Hi Beth. What I was referring to is, Amazon doesn't actually produce the products it sells. They have warehouses and do contract with some companies to put their name on certain products, but do not manufacture them. They do this, especially in the technology field. Those companies who mass produce often have huge numbers of items, and like with supermarkets, contract with the dispensing company to use their name on some of them. Amazon pays a price to do this, but it is rather nominal in contrast to what the manufacturer can charge for the same item with its own logo.
Oh, OK. We were talking about two different things. I don't like the Amazon and Walmart "marketplace" vendors on their websites who are practically the same thing as Ebay. If I mistakenly order from them I have no way of knowing what their return policy is or if it's some guy selling knock-off stuff out of his mom's garage. I prefer to buy directly from Amazon or Walmart because I trust them (for the most part.)
I almost got into my first Walmart fight today!!! I pulled into the parking lot in a spot where you drive along the front of the store, and the parking lot is on your left. Coming in this way, you can pull up to the sidewalk on the right and left off your passengers...and that's just what this woman was doing. So I pulled around her, but as soon as her passenger closed the door she hit the gas and was coming into my lane. I sped up to avoid a collision, and she got right on my bumper and followed me. I turned left and pulled into a space, and she went realllll slow behind me. Then she sped to the end of that lane, turned left, flew up the parallel lane, turned left again, pulled up and blocked me from walking into the store. Then she started to yell at me for "going too fast." So I yelled back that when she lets off a passenger, she makes sure the lane is clear before she decides that her business is done and she's got places to be...except we were both yelling at the same time. "The only reason I sped up is because you were gonna hit me!!! This ain't your personal Walmart!!!!" I really thought she was gonna get out of her vehicle and come at me. Then she left, still running her mouth. There were 3 Walmart girls sitting out front on the bench watching this all go down. "It's gonna be OK" says one of them. "I know," I said. 'That was my very first Walmart fight!"
This is a Public Service Announcement for anyone who might need historical script data So after my parking lot encounter, I went to the pharmacy to get a list of my scripts for the past 2 years because I needed the data. The woman behind the counter asked for the date range, and I said "All of Calendar 2021 and 2022 though today." She put in Jan 1 2021 thru Nov 3 2022 and it came back "No Prescriptions Filled." I knew that was wrong so I asked her to run it again. She ran it again and got the same results. I then asked her to run 2022 by itself, and she got 5 scripts. She ran 2021 by itself and got 3 scripts. Apparently their systems have search issues. The "one year at a time" data I received is accurate. So being "one of those people," I walked over to the Consultation window and told the woman there about this system anomaly in case other customers ran into the same "No Prescriptions Filled" issue, and that she may want to report it up the chain, or at least let the immediate staff know. After all, Medicare renewal is upon us, as is the end of the tax year. She got a "Why are you telling me this?" look on her face (I felt kind of like a dweeb in the "Don't Be Your Parents" insurance commercial.) Then she retail-recovered and gave me the retail-scripted "Thank you for telling us" in a retail-obligatory tone of voice, to which I returned the customer-obligatory "You are welcome," knowing retail-nothing would be giveadam-done. Of course, I don't let easily let go of these things, so when I got home I went online, found their Customer Service Contact portal and reported the issue. In any event--since I'm the parental dweeb in that commercial--I thought I would pass this on. Now that I read it, it's not really all that important, and it likely will affect less than 1 person, but since I took the time to type it, damn right I'm gonna Post Reply.
Yeh, I think they are dumb. But look at what's being used to sell us insurance: -Some guy telling adults to not become their parents -A woman and her coworkers dressed in hospital-white -A guy with a band aid on his head -JakeFromStateFarm dressed in khakis -An emu -A lizard with an accent We know more about the "lives" of these fabricated characters than we do about the insurance: price, ease of filing claims, benefits actually paid out, etc.
We have a Wal- mart Super center about 3 miles from here on Main St. I go there simply because it easier for into get into with walk issues. Then 2 miles from miles down our main road is Wal-Mart Neighborhood Grocery Store. Convenient but a pain in many ways .Four more miles is the biggest Wal Mart Super Center ever. My point is, each one of these stores attract a different type of shopper. On Main is where the OMG did you see that person ? shops. Well, excluding myself of course. The grocery store down the street catch mainly working people stop to shop before going home after work, and the retired world. The bigger one down from there attract all the wealthier folks in our 3 areas. The people there are of course more showy, And even the store is cleaner looking, and you can get more help from employees when you want to check out. ? why is this? Like my BIL use to say- some are just not of the right mentality . I hate Wal Mart in many ways ,yet will miss when i can no longer hop in the car and be there in minutes. The one where we are moving is 50 miles or more . I can always tell by the people who try to run me over - which Wal mart they came from
The local Walmart has been here since 2009. It has a grocery and then the regular store. There is a Super Center about 25 miles west of here, and another one maybe 45 miles east on the outskirts of the state capital, but going north or south they are much further away than that. So it attracts folks from all over. Even though this is a rural area, the people have self-respect. Now when I first moved here, I did cross paths with a guy (probably 18 years old) wearing makeup in Dollar General. He was shopping the cosmetics section. His makeup looked like something a first-time-using 12 year old girl might apply. I kinda felt bad for him, and then I wondered what the heck kind of area have I moved to?
Our local Walmart recently has changed over to entirely new management, and what a nightmare. One checker for the store and a line over a mile long for self check-out. I will no longer do business there.
Lots of no customer service departments out there and as things get less and less direct human involvement, after all the dumbing down, it will only get worse.