Part Availability - Can anyone confirm this exists? Walmart

[TJ22]

I was speaking to someone the other day who told me something very interesting. This person was in the market for a product. He went to a small chain to purchase the product and it was very heavy and made of metal components. He went to check the same product at walmart and it was very light and flimsy and made of plastic. So back to the small chain he went and he was informed of something called "part availability".

From what I understand it is a loophole by which a company such as walmart can sell the same product cheaper, model no and all. But the product is made of lesser quality components.

Can anyone verify this? Could you point me to some documentation?

Thanks.

 

[NogginBoink]

You give us absolutely no information to go on.

However, there's nothing in the world preventing me from making plastic cylinders for your car's engine and selling them through Wal-Mart.

 

[keeleysam]

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
You give us absolutely no information to go on.

However, there's nothing in the world preventing me from making plastic cylinders for your car's engine and selling them through Wal-Mart.

QFT :thumbsup:

 

[Safeway]

Originally posted by: keeleysam

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
You give us absolutely no information to go on.

However, there's nothing in the world preventing me from making plastic cylinders for your car's engine and selling them through Wal-Mart.

QFT :thumbsup:

Albeit crazy.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: Safeway

Originally posted by: keeleysam

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
You give us absolutely no information to go on.

However, there's nothing in the world preventing me from making plastic cylinders for your car's engine and selling them through Wal-Mart.

QFT :thumbsup:

Albeit crazy.

Nope, I've seen them at Wal-Mart

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Oh, here's an example....

Wal-Mart sells Schwinn bicycles! Enough said?

 

[C'DaleRider]

Wal-Mart makes a practice of going to manufacturers and "asking" that whatever item the company makes be made to such-and-such a price. If the company cannot/will not, Wal-Mart will inform the company that their products will no longer be carried by Wally-World.....ever.

You can see the make-it-to-a-price in lots of products all around Wal-Mart. Levi's jeans, perhaps? WM sells the Levi's Signature line.........a line that NO ONE ELSE sells. Have you felt the thickness of the denim of that line of Levi's? I swear the denim in those things is thinner than jeans that I've owned for 3 years and about worn out.

HP computers, perhaps? Ever notice the model is very similar to the same machine seen in BB/CC, but at the end of the model number is a different set of letters? Go onto HP's and plug in the two different machine models (one from Wally and one from BB) and then look at the specs of the machine. Invariably, the BB machine uses much higher quality components than the Wally machine. I worked on one HP machine a month ago.....from Wally-Mart....compared it online at HP's site to the BB/CC machine.

The BB/CC machine had an ASUS motherboard......the Wally machine had a TriGem m'board. Same with the power supply.....cheaper manufacturer and lower output. The CDRW was a cheaper brand, the memory was scut-brand in the Wally machine, and on and on.

Very little Wal-Mart sells is the exact same as the brand you see in other retail establishments or chain stores.....it's always just a little (or a lot) cheaper in construction, parts, cost and price. But you get what you pay for......and at Wally-Mart, you pay little so you get damned little.

 

[tfinch2]

WTF ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?

 

[Gibson486]

Go to Bob's....

Look at there sneakers....

Lots of times they have two indentical sneakers, but made with different material (the bridge, or whatever you call it in the sole, is made of different plastics and so forth). Ofcourse, the one made with cheaper materials is cheaper and its model number ends with an extra letter. Walmart probably does the same thing but does not sell the more expensive ones.

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004

Originally posted by: Safeway

Originally posted by: keeleysam

Originally posted by: NogginBoink
You give us absolutely no information to go on.

However, there's nothing in the world preventing me from making plastic cylinders for your car's engine and selling them through Wal-Mart.

QFT :thumbsup:

Albeit crazy.

Nope, I've seen them at Wal-Mart

those were beer cozies

 

[MaverickBP]

actually yes its true. example walmart carries a rca tv...52 inch hi def. (only one they make). sells for a couple hundred less than at circuity city/fry's/ etc. Spoke with a friend of mine who works for rca and the model walmart sells is missing diodes and capacitators to allow for the cheaper pricing...and lower life span....almost bought the tv for the bedroom too

 

[J0hnny]

Originally posted by: C'DaleRider
Wal-Mart makes a practice of going to manufacturers and "asking" that whatever item the company makes be made to such-and-such a price. If the company cannot/will not, Wal-Mart will inform the company that their products will no longer be carried by Wally-World.....ever.

You can see the make-it-to-a-price in lots of products all around Wal-Mart. Levi's jeans, perhaps? WM sells the Levi's Signature line.........a line that NO ONE ELSE sells. Have you felt the thickness of the denim of that line of Levi's? I swear the denim in those things is thinner than jeans that I've owned for 3 years and about worn out.

HP computers, perhaps? Ever notice the model is very similar to the same machine seen in BB/CC, but at the end of the model number is a different set of letters? Go onto HP's and plug in the two different machine models (one from Wally and one from BB) and then look at the specs of the machine. Invariably, the BB machine uses much higher quality components than the Wally machine. I worked on one HP machine a month ago.....from Wally-Mart....compared it online at HP's site to the BB/CC machine.

The BB/CC machine had an ASUS motherboard......the Wally machine had a TriGem m'board. Same with the power supply.....cheaper manufacturer and lower output. The CDRW was a cheaper brand, the memory was scut-brand in the Wally machine, and on and on.

