Experts predict that details of the deal will be ironed out in the coming days and the two sides could come to a final agreement within the next two weeks.

Blow to Amazon

If finalized, the deal would be a big win for Walmart in its ongoing retail war with Amazon.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has been trying to take control of Flipkart with a competing offer, but Flipkart’s board reportedly believes a deal with Walmart is more likely to go through. Regulatory hurdles could ensue in an Amazon-Flipkart deal since Amazon is India’s No. 2 online retailer and Flipkart’s primary competitor.

Flipkart and its fashion units Myntra and Jabong control almost 40 percent of India’s online retail market. Amazon follows closely behind with a 31 percent share, according to data from research firm Forrester.

A majority stake in Flipkart would put Walmart in a leading position in India -- a rapidly growing market which is currently viewed as “the next big potential prize after the U.S. and China, where foreign retailers have made little progress against Alibaba Group Holding Ltd,” the report noted.

The market of 1.3 billion people is expected to be worth $200 billion within a decade.

“Flipkart is key to a global e-commerce strategy,” Arvind Singhal, chairman of the New Delhi-based retail consultancy Technopak Advisors told Bloomberg. “Walmart clearly doesn’t want to be left behind in the race as India is a critical piece.”

Walmart is partnering with delivery service Postmates to expand its grocery delivery program, the companies announced today.

Walmart Online Grocery Delivery will start in Charlotte, North Carolina and will expand to other markets “soon.” The retailer says its goal is to reach more than 40 percent of U.S. households in the coming months.

In March, Walmart announced it would be expanding home delivery to an additional 800 stores by the end of this year, with grocery transportation provided by companies including Uber and Deliv.

"We will ... reach as many households as we can," said Tom Ward, the vice president of Walmart's digital operations in the U.S. "We will leverage our footprint where it makes the most sense."

Reaching more customers

A recent study conducted by the Food Marketing Institute and Nielsen found that 70 percent of consumers will be grocery shopping online in as few as five to seven years.

Partnering with Postmates to expand its grocery delivery service may help Walmart compete with the likes of Amazon, Target, and other retailers who have started delivering groceries to consumers’ homes.  

“Both Walmart and Postmates strive to make the lives of our customers easier,” said Dan Mosher, senior vice president, merchant lead, Postmates. “With our growing fleet of 160,000 couriers, we are confident that we’ll be providing Walmart customers with the ultimate convenience.”

Competing with Amazon

The push to make same-day grocery delivery available to more Walmart shoppers comes as Amazon is ramping up its own grocery delivery service. Earlier this year, Amazon started delivering groceries from Whole Foods through its two-hour Prime Now platform.

Meanwhile, other big grocers -- including Kroger, HEB, Albertsons, and Publix -- have teamed up with Instacart to expand their own same-day delivery services.

Walmart’s Online Grocery Delivery service gives customers the ability to get groceries from the retailer delivered to their home within the same day as an order being placed. The minimum purchase amount is $30, and there's a fee of $9.95 for delivery.

Walmart also announced earlier this year that it would begin selling its own line of meal kits in stores to make meal preparation easier and more convenient for consumers.

Walmart’s beta test of shelf-scanning robots have gone so well that the big box retailer is broadening the initiative to 50 stores in four states, according to Business Insider.

If efficiency and customer service are king, then this is a smart move for Walmart. The robots roam the store’s aisles scanning shelves for mislabeled items, incorrect prices, out-of-stock items, or anything a customer may have put back in the wrong place.

The robots aren’t taking anyone’s job, either. Rather, the intent is to give Walmart workers a break from doing grunt work so they can focus on helping customers.

"This has largely been about how we improve our performance and improve our service to our customers," said John Crecelius, Walmart's vice president of innovation. "[Walmart employees] are usually at the forefront for helping us identify things that improve our business that we hadn't thought of."

Efficient and polite

Standing six feet tall, the robots will be hard to miss, and their work ethic is pretty darn impressive. Inside of two minutes, it can scan 80 feet of aisle space without bumping into anyone or anything -- like a shopping cart or a new display that it hadn’t encountered before. It’s polite, too. If a robot detects a customer is coming down the aisle, it will wait for them to pass before it continues scanning.

Crecelius says neither customers or workers have been put off by the robots, but are just simply curious. "People are just drawn to technology and what it does," he said. "Our associates naturally get drawn to: 'What is this going to provide, how can I use this in what I'm doing?'"

In its expanded test, two of the items on Walmart’s to-do list are to determine the best use of the data the robots churn out and find out the best times to run the robots. Right now, the robots are running their routes three times a day -- once in the morning, once at midday, and once in the evening.

The machines are the brainchild of Bossa Nova, a U.S. company on a mission to “make large-scale stores run efficiently by automating the collection and analysis of on-shelf inventory data.”

The grocery delivery wars are heating up.

Walmart has fired the latest shot, announcing that it will expand its fledgling grocery delivery service from its current six markets to more than 100 metro areas -- covering 800 stores -- by the end of this year.

The retailer estimates that will make 40 percent of U.S. households eligible for its grocery delivery service.

Size matters

Greg Foran, CEO of Walmart U.S., says the company is making the leap with the aid of new technology. He says when it comes to ramping up home delivery service, size matters.

“We’re serving our customers in ways that no one else can," Foran said. "Using our size and scale, we’re bringing the best of Walmart to customers across the country.”

Home delivery has emerged as a key marker in grocery competition. When Amazon purchased Whole Foods last year, it announced plans to deliver food items to its Prime members. It has rolled out in four markets -- Austin, Cincinnati, Dallas, and Virginia Beach -- with plans to expand throughout 2018.

Target recently purchased Shipt, a grocery delivery service, and in February it launched same-day deliveries in key markets in Florida. Target plans to add more markets during the spring.

Extra costs

Home delivery for both Amazon and Target require a membership fee. Walmart says its home delivery service will require a $9.95 fee and a $30 minimum order.

To get home delivery, consumers will place orders online at Walmart.com/grocery or use the Walmart Grocery App. Prices, the company says, will be the same as for items found in Walmart stores.

When an order comes in, a personal shopper will take the list and fill a shopping cart with the requested food items, which are then delivered to the customer's door. Walmart says the new delivery service is separate from its current Online Grocery Pickup service, which is now available at 1,200 stores.

Tom Ward, Walmart's vice president for digital operations, notes that 90 percent of consumers live within 10 miles of a Walmart store. As the home delivery service expands, he says more people will be able to save both time and money without leaving home.

Walmart announced Monday that it will roll out its meal kit service to as many as 2,000 stores nationwide this year, following an initial test in some of its stores.

The meal kits feed two people and range in price from $8 to $15. Consumers can either buy kits in store or order them online and pick them up later that day. Three different kinds of kits are available to choose from, depending on how much cooking shoppers want to do.

“On shelves in the deli, options include pre-portioned cooking kits, kits to accompany the grocers’ best-selling rotisserie chicken, along with options that can be heated up and on the table in less than 15 minutes,” Walmart said in a statement.

Competing with meal kit providers

The push to add its own line of meal kits will help the retail giant compete with Amazon, which started selling ready-to-cook meals last summer and began delivering groceries from Whole Foods through its two-hour Prime Now delivery service last month.

Walmart also hopes to compete with subscription-based meal kit programs like Blue Apron and Hellofresh. However, its meal kits won’t require a subscription or involve a complex delivery process, which may help it appeal to a wider range of consumers.

“Customers are busier than ever and we know getting a delicious dinner on the table can be a chore. We’re here to help,” said Tyler Lehr, senior vice president and general merchandise manager, Deli Services, Walmart US.

“These delicious meals give the best or worst of cooks a fresh, easy option for dinner tonight, or later this week.”

Walmart faces a racial discrimination lawsuit in California after a consumer charged a Walmart store keeps hair and beauty products used by African Americans under lock and key.

Essie Grundy, a mother of five, held a news conference in Los Angeles with her attorney, Gloria Allred, to announce the litigation. Grundy said on a trip to the Walmart near her home, she noticed the skin cream she wanted was locked in a glass case and available only with the aid of a store employee.

Retailers such as Walmart often keep expensive merchandise, and items frequently shoplifted, in locked cases to reduce losses from theft. Grundy said she went to customer service to complain and was told it was a corporate policy.

Allred says the basis of the suit is that the retailer is perpetuating a racial stereotype that African Americans are thieves, a charge Walmart has denied.

Walmart response

“We’re sensitive to this situation and also understand, like other retailers, that some products such as electronics, automotive, cosmetics, and other personal care products are subject to additional security,” the company said in a statement to the media.

But the Walmart statement also said that individual store managers make the determination about what items are placed in locked cases.

“While we’ve yet to review a complaint, we take this situation seriously and look forward to addressing it with the court,” Walmart said, adding that it does not tolerate discrimination of any kind.

Grundy said she didn't think about suing until she returned to Walmart to purchase a comb, costing less than a dollar, and found it was also under lock and key. She said she was told that a store employee would escort her to the checkout line to pay for it.

Meanwhile, she said she observed that other, generic beauty products were displayed on shelves with no locked case separating them from consumers.

'Need to be treated equal'

“I just feel that we need to be treated equal,” Grundy said at the news conference.

There are many reasons stores lock some items in display cases. A poster who identifies herself as a former employee at a CVS Pharmacy, wrote on Quora last week that her store locked up razors because “they're expensive and small enough to shoplift.” She was also not that happy about it.

"These security units are a pain in the neck," she wrote. "They are expensive, labor intensive, and no employee likes them."

Walmart has suddenly announced the closing of 63 Sam's Club warehouse stores in the U.S., throwing hundreds of people out of work.

According to media reports, some Sam's Club locations were closed Thursday, with no advance notice to customers or employees. Sam's Club used its Twitter channel to break the news.

“After a thorough review of our existing portfolio, we’ve decided to close a series of clubs and better align our locations with our strategy,” the company wrote. “Closing clubs is never easy and we’re committed to working with impacted members and associates through this transition.”

