ATS: Did Sam's Club Go Too Far?

Originally posted by SpartanKingLeonidas
Okay...so what was it that he was attempting to buy?

From the base article:

He was at the Sam's Club in Monroeville with his eight-month pregnant wife with a shopping cart full of baby stuff.

Sounds like the mean stuff...diapers and baby food.

I'll be serious...it was probably fertilizer he was purchasing...since we all remember the Oklahoma City Bombing. ~coughs~ set-up ~coughs~ patsy ~coughs~

I don't think it matters to WalMart; just the fact that he set off some alarm.

It sounds like an honest mistake, imo.

Good thing for face recognition.

If you wanna see this crap in action, they have a TV show on NBC on Fridays usually. Its called Ironically Las Vegas.

They show alot of interesting high tech crap that companies use probably in real life.

I live in the area where this happened..... Makes me actually kinda edgy to go in a Sam's club, I been contemplating on buying a membership cause I wanna get one of their super duper fast laptops.

This doesn't really shock me. Supermarkets have been illegally monitering folk and put in very personal information about their shoppers. Whether they are married, or single. How old you are, and even your sexuality. I watched a video on supermarkets in Home Economics, and it showed massive databases on folk. It's illegal but I doubt anyone cares enough to stop it.

This doesn't really shock me. Supermarkets have been illegally monitering folk and put in very personal information about their shoppers. Whether they are married, or single. How old you are, and even your sexuality. I watched a video on supermarkets in Home Economics, and it showed massive databases on folk. It's illegal but I doubt anyone cares enough to stop it.

where i live in new england there is a chain of supermarkets calle Shaw's.and like its major competitor, stop & shop they have a check cashing service at the cust. serv. desk,(which they charge $1 for each transaction).one day my stepmother tried to cash her check using this service at shaw's and they refused because "she hadn't recently spent enuff money at shaw's". the bad part for shaw's was she planned on spending some of that check @ that location, which was wwhy she just skipped the bank that day.sure the "courtesy" cards bring much savings.but it doesn't sound like a courtesy if their using info. like that to deny certain services or courtesies.

Seriously communist propoganda? You know Publix, Kash n Karry and Winn Dixie cap their pay rates for their employees right? Many people who work for Wal-Mart quit their jobs at those locations because they stop giving you raises for a certain period of time.

Besides how many people do you really know that do have Sams memberships are being detained because of an accidental mistake? You people act like they are following you with robot gaurds that are ready to kill you if you make a wrong move.

Sams club membership is badass. If you are planning to stockpile supplies for a coming disaster, there is no place better to go. Plus the added perks I listed in my previous post. I am not trying to come of as advertising, I am just sick and tired of people bashing the company I work for just because you people are ill informed and go by assumptions that if it happened at one store, it happens at all of them all the time.

Bash Lockheed martin, they are the ones developing all the technologies to enhance surveillance on our enemies and citizens.

My point in posting this article was the information that they had compiled on this man. The implied that they had compiled a file on him with information from multiple locations. They had his name, his address and his buying habits. What wasn't stated was that they also had his home address, phone number, checking account number (if he has one) or credit card information. Who is responsible for the security of that information once it has been gathered? Who has access to that information? What is Sam's Club allowed to do with that information?

Originally posted by JIMC5499
My point in posting this article was the information that they had compiled on this man.

Exactly.

Big Brother.

Corporate Big Brother.

...Who has access to that information? Anyone with the cash to buy it and the desire to do so. Information is a trade commodity in our brave new world.

Mod Note: Trim Those Quotes - Please Review this link


[edit on 30-3-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

I am not trying to come of as advertising, I am just sick and tired of people bashing the company I work for

personally DYepes, I think Wal-Mart and all of its subsidiaries are horrible. i'm not tryin to flame ya or anything, but to tell you the truth i really see little if any difference in prices at my local wally world and other department stores. and about the $0.10 off of gas, well i can also get the same discount @ my local stop&shop filling station sometimes even $0.20 off if i use one of my recent grocery receipts. and those clothes, ugh tacky. and how about the fact that they're employees make jack for wages, or the recent uncovering of sexist promotion practices? so ya see DYepes, there are MANY reasons why the company you work for sucks.there even used to be an employee organized website www.walmartsucks.com where wal-mart employees would post their own personal horror work stories.

