Back when the WalMart in our town opened, a few years back, the manager, Kevin, was a friend of mine and actually even was a member of our church, along with his nice wife. The rules were very slack then, and if you found an item in a competing store, you just went in adn told the Customer Service department, and they would BEAT that price. No, it wasn't done just that way for me and Kevin's friends. anyone who shopped there got the benefit!!<br /><br />Eventually, Kevin was relocated so as to further his career. A new manager came in, and he was also a pretty nice guy, though I did not know him personally, which means nothing. After a couple years the rules started changing in the way WalMart did their price-match-beat thing. One couldn't just walk up and inform the store that the price was lesselsewhere, but you had to have a coupon or ad along with you, and presto! they would honor that, didn't matter WHAT store it was from...<br /><br />Night before last, I took an ad from Toys-R-Us which is in the local Silverdale area, about 15 minute drive from my house. We had bought a Leap Pad for each of our granddaughters, and wanted to buy soem of the additional books for it, which Toys-R-Us had on sale for about $3 less than WallyWorld...teh cashier was kind of new and didn't know how to put in the price matching...called the night manager over, she looked at the ad, and said"Where IS this store? Is it within our 20 mile radius?" I asked what she meant, and she told me that WalMart had a retriction that prevented them from matching prices for a store that was over 20 miles from them. I felt my blood pressure rise 30 points, my neck began to pound, I told her "Now you are gonna make me mad!!!" I walked out the front door to get some fresh aire, and came back...she looked at me and siad, "I have worked for WalMart for 8 years and that has always been the rule"...(I had told her how things used to be at this store until that night)...I said, "I don't care how long you have worked for them, this store is not more than 20 miles away, to begin with, and secondly you are going to follow what the managers have always done before you)...she said, "Oh, we are going to do it", and I told her"You are right...you ARE going to do it"...customers were watching and listening at teh next registers, and she was looking around at them as she was talking...I think she thought better of any replies and just range it up and walked away...the cashier told me and my wife "If she hadn't done it, I would have been very upset!!!"<br /><br /><br />I guess that is just another ploy of WalMart's, in their quest for continued dominance...this store was scheduled to be turned into a Super Store, but if I can do anything to vote against it I will...I almost wish we had never gotten the store in our town. The next town away, Gig Harbor, a very upbeat place full of Dr's and Lawyers and folks who make tons of cash every year, all beat WalMart and would not let them int o their town at all!!!!!!! Now another town, Poulsbo, is doing all they can to beat them out before they build there...<br /><br /><br />Anyone else have similar experiences with this mogul retail giant??? I am thinking of writing to the Corporate HQ and telling them this story to see just what the real answer to this situation is, and WHY if so!!!<br /><br />Does anyone here have a contact up high at Wally World that would lend an ear to the ordinary shopper???