Some of the closed locations are being turned into distribution centers. The company said that affected employees would have the chance to reapply for those jobs. Sam's Club Tweeted the link to its Store Locator to help consumers who normally shop at affected stores find another location.

The announcement comes on the same day that parent company Walmart announced higher starting wages for Walmart employees. Walmart said it is raising the hourly pay to $11 an hour, while offering expanded benefits and a cash bonus of up to $1,000.

Sam's Club was founded in 1983 and is the second-largest warehouse retailer in the U.S., behind Costco.

Back in December, GOP members of Congress finally achieved their goal of passing sweeping tax reform, effectively changing how millions of Americans will file their taxes in 2018. Consumer advocates strongly opposed the decision, saying that the changes primarily benefitted the wealthy.

While many of those criticisms are still being expressed loudly, many American companies are celebrating the changes – and some are passing it on to their employees.

On Thursday, Walmart President and CEO Doug McMillon announced that the retail giant would be increasing its starting wage to $11 per hour for Walmart U.S., Sam’s Club, Supply Chain, eCommerce, and Home Office hourly associates. The changes are scheduled to go into effect starting in February.

Additionally, Walmart will be providing a one-time bonus to hourly employees ranging from $200 to $1,000 depending on how long the they have been with the company and expanding its paid leave policy to provide 10 weeks of paid maternity leave and six weeks of paid parental leave. McMillon says that the company will also contribute $5,000 to employees who plan to adopt a child to offset associated costs.

“Today, we are building on investments we’ve been making in associates, in their wages and skills development. It’s our people who make the difference and we appreciate how they work hard to make every day easier for busy families,” he said.

Keeping up with the competition

While McMillon specifically mentions recent tax reform as an impetus for the change, other factors may also have been a driving force behind the decision.

Back in September, Target announced that it would be raising its minimum wage to $11 per hour, which put it ahead of Walmart at the time. Target CEO Brian Cornell said the decision would help Target “attract new team members” and “provide an exceptional service environment.”

By raising its own starting wage, Walmart effectively finds a way to retain its own employee talent and attract new workers with its improved benefits package.

Improving employee satisfaction and customer service will also help Walmart stay competitive against the likes of online retailers like Amazon; the two companies became even fiercer rivals in 2017, and Walmart was able to gain some ground by closing the retail price gap and expanding its own online services.

So, although Walmart estimates that the wage increase and bonus will cost the country around $700 million, the move could prove to be well worth it in the long-run.

A study commissioned by the Reuters news agency shows Walmart has made dramatic progress this year in closing the online price gap with Amazon, giving consumers more low-price options.

According to research by Market Track, products available at Walmart.com are now just an average 0.3 percent more expensive than those found at Amazon.com. A year ago, the researchers found the gap was three percent.

Depending on what you're buying, prices at Walmart.com could be notably cheaper. Market Track found Walmart.com's prices on fitness trackers and smartwatches are 6.4 percent below those found on Amazon. At this time last year, Walmart's prices for those products were 12.6 percent higher.

To reach its conclusions, Market Track analyzed the prices of 213 products in 11 categories over a nearly two-year period.

Where Walmart gained ground

From December 2015 to late November 2016, researchers found Walmart's online prices were cheaper than Amazon's in just two categories -- television sets and toys and games.

However, from late November 2016 to early November 2017, the Market Track study found Walmart.com maintained its lead in those two categories and was also cheaper for wearable technology, headphones, and sporting goods.

Amazon continues to hold a sizable advantage in the categories of home theater, tools and hardware, and video games. University of Richmond finance professor Tom Arnold says Walmart has used an efficient supply chain and its huge pricing power to close the gap with its rival.

"Amazon doesn't hold an inventory per se. What they do is put you in contact with vendors who will sell through Amazon," Arnold said in an interview.

"That's not a bad business model, but the problem you have is that if you are not the entity that's holding the inventory you can't go to a supplier and say 'look, I'm going to buy a lot of this, so you need to give me an even better price.' Walmart does do this."

Huge market penetration

Kirk Wakefield professor of retail marketing at Baylor University, says Walmart's large footprint also gives it significant pricing power.

“Walmart is able to compete with Amazon because they already have huge market penetration, can stock inventory for large scale distribution, and have already been actively refining their online order systems,” Wakefield told ConsumerAffairs.

The competition between the two retail giants isn't likely to subside anytime soon, which is good news for consumers seeking the best deal on popular products.

In the aftermath of Cyber Monday, a day in which Adobe Insights estimates there was a record number of online sales, Walmart has rolled out what it calls "Cyber Week," promising deep discounts for the rest of the week.

Amazon is still cutting prices as well, terming its continuing sale "Cyber Monday Deals Week." Despite the stepped-up competition from Walmart, an Amazon spokeswoman tells Reuters nothing has changed in the company's approach to pricing, saying its prices are as low or lower than any competitor's.

The 2017 U.S. Online Grocery Shopper Study gives the highest scores to Amazon and Walmart, concluding shoppers feel these two retailers do the most to earn customer satisfaction.

Commissioned by The Retail Feedback Group (RFG), the study also suggests an increasing number of consumers are embracing online grocery shopping. About half the consumers who engage in online shopping said they plan to continue to buy groceries online in the coming year.

Those who are already making food purchases online rate Amazon highest in customer satisfaction, giving the online retailer a score of 4.63 out of five. Walmart was not far behind at 4.41.

Amazon edged out Walmart in several categories, rating higher for the online checkout process, the overall ordering experience, the availability of food items, and the delivery system.

Walmart outstripped traditional supermarkets in the areas of the online ordering process, easy-to-find discounted items, good value, and convenient delivery/pickup..

Traditional stores playing catch-up

Traditional supermarkets have online ordering capabilities, but shoppers rated these stores lower than either Amazon or Walmart nearly across the board. Supermarkets only achieved parity in the category of delivery, with consumers rating that experience on par with the two online leaders.

"Clearly Amazon has effectively leveraged its deep roots in online retailing to inform their efforts in online grocery, leading to the strongest 'highly satisfied' marks found in our research," said Brian Numainville, a principal at RFG.

Numainville says that even though Walmart scored lower than Amazon on overall satisfaction and key performance metrics, it was well ahead of traditional supermarkets.

"It appears supermarkets and food stores have work to do to improve their scores in online grocery shopping relative to these retailers," Numainville said.

Convenience

The study also explored why some consumers prefer shopping online for groceries while others would rather go to the store to purchase items. The appeal of online shopping revolves around convenience–consumers on busy schedules said it saves them time.

Those who prefer to shop in store expressed a desire to actually see and hold items they’re shopping for. That is especially true for produce, which can vary in terms of quality and freshness.

RFG principal Doug Madenberg says the current study shows that, overall, more consumers still prefer the in-store shopping experience to ordering groceries online. But he says continued improvements in the online experience–especially regarding the product selection process–could shift that balance in the future.

Earlier this year, the Food Marketing Institute (FMI) predicted a growth in online food sales such that it will account for 20 percent of the market by 2025, with consumers spending as much as $100 billion on online food orders.

Numainville points to Amazon's recent purchase of Whole Foods as a potential game-changer in making online grocery shopping more common, potentially allowing the online retailer to improve delivery foods’ freshness -- especially produce.

Whole Foods may need to borrow some of those "Watch for falling prices" signs from Walmart. Amazon says it will slash prices on many products as soon as it closes on its purchase of the upscale market chain Monday.

Amazon will also be extending its Amazon Prime program, making its 60 million members eligible for rewards and discounts at Whole Foods Markets.

“We’re determined to make healthy and organic food affordable for everyone,” said Jeff Wilke, Chief Executive of Amazon Worldwide Consumer, in a news release. “To get started, we’re going to lower prices beginning Monday on a selection of best-selling grocery staples, including Whole Trade organic bananas, responsibly-farmed salmon, organic large brown eggs, animal-welfare-rated 85% lean ground beef, and more."

You won't have to drive to Whole Foods to get in on the action. Wilke said Whole Foods' private label products -- including 365 Everyday Value, Whole Foods Market, Whole Paws and Whole Catch -- will be available through Amazon.com, AmazonFresh, Prime Pantry, and Prime Now.

It will work the other way too. Amazon Lockers will be available in select Whole Foods Market stores. Customers can have products shipped from Amazon.com to their local Whole Foods Market store for pick up or send returns back to Amazon during a trip to the store.

Competitors shudder

While the news may be greeted enthusiastically by shoppers, it is striking fear into the hearts of competing supermarkets and the Wall Street analysts who follow them. Stocks of Kroger, Walmart, and other major chains plummeted after the announcement, shaving billions off their market value.

The grocery business has been under increasing pressure for quite awhile and there has been something of a mini-price war for such staples as eggs and milk. If Amazon really begins slashing prices of organic meats, produce, and other high-end items, it's likely to be a major headache for competitors who already face very low margins.

The supermarket business has already been upset by the entry of Aldi and Lidl, the European discounters who have been expanding rapidly in the U.S.

The grocery business has always operated on very thin margins, but the common wisdom is that high turn-over makes up for the slim profit on each item. In other words, a carton of eggs that sells for $2 may cost the supermarket $1.90 but since it's not likely to sit on the shelf for more than a few days, the investment is quickly recovered.

High-end items like organic products and gourmet desserts and baked goods, on the other hand, can be quite profitable, making up for the thin margins at the dairy case. Amazon's plans could upset that pattern and put a huge dent in stores' overall profit pricture.

As is so often the case, what appears to be bad news for business is likely to be good news for consumers, at least in the short term. Shoppers who have restricted their buying to Walmart or Costco's utilitarian warehouses may soon be wandering the more decorous aisles of Whole Foods, snapping up exotic cheeses, produce, and meats.

It should be fun while it lasts. 

In the world of retail, Walmart is viewed as the most formidable challenger to Amazon, and that company has just made another move on the retail chess board.

In an obvious answer to Amazon's voice ordering capability through the Echo device, Walmart has signed a deal for voice ordering through the Google Assistant.

