Stupid Walmart

[T.J.]

I can't win for losing on this crap.

Stupid WALMART

[Steve]

I dont know why you want to fight it all the time!?

You know how it is, it's just extra hassle and there's enough legitimate hassle without creating more for yourself.

Why not just use Pesos like the rest of us do?

[Cancun Fun]

Tj is such a rebel.

[T.J.]

I may start my own cartel for fun and profit. Anyone want in?

[GONZO]

I will do the laundry for you here in the States!
Ancient Chinese secret.....

[Cancun Fun]

I want Tj to go to a Wal-Mart in Fla and insist they take pesos!

[Gringation]

Seriously TJ, if you know it's such a hassle, why don't you just pay in pesos?

[Cancun Fun]

Obviously you guys have never really met Tj!

[Jim in Cancun]

Sometimes it all boils down to "Would you rather be 'right' or happy?"

[matkirk]

I was thinking of times I'd really got angry about things in public while living in Cancun and there's only probably 5 times, but surprisingly 2 of the 5 were at Walmart central, (1 was at Chedraui Las Americas)! Not a good record for Cancun supermarkets!

I can no longer buy fish from Walmart after work, which is a shame cause they had the best I could find....

[ToriB]

Laughing my ass off at all your posts. Gotta Love a lil T.J. drama!!!!!

[jen***]

Just to add my little drama to this. I went to Scotia bank today to change some dollars with my Mexican passport. They told me to change money as a Mexican I need my IFE (which I don't have) and to change it as a foreigner I need a passport (foreign). So they wouldn't accept my Mexican passport as a valid ID to change the dollars!

[CancunNurse]

Really TJ, don't you have anything more important to do with your life than try to prove to a Walmart girl that you know more than she does? And even if you do, you lose cause esto es Mexico!

[V]

Not entirely to the point is my observation that order, cleanliness and service at Walmart Centro seem to have declined in recent weeks. I also noticed how dark it was inside. They were using only about 10% of their overhead lighting. That made me think they may be experiencing some management, or cost containment (or both) problems.

Your most recent experience, T.J., finding it hard to get them to respect their own, relatively new rule regarding purchases with foreign currency, mainly just illustrates how poor is the public education given in Mexico: the lower level institutions (the kind the majority of Mexicans attend, who can afford to attend) are extremely underfunded, the teachers unqualified for the subjects they teach, and the outcomes just what you'd expect.

It doesn't surprise me that you find it hard to get to deal with someone who knows how to do percentages, even WITH a calculator.

As for the "just pay in pesos" argument, we have to keep in mind that it's the official, posted policy of this Walmart to accept foreign currencies..., and T.J. even went so far as to meticulously observe the posted policy, but to no avail- not because they don't take foreign currency, but because they couldn't figure out the application of their own rule to a particular case. Why make excuses for them?

To my mind it just reflects poor management: if you can't find reasonably well educated people willing to work for 20 pesos per hour!, then you have to be ready to do the math for them- when a customer needs help, as in this situation.

Too bad you didn't have more time, T.J. You may have needed to carry this problem all the way to the general manager level to get results.

[T.J.]

Fun - I know you are joking. You know that Walmarts in the states don't post the exchange rate for Pesos, whereas Walmart here posts it for USD.

Gringation - It should not have to be a hassle for a customer to follow a merchant's own policy. STOP reading here if you want as that answers your question.

A longer and additional answer is that an FM3 Rentista holder cannot work here, needs to prove income from another country and therefore needs some method of foreign currency into pesos. When you have to do that for every single dollar, doesn't it make good financial sense to try to get the best rate for every dollar, GBP or whatever? You would exchange at Bank A instead of Bank B, avoid casas de cambio, etc. All I was trying to do was to make my purchase, tender payment in dollars, enjoy the rate that they advertise/have posted and do so according to their new policy, as stupid as it may be. Of course I carry pesos and dollars and I ask what the exchange rate is, and then make my decision on what is best for me based on what the merchant's policy is. If I withdraw pesos with my ATM card at $12.50 I would pay Walmart in pesos if their rate was only $12.40. I hope that answers your "hassle" question.

