First Aid Walmartized

[TommyK]

I stood up from a park bench and a protruding nail / splinter scraped my leg. It is a 7" scratch, Too long to bandage, but not bad. It is a bit red, but not bad. I decided to put some iodine on it. Went to the medicine cabinet.. no iodine. So my next trip to town I determined to purchase a small bottle of the once ubiquitous antiseptic. 4 stores and NO IODINE! . Not even merthiolate or mercurichrome. Most had this 'mercuriclear', so I bought it. It's a clear liquid (God forbid your skin should get stained). I cannot hardly see that any has gotten to the right spot. Did not seem to do much good. The bottle reveals it is mostly a lidocane like pain reliever.

 

WallMutts had iodine, but it was in a pint bottle and no applicator. What the devil am I supposed to do with that huge amount? (walmartized! )

 

I'm going to go to a REAL pharmacy. Maybe they still have a medicine cabinet sized bottle of the good stuff.

 

Has the recent hurricane scare caused a run on iodine for water purification purposes?

[EVOL!]

Dude, times have changed. We now have indoor plumbing, electricity, and this stuff called hydrogen peroxide. You can also use this stuff they sell in plastic bottles labeled rubbing alcohol. They make different concentrations depending on how strong you need it.

[GibsonAlmighty]

Amputation is the sure remedy.

[NeoConMan]

Eat lots and lots of shrimp!

 

[Artie Owl]

Wait, so this is an Anti-Wal-Mart thread and they were the store that actually had what you were looking for? Just too much of it?

...

okay.

[NeoConMan]

They call it "family size" but the more common size at Sams Club is called "economy size."

 

Might need a forklift.

They will load it for you.

 

Seriously.

[TommyK]

Wait, so this is an Anti-Wal-Mart thread and they were the store that actually had what you were looking for? Just too much of it?

...

okay.

 

No, they didn't have what I wanted. I wanted a small bottle of iodine with convenient applicator for home use. Not an Iodine bottle for institutional use. What am I gonna do with a pint of iodine?

[ShredAstaire]

Applicator? We always used Q-tips back in the day....

 

*May be sold separately. :)

[Jantha]

Mercurichrome! Man, I haven't used that stuff in years.. that brings back memories.

[Artie Owl]

No, they didn't have what I wanted. I wanted a small bottle of iodine with convenient applicator for home use. Not an Iodine bottle for institutional use. What am I gonna do with a pint of iodine?

There's always a next time I suppose, unless you don't plan on getting cut again.

 

Does that stuff even have an expiration date?

[G McBride]

If you want it to burn just pour on the alcohol. Then take some internally just in case some of those germs are already inside of youl

[TommyK]

The applicator is, essentially, a glass (probably plastic now) swizzle stick affixed to the lid.

 

I did find exactly what I wanted at an Osco Drug store. 1 oz Iodine tincture. It has a four year shelf life.

 

There in lies the frustration of being forced (if you fail to shop around) to buy a BIG container. They wanted $6 for this big bottle, 99% of which would have to be disposed of 4 years from now. The Mercuriclear was $3.00 for a 1 oz bottle, the 1 oz bottle of Iodine is $1.49. I needed two bottles, so I now have the clear stuff and the real stuff. One for the house, one for the shop. Should we be struck with some natural disaster, the iodine can also be used to purify water. The Mercuriclear... not so much.

 

I rarely go into WalMutts, but my wife was after something else, so I went with. While there I thought I'd get the Iodine, and the rest is history.

[Artie Owl]

I getcha TommyK, my grandfather used to call Wal-Mart, "China Town". He hated the idea of buying crap from there. I wrote a paper on the effects of Wal-Mart on big businesses even and how they destroy jobs etc, but it's a double edged sword, because they're charging less for the same cheap chinese stuff that other businesses are charging more for. It's a hard consumer cycle to break. I respect your view point on trying to find exactly what you want though

[NeoConMan]

I do most of my shopping there for household stuff and the majority of our groceries.

