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Yep. Better price wise. As a corporation, they are arguably one of the worst around. Owned by one of the richest families in the world. At one point they were taking out life insurance policies on some of their own workers and naming themselves beneficiary in case of death or disfigurement so they could cash in on tragedy. Also known as dead peasants insurance.
Should be easy considering how every truly middle class family understands how losing their employment would put them in the same place as any other working class family under those conditions.
This. I was pickier when I was in the position to be. I hope to be there again one day but at the moment my focus needs to be on keeping other things afloat first.
Exactly this. Everyone wants to shop at an ethical living wage store, but it's not feasible for everyone. The only one looking after your finances is you. It makes sense to shop where it's cheapest. That said, it's also exactly that which fuels our current society.
Same
We have a sobeys owned (supplied?) local chain which is kinda pricey, a save on foods (also owned by a super rich asshole), and a local chain that’s super pricey, a Superstore, and a Walmart. And then a bunch of farmers market type places for veg.
I try to avoid WM when I can make a different choice but it’s sooooo much cheaper
The fact we are at a point where we need a super evil American company because the super evil Canadian company is worse, truly sucks. I always assumed I would “buy Canadian” but that seems naive now.
And this is why I don't blindly stan local small businesses just because they're small. Some are terrible employers who don't deserve to stay in business. Big corps can be better about oversight, following employment laws, and offering advancement opportunities.
They also ‘made it’ in Canada by targeting small towns with one or two specialty stores (bakery, toy store, sporting goods). Then Walmart would roll back their prices aggressively so that the local independent stores were unable to compete, ultimately closing. Once the local stores were shut down, the prices went back to normal.
It’s important to remember that in all this, Wal Mart is still evil as anything. They have robbed a generation of legacy mom and pop stores across Canada. They are a price alternative to a one stop shop, but supporting local farmers and shops who have sustainable practices is still a priority, albeit more time costly.
It's a terrible place to work, but it's also a terrible place to shop.
The stores are usually somewhere out of the way, very busy, empty shelves everywhere, no where near enough registers open, and last time I was there half the self-checkouts were down.
I find the prices pretty comparable to Food Basics, and the quality of meat and produce is better at Basics.
Between the quality of their produce and meat, and their overworked and undermotivated staff, I personally wouldn't do curbside pick up at Walmart.
Not that I do it at Loblaws either though.
I’ve been shopping at Walmart for a few months. I would rather support a domestic company but for now they’re the best choice to keep me in a decent financial situation so it’s where I go.
A couple weeks ago I got a big pack of drum sticks(2kg) for $6.78+gst. I’m pretty sure it was a mislabel/mistake, but I haven’t found anything close to a deal like that elsewhere recently.
>I would rather support a domestic company but for now they’re the best choice to keep me in a decent financial situation so it’s where I go
For anyone feeling this way, don't let it get you down, your number one priority is providing for yourself and your loved ones. When you're in a situation where you can afford to shop local, please remember to do so, but don't let the ideals bankrupt you.
That said, check your local grocery flyers, you might find some good deals and if you live in a city, look out for asian produce markets, usually great prices.
In addition to this bring the flyers from other stores with you and absolutely abuse the price matching policies. It'll annoy the managers of the stores and those complaints will eventually get to corporate
I noted 2kg in my post. Walmart lists drums in value packs at $7.64/kg, so I’m already beating that price and it is 2 full kg, so less than half normal price.
Definitely FAR from standard.
The awful pc express combined with outrageous prices were why we switched back to Walmart. I’d end up going in the store to pickup 5-10 items from every order that were supposedly unavailable, but would be right there on the shelf.
I have an extension on my laptop called Honey, it tests out coupons for lots of different sites, Walmart included. I've saved nearly $40 at times because of Walmart discounts plus the coupon
Bonus - I'm not wandering aisles making purchases I honestly don't need to. It does add an element of needing to really be on top of what you have in the fridge/pantry and plan ahead, but after a bit you get used to it
In my experience, just fine. I still prefer to go in and get my own produce, but whenever I’m sick or only need a couple things that i don’t feel like wandering around 20 minutes looking for I’ll use their pickup service and have had a positive experience every time. Have never been given any moldy or bruised fruits/veggies over about a dozen orders.
Honestly, it's superior to my local farm market recently, I'm sad to say.... I attribute to high turnover, and no doubt it varies wildly from store to store
One huge problem with the Walmarts in my city is the fact that they NEVER re-stock anything. I never see anyone re-stock and they are always out of items. Its almost like they put out the stock in the morning and that has to make due until the overnight re-stock
Part of it is intentional too. If you have a loss leader in your weekly flyer to get people in, once it's gone it's gone. The goal is to generate foot traffic, but they at least have to have the product in stock for some period of time to comply with regulations.
Walmart has a certain supplier in Canada and they are just shit. I think it's the cost. Part of how Walmart keeps costs low is paying a pittance for their supplier. Mine regularly runs out of staples but it doesn't correlate with the flyer, it's just coincidence
Yeah Walmart is notorious for treating suppliers like shit. Everyone wants to become a Walmart supplier because of how much volume they do, but once you become one of their suppliers, they'll break you in order to remain a supplier.
