Walmart shoppers

Nobody knows its customers better

THERE ARE many reasons why Walmart is the world’s biggest retailer. There are many policies, strategies, plans and programs in place to connect it to its customers. One great idea can make a company money. But it takes many great ideas to make a company Walmart.

One characteristic of the Arkansas-based behemoth: Nobody knows its customers better.

And we don’t just mean rolling out the strawberries and shortcake in February. Walmart knows what went out the door in the last minute, so it can restock that item before noon. Walmart knows what you buy. Maybe not the singular you, but the general you. Your tire is in stock. So is your favorite brand of 2 percent milk.

It says something—and something good—that Walmart announced this week it will require all customers to wear face masks starting Monday. Walmart is not in the business of turning away business. So it knows that the public is ready for this action.

Folks understand, maybe finally, that wearing masks isn’t just for protecting themselves, but for protecting others. And maybe not even “others” that we necessarily can see in the produce section. Maybe others that are still at home, but could be infected with covid-19 by an innocent carrier. (And who knows who those people are?)

Walmart says that about 65 percent of its 5,000 or so stores are in places where there is some sort of government mandate to wear masks anyway.

“While we’re certainly not the first business to require face coverings, we know this is a simple step everyone can take for their safety and the safety of others in our facilities,” the company said in a press release.

Not only that, but the greeters have new colleagues. The company announced that each store will have a “health ambassador.” That’s Walmart-speak for an employee who reminds shoppers about the policy. Sam’s Clubs will follow suit. Also, those of us who practically live at Walmart will remember that the entrances are one-way these days, and will remain so in the near future.

Best Buy, Starbucks, Costco . . . . It seems that Walmart isn’t the only, or first, business to require face coverings, but it’s obviously the largest.

The National Retail Federation says it’s about time: “If a customer refuses to adhere to store policies, they are putting employees and other customers at undue risk.”

And that’s what it’s all about: protecting strangers, being considerate, or as Mama said, acting pretty. Or as The Book said, doing unto others.

This coronavirus, and the requirement for masks and social distancing, is going to last until there’s a vaccine. Some of us are beginning to know how LBJ felt in the late 1960s when problem after problem kept plaguing his administration. (“I feel like a jackass in a Texas hailstorm. I can’t run, I can’t hide, and I can’t make it stop.”)

But during a pandemic, we all have to make small sacrifices. And put up with small inconveniences. For the good of our fellow man.