Scribble World Travel Blog

Walmart-A travelers delight or a McHuman experience?

When Chris and I were traveling the country by van, there were times when coming across a Walmart, particularly in a small town, was a traveler’s delight. Finding Walmart meant having a place to park for the night. There was one notable exception, but otherwise, Walmart seemed like a great idea for travelers and Walmart alike, generating all kinds of goodwill and customer loyalty. It seemed like the natural choice to go inside to gather whatever traveling supplies we needed before continuing on our road trip. If Walmart made an area specifically with travelers in mind, with showers, laundry, and a little kitchen area, it seemed it would be a perfect haven catering to travelers and I suspect this would help soften and humanize the Walmart experience. My recent experiences with Walmart, however, have been less than inspiring.

After an hour of weaving our cart through the crowded Walmart aisles in Tucson, Arizona, Chris and I were ready to check out. Not surprisingly, the lines were long and they seemed understaffed as usual. Finally up to the register, Chris noticed one of our items rang up a different price than was stated on the sign. Our cashier seemed reluctant or unable to do anything about it. I guess they’re used to most people shrugging their shoulders or changing their minds-which is what I did the last visit when this happened. This time, we took the trouble of asking for a price check. She slowly walked to the phone to call someone over, then stayed to gab with a fellow cashier about the effectiveness of her hand lotion.

Meanwhile, a line was piling up behind us. I commented on this and our cashier suggested they try another register since we were waiting on a price check. Some of the crowd moved along but others immediately swarmed in to take their places. A woman finally showed up-only to ask what our item was ringing up as-”$59 instead of $49 like the sign said…”– and she simply sided with the ring up price saying she thought that one looked like it was more expensive. “But that’s not what the sign said,” Chris protested. It was just kind of like, “we wait here for 5 minutes so you can give your opinion? How does that help us?”….Chris said he would show her and so we walked her back to where they were and pointed out the sign. She was unfazed by this. Breathing heavily, she bent down and began rearranging items on the shelf as though this was supposed to console us. There were two almost identical products, one of which they were out of and the one that was $10 more but was in the less expensive price slot. She called the cashier to tell her the higher price was right.

It took a moment for that to sink in. I’ve noticed that the employee attitude at Walmart is that “the customer is always wrong.” Why is that? Never mind that they put things in the wrong spot. It’s a very belittling experience and the woman’s attitude was one of complete indifference as to whether or not they kept or lost our business. She just wasted our time by making us wait as she bent down to straighten everything out while we waited thinking she was going to acknowledge the price the sign said….but she didn’t-apparently if Walmart makes a mistake, it’s the customer’s fault. She actually blamed it on customers too-by saying customers probably moved them.

We left Walmart without buying a thing. We walked past the cashier who still stood there helplessly waiting as piles of sardine-like McHumans piled up behind our stuff that would all have to be voided. Believe it or not, I think this is a good thing. It is by their own design that so many people are inconvenienced-and for what? Ten dollars? If cashiers aren’t given the power to adjust a price, and instead Walmart would rather make everyone wait while a price check is called, when there already aren’t nearly enough registers open-well that is their bad design. I think the ridiculousness and inconvenience should be noted-it’s a poor business model-it builds feelings of ill-will, wasted time, and emphasizes the herding McHuman nature of the store-the depersonalization of the experience. The cashiers should just wear a button that says “Wrong price? We don’t care.”

People want to be seen as more than mere animals mindlessly herded along-fighting for every dollar….don’t they? We are individuals. If our inherent goodness is not recognized-if we are devalued and replaceable, what is the future going to be like? It turns what is meant to be an enjoyable experience into something disheartening-ugly-it shows us Walmart is rigid and we are too small to matter. I suppose it is meant to make us feel like we have no choice—but we do. Walking out the door felt good.

Sometimes dignity means more than saving every last nickel. It keeps us human. It was crazy to hear about the Walmart crowd shattering through glass and remorselessly stampeding a man to death in a dash for limited quantity holiday deals. This was on Black Friday at the Green Acres Mall in Valley Stream, in Nassau County, New York. The victim, Jdimytai Damour, was only 34 years old. Mr. Damour was among the 6 to 10 Walmart employees responsible for holding back the crowd of 2,000 plus from breaking their way in 5 minutes before their official opening time of 5 A.M. People were reluctant to abandon their shopping even when the store announced it needed to be cleared out until 1 P.M, due to the death.

Chris and I have decided to stop shopping at Walmart. I am curious to know what kind of experiences other people have had. Where are the best places to shop and where do you feel like a McHuman?

How we traveled with 2 cats

We have had quite a few people express curiosity as to how we managed to road trip around the country in a van for 6 months with TWO cats, so today I thought I’d share how we did it.
We began our adventure in Arizona in October and slowly traveled north before eventually driving down south again through early April. For the most part, we had very decent weather, but that’s not the half of it. I don’t think we could have traveled with two cats, let alone one, without some important safety measures.