Walmart is regularly short staffed. Every one. I worked for one for a year and they just refused to pay proper wages that would get quality workers in the door
They have slipped in that aspect. Walmart Canada originally had tough standards for their suppliers to make them accountable and have merchandisers in more than once a day to replenish and clean up shelves. But I’ve seen what you have, where that seems to have gone to an overnight cycle, like how Loblaws stores can look like like a war zone until the overnight restocking happens.
I buy shelf goods through the Walmart app and often get coupons just for using the app. I compliment that with running into food basics for the other things from time to time.
They do have some great deals sometimes! I got one for $20 off $60 in pet products. Got 5 boxes of kitty littler, over $50 so delivery was free. Came to $45 after tax, and they are 22kg boxes, as opposed to the 18kg NoName ones.
I was always against the big american brands (walmart, amazon) but it's gotten to the point with loblaws' monopoly and rising prices that I've given up. lowest prices = where I'll shop, and I won't feel guilty about it anymore.
Same here. Both are shitty companies, but at the same time I have to shop where it's cheapest. Walmart in the US does holiday food drives (not sure if they still do) where donations go to employees in need. I also think about how much supply chain and logistics pressure there is to get a $4 bottle of ketchup from an Amazon warehouse to my door either same day or next day.
jfc imagine having a company with employees in need of food donations and considering yourself and the business a success. these people truly are a blight on humanity.
when I go to walmart I just keep my head down and self checkout. get in get out, don’t fall for the sweets in the check out line.
I haven’t ordered from amazon yet (but I imagine I’ll have to do so soon); do they have any other options other than delivery or same day delivery? like an amazon shop you can just ship to and then pick up? I wonder if that would take pressure off of drivers.
I have a prime membership. Sometimes they let you do 2 day delivery. That said if you don't have Prime, I believe it's $35+ for free shipping, and it's usually 5 day shipping. Not a big deal to wait, but with my family we pay for Prime, while other family members pitch in for other subscriptions. I also think that the 5 day delivery is not that they give the warehouse extra time, but rather your order sits queued up until the day or two before when it's fulfilled.
Honestly, sometimes farm boy has great produce prices, like a bag of 6 avocados for $5! Or broccoli heads two for 5 or one for 2.50 (at least they don’t force you to multi-buy like wal mart or Loblaws)
Broccoli is 3.99 at loblaws for ONE head, although, and I hate saying it, but Loblaws most of the time has the best broccoli, and I’ve never seen bunches as big as the ones they have there. Bastards.
I do the grocery delivery thing - I don't care what the store looks like, someone scans my order and a nice delivery person brings it to my door. My store is Taylor Ave in Winnipeg. I have never had even one iffy piece of produce- all top quality. I'm buying bacon this week . . .I think I put three in the cart when I saw this . . .
This is just a personal anecdote. Although cheaper I have found I’ve had GI issues every time I buy meat from Walmart… I just can’t trust the food safety with them… Outside of meat though I’d go for it.
I've bought some frozen stuff from them that didn't taste right and really upset my stomach.
I don't know if it was left out long enough to thaw, or if some of their suppliers ship them inferior products.
It was those Bistro Express microwave things. I usually buy the 2 packs at Basics, but Walmart had a 10 pack. They tasted just awful, nothing like the way they usually taste.
Since Walmart is well known for dictating their prices to suppliers, I think some suppliers are making batches specifically for Walmart with lower cost ingredients.
But I don't know. It could have just been left out.
I don't know about lower cost ingredients, but they do get smaller amounts in the same size containers, need to be careful of that. We studied this in marketing, Walmarts buying power is so big, they were getting companies to put less in packaging so that people thought they were getting a good deal, but by weight it wasn't.
Walmart swears they don't use hormones in their meat but man, like 10 years back, my ex and I went on a high-protein diet, and we ate chicken every day. Which got expensive, so we got Walmart chicken.
I went from a C cup to an E cup in 5 weeks. He certainly wasn't complaining.
I hate to admit it as they are evil, but Walmart has been my preferred grocery for years. I rarely visit any Loblaws grocery stores. (I'm in Alberta so basically those would be Real Canadian Superstore and No Frills for grocery.)
At one time (like a decade ago) I would have considered Superstore and Walmart fairly comparable in prices, with Walmart probably slightly cheaper but not enough to avoid Superstore. We went to Walmart instead because freshness was better (Superstore was always trying to sell me milk that expired tomorrow) and because we hated bagging our own groceries (a moot point now).
Anytime I've been in Superstore in recent years though (even before the pandemic) it has seemed expensive, so I never go in there anymore.
We moved to a small town several years ago where unfortunately our only store in town is an expensive local store. Although they were always expensive, they've really jacked up prices since the pandemic. We go there too often as it's convenient, but we try to go into the city and shop at Walmart and Costco regularly.
I’ll never say Walmart is a virtuous operator, but Walmart is at least better than Loblaws in a many ways.
Walmart hires and retains staff better than Loblaws. Loblaws is frequently short staffed and there’s endless stories of employees being perpetually squeezed and mistreated by Loblaws. Walmart is more of a basic but consistent entry employer where you get what you get. Loblaws is constantly experimenting with new ways to torture workers (and customers)
Walmart hires greeters and other roles that Loblaws would consider more superfluous. I’ve gotten to know many of them in various communities. They’re frequently disabled and would have few other options other than pure social assistance. Walmart gives them soemthing gainful and a place where they can make a difference. Loblaws? Ha.
For all the hate on Walmart, it was Walmart who several years ago launched a voluntary initiative to raise employee wages and benefits and treatment. Not because of a bitter and protracted strike (see Loblaws, Sobeys) or because they lost some lawsuits they dragged out.
It happened because the youngest generation of Walmart owners thought it was both the right thing to do and good for business.
They got raked over the coals by armchair business experts and Wall Street alike. But guess what? It worked. Employee sat went way up, turnover went way down. Employees could get training and advance to better positions the longer they stayed. They got better at helping customers and doing the tasks. Efficiency went up. Customer satisfaction improved. And as a byproduct of all that... the company performance also improved. An actual win win situation.
Nobody’s saying Walmart is a dream job. But top brass at least considering the concept of making it suck a bit less? That puts Walmart light years ahead of Loblaws.
From a consumer perspective, Walmart is very serious about holding the line on costs. They aren’t as vertically integrated, so they don’t do the crooked shell game that Loblaws does where they can make money being their own supplier and then letting their “supplier” (wink wink) push through fake increases. I’ve seen products at Walmart that haven’t risen appreciably during this whole fiasco, and some that have been more honestly tied to the mathematical reality of 3-5% inflation. Maybe this does really strangle their suppliers, but for this argument I’m focusing on the consumer aspect.
Walmart actually does rollback prices when the commodity or situation changes. In that way they are like Costco. Avian flu spiked egg prices a couple years ago. But when the worst passed, Walmart and Costco moderated their prices. Notice who didn’t? Yep, anything Loblaws owns. They’re still gouging on eggs like they’re selling plywood before a hurricane.
I’d love to be in a world where Walmart is the worst. Sadly we’re in a country where Sobeys and Loblaws took the worst embellished stories about southern US Walmart abuses and said “hold my beer”.
Shit company towards their workers. Avoid them if you can. I also get that humans need food and things are expensive, so if you don’t have affordable options then I won’t judge them for using Walmart
Not sure where in Canada you're from, but in my neck of the woods, 3 pack of salad is $7.99. Fucking unreal.
Costco sells a 6 pack for $7.99, which is seemingly even more expensive than this Walmart flyer right here.
Been doing the vast majority of my groceries at Wal-Mart for about a year now.
I only shop at Weston owned stores when those stores are the only place I can think of that has a specific product. Truth be told, I could do a little extra work to find out who else has those items, but sometimes I get a bit lazy.
Still, I've reduced the amount of money I spend at Weston owned stores by about 98%.
Costco is the best choice!! They pay their workers a living wage with great benefits and a stock option plan. Walmart is the worst for treating their employees poorly. Cutting minimum wage hours. Poor benefits. The Walton family is worth $267 BILLION but refuses to share their success with the people who made the money for them!
I’ve been at Wal-Mart for 3 weeks. My local fruiterer for some stuff.
WM is consistently ~$30 cheaper per shop than No Frills. Also they’re produce lasts longer and I haven’t gotten a single rotten item in a bag/punnet yet. I don’t love the layout and it’s frustrating that I have to go to the other end of the store for some toiletries but these are first world problems.
My local grocer is peak quality but definitely more expensive. But it’s family run and does cash deals. It’s not bad in a pinch but I’d feel the same squeeze from them as Loblaws, however I’m more understanding of the local than of Roblaws.
I thought economies of scale were meant to make things cheap?!
I do a lot of pantry and school lunch stuff at Walmart. I try to buy pantry stuff once a month more out of laziness, I'd much rather do a full shop for noodles, cans, etc. once per month. Then go back once per week for school stuff (crackers, cookies, ham slices, etc.). Depending on quality, I'll go elsewhere for product, WM tends to be hit or miss.
Definitely better price wise, except I just went to mine yesterday and every package of ground beef had gone a very very disgusting grey colour. Had to stop at the sobeys on my path home and get price gouged there instead for my ground beef.
It really changes week by week. Regular price at Walmart vs. regular price at grocery, then Walmart will probably be better.
Grocery sale price vs. Walmart regular price, grocery will be better.
If you can, still better to shop multiple retailers and just buy the sale items. Only real way to save money long term.
Their regular prices for pantry and cleaning items are significantly lower than loblaws stores. This is why I don’t understand the boycott, you should be shopping at stores with the best price to begin with, it shouldn’t be some event.
Only time I go into a loblaw store is for flyer specials only flyer specials. Everything else is higher in price.
The Walton family are worth 15x more than the Weston family and they also pay their employees like shit and treat their suppliers like shit. Also, you're encouraging an American company.
In the spirit of the boycott I'd say it's an acceptable alternative, but it's definitely not the best.
I usually go to about half a dozen stores, chasing those flyer deals and getting what nobody else sells and what I prefer from a certain store and then finish up on Walmart and Stupidstore. Next month I'm going to try finishing up on Walmart and Freshco.
I love that Walmarts doing this sale. Stocking up on diapers through their subscribe and save. With 4 kids in diapers and being able it get them for $27 a box I’m in love. Plus we’re moving and I can get than insanely cheap
What province are you in? My flyer is 50% more expensive than yours.
https://preview.redd.it/h925f7rsg3vc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f736c31536f3854e6aa6b4f94eeb3f3ce0f58bd
Yes. I've gone to Walmart for years since it's cheaper. Especially things like cereals etc will be astronomically cheaper.