So if you can afford your gas prices without a big impact on your financial budget, than don't complain about it, many people in this country alone have it alot worse.

YEAH LIKE WAL-MART EMPLOYEES. ROFLMMFAO!!


[edit on 30-3-2006 by descendantofclairvoyance]
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[edit on 30-3-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

I work at Wal-Mart simply because I have no other place to go, I make 6 bucks an hour (used to make 7.50 and 8.50 after 5pm for the same job) pushing carts through the rain, snow and other extreme weather.

Atleast I get a "whopping" 10% off their merchandize, but as my sarcasm implies, not worth it unless you spend over a 100 bucks.

Atleast they give regular raises, every year they will add a buck on your sallery, so that isn't too bad.

Wal-Mart is definitly not cheaper than most stores like Super Saver, Fareway (here in Iowa) or other grocery stores, so we avoid buying groceries there when we can.

It's cool and all that they sell guns, airsoft and paintball guns, but they hardly sell anything i'd considder to buy, their airguns are pretty cool, the airsoft guns are that see through crap so that's very unapealing, their shotguns and rifles are strictly for target shooting and hunting (I.E. 243cal Remington 700, .22LR rifles, slug guns), so don't come to Wal-Mart for home-defense guns or anything else they fear could be used in crime...lol...

ok look Wal-Mart is not the only entity with all fo your personal information. Get any junk-mail lately? JC penny catalog? Grocery advertisements? Thats right they all have your address and phone number, and if you have bought anything there with a card they also have that.

Wal-Marts wages are fair for the job you are doing. Would you pay somebody $50,000 a year to slice your deli meat? Mix your paint? Home depot doesnt do it. Publix doesnt either. Their benefits and wages are standard competitive wages as far as the retail or grocery world go. Every employee has bad stories of their job. I bet you have had a lousy job that was not Wal-Mart. Its ok. At least many of the employees who are in the regional and international and CEO positionsactually worked their way up there from the bottom.

In the end Wal-Mart is just another job in your city. It is not any better or worse.

But yea the hospital has all your information, the police have all your information, the companies that send you junk in the mail have all of your information. There is noone here whos information is in the hands of at least a dozen companies and agencies that are not wal-mart.

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[edit on 30-3-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

its funny because theay got the wrong guy!! wouldent you fell stupid if you where the securety guys (sry for bad spelling)....lol that would be a pain in the rear end poor guy....if i was him i would try as hard as i could to embaras the company just because it must be embarasing to have that happon to you lol

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[edit on 30-3-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

I don't get involved in bickering about how a man makes his bread. But I will say this about the local Wal-Mart - they must be doing something right by their employees. I've seen the same faces there for the past 3 years, it seems, and you cannot beat them for customer service. They are very helpful and always friendly.

And this is not an economically depressed area of the country, either.

jsobecky, I dont know what state you shop Wal-Mart in, But right now in SC, the ones I do patronize and that is as little as posssible, the customer service and helpful attitudes of the employees is no-existant. I lived also in PA and my experince was the same there, the employees could care less about customers needs.I just get the feeling everytime I walk into a Wal-Mart that I'am being scrutinized, call it paranoia or what you want, but there is something different from Walmart and other stores of similar type.

Originally posted by LazarusTheLong
...

dont you still have to pay a membership fee to join there?

times are tough, when the shoplifters have to pay to steal...

That is an odd reason to be in the store, but...

Lazarus, I didn't see or read where he was accused of shoplifting. Or price-shopping, or anything for that matter. No reason was given and that was the point of the article/report. Wal-mart didn't have an explanation for the guy or the reporter investigators.

Issuing a heartfelt apology seemed strange from an entity that won't say what was going on.

Is it possible that someone was "posing" as Walmart security and pulling a stunt to embarrass the company? Trying to bring this issue to the front pages?


To those employees of Walmart: I hear you about the yearly raises, but do they still start you out as part-time workers (under 32 hours) so they don't have to provide benefits such as health insurance? Either get on your spouse's policy or go to the Assistance office to get it from the state. That's a corporate tactic that keeps people eligible for food stamps too in my state. And possible other fed and state welfare programs.

It's true that any time you accept one of those 'frequent shopper'/'special discount' cards, be they CVS, Kroger, Piggly Wiggly or Sam's, your name is tied to your shopping habits, however revealing they might be.......and you are 'profiled' as a certain category of shopper/ mark. ( remember Grady, always pay cash for your rollin' paper....)

