Lights of America LED bulbs 2025LEDE12-65k claim 40 watt bulb equivalent and 30,000 hr life. Real world says 25 watts equivalent and maybe 1,000 hrs. Do not buy this junk.

Browsing through Walmart here in Toronto, Canada, I stumbled upon some LED light bulbs on sale. From a company named “Lights of America”, they have a smaller base for use in a chandelier. Regularly $5.50CAD, they were going for $2.00CAD. Labeled “Made in China”, I hesitated. I could buy them, research them, and if necessary, return them if I was not happy. The results of research were that these LED light bulbs are junk and should be returned. They not only do not live up to brightness claims, but also only last a max of 1,000 of their claimed 30,000 hours of use.

My experience is that light bulbs made in China do not last long, especially the compact florescent ones. LED is a new technology, giving off no heat and is safe to dispose. They also last much longer than CFs. These comparisons, however, assume the bulbs are properly made.

It did not take a long search on Google, after fishing through all the web sites that sell these bulbs, to find some very negative reviews. Intriguingly, the company “Lights of America” was being charged by the US Federal Trade Commission, for fraudulent claims. Their claim that their 1.5 watt bulbs are as bright as a 40 watt incandescent is in dispute. Light output is closer to a 25 watt bulb than 40. More critically, their supposed bulb life of 30,000 hours has been tested to yield an actual figure of no more than 1,000 hours.

In the FTC’s original complaint against Lights of America, Inc. and its two principals, filed in September 2010, the agency charged that since 2008, Lights of America has overstated the light output and life expectancy of its LED bulbs. The agency also charged that Lights of America misled consumers about how the brightness of its LED bulbs compares to traditional incandescent lights.

At the court’s direction, the FTC’s amended complaint details where and when the challenged claims were made, and alleges that specific testing contradicts many of the defendants’ claims. For example, defendants claimed that certain bulbs lasted 30,000 hours, but U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) testing found that they lost as much as 90 percent of their output after only 1,000 hours. The amended complaint also alleges additional facts to show that the individual defendants controlled the company and knew, or should have known, about the practices the FTC is challenging.

Here is the original FTC charge:

The FTC alleges that in many instances, Lights of America’s LED bulbs produced significantly less light, as measured in lumens, than the company claimed in its promotional materials. For example, one bulb was promoted as producing 90 lumens of light output, but Lights of America’s own tests showed it produced only 43 lumens.

Also, in many cases, Lights of America deceptively compared the brightness of its LED light bulbs with incandescent bulbs, the FTC alleges. For example, the firm claimed that one of its LED lantern bulbs could replace a 40-watt incandescent bulb. However, while the typical 40-watt incandescent bulb produces about 400 lumens, the Lights of America LED bulb produced only 74 lumens.

Moreover, the FTC complaint states that in many instances, Lights of America’s LED bulbs would not last as long as the company’s promotional materials said they would. In one case, for example, the firm said that one of its LED recessed bulbs would last 30,000 hours. Independent tests, however, showed that the bulb would not last as long as claimed because it lost 80 percent of its light output after only 1,000 hours.

While I find the use of LEDs very compelling, it is difficult to justify the price of $2.00CAD for the bulb. LEDs are in general expensive to buy, and therefore LED bulbs reflect this. These LED light bulbs use 20 LEDs, which means each LED costs about $0.10CAD each. This is by far much cheaper than buying good quality LEDs individually.

Overwhelmingly the reviews of Light of America LED bulbs is terrible. Junk. The nerds at CandlePowerForums support their junk claim with some meaningful numbers. I do trust that they know what they are doing. PhysicsForums says much the same. Several people have received recall notices from Costco offering refunds. Walmart will only refund bulbs that are not already burned out. The two year warranty from LoA requires you to pay for postage back to California, which is more expensive than the actual bulb. The LoA warranty is bogus.

The Lights of America web site does not even mention these chandelier lights, even though they are sold throughout the US and Canada. The packaging also does not mention lumen ratings. It is all very sneaky and I do not want any part of it. Their web site also makes no mention of their legal troubles with the Federal Trade Commission. Nor is there any resolution or steps taken to help customers.

