mm wrote:
On Thu, 17 Aug 2006 21:45:11 -0400, "Kyle Boatright"
wrote:

....
... Once upon a time, the (HD) store managers had a lot of
latitude on what to stock, how to price it, etc. Today, virtually all of
that is controlled at the corporate level.

Even so, with computerized inventory, they should always have almost
full inventory

(unless something unusual happens. ...)

Well, "yes but..."

While true in theory, reality is that there is the overall
profitability that is what is attempting to be maximized and that
includes delivery costs, manufacturing and delivery costs/timing,
inventory costs and turnover amongst other variables. Simply looking
at the number of widgets in a bin and sending out more in a purely
automatic response might keep inventory on the shelves but wouldn't
necessarily bring in more net revenue (and probably wouldn't for most
items)...

When did Sam Walton die? They have been selling Chinese stuff for a
long time, I thought.
....

I don't recall the date, but the shift from "Buy America" to "Buy
Cheap" came following his death and that is what precipitated the mass
stampede to Chinese and other third-world manufacturers. Of course,
Wally-World isn't the only one, just the leader--essentially everyone
has had to follow suit in order to compete. Simply try to find common
consumer products of the type W-M stocks and see if you can actually
find a non-third-world supplier for any of them---usually it can't be
done except in really large metro areas with very specialized shops,
and even then not necessarily.

When (and if) consumers decide to flock away to somewhere other than
W-M, they will either change or (as in Germany) withdraw. I personally
avoid them as much as possible because a) they're _not_
convenient--it's too big, takes too much wandering around to try to
find an item or two; b) typically it's crowded so it takes longer to
get in/out; c) there really isn't that much difference in cost for most
items to make it worth the hassle; d) unless it really is just
"consumer junk", there really isn't anything there I want, anyway.

PS. Being in what most would consider a small town, there are the
occasional instances that there actually isn't much if any alternative
any longer as the influence of the BORG-syndrome is most observable on
the independent businesses in smaller communities which don't have the
population base to support the smaller merchants as well.