What makes this deal unique -- other retailers have the ability to take voice orders through Google -- for the first time Google will sync up with Walmart accounts. This could make reordering much easier, since Google Assistant will know what products consumers purchased in the past.

Marc Lore, CEO of Walmart U.S. eCommerce, says the partnership integrates Walmart's Easy Reorder feature into Google Express. With it, he says consumers can build a basket of previously ordered items. Because of Google's technology, Lore said it just made sense to team up with the tech giant.

'Transparent shopping universe'

"They’ve made significant investments in natural language processing and artificial intelligence to deliver a powerful voice shopping experience," Lore wrote in the company blog. "We know this means being compared side-by-side with other retailers, and we think that’s the way it should be. An open and transparent shopping universe is good for customers."

He also hinted that Walmart plans additional features and services related to voice shopping -- plans that leverage Walmart's brick and mortar stores and fulfillment network.

Consumers currently can use Google Assistant to order from Costco and Target, but Walmart says it is the first to make account histories accessible.

"If you’re an existing Walmart customer, you can choose to link your Walmart account to Google and receive personalized shopping results based on your online and in-store Walmart purchases," said Sridhar Ramaswamy, Google's senior vice president for ads & commerce. "For example, if you order Tide PODS or Gatorade, your Google Assistant will let you know which size and type you previously ordered from Walmart, making it easy for you to buy the right product again."

The Walmart-Google connection will start in late September.

Back in 2014, Target decided to launch a pilot program in conjunction with a California-based start-up company called Curbside to – what else – provide curbside pick-up to its customers. The program ended up expanding to several markets, but in 2016 the company shut it down.

But in the wake of announcements by competitors Amazon and Walmart to expand curbside pick-up and fast-delivery options, Target has decided to try its hand at it again. The Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that the company is trying out the service at a handful of stores in the Twin Cities, this time relying on its own app and website to do the job.

While the program is only currently available to Target employees, company officials say it’s possible that it will roll out to consumers sometime in the near future.

“We certainly see the potential in a broader rollout,” said Target spokesperson Eddie Baeb. “In the coming months, we hope to make it guest facing.”

Saving time and adding convenience

Target hopes that its previous foray into curbside pick-up will help make the current program a success. Baeb says that learning from its past experiences and taking complete ownership of the program should help.

“We saw and believe there’s a good opportunity in building our own end-to-end experience that is wholly dedicated to Target. In having Target run it, we’re getting to control and operate the entire experience,” he said.

Though technically only an extension of its own in-store pick-up service, Target says that curbside pick-up will help customers save time and offer added convenience to the shopping experience. The company says that only certain stock items will be available for curbside pick-up for now, which is a bit of a departure from Walmart’s program that focuses on groceries and fresh items.

However, the Tribune notes that the retailer is currently trying out a next-day home delivery service and a same-day delivery service that could provide service for a broader array of items.

Up until now, consumers without a Costco membership have been able to purchase items from the retailer’s Kirkland Signature line through sites like Jet.com. But Walmart, which acquired Jet.com last year, is putting a stop to that.

Bloomberg reports that Jet will soon be phasing out Kirkland Signature products from its site, effectively cutting off a sales avenue for Costco. Laura Kennedy, an analyst for research firm Kantar Retail, says Walmart’s decision shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, selling items for your competitors is generally not good business.

“Jet is still moving through full integration with Walmart, and it’s something I’m sure Walmart was aware of when it acquired Jet,” she said.

Before being snatched up by Walmart, it made perfect sense for Jet to carry Kirkland items on its site. Like Costco, Jet’s original business model was based on collecting membership fees and passing on savings to consumers who bought in bulk.

But after being bought up, no one really expected Jet to sell Kirkland products for long. Even Costco CFO Richard Galanti said it wasn’t surprising that Jet dropped Kirkland “given who acquired them.” While expected, the move is sure to come as a bit of hit to Kirkland; last year, 5.5% of its sales came from listings on Jet.com.

While Walmart will lose out on a smaller avenue of business from Kirkland sales on Jet, the company has plans to boost its own store brands. Reports indicate that the company is striving to boost sales at its Sam’s Club chain through its “Member’s Mark” brand. Walmart announced in April that it will be adding around 20 new labels under that banner, and Jet has already started integrating Member’s Mark merchandise on its site. 

In the battle of retail dominance, Walmart figures it has one thing Amazon doesn't -- lots of stores and even more employees.

CEO Marc Lore says the company plans to leverage that advantage, announcing a plan for online orders to be delivered by Walmart store associates on their way home from work. The idea is to get packages delivered to customers sooner and cheaper.

Writing in the company blog, Lore says the system could cut shipping costs and get packages delivered faster, creating a win-win for both customers and associates, who will be paid extra if they volunteer to participate.

"It just makes sense," Lore writes. "We already have trucks moving orders from fulfillment centers to stores for pickup. Those same trucks could be used to bring ship-to-home orders to a store close to their final destination, where a participating associate can sign up to deliver them to the customer’s house. The best part is this gives our own associates a way to earn extra income on their existing drive home."

Lore makes clear that associates are not required to become delivery personnel on their commute home. If they choose to "opt in," he says the company has developed technology to allow personnel to set preferences to select how many packages they deliver, the size and weight limits, and the days when they are available to make deliveries.

Cutting 'last mile' delivery costs

Lore points out that Walmart has 4,700 stores in the U.S. and more than one million associates. Estimates show that there is a Walmart store within 10 miles of 90% of the U.S. population. This unusual delivery system, he says, cuts costs on the "last mile" of the delivery process, the most expensive part, that is currently filled by commercial delivery firms like Fed Ex and UPS.

It might be a while, though, before someone in a blue vest drops off a package at your door. Lore says the idea is being tested in just three stores -- two in New Jersey and one in Northwest Arkansas.

The move follows a Walmart plan to boost its online sales, in response to Amazon's growing dominance in that space. The company has already offered discounts on numerous items if they are purchased online.

Walmart is wading deeper into online competition with Amazon by offering discounts on more than ten thousand items if consumers order them online and pick them up at a Walmart store.

The number of items will expand to one million by the end of June, the retailer said.

Surveys have suggested that consumers like the convenience of ordering something online, then driving to a nearby store to find it waiting for them. It works especially well for big box retailers, saving consumers the hassle of wandering the aisles to find the item, or asking a store associate to help them find it, then waiting in a checkout line.

Walmart CEO Marc Lore says the new system will take advantage of supply chain efficiencies, and the company will pass some of the savings on to consumers. The discounts will start April 19.

More options

"We’re creating price transparency to empower customers to shop smarter and choose what’s best for them," Lore said in a statement. "Now, they can either pick up and save even more money, or ship two-day for free to home, without paying for a membership."

Lore said the discounts are possible because the system will remove the "last mile" delivery costs. In addition, Lore says Walmart cuts costs when it delivers goods from its fulfillment centers directly to stores.

Items eligible for the discount will be flagged that way on the store's website. Walmart lists these examples as typical discounts:

• Britax B-SAFE 35 Infant Car Seat, Slate Strie – $140.65 after a $7.40 discount.

• LEGO City Great Vehicles Ferry, 60119 – $21.44 after a $2.55 discount.

• Coleman 150 qt Heritage XP Marine Cooler – $107.03 after a $4.46 discount.

• VIZIO SmartCast M-Series 70" Class 4K Ultra HDTV (M70-D3) – $1,648 after a $50 discount.

Free two-day delivery

The pickup discounts follow Walmart's move in January to offer free two-day shipping on more than two million items without requiring customers to sign-up for a membership, a shot at Amazon's Prime membership program.

If the item you purchase is not among the two million covered by the new program, Walmart says it will provide free shipping if the order totals $35, down from $50. Items shipped for pick-up at stores have no price threshold.

The grocery shopping experience has changed over the years. Shoppers once compiled a list, went to the store, loaded up their cart, and were mostly done for the week.

Now consumers are likely to mix grocery shopping with the purchase of apparel, electronics, jewelry, and household goods at stores like Target, Walmart, and Kroger Marketplace.

They might even go to the grocery store, not to buy dinner, but to have dinner. In Chicago, WBBM-TV reports “grocerants,” where consumers can purchase and consume quality prepared food, allowing shoppers to mix stocking up on groceries with dining out.

SupermarketGuru.com recently surveyed consumers on the top 10 changes they've noticed and most appreciate at their neighborhood supermarket.

Self-checkout

No, it doesn't work perfectly every time, but consumers obviously don't like standing in line, especially when they only have a few items.

Online ordering, in-store pick-up

Consumers ranked this service high on the list because they like having someone else do the shopping for them. All they have to do is show up at the appointed time and their groceries are placed in their car.

Delivery

What's better than having someone else do your shopping for you to pick up? How about having it delivered to your home? Look for more stores to start offering this service.

High quality prepared food

Consumers like the fact that supermarkets have healthy and tasty meals already prepared, making dinner a breeze. It's just as easy and a lot healthier than the drive-thru at a fast-food restaurant.

In-store dietitians

Consumers want more information about food and more stores are obliging by hiring dietitians. These nutrition professionals are available to answer consumers' questions and recommend healthy food products.

Barcoding for faster check-out

Electronic scanning at check-out has been around for a long time and is now the norm. But plenty of consumers can remember when it wasn't. It shows up on the list of things about supermarkets that consumers appreciate.

Local and organic products

Consumers increasingly want locally-sourced food, and stores that provide it are earning their loyalty. At the same time, consumers say they appreciate the growing number of organic products that are available.

Stores within the store

Consumers are busier than ever, and when they can do different types of shopping, and even banking, at the supermarket, they like it. Walmart and Target have been providing this for years, but now supermarkets are joining in.

Digital presence

The world has gone digital and consumers like it when their supermarket joins the parade. They say they like the convenience offered by apps and the information provided on up-to-date websites.

Allergen free sections

Food allergies are a growing concern. Consumers like it when a supermarket groups allergen free products in sections that are clearly marked with shelf tags.