I am very disappointed in the 40 w equiv. 1.5 Watt LED bulbs I got from Walmart. They put out very little light. More like a 15 watt standard bulb. No where NEAR a 40 watt like they claim.

First off, they last about a month before going out. Walmart was ok about taking those back since I kept the packing and receipt but the ones that failed after 95 days they wouldn’t accept even though the package says if the bulb fails within 2 years take it back to the retailer OR send it back to lights of america. Well, Walmart says the packing can say that but it doesn’t fall within their return policy so they won’t take them back. If you try to get lights of America to replace them the will charge you in shipping the amount of a new bulb so is that really under warranty if they are ripping you like that? After buying 8 bulbs, 7 are already out. 2 of those failed after only an hours use or less (turning on the light about 3 to 4 times at most). I know LED will be the way to go in the future but right now, they don’t put out enough light and don’t last very long due to the manufacturing process. Lights of America should be ashamed. They really have a gimmick going with their 2 year return policy. It is far cheaper and better on the environment using standard bulbs until they get this technology down a little better. Bulbs that last a few clicks of the light switch fill up a land fill faster than the 100 year old bulb technology that last 2 or 3 years

source

Given all the terrible reviews of dim light and short bulb life I think the best thing is to return them and get GE CFs. In the future LED technology will improve and prices will go down. Today you simply buy LED junk.

Crest toothpaste. From $2.37CAD at Walmart down to $0.75CAD, saving 68.35% off retail

Extreme Couponing is a TV series on Discovery Channel that follows the trips of people who can buy $1,000 of products but reduce their total cost to $50 through the use of manufacturer coupons. Extreme they are, organized as well as driven by a personal urge to save. Many came from experiences where they had nothing or were about to file for bankruptcy. Here in Canada their tactics do not work the same, so I set out to find the best strategy for couponing in Toronto, Canada. My example is the purchase of Crest toothpaste, 130mg, discounted 68.35%. I cannot come close to the 95% discount of the Americans, but will keep trying.

Price Chopper, a local grocery chain, advertised Crest toothpaste, 130mg at 2 for $3.00CAD. Both Walmart and my local NoFrills will match a competitor’s price. I had never price matched at Walmart, so decided to try it. Sure enough they said they would. In addition, from a coupon booklet that came in the newspaper, I found two coupons for $0.75/each discount off any Crest toothpaste. Walmart also took these. The total cost after price matching and coupon was $0.75/each.

The savings look spectacular but save the applause. Instead of the Crest brand I could have purchased the very comparable Colgate toothpaste 130mg for $1.27/each. My family considers these two brands equivalent. The savings rate of 68% off retail now drops to 41% of retail. It is still impressive, considering the low margins on grocery and daily use items.

Specific American retail marketing promotions make extreme couponing possible. The first is that certain grocery stores double or triple coupon values at specific promotions. If you can combine an in-store special with triple coupon values, this can save you a lot of money. Also the coupons I have received limit the number of coupons you can use during one trip to only 4. Americans seem to have no limit on the number of coupons they can use in a trip. Americans can subscribe to Groupon and other web sites, pay a nominal fee and receive hundreds of coupons, which when used together with an in-store sale as well as triple coupon values, you can rack up substantial savings. This is not possible here in Canada.

Here in Canada we do not have stores that double or triple coupon values. We also have coupon limits of 4 per visit. This greatly reduces the possibility of huge discounts. Still, I will keep looking.

The other psychologically interesting thing about extreme couponers is their similarity to hoarders. Hoarders have a need to buy and keep but not use products. Extreme couponers are meticulously organized and exact in their strategy. They plan their purchases to maximize their gains by finding out when the store will have the most stock, which cashier is best (male cashiers seem to better handle extreme couponing), and how much they will eventually have to pay.

I wonder if extreme couponers are purchasing products they will actually use, or will all their products eventually go to waste. Some donate their products to a local charity, which is great. Products that you purchase on sale but do not use will eventually spoil and go to waste. There is no savings to be had if you buy a product you do not use. Maybe extreme couponing is a competitive sport where the objective is to beat the stores and manufacturers but does not cost very much to play. If this is their hobby, then I am very supportive.

Extreme couponing just is not as attractive here in Canada. Correct me if I have missed something.

