WalMart Vent! GRRR!

[Mom2-4boys]

I wanted to get this posted sooner but we have been majorly busy in this household the last few days! I went to WM last thursday to pick up some odds and ends and a couple of my son's prescriptions. While waiting on the scripts I went to get 1 yes 1 bottle of the Cortaid Creme for my son. He uses it on a regular basis because he is allergic to everything. There was an employee pulling all the Cortaid off the shelf! I asked her if I could get one of those bottles (I pointed to the one I wanted) and she said NO. I asked her if there was something wrong with them and she said "No, I was told to pull them off the shelf becasue there is "some coupon" going around that makes them free and the store will lose money if they sell them." I was appalled at that statement. I asked to speak with her manager and they were "unavailable". I talked to another manager I found and he said let me find out what is going on. He came back about 10 minutes later and said "She told you wrong, those are expired." I told him they were not expired when I looked at them this morning. He said "Well, regardless, we cannot sell them until our Store manager tell us we can." I contacted Cortaid and they said they have no say so on what the stores do with their products because they have already purchased them so unless something is wrong with it (expired etc) they cant do anything. She offered to send coupons and I explained to her that I wasnt calling to get ANYTHING I just wanted to let the company know what had happened. I called the Store manager for WM and he has yet to call me back. I doubt I will hear from him. I called WM corporate and they said they didnt understand why it happened. Was the lady at corporate just trying to appease me? Its possible, I would really hate to think that ANY store would pull an item just because there is a coupon for it. OK rant over I will get off my soapbox now!

[Shazza]

Many of us have always suspected that some stores pull items off the shelf so we can't get them for free or nearly free with a coupon..witness how all the stock magically reappears the day after a hot coupon expires! That is amazing that you actually caught them in the act, though! And the clerk even said that was why it was happening! Funny how they later claimed the items were all out of date and you knew better..they just hate that they got busted! LOL

[mom2Isaac]

I will never understand why they do stuff like this since they get reimbursed from the manufacturer....

[christj13]

WOW!!! Now I know why I can never find the things i need at Walmart!! I just dont understand why they would do that when they get paid back for the coupon....

[Dengineer]

I've known for years that they do this. At a WM in a town where we used to live, all the items on sale at Winn Dixie were ALWAYS pulled from their shelves every Wednesday morning so that they wouldn't have to price match them. I remember going in there one time with the Winn Dixie ad and EVERYTHING that I was looking for was suspiciously missing from the shelves.

I swear it seemed like the old stories about shopping in the Soviet Union--unexplained shortages and big empty places on the shelves. That's one reason I avoid Walmart now except for certain medicines that we use regularly that are usually cheaper there.

[Jen1]

I dont know what to say to this. I have never experienced something like that, not to say it doesn't happen. I would call the store everyday until you get the store manager.

[mopets]

our walmart does this all the time too! its only because some "smart" manager aint got a clue.... and would rather pile up merchandise than sell it and get their money back from the manufacturer. i took a picture once of a cart full of body wash and the empty shelves where it belonged when there was a high dollar coupon for it... makes me so mad... im in the same boat with the ky and cortaid and razors.

[Gardencook]

We rarely shop at WalMart because our store has always had stock problems...and problems with overcharges...and problems with rude staff and...
We finally decided to only enter the store when absolutely necessary and only buy a few items to keep from having a fight -- that is if you can find what you are looking for on the shelf. If it is a great deal with Qs, it won't be there anyway, so we simply don't bother.

[CW&M Mom]

You need to contact corporate..not cortaid. They don't lose money...they get the money back from the manufacture.

I do want to note. That $3 coupon basically states you can only use one of them per transaction and then only 4 other cortaid coupons (that are different that you happen to have that are not the same) per transaction. So if someone goes in using a bunch of the $3 dollar ones at one time..they are DOING IT WRONG!!!!

I went to walmart on Saturday and was able to get One Cortaid, 4 KY, and 4 Reach Floss with no problems

[joshmamabear]

I asked one of the personnel stacking the shelves and according to her, she heard it is because a lot of couponers are buying them, then turn around to return all of them. I asked her, "can't CS just reject returns (especially if there's a bunch of like items)"? She said they find it easier to just pull them out the shelves