As the battle for consumer dollars is increasingly being waged online, eBay is trying to enhance its competitive position.

With Amazon and Walmart now offer free two-day delivery options, eBay says it will roll out what it calls Guaranteed Delivery later this summer. The guarantee is that the ordered item will be delivered in three or fewer days.

The guarantee will cover 20 million items purchased in the United States and will include free shipping for some. As an added inducement, eBay will provide a filter that will allow shoppers to search for items that are available with one or two-day delivery.

"While the majority of items on eBay already ship within three days or less, as well as for free, Guaranteed Delivery will give shoppers even faster delivery options and the confidence that their items will arrive on time," said Hal Lawton, Senior Vice President of North America at eBay.

How it works

If the items a consumer orders are covered under the guarantee, eBay says they will arrive by the delivery date. Consumers using the eBay site will be able to search for items by guaranteed delivery date.

If the item doesn't make it by the delivery date, eBay says the consumer can request to have shipping costs refunded. If the shipping was free, eBay will send out a coupon to be applied against the next eBay purchase. The buyer will also be able to return the item at no cost.

The company says the program will also benefit sellers, since it will make their items searchable by delivery times. Being able to guarantee a delivery date, eBay contends, will lead to happier customers.

Many delivery complaints are outside the U.S.

Indeed, an analysis of eBay customer reviews posted on ConsumerAffairs shows lengthy delivery times are a common source of complaints. However, in most cases the consumers in question are experiencing delays in delivery from sellers outside the U.S.

Brett Thome, vice-president of business development at Spreetail, says the new program will help sellers on eBay who have earned a reputation for speedy and reliable service.

"There are so many great sellers on eBay delivering an incredible shipping experience where they deliver in two days, and even next day, so the ability to highlight Guaranteed Delivery will further increase customer confidence and satisfaction," he said.

There is no firm date for the launch, with eBay saying it will occur during the summer. There will be no cost to sellers, but they will be required to meet a set of shipping standards to take part.

Before long, paying for shipping when you order something online will be unthinkable.

During the holiday shopping season, nearly all retailers waive shipping charges for purchases over a certain amount. Amazon.com's Prime account, which costs $99 per year, provides free two-day shipping all year round.

Walmart, which countered Prime with its own two-day shipping program for half the cost, has now upped the ante, saying it will provide free two-day shipping on more than two million items with no membership fee.

If the item you purchase is not among the two million covered by the new program, Walmart says it will provide free shipping if the order totals $35, down from $50. Items shipped for pick-up at stores have no price threshold.

Fighting back against Amazon

As Amazon has continued to dominate the online retail space, Walmart has fought hard to maintain its position as the nation's largest retailer. In August it acquired Jet.com, another online retailer, to shore up it's ecommerce offerings.

Jet.com was co-founded by Marc Lore, who sold his previous company – Diapers.com – to Amazon in 2010. Jet.com officially launched in 2015, promising consumers lower prices in exchange for longer delivery times.

Lore is now president and CEO of Walmart U.S. eCommerce, and he says the new free two-day shipping program gives Walmart a powerful weapon.

“Two-day free shipping is the first of many moves we will be making to enhance the customer experience and accelerate growth,” he said.

What's covered

The free two-day shipping will cover items like household products, including diapers, pet products, and food. It will also cover cleaning supplies, grooming products, and top-selling toys and electronics.

Walmart said some consumers who had signed up and paid the $49 for the Shipping Pass service would get refunds.

For consumers, it may be the clearest signal yet that the day is fast approaching when they will never be asked to pay for shipping. At least, that's where Lore thinks things are going.

“In today's world of e-commerce, two-day free shipping is table stakes," he said on a conference call with analysts and reporters. "It no longer makes sense to charge for it.”

Back in November, we reported on which retailers were best-rated by an advocacy group for reducing harmful chemicals in their products. At the time, Walmart earned the highest rating for its “meaningful progress toward safer products.”

Target came in just behind at the number two spot, but a new initiative by the retailer may change that. In an announcement on its corporate website, the company has vowed to increase transparency of the chemicals used in its products, reduce the use of certain chemicals that may be dangerous to public health, and develop safer alternatives for dangerous chemicals.

“Our chemical strategy will be one of the most comprehensive in the U.S. retail industry, including all Target-owned and national brand products and operations, not just formulated products. It’s ambitious, but using our size, scale and expertise, we think we’ll be able to make significant progress,” said Jennifer Silberman, Target’s chief sustainability officer.

Clear goals

In the announcement, the company stated clear goals that it wishes to achieve for transparency, chemical management, and innovation. They include:

• Achieving transparency in all ingredients by 2020, most notably in fragrance, beauty, baby care, personal care, and household cleaning products.
• Removing phthalates, propyl-paraben, butyl-paraben, formaldehyde, formaldehyde-donors, and NPE’s from beauty, baby care, personal care, and household cleaning products by 2020.
• Removing flame retardants that are potentially carcinogenic or pose other harm to consumers from textile products by 2022.
• Investing $5 million in green chemistry innovation by 2022.

Company officials admit that these goals are ambitious, but they hope the steps will help Target become a leader and example for other retailers to follow.

“We hope our robust approach will accelerate similar efforts across the industry. Ultimately, we want to bring all stakeholders together to innovate and champion a consistent, industry-wide approach to greener chemistry,” said Silberman.

Forward-thinking policy

Target intends to start achieving its goals by working with business partners to ensure that its products are sourced responsibly. Efforts to introduce safer chemical substitutions will also be a vital part of its strategy.

“Part of knowing what’s in products is understanding where they come from and how they’re made. So we’ll build on our work in the responsible sourcing space to help us verify that supply chain processes are sustainable, as well as ethical and responsible, from beginning to end,” said Irene Quarshie, vice president of quality & compliance with Target Sourcing Services.

Some companies have already come out in support of the initiative. Seventh Generation -- a supplier of cleaning, paper, and personal care products – has stated that consumers will benefit from Target’s progressive strategy.

“This announcement is a huge win for consumer transparency and we’re thrilled that Target is taking this step. It’s a forward-thinking policy like this that will drive industry change, ensuring that the health of our planet and its people are never compromised for profit,” said Seventh Generation CEO John Replogle.

Progress on these goals will be announced each year in the company’s Corporate Social Responsibility Report.

With the turn of the calendar to September, Walmart is getting serious about holiday shopping. The clearest sign is moving up the start day of its layaway program to September 2.

Layaway is sort of a throwback to an earlier time, before there were credit cards. Consumers who lacked the cash to make a purchase could “lay the item away,” paying a little each week. It was especially popular around the holidays.

Stores like Walmart and Kmart have brought the concept back in recent years, primarily for consumers who don't have credit cards.

According to Walmart, consumers can put select category items on layaway until December 12. There is no fee for opening an account, but a down payment of $10 or 10% of the purchase, whichever is greater, is required.

Categories

Categories eligible for layaway include electronics, toys, infant toys, infant furniture, small appliances, large furniture, auto electronics, select sporting goods, and jewelry. Only in-store purchases are eligible.

Walmart took some heat when it launched its holiday layaway program five years ago. That's because in the beginning, the retailer charged an upfront fee to open an account.

At the time, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) criticized the program as “hideaways for sky-high interest rates” that consumers wouldn't pay to a credit card company.

Now, most major retailers have adopted layaway programs and have waived the fee to open an account. These accounts proliferated in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis when millions of consumers saw their credit cards unilaterally canceled by lenders or their credit limits reduced.

Walmart has announced it is acquiring online retailer Jet.com for $3.3 billion in cash and stock. The company says the acquisition will build on its ecommerce presence and add new capabilities.

Walmart is the nation's largest retailer, but increasingly that title has appeared threatened by Amazon.com, which has made huge inroads in the last five years. When Amazon had its second annual Prime Day sale last month, Walmart ramped up its promotional efforts to counter it.

Doug McMillon, Walmart's president and CEO, says the deal will improve his company's competitive position.

“We believe the acquisition of Jet accelerates our progress across these priorities,” he said. “Walmart.com will grow faster, the seamless shopping experience we’re pursuing will happen quicker, and we’ll enable the Jet brand to be even more successful in a shorter period of time.”

Weapon against Amazon

The acquisition of Jet not only removes an ecommerce competitor from the marketplace; Walmart will likely use it to bolster its defenses against the Amazon onslaught.

Jet.com was co-founded by Marc Lore, who sold his previous company – Diapers.com – to Amazon in 2010. Jet.com officially launched last year, promising consumers lower prices in exchange for longer delivery times. In short, Jet.com was aimed at Walmart.com as much as it was at Amazon.

“We started Jet with the vision of creating a new shopping experience,” Lore said. “Today, I couldn’t be more excited that we will be joining with Walmart to help fuel the realization of that vision.”

New ideas and expertise

For its part, Walmart said it is counting on the acquisition to bring new ideas and expertise to the nation's largest retailer. It says it has been impressed with Jet.com's ability to quickly scale up, reaching $1 billion in run-rate Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) and offering 12 million items in its first year.

Although it is being acquired, Jet.com will maintain its own brand. The company says it expects Jet.com will create new synergy in the ecommerce space, allowing Walmart to leverage new technology solutions to develop new product offerings to save both time and money.

The deal is subject to regulatory approval, but Walmart did not offer guidance as to when that might occur.

As Amazon.com ramps up for Tuesday's second annual Prime Day – a sort of Black Friday in July – Walmart has served notice it is joining the fight for the consumer's dollar.

The nation's largest retailer has announced it will provide free shipping over the next five days, along with discounts on a wide range of merchandise, in a bid to match Amazon's promotion for Prime members. It is also dropping its normal $50 minimum purchase to receive free shipping.

Prime members, in exchange for their annual membership fee, receive free two-day shipping on all Amazon purchases.

In announcing its free shipping promotion, Walmart also announced discounts on merchandise, including a 55-inch Samsung TV for $299.99, marked down from $369.99. It's selling an iPhone 5S for $149, marked down from $450, and an Acer laptop, regularly $399, is on sale for $299.