Links:
-Extreme Couponing Isn’t as Extreme in Canada
-The Truth About Coupon Stacking in Canada
-London Drugs and Coupon Stacking

Walmart Canada rewards Mastercard offers 1.25% points on Walmart purchases and 1% on purchases from other stores. I hope the lady does not come with the card. As colour coordinated as she is, she would be difficult to fit into my wallet.

It sounds all nice, so off I went to sign up. I’ve not applied for a credit card many years so did not know what to expect. Firstly there is no dedicated person which to sign up. The whole signup process is done at the cash register. While this is convenient for me, it was aggravating for those that were behind me in the line. The signup process takes about 5 minutes, which means those behind you will need to wait while you do your thing. Thankfully I happen to opt for the express line, which has a couple of cash registers, and I still felt uncomfortable inconveniencing the shoppers behind me.

My cashier had never done a credit card signup before, so she called a supervisor, who walked her through. I had to ask for the terms of agreement as she did not offer it to me. There is a $15 rewards signup bonus, which she was unaware. I saw it as a flyer near her cash register. The standard credit card agreement form was done on the debit console and simply says that I understand the terms and conditions, yes or no. This is an agreement to a 12 page document that would take me at least 15 minutes to read. A couple of questions later a printout was given to me stating more information was needed, I was to call a 1-888 number within 48 hrs to further the application process. There would be no card today. My purchase today would have to be on my other credit card. The $15 signup bonus is only paid when you get a card and after you make 2 initial purchases on the card, of which one must be at Walmart and one must be some other store. There were more hoops to jump through than I thought.

Walmart is using the cash register and debit console to ask questions and get signatures, a good and newer use of technology. No longer is the cash register just for cash.

Questions at the debit console were private and could not be seen by the cashier. They consisted of the typical date of birth, home phone number and other typical questions. There were no surprises, other than that they needed more information and a card was not forthcoming today.

Once I got home I read the cardholder booklet. This Mastercard has no annual fee and a 21 day grace period. The interest rate is 18.99% per year if you are not late with your payment. If you are late more than 2 times per year the interest rate increases 5% to 23.99% a year. Maybe this is financial encouragement to pay at least your minimum balance. The usual cardholder benefits are missing such as extended warranties and travel benefits. While there is no annual fee there are a slew of other fees to worry about. No credit limit is mentioned.

I called their 1-888 number and talked to a nice lady. She confirmed my application number printed on the application receipt as well as some personal information. She actually did not ask for any more information than I gave at the cash register. I was told that the credit department would need to speak to me but they were backlogged and would call me. Did I want their direct phone number so I could call them? I said I would wait for their call, so declined their number.

Two days later, with no call from the credit department I again called the 1-888 number, confirmed my application number and personal information, and again did not provide any additional personal information. This time I opted to wait online for the credit department. Ten minutes later, with Muzak annoyingly blaring into my ear, a lady answered, pulled up my record and asked me some personal information of the multiple choice “Choose the best answer of these 5 answers” variety. Do they really need to dumb down the answer by giving you 5 options to choose? Maybe it’s all for increased security, I don’t know. In conclusion the lady said that I will receive either a credit card with instructions or a letter stating I was denied. This made me feel unsure of the whole process.

It’s been two more days since I talked to the credit department and 4 days since the initial application, and neither credit card nor letter of denial has arrived. It’s been a long time, as in years, since I have applied for a credit card. Credit has tightened up since last year’s banking crisis, so I did not know what to expect. I will hold off on all my crappy “Made in China” plastic purchases until I hear back about my card.

One thing is for sure: Your pet dog or parakeet will not be getting a Walmart Rewards Mastercard. At least not before me.

June 30 2010 Update

I received my Walmart Rewards Mastercard today in the mail, 9 days after my signup on June 21, 2010. Everything looks as expected. I called their toll free number for activation and found it was out of service. In fact I called all three their numbers and they were all out of service. Odd, and a little unnerving for a credit card.

Card activation 1-888-779-XXXX (This is an unpublished number, maybe for security purposes, so I won’t reveal it)
Customer Service 1-888-331-6133
Lost/Stolen Cards 1-888-925-6218

I thought I misdialed, but on my 4th try to their Lost/Stolen card number I got a message saying they were having technical difficulties. Ok, I’ll call later.

