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Good Job, Wal-Mart:

Wal-Mart Stores has agreed to provide 400 free bicycles, cash donations to charity and other free products to settle a dispute with a non-profit charity founded by Andre Johnson of the Houston Texans to help needy, inner-city children. According to Hillel Presser, a prominent Fort Lauderdale attorney who negotiated the settlement, problems arose after Johnson paid nearly $26,000 retail for hundreds of children’s bicycles to be given away during an annual Foundation sponsored event featuring food, music, and festivities for under-privileged children in Miami Gardens, Florida. The bicycle purchase was to include free ice and water for the children. Wal-Mart was unable to supply all the various sizes of bicycles ordered and a Wal-Mart employee then revoked the ice and water offer without notice, citing the smaller number of delivered bicycles, even though Wal-Mart was responsible for the shortage. Said attorney Presser: “This settlement is a win-win for the needy children, for my client, Andre Johnson, and for Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart values its reputation for supporting local charities and events and Andre is able to help more deserving children get bicycles.” In addition to the 400, free bicycles and cash, Wal-Mart will supply free ice, water, and food to the next event for 1500 children.

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• Tiger Direct buys CompUSA brand and 16 stores - news - www.pcretailmag.com http://tinyurl.com/3xdkal - wow. interesting news! #
• “‘We know CompUSA did some things wrong, but we are fixing what was broken about CompUSA,’ said Fiorentino … #
• … acknowledging that CompUSA’s reputation had been tarnished by poor customer service and staffing problems.” #
• CompUSA’s has problems with customer service, but Tiger’s gonna fix them? What a laugh! Tiger’s customer service is 10 times worse! #

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Interesting article on Consumerist.com on how Warranties: Best Buy Overlaps Their Product Service Plans With Manufacturer’s Warranty:

Wiliam writes in to point out something he noticed in the fine print of Best Buy’s Product Service Plan: it begins as soon as you purchase the item, and doesn’t cover anything covered by the manufacturer’s warranty. If you have a one-year manufacturer’s warranty and a two-year PSP, you effectively get only one year of coverage out of the PSP.

what amazes me is what they offer warranties on nowadays. $20 remote control cars. $50 cell phones. I fully expect to be offered a warranty on my Snickers bar soon!

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Look who’s the newest aspiring cartoonist.

You can find this and other great toons over at Planet Joon.

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Looks like Wal-Mart has jumped the shark. Surprise surprise. According to the NYT - they’ve squeezed all they can out of the American consumers and foreign consumers don’t want what they’re selling. I’m guessing the leaking lead paint from the toy section won’t help the situation going forward.

Using a combination of low prices and relentless expansion, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. emerged from rural Arkansas in the 1970s to reshape the world’s largest economy. Its co-founder, Sam Walton, taught Americans to demand ever-lower prices and instructed businesses on running a lean company. His company helped boost America’s overall productivity, lowered the inflation rate, and strengthened the buying power for millions of people. Over time, it also accelerated the drive to manufacture products in Asia, drove countless small shops out of business, and sped the decline of Main Street. Those changes are permanent.

Today, though, Wal-Mart’s influence over the retail universe is slipping. In fact, the industry’s titan is scrambling to keep up with swifter rivals that are redefining the business all around it. It can still disrupt prices, as it did last year by cutting some generic prescriptions to $4. But success is no longer guaranteed.

Rival retailers lured Americans away from Wal-Mart’s low-price promise by offering greater convenience, more selection, higher quality, or better service. Amid the country’s growing affluence, Wal-Mart has struggled to overhaul its down-market, politically incorrect image while other discounters pitched themselves as more upscale and more palatable alternatives. The Internet has changed shoppers’ preferences and eroded the commanding influence Wal-Mart had over its suppliers.

As a result, American shoppers are increasingly looking for qualities that Wal-Mart has trouble providing. “For the first time in a long time, quality has a chance to gain on price,” says Lee Peterson, a vice president at Dublin, Ohio-based brand consulting firm WD Partners Inc.

Now, the big-name brands that fueled Wal-Mart’s climb to the top are forging exclusive distribution deals with other retailers, or working to reduce their reliance on its stores. PepsiCo Inc., which favored mass-market campaigns a decade ago, recently skipped Wal-Mart when launching a new energy drink in favor of Whole Foods Market Inc. Consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble Co. gets 15% of its revenue from Wal-Mart, down three percentage points from 2003.

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