I went to my local Wal-Mart Supercenter (in Mount Pleasant, TX) last week to
look at some flowers for my gardens. They were the most pitiful looking
things I've ever seen! I almost cried! At least 3/4 of their plants
(flowers, veggies, EVERYTHING) was either dead or dying. Seems to me they
should hire some people for that department that know what the hell they're
doing I'm thinking I may call the corporate offices and complain. Poor
plants, didn't have a chance with the people they've got working there now!
Maybe I should go work there, LOL! Ok...just wanted to vent...

Angie

Angela Coffey wrote:
I went to my local Wal-Mart Supercenter (in Mount Pleasant, TX) last
week to
look at some flowers for my gardens. They were the most pitiful
looking
things I've ever seen! I almost cried! At least 3/4 of their plants
(flowers, veggies, EVERYTHING) was either dead or dying. Seems to me
they
should hire some people for that department that know what the hell
they're
doing I'm thinking I may call the corporate offices and complain.
Poor
plants, didn't have a chance with the people they've got working there
now!
Maybe I should go work there, LOL! Ok...just wanted to vent...


Two years ago, our local K-Mart had the same types of problems. But
these mass-marketers live and die by numbers, so as the monthly and
quarterly numbers come in, and one particular store stands out as having
more losses and fewer sales than comparable stores, someone will have to
answer for it. So maybe next year they might have some good, well
cared-for pants. Or maybe not.

--
Warren H.

==========
Disclaimer: My views reflect those of myself, and not my
employer, my friends, nor (as she often tells me) my wife.
Any resemblance to the views of anybody living or dead is
coincidental. No animals were hurt in the writing of this
response -- unless you count my dog who desperately wants
to go outside now.

Angela Coffey wrote:
I went to my local Wal-Mart Supercenter (in Mount Pleasant, TX) last week to
look at some flowers for my gardens. They were the most pitiful looking
things I've ever seen! I almost cried! At least 3/4 of their plants
(flowers, veggies, EVERYTHING) was either dead or dying. Seems to me they
should hire some people for that department that know what the hell they're
doing I'm thinking I may call the corporate offices and complain. Poor
plants, didn't have a chance with the people they've got working there now!
Maybe I should go work there, LOL! Ok...just wanted to vent...

Angie




Yet another reason not to shop at the Evil Corporate Giants. Go to a
local garden center instead. Yeah, I'm preaching, I know.

ROTFLMAO.

Yeah sure. That will happen when pigs can fly.

They pay wages that would even be insulting to a master gardener. It really
wouldn't matter who takes care of the plants if those managing the store do
not cooperate.

You go and call the corporate offices. They couldn't care less. To them, the
plants are a just a gimmick they use to attract customers. They simply write
off the losses.

There should be laws requiring a certain degree of minimal care to those who
sell live plants.

On the other hand, you can rest assured that Wal-Mart still sells hand
guns!!!!



Angela Coffey wrote in message
...
I went to my local Wal-Mart Supercenter (in Mount Pleasant, TX) last week
to
look at some flowers for my gardens. They were the most pitiful looking
things I've ever seen! I almost cried! At least 3/4 of their plants
(flowers, veggies, EVERYTHING) was either dead or dying. Seems to me they
should hire some people for that department that know what the hell
they're
doing I'm thinking I may call the corporate offices and complain. Poor
plants, didn't have a chance with the people they've got working there
now!
Maybe I should go work there, LOL! Ok...just wanted to vent...

Angie

On Sat, 12 Apr 2003 18:53:36 GMT, "Cereoid-XXX"
wrote:

ROTFLMAO.

Yeah sure. That will happen when pigs can fly.

They pay wages that would even be insulting to a master gardener. It really
wouldn't matter who takes care of the plants if those managing the store do
not cooperate.

You go and call the corporate offices. They couldn't care less. To them, the
plants are a just a gimmick they use to attract customers. They simply write
off the losses.

There should be laws requiring a certain degree of minimal care to those who
sell live plants.

And how about the same thing for those who sell live animals? I don't
want to get into the conditions that obtain in so many pet stores!
Talk about cruelty!!! Why isn't this more closely supervised?

Answer: No money; but billions available to go kill Iraqui children.

On the other hand, you can rest assured that Wal-Mart still sells hand
guns!!!!

They are the target of law enforcement for selling guns to felons.
Their excuse: Untrained clerks. Yeah, sure!

I just don't buy in Wal-Mart, period.