Addendum:

So I called the next day and successfully confirmed my card and changed the pin. I then tried it at a local Food for Less, all without issue. A couple of days later I received a call from someone at Mastercard apologizing for their loss of service and rewarding me with an additional $5 to my account. This was a nice gesture. On Saturday I went to a local Walmart to make a purchase, and the $5 was on my card. The cashier was a little flustered as I told her to leave the $5 on the card, but she said she must deduct it from my purchase. Ok, I’ll redeem it. Obviously this card is so new that it gives most cashiers some trouble. Overall, it was a non-issue, as purchases went through without any problems. The Walmart card works as expected.

After an epic fail in selling food, will Canadian Tire now sell lingerie? Say it isn't so...

As a long time Canadian I consider it a tradition to shop at Canadian Tire. Unlike Walfart, Crappy Tire is, after all, Canadian. When I need a tool or something for the house I think of Canadian Tire first. This year, I am finding that the products I need are no longer advertised in the CT weekly flyer, and all the stuff I don’t need has taken its place. This has the result of me not visiting the local Crappy Tire as much as I used to, and therefore I am not spending the family’s cash in their stores. Going to the epitome of insanity, CT’s weekly food specials now gets attached to the weekly flyer. As my daughter often says, this is an EPIC FAIL.

Let’s talk strategy. We buy food like every other family, but I don’t buy food at Canadian Tire. Tools, housewares, sporting goods, motor oil, yes. Food, no. I find even the idea of selling food at Crappy Tire absurd. Who goes shopping for bread and thinks of Crappy Tire? Who would go shopping for eggs and on the same trip pick up a life jacket?

Let’s talk execution, or lack thereof. The weekly flyer seems to be a feeble attempt at the traditional retailer loss leader, luring in the innocent so they can purchase more expensive goods once in the store. These supposed “loss leaders”, unfortunately, are not even priced competitively enough to get customers to change their shopping habits. For example Monday to Wednesday June 7-9 2010, a 1L carton of chocolate milk will be on sale for $0.99, max 6 per customer. Hello, but this is a regular sale price done by all the large grocery stores pretty much monthly, sometimes running for a couple of weeks at a time. At least do your homework, which by the way, gets delivered to each and every household weekly? There are more examples. Glaring is CT’s failed attempt at selling 500g cheddar cheese for $5.49 when the competition is selling the same for $4.44? How can such a pricing strategy will draw customers into Crappy Tire stores? It simply cannot.

Presentation at the store is another issue. There are only a couple of shelves forlornly placed at the front of the store, abandoned and ignored like the black sheep of the family. I walked right by the displays and had to turn back to see what had gone so horribly wrong with Crappy Tire’s merchandising, only to find…food?

In summary I still ask myself “What were they thinking”? Rather than run its full course, Crappy Tire need to kill this food marketing campaign before they thoroughly tarnish their reputation as competent Canadian retailers. Canadians will forgive and forget, I’m sure. We are a tolerant and restrained bunch, and not much gets our shorts in a knot. I see that as more emphasis is put on food, the other areas of Crappy Tire are suffering. It is these traditional areas where I spend my money. This is simply wrong and must be immediately corrected.

I wish to disclose that I do not look good in a skirt. It’s not that I could never wear a skirt, or that I do not have access to a skirt. Still, because you can do something does not mean you should.

We are, thankfully, not very close to a Walmart Super Centre, but on the rare occasion, we do visit. The Supercentre is 9 km away. Yesterday, Wednesday midday, was such a day. . In summary, the Super Centre is larger with very slightly more variety, their food section is quite good, but their checkout process tortuous. Store location: Walmart Supercentre, Eglington/Warden, Toronto, Canada.

I am not usually an advocate of big for big’s sake, nor am I a huge advocate of Walmart. None the less, the Walmart Supercentre is like a regular Walmart with double or triple the inventory. More stuff, but only marginally more variety. While my local Walmart often runs out of products that I want to buy, and seems loath to reorder, this is less likely to happen at the Supercentre. Still, I was looking for badminton grip tape, which was out of stock at my local store, the Supercentre was also out of stock.

We walk and walk, and marvel at the acres of “Made in China” stuff. Wow. Ok, this is getting boring. Our local Walmart has the same exact stuff, with the same, exact prices.

