Wal-Mart: The Right Price...at what price?

Let me start this post by saying that I am a Wal-Mart shopper. Its convenient, I can trust that they'll have almost anything I'm looking for, and let's face it they're cheap. My budget needs Wal-Mart. I still remember the name of the greeter at the store in Farmington, NM. His name was James and my family always felt like we were expected. He knew our names and we knew his.

Wal-Mart, as we all know, is stupid huge. They're everywhere. Try going on a road trip and not find one in a city over 5,000 population. You'll find 'em, but its rare. That being said shouldn't they be the leaders in convenience? They are a bloated convenience store as it is. Shouldn't they make all the little convenience stores want to grow up to be them?

What I'm about to say is not isolated to Wal-Mart, but I pick on them because I think they should get it right. Watch this post and you'll get where I'm coming from.
1> The receipts!
The blasted receipts!!! My wife and I may be the last people on the planet that keeps their receipts, but for Pete's sake what's with the scroll of parchment!? Do I look like Harry Potter with a feather pin and ink jar?
Now I get what they're trying to do with the extra six inches of paper attached to my receipt, but guess what? No one wants that. Again, if we're the last couple on the planet keeping receipts think about how much paper is being wasted. I rip off the extra every time and throw it away.

If the scroll is going to continue let's get toothpicks at each register so that I can reel it up proper. I digress. Honestly if it is going to continue, which I think it is, let's get something useful on there. Does anyone remember Coke and Sprite's "win 1 in every 6 bottle tops" campaign? That was amazing! I never bought so much soda. Not only the hope of getting something for free, but I knew people that won and I won a few times myself. If that's what Wal-Mart, Kroger, etc are going for...I hate to break it to ya, but huh uh. Not happening.

Why not collect 5 of these and get a free box of whatever is new like a new Cheerio's spin off, or even something old.

"Collect 5 and get 2 lbs of bananas for free"

We all know we need banana's, but we don't eat enough...or any. Being reminded to eat them, but for free could encourage more banana buying, which could lead to more fruit eating, which could lead...oh you get the point. There are possibilities.

2> The credit card terminal!
I've swiped a debit or credit card a few thousand times in my life, and yet there are still occasions when I have to ask myself, "Do I press CANCEL for credit?" And I ALWAYS ask myself, "Shouldn't there just be a CREDIT key?"

Is there a mandate out there that every credit card terminal is not allowed to have the word Credit so that we subliminally want to choose Debit? Is Debit cheaper on the store than Credit? There's nothing like a disgusted look from a cashier because you are having the internal dialog of logic vs. reality.

I realize both of these things are petty, but I think of them for one reason or another everytime I'm in a Wal-Mart, Kroger, or any store with receipts and credit card terminals. Which by the way is most every store. I fear that someone said this is the way it should be done and no one spoke up after they realized it was broken.

What little things do you still have broken that could easily be fixed?

Holla!!!