"I am pleased our associates achieved record quarterly sales and earnings,"
said company president and chief executive Lee Scott.



....except in Rochester, right Doug?



Hehehe.

"NOYB" wrote in message
news
"I am pleased our associates achieved record quarterly sales and
earnings,"
said company president and chief executive Lee Scott.



...except in Rochester, right Doug?

Hehehe.


The sales figure doesn't break apart categories. The only thing I've bought
repeatedly at WM, on an experimental basis, was groceries. With that in
mind, I can only tell you what I see:

1) I track grocery prices for my own shopping, using about 50 items I buy
repeatedly. Wegman's, a locally owned, high-quality behemoth of a chain, is
consistently cheaper on 3/4 of the items. For the other 25% of the items,
they're so close that it's not worth bothering with Wal Mart, with its
aisles littered with empty boxes, spotty unit pricing (a trick, by the way),
30 minute lines at the registers and annoying "don't give a damn" employees.
Further, I won't buy meat at WM because it's tainted with some sort of crap
to tenderize it. (Read the labels). And, the produce looks like the stuff I
leave for the squirrels in my garden, laying under the good stuff.

2) On any busy weekend, the Wegman's (4 blocks from WM) is packed with
customers. No matter: At any register, I'm out in 5-8 minutes.

3) Tops, another chain (owned by Ahold) is now being serviced by one of the
two largest wholesalers East of the Mississippi. This particular wholesaler
buys at better prices than WM most of the time. It's reflected in the Tops
stores, whose prices are suddenly giving WM and Wegman's a run for their
money.

Don't question #3. It's the business I'm in. I know how WM buys groceries.

"NOYB" wrote in message
news
"I am pleased our associates achieved record quarterly sales and
earnings,"
said company president and chief executive Lee Scott.


Uh oh. Wallmarts numbers ain't gonna be so good next quarter if the
mortgage refinancings that've put $ in people's pockets keep dropping
precipitously.

By Richard Leong
Reuters
Wednesday, August 13, 2003; 9:23 AM


NEW YORK - The number of applications Americans filed for mortgage loans
dropped last week to its lowest level in more than a year, even as mortgage
rates subsided from their recent spike, according to an industry survey.

The Mortgage Bankers Association of America said on Wednesday its seasonally
adjusted gauge of overall mortgage requests fell to 824.6 for the week ended
Aug. 8, down 16.1 percent from the previous week's 983.2.

The group's weekly barometer of mortgage demand fell to its lowest level
since 815.2 for the week of July 19, 2002.

Although overall mortgage demand remains high on a historical basis, the
previously red-hot level of refinancing, which has put money into consumers'
pockets, has cooled rapidly. Applications for refinancing made up 55.8
percent of all new requests filed last week, down from 72.1 percent a month
ago.

"We are on the downside, but it (refinancing) has not gone away completely,"
Mortgage Bankers Association's chief economist Douglas Duncan told Reuters.

Duncan estimated that the refinancing boom will be over when the weekly
share of refinancing applications falls to about 20 percent to 25 percent of
all new applications.

The recent rise in mortgage rates has hit refinancing -- down 67.5 percent
since its peak in May -- much harder than demand for loans to buy homes,
down around 10 percent.

Might be good for the boat and motor companies, and their dealers, to
note that WalMart is successful because every consumer knows how EASY
it is to take back something that's defective or even if you just
don't like it, to WalMart.

I bought a set of Goodyear tires from WalMart a couple of years ago
for my Mercedes station wagon. 2 years later, I got a nail in the
left front tire. I had purchased WalMarts $9 extended road hazard
guarantee, so I took it to my local WalMart and pointed out the nail
to the service writer. "Hmm....that nail looks too close to the
sidewall for me. Joe, put this man on a new tire, will ya."

Joe could have simply plugged the hole and sent me on my way. Tire
dealers would have. Not WalMart. I got a new tire....

Guess where I'm going for tires for the other car and truck when they
need it.

A set of Goodyears from WalMart was $280, with the extra warranty good
forever until the tires are worn out. A similar set of Goodyears from
the Goodyear dealer was over $500 and, if I'd blown the tire in Kansas
for instance, I couldn't have gone into the local Walmart store to get
it fixed or replaced in any town......



On Wed, 13 Aug 2003 17:12:53 GMT, "NOYB" wrote:

"I am pleased our associates achieved record quarterly sales and earnings,"
said company president and chief executive Lee Scott.



...except in Rochester, right Doug?



Hehehe.




Larry

Extremely intelligent life must exist in the universe.
You can tell because they never tried to contact us.

"Larry" wrote in message
...
Might be good for the boat and motor companies, and their dealers, to
note that WalMart is successful because every consumer knows how EASY
it is to take back something that's defective or even if you just
don't like it, to WalMart.

I bought a set of Goodyear tires from WalMart a couple of years ago
for my Mercedes station wagon. 2 years later, I got a nail in the
left front tire. I had purchased WalMarts $9 extended road hazard
guarantee, so I took it to my local WalMart and pointed out the nail
to the service writer. "Hmm....that nail looks too close to the
sidewall for me. Joe, put this man on a new tire, will ya."

Joe could have simply plugged the hole and sent me on my way. Tire
dealers would have. Not WalMart. I got a new tire....

Guess where I'm going for tires for the other car and truck when they
need it.

A set of Goodyears from WalMart was $280, with the extra warranty good
forever until the tires are worn out. A similar set of Goodyears from
the Goodyear dealer was over $500 and, if I'd blown the tire in Kansas
for instance, I couldn't have gone into the local Walmart store to get
it fixed or replaced in any town......


Speaking of Kansas...where's Skipper? Maybe you'd find him as a greeter at
the Kansas Wal-Mart?

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 18:29:05 GMT, "NOYB" wrote:


Speaking of Kansas...where's Skipper? Maybe you'd find him as a greeter at
the Kansas Wal-Mart?

They'd fire Skipper in an hour....(c;


Larry

Extremely intelligent life must exist in the universe.
You can tell because they never tried to contact us.

Larry wrote:

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 18:29:05 GMT, "NOYB" wrote:


Speaking of Kansas...where's Skipper? Maybe you'd find him as a greeter at
the Kansas Wal-Mart?

They'd fire Skipper in an hour....(c;


Larry


Larry knows this because they wouldn't give *him* an app.


--
* * *
email sent to will *never* get to me.

What *did* happen to Skippy? Perhaps he tried to run that
egg-shell-of-a-boat through 3 foot "chop" at too high a speed?



"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
Larry wrote:

On Thu, 14 Aug 2003 18:29:05 GMT, "NOYB" wrote:


Speaking of Kansas...where's Skipper? Maybe you'd find him as a greeter
at
the Kansas Wal-Mart?

They'd fire Skipper in an hour....(c;


Larry


Larry knows this because they wouldn't give *him* an app.


--
* * *
email sent to will *never* get to me.