[NFB-Talk] [NFBWATlk] Note From Chris Jones About Walmart Shopping Experience

Nimer Jaber nimerjaber1 at gmail.com
Wed Mar 24 23:45:15 UTC 2021


Hello Karen and everyone:

While this may be a good solution, I feel it is our right to walk into a
store and shop, and it is our right to solicit assistance in finding
products, as do all customers who walk into a store. Otherwise, what is the
point of having associates walking around assisting customers if they are
actually unwilling to assist customers? It is true that there are many ways
of skinning a cat, some of which have been mentioned. I find that shopping
with Aira is an incredibly tedious, pointless waste of my time because of
the fact that it is done through a camera, with potential connection
issues, with other customers trying to get at the same items, etc., and I
find their service to be entirely over-priced and their policies to be
paternalistic at best, with little regard to what blind people actually
desire, want, or are capable of. The bad taste in my mouth hasn't gone away
when, over the past few years, they've continued to introduce hardware
products and kill them off, some of which they charged customers quite a
lot of money for very cheap devices that they couldn't maintain the day
they were released, let alone a year after, when they killed those devices
off. Plus, I hate their advertising, the fact that they claim to give blind
people independence is asinine to me, as people still rely on a human to
accomplish tasks, and don't get me started on what I think of them charging
businesses exorbitant pricing just for that business then to get a notion
that they've done accessibility, and they shouldn't bother with customer
service, actual true accessibility, orientation assistance, etc. I also
know that Instacart and other delivery services often mark up item prices,
in addition to charging membership fees, shipping fees, driver fees, and
whatever other kinds of fees, so while I understand the need for those
fees, I also understand that Instacart is not an ideal solution for many
who are sensitive to pricing, as many individuals who shop at Walmart may
be.

Nonetheless, this thread isn't about Aira or Instacart. It's about a
company who chooses to discriminate against people who are blind, simply
because they can. Do you think that, if a person walks into a store and
requests finding an item, that the associate would say that they weren't
allowed to help?

I realize that my opinions on this topic may be a bit unpopular,
particularly on an NFB list, seeing as the organization and its members
have whole-heartedly thrown their support behind Aira, and may be okay
with, and maybe even desire the fact that we should not be soliciting
assistance when going shopping. I hope that those people who find this as
offensive as I am won't simply sit down and back down when being told that
they cannot receive assistance at a Walmart or any other store, for that
matter. In fact, I hope that others will use that opportunity to go in more
often, just because they can and ought to have the right to do so, and that
they will continue soliciting assistance, again, simply because they can.

On Wed, Mar 24, 2021 at 12:54 PM Karen Rose via nFB-Talk <
nfb-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Walmart is definitely on the Instacart list of stores available. You may
> want to consider shopping through Instacart on Walmart. Several years ago,
> I spent considerable time helping Instacart become fully accessible through
> its app. End it has remained completely accessible, at least using
> voiceover.
>
> Karen Rose MFT/LPCC www.career-therapy.net
>
> On Mar 23, 2021, at 7:38 PM, Mike Capelle via nFB-Talk <
> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> 
>
> It is because of covid, I am not going to make a fuss over it, I will just
> use AIRA, or bring a sighted person with me.
>
> No big  deal.
>
>
>
> *From:* nFB-Talk <nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> *On Behalf Of *Zachary N.
> Griego-Dreicer via nFB-Talk
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 23, 2021 8:36 PM
> *To:* NFB Talk Mailing List <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> *Cc:* Zachary N. Griego-Dreicer <zdreicer at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* Re: [NFB-Talk] [NFBWATlk] Note From Chris Jones About Walmart
> Shopping Experience
>
>
>
>  Hi, I a sorry to hear of your experience. I have actually not going into
> grocery stores since the start of the pandemic. But my parents have
> occasionally. Curb-side at Walmart has been a big hit for my area…the
> amount of times we’ve gotten “Out of stock” or “we can substitute with”… is
> far outweighed by the amount of times we will have the order right on the
> 1st try without ever actually going in. I would definitely understand if
> you would rather remain in person when doing your shopping though. And as
> for that, I would think that’s just an associate having an issue.
> Regardless of this we still need to buy groceries so you did the right
> thing by contacting a supervisor. I would encourage you to continue doing
> so.
>
>
>
>
>
> Sent from my Macbook Pro 13
>
>
>
> On Mar 23, 2021, at 17:14, Judy Jones via nFB-Talk <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi, All,
>
>
>
> Today, my husband was denied customer service shopping assistance at the
> Walmart, located in Mt. Vernon, Washington.
>
>
>
> The only other time in our lives I can remember being turned away from
> shopping at a store, was in a neighborhood where we’d just bought our first
> house in 1980.  It was a Winn Dixie, and I stopped there in the evening for
> groceries.
>
>
>
> However, when I explained that I worked during the day and this was the
> only time I could come, right away, they found someone to shop with me, and
> we never had any issues with that store or any other ever since.
>
>
>
> So, today’s experience was very surprising.
>
>
>
> I would like to know of anyone’s personal shopping experience at the
> physical store, and how much of this shopping assistance denial is tied to
> a possible Covid policy of Walmart, or if our particular store is simply
> not providing reasonable accommodations.
>
>
>
> We have no problems with any other store in the area:  Costco, Safeway,
> Hagen, Pioneer Market, to name just a few.  Thanks for perspective and
> comments.
>
>
>
> See my husband’s e-mail below.
>
>
>
> Judy
>
>
>
> *From:* NFBWATlk <nfbwatlk-bounces at nfbnet.org> *On Behalf Of *Chris Jones
> via NFBWATlk
> *Sent:* Tuesday, March 23, 2021 3:55 PM
> *To:* nfbwatlk at nfbnet.org
> *Cc:* Chris Jones <clj53787 at gmail.com>
> *Subject:* [NFBWATlk] Note From Chris Jones About Walmart Shopping
> Experience
>
>
>
> Dear Listers,
> This is Chris Jones from Sedro-Woolley.
> Earlier this afternoon I went to Walmart to pick up a very few items and
> to get some Subway sandwiches.
> I met a greeter who found me a young lady who gave me some very strange
> information.
> She indicated that Walmart no longer provides customer assistance in
> shopping and that everything needs to be handled on-line.
> I was told that this has been their policy for somewhat over a year.
> I was shocked, but went ahead and asked this lady to show me the Subway
> area, which she did.
> I completed that portion of shopping and, when I got home, called a
> manager of Walmart at the Mount Vernon store.
> He explained that, due to Covid restrictions, an associate could not be
> involved with such a shopping trip for any more than 15 minutes.
> I asked if I had a short list, if someone could obtain products for me.
> He said that if I needed a very few items he could probably grant me an
> exception to policy.
> I do not regularly shop Walmart and I have never found such a reception at
> Costco, Fred Meyer, Safeway or any other store which I frequent.
> Is there anyone who can explain this type of treatment to me? Is this a
> Walmart thing, or does this occur at many other stores where folks shop?
> Feel free to respond here, or if you'd like to e-mail me privately, my
> e-mail is clj53787 at gmail.com.
> Thank you, one and all.
> Chris Jones
>
> <Untitled attachment 02820.txt>
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-- 
Best,

Nimer Jaber

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