Very little Wal-Mart sells is the exact same as the brand you see in other retail establishments or chain stores.....it's always just a little (or a lot) cheaper in construction, parts, cost and price. But you get what you pay for......and at Wally-Mart, you pay little so you get damned little.

Whoa, HP uses Asus?

 

[Gibson486]

Originally posted by: MaverickBP
actually yes its true. example walmart carries a rca tv...52 inch hi def. (only one they make). sells for a couple hundred less than at circuity city/fry's/ etc. Spoke with a friend of mine who works for rca and the model walmart sells is missing diodes and capacitators to allow for the cheaper pricing...and lower life span....almost bought the tv for the bedroom too

wow....RCA would purposely take those components off? That sounds kind of "shenny" to me.

 

[TJ22]

Hey, thanks for some useful replies mixed in with the usual flames.

 

[Joemonkey]

Originally posted by: Gibson486

Originally posted by: MaverickBP
actually yes its true. example walmart carries a rca tv...52 inch hi def. (only one they make). sells for a couple hundred less than at circuity city/fry's/ etc. Spoke with a friend of mine who works for rca and the model walmart sells is missing diodes and capacitators to allow for the cheaper pricing...and lower life span....almost bought the tv for the bedroom too

wow....RCA would purposely take those components off? That sounds kind of "shenny" to me.

No, it happens. I know someone who worked in quality assurance at a microwave manufacturer. He said they had different (read: lesser) quality standards for microwaves they knew were to be sold at wal-mart.

 

[AMDZen]

Wow. Now I can better understand all of the hatred surrounding Wal-mart and their business practices. If their guilty of this, I'm sure their guilty of all the other things they get called out for too.

Anyone have any documentation (links) on this issue, and others regarding Wal-mart? I'd be interested in reading them if someone can dig them up

 

[kranky]

They aren't "guilty" of anything. The products will have different model numbers (probably only slightly different, though).

They tell the manufacturer that if the manufacturer can produce a certain product for $X, Wal-Mart will carry it. They don't force the manufacturer to do anything. Now, the reality is that most manufacturers will do just about anything to get Wal-Mart to carry their products just because of its sheer size.

I read an article about Vlasic pickles and Wal-Mart a while ago. Getting Wal-Mart to carry Vlasic pickles devastated their profits!

Link.

I don't blame Wal-Mart, they are doing their job. The social cost is very high, though. It's up to the consumers to decide if they want to pay a bit more for a better product.

 

[tm37]

Originally posted by: kranky
They aren't "guilty" of anything. The products will have different model numbers (probably only slightly different, though).

They tell the manufacturer that if the manufacturer can produce a certain product for $X, Wal-Mart will carry it. They don't force the manufacturer to do anything. Now, the reality is that most manufacturers will do just about anything to get Wal-Mart to carry their products just because of its sheer size.

I read an article about Vlasic pickles and Wal-Mart a while ago. Getting Wal-Mart to carry Vlasic pickles devastated their profits!

Link.

I don't blame Wal-Mart, they are doing their job. The social cost is very high, though. It's up to the consumers to decide if they want to pay a bit more for a better product.

ANd thus far it has been a resounding NO.

Wally gives it customer exactly what they want cheap prices for cheap items

 

[fbrdphreak]

Originally posted by: kranky
They aren't "guilty" of anything. The products will have different model numbers (probably only slightly different, though).

They tell the manufacturer that if the manufacturer can produce a certain product for $X, Wal-Mart will carry it. They don't force the manufacturer to do anything. Now, the reality is that most manufacturers will do just about anything to get Wal-Mart to carry their products just because of its sheer size.

I read an article about Vlasic pickles and Wal-Mart a while ago. Getting Wal-Mart to carry Vlasic pickles devastated their profits!

Link.

I don't blame Wal-Mart, they are doing their job. The social cost is very high, though. It's up to the consumers to decide if they want to pay a bit more for a better product.

When I'm not a poor college student, I don't plan on shopping at Wal-Mart. Till then, let the penny pinching resume

 

[captains]

clothing works this way also......

 

[mi xiao]

Originally posted by: fbrdphreakWhen I'm not a poor college student, I don't plan on shopping at Wal-Mart. Till then, let the penny pinching resume

i don't find WM to be that much cheaper than other stores like zellers...
i don't shop there.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

When I have a choice, I usually will choose Target over Walmart. And for games, usually Gamestop. If the prices are close, the improved shopping experience takes it over. I usually only go to Walmart for super cheap stuff like $5 DVDs.

 

[TJ22]

I don't "blame" walmart either. But it should be well known that they sell "lesser quality" goods. If you purchase the same camera at walmart you expect the same quality, not less.

 

[Spacehead]

Originally posted by: AMDZen
Wow. Now I can better understand all of the hatred surrounding Wal-mart and their business practices. If their guilty of this, I'm sure their guilty of all the other things they get called out for too.

Anyone have any documentation (links) on this issue, and others regarding Wal-mart? I'd be interested in reading them if someone can dig them up

I'm very anti-WalMart so the links below reflect that. Just so you know.

If you haven't watched before, check out this episode of Frontline

Here's another link i found though i haven't read any of these., except fotr the other PBS report, "Store Wars".

If you look around it's not hard to find stuff like this.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: J0hnny
Whoa, HP uses Asus?

I've never had a HP or Compaq computer that didn't have an Asus motherboard.

I know my 1.2GHz AMD thunderbird system does, I know my 1.4GHz celeron tualatin does.

I'm pretty sure my 350MHz K6-2 does as well.