Angela Coffey wrote in message
...
I went to my local Wal-Mart Supercenter (in Mount Pleasant, TX) last week
to
look at some flowers for my gardens. They were the most pitiful looking
things I've ever seen! I almost cried! At least 3/4 of their plants
(flowers, veggies, EVERYTHING) was either dead or dying. Seems to me they
should hire some people for that department that know what the hell
they're
doing I'm thinking I may call the corporate offices and complain. Poor
plants, didn't have a chance with the people they've got working there
now!
Maybe I should go work there, LOL! Ok...just wanted to vent...

Angie





--
Polar

On Sat, 12 Apr 2003 14:11:50 -0400, spampot wrote:

Angela Coffey wrote:
I went to my local Wal-Mart Supercenter (in Mount Pleasant, TX) last week to
look at some flowers for my gardens. They were the most pitiful looking
things I've ever seen! I almost cried! At least 3/4 of their plants
(flowers, veggies, EVERYTHING) was either dead or dying. Seems to me they
should hire some people for that department that know what the hell they're
doing I'm thinking I may call the corporate offices and complain. Poor
plants, didn't have a chance with the people they've got working there now!
Maybe I should go work there, LOL! Ok...just wanted to vent...

Angie




Yet another reason not to shop at the Evil Corporate Giants. Go to a
local garden center instead. Yeah, I'm preaching, I know.

I calls it giving rational advice. I go to local garden centers where
I am known, treated with respect, cheerfully offered exchange-refund
on request if plants/seeds N.G., and generally feel I am dealing with
human beings instead of an "Evil Corporate Giant" (love it!)



--
Polar

On Sat, 12 Apr 2003 11:53:14 -0500, "Angela Coffey"
wrote:

I went to my local Wal-Mart Supercenter (in Mount Pleasant, TX) last week to
look at some flowers for my gardens. They were the most pitiful looking
things I've ever seen! I almost cried! At least 3/4 of their plants
(flowers, veggies, EVERYTHING) was either dead or dying. Seems to me they
should hire some people for that department that know what the hell they're
doing I'm thinking I may call the corporate offices and complain. Poor
plants, didn't have a chance with the people they've got working there now!
Maybe I should go work there, LOL! Ok...just wanted to vent...

If you knew what those employees are paid, and how they are exploited
(forced overtime, no pay, for example), you might understand how they
have no time to care for the poor plants.

I think it would be way cool if you showed up with a watering can
and pruning shears and went around caring for the plants; watering;
dead-heading, etc. Have a camera crew from your local TV station
accompany you.




--
Polar

I calls it giving rational advice. I go to local
garden centers

I'm very lucky in that our landlady apparently did a
lot of business at a local nursery and the employees
all know her and (more importantly, from my perspective)
her yard and are able to help me out with different
problem areas that I have had.

Tracey

Home Depot has the same results. They sell plants extremely cheap to draw
in customers to buy other things in the store and don't really care that the
plants don't fare well.

Lowe's Home Improvement was doing the same thing until last summer. They
have now contracted with a company that has people water and maintain the
plants. What a difference! I actually knew the girl who was maintaining
the plants. We had worked for a local garden center together in the past.
She knew her plants. The nice part is that Lowe's still offers plants at
the same competitive price as Home Depot.

I have a flower planting business and sometimes can get plants at Lowe's
cheaper than what I can buy from my wholesalers. Again, it's a ploy to get
customers to enter their store. So they can afford to lose some money or
break even, if it means higher sales inside the store. I don't know if
Lowe's is doing this nationally or not. This is in Raleigh, NC.

Go ahead and vent to Wal-Mart management and see if you get some results.
They don't know until you tell them.

Penny
Zone 7b - North Carolina
"Angela Coffey" wrote in message
...
I went to my local Wal-Mart Supercenter (in Mount Pleasant, TX) last week
to
look at some flowers for my gardens. They were the most pitiful looking
things I've ever seen! I almost cried! At least 3/4 of their plants
(flowers, veggies, EVERYTHING) was either dead or dying. Seems to me they
should hire some people for that department that know what the hell
they're
doing I'm thinking I may call the corporate offices and complain. Poor
plants, didn't have a chance with the people they've got working there
now!
Maybe I should go work there, LOL! Ok...just wanted to vent...

Angie

Thank goodness many of them were in prisons and torture chambers away
from their parents when the bombs fell...


On Sat, 12 Apr 2003 12:49:25 -0700, Polar
wrote:

And how about the same thing for those who sell live animals? I don't
want to get into the conditions that obtain in so many pet stores!
Talk about cruelty!!! Why isn't this more closely supervised?

