Walmart slams lid on customers' creepy online reviews of its caskets
Filed under: Company News, Media, Wal-Mart Stores, Amazon.com, Inc.
The howling-wolf T-shirt phenomenon it is not. Walmart Stores (WMT) has closed the lid on customer reviews of its caskets. As DailyFinance reported this week, the retailer is selling 15 caskets, and more than 130 urns and cremains containers, through its website. As debatable as that business proposition might be, it proved a sure thing with at least one type of consumer: not the bereaved, but the wags who lurk behind high-speed Internet connections, waiting for an opportunity to heckle retailers with tongue-in-cheek reviews.
Razzing online retailers with facetious comments has evolved into something approaching an art form. Take the howling-wolf T-shirt sold on Amazon.com (AMZN) this year: the comments for the black shirt, which sports a graphic of three wolves howling at a moon, has collected more than 1500 reviews -- providing hours of fun reading for anyone with hours to spare.
For would-be comics trying out their material in the comments sections, the social-media function of voting on which reviews are the most "helpful" may be irresistible. Amazon's reviews of the T-shirt include a "review" that more than 16,000 customers have endorsed: "After checking to ensure that the shirt would properly cover my girth, I walked from my trailer to Walmart with the shirt on and was immediately approached by women. The women knew from the wolves on my shirt that I, like a wolf, am a mysterious loner who knows how to 'howl at the moon' from time to time (if you catch my drift!)"
But far from silly, the comments posted on Walmart's casket selection were creepy -- and creepiness, presumably, is not a trait Walmart wants its customers to see when they're choosing a burial option for a loved one. Before Walmart shut down the caskets' review section, Advertising Age documented a few of the reviews, like this one: "I picked one up to bury my cat in. Other than having room for about 100 cats, it worked well. Oh, had to dig a really big hole too, and that was rough on my back. But at least when my dog dies I can just open 'er up again and stick him in too."
For the howling-wolf T-shirt makers, the phenomenon of facetious online reviews proved a goldmine: whether ironic or not, the shirts' sales skyrocketed. So maybe there's a chance that tongue-in-cheek comments might have boosted casket sales. After all, 525 people voted that "bury my cat" review as "helpful." Walmart didn't immediately return a request for comment.
Dell in a handbasket: Should founder Michael Dell resign?
TARP saved the banking system, but failed at everything else
Why we shouldn't audit the Federal Reserve
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 4)
11-07-2009 @ 6:38AM
shanedieselblack said...
No! Whats creep is Wal-Mart selling caskets, OK? Gross!
Reply
11-07-2009 @ 10:34AM
Oscariga said...
Actually, this is Walmart's first foray into the low income housing market. They're starting small.
11-07-2009 @ 11:51AM
Mindy said...
LoL! Costco sells them too.. at Costco.com
11-07-2009 @ 6:44AM
ray said...
Who the hell made Walmart a person or god? As far as I know I can say anything I want to about this slimey corporation and its creepy owners. These rich assholes have no rights of any kind to censor what folks think about their sub-human business practices. They are the low life they are and deserve any derision they get.
Reply
11-07-2009 @ 8:16AM
Mac said...
want to talk about slime, discuss the funeral home owners who have been ripping off the public for years
11-07-2009 @ 8:29AM
betty said...
It is the funeral industy that is slimy and money grubbing.
IF you prefer to pay up to a 400% markup for the same casket, by all means DO. The larger percentage of this country can't afford the rip off.
oh, and I've never heard walmart claim to be "god". where did you come up with that??
11-07-2009 @ 11:06AM
michelle said...
Ray, I would very much like to respond to your comment re: WM.
Before you insult someone be sure to know them well. Confuscious reminds us: before you embark on a journey of revenge: be sure and dig 2 graves!
Tell me, what do you know about WM? Have you ever been employed by them, it sounds as though you have not, you are extremely angry about something referring to them. What have they done to you that has you so irate? Your attitude does not reflect any positive thoughts towards them, nor towards what they have done for this country!
I gave them 8 years of my life, and I do not regret any of the time I was employed by them. They allowed me to purchase my very first home, put food on my table every month, feed my family, pay my bills, pay my medical bills and at least have health insurance, purchase & pay off a very nice car. Put a roof over my head, a nice warm, dry bed to sleep in every night, I am now retired from there; Can you say any of those items of which I just mentioned(I think not)! Your attitude is not the least bit attractive whatsoever, and you need some very serious anger management classes to attend.