The grocery area is the highlight of the store. If Walmart had a grocery store locally I’d definitely shop there. Prices were comparable or slightly lower than local grocers. This is a good thing. The variety of goods surpasses all my local grocers. This is a great thing. The grocery area is so large that we quickly ran out of time browsing aisle after aisle, so we bee lined it to our target.

The checkout was the downfall of this shopping experience. How about having 2 express lines (express lines are cashiers for customers with less than 10 items, we had 8), only to find they were 30 customers deep. One express line had 2 cashiers, and the other had 4 cashiers. There were also 4 other cashiers. It was like they quadrupled the size of the store, invited everyone to come shop and kept the same number of cashiers as my local Walmart. It took us 30 minutes to check out, longer than our shopping time.

Is it worthwhile to double the time for your shopping trip in order to save a very little money? My verdict is that a trip to the Walmart Supercentre is not worth the hassle of the lineup. The store was clean, well stocked, grocery area well laid out, but not enough to offset the time wasted lining up for a cashier. They do most everything right but take my money quickly enough.

It was faster waiting in the regular, non-express line. This is counter intuitive. We won’t be going back any time soon.

Shopping Experience Rating: C.

___Nofrills, Kennedy/Finch, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Objective: Sale priced tetrapack apple juice and general weekly shopping.

This week Nofrills continues their two week flyer with an additional single page of specials. None of the products in the extra flyer were very appealing. I specifically searched for their advertised Allen’s apple juice in tetrapack, 24 x 200ml for $3.33. This sale product was not available in the juice aisle nor on the aisle ends, but was available in their overstock sales aisle. At least have a sign in the juice aisle to acknowledge that there is a sale on juice. Very little stock was left, so for sure they will run out before the weekend is over. The juice was well displayed with a price.

It took 3 tries to get a shopping cart that I could somewhat easily push. I’m tired of getting shopping carts that take great effort to push around the store. I find it a great waste of energy and distracts me from having a good shopping experience. Sure they have all wheels, but with a lack of maintenance the carts have cracked parts, some have wheels that lock up, or the wheels don’t turn easily. The one I chose badly needed oil. At least it did not squeak.

In general the store was merchandised very well and was clean. I was able to find all the products I wanted. Corned beef I usually buy was out of stock and has been this way for about two weeks. I still await regular or halal corned beef for $1.99.

Today there were no skids of stock waiting to be unpacked but blocking the aisles. I’m always amazed when staff block aisleways so cannot get my cart through. Once I was almost run into by a small electronic forklift. She was not looking as she backed up, but I was. Otherwise she would have flattened me. Her passing remark of “This machine is dangerous, please stay out of the way” was relayed to the store manager upon checkout. But today there were no theatrics.

Checkout was fast and efficient by my favourite cashier. I’ve been shopping here long enough to know who is good and who will work slowly, so I choose my cashier carefully. Some cashiers get flustered with vendor coupons, or store sales events. At $28 on a credit card, no signature was required. Cardboard boxes were readily available for customers, as expected and always appreciated from this store

___Experience Rating: B+ A good shopping experience with merchandise well layed out and priced. This is why I prefer shopping here.

Walmart, Kennedy/Sheppard, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

___Walmart, Kennedy/Sheppard, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Objective: 4 pack of “D” batteries, 4 pack of 9v batteries, apple juice.

Because it was early in the day there were few customers. There was no greeter. Shopping carts were plentiful and in good working order.

I have had terrible experiences with the electronic department of this Walmart. I found them on multiple occasions to be unhelpful at best and downright lazy at worst. On this occasion I found 3 associates yakking together, laughing out loud, with the main troublemaker in the middle. Is this coincidence? As such, I would never buy an expensive ANYTHING electronic from this store.

The battery aisle was clearly sorted by brand and then by battery type. I, however could not find a 4 pack “D” type in the brand I wanted. Other more expensive brands were available. As I walked the 15′ aisle I noticed that beside the battery display there was a separate and distinct “bulk” battery area, which happened to have my 4 pack. I don’t know why this bulk battery area was not merchandised with the rest of the batteries by brand and type, but if I was not such a particular shopper i would have missed it. At least all batteries were clearly priced.

