I fell off the wagon last week. And in honor of full disclosure, I must share my sins with you fine readers.

After six months of personal bliss, I &8220;sinned&8221; this week, at least in my own twisted mind.

It served me right that I slipped from self-professed grace. I&8217;d begun being a bit smug about my sin-free &8220;record.&8221;

This &8220;sin&8221; isn&8217;t anything that&8217;s going to get me in trouble &8212; with the law or with the church. It&8217;s just one of small things that I try not to do.

But last week, as I said, I did it.

It was 9:45 p.m. and I&8217;d already tried to &8220;score&8221; some goodies at the usual spots. I cruised into Kmart. No dice.

I strolled into Natchez Market. Strike two.

That&8217;s when it happened.

The &8220;it&8221; is shopping at Wal-Mart.

Yes, I&8217;m one of those people who have not yet given in to the belief that Wal-Mart shopping is the newest inevitable fact of life, behind death and taxes.

Lots of people are aghast when I tell them my belief that life can exist without the vast expanses of &8220;everyday low prices&8221; which lure us into the big box.

Now, before I continue, let me say that my &8220;problems&8221; with Wal-Mart are not some kind of success jealousy. When Sam Walton began creating what would become the global empire, it wasn&8217;t that he had a lock on the discount business.

His business gained dominance through efficient operation and ruthless capitalistic business practices.

Whoever owