Walmart: General Etiquette And How To Get Out Faster

Okay so I'm going to give you a low down on how to get through Walmart faster and easier! And also let you in on a few reasons to NOT yell at your cashier.

How to Get Out in a Timely Fashion

1) If you are buying clothes do yourself a favor. If you don't want the hangers, take them off while you are picking out the clothes! If nothing else take them off while you are waiting in line instead of just standing there. It will cut a lot of time out of how long it takes you to get out of the check out line. Just hand the hangers to the cashier!

2) If you have more then 20 items don't go through the speedy's. Here is why. It's because of the bagging area. They only have 3 bags at a time so if you have a bunch of stuff it will take forever for you to get out of the line because it takes them forever to bag it. It is seriously easier to just go through a regular line.

3) Be organized when you put the food on the belt! Put all the cold stuff together, all the boxes together, etc. We are trained to bag that way so rather then make us search through the stuff for like objects just have everything together and everything will be bagged faster.

4) Listen carefully (I'm handing you gold)... if you are in a hurry DO NOT GO TO WALMART! Wait and come in later. If you come in when you are in a hurry you are going to jinx yourself and something will go wrong with your card, you won't find what you need, or the lines will be long. Plus then you let your frustration out on the cashier who did nothing to you. It is not our fault that you came in last minute to by your nephews birthday present.

5) If you are not sure if you have enough money to pay for everything you grabbed. Hold back 5-10 items you don't need. Why? Because it is so much faster to never ring up these items then for them to be rung up, find out you don't have enough, then have to dig through your cart for 5 minutes trying to find the stuff to remove. Heck even if you are pretty sure you have enough do this, just in case.

6) When buying big items (such as soda) put them with the barcode up. That way the cashier can just lean over and zap them with the wand like *snap* that. Rather then have to come around the register and turn them all the right way and zap them, or you have to pick them all up to point the barcode at us.

7) If you can remember check things with dangly barcodes to make sure it is there. I know this is hard to remember, but if you think about it while shopping check it that way you don't get all the way up to the register only to have to wait 5-10 minutes while a manger checks the price. Again... if you can remember most the time I don't remember this one.

8) Ad matching....You DO NOT have to bring in the ad. We have ad's from local stores in the building to check him. However... it can take FOREVER sometimes. You may not have to bring the ad in but it is much faster to flip open the one you have and point out the cheaper product to the cashier then to tell the cashier and then them call a manager to go look it up and come back. Again you don't have to bring it, it's just far more time efficient.

9) Okay I'm going to assume this is the same at ever Walmart considering that I have done this at many different ones. If you are in a hurry, you have like 5-10 items that arn't huge, and even the speedies are filled to the middle of the isle with people... go to Electronics. Or the Gardening area! You can even go to Auto I believe or Sporting Goods. They all have cash registers and you can go to them! Only advice is make sure they have a scale for produce. So the next time you're in ask the cashier at any of these areas if they can ring up produce that is sold by weight.

10) Say you are at a speedie and there is one person ahead of you and no one behind you. All of a sudden the light goes off. The cashier tells you that the line is closed and ask you to leave. They plan on taking care of the person ahead of you because they were up to the cashier and were no longer waiting. THEY CAN NOT DO THIS! If you are in a line, any line, prior to the light being turned off, then they have to take care of you. They can not make you go to another line if you had already been waiting when they turned off the light.

11) Coupons coupons coupons. Yes we do take them and we take pretty much all of them. However you might want to make sure they qualify before relying on them for your shopping. First off if it does not say "Manufactor Coupon" somewhere on it we will not take it. The reason is because unless it says that Walmart does not get reimbursed for that money that got taken off your purchase. Second, study your coupon. We have to follow everything it says, if it says anywhere on the coupon that a trial size can't be used then the coupon won't be used if you have a trial size. Also look for quantity limits. Lastly if you have a coupon that is buy one get one free, either A) write in the price of the item to get free or B) hand it to the cashier first off so that when the item shows up the cashier can just write in the price. It is much faster then the cashier finding out at the end that there was a buy one get one free coupon and have to search your order for that item to find out the price. Will cut off a couple of minutes and again help you get out faster.

General Etiquette And Tid-Bits
In other words nice things you can do and the explainations on those little things that make you angry during your visit. Plus some reasons to not yell at your cashier.

1) When ever you are in line and the person ahead of you is taking forever (such as an item didn't have a barcode and there is a price check in progress) don't get irritated. I'll bet $10 that you have been in a similar position and the person behind you was tapping their foot and making you mad. Don't be that person!

2) Once again if you have more than 20 items don't go through the speedy's. Again I'll bet $10 that you have been the person behind the person who has 50 items in the speedy and it pissed you off. It's just plain rude the speedy's are there for people who just came in for a few items not for the people in a hurry.

3) If your card is not working THAT IS NOT OUR FAULT! It is either the machine or your card. It is not because the person at the the register doesn't do it right more than 75% of the time. If our machine is not reading the card AT ALL then there is nothing we can do. Don't get angry at the cashier, get angry at your bank for screwing up something.