The company says these deals will last more than one day but did not say when the sale would end.

Prime Day ready to launch

Amazon, meanwhile, launches its Prime Day promotion Tuesday, featuring deals across nearly all departments and categories. The deals become available at midnight PT.

But to take advantage of the deals, consumers must be members of Amazon Prime, which carries a fee of $99 a year. However, it has been pointed out that Amazon offers a 30-day free trial of Prime, so just about anyone can take part. For its part, Amazon is counting on a large number of people trying Prime to stay with it once the trial period ends.

The holiday shopping site BestBlackFriday.com says some of Amazon's Prime Day deals last July turned out to be better than those offered on Black Friday. But the site's editor, Phil Dengler, says the best deals will probably not be offered throughout the entire day, so consumers will need to check Amazon's site periodically.

Consumers seem to want to spend less time in the supermarket and any number of companies are harnessing technology to make that chore easier.

Walmart has taken a slightly different approach than Amazon and other specialized delivery services. It allows customers in certain markets to send in their grocery orders and then pull up to a nearby Walmart store, where their purchases are waiting at the curb.

The company says the curbside service has been successful enough that it is being expanded. It is now available in a total of 30 U.S. markets.

The latest additions are Kansas City, Mo.; Boise, Idaho; Richmond, Va.; Virginia Beach, Va.; Austin, Tex.; Charleston, S.C.; Provo, Utah; and Daphne, Ala.

Positive feedback

“Customers tell us they’re excited about online grocery because they’re putting the time they’re saving back into meaningful parts of their lives (like spending time helping their kids with homework or having a date-night with their spouse),” Walmart vice-president Michael Bender writes on the company blog.

“They have the option of shopping whenever and wherever they want – adding to ongoing lists all week, or placing a quick order through our mobile app – putting them in control of the entire process, all the way down to when they pick up. Even better is that our grocery pickup service is 100% free to use.”

According to Walmart, 90% of curbside delivery users have used the service in the past, suggesting they find it useful. The orders are filled by store personnel specifically assigned to the task.

To use the service, consumers fill their basket online, using their computer or mobile app. Orders placed by 10 a.m. are available for pickup the same day.

Walmart rolled out the curbside pickup service last September.

For years, Walmart used "Watch out for falling prices" as its slogan, but today it's Walmart's stock price that's plunging, down 9.9 percent at midday as the giant discounter warned that earnings will slip as much as 12 percent in fiscal 2017, Bloomberg News reported. Analysts had expected a slight gain, so the news hit investors hard.

Security analysts, meanwhile, are concerned about what they say is a gradual but consistent rise in the number of fraudulent purchases being made at Walmart. Some financial institutions have even started denying debit card transactions at Walmart unless a PIN is used.

Fraud alerts have been issued in at least 16 states this year, according to CSO, an online journal of corporate security managers.

There's no suggestion that Walmart's card processing network has been compromised but there may be something else at work, and given the huge number of stores and the even larger number of transactions at those stores, tracking down what that something might be isn't likely to be easy.

The most likely explanation is that criminals are using compromised cards at Walmart stores, making smaller purchases that don't require a PIN. That's why it's important for consumers to keep a close eye on their debit card accounts; your card can be compromised without your knowing it and your account could be cleaned out before you realized anything was wrong.

Fraud pattern

The latest alert, CSO reported, came from the Philadelphia Federal Credit Union, which warned customers of fraudulent activity at Walmart locations throughout the country.

"The fraud pattern includes charges $50.00 and under which are being processed as "Pinless Debit" transactions. During these transactions, your card is swiped, but you are not asked to enter your PIN (Personal Identification Number) or sign for the transaction," the notice says.

As a result, the credit union said it will reject all debit transactions at Walmart that are conducted without a PIN. Similar warnings have been issued recently in Pennsylvania and Virginia.

"Effective immediately, you must provide your PIN number for all debit card transactions at any Walmart or Super Walmart," Provident State Bank of Maryland advised its customers.

What to do

Besides keeping a close eye on your account, you can protect yourself from this kind of activity by using your card as a debit card as seldom as possible. Using the credit option provides you with fraud protection offered by your card issuer. If you must use debit, always use a PIN and watch your account balance closely.

The EMV chip you've heard so much about will make card transactions more secure, but because many merchants have not yet installed the necessary equipment, it will be months or years before the system is fully implemented.

The ideal solution is to avoid debit entirely. Use credit cards that do not have a debit option. Paying them off regularly will help you avoid interest charges and keep your account much safer from thieves.

After Amazon.com rang the pre-holiday cash register in a big way with his July 15 Prime Day sales promotion, it isn't surprising competitors are coming up with summer holiday promotions of their own.

Walmart has announced Toy Week, which begins Friday, and has started its holiday layaway program two weeks earlier than in the past.

The retailer says Toy Week will reveal “some of the biggest holiday trends” and leads into its Force Friday events on Sept. 4, when it says the wraps come off new and exclusive Star Wars merchandise. The cult movie merchandise isn't limited to toys but includes grocery, apparel, and even healthcare products.

Layaway program changes

Friday also marks the start of Walmart's holiday layaway program, a full two weeks earlier than last year. In addition to the earlier start, the company has lowered the price for eligible items to $10 with a $50 minimum basket.

Customers aren't required to pay a fee to open an account, just pay 10% of the purchase. Customers have until Dec. 14 to pick up their merchandise and make their final payment.

“Outside of the holiday season, we could be looking at the biggest week of 2015 for toys and we’re giving customers every reason to choose Walmart,” said Anne Marie Kehoe, vice president of toys at Walmart. “We’ve made a tradition out of letting kids tell us which toys will be most popular during the holidays. Between their selections this year and the excitement around Star Wars, parents know exactly what will top kids’ wish lists, and they can count on us for great prices.”

The Force Awakens

It's no surprise that Walmart is pushing its inventory of Star Wars: The Force Awakens products, including some that the retailer says it will have exclusively. The company says consumers can preorder the Legendary Yoda toy now at Walmart.com.

Then at midnight Friday, Sept. 4, 2,900 Walmart stores will open their doors to kick-off a Star Wars- related sales event. Walmart has posted a prevview of some of its Star Wars products here.

“A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, customers could only shop in stores,” Kehoe said. “Today, we make it easy and convenient to find new Star Wars merchandise in our stores, on a mobile device or on Walmart.com with light speed shipping options.”

Meanwhile, the retailer says Toy Week will spotlight the toys it believes will be the hot commodities of the season, based on feedback it got from children enlisted to play with the items. Near the top of the list are:

• Wicked Cool Girl Scout Cookie Oven
• Mattel Hot Wheels Terrain Twister
• Mattel Frozen Ice Castle
• Spin Master Paw Patrol Mission Chase
• Fisher Price Little People Zoo

Walmart is helping change the way food animals are trated across the retail industry. 

Walmart is asking meat producers, egg suppliers and others to use antibiotics only when needed for disease prevention or treatment, not to fatten their animals, a common industry practice.

It is also trying to halt pig gestation crates and any other type of housing that doesn’t give an animal enough room to move. Walmart is also requesting that dehorning and castration be done with painkillers.

Activists are applauding Walmart touting its guidelines and saying it could become the blueprint of the food industry. McDonald’s Corp., Nestlé and Starbucks Corp., have already pledged to reduce or eliminate the use of gestation crates for pregnant sows and otherwise improve animal treatment.

Consumer demand

Much of the Walmart's motivation is no doubt simple market economics. Shoppers are more aware of their health than ever before and it’s no longer just the food pyramid. People want to know where their food comes from, what the animals are fed and how they are treated. Consumers are pushing for more transparency when it comes to how things are grown.

Walmart said its own research showed 77 percent of its shoppers said they will increase their trust and 66 percent will increase their likelihood to shop at a retailer that improves the treatment of livestock.

Activists have been loud and clear about abuses that have gone on in the farms that supply food to Walmart and other large companies.

According to Kathleen McLaughlin, senior vice president of Walmart’s sustainability division, Walmart is now asking for suppliers to give them annual reports on antibiotic use and animal welfare and post them on their own websites.

The World Organization for Animal Health outlined Five Freedoms that it wanted to see for animal health. Walmart has adopted those and they include freedom from pain and injury, and freedom to express normal behavior.

Wayne Pacelle, president and CEO of The Humane Society of the United States, says he is thrilled that Walmart has taken a stand and said he feels that the impact is a “game-changing progress and signals to agribusiness that the era of confining farm animals is ending.”

Walmart's guidelines also to their sister company, Sam’s Club.

Big box stores are fine but Walmart would like to have a bigger piece of the online space as well, so the giant retailer is launching a $50-per-year program that will compete with Amazon Prime.

Walmart says deliveries will be made within three days. Prime, priced at $99 per year, promises two-day delivery on most purchases and throws in a lot of extras like free video and music streaming.

Walmart isn't saying much about the program yet -- said to be code-named Tahoe -- and hasn't yet seen fit to post anything about it in its newsroom, which is generally pretty devoid of anything timely, something the big retailer might want to fix if it really wants to become an online player. Getting stuff into the weekly paper won't quite cut it.

Walmart currently offers free shipping on purchases above $50 so its cost-conscious customers may not be too eager to shell out an extra $50 a year when they could just be sure to order $50 worth of goods each time they buy from Walmart.com.

Perhaps taking a page from Google, or maybe just because it doesn't have a clue how to sell it, the new program will initially be offered by invitiation only, according to press reports.

Not too exciting

So far, no one seems too excited about Walmart's prospects.

“Amazon’s Prime program offers a lot of comprehensive benefits that Walmart will not be able to offer anytime soon,” said David Biernbaum, senior marketing and business development consultant at David Biernbaum Associates, in a Forbes report. “[Tahoe] will carry only what Walmart carries, and believe it or not, that selection is fairly limited to mostly commodities, basics and every day pantry items.”