Answer: No money; but billions available to go kill Iraqui children.

Funny, I went to Lowe's Friday - their plants were pathetic - went to Home
Depot and their plant were in great shape (Plano, TX).

I bought a whole bunch of plants from Walmart last week from the Round Rock
store. They had tons of herbs and I bought a few flats of bluebonnets and some
vines here and there. Mind you, I have no idea where they will go. I have
covered about every inch of our property and every vertical are with plants.

I have seen very poorly run Walmart garden centers in my time. I go into the
manager and express my disgust both as a gardener and shareholder. At the same
time, when the garden center looks good I go to the manager and give a
compliment to the staff.

On Sat, 12 Apr 2003 11:53:14 -0500, "Angela Coffey"
wrote:

I went to my local Wal-Mart Supercenter (in Mount Pleasant, TX) last week to
look at some flowers for my gardens. They were the most pitiful looking
things I've ever seen! I almost cried! At least 3/4 of their plants
(flowers, veggies, EVERYTHING) was either dead or dying. Seems to me they
should hire some people for that department that know what the hell they're
doing I'm thinking I may call the corporate offices and complain. Poor
plants, didn't have a chance with the people they've got working there now!
Maybe I should go work there, LOL! Ok...just wanted to vent...

Angie

On Sat, 12 Apr 2003 12:53:24 -0700, Polar wrote:

If you knew what those employees are paid, and how they are exploited
(forced overtime, no pay, for example), you might understand how they
have no time to care for the poor plants.

No, I don't. Please site how much they are paid and how they work for no pay.
I'd be interested in the source for this information.

I think it would be way cool if you showed up with a watering can
and pruning shears and went around caring for the plants; watering;
dead-heading, etc. Have a camera crew from your local TV station
accompany you.

Don't laugh. Way back when, I got my job at a garden center where I was a
customer at first. I'd spend hours walking around the 10 acres cleaning plants,
pulling weeds, etc. I did this because I lived in a condo and I really NEEDED
to be on some land. One day the owner came over to me and asked if I'd like to
work there and that's how I became a commercial grower. Talk about no
money...don't get me started. I made money, but barely what I was making doing
Weapon Spec work for the government. Back in the early 80's I was making 25
dollars an hour. I left all that to make about 10 dollars an hour, maybe it was
even a bit less.

Angela Coffey wrote:

I went to my local Wal-Mart Supercenter (in Mount Pleasant, TX) last week to
look at some flowers for my gardens. They were the most pitiful looking
things I've ever seen! I almost cried! At least 3/4 of their plants
(flowers, veggies, EVERYTHING) was either dead or dying.

One of the superstores in Albuquerque has some decent looking ones - finally,
but only because they built a fairly civil area to store them inside wherew they
are protected from the elements. Went by a Lowes 2 weeks ago and they left
theirs outside (very cold and in the wind that night) overnight. Pathetic
looking little things.

--
John S. DeBoo

"John S. DeBoo" wrote in message
...
Angela Coffey wrote:

I went to my local Wal-Mart Supercenter (in Mount Pleasant, TX) last
week to
look at some flowers for my gardens. They were the most pitiful looking
things I've ever seen! I almost cried! At least 3/4 of their plants
(flowers, veggies, EVERYTHING) was either dead or dying.

One of the superstores in Albuquerque has some decent looking ones -
finally,
but only because they built a fairly civil area to store them inside
wherew they
are protected from the elements. Went by a Lowes 2 weeks ago and they
left
theirs outside (very cold and in the wind that night) overnight. Pathetic
looking little things.

--
John S. DeBoo


As a bit of defense for Wal-Mart, we have a great person in charge of the
garden section at our local super center. I have know him for the past four
years and found him dedicated to his job. When I look for him with a
question or problem, I most often find him with a water wand in his hand
taking care of the newly arrived acquisitions or older plants that need
tending. (Most of the stuff moves so rapidly that it doesn't have time to
dry out or die.) His biggest complaint is that the management forces him to
contend with "bodies" in getting things done. I have purchased a lot of
plant material from bulbs to fruit trees from this Wal-Mart and feel I've
always received good product and good treatment. I made it a point to write
several letters to the management regarding what a great employee he is.

BTW, Wal-Mart has been an extremely generous supporter of local
beautification projects in the parks and public buildings our area by the
local garden clubs. Not all Wal-Marts are community pariahs.

John