For starters, we put an extra deep cell battery in our van. We then hooked it up to a
pure sine wave inverter to power a fan…so the fan worked even when the vehicle wasn’t running.

Second, We customized our van effectively changing the temperature dynamics by removing all the back seats and installing an elevated bed instead. The bed consisted of a wooden platform, covered by memory foam and piles of insulating blankets and pillows. Having the bed in our van not only saved us a lot of money along the way on accomodations, it also provided an excellent basement-like shelter for our cats to chill under.

The temperature difference was HUGE! The warmer air would
accumulate in the upper level, while beneath the bed the temp was always a bit on the chilly side.

We also had a large roof rack bag. The roofrack bag served as additional insulation for our van, deflecting the sun rays and providing yet another barrier. The roof rack bag was filled with clothes and extra blankets.

We made sure the cats always had plenty of food and fresh water at all times.

Their litterbox was easily accessible in the back of the van-also making it easy to clean simply by lifting the hatch.

We put up window shades on all the windows. Also, we would leave all the windows in the van partially open to allow a natural breeze and prevent the oven affect.

Common sense also played a role-we parked in the shade, did most of our site seeing during
the cooler morning and evening hours as much as possible and most importantly did
our van traveling before the hot spring and summer months.

I also recommend monitoring the temperature of your vehicle at all times. On some days, it’s probably a good idea to spray your pet with cold water which will have a cooling affect as it evaporates,
while you run your quick 10 minute errand. Some people even shave their pets.

I’d rather be overly precautious than not cautious enough whereas our cats are concerned. They are family members-unfortunately, it may be a while before they start opening doors and calling us on our cell phones, so in the meantime, another possibility is to leave the vehicle running with the a.c. on if there is a spare key. Another precaution is to wear a stopwatch as a reminder there’s a
pet waiting for you.

On another precautionary note, it is very important to realize that our pets are far more sensitive to heat than we humans are. The first sign of panting is a red flag that the animal has gotten too hot. Panting can be a sign of heat stroke. Other signs are findng your pet in a stupor and even seizures. A vet should be consulted at the first sign of heat stroke. According to the Maricopa County Gov site, normal body temperature for dogs and cats is between 101-103 degrees Fahrenheit, but it only takes seconds to rise to deadly levels.

Also relating to vehicular pet safety-did you know that antifreeze containing ethylene glycol is deadly, yet sweet and appealing to pets? Instead you can use products with propylene glycol, which are more pet friendly.

Many tourist destinations are taking positive steps in becoming more pet friendly and we found this very encouraging on our travels. The Fountain of Youth in St. Augustine, FL encouraged people to bring their pets with them- and also, The Kennedy Space Center near Titusville did too-they had a complimentary pet kennel.
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MaxCold Igloo Cooler Review

This is a review of the MaxCold Igloo Cooler 5 day cooler, which we used while traveling the U.S. in a van for six months as our travel cooler.

The MaxCold Igloo cooler with its 70 quart capacity is a decent size for a road trip cooler. It has a light blue reflective color and ultratherm insulation throughout. The advertisement states that ice can be kept cold for up to 5 days at 90 degrees Fahrenheit. “Up to” are the key words. Ours never seemed to last longer than 2 or 3 days- and in the warmer parts, like Florida, we found ourselves replenishing ice daily.

Now, before I scare you into thinking the MaxCold Igloo Cooler may not be a good investment, let me just add that we kept the cooler behind our van on a black cargo rack-so while the blue color of the cooler may have been reflecting heat, our cargo rack was absorbing it. Next time, we’ll attempt to insulate/shield the cooler better.

The cost of ice varied quite a bit on our travels. The self service ice stands tended to be the best deal. On average, it was probably around $2/bag for a 10 or 20 pound bag. Replenishing ice almost daily at times can add up so determine if what you’re trying to keep cold is worth the cooling cost. If $60 for a months supply of ice is saving you from buying hundreds of dollars in eating out than it’s worth it, but if you’re just keeping bottles of mayonnaise and a few hot dogs cold, it’s probably not worth the expense. We usually kept a few of shelf stable single serving size packets of our favorite condiments on hand. The kind fast food restaurants usually give too much of at the drive thru.

Having a cooler while camping and boon docking saves a bundle. We’d pack our MaxCold Igloo Cooler full of ice, (frozen water bottles work well too, then as it melts you have cold water to drink).  No need to waste gas driving into town for food with a good cooler.

When staying at a motel, we could usually use their ice machine to top up our ice also.
It’s all in the details…but make sure you’re having fun, afterall, that’s what road trips are all about!

p.s. Stay tuned for more Road Trip Travel Tips and advice to Save You Money-

Whether you’re trying to travel on a thin budget of $15/day or just wish you had more money for the things that matter, we’ll be sharing our road trip lessons in budgeting and making the most out of traveling and being on the road.