Oil, filters for my trucks.

 

I shop labels with a vengeance, avoid Chinese crap when I can.

 

I still believe that Sam Walton is the darling of the entrepreneurial spirit.

ANYBODY who starts their own business can learn from them - and McDonalds.

 

But fashion is fickle - as are most Americans.

K-Mart went bankrupt, how's THAT a good thing?

And somehow shopping at Target makes you cool?

Wait - gotta go to the mall!!!

 

 

 

 

 

How many years has it been since I set foot (don't remember why) in a mall?

[Kimbabig]

Ever hear the joke of the woman who asked for a bag of salt there and they gave her Lot's wife?

[NeoConMan]

Heh, heh, heh...

 

[TommyK]

I got a lot of respect for Sam Walton, but since the old man died, the kids have been taking the business in a new direction. Our nearby 40K town supported both a K-Mart and a Wal-Mart. WM usually was a couple pennies under KM. Then when hard times hit and KM shuttered the place WM took down their "Guaranteed low prices" signs and replaced them with "Low Prices Every Day". I mean this happened while the KM OUT OF BUSINESS signs were still wet.

 

Prices at WM went up. As they were then the only big box 'discount' store in town, they are no longer the low price leader in town. My wife is a price shopper to the n'th degree. She can tell you how much everything in our home cost us and how much it will cost to replace, from baked beans to tidy whitey undies. I don't even remember how much I paid for coffee this morning!

 

Before KM was run out of town, we spent fully 60% of our food budget at WM, the rest was at Aldi. You couldn't hardly beat WM prices, except for what Aldi carries. Time was, half of the checks in our check book were written to WM. Now? WM gets less than 1% of our food dollar, if that much, and precious little else. We shop Aldi as before and the stuff we can't get there comes from Jewell foods. That's right a bona fide groceries only store with union workers. Their food is as cheap or cheaper than WM and better quality. Clothing and other dry goods are purchased at Farm and Fleet and other local stores. And.. we save money.

 

To give you an idea how often I enter WM, Every time I enter the place I have to ask for what I want, as they have remodeled and moved stuff since the last time I was inside.

 

Target has since built a big box across the street, but they seem to carry a different line of stuff, better quality, I guess, and cater to a different clientele. Their food? Sky High! Believe it or not, their store brand items are higher than name brand.... go figure... They're awful proud of their store brand. That, and they have inventory control down to a science.

 

Personally, I think the Walton kids are slowly running the old man's business into the ground. It may take a decade or two, but WM may go the way of Hornsby's and Coast-to-Coast.

 

 

Yup, malls are on the wane. The darling of the retail industry in the 60's and 70's, they were breeding like rabbits. Now? The malls stores are gravitating towards strip malls and scatter malls. Scatter malls, my term, are a dozen or more stores around a parking lot, but not necessarily at the edges. There's usually an anchor big-box store or two, and boutique specialty shops and restaurants in various buildings.

 

I've heard that retailers are becoming les enamored with all-under-one-roof shopping due to either the expense of maintaining and heating common areas (mall) and parents treat malls as teenager baby sitters. They drop the kids off in the morning and pick them up after work. Kids get bored after a few days and many tend to resort to shop lifting and vandalism to pass the time, not to mention gang activity. Not having a place to keep warm and 'roost' outside the stores in open air tends to drive the loiterers away.

[Artie Owl]

Moving stuff around is an annoying but simple sales tactic to keep you walking around.

 

In grocery stores they actually use small, or generally smaller tiles than the rest so the clicking of the wheels on the ground speeds up, makes your brain think you're walking faster and you slow down. They do this in the isles with the expensive stuff. And do you think the cereal with the prize inside is 4 feet off the floor by accident? That's perfect placement for the young'uns. Scary stuff.