As to shoplifting from Sam's......how does one cleverly hide a case of Ravioli??
LOL!!

Yes, they went too far!! And a cheap lil appology is NOT enough........He should have gotten at least a truck load of groceries!



[edit on 30-3-2006 by frayed1]

[edit on 30-3-2006 by frayed1]

Actually no they don't want to start you as a part time employee at all. I don't know any part time workers at my store, im sure there are some during the second shift though. They want you to have benefits, they encourage you everyday at the meetings if you have not signed up for any to do so when you are eligible.

401k, medical, dental, you automatically have a life insurance policy being built for you upon being hired. It will pay out up to your annual salary. You do not have to do anything to it. It is covered by the company.

Working at Wal-Mart is not like working in a cubicle at an office building. We have fun, play football with massive turnouts, bowling tournaments, my store is doing a bosketball tournament to raise money for some Give the Kids the World charity. I can't ball but all the managers are joining as well as many associates. It really is fun.

We are not NWO patsies, we are not communist conscripts, we don't really feel underpaid r underprivalged. We are just normal people working at a job. Most people work there because they are not qualified for anything else. Just the same they may work at Target, Best Buy, Publix, or Babies r Us for that matter.

Originally posted by marg6043
You are right they have memberships and when you purchase anything they are waiting at the door to check your receipt against your purchase.

At least they do that here in GA.

I haven't seen any that looked "rocket scientist" enough to be able to glance at my receipt and know for a fact that it matched what was in the bag that they never looked in even though they just watched you walk from the cash register. They are always nice to me, but I still have a problem with them having to look at my receipt like I may be a criminal.

I walked out of a Venture in Chicago one time years ago and set off the alarm. They talked very rude to me even though the cashier had failed to remove a tag. I know that there are people that steal, but they should not treat ALL their customers like criminals.

They do the same thing at COSTCO, check your receipts. At least they used to; I haven't been there in years.

The first time I went there, with my wife, they approached us after we left the checkout and asked for our receipt. I asked "Why?" They said something about accuracy of purchases vs teller checkout, blah blah blah.

Long story short, I said no way will I show you my receipt. If there's an error, I'll bring it to your attention. Now, unless you're accusing me of stealing, I really must be on my way.

They stepped aside, and that's the last time my old lady made me go shopping with her.

Mod Note: Trim Those Quotes - Please Review this link


[edit on 31-3-2006 by DontTreadOnMe]

If you deal with a financial institiution or a hospital there are laws in place safeguarding your confidential information and channels you can go through in the event that they comprimise that information. In the case of companies like Walmart or Costco the laws are very vague and there are no provisions for recourse except for a civil lawsuit. There is also no way to correct errors in that information. I am not singleing out any particular company, I am talking about an entire industry. If you are going to compile this type of information than you need to accept responsibility for the security of that information. Look at a personal check, when I shop at Walmart (yes I admit that I do) I have to write my phone number on the check, the clerk writes my driver's license number on it, it already has my name, address and ACCOUNT NUMBER on it. Five seconds with a Xerox machine and a person with a computer has enough information to use a program like Versacheck to falsify checks with my name on them.

Originally posted by JIMC5499
Look at a personal check, when I shop at Walmart (yes I admit that I do) I have to write my phone number on the check, the clerk writes my driver's license number on it, it already has my name, address and ACCOUNT NUMBER on it. Five seconds with a Xerox machine and a person with a computer has enough information to use a program like Versacheck to falsify checks with my name on them.

I prefer to use the 'check card' my bank offers......at least I don't have to announce my phone # or driver's license # to everyone! Still, even banks make mistakes.....and I still use checks to send thru the mail, so it's still not fool proof.

And how much of this info do they pass on, once they get to the point of selling the data base they've compiled.....for instance, when they pass on the fact that you buy cases of brand x bottled water, do they include more sensitive info like which bank you use ( even if they leave the acc# off), whether your checks always clear, what credit card you paid with, etc.....??

Do they use those little bits of info to 'guess' about other interests you might have.....hummm, bottled water, guns and ammo magazines, a few bags of cement........Ta da, you must be a survivalist/militia nut who's building a bunker!! And now you're on one of THOSE lists!