As Biernbaum notes, one of Prime's major strengths is that it includes just about anything. You can find a saxophone reed, ketchup, an obscure auto part or a lawn tractor on Prime, order it with a single click and, in most cases, find it on your doorstep two days later.

Although Amazon doesn't release sales information for Prime, anecdotal evidence indicates that many consumers habitually go first to Prime when they need something and only in rare circumstances go elsewhere to complete the purchase. That's a habit that's going to be hard to break.

Jet.com's dreams

Fledgling online retailer Jet.com is also in the pre-launch phase of its Prime-like shopping service but denies that it has Prime in its sights.

"While a lot of outlets have been quick to make the Amazon connection because it makes for a good headline, Jet isn’t actually trying to directly compete with Amazon or get existing Amazon Prime customers," said Jet publicist John Harrington, who besides his other talents is apparently able to discern the motivations of reporters and editors.

According to the Commerce Department, currently only 8% of retail sales happen online, which leaves a lot of space for Amazon and Jet to co-exist, Harrington said in an email to ConsumerAffairs a few days ago, after we reported on Jet's plans.

"The e-commerce space is going to be growing rapidly over the coming years and Jet’s aim is not about competing with Amazon, but rather about offering current or future shoppers an option that’s focused on getting them the lowest possible price," he said.

"Feel free to reach out if you’re in need of anything for a future story!" Harrington exclaimed. We took him up on that and asked if we could get an inside look at Jet.com's beta site so we could report on it more fully.

That wasn't in the cards, though. Saying the site was still in "a pretty early beta," Harrington declined, although Re/code and other tech-focused publications have been allowed inside, perhaps reflecting Jet's faith that the key to successful retailing is technology, rather than those pesky consumers. 

Saying one thing and doing another may be common but it's illegal when it involves advertising, as Walmart stores in New York State have learned. 

New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced that Walmart has agreed to settle charges that it advertised a nationwide sale of Coca-Cola soft drinks but charged customers in 117 stores across New York State more than the advertised sale price.

In a statement, Walmart apologized and said it was working to prevent similar incidents in the future. 

"We strive for accuracy, and we are further enhancing our procedures to help ensure proper promotional pricing. We apologize for any inconvenience to our customers. They can rest assured that Walmart is committed to delivering the products they need at everyday low prices," Walmart said.   

In June 2014, Walmart launched a Father’s Day sale, including advertising 12-packs of Coca-Cola products for $3.00. However, when consumers in New York State attempted to purchase the sale items, customers were routinely charged $3.50.

According to Schneiderman, in one Buffalo-area Walmart store a consumer brought the error to the attention of staff and was told that the newspaper circular was a national ad and that it did not apply in New York.

When consumers complained about being charged more than the advertised price, Walmart staff falsely told them that New York has a "Sugar Tax."

One set of rules

“There has to be one set of rules for everyone, no matter how rich or how powerful, and that is why our office must ensure that even the largest corporations cannot advertise one price and then charge a higher one to New Yorkers,” said Attorney General Schneiderman. 

Schneiderman said consumers were routinely overcharged in stores across the state. It was determined that cash registers were programmed to not recognize the advertised sale price. On June 12, 2014, the Attorney General’s Office requested that Walmart immediately adjust prices to the amount advertised and the chain complied.

In preparation for Walmart's annual stockholder meeting, which is to be held June 6, a group of Walmart employees went on strikelast Friday, demanding better pay and working conditions.

The overall story “Walmart employees allege various forms of mistreatment” has been ongoing for years. As early as 2004, for example, the New York Times reported that night-shift employees were locked in the store overnight and forbidden to leave on pain of firing, even in case of medical emergencies.

The latest chapter in the story unfolded when the sporadic walk-outs started last week. The workers' group Organization United for Respect at Walmart, also known as “OUR Walmart,” is behind the strike.

OUR Walmart's complaints can be broken down into three basic categories: workers' pay is inherently too low; working conditions are often poor; and employee scheduling tends to be erratic and last-minute, making it impossible to try holding a second job or any other activities, since you never know in advance when or if Walmart expects you at work.

Sales slipping, profits off

Walmart for its part takes the position that it cannot afford to offer pay as high as OUR Walmart wants, and that its various workplace conditions — such as its pregnancy policies — meet or exceed legal requirements.

When Masslive.com reported the May 30 protest at a Walmart in Chicopee, Massachusetts, it said: “The company has denied that workers are underpaid or mistreated, and blamed much of the furor on the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which has tried to unionize the company’s workers.”

It's not only Walmart that says times are tough. Investors are complaining too.

Last month, John Schwinghamer, a Montreal portfolio manager, said he sold all of his shares of Wal-Mart after a key measure of the company’s profitability fell in consecutive quarters for the first time in at least 20 years. 

“This is a game changer and a warning sign to investors that Wal-Mart is facing challenges in the competitive environment that they may not easily overcome this time,” said Schwinghamer, according to the Wall Street Journal's Moneybeat blog.

Wal-Mart’s earnings per share dropped by 3.5% in the quarter ended April 30, following a 20% drop in the previous quarter, according to S&P Capital IQ. 

Taxpayers' burden

On June 2, the Christian Science Monitor ran a guest column by Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor under President Clinton, discussing the issue. Reich, who compared the Walmart strikers with civil rights protestors from 50 years ago, summarized the issue as follows:

Although Walmart is no Bull Connor, it’s the poster child for keeping low-wage workers down. America’s largest employer, with 1.4 million workers, refuses to provide most of them with an income they can live on. The vast majority earns under $25,000 a year, with an average hourly wage of about $8.80.

You and I and other taxpayers shell out for these workers’ Medicaid and food stamps because they and their families can’t stay afloat on what Walmart pays. (I’ve often thought Walmart and other big employers should have to pay a tax equal to the public assistance their workers receive because the companies don’t pay them enough to stay out of poverty.)

Reich went on to discuss various lawsuits against the company. Last January, the National Labor Relations Board filed a consolidated complaint against Walmart, citing allegations that in at least 13 states, the company violated the rights of its employes who were engaged in legal acts of employee protest.

An NLRB press release dated January 15 listed the following violations allegedly committed by Walmart:

During two national television news broadcasts and in statements to employees at Walmart stores in California and Texas, Walmart unlawfully threatened employees with reprisal if they engaged in strikes and protests.

At stores in California, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Ohio, Texas and Washington, Walmart unlawfully threatened, disciplined, and/or terminated employees for having engaged in legally protected strikes and protests.

At stores in California, Florida, and Texas, Walmart unlawfully threatened, surveilled, disciplined, and/or terminated employees in anticipation of or in response to employees’ other protected concerted activities.

Not all the protests are taking place at Walmart stores. On June 2, OUR Walmart held another protest and posted photos on its Facebook page under the caption “#Walmartstrikers & #Walmartmoms from around the country march to Walmart Chairman Rob Walton's house in Phoenix, calling for an end to retaliation & bullying.”

Depending on how much faith you have in Walmart's various anti-hacking security standards, the store's new credit card policy will either grant it greater protection from thieves who try using fraudulent credit cards, or make legitimate Walmart customers suffer even worse the next time someone hacks into the right (wrong?) Walmart database.

If you buy things online you almost certainly use a credit card, and when making purchases you don't simply type in your card's account number, expiration date and other front-of-card information; you also type in the three-digit security code on the back.

That number is supposed to be kept super-secret, even more secret than your credit card number, and its purpose is to ensure that someone who does get hold of your credit card number won't be able to use it for anonymous online purchases, since they don't have the three-digit security code as well.

Now, as Texas news station KPRC (Houston) reports, Walmart's rolling out new in-store “security guidelines” which would require customers physically in the store with their physical cards to not merely swipe them, but also type in the three-digit security code that usually confirms the authenticity of purchases made online as opposed to in person.

How is the security of in-person in-store purchases supposed to be enhanced by demanding the number available to anybody with the actual card in hand? As KPRC reports:

But Walmart argues that the most common types of credit card fraud come out of data breaches.  When it happened at Target and Neiman Marcus in recent months, thieves stole the credit card information for millions of consumers. Authorities say they planned on selling the data. Other scammers could create phony cards with legitimate account numbers printed on them. Walmart says the one thing thieves don't get in those breaches is the 3-digit code on the back of your card.

"Walmart's doing the right thing on this one," said Chris Bronk, a Rice University Baker Institute Fellow in IT Policy.

Bronk says ideally the account number and the codes will be stored separately, so would-be data thieves can't get all of your information in one place.

Of course, even in this ideal world, hackers patient enough to get information from two places rather than one will have all the information they need to buy things online with your credit card, and easily circumvent the three-digit security code that's supposed to prevent them from using your card to make online purchases.

Never surrender

Other security advisers say you should never surrender your three-digit code for in-person transactions. When WiseGeek, for example, asked the question “When is it safe to give out the security code on the back of my credit card?”, it discussed the code's role in online security and advised shoppers to avoid both online stores that don't remand it and in-person stores that do:

… you should never release the security code when you are present for a sales transaction. It doesn't show up when the card is scanned, or when a copy of the card is imprinted on a sales slip. People who steal this information, including some people who work at point-of-purchase businesses, don't have all the information needed to make most Internet purchases. Of course, not all companies online ask for your CVV, and it might be a good idea to only use vendors that will require this information when you shop on the Internet to support those vendors that are attempting to stop fraudulent use of your card.

In other news, this website has frequently reported receiving complaints from customers who said their Walmart Money Cards (an Authorized Partner) were hacked. However, a Walmart MoneyCard is entirely different from, say, a Walmart.com online account, like the one held by a woman in Darien, Connecticut whose account was hacked last January.

Hopefully Walmart's three-digit security code database will prove more hacker-proof than other Walmart-secured accounts have been.

One in four U.S. families are now "unbanked," meaning they don't have a checking or savings account at a bank or credit union. Most are low-income and live in neighborhoods with high poverty rates. They handle their finances by using expensive money transfer services and payday loans.

Did we mention they're likely to be WalMart shoppers? 