This is really not much different than you taking your hard earned pesos and buying things at one store or another, for the best bargain for your currency, whatever it may be. I am pretty sure that you don't do your grocery shopping at OXXO, or if craving a Big Mac, hop on the bus and go buy one at Party Center in the HZ.

Jim - "in the heat of the battle, blah, blah, blah" LOL

jen - A Mexican friend had her wallet stolen, gets paid in dollars and Scotia would not accept her passport as "official identification." Go figure. I feel your pain. Nice guy that I am, I took her dollars (and my passport) went to Scotiabank, who typically has the best rate for dollars to pesos, and helped her get "the coin of the realm."

Cancun Nurse - You can't be serious, but knowing you, you are. Of course I have more important things to do, like going home and unloading $2,000 worth of groceries. Surely you don't think this was about proving anything to some Walmart girl. You miss the point completely. I had spent about an hour shopping, went to pay and Walmart has tradionally been a great place to use dollars at a good rate. I acted in good faith, according to the policy, buying more than 90% of the value of the dollars tendered so that my change would be less than their self imposed limit of 10%.

OMG, why am I getting into this detail with you on your thoughtless post.

V - Great comments and observations. You seem to get the point, unlike some others.

Gringation and Cancun Nurse - From now on I can "avoid the hassle" and do things "more important to do with your life" by very simply taking my business elsewhere. But by being the selfish bastard that I am, I can go to Walmart Comalcalco, pay with all the dollars that I want and get the change in pesos at better than bank rates.

[CancunNurse]

This is not a new policy. This has been going on for months. My belief is that they are trying to curb locals from buying a container of milk with a $50 bill and making money on their exchange. I have been buying alot of toys for the kids for the past 5 years and have never had a problem AND they give me a 10% discount on ALL toys purchased for the kids. AS TJ has said, there are other Walmarts to try to change the money in.

"Cancun Nurse - You can't be serious, but knowing you, you are" ...TJ we met once. You don't know me. I can't believe someone would spend a day in their life running all over town to save $2 or $3 dollars. If it wasn't a matter of proving a point, you had 2 options...pay or leave. Please....don't get me started.....

[T.J.]

Nancy:

The policy was implemented at the end of June. I think the notice says the 27th. I never met a lot of people on this board but I know them from conversations, postings, reputations AND FROM THOSE WHO DO KNOW THEM PERSONALLY. So I feel I know you in that sense as I know others that I have never met face to face.

Who said anything about running all over town or whatever to save $2-$3???

No mas. You are trying to make this personal, which it is not. (But I guess it could be for you.)

[Gringation]

TJ - No need to get upset about my comment. To be clear, I agree with you that if they post something, they should stick by it.

That being said, both of us have been living here for some time, and we know that sometimes things just don't make sense in Mexico. I used to try to fight it, but then I realized I was trying to change an entire culture, and that's not my place. (Ok honestly I still fight it sometimes, and my husband has had to talk me down from beating up Oxxo employees on several occasions.) I'm not saying you're wrong, but you can't change these kinds of things here just by complaining to the supervisor. Here, putting in a complaint usually just makes them want to help you even less.

Again, I think you're 100% right and they should stick by what they say, but we're guests in this culture and sometimes we just have to accept the way things are, as backwards as it may be. If we were in the US, I'd say to fight it, but that's not how it works here.

[CancunNurse]

I'm just sitting and giggling TJ...no need to put the heat up. I rarely post (unless it's about charity stuff) but this just seemed so silly. Sometimes you just can't win and the waste of energy, to me, is more important. "Get a life" in NY means get over it. Didn't mean to make you feel it was personal. Hope from reading this you can tell I didn't mean any harm...

[T.J.]