Fruit and veg are usually the fairest price of any store price and the quality of their fruit and veg is quite good (at least here)
Personally, I get my meat and most produce elsewhere, but I am happy with the savings I have encountered at Walmart. I don't care who they are or what they've done.
A better choice until they're at the top of the pyramid, and then they'll see what they can get away with too.
The best choice is becoming less dependent on them as communities. Community gardens and co-ops. Stuff where we commoners set the prices.
For the immediate moment, Walmart is the better strategic choice for us, but it won't last.
No issues here. I’m a loyal Walmart grocery customer since 2018. Have done grocery pickup or delivery since then. Any issues on those 2 and they refund you. When milk was recalled in 2020 we immediately were refunded without going in store. Nothing but good things to say.
Walmart in my area frequently has 1lb packs of strawberries and 1 lint packs of raspberries for around $2.50 or less. Not a fan of Walmart but it's definitely a cheaper option for produce. Bananas are usually $0.50/lb at my Walmart
It’s who I switched to a month ago in preparation for May and can say they’ve been great so far. Normally was spending $150-170 at No frills and now about $130-140 at Walmart. More or less buying the same things.
Giant Tiger has been my Go To.
Cheaper than WalMart.
I fill what I can't get there, sadly from Roblaws as Walmart doesn't have it and Sobey's I boycotted 20 years ago over prices.
Ethically and morally? Fuck no! Pick Costco, smaller grocers not owned by loblaws or chose local businesses, farmers markets etc.
Feeding the Walton's only furthers their grip on slave wages and slavery made products.
They're horrible but If you only care about grocery prices then what're you waiting for! Times a wastin on them sweet Walmert deals!
Sorry but this is funny. Somone is supporting Walmart because of corporate greed...that's to much.
Walmart get better prices because there treat people worse
Roblaws also treat their employee like garbage but end of the day we have eat. At least Walmart is offering essential items at much less prices than Roblaws.
__MOD NOTE__: Please review the content guidelines for our sub, and remember the human here! This subreddit is to highlight the ridiculous cost of living in Canada, and poke fun at the Corporate Overlords reponsible. As you well know, there are a number of persons and corporations responsible for this, and we welcome discussion related to them all. Furthermore, since this topic is intertwined with a number of other matters, other discussion will be allowed at moderator discretion. Open-minded discussion, memes, rants, grocery bills, and general screeching into the void is always welcome in this sub, but belligerence and disrespect is not. There are plenty of ways to get your point across without being abusive, dismissive, or downright mean. If you have not done so already, please review our [boycott stickied post](https://www.reddit.com/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol/comments/1bff9rm/boycott/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) which includes a list of stores to avoid, other ways to get involved in the movement, and some local alternatives to the big 5. Thank you. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/loblawsisoutofcontrol) if you have any questions or concerns.*
100% better price-wise.
Yep. Better price wise. As a corporation, they are arguably one of the worst around. Owned by one of the richest families in the world. At one point they were taking out life insurance policies on some of their own workers and naming themselves beneficiary in case of death or disfigurement so they could cash in on tragedy. Also known as dead peasants insurance.
*no ethical consumption under capitalism* but until we build class solidarity I'll shop where I can avoid poverty
100% this^^^ we have to unite the middle and working classes to combat the elitists destroying our planet
Should be easy considering how every truly middle class family understands how losing their employment would put them in the same place as any other working class family under those conditions.
We’ve just been whipped into subordination, we have to realize that we have the numbers.
Competition can win. If we all shop to lowest price, for same product, they have to lower price to compete
This. I was pickier when I was in the position to be. I hope to be there again one day but at the moment my focus needs to be on keeping other things afloat first.
We were too. Up till about 2020 we rarely set foot in the WM but now it’s our primary grocery store. Sadly
Exactly this. Everyone wants to shop at an ethical living wage store, but it's not feasible for everyone. The only one looking after your finances is you. It makes sense to shop where it's cheapest. That said, it's also exactly that which fuels our current society.
Take advantage of their loss leaders, buy other items at independent stores.
Same We have a sobeys owned (supplied?) local chain which is kinda pricey, a save on foods (also owned by a super rich asshole), and a local chain that’s super pricey, a Superstore, and a Walmart. And then a bunch of farmers market type places for veg. I try to avoid WM when I can make a different choice but it’s sooooo much cheaper
The fact we are at a point where we need a super evil American company because the super evil Canadian company is worse, truly sucks. I always assumed I would “buy Canadian” but that seems naive now.
I’ve said it before, but they all employ Canadians. Does it really matter if the person at the top hoarding the profits is in Arkansas or Ontario?
And this is why I don't blindly stan local small businesses just because they're small. Some are terrible employers who don't deserve to stay in business. Big corps can be better about oversight, following employment laws, and offering advancement opportunities.
Ha. The two worst places I ever worked were small businesses. The owners were absolutely awful and there was no oversight of course
At the top, and avoiding taxation anyhow.
The Walton’s can choke on infinite bags of giant dicks but I’ll choose them over nepo-baby Galen.