Walmart has been targeting this group for some time, with its Walmart Money Card, MoneyCenter and other products. Now it's adding something called  "Walmart-2-Walmart," a domestic money transfer service that will let consumers send money from one Walmart store to another, starting April 24.

Walmart says prices for the new service will be up to 50% less than that charged by competitors.

Clear fees

“Walmart-2-Walmart offers a clear fee structure with just two pricing tiers: customers can transfer up to $50 for $4.50 and up to $900 for $9.50,” said Daniel Eckert, senior vice president of services for Walmart, on a call to investors, analysts and press, Forbes.com reported. 

Besides its other services for unbanked customers, Walmart and American Express operate Bluebird, an alternative to traditional debit and checking accounts. There are no minimum balance requirements or monthly maintenance fees, although there is a $2 fee for those not enrolled in direct deposit.

If you have a Sam's Club or Walmart credit card (as opposed to pre-paid money card), you'll see a different logo next time you're issued a new plastic rectangle — though whether you'll see changes in your account's financial specifics remains to be seen.

However, stockholders in Walmart or various financial companies have good reason to take interest in the news that, starting this summer, Walmart credit cards will be branded with the MasterCard logo, rather than Discover.

The Wall Street Journal (followed by other business-news sites) announced the changes Friday morning:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. co-branded credit cards will soon carry MasterCard Inc.'s logo under a deal the retailer struck with General Electric Co.'s banking arm to switch from Discover Financial Services.

As of early Friday afternoon, Walmart stock rose slightly in value, whereas the stock price of every other company involved in the deal actually dropped, which might be bad news for investors.

But what about consumers — if you have a Walmart or Sam's Club card, what if any changes will you see after switching to MasterCard?

That remains uncertain, although it is theoretically possible you'll see a slight improvement (drop) in store prices due to another recent news story involving Walmart and credit cards: at the end of March, Walmart filed a lawsuit in Arkansas (where the company is headquartered) against the VISA company, claiming that the “swipe fees” it charges merchants are too high.

In court documents, Walmart argued that “The anticompetitive conduct of Visa and the banks forced Wal-Mart to raise retail prices paid by its customers and/or reduce retail services provided to its customers as a means of offsetting some of the artificially inflated interchange fees.”

Pay it off

Regardless of what company logo is on your credit card or what stores you patronize as a shopper, it's important to pay off your credit card bill in full every month, lest you pay interest rates high enough to wipe out any presumptive savings from shopping at a cheaper store.

If you can't afford to do this, and have no choice but to carry a balance on the card from month to month, then at least avoid putting further charges on the card until you get it paid off, because you will be charged high interest on every additional purchase you make.

Despite those swipe fees Walmart complained about in court, the fees credit card companies collect from merchants whenever customers use their cards, the bulk of credit card company profits come from interest payments. Don't let their extra profits empty your pocket.

Crime rates fell across the United States in the 1990s. But in counties where Wal-Mart built stores, the decline was slower, a new study finds. 

"The crime decline was stunted in counties where Wal-Mart expanded in the 1990s," says Scott Wolfe, assistant professor of criminology and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina and lead author of a new study. "If the corporation built a new store, there were 17 additional property crimes and 2 additional violent crimes for every 10,000 persons in a county."

The study, released last month in the British Journal of Criminology, was co-authored with David Pyrooz, assistant professor of criminal justice and criminology at Sam Houston State University.

The study was not intended to criticize Wal-Mart, he says. Instead, it attempted to answer the unexplored question of whether Wal-Mart could equate with either more or less crime.

"There have been dozens of studies on the 'Wal-Mart effect' showing the company impacts numerous outcomes closely related to crime. Our objective was to determine if the Wal-Mart effect extended to understanding crime rates during arguably one of the most pivotal historical periods in the study of crime," Wolfe says.

The "Wal-Mart effect" is a catch phrase for a wide range of effects -- some good, some bad -- when the company opens a new store. It includes the suburbanization of the local shopping experience and lower prices for everyday items, as well as eroding local retailers and driving down local wages.

3,109 counties

Wolfe and Pyrooz based the study on 3,109 U.S. counties. They focused on Wal-Mart's expansion in the 1990s, a time of dynamic growth for the company and falling crime rates nationally. During that decade Wal-Mart expanded in 767 of those counties.

The researchers suggest that there may not be a direct cause-and-effect relationship between Wal-Mart's presence and crime rates.

"They are very strategic about where they build stores," Wolfe said. "There is something unique about the counties that Wal-Mart selects."

He said that during the period studied, Wal-Mart tended to expand in counties with higher than average crime rates. These counties were more likely see Wal-Mart build even after accounting for crime-related predicators, such as poverty, unemployment, immigration, population structure and residential turnover.

The researchers speculate that much of this relationship occurred because Wal-Mart finds better success building in communities that are less likely to protest the company's arrival.

"Counties with more social capital — citizens able and willing to speak up about the best interests of the community — tend to have lower crime rates," Pyrooz said. "Counties with more crime may have less social capital and, therefore, less ability to prevent Wal-Mart from building."

Wolfe and Pyrooz say the reason why Wal-Mart lessens a decline in crime is a complex question not easily answered by data typically available. Their findings didn't reveal that Wal-Mart growth corresponded with increases in poverty, economic disadvantage or other factors associated with crime.

"More research is needed to uncover why the Wal-Mart effect extends to crime," Wolfe says. "Does it reduce community social cohesion or simply increase opportunities for theft and other crimes in specific store locations that are great enough to influence county crime rates? These are questions that remain."

Wal-Mart Stores of Bentonville, Ark., is recalling about 73,400 Mainstays five-piece card table and chair sets.

The chairs can collapse unexpectedly, posing a fall hazard and a risk of finger injury -- including amputation.

The retailer has received 10 reports of injuries from collapsing chairs. Injury reports include one finger amputation, three fingertip amputations, sprained or fractured fingers and one report of a sore back

This recall involves the Mainstays card table sets with a black padded metal folding table and four black padded metal folding chairs. “Made by: Dongguan Shin Din Metal & Plastic Products Co,” the company that made the chair cushions, is printed on a white label on the bottom of the chairs.

The furniture, manufactured in China and Taiwan, was sold exclusively at Walmart stores nationwide and online at www.walmart.com from May 2013, through November 2013, for about $50.

Consumers should immediately stop using the recalled card table and chair sets and return the entire set to Walmart for a full refund.

Consumers may contact Walmart at (800) 925-6278 from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. CT Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. CT on Saturday, and from 12 p.m. to 6 p.m. CT on Sunday.

More details have come out regarding the strange case of Joe Cantrell, the Arizona man who said he was banned from Walmart after trying to take honest advantage of their price-matching deal; now, it’s starting to look like Walmart’s version of events might be the more accurate.

Cantrell originally said that he went to Walmart to buy Christmas ornaments. Though he had an advertisement showing those same ornaments listed for a lower price somewhere else, the store associate refused to honor the listed price (in apparent violation of Walmart’s price-matching policy), and when Cantrell complained to management, the manager reported him to the police as a threat. When Cantrell returned to the store a few days later, he said, deputies handcuffed him and informed him he’d been banned form all Walmart stores for life.

That’s the basic story most of America (including us) knew about at the beginning of this week. But on Dec. 12, the Phoenix New Time’s Valley Fever blog reported that, according to representatives of the Pinal County Sheriff’s Department, Cantrell (and the ABC affiliate that first reported his story) left out some important details:

Cantrell was heard threatening employees with statements "I'm going to mess this mother f_ _ _ker up" while yelling at a cashier, he told employees he didn't care if he got kicked out of the store because he "was going to f_ _ k up, the cashier and he would be waiting outside for him in the parking lot and he was going to do him in."

The Sheriff's Office was called by Walmart, but Cantrell had left the store before deputies arrived. Before leaving, he told the manager "I'm not the person to F _ _ k with, next time I come in I will beat his ass." A deputy investigated the case as employees were afraid for their safety. A video was captured by store security and PCSO deputies recognized Cantrell from prior contacts. Deputies were unable to locate him at his last known address...

Cantrell posted on his "Facebook" account (December 2nd, 2013) "Tonight I almost whipped a Walmart employees ass." One of his Facebook friends responded to his post and said, "I know you heard Joes gonna kill you in the back of your head. But you did the right thing by walking away mad and not kicking his ass and doing to jail." (sic.) Cantrell then responded back to that post by saying, "I have to be honest with you Richard I came very close."

And why did the store associate initially refuse to match the Christmas-ornament price Cantrell wanted? Initial reports did not say, but it turned out Cantrell was trying to price-match an expired Black Friday ad, well after Black Friday, according to later reports.

An Arizona man named Joe Cantrell has been banned from Walmart for life, after he took advantage of the company’s price-matching policy one time too often — or after he menaced and threatened Walmart employees, depending on whether you believe Cantrell’s or Walmart’s version of events.

According to ABC15 News reporting out of Queen Creek, Arizona, Cantrell is a former professional wrestler who’s now disabled, and thus in reduced economic circumstances. In order to stretch his limited funds, Cantrell started heavily taking advantage of Walmart’s price-matching policy: if you can find a lower advertised price on an identical product, they’ll match it.

Nobody disputes this; the disagreement stems from what happened when Cantrell tried going to Walmart to buy ornaments for his family’s Christmas tree. Cantrell says he tried buying Christmas ornaments at their lower advertised price, but the store associate refused to honor the price. So Cantrell complained to store management, and told ABC15. “When I left, he turned around and called the Pinal County Sheriff's Office and said he felt intimidated and threatened. I was upset but never once did I say anything to the gentleman.”

Banned for life

When Cantrell went back to Walmart a few days later, he says, “I was handcuffed, humiliated and embarrassed in front of everybody at Walmart.” Deputies did not officially arrest him, but gave him a court summons and a notice banning him from Walmart for life.

However, Walmart management released this statement to the media:

"We make every effort to make sure our customers have a good experience in our stores. As in previous situations, we attempted to work with this customer. However, in this situation, the associate felt unsafe and so we contacted local law enforcement. We are continuing to cooperate with law enforcement on their investigation."

