A Curmudgeonly Fellow am I

Or so I have been told from time to time. And so what is my current topic of grumpiness? Well, I’m glad you asked.
Recently I was watching some TV and happened to be seeing a commercial for Walmart advertising some of their marvelous offers for the holidays. Well, as they saw it, anyway. I’m not going to launch into a long tirade about Walmart in general, but will focus on one particular aspect of their sales pitch. They mentioned that online they have an even wider selection of goods than they do in-store, and so you can find just the thing for your loved ones by shopping at their online location, and then, here’s the truly remarkable thing, apparently: They will ship the items to a Walmart near you for free! That’s right, you won’t have to pay for them to ship these items to a retail store near you where you can then go and pick them up…
Don’t get me wrong, I’m a big fan of online shopping. But to advertise as if it were somehow a tremendous courtesy to the customer that they won’t charge you shipping something to their store? What will be next? Starbucks advertising that you can pour yourself free milk with your coffee! Not to mention free sugar! And free sweetener!
It’s all well and good that you can get a wider selection of goods from Walmart by being able to shop online, but it’s ultimately beneficial to the store that they don’t have to keep all these things in stock in all their stores. And the idea that they are giving you great customer service by not charging you to order these things in is simply absurd.

/end rant