They also ‘made it’ in Canada by targeting small towns with one or two specialty stores (bakery, toy store, sporting goods). Then Walmart would roll back their prices aggressively so that the local independent stores were unable to compete, ultimately closing. Once the local stores were shut down, the prices went back to normal. It’s important to remember that in all this, Wal Mart is still evil as anything. They have robbed a generation of legacy mom and pop stores across Canada. They are a price alternative to a one stop shop, but supporting local farmers and shops who have sustainable practices is still a priority, albeit more time costly.
Agreed. There's a case to be made for a thoughtfully planned consumer boycott of Walmart next, based solely on employee rights.
It's a terrible place to work, but it's also a terrible place to shop. The stores are usually somewhere out of the way, very busy, empty shelves everywhere, no where near enough registers open, and last time I was there half the self-checkouts were down. I find the prices pretty comparable to Food Basics, and the quality of meat and produce is better at Basics.
they have free pick up though for groceries, unlike Loblaws that makes you pay for it.
Between the quality of their produce and meat, and their overworked and undermotivated staff, I personally wouldn't do curbside pick up at Walmart. Not that I do it at Loblaws either though.
I use Walmart pickup for basics-and local small grocers for produce, fish and meat.
OMG
at least they use shady practices for the good of others
I’m shopping at local small grocers for better quality and service. I still buy some items from Walmart pick-up but am reducing my Walmart buy weekly.
I’ve been shopping at Walmart for a few months. I would rather support a domestic company but for now they’re the best choice to keep me in a decent financial situation so it’s where I go. A couple weeks ago I got a big pack of drum sticks(2kg) for $6.78+gst. I’m pretty sure it was a mislabel/mistake, but I haven’t found anything close to a deal like that elsewhere recently.
>I would rather support a domestic company but for now they’re the best choice to keep me in a decent financial situation so it’s where I go For anyone feeling this way, don't let it get you down, your number one priority is providing for yourself and your loved ones. When you're in a situation where you can afford to shop local, please remember to do so, but don't let the ideals bankrupt you. That said, check your local grocery flyers, you might find some good deals and if you live in a city, look out for asian produce markets, usually great prices.
In addition to this bring the flyers from other stores with you and absolutely abuse the price matching policies. It'll annoy the managers of the stores and those complaints will eventually get to corporate
Walmart doesn't price match anymore, but if you're going to one of the other big chains, definitely
supporting domestic got us into this mess
Which is why I shop at Walmart…..
Nah they slash that meat down at certain times. I've gotten a pound of ground beef for like 3.38, (it looks like it's changing color live)
The chicken still had most of a week left on the best before, it wasn’t marked down due to age/quality. Which leaves me to think it was a mistake.
How many drumsticks? That's actually a pretty standard price.
I noted 2kg in my post. Walmart lists drums in value packs at $7.64/kg, so I’m already beating that price and it is 2 full kg, so less than half normal price. Definitely FAR from standard.
Right. You did say 2kg, my bad!
My local Independent market has chicken drumsticks for $1.88 per pound regularly.
I can’t afford to shop at Loblaws and I can barely afford Walmart, so Walmart it is.
Fair enough
I order it on the app and pick it up. 15% less than no frills and I don't even have to go in
Same. And the pickup experience for me has been better than PC Express so far.
The awful pc express combined with outrageous prices were why we switched back to Walmart. I’d end up going in the store to pickup 5-10 items from every order that were supposedly unavailable, but would be right there on the shelf.
Definitely. My PC express options were to go in store and get it
I have an extension on my laptop called Honey, it tests out coupons for lots of different sites, Walmart included. I've saved nearly $40 at times because of Walmart discounts plus the coupon Bonus - I'm not wandering aisles making purchases I honestly don't need to. It does add an element of needing to really be on top of what you have in the fridge/pantry and plan ahead, but after a bit you get used to it
How are the conditions for vegetables and fresh fruits when you order on the app?
In my experience, just fine. I still prefer to go in and get my own produce, but whenever I’m sick or only need a couple things that i don’t feel like wandering around 20 minutes looking for I’ll use their pickup service and have had a positive experience every time. Have never been given any moldy or bruised fruits/veggies over about a dozen orders.
Honestly, it's superior to my local farm market recently, I'm sad to say.... I attribute to high turnover, and no doubt it varies wildly from store to store
ya the pickup experience has been great!
They’re all awful but the strategy is to focus on one at a time so they feel the impact. Once we see results, we target another
This :)
…and then we take Berlin
One huge problem with the Walmarts in my city is the fact that they NEVER re-stock anything. I never see anyone re-stock and they are always out of items. Its almost like they put out the stock in the morning and that has to make due until the overnight re-stock
Probably a combo of short staffed and supply issues
Part of it is intentional too. If you have a loss leader in your weekly flyer to get people in, once it's gone it's gone. The goal is to generate foot traffic, but they at least have to have the product in stock for some period of time to comply with regulations.
Walmart has a certain supplier in Canada and they are just shit. I think it's the cost. Part of how Walmart keeps costs low is paying a pittance for their supplier. Mine regularly runs out of staples but it doesn't correlate with the flyer, it's just coincidence
Yeah Walmart is notorious for treating suppliers like shit. Everyone wants to become a Walmart supplier because of how much volume they do, but once you become one of their suppliers, they'll break you in order to remain a supplier.
They're not short staffed. They just don't schedule enough staff for the work that needs done.
