“Let me guess…you are not including yourself as one of those who can’t resist the temptation to pick up a few more things. It’s all those stupid people isn’t it?”
We’re all stupid in one way or another. Major retailers have your entire visit to their store planned before you enter. Ever wonder why all grocery stores have the produce by the front door. They study how men shop, where we look on shelves, which aisles we go down. They do the same for women.
The entire process is to make the store interesting and appealing. That way you buy more.
By keeping the checkout lines slow they reduce labor and keep you in their store longer. if sales dropped they would solve the slow checkout problem. But they know people have a time investment in all that stuff you’re carrying and are unlikely to drop it. So they play the odds hoping you’ll pick up a few more items.
I agree with your assessment of how stores market, but none of this is exclusive to Wal-Mart. My basic point is that almost all of the complaints about Wal-Mart apply equally to similar stores (Target, Kmart, grocery).