As I walked to the cashier I noticed two additional battery displays. While most batteries displayed here were duplicates of the main battery area, an additional brand was not. I dropped the 4 pack I had previously chosen and picked up a different brand name.

Down the juice aisle I found my apple juice in can. The price was clearly marked, they had stock and the display was clean and tidy. To be sure I asked my daughter to price check a can. The nearby pole price scanner was broken and turned off, so she had to go to the kidswear area. This scanner has been out of order for some time. A vendor rep told me this was common, and from my observations I agree. At least the display of juice, unlike the last time I was here, had a clearly marked price.

I picked up 10 cans of apple juice. The cashier was fast end efficient, scanning one and doing a multiple to charge me for the 10 cans. In the past some cashiers insisted on me putting all 10 cans onto the conveyor belt so they could scan each and every can. This is such a waste of time. Thankfully this cashier realized that each and every can was identical. Payment was uneventful.

___Experience Rating: B. Walmart usually has very professional merchandising, allowing the shopper to conveniently find merchandise. I’m unsure why there’s this anomaly in the battery section. All wall scanners in the store should be in good working order. The pole of the nearest price scanner was only marked as having a scanner in the East-West direction, and not the North-south direction. No wonder I have problems finding scanners. Clearly marking scanners is inexpensive, so why not do it? And why has this scanner been broken for so many weeks?

___Shopping trips should not be gladiator style struggles between good and evil. A customer should be able to view a sales flyer at home, and along with his shopping list, find, select, purchase and pay for products with little difficulty. This is not much to ask, but seemingly very difficult to achieve.

My brothers in China have purchased 2 Philips brand compact flourescent bulbs from Walmart China, one which burned out after only a month and another which burned out in less than a week. These bulbs should last for 10,000 hours, or over 6 years. His case is well documented.

___He paid 30.80RMB each, for a total of 61.60RMB, for which he received 1 month and 1 week’s worth of light, all in an effort to be more environmentally friendly. Due to terrible quality control in Philip’s China factory these bulbs were shipped to Walmart stores in China, where my brother purchased them and was cheated. That is a lot of money to lose.

___I purchased GE compact flourescent bulbs here in Canada, similar to the ones pictured here. The older version of these bulbs were rated for 14,000 hours. At 8 hours a day, 7 days a week, they should last 5 years. I kept my receipt. After only 2 years my bulb burned out, so I called up GE in Canada, and explained that my bulb burned out prematurely. They sent me a coupon for a free replacement bulb.

GE Compact flourescent bulb, Made in China

___The compact flourescent bulbs pictured here are the newer version of the same GE bulbs but rated at 10,000 hours. At 8 hours a day, 365 days a year they should last me 3.5 years. They were purchased at Walmart, here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. If they burn out prematurely I will call GE for free replacements. These bulbs are made in China, where my brother lives.

___I hope that my brother in China can either return his bulbs to Walmart for a full refund or he can call up Philips in China and get free replacements for his bulbs. It is bad business for Philips to sell bulbs in China that are of bad quality. Philips has a world wide reputation as a high quality manufacturer, but when my brother in China gets cheated, then why should I here in Canada purchase Philips products? Maybe I will also get cheated?

___The internet makes the world smaller. While I am separated from my brother by half the globe and a time difference of 12 hours, I will not purchase any Philips product here in Canada until my brother in China can resolve his Philips issues. I ask that others In China, Canada and around the world to also not purchase Philips products. I think this is only fair.

___Sure, one can go shopping, grit your teeth through the experience and then return home vowing never to go again, but after a short while you do run out of necessities and are forced to return whence you came. At least reviewing your experience may give a reader or two a laugh. Or a cry, a shake of the mane and a sympathetic groan.

Food Basics, McCowan/Finch, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

This was their last day of their flyer sale, with 900g bags of pasta for $1CAD, limit of 4 per person. Shopping cart was easy to find, clean and functional. $0.25CAD deposit. I found the pasta, the sale was clearly marked, the price was clearly displayed, the limit was clearly displayed. Checkout was efficient (young Chinese cashier), and bacause it was the last day they waived the limit. Extra boxes were available instead of bags.

