Since May, Walmart has been quietly discontinuing its price match guarantee (“Ad Match”) in hundreds of stores nationwide. This is a marked change from a policy the company promoted for years in TV commercials like this:
When one goes online to Walmart.com these days to read their terms of their policies, this is all they say about matching prices in stores:
*MOUSE PRINT:
Check with your local store for additional details on the price match policy.
Walmart spokesperson John Forrest Ales told us recently that “more than 200 but less than 1000” stores are affected nationwide. He said that in place of the price guarantee, they are instituting “long term rollbacks.” That means that thousands of items, mostly groceries and consumables, are going to have lower everyday prices, with no set expiration date. Large blue signs are being posted in stores where Ad Match is no longer available.
from WhatsYourDeal
How can you get around the discontinuation of their price match policy? You can still use their Ad Match app to scan your store receipt and automatically be entitled to any lower prices the app can find. Secondly, their price match policy still applies to purchases at Walmart.com and stores not participating in the new lower prices campaign.
I use the Savings Catcher program. (I enter a receipt number and they compare my prices to competitors and then refund the difference which I accumulate until I reach $10, then put on a gift card.) I wonder if this will be discontinued.
Last year I went to a Walmart center to purchase a Foreman grill that I seen on the Walmart site on line. When I got to the store I promptly took it to the cash register showed her my smartphone with the price but the cashier would not honor the the 20.00 difference in the price as marked. I had her contact the store manager who also refused. I ended going on line, making the purchase and returning to the SAME store an hour later to pick up the grill. The same store manager pulled the grill.
Edgar replies: For a long time, Walmart’s stated policy was that the store would not match the Walmart.com price.
Walmart basically eliminated price match online over a year ago. I often find lower prices of identical items at local grocery stores and Dollar stores that they never match against.
Edgar replies: Actually, Dave, Walmart.com does still price match, but only to a list of about 30 online stores. They are major ones, however.
Not a problem for me. I have never shopped at walmart and never will!
I checked with our local store and they know nothing about discontinuing the popular practice of price matching other local markets. However, they are getting to be very picky about exactly which items they will include or exclude. They won’t price-match eggs, and only their cheapest brand of milk can be matched to a sale, and they began to add other restrictions such as not duplicating prices of certain store brands in canned goods. When it became overly annoying, I stopped going there to get a better price and now shop sales at other grocers within a few miles. I understand Wal-Mart might be cheaper on some things but you’ll find better items elsewhere if you have the time to look.
It is typical for a store to lower prices to the point where the majority of consumers are dependent, and then once the store has control of the market they can do nearly whatever they want.
There was a time when other stores were trying to price match Walmart to prevent business losses, and now we see Walmart doing the opposite.
Aldi (one block away) has better prices and fresher produce.
One has to be selective and willing to ‘take a chance’ on some store brands. Aldi store brand Cereal is a loser (taste like sh*t) across the board.
Bread is great. Aldi is upfront on non-GMO and natural vs organic. Some prepared food is at the limit on salt with the total daily allowance in one serving.
A lot of WM stuff just does not work. Pool equipment caries similar brand names but … when analyzed you find the deal you got was a very watered down concentration.