When the Goal is a Low Price

My shopping trip to Walmart the other day was a comedy of errors....or perhaps just incompetence.  Like the majority, I shop at Walmart for the low prices; however, shouldn't that include at least some semblance of customer service?  And is customer service even taught?  Or perhaps this segment of the job is overlooked when the main goal is to provide inexpensive products.

On Thursday the kids and I were looking over the electronic department - new laptop for Jordan and new phone for Sam.  We found the laptop but we couldn't locate the right phone.  We asked the nearest clerk if they had XX phone - the product was on display but no actual phones were nearby.  She looked and said "Nope, we don't have any."  I asked if the other local Walmart may have them.  She said "I don't know."  And that's where it would have stayed until I said "Uh, could ya check?"  Begrudgingly, she went to the phone and called the other store to see if they had the phone, which they did.

After paying for the laptop, we made our way over to the second Walmart.  Back to the electronics department, which was completely empty.  We found the phones and then needed someone to unlock them for purchase.  We coughed.  We said "Hello??!!"  We yelled "Help Needed.  Ding Dong.  Toodle Yoo."   All we heard was an echo.  We finally saw a clerk wandering the other direction; we snagged her and she tracked down someone else to help us.

Chris, who either hadn't slept the night before or was on a Quaalude, unlocked the phones then proceeded to ring us up.  Uh oh, a mistake was made so the customer service supervisor had to personally come back, insert a key to the register, and accept the void.  This took about 15 minutes of wait time, during which Chris muttered "Uh, we are busy up front."  Finally, we paid for our electronics then, after hitting the grocery section, we proceeded to the front of the store to pay for our basket of goods.

It was obvious this wasn't Christmas anymore.  There were four self-serve registers open along with one regular register.  I hate self-serve registers but the line was too long at the single cashier-manned register so I begrudgingly lined up to perform my own cashier duties.  Unfortunately, the fourth item we scanned entered a wrong price, which would force us to wait for another customer service supervisor to fix it.  No way was I going to subject myself to that again.  We bundled up our goods back to the cart and made our way to the regular register.  The Walmart powers that be finally opened up another register so our wait was not too long. 

We emptied our cart onto the conveyor belt, placing the plastic bar after our pile of goods.  As I entered my debit card to the machine, the cashier rang up my goods.  Suddenly, she said "Thank you, have a nice day" which seemed entirely too fast for the number of purchases on the conveyor belt.  I looked at my items and saw she hadn't even finished ringing up my items.  I said "Uh, there's the rest of my stuff" and she became flustered, apologizing for not even realizing the rest of the items were mine.  Um, no plastic bar was in the way, no other indication showed that the items were not mine.  So I had to endure another transaction.  It was simply all too much for a customer to endure!!!


I've always been a big believer in "delighting the customer", which means going above and beyond in order to make a customer (or employee) happy.  Obviously this isn't the case with Walmart.  I wondered what beliefs and culture Walmart desired to be instilled into their employees regarding customer service.

Reviewing their corporate website, the following was outlined as their "purpose":


What We Do - Saving people money to help them live better was the goal that Sam Walton envisioned when he opened the doors to the first Walmart. It’s the focus that underlies everything we do at Walmart. And for the millions of customers who shop in our stores and clubs around the world each week, it means a lot.


Hmmm, so the main goal for Walmart and the purpose that outlines everything they do is to "save people money."  I wondered if they had goals for customer service and found the following:


3 Basic Beliefs & Values - Three simple things that make us great.  Our unique culture has helped make Walmart one of the world’s most admired companies. Since Sam Walton opened the first Walmart in 1962, our culture has rested on three basic beliefs. We live out these beliefs every day in the way we serve our customers and each other.


1. Respect for the Individual
2. Service to our Customers - Our customers are the reason we’re in business, so we should treat them that way. We offer quality merchandise at the lowest prices, and we do it with the best customer service possible. We look for every opportunity where we can exceed our customers’ expectations. That’s when we’re at our very best.
3. Striving for Excellence


So it appears that while saving people money, they also want to provide the best customer service "possible."  Perhaps what is possible is ineffective.  Perhaps who is being hired is the best possible and they simply do not have the intellectual capability to exceed customers' expectations.  And as long as the prices are low, it shouldn't make a difference.  Or should it?  In saving people money, they are also paying entry-level wages in order to save money on that end thus negating the ability to provide customers with merchandise expertise.


The bottom line is you get what you pay for.  If I'm looking for bottom dollar, it is only my fault, and not the Walmart staff, that I receive poor customer service.  Because Walmart's main goal, the top mission, the vision statement for their purpose of being in business, is to "save people money."  If I accept that goal, I must also accept the trade-off of poor customer service.  If I want customer service, I need to find that elsewhere.

At least now I have the understanding to not expect customer service when I shop at Walmart.  And to realize it is only my fault if I have the misinformed belief that this is why they employ people there - it's not.  It's to save me money in every way possible.  Knowing this fact will ensure that my future trips to Walmart will be more relaxing because I'll know the truth ahead of time and have no false expectations.  I need to believe what they tell me.  I also need to accept that my time is not valued - if it takes longer to achieve that lower price, so be it because that is the end goal.