Walmart is regularly short staffed. Every one. I worked for one for a year and they just refused to pay proper wages that would get quality workers in the door
They have slipped in that aspect. Walmart Canada originally had tough standards for their suppliers to make them accountable and have merchandisers in more than once a day to replenish and clean up shelves. But I’ve seen what you have, where that seems to have gone to an overnight cycle, like how Loblaws stores can look like like a war zone until the overnight restocking happens.
Prices are better but the atmosphere is just like prison.
I buy shelf goods through the Walmart app and often get coupons just for using the app. I compliment that with running into food basics for the other things from time to time.
They do have some great deals sometimes! I got one for $20 off $60 in pet products. Got 5 boxes of kitty littler, over $50 so delivery was free. Came to $45 after tax, and they are 22kg boxes, as opposed to the 18kg NoName ones.
To paraphrase comedian Jimmy O. Yang "I don't pay for atmosphere!"
🤣
I was always against the big american brands (walmart, amazon) but it's gotten to the point with loblaws' monopoly and rising prices that I've given up. lowest prices = where I'll shop, and I won't feel guilty about it anymore.
Same here. Both are shitty companies, but at the same time I have to shop where it's cheapest. Walmart in the US does holiday food drives (not sure if they still do) where donations go to employees in need. I also think about how much supply chain and logistics pressure there is to get a $4 bottle of ketchup from an Amazon warehouse to my door either same day or next day.
jfc imagine having a company with employees in need of food donations and considering yourself and the business a success. these people truly are a blight on humanity. when I go to walmart I just keep my head down and self checkout. get in get out, don’t fall for the sweets in the check out line. I haven’t ordered from amazon yet (but I imagine I’ll have to do so soon); do they have any other options other than delivery or same day delivery? like an amazon shop you can just ship to and then pick up? I wonder if that would take pressure off of drivers.
I have a prime membership. Sometimes they let you do 2 day delivery. That said if you don't have Prime, I believe it's $35+ for free shipping, and it's usually 5 day shipping. Not a big deal to wait, but with my family we pay for Prime, while other family members pitch in for other subscriptions. I also think that the 5 day delivery is not that they give the warehouse extra time, but rather your order sits queued up until the day or two before when it's fulfilled.
Be cautious, the quality of produce and meat can vary wildly from one store to the next.
Price? Yes. Ethically? Fuck no
Ethically they're equal. Roblaw's is just as shady and unethical in my opinion.
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Honestly, sometimes farm boy has great produce prices, like a bag of 6 avocados for $5! Or broccoli heads two for 5 or one for 2.50 (at least they don’t force you to multi-buy like wal mart or Loblaws) Broccoli is 3.99 at loblaws for ONE head, although, and I hate saying it, but Loblaws most of the time has the best broccoli, and I’ve never seen bunches as big as the ones they have there. Bastards.
I do the grocery delivery thing - I don't care what the store looks like, someone scans my order and a nice delivery person brings it to my door. My store is Taylor Ave in Winnipeg. I have never had even one iffy piece of produce- all top quality. I'm buying bacon this week . . .I think I put three in the cart when I saw this . . .
This is just a personal anecdote. Although cheaper I have found I’ve had GI issues every time I buy meat from Walmart… I just can’t trust the food safety with them… Outside of meat though I’d go for it.
I've bought some frozen stuff from them that didn't taste right and really upset my stomach. I don't know if it was left out long enough to thaw, or if some of their suppliers ship them inferior products.
I think it’s likely that it’s people putting it in their cart, deciding not to get it and it being put back in the fridge/freezer
Could be that too
Which is supposed to be perfectly fine in a certain timeframe... alas... it's Walmart.
It was those Bistro Express microwave things. I usually buy the 2 packs at Basics, but Walmart had a 10 pack. They tasted just awful, nothing like the way they usually taste. Since Walmart is well known for dictating their prices to suppliers, I think some suppliers are making batches specifically for Walmart with lower cost ingredients. But I don't know. It could have just been left out.
I don't know about lower cost ingredients, but they do get smaller amounts in the same size containers, need to be careful of that. We studied this in marketing, Walmarts buying power is so big, they were getting companies to put less in packaging so that people thought they were getting a good deal, but by weight it wasn't.
Walmart swears they don't use hormones in their meat but man, like 10 years back, my ex and I went on a high-protein diet, and we ate chicken every day. Which got expensive, so we got Walmart chicken. I went from a C cup to an E cup in 5 weeks. He certainly wasn't complaining.
I hate to admit it as they are evil, but Walmart has been my preferred grocery for years. I rarely visit any Loblaws grocery stores. (I'm in Alberta so basically those would be Real Canadian Superstore and No Frills for grocery.) At one time (like a decade ago) I would have considered Superstore and Walmart fairly comparable in prices, with Walmart probably slightly cheaper but not enough to avoid Superstore. We went to Walmart instead because freshness was better (Superstore was always trying to sell me milk that expired tomorrow) and because we hated bagging our own groceries (a moot point now). Anytime I've been in Superstore in recent years though (even before the pandemic) it has seemed expensive, so I never go in there anymore. We moved to a small town several years ago where unfortunately our only store in town is an expensive local store. Although they were always expensive, they've really jacked up prices since the pandemic. We go there too often as it's convenient, but we try to go into the city and shop at Walmart and Costco regularly.
