I shudder at our future

[Spinaker]

You forgot the.......

"FACE PALM"

[JCGrill]

I can't say much about Walmart that doesn't mostly apply to virtually any big box store and a lot of online spaces. There are differences of course, but most of those stores pay their employees and vendors too little and have too few experts. It's all driven by cost, and most of us can take at least some credit for it. Anyone here interested in paying $50 for blue jeans? Not sure what's to be done about it at this point. I feel as though we're too far down this road to turn around.

[ILikePigButts]

I have no problem shopping at Walmart for basic grocery items, but I never get my meats there. Aside from maybe chicken breasts or thighs for the convenience. One of the butchers I go to regularly has a sign behind the counter that says "Friends don't let friends buy grocery store meat."

[Dan Deter]

Anything that I don't need to look at myself I'll order from Walmart and save some grocery money (I use the order-ahead and pick up from them). Meats, veggies, cold cuts, a few other things I get from my grocery store or specialty shop (butcher, farmers market, etc)

[Dewesq55]

In these parts, the only place within thirty miles you can find a packer brisket is Wally World. Just saying.

[JeffJ]

Our local grocery store - Busch's - runs its meat department like it's a butcher shop. They carry everything. They will cut to order and they know what they are doing.

[Bkhuna]

Hank Hill summed it up:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLEOdqiylC0

[surfdog]

JCGrill
You nailed it. They pay just enough to keep employees showing up...who in turn work just hard enough to not get fired. All driven by keeping costs down and profits up.

And many (most?) consumers indeed shoulder much of that blame; always wanting near everything for less.
I see it in my industry all the time. And funny enough, use the jeans analogy to explain how I price things. In a nutshell, one can purchase jeans at Walmart for 10 bucks or at Neiman-Marcus for $310. (FWIW, I'm in the NM camp.)

Anyway, when people put cost before everything else...it's a race to the bottom. The problem with losing skilled employees is that when one finally does need an expert, the cost is even higher because they're so rare...if indeed one can be found.

[JCGrill]

My company uses the Walmart / Apple analogy. We want to be Apple, not Walmart.