Speculation: Cantrell looks to be a pretty big guy, possibly big enough that if he’s obviously in an annoyed mood, an associate might honestly feel “unsafe” even though Cantrell may honestly have never intended to come across as any sort of menace or threat.

Different and more cynical speculation: Cantrell admits that shopping and price-matching at Walmart had become a hobby of his, to the point where he'd visit the store upwards of twice a day, every day. Perhaps the store manager was tired of having to honor so many ad matches from the same guy.

Thus far there’s been no explanation of why Cantrell’s initial attempt to price-match the Christmas ornaments was denied in the first place. When we checked Walmart’s website just before presstime, it still clearly promised: “We’re committed to providing low prices every day. On everything. So if you find a lower advertised price on an identical product, tell us and we’ll match it. Right at the register.”

The website does list certain types of advertised prices that do not apply, including going-out-of-business sales and online offers, but so far there’s no indication Cantrell’s Christmas-ornament ad fell into any of the forbidden categories.

A Walmart store in Canton, Ohio set up a canned-food drive, asking employees to donate food to co-workers who presumably can’t afford to feed themselves on whatever they’re making at Walmart.

According to Walmart spokesman Kory Lundberg, when he spoke to theCleveland Plain Dealer, the food drive is proof that Walmart employees care about each other. But according to an organization of Walmart workers seeking better pay and working conditions from their employer, the canned food drive is more evidence that Walmart underpays its employees.

Members of Organization United for Respect at Walmart (a.k.a. OUR Walmart), which first posted a photograph of the canned food drive to its Facebook page on Monday, along with a request to “LIKE if you think Walmart should pay us enough that we can afford to buy our own Thanksgiving dinners!” Indeed, when Cleveland.com reported the story, they headlined it with a question: “Is Walmart’s request of associates to help provide Thanksgiving dinner for co-workers proof of low wages?”

Walmart subsidized?

Walmart critics have long charged that taxpayers effectively “subsidize” the company because so many Walmart workers make so little money, they qualify for food stamps, Medicaid and other low-income welfare benefits; OUR Walmart alluded to this on Monday when it posted the food-drive photo next to the captions “Walmart is asking us to donate food to our coworkers. Why can’t Walmart pay us enough so we can feed our families?” and above a Walmart employee quoted as saying “If I made $25,000/yr, I wouldn’t have to rely on food stamps.”

Based on the number of readers writing us from all over the country with almost the exact same complaint, we suspect that a thieving hacker somewhere in New York City is enriching himself at the expense of Walmart MoneyCard holders. Even worse, Walmart appears to have done nothing about this.

Linda P. of Farmington, Missouri, wrote us on Sept. 2 to complain: “[S]ome man in Brooklyn, New York, got my Walmart card number and made a duplicate card through Walmart's system. That man stole every penny I had on my card and Walmart allowed it to happen. He spent MY money that I earned at a Target in Brooklyn, New York [….] When I called Walmart, I explained to them that the money on that card was all I had for another month. I asked them if they could give me a voucher for food, or drinks. They said NO! […] I may lose everything I have and all Walmart has to say is ‘wait until the posted date’? This is unacceptable. Thank you, Walmart, for ‘guaranteeing’ my money.”

Kelly L. of Canton, Ohio, posted a similar complaint on Sept. 13: “I have had my Walmart money card for almost a year now [….] on 09-09-2013 I woke up to check my account and the balance was $1.41 […] the day before, there were 5 purchases from a Target store in New York [….] I am waiting for [Walmart] to send me a new card so I can get the amount owed to me, then I am closing my account.”

Similar problems

Two Californians reported similar problems on Sept. 15: Paul H. from Downey said “I just got paid Friday and deposited most of my check on my Walmart money card. Bought a few groceries with the card, went home and paid my Sprint bill, all was well. The next day on the way to the park I stopped at the Walmart neighborhood market to pick up some things for the grill, at check out my card was declined [….] I thought I would check my account on my phone. After signing in I saw a balance of zero, I thought, what the hell? I checked my transactions and saw the swipe reload, groceries, Sprint and three charges from Target. [….] Once they saw those New York charges and saw that that same day I was making charges in California they should have stepped up and said we know this is a problem and we will get it resolved. But we'll see what happens; I've got a feeling it's not gonna turn out good for me.”

The same day, Jackie S. of Citrus Heights reported: “I have had a Walmart money card in Sacramento California for the past 7 years [….] this past Friday I used my card at Starbucks early Friday morning; by the time I went to pay for my lunch my whole account was wiped clean. After calling Walmart, they said that somebody in New York, New York used it at a Target when clearly I'm in Sacramento, California; they say I can file a claim but it's going to take probably 45 days to get my 1,500 dollars back.”

Despite the frequent mention of Target, there’s no evidence suggesting that company has anything to do with this scam; it’s simply where the hacker or hackers chose to spend their ill-gotten money (there being no Walmart stores in New York City).

What to do

Walmart has not yet responded to a request for comment. 

If you’re a Walmart MoneyCard holder whose account has been hacked, you should immediately contact Walmart (via email rather than over the phone, so you’ll have an electronic paper trail of your complaints), and also contact your local police department to determine how to file a fraud complaint. 

Ordering stuff online works pretty well if you live in a safe neighborhood or if you're home all day and able to hustle deliveries inside before they walk away. But for those not so blessed, online shopping can be treacherous, as Asia of Queens Village, NY, learned.

"I placed an order online which required shipping. I then paid for 5 to 7 business days for the items to ship. ... My package which now says 'left at door step' according to tracking," she said in a recent posting to ConsumerAffairs. "I never saw a UPS truck at my house or even on my street at all that day. I called to complain and request help for my missing package and was told I did not pay for 'priority' shipping and there isn't anything that could be done about my package. That leaves me at a complete loss."

Amazon has been trying to address the problem by offering a locker service at places like 7-11 and Staples. Now Walmart is doing the same, setting up lockers at its stores where customers can pick up their online purchases.

Like lots of retailers, Walmart has previously let customers order goods online and pick them up at the store, but the process requires going to the service desk or otherwise dealing with humans who may or may not be able to find your order.

This is what happened to Robert of Monterey Park, Calif., who described his experience with a Walmart.com order:

"I ordered an item online from site to store pick up on 9/8/12 and paid $38.06. On 9/13 I got an email that my item was ready. When I went to Walmart the girl went to pull my order and checked twice. She said she couldnt find it," Robert said. "No apology or effort was made to get me my item, not even a shipment to my home." 

Of course, Walmart also ships orders to customers, opening them up to the same type of problem Asia encountered.

"I ordered checks through Walmartchecks.com and had them sent overnight delivery," said Christa of Knoxville, Tenn. "They were supposed to be delivered by the 19th, which was yesterday. When 7pm rolled around and I still had not seen a delivery person, I contacted Walmart for the tracking info. They told me that the checks were marked as delivered on Friday the 16th at 9:38 in the morning.

"I immediately called UPS to find out what was going on. I was at home all day on Friday and nothing was delivered by UPS. After a bit of research, it was found out that the delivery driver left them on the doorstep of someone else's house! That particular house happens to be up for sale and I have been unable to reach the owner," she said. "The package is not where it was supposedly left...so now, some stranger has access to my bank account information."

While these isolated examples may sound extreme, they're actually quite common and are a major deterrant to online shopping for many consumers.

Walmart remains the nation's largest retailer with sales last year of $466 billion. It  says it is on track to break $9 billion in online sales this year, compared to Amazon's $61 billion last year.  If either online giant can solve the home-delivery problem definitively, it should give it a big step up.

Walmart is trying out a new way of luring grocery shoppers to its stores. It's asking consumers to send a photo of their latest grocery receipt from a competing store.

In return, Walmart says it will analyze the purchases and compare the price the consumer paid to what he or she would have paid for the same items at Walmart.

The promotion is currently being offered in Chicago, Atlanta and Albuquerque, N.M.  Walmart isn't saying if it will be expanded but if it's successful, it's a good bet it will spread to other cities.

Expressing confidence in the results, the discount giant is suggesting consumers post the results on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. 

The receipt comparison tool is reportedly an extension of a five-month print and broadcast ad campaign featuring real shoppers and actual receipts that challenges consumers to bring their receipts into Wal-Mart to see for themselves how much money they could have saved, Supermarket News reported.

Inventory matters

The price comparison app could be nifty if it works but Milton of Manassas, Va., thinks Walmart needs to pay more attention to keeping popular items in stock.

"The Walmart in Manassas Mall is the only store to stock UPC #60538800293, item #815156. Why do the other stores not stock this item? I have been to the store five times and the shelf is empty. Why? There are 24 on regular order and 96 ordered last week. Where are the cans of cat food?" Milton asked in a recent posting to ConsumerAffairs.

"It appears that the small cans keep coming in and the store has plenty on the shelf, but why should I pay $.47 for a small can when you are supposed to stock the large can for $.70? Come on, let's keep the shelves stocked. I know for a fact that the manager ordered 96 cans last week because I was standing next to him," Milton said.

In an effort to give non-credit and debit card holders an equal chance to buy products online, Walmart has created a new way for their customers to make purchases.

Here’s how it works: Customers can go to Walmart.com, place an online order, then pay with cash at any Walmart store, after receiving an email and presenting their order number to a cashier 48 hours after purchase.

Since the online store theoretically has a wider range of products than the physical store, customers who typically make their purchases with cash, will have the same access to products as their plastic carrying counterparts.

“Many of our customers shop paycheck to paycheck and are looking for more ways to purchase items online but don’t have the means to a credit, debit or prepaid card,” Joel Anderson, president and CEO of Walmart.com, said in a press release.

“Our new ‘Pay with Cash’ offering is designed just for them.  It makes it easier for our customers to shop the way they want, where they have access to a broader product selection at Walmart.com coupled with the convenience of payment and shipping as they want,” he said.

Underbanked