James P.
Yelp
Well it's official. Wal-Mart has lost a customer due to the denomination of $5.00. $5.00 that they would have eventually been reimbursed by a product manufacturer. After my morning run this morning I decided to stop by my local Wal-Mart in Piscataway, NJ to pickup a can of formula for my 3 month old son. After picking up the cans of Enfamil Gentlease ready to feed formula, which is the only one my son can have due to his sensitive stomach, I waited on line ready to be rung out. The cashier rang up my items, after which I handed her an Enfamil Check for the denomination of $5.00 off of any Enfamil Formula Product. A check that Enfmail has sent me many of, that I have used multiple times at many other retailers to purchase the same type and same amount of formula. What was her response? "Sorry, you can't use this", "Why not?", "You have to get the powdered Formula.", "My son doesn't eat powdered formula.","You have to get one of the items in the picture", "he doesn't eat the items in the picture", "You Can't use this coupon for this", "Why?", "Because this one item is only $8.00. You need to spend more than $30.", "Nowhere on that check does it say I have to spend more than $30.", "No, you have to buy more than this.", "Okay, no problem, have a good day." And I walked out.
Thus concludes the last encounter I will ever have at a Wal-Mart. $5.00 that would have eventually been reimbursed by Enfamil, was what ultimately caused Wal-Mart to show a customer to the door never to return again.
What this particular Wal-Mart doesn't realize is that accross the street is a Shop-Rite (that gladly accepted Enfamil's check), up the block is a Target (that has accepted Enfamil's check from me before), a Stop & Shop (that has accepted Enfamil's check from me before), and a Walgreens (that has accepted Enfmail's check from me before). This particular Wal-Mart needs to realize they are not the only option in town, and Target as well as other retailers have just as low if not equally low prices on most or all the products I purchase from these stores.
Could this attitude towards the almighty dollar be coming from up the corporate ladder? Does Wal-Mart really just care about selling products with the most profit margins? I can only hope one day that Wal-Mart decides it's customers are more important than the $5.00 bill they would have been without for a couple days while they waited for that check to clear.
But alas, as I've said - Wal-Mart isn't the only option in town, and I will just use those retailers going forward.