Terrible WalMart ad

[disneysteve]

I want that stuff safe and who's safer than the entity who prints the money?

I don't know, Scanner. Some may argue that WalMart IS the entity that "prints" the money in this country. They are the 2nd largest employer after the government and the largest private employer by far. I'm not sure of their numbers but I'm quite certain that their company debt load is nowhere near as large as the government's.

[Broken Arrow]

For fun and merriment, here's their balance sheet.

Walmart is a $200 billion dollar empire. The latest figure for total liability may be $101 billion, but when you factor in their total assets, they have a net positive equity of $67 billion.

It's one of Wall Street's favorite defensive plays, and is the only one in the Dow had positive quarters through the middle of this recession. To sweeten the pot, it currently pays about 2.13% in dividend.

In short, it's a great defensive stock to have.

[rob62521]

Good point, but those folks could probably open an account online that reimburses for ATM fees. I don't know if there is any banking task that must be done in person today.

There are people who live in poverty who don't understand how a bank or credit union works and feel they don't have enough to open up an account. We have a credit union here that it only takes $25 to open up an account, but most banks require $100 or more which is way out of their league. When generation after generation uses check cashing places, they aren't educated. And as a teacher, I do not want someone to say, well, how come the schools aren't doing it...the schools are too busy teaching to the state mandated tests and have the pressure of that.

I agree -- telling them spend their "saved" money on a luxury item is crass, but that's how Wal-Mart makes it's money.

[wnlbutterfly]

When our Walmart built a new Supercenter across the street (literally), they did allow a local bank to put in a branch office. It didn't last long, I assume that people here weren't used to banking at WM and the bank didn't want to keep up the rent.

We had a Jackson-Hewitt the first year also, and it went under. Now JH has a kiosk during tax season but nothing more than a single cubicle with a desk, the main office is just across the street.

Don't try to get Senior Pics done at Walmart. We were going to do that and they told us "someone" would have to sign a release for the photos to be "published" in the yearbook. When asked WHO that was or what form was needed, they didn't have a clue. Has to do with copyright. It would still be good to have for pics to give to family.

We had a gas station here on WM parking lot for a long time also, but it was leased, and they went under and even though WM owns Murphy's gas station (we see them in the nearby states), they didn't take over the leased pumps, they have actually completely removed the tanks and pumps. Bummer because it was helping to keep gas prices lower around here.

Credit card, whoever is the bank for WM credit cards really have things backwards (oh, and when they stopped lay-a-way, they said people could just get a CC). Anyway, right before the holidays I made a large payment, thinking if I needed it for the holiday, it would be there, and if not BONUS! Well, they put a hold on my CC for a couple weeks because it was above the minimum payment and then they reduced my credit limit, right before the holidays. Now honestly, if you were in charge of CC, wouldn't you increase the limits (on good accounts) before the spending season hit?

I only took out that card because you were suppose to be able to use it at the gas pump for .03 off (easier then reloading a gift card all the time), it wouldn't work with the leased stations (even though they had a sign right there on the pump saying it would).

About the ad, I agree with DisneySteve, they could have left it open-ended on what people would do with their savings from the lower fees. They are doing that with most of the other ads where they are showing how much you could save if you shopped there.

What bugged me most was that they brought a CEO (or bigwig) from Target over to Walmart and he basically just started making changes so that it would compete with Target. You would get emails from corp saying they were doing this or that to "confirm to what other retailers were doing". Dress code change, door greeters that can't hand you a cart, some are taking out fabrics/crafts, but we can get a keg for that family picnic..HA Drop layaway service, and lets not think to have enough staff to man the checkout (we have about 20 registers, and some days there are only 2 open). I have never seen all registers open, not even during the holidays.

[inneedofhelp]

I saw the ad on tv, and when the actor shows he is buying a laptop, I didn't think so badly about using the money saved on such an item---it really seems like computers are necessities, now, ya know?

But when it looked like a flat screen tv, then I thought it was very tacky.

[neguy11]

Honestly, for most on this board it probably seems crazy to not have a bank account. But people who utilize these check cashing services probably aren't that financially savvy. Sure they could open a free checking account, but that carries risks. Once you start writing checks and using a debit card, you run the risk of overdrawing and with fee's over $30 at some banks, one overdraw could easily cause a cascade of problems for a low income person living paycheck to paycheck. Dealing stricly with cash is probably best for these people -- no risk of overdrawing.

And was Walmart really saying spend the $5 you save on a new TV or saying cash your check here, you'll save $5 AND you can spend that government check on a new TV?