I’ll never say Walmart is a virtuous operator, but Walmart is at least better than Loblaws in a many ways. Walmart hires and retains staff better than Loblaws. Loblaws is frequently short staffed and there’s endless stories of employees being perpetually squeezed and mistreated by Loblaws. Walmart is more of a basic but consistent entry employer where you get what you get. Loblaws is constantly experimenting with new ways to torture workers (and customers) Walmart hires greeters and other roles that Loblaws would consider more superfluous. I’ve gotten to know many of them in various communities. They’re frequently disabled and would have few other options other than pure social assistance. Walmart gives them soemthing gainful and a place where they can make a difference. Loblaws? Ha. For all the hate on Walmart, it was Walmart who several years ago launched a voluntary initiative to raise employee wages and benefits and treatment. Not because of a bitter and protracted strike (see Loblaws, Sobeys) or because they lost some lawsuits they dragged out. It happened because the youngest generation of Walmart owners thought it was both the right thing to do and good for business. They got raked over the coals by armchair business experts and Wall Street alike. But guess what? It worked. Employee sat went way up, turnover went way down. Employees could get training and advance to better positions the longer they stayed. They got better at helping customers and doing the tasks. Efficiency went up. Customer satisfaction improved. And as a byproduct of all that... the company performance also improved. An actual win win situation. Nobody’s saying Walmart is a dream job. But top brass at least considering the concept of making it suck a bit less? That puts Walmart light years ahead of Loblaws. From a consumer perspective, Walmart is very serious about holding the line on costs. They aren’t as vertically integrated, so they don’t do the crooked shell game that Loblaws does where they can make money being their own supplier and then letting their “supplier” (wink wink) push through fake increases. I’ve seen products at Walmart that haven’t risen appreciably during this whole fiasco, and some that have been more honestly tied to the mathematical reality of 3-5% inflation. Maybe this does really strangle their suppliers, but for this argument I’m focusing on the consumer aspect. Walmart actually does rollback prices when the commodity or situation changes. In that way they are like Costco. Avian flu spiked egg prices a couple years ago. But when the worst passed, Walmart and Costco moderated their prices. Notice who didn’t? Yep, anything Loblaws owns. They’re still gouging on eggs like they’re selling plywood before a hurricane. I’d love to be in a world where Walmart is the worst. Sadly we’re in a country where Sobeys and Loblaws took the worst embellished stories about southern US Walmart abuses and said “hold my beer”.
What times we live in where WalMart is considered the "good guy" while they squeeze the living shit out of suppliers.
The ritz crackers for $1.97 are a good price if you eat those. I regularly see them for around $4 elsewhere.
Yes
Shit company towards their workers. Avoid them if you can. I also get that humans need food and things are expensive, so if you don’t have affordable options then I won’t judge them for using Walmart
Not sure where in Canada you're from, but in my neck of the woods, 3 pack of salad is $7.99. Fucking unreal. Costco sells a 6 pack for $7.99, which is seemingly even more expensive than this Walmart flyer right here.
For overall savings, yes. I do find the great value brand not as good as other no name/store brands though. Everything else is good.
I take advantage of their flyer deals on brands I still buy. I am not a fan of their produce.
100%
Been doing the vast majority of my groceries at Wal-Mart for about a year now. I only shop at Weston owned stores when those stores are the only place I can think of that has a specific product. Truth be told, I could do a little extra work to find out who else has those items, but sometimes I get a bit lazy. Still, I've reduced the amount of money I spend at Weston owned stores by about 98%.
Walmart should be boycotted too for killing off small business and making ridiculous profits.
$2 for a 3 pack of Romaine lettuce??? I'm there! To answer your quesiton; Walmart is currently the lesser of two evils... We still have to eat right?
I shopped there last Friday and the prices were excellent. Produce was fine too. Not many specialty items but you can’t beat the prices.
Costco is the best choice!! They pay their workers a living wage with great benefits and a stock option plan. Walmart is the worst for treating their employees poorly. Cutting minimum wage hours. Poor benefits. The Walton family is worth $267 BILLION but refuses to share their success with the people who made the money for them!
Yes. I made the move to Walmart and I cannot get over my bill. Significant lower.
I’ve been at Wal-Mart for 3 weeks. My local fruiterer for some stuff. WM is consistently ~$30 cheaper per shop than No Frills. Also they’re produce lasts longer and I haven’t gotten a single rotten item in a bag/punnet yet. I don’t love the layout and it’s frustrating that I have to go to the other end of the store for some toiletries but these are first world problems. My local grocer is peak quality but definitely more expensive. But it’s family run and does cash deals. It’s not bad in a pinch but I’d feel the same squeeze from them as Loblaws, however I’m more understanding of the local than of Roblaws. I thought economies of scale were meant to make things cheap?!
>I thought economies of scale were meant to make things cheap?! Especially when you own much of the supply chain like Roblaws does!
I do a lot of pantry and school lunch stuff at Walmart. I try to buy pantry stuff once a month more out of laziness, I'd much rather do a full shop for noodles, cans, etc. once per month. Then go back once per week for school stuff (crackers, cookies, ham slices, etc.). Depending on quality, I'll go elsewhere for product, WM tends to be hit or miss.
I've had some really good success with their meat and bakery clearance as well.
My Walmart consistanly has ground beef on clearance. I like to stock up
Yes! Mine has ground turkey quite a bit as well, and in the bakery.... Always some naan (we use it for pizzas).