11-07-2009 @ 11:16PM
thewildboy1970 said...
Actually, yes they do have the right to censor and remove content which they find offensive from THEIR website. For all intents and purposes, that website is considered private property, and their right to control their property takes precedence over your right to voice your opinion there.
They don not, however, have any control over THIS website, so. . .have at them.
11-07-2009 @ 6:50AM
frank said...
obviously if you can figure out that your buying an urn thats way too big,,,, your mental status is that your a typical "neck" that war bread too close to the gene pool. its needs chlorine
Reply
11-07-2009 @ 1:40PM
slinky said...
What are you trying to say? Your incomprehensible rambling is rather annoying.
11-07-2009 @ 7:19AM
htcorner23 said...
What's been creepy for a very long time is the funeral home industry charging exorbidant prices for caskets. What's creepy is morons not recognizing that, as they always do, Walmart is providing needed products at good prices.
Reply
11-07-2009 @ 9:51AM
Denise Clark said...
OK, so you buy a casket from Walmart. Mom dies on a Friday and it takes 3-5 Business days to get to your home, what happens to mom or dad while you wait, how do you get the casket to the funeral home? And what happens when the casket finally gets there and it is defective?!?!? Say the lid does not close or it is dented/scratched? Who is to blame? WHere do mom/dad go then while you wait for another casket to come? I work in a funeral home and we just had a family use a casket from Costco and guess what. Dear old Mom's casket would not shut. The hinge was broke. The casket had about a 1/2 inch gap. The family was screaming at us! How can we bury her without the casket shutting! Well....call Costco, see what they have to say. Of course you have to wait another week for another casket. So, we have to bury mom in an unclosed casket. How does that play on your conscious? Save a few hundred bucks to bury Mom in an inferior casket. And when you buy from us, noone tells you you have to buy the $8000 one, there are "minimum" ones which are guaranteed and ready the same day.
11-07-2009 @ 7:31AM
Cindy said...
I think it's a great idea that Wal Mart is selling coffins and Urns online... As long as they meet the specs of cemtary owners, F. homes and any State or Fed. laws. Compare WM prices to your local cemtary anf F homes..it's great for those who can't afford those kind of prices yet still have a nice casket/urn..I find nothing creepy about it..WTG Wal-Mart
Reply
11-07-2009 @ 8:01AM
Sharon Kamp said...
I agree......what is wrong with the consumer being able to shop for a casket or urn for their departed loved one!! Would be a lot cheaper and prehaps one could find a lot more to choose from especially in the urn department.
Reply
11-07-2009 @ 10:39AM
Lee said...
WOW, my final resting place and it is a LEAD BASED coffin from CHINA...super!
11-07-2009 @ 11:23AM
Oscariga said...
Well, considering that the only way for it to work out is to buy it in advance, if you can live with storing a casket for every relative that starts looking a bit gammy, knock youself out. It's not really any worse than buying a funeral plot in advance, with the disadvantage of storage space and a constant reminder of one's mortality, but what the hell! My heirs are under strict instructions to stand me up in the nearest available dumpster, after rigor mortis sets in.
11-07-2009 @ 8:05AM
kryjef said...
walmart is not the first to do this cosco start selling casket and urns a few years ago now prices will be even cheaper
Reply
11-07-2009 @ 8:12AM
Pat said...
What's going to be next? Walmart providing funeral services? This is going to have an affect on another small business.
Reply
11-07-2009 @ 8:21AM
Mary said...
WALMart is living up to the "bad" rep. they treat the employees like crap................................don't give a damn about them, the ones that are loyal to the "Walmart" family have no clue of what the outside world is like they are brain washed...............sad sad. If Sam Walton was alive none of this mess would be going on ! he is spinning in his grave big time now. What goes around comes around I hope it kick the CEO's right in the ass. Trust what I say I work for Walmart and it is not by choice I have no choice right now, I am there just for the paycheck or whatever left of it. Hope I am out of there soon.
Reply
11-07-2009 @ 9:06AM
Everly said...
Mary, please give up the "pay check" and just get the hell out. I have been employed with Walmart for 8 years and have never been mistreated or abused. I get paid what I EXPECT to get paid from a freaking retail outlet. Obviously they didn't hire you because of your Rocket Science degree. No one forced you to get a job there. And your crappy attitude towards your job is something OUR customers don't deserve. Again, please just LEAVE and shut the hell up!