Liberty Maven

Once or twice a year I make the mistake of deluding myself into thinking that it would be a good idea to pick up something “cheap” from Walmart.  Usually it ends up turning out to be anywhere from simply a poor experience to a full-blown fiasco, usually due to inept employees or incompetent customer service.

Recently, I happened to be in need of a spare propane tank for my outdoor barbecue grill.  Someone suggested to me that I could pick up one cheaply at Walmart.  So the other day I went in and found a shiny new 15 lb. tank on the shelf for $35 (which I didn’t think was particularly cheap, but that’s not the point of this article).

Then I checked out the prices for propane.  It said $17.42 to exchange my empty tank for a new one, or $43.92 to fill my empty tank.  I couldn’t find anyone nearby to help me get it filled, and I was in a hurry, so I put it in my cart, wheeled toward the register, paid for the empty tank, and left.

Today, I went back to get it filled, and in talking to a Walmart employee I learned that the $43.92 actually included the cost of the tank, and in fact they will not fill an empty tank I bring in.

So if I exchanged my brand new, empty, tank for a full, used one it would cost me another $17.42 for a total cost of $52.42, which is $8.50 more than if I just buy a full tank out of their stock.  So I decided to do that, and simply get a refund for my new, unused tank.

So I stashed the full tank in my car, retrieved the new one that had been rolling around in my trunk for the past couple of days, and headed back to the store.  As I approached the store, tank and receipt in hand, I noticed signs on the front door stating “No propane tanks inside store! — Federal Law“.  Well common sense, of course, dictates that since my tank had never been used and has no propane inside, the sign does not apply to my case.  Besides, there are several more such empty propane tanks, identical to the one I was holding, sitting on the shelf inside the store.  In the back of my mind it registered that common sense rarely applies to Walmart employees or Federal law, but I was determined to get my refund.

So I walked in and stood in line at the Customer Service desk.  Immediately, no fewer than three Walmart employees, one of whom was wearing a neon-orange vest, were walking toward me at a high rate of speed, shouting at me that I cannot have the propane tank inside the store, that I need to take it outside immediately.   Despite the fact that the tank I was holding still had the paper covering and the plastic seal on the top, it is understandable that they didn’t know that my tank was unused and empty.  So I followed one lady outside where I proceeded to explain to her that my tank had never been used, contains no propane, and I just wanted to get a refund; therefore, the intent of the sign obviously did not apply to this case.  She continually pointed at the sign on the door, robotically.  I calmly tried to explain that there are at least two more such tanks sitting on the shelf inside the store, so they’re violating their own rules (or the Federal statute, if indeed there is one–I couldn’t find one in my cursory Google searches).  That thoroughly confused her, and she replied tersely, “Yeah, well, I don’t want to get into all that”.

Clearly Walmart doesn’t pay its employees enough to think.

In the end, I had to stand outside (in the rain, no less) to wait for someone to return with my money.

Every trip to Walmart is a fun one!