4) Carts and baskets... save your cashier a little trouble (if you liked them). Take your cart or basket with you. No matter what you are going through the front door where these things go to. You aren't going out of your way to do this. So if you have a basket or cart, wether you need it once out of the store or not, take it with you. Don't leave it in the middle of the aisle because then it blocks the way for other customers until a cashier has time to take it to the front. I'm not saying do our job, I'm just saying its a common curtousy that doesn't affect you at all.

5) Please please please listen to this one. If you get to the register and realize that you don't want something that you brought up front with you. DO NOT LEAVE IT IN THE AISLE! The cashier is not going to be angry with you for not wanting something. Hand the item to the cashier. Here is why it is troublesome when you do the first thing. Occasionally people come by and ask if the cashiers have returns. We throw them in the cart they have and the items are on their way to being put back. We don't get to check our line if there is a customer in it. So the 1-15 items that have been left in that aisle have to wait to be put up. This is a pain because one at a certain point we can no longer give the Service Desk our returns and we have to put them up ourselves. If it is earlier in the day we just have a really cluttered work area. If you just hand us the things you don't want then all of that is avoided. Again trust me, the cashier is not going to be angry if you hand them unwanted items, infact they will appreciate it.

6) Prices... My rule of thumb has always been if you can't change it why complain. And let me let you in on the secret, cashiers... can not change the prices. The only time we can change the price is if it is rung up wrong or if the product is damanged then, with permission, we can take off like 10% (so if item is $10 you get $1 off). On that matter, newspapers, I don't know about all Wally Worlds but mine charges tax on papers. We do not control this, the store itself is told to put tax on it, no matter how much you complain to a manager you are still gonna have to pay tax on it.

7) "There's not enough cashiers!". Walmart does not have the money to pay EVERY cashier to work EVERY day. Therefore it is okay to presume that when you get to Walmart (even though there are 30 lines in the super stores) there will only be 10 cashiers. Usually five on each side of the store including speedies. Managers can pull people from other parts in the store but if those people are busy then they can't do anything. Just because we have enough lines for 30 people does not mean that they will all be open. The only time this happens is around December and the Super Bowl. If you want a really long line go to the DMV.

8) "It's Hot!". Keep in mind loyal customers that the stores do try their best to keep the store cool. My store recently installed fans up front. May not cool the whole store but it does keep you cool while checking out before going out in the heat. No the AC is not broken or on low. We have how ever many doors opening and closing all day up front, plus the back doors of the store (which are huge) are open most of the day for trucks. If you went home and had, say 10 people, going in and out of your house all day your house would be hot too. Think about it, how many times do you yell at your kid to close the door because you aren't paying to cool the woods? Unfortunately Walmart is paying to cool the outdoors and you at the same time. No matter how powerful the AC is with that much hot air coming in you arn't gonna keep this big friggin store as cool as your home is.

9) "Well this is this price at this store!". Yes Walmart price matches. It's an amazing system! See something at a local store for cheaper? Hey we match that price! Unfortunately we do not match other Walmarts prices. The reason for this is because that pillow pet you want that is $10 at that Walmart is probably not popular so the store lowered the price, but the Walmart you are at now has them for $20 because it is popular at that one. For this reason we don't price match other Walmarts. It all depends on supply and demand in that area.

10) "Why are the Grocery doors open but all the cashiers are on the other side?". Okay I don't know about the placement of the tabacco isles in other stores, but in my store it is isle 22. It is of course on the other side of the store and after 11 we shut down the GM side doors. The reason behind this isn't to cause you the pain of having to walk more, I PROMISE you. It's because isle 22 has to always be open, someone always has to be there to make sure no one steals tabacco products. Most cashiers, in my store, that work nights are women. Night time is when all the crazies come in. So in case someone decides to act crazy, then these women have each other to lean on if there is trouble. Power in groups simple as that.

11) Okay this one really isn't for anyone that works at Walmarts convience it is for parents! Do not hand your child something and say "Here play with it" only to take it away before you leave. One reason is because now what ever germs your kid has is all ove that toy and for all you know a 10 month old baby will pick it up next and shove it in their mouth. Walmart is also not a daycare! Do not take you kids to toys and leave them till you are done. During that time period no one is watching your child! During that time period your child could be kidnapped, hurt, or any number of things. Plus who is to say they will stay in toys? They could wander off to another area and give you a heart attack when you can't find them.

12) Checks... okay so occasionally you will run a check and it will ask for your I.D. Don't get angry. The cashier is not at fault for this. It is a random procedure done by the computer to protect you. I know it seems like a waste of time but here is what it is for. When we type in your I.D. number the computer is checking it against your bank to make sure that the number is on your account. If we run an I.D. that is not on your account then the check won't be allowed to go through. Walmart is protecting you against having your check book stolen. They even ask for your current number so that if it ever is stolen and found at one of our stores we can call you and have it returned to you.
For now that's all I can think of, but I will probably add more.