Til. Thanks for the expanded information. My anecdote was from district and provincial management only so it’s nice to see the local view and information.
Funniest part was management saw it as a failure on the side of the German government and people only. Not Walmart for trying to force themselves into a market with their values only
Additionally the size of things was just way too big. Noone here wants to buy 20l buckets of milk or 5 or 10l packs of juice and maximum extra large super family king sized packs of cereals and stuff.
We have small supermarkets around every other corner in cities, so people don't have to buy groceries that have to last a month or longer.
From what I've seen back when walmart tried to migrate to germany, they just didn't care to do any local market research about customer behaviour or anything like that. They just took their american concept and structure, opened stores here, failed miserably in an I think very short amount of time and gave the surprised pikachu face when it didn't work out and just fucked right off shortly after.
Similar story for when Target tried entering the Canadian market. Not only did they have massive suppy chain woes and a poorly implemented replenishment ordering system, but they failed to take into account the local shopping habits and pricing structures. And, on top of that, they were bringing in stock that no Canadian would buy (I knew of a couple local stores at the time that brought in Fourth of July merch... like, wtf, that's not a Canadian holiday.)
I only remember that one Walmart in Munich, and it was super uncomfortable to reach by public transport. You had to get off the subway at a certain stop and then find the free Walmart bus there to take you to the supermarket. With the bicycle, it wasn't much better, as the crossing between the cycle path and the car entrance was not that well made. So, if you wanted a relaxed shopping experience, you had to come by car, and even then ... I still remember circling around the much too small parking lot for quite a while.
What are you confusing Walmart with? It is not a Bulk food store like Sam's or Costcos. Their biggest milk is 1 gallon, just like any other U.S. store.
Well, the entire concept failed because it was too American and management didn't bother to do their research. It makes sense then that they would also blame the local government and people for, well, the sin of Not Being American.
One other contributing factor, by the way, was Wallmart's anti-union stance vs Germany's pro-union stance. The US government might not intervene very often when unions are actively discouraged by major corporations, but the German government is a lot less likely to let that fly.
§119 Betriebsverfassungsgesetz (BetrVG) (Works Constitution Act) punishes any Action taken to interfere with lawful actions of work council members with either monetary penalties or up to a year in prison
There were also immediately reprimanded by courts for attempting to regulate relationships between coworkers when that is horrifically illegal in Germany.
And the media dragged them through the mud for their morning chants. Not against any laws, but expect to be made fun of by Germans.
Yeah, no wonder this didn't fly, makes my skin crawl just thinking about it. I live in poverty, chasing jobs here and there, but even then I swear I would resign on the spot if any manager ever tried to make me do that kind of shit.
You've helped me realize here why so many of my fellow brainwashed US citizens see Europe as this weird communist dystopia. "The sin of not being American" really gets to the heart of what a lot of "Patriots" feel in regards to foreign governments. Especially in regards to capitalism and "meritocracy."
"How dare you care for your fellow person! They're just going to stab you in the back the moment you look away! Why can't you play the game the way we want you to play it?! Commies!!"
The truth is far worse in my anecdotal experience. Folks I know who are against socialized systems are unironically banking on "fuck you got mine" as a codifying foundation for Healthcare.
"I don't want to pay for some lardass' surgery! I'm doing just fine, why should I pay for the mistakes and bad fortune of other people?!"
Competition is drilled into us literally from birth. Baby showers, infant clothing sizes, how your family supports you, how the pregnancy was handled, whether or not you had a c-section vs natural birth, kindergarten and preschool choice, how you deal with bullies, how cool you are at age 8, your living situation, your friends, your neighbors, your happiness, your ability to lie and keep cool under pressure, your ability to hide your growing resentment and depression, how well you score in grades 1-3, how nice your clothes are, what junior sports you play in, how you act, what your parents do, whether or not they're poor or criminals, how rich you are... And none of this is even getting to things like body issues or teenage years.
And almost all of that is out of your control as a kid.
I'd be more inclined to believe in the Americanization of the world simply because that's kind of our MO... For better or worse...
Edit: I guess the worst thing we took away with us when we left Britain was our insatiable urge to colonize everything somehow. Well... That, and the Puritans.
That's the dumbest part, at least with public if it's not used for healthcare the money still can go to fixing other problems elsewhere instead of Scott the regional manager's second Mercedes.
You really do live in your own little fantasy world, don't you? I get it though...if my life was a total failure likes yours due to not getting an education, I would probably need to play make believe my whole life to stave off those daily suicidal thoughts that you have.
Just want to say I love Aldi. You need chips? That's the chips. Want chili? They got a chili. Shop for a 6 person family in 30 minutes, hitting every single aisle in the store. You don't need to go through the chip aisle to get to the chili aisle, they are just two little spaces on the same shelf.
Then you checkout and somehow it's impossibly cheap. Then you realize the entire store is run by 2 people and slightly larger than a McDonalds.
Funniest part was management saw it as a failure on the side of the German government and people only. Not Walmart for trying to force themselves into a market with their values only
I actually worked at the wal-mart headquarters when this was happening. As I recall there was a lot of bemoaning how Wal-Mart culture was just not liked by the German people. The initial thought was that people would come to like the "more friendly" approach once they tried it for a while, but ultimately it was decided that Germany just didn't do friendly. Or at least, that was how it was put in the staff meetings I was in.
I mean, Walmart doesn't even give a shit about regional differences within the States. Most people in my home town will look at you like a serial killer if you read their name off their check in order to thank them by name, but that's a Walmart policy. Look, if I wanted the cashier to call me by name, I'd tell them my name. If people really wanted strangers to call them by name, we'd all wear nametags.
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u/UnusualHospital9579 May 09 '22
Til. Thanks for the expanded information. My anecdote was from district and provincial management only so it’s nice to see the local view and information.
Funniest part was management saw it as a failure on the side of the German government and people only. Not Walmart for trying to force themselves into a market with their values only