Experience Rating: A. I’d return again. the store seems well merchandised.

Walmart, Kennedy/Sheppard, Scarborough, On, Canada

I always brace myself for their invariably terrible service and frequent out of stock condition. I’ve also learned to not depend on Walmart to have your common products in stock. Anything can be out of stock. The tissue paper I wanted was not in stock, so I chose another brand. No price displayed. I dropped the product. Apple juice was well marked but had no price displayed. One can was leaking and needed cleaning. I searched for 5 minutes for a scanner, but could not find one. I gave up, and dropped my product. I picked up some cereal that was cheaper at another store. The cashier read the competitor flyer and price matched without problem. Subsequent vendor coupons were also handled without issue and quickly. I was very surprised.

Experience Rating: B-. There’s really no excuse for not displaying pricing on your product. How are customers supposed to shop? Maybe by blindly purchasing the product and trusting the store? Not I. Spoiled product is common in any store, and maybe a customer had punctured it, so I let this one go. Not being able to find a scanner is really inexcusable. I tried my usual “Look for a pillar and a scanner sign” technique, but as the scanners break, they are removed and not replaced. It’s too much hassle to run an associate down who will then try to find a scanner on the floor. She invariably has to run 3/4 the length of the store. The cashier was experienced and knowledgeable. Good for her. A rare jewel in a bag of nuts.

1. If you’re frustrated, leave. Vote with your feet. Is the checkout line 40 deep? Drop your buggy and leave. Let them cleanup. After all they should have more cashiers at the checkout shouldn’t they? Walmart profits on a “No/low service” philosophy. You are rewarded for this lack of service through low prices, but that does not mean you need to like it.
2. Understanding Walmart’s pricing strategy. Is Walmart really cheaper? Not really. Yes, they are cheaper for about 200 of their most common goods, and very competitive on many goods, but if a product does not sell in large quantities watch the price. Is the item you need common or uncommon? If uncommon, go elsewhere.
3. Walmart will price match. If you see something in a printed advertisement of another store that has the same exact product but lower take the ad into Walmart and they will price match it. There’s no need to actually go to the other retailer when Walmart is more convenient.
4. If you don’t like the service, call the store manager. Contrary to popular belief, much of the staff at Walmart only follow strict rules, often incorrectly. These rules may not even be set by Walmart, but made up for the convenience of the staff. I know the store manager at my local Walmart, and he’s very reasonable. You may have to wait, but it’ll be worth it to other shoppers to get some idiot rule changed.
5. If there is a huge lineup and you REALLY need the item, consider an alternative checkout area. Alternatives include jewellery, the drug store, electronics, and the auto centre. They’re often not busy and will help you out. Ocassionally you’ll find an area that believes they are above taking products from other areas of the store. Persevere. If you get mad, leave.
6. Look for sale items. Yes, often they will have sale items on a rack at he very back of their department. Remember that most products in retail can be marked up 300-400%, so don’t feel bad when it’s marked down 50% or more. They are still making a profit.
7. If you don’t like what you purchased, return it. There are exceptions, but you need to do returns within 3 months. Ideally do returns very early in the morning to avoid a huge returns line. The staff at the returns desk can be pretty ornery, but you would be too if you saw the number of scams they have to deal with. Persevere. if you don’t like something call the store manager. Please don’t scam any retailer with a fraudulent return.
8. Buy seasonal items early in the season. Don’t expect Walmart to have a product all through the season. Products are shipped mid to late the previous season and are in the stores early. Mid to late in the season they purposely run out of product. This is so they have no excess products that they have to discount or send back to their supplier. Walmart is there to make money, not to ensure they have your product when you want. Go buy elsewhere if you don’t shop how Walmart sells.
9. A cheap price for a shoddy or poor quality product is not a good buy. Walmart sells both in spades.  Do not buy it. If you do, return it.
10. If you’re frustrated, leave. Vote with your feet. Did I mention this already? Shopping at Walmart can be maddening, but don’t let them give you a nervous breakdown. This is the service they offer and you like it or leave. Keep smiling and maybe give other retailers a go.

I shop at Walmart as if I’m playing a game. Good buys benefit my family and myself. Bad buys are returned. They aren’t going away any time soon, so if you’re dealt lemons, make lemonade.