[ksdaddy]

WalMart came to town in '92. We built a big (by our standards) mall in '93, not far from WalMart. At that time the Canadian dollar was very strong and we got a metric assload of New Brunswick customers. Then the Loonie went loonie and business dropped off. The mall is pretty much a ghost town now. There's only two anchor stores left, KMart and Sears, and I don't know how either is hanging on. I have no idea what's inside the mall now... I don't go in there. Too depressing.

 

WalMart is jam packed, all the time. It's like "the" place to shop. We do 60-70% of our grocery shopping there. We don't buy much else there though. Cheesy junk clothes. Not that I'm a fashion plate but I want my clothes to fit well and be durable, and WalMart clothes do neither. We used to buy the kids' school supplies there but God help you if you need a set of book covers in November... they've put them away already.... no soup for you!

 

I have noticed that as time goes on, WalMart has fewer and fewer items. 10 years ago the stereo/electronics/phone dept was several very tall rows. Now they are arranged in little islands that are about 4 feet tall. And shoes? Feh! I should be so lucky to find a pair of ANYTHING in a 12W.

 

It's almost like they roll out the seasonal stuff and people jump on it like it's nicotine laced Tim Horton's coffee, and they almost GIVE the stuff away at the door. But on other things, they actually have much fewer items and not always at the best prices.

 

If KMart closes, I fear WalMart's prices will shoot up. We have nothing else comparable. I try to give KMart a little business once in a while but it's kinda like giving a sandwich and a Bible to a wino; you're not really going to help matters.

[TommyK]

Moving stuff around is an annoying but simple sales tactic to keep you walking around.

 

In grocery stores they actually use small, or generally smaller tiles than the rest so the clicking of the wheels on the ground speeds up, makes your brain think you're walking faster and you slow down. They do this in the isles with the expensive stuff. And do you think the cereal with the prize inside is 4 feet off the floor by accident? That's perfect placement for the young'uns. Scary stuff.

 

Yup.

 

What is scary is that about 5 years ago, WalMutts had one of those middle of the aisle, cardboard displays shelves like you see with cheap videos in them. You know what they had at the 4' and under shelving unit? Cigarettes.. It is beyond me that no one in WalMutts management saw the flaw in this design. Took the local Jean-de-arms about a week to make them take it down.

 

Milk is ALWAYS in the back of the store. That way you have to walk past the most goods on your way. It's a product placement thing. That and Candy that is placed in the lower third of the shelves which line the check out lanes.

 

Be firm, tell your kids, "No" and they will have better control of themselves when they grow older.

[ShredAstaire]

It's almost like they roll out the seasonal stuff and people jump on it like it's nicotine laced Tim Horton's coffee,

 

 

LOL! Nice Canadian reference!!!!

[NeoConMan]

I got a lot of respect for Sam Walton

... took down their "Guaranteed low prices" signs and replaced them with "Low Prices Every Day".

Target has since built a big box across the street

Walton kids are slowly running the old man's business into the ground.

Scatter malls, my term, are a dozen or more stores around a parking lot

I'm not a fan of the Walton kids and their business model, but when EVERYBODY is on your heels you get tough.

Remember when Wal-Mart used to advertise "Made in America"?

 

Target sucks - a "high-end" Wal-Mart with stupid prices?

They have a few loss-leaders they advertise, but look closely and you'll find some stuff is astronomical.

(Exhibit A - 13 plastic clothes hangers for 87 cents, at Target the identical product was 3 in a pack for $3.97. That's 19 times the price, and hundreds of times the profit margin!)

 

Scatter malls are the Rule of Retail here in AZ.

6 months of the year, we have highs of 100 degrees plus - that's 38 degrees for you Celsius cats.

So you're marching around on hot asphalt, after parking in a stupid lot with dinky spaces.

No more long rows in the lots - to keep speeds down - so you can't get there from here...

Seriously, the lots here are like f-ing gerbil Habitrails - good luck getting out!

[yoda]

Rub dirt on it, and walk it off!

[badbluesplayer]

They use stuff called Betadine now. Looks like iodine - probably is. Get ya a bottle and keep it handy.