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A review: New Wal-Mart blog is lame

Posted May 21 2008, 01:48 PM by Karen Datko
Rating:

Pardon us if we're a bit cynical, but the retail behemoth that's made billions and billions by convincing people to spend in its stores now has a blog telling people how to save money?

We decided to give Wal-Mart's new personal-finance blog, Make Your Dollar Stretch, a look.

This weblog is a thinly disguised advertisement for Wal-Mart. Are you really surprised? At least it's not pretending to be something else, like Wal-Mart's notorious and now-defunct Wal-marting Across America and Working Families for Wal-Mart blogs.

But it's not kind of fun like Check Out, another company-sponsored blog where, according to The New York Times, Wal-Mart buyers can comment about products and their personal lives without corporate review. (Check Out's subtitle is "Where the lanes are all open." At least there's one Wal-Mart location where that's true.)

The content at Make Your Dollar Stretch so far includes two bland posts by author and "Savings Queen" Ellie Kay. Midway through one called "Talking Turkey," we found this gem: "Stores like Wal-Mart honor competitors' ads on the same advertised product! Their efforts to be the low price leader has helped me and my family save literally thousands of dollars over the years." (Lose the exclamation points, El.)

Another page offers a laundry list of money-saving tips from Ellie, including advice to buy generic when you're getting prescription drugs. "Wal-Mart currently charges $4 for a 30-day supply of more than 360 generics," she reminds us.

Wal-Mart executives also get to blog at this site. The first post, by Wal-Mart's president of financial services, tells us that we can cash our economic-stimulus checks at Wal-Mart for free, and how easy it is to put some or all of that money on a Wal-Mart MoneyCard. This company has ingenious ways of getting people to walk through its doors.

Another page is an advertisement for Wal-Mart's "money services" like money orders and check cashing.

The final page is a lame spending quiz. We answered the 20 questions and found out we're a "nifty, thrifty spender." Gee. We were also told that we're saving the environment by shopping responsibly and that we "probably already know that ... services like Wal-Mart's Site to Store through Walmart.com also helps the environment by reducing fuel costs and packaging." If we didn't know, we guess we do now. 

Comments

 

Walmart may be one of the top ten worst things that has ever happend to this country!!!!!!!!! Ellie is a sell out,easy to advise the poor how to save money when someone is paying you millions for your BS that everbody already knows.Only in America!

Nice Chad,

Blast the mother of 5 about how easy she has it. She gets paid for her input, would you yourself offer services and not get paid for them? How smart would that be.

So the largest, and most well-known store in the world puts out a free, public source of information on how to save money...I hardly find that a reason to look down upon them. They offer to cash your stimulus check without a hitch, unlike others i.e Sears (a 10% bonus but only if you exchange it for a gift card there.)

I live in San Francisco, CA there is no Wal-Mart here, but actually i wish there were. In the long run, Walmart is helping the people that need help the most. If you can buy more with a buck at Walmart than you can at mom and pop, whats wrong with that? I hate people screaming Walmart is too big, too this, too that, why don't you folks pick up a book and read about Walmart and what its doing for the people that need it most, even college textbooks have good things to say. I am not a Walmart employee or affiliate i'm just a 25yr old MBA student who's sick of people blaming Walmart for running a business.

John Doe sounds like a true democrat,maybe we should get rid of all retailer's exept for walmart and mejier!!!!!!!And when that happens I bet your "great deal"wont be a geat deal anymore when they have no one to compete with.China sweatshop DBA Walmart.

Walmart is not helping anyone Andy!!!!!!When people like you look at the big picture and not just your wallet college boy then this country might start to turn around but,I bet your first in line to *** about gas prices.Guess what,same thing when theres no one else to get it from the price will rise like magic.

Through its entire chain of production, distribution, retailing and consumption, Wal-Mart profits from women’s losses. In their dogged pursuit of ever-lower prices, Wal-Mart exacts a high price for it’s largest constituency: women.

Women work in the factories that manufacture the products for sale in Wal-Mart stores. It is most likely a woman who sells that product to the consumer - 70% of Wal-Mart cashiers are women. And is it most likely a woman who buys that product - Wal-Mart's largest customer base is women. Despite this, the company has a history of gender discrimination, sexual harassment, wage disparities between male and female employees and health care inequalities for women.

HEY don't blame Wal-Mart on the Democrats!!! We didn't create it and they donate a lot of money to the Republicans. So unless they aren't getting their moneys worth from the Republicans, you guys created that.

If you think Wal-Mart helps Americans then the next time you go shopping, look for something made in America. With the exception of a few socks from my home town you will have trouble finding anything. All of the other things you find are jobs that left this country.

The problem with walmart is the way it treats it suppliers, not it's customers.   It is already so big that its suppliers have no choice but to do what they say.  Regardless of how ridiculous it is.  They will squeeze their suppliers so tight, to pass low costs to it's customers, that eventually, the suppliers will fail.  Then those same customers, the one's they are helping, will be unemployed.  Only then, when walmart has caused enough of it's own customers to be unemployed that they arent spending their money in walmart, will they feel anything.  And if they are successful expanding into China, India and the other 'emerging markets'  It wont matter to walmart if all americans have no jobs and no money.  They will still get theirs.  That is their plan, and it's closer to reality than anyone would like to think about.  

Of course Walmart helps low income people, it should since it helped create them.  Paying low wages, forcing manufacturers to close American facilities and move production to China putting people out of work.  Or how about when they locked their employees in the  stores overnight. Or how employees were not paid overtime.  Or my favorite, when a store in Canada voted to unionize, Walmart closed the store.  Yes, Walmart is a wonderful company, which is why as a life long liberal Democrat I will never shop there.

i love walmart cheap prices i can afford. why go elsewhere to pay double. you cant blame walmart on other business moving overseas. thats on those people. cant blame it on the government either.those companies left cause the wanted cheap to free labor. and because our dollar was gettin weak.  walmart sells cheap for everyone not just low income families. yes walmart treats their employees unfairly., but when your on a budget with limited income you can either spend $200 at walmart  or $350 at schnucks or deirbergs. you take what you can get. so until walmart is the last one standing and my family needs to it walmart here i come

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