**UPDATED**

Wednesday is the day that I do my 30 minute LIVE I Heart the Mart Radio show. No editing, no scripts and anything Walmart goes! If you have listened then you know that the first two are definitely true!

This week I am going to talk about what you should do when there is a rogue manager in your store. I would like to say you wouldn’t believe what happened in my store this week, but I am sure you will find it no big surprise. Here it is:

Saturday, I get a frantic email from a long time reader and and even longer time friend that “Walmart has changed their coupon policy at our store” I was busy trying to win a championship with our awesome girls so I didn’t think much of it. Then I got a few more emails and knew something was up. I initially chalked it up to a cashier going off the reservation and I had my suspicions as to who it was.

We needed some ice and Walmart is really close to the ball fields so Tiffany went over and asked her cashier if there had been any changes to the policy. The cashier informed Tiff that her manager told her that they were no longer going to allow people to walk out of here with cheap stuff and they were especially going to “end this business of getting overage back” Tiff politely (I assume) told her that the Walmart policy hadn’t changed so why would the store change. The cashier went on to tell her that her “Manager” told them “they weren’t going to allow price matching and using a coupon because she had to pay someone $12 in overage and that wasn’t going to happen again in her store” Tiffany again said Walmart has the policy so that people can get the same deal at Walmart that they would be able to get somewhere else. This cashier got pretty testy and told Tiffany the “I am sure my manager knows the policy better than you and that is what I am going to do.” Oh was that the wrong thing to say!

One would assume that from the words the cashier used and the conversation that this came straight from the Store manager (I am finishing after the radio show! you should tune in!!!)

The Conclusion!(Sorry for the delay I was in bed sick ALL DAY yesterday!)

I decided to immediately call the store manager and ask her about the policy change that her cashier said was “from her manager”. The manager said “Paul, I don’t know what you are talking about, I didn’t make any changesto our policy”. I then went and explained what the cashiers had been telling people all day. The manager said she would never make a change like that because the two policies have nothing to do with each other. In my head I was like (BINGO!!!!) She got the info from me on who it was and went and found out what was going on and more importantly got it corrected.

It turns out “The Manager” was the front end manager, which to my understanding is not an Assistant Manager and therefore not even a “Salaried Member of Management” and not the Store Manager who is the only person that can make that kind of a policy change in the store.
Walmart has a very military like structure of people that report to other people. They all seem to like that part of it very much, “managers” get really upset if people go above there head to complain but many “managers” have no problem making decisions or changes that are above their head. Yes, ironic indeed. The bottom line is that if you have a “policy change” at your store that you don’t feel is right go directly to the store manager. A cashier saying “this came from corporate” is a major red flag that they are just making stuff up.
Here is the Walmart Store Organizational Structure:

At the bottom of the ladder, the primary entry level hourly positions are cashier, sales associate and stocker.

The first step up is hourly Department Manager.

Other hourly supervisor positions include Customer Service Manager (CSM), known as Check-Out Supervisor (COS) at Sam’s Club.

The highest level hourly manager at Wal-Mart is Support Manager.

The next step up is to management trainee, a four-to-five month program which prepares employees for positions as Assistant Managers.

The first salaried management position is Assistant Manager.

Each store has several Assistant Managers, varying with the size of the store.

The next level is Co-Manager, a position used only in larger stores.

The top store position is Store Manager, called General Manager in Sam’s Clubs.

I will open up the chat about 20 minutes before the show if you want to get started early! You can join in the show by calling and talking to me live or you we can live chat when you use the link and LOGIN with Facebook!  Hopefully I can answer any questions you have or give you some ideas on how to save 40-60% every month off your grocery bill!

Listen Live 10:30 AM Central Time Wednesdays!

The Live Call in number is (323) 580-5731