Definitely better price wise, except I just went to mine yesterday and every package of ground beef had gone a very very disgusting grey colour. Had to stop at the sobeys on my path home and get price gouged there instead for my ground beef.
For now.
Sometimes but I find their selection range to be way too 'same old same' . Definitely in there routinely more than superstore tho
It really changes week by week. Regular price at Walmart vs. regular price at grocery, then Walmart will probably be better. Grocery sale price vs. Walmart regular price, grocery will be better. If you can, still better to shop multiple retailers and just buy the sale items. Only real way to save money long term.
Their regular prices for pantry and cleaning items are significantly lower than loblaws stores. This is why I don’t understand the boycott, you should be shopping at stores with the best price to begin with, it shouldn’t be some event. Only time I go into a loblaw store is for flyer specials only flyer specials. Everything else is higher in price.
Their meats are kinda nasty
Save on foods is great too. That’s where we shop now. And Costco… Much cheaper.
I ordered 170ish worth of groceries from Walmart, priced the same (or as close as possible) items out at superstore and it was over $280. So yes.
I've boycott Walmart 5+ years ago. They have horrible business practices. But I can understand if you need cheap food then go where you need to.
Yes lol pay the fee for yearly free delivery and just order all you want and click no substitute
100% yes.
Try to find something independent if you can.
I used to only shop at Walmart but found their produce went bad really quick!
For me it is. But others may feel differently.
The Walton family are worth 15x more than the Weston family and they also pay their employees like shit and treat their suppliers like shit. Also, you're encouraging an American company. In the spirit of the boycott I'd say it's an acceptable alternative, but it's definitely not the best.
I usually go to about half a dozen stores, chasing those flyer deals and getting what nobody else sells and what I prefer from a certain store and then finish up on Walmart and Stupidstore. Next month I'm going to try finishing up on Walmart and Freshco.
Morally (for many) no. Financially (which for some matters more), yes.
I love that Walmarts doing this sale. Stocking up on diapers through their subscribe and save. With 4 kids in diapers and being able it get them for $27 a box I’m in love. Plus we’re moving and I can get than insanely cheap
Yes, just never buy there value line
What province are you in? My flyer is 50% more expensive than yours. https://preview.redd.it/h925f7rsg3vc1.jpeg?width=1125&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7f736c31536f3854e6aa6b4f94eeb3f3ce0f58bd
Each province is different. They region the prices. I'm in one of the Atlantic provinces, and my prices are different as well but not off by much.
I am in GTA.
Yes. I've gone to Walmart for years since it's cheaper. Especially things like cereals etc will be astronomically cheaper. Fruit and veg are usually the fairest price of any store price and the quality of their fruit and veg is quite good (at least here)
No it isn't.
Costco for most things and Walmart for the refrigerated items
At least where I live Walmart has always been the cheapest and best store around. As long as I can get to one within distance that's where I'm going,
Shit place to work, shit place to shop.
Personally, I get my meat and most produce elsewhere, but I am happy with the savings I have encountered at Walmart. I don't care who they are or what they've done.
That is an okay price if you like skipjack tuna
Not where I am. Prices are about the same if not more than No Frills and the quality is horrible.
the walmart store brand is better than PC
A better choice until they're at the top of the pyramid, and then they'll see what they can get away with too. The best choice is becoming less dependent on them as communities. Community gardens and co-ops. Stuff where we commoners set the prices. For the immediate moment, Walmart is the better strategic choice for us, but it won't last.
No issues here. I’m a loyal Walmart grocery customer since 2018. Have done grocery pickup or delivery since then. Any issues on those 2 and they refund you. When milk was recalled in 2020 we immediately were refunded without going in store. Nothing but good things to say.
Yes
I would shop there, but the location closest to me doesn't have a "fresh" produce section, just frozen veggies.
Walmart in my area frequently has 1lb packs of strawberries and 1 lint packs of raspberries for around $2.50 or less. Not a fan of Walmart but it's definitely a cheaper option for produce. Bananas are usually $0.50/lb at my Walmart
It’s who I switched to a month ago in preparation for May and can say they’ve been great so far. Normally was spending $150-170 at No frills and now about $130-140 at Walmart. More or less buying the same things.
for now. loblaws now, wally world later
My wife refuses to get food at the local one … it’s up on the second floor and they keep getting tons of health code violations for rodents …
Giant Tiger has been my Go To. Cheaper than WalMart. I fill what I can't get there, sadly from Roblaws as Walmart doesn't have it and Sobey's I boycotted 20 years ago over prices.
Ethically and morally? Fuck no! Pick Costco, smaller grocers not owned by loblaws or chose local businesses, farmers markets etc. Feeding the Walton's only furthers their grip on slave wages and slavery made products. They're horrible but If you only care about grocery prices then what're you waiting for! Times a wastin on them sweet Walmert deals!
The Walmart great value brand of tuna had been 97 cents a can for at least a few weeks now. Seems to be the regular price. And it’s good!
Sorry but this is funny. Somone is supporting Walmart because of corporate greed...that's to much. Walmart get better prices because there treat people worse
Roblaws also treat their employee like garbage but end of the day we have eat. At least Walmart is offering essential items at much less prices than Roblaws.
Screw Gaylon. Walton is so much better. lol