So, I kinda told off a Wal-Mart guy

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
James B.;1464267; said:
It must be very different in the us then where I am in Canada as I have never seen a fish at my walmart bigger then 2 inch except the gold fish, the gold fish they have are normally twice the size of the oscars they get. They do take pretty good care of the fish and tanks at the one local to me but they will like stated sell you 2 oscars and a 5 or 10 gallon tank with a smile though, They really should not sell fish unless they at least have tanks you can buy that will fit your fish in my opinion anyway, the biggest tank they have at the walmart here for sale is a 39 gallon hex, not even the standard 55 that most carry.
Click to expand...

:iagree: it all depends on the wal mart. The pet department I believe is a pretty good pay raise from what some of the employees make, so they tend to take that job and wal mart really doesn't do a background check on their employees on their fish husbandry. Sometimes someone with fish knowledge will work in the Pets dept. but will get burnt out on the other tasks that are at hand for a Pet Dept. worker. Stocking dog food and cat litter and what not is straining on a guys body. It will also help neglect the fish because of the other tasks at hand. Wal Mart should hire more people to work at a time in the Pet Dept.
 
On the cost of feeders versus pellets. You must remember that walmart isn't paying retail price for the food they are feeding. The markup is 30-40% in most cases. For a large bag of Hikari pellets, it doesn't cost them more than $5...much cheaper than feeders, plus you don't lose as much of your stock to disease.
 
twhittle;1464425; said:
On the cost of feeders versus pellets. You must remember that walmart isn't paying retail price for the food they are feeding. The markup is 30-40% in most cases. For a large bag of Hikari pellets, it doesn't cost them more than $5...much cheaper than feeders, plus you don't lose as much of your stock to disease.
Click to expand...

Exactly. Who would seriously defend feeding oscars strictly feeders? (goldfish at that....and sick on top of that!)Not all wal-marts are set up on one system. I used to work for a local distributor that made it's bank off selling wal-mart fish. On top of that, we serviced their systems (most were hbh when I was there) and took care of anything related to them. At one point a couple of the stores were trying out brackish and oddballs :( Didn't last long. That was before wal-mart set out company guidelines on what fish they were allowed to carry, as what wal-mart thought was "best" to carry. We did have some wm employees that really cared, and wanted to learn about anything we brought in. But for the most part I steer clear of that area because of reasons such as that lady g described. Good call!!
 
I agree with mistix as well since I worked at petsmart and they pinch as many pennies as they can. They said to feed oscars, aros, and other large predatory fish feeders, it was on a laminated sheet taped to the fish wall door.

It probably is cheaper since petsmart can also just write off the feeders as deads.
 
twhittle;1464425; said:
On the cost of feeders versus pellets. You must remember that walmart isn't paying retail price for the food they are feeding. The markup is 30-40% in most cases. For a large bag of Hikari pellets, it doesn't cost them more than $5...much cheaper than feeders, plus you don't lose as much of your stock to disease.
Click to expand...


They also aren't paying full price for feeders, probably a penny a fish.


When I worked at petsmart guess how much they payed for ghost knives???

*drum roll*

$2.75!!!

And the retail was $20.

So thats roughly 7 and ahalf times mark up. Feeders were 12 cents a small goldfish so using the same proportion that should cost petsmart around 1.6 cents a fish.


And I am sure wal-mart threatens not to buy the fish unless they have the cheapest price so its probably about 1.5 cents a fish there.
 
I brought a new bag of 250 gram (Half pound?) Hikari Cichlid Bio Gold today for $15.95. Feeder crays (2-3") and goldfish (3") were priced at both for 12 for $10, or 24 for $17. I decided to look beneath the feeder tanks (Looking at the gravel), and I found 7 dead goldfish from jumping. The employe's there are rather tall people, the shop has been set up for 6 weeks (Recently relocated), and only a dozen tanks have working lights. No-one would really notice them.

BUT. If an employee was to see them, he could easily pick them up and throw them into the tank full of 5-6 full grown oscars. Crispy fish or not, they are still food. Horrible food at that, that shouldnt be fed.
 
I know some stores only feed certain fish by "demonstrating" to a customer how it eats a feeder. I guess its cool and gets the sale.
Poor fishies. I guess the best way to make a profit is to squeeeeze the joy out of things.
 
ive been to 3 walmarts that had fish, and the goldfish section (1 out of three sections) are on a different system. ...just saying.......
 
i don't shop at walmart period. however i am so happy you told him off. education is the key for the any worker in any fish department. not educated ppl that work these areas, end up looking like dumbasses everytime a real fishkeeper schools them.

as onion said " lol pwnd" was my thoughts exactly. :thumbsup:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
MonsterFishKeepers.com
Top Bottom