Walmart phases out popular price-matching policy in East Texas stores - Houston Chronicle

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Caption

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Walmart stores in Houston and East Texas have phased out the chain's price-matching policy. A Walmart representative said the chain is focusing on delivering lower prices, eliminating the need for price matching.

Learn 10 things you may not know about Walmart up ahead. less

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Huge
Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer, clocking $469 billion in sales to date, with 2.2 million employees -- 1.3 million of them in the U.S.

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How it grew
From Sam Walton's first store in Bentonville, Ark., opened in 1962, Walton and his brother, Bud, parlayed their success nationally and internationally. At the time of Sam's death in 1992, he had 1,960 stores.
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Photo: Betty Luman

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All about the $$$
As of January 2016, the Walton family was worth about $150 billion, or as much as the bottom 42 percent of Americans.

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Ooof
That's more than Bill Gates and Warren Buffett combined.

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How much again?
The Waltons are the 0.000001 percent. Literally.

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So big
Sam Walton was the richest man in the world from 1982 to 1988, when the calculations spread the wealth to other family members.

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Win-win
The company is publicly traded, but the family still owns half the stock.

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Jade Helm!
In 2015, the closing of some Wal-Mart stores fueled suspicion that they were somehow part of the Jade Helm conspiracy to take over the ... or let the Chinese take over the ... it's hard to remember.

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What employees make
As of 2013, store employees make a minimum of $9 an hour, the average full-time hourly wage in retail is $17.77
(Bureau of Labor Statistics)

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Across town ...
The starting pay at rival Costco was $13.00 an hour
(Bloomberg)

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Walmart stores in Houston and East Texas have dropped the outlet's price-matching policy, long a customer favorite.

Walmart announced that it was ending the policy in 500 of its stores back in May. Spokesman Charles Crowson said the outlet will focus on delivering lower prices, eliminating the need to match other stores.

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"Customers count on us for everyday low prices. In select markets, we're offering customers even lower prices on the national and private-label brands they trust and want," Walmart said in a statement. "As a result, cashiers will no longer be able to price match at the register, from an ad or otherwise. We understand Ad Match provided an additional layer of reassurance for customers. That’s why we’re working hard to deliver upfront low prices that customers can trust every day of the week."

Stores in Houston, Pearland, Cypress and Katy phased out the price-matching policy in September. Alvin phased out the policy in May.

To stay competitive, Walmart is encouraging customers to use its savings catcher inside the Walmart app, which compares store prices to other stores. According to Walmart's website, customers who find a lower price at another store may be eligible for an online gift card for the difference.

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