Walmart News
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 competit...
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 C...
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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.
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 sy...
This past year was a rough one for American retailers. The competition from online channels, in particular Amazon, hit them where it hurt.
By the end of 2016, Macy's had announced the closing of 68 more stores. Sears announced it was closing 140 Sears and Kmart stores. Just this week, American Apparel stepped up the process of closing its stores and laying off workers in the wake of its bankruptcy.
But despite this trend, Walmart, the nation's largest retailer, is moving ...
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."
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 viol...
If you're a Walmart MoneyCard holder, watch out: it appears the hacking problem we uncovered last September is still going on.
Five months ago, we started hearing from readers all over America who had almost exactly the same complaint: “The balance on my MoneyCard suddenly dropped to zero, after somebody spent that money at a Target store in New York City.”
On the bright side, it does appear that Walmart's policy is to refund hacked MoneyCard balances (provide...
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 Dise...
Retail companies, many facing declining sales at brick and mortar locations, have been clambering to claim their piece of the online retail space, and now it seems that Walmart is gaining some ground.
The New York Times reports that the company saw a 63% jump in online sales during the past quarter, a possible sign that it is making progress towards sustainable growth that could make it a better competitor against online giant Amazon.com.
“This is extraordinary growth, an...
UPDATE, Oct. 15: Walmart and Green Dot have responded; their statements are at the end of this article.
Something criminally strange seems to be going on with Walmart MoneyCards, especially in New York City and its immediate suburbs, though any MoneyCard holder in America is apparently at risk.
Ever since September 2013, ConsumerAffairs has had sudden, periodic bursts of readers contacting us with very similar-sounding complaints: people from all over the United Stat...
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 P...
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.
Greg Foran, CEO of Walmart U.S., says the company is making the leap with the aid of new technology. He says w...
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 acco...
Earlier this year, Walmart rolled out free two-day shipping with no membership fee in an effort to compete with the Prime service offered by its rival Amazon.
Now, the retail giant is once again striving to improve the customer experience by adding several new capabilities to its mobile app. Walmart’s updated app promises to “create a faster, easier, and more convenient experience for pharmacy and money services customers.”
Shoppers looking to expedite the in-store shoppi...
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, ei...
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 transp...
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 includ...
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 wi...