Fair enough Nancy. Semi apology accepted and returned equally to you.

Gracias

[mexipat]

Regardless what the posted sign says, complaining about paying in pesos in Mexico is just plain silly.

[maw9779]

Why not pay with a debit or credit card, and all of the exchange rates are taken care of?

[V]

Everybody's got a solution for T.J.: nobody's offered a solution for Walmart's inability to implement its own policy.

Frankly, I find suggestions like, "Just pay in pesos", to be condescending, as if one is saying, "Heh, don't you get it? They're way too stupid to run the store/country/(you fill in the blank) any better than that, so why get into it with them?"

The fact is that cashiers in Walmart and low level employees in many other businesses here are borderline competent: they are chosen for their willingness to work for 20 pesos an hour. They by no means represent the best Mexico has to offer.

Mexico is not the only country where service is suffering from the, "Let's squeeze all the money out of this business we can, by paying as little as we find we have to, to fill the slots". When was the last time you called to get some service on the phone, and were answered by someone from perhaps as far away as India, who thought you had a bad accent?

[Gringation]

Maw9779 - Not sure with TJ, but my US debit card charges me $5 - $10 dollars whenever I do a transaction in Mexico. It's not a great option if you're looking to save money with currency rates.

V - Sorry, I'm confused by your comment. You say we're being condescending by saying they're not competent enough to run the store, but it seems like you're agreeing with us in paragraph 3? Maybe I'm misreading.

My personal experience here (after arguments with Costco, Telhell, taxis, and several Oxxos) is that most employees are great... but when you find one or two that aren't, arguing is useless. If they don't agree with/understand you the first time around, you just have to let it go sometimes.

Before I came to Mexico for the first time I had a crash course on Latin American culture, and the first thing they mentioned is that in Latin America, they will do whatever it takes NOT to admit they're wrong in public. If you prove them wrong, they will often just keep repeating themselves. (Personally I've seen that's not true with everyone here, but I admit it does happen more than in the US.) Honestly I still fight it like TJ does because I'm stubborn, but I also recognize that it gets me nowhere.

The way I see it, TJ has 3 options if he wants a happier Walmart shopping experience:

1. Pay in pesos (the easiest option, which is why I recommended it)
2. Continue trying to pay in dollars under the posted rules, but always be prepared to pay in pesos just in case. If he points out an error once and they still won't accept his dollars, it's time to let it go.
3. Shop at another Walmart, as he mentioned above.

If he continues the way he's going, he's just going to be mad all the time and nothing will get fixed.

[V]

V - Sorry, I'm confused by your comment. You say we're being condescending by saying they're not competent enough to run the store, but it seems like you're agreeing with us in paragraph 3? Maybe I'm misreading.

Not misreading, just confusing too issues: that low competence individuals are hired for these jobs is a given, because the employers don't want to pay wages high enough to get better.

It's when the comment goes something like, "Well, what do you expect, this is Mexico!," that I object, because it implies Mexico can't do anything right, or that competent people can't be found, because they don't exist that becomes condescending. Had T.J. taken his issue to the general manager, as I suggested he probably needed to, he might have had the pleasure of meeting one of them.

[Gringation]

Gotcha, thanks V I agree with you that lower paid employees are often less competent in any country for various reasons.

That being said, I think "this is Mexico" is a valid argument here not because the entire country is incompetent, but because at least in the States speaking with a supervisor will often fix the situation because there's a "the customer is always right" attitude. (In the US they'll do whatever it takes to get you to just go away haha.) Not always the case here.

[ToriB]

This pertains somewhat to this fiasco.... Today, I received an email from my US bank that not only are they upping my ATM rebate each month from $4 usd to $8usd, but I have no more International penalties to pay. So, if need be, I can use the ATM when need be to pull out a good chunk of money at a better rate then Walmart and not have to pay extra. YAY!!! Glad I'm saving a lot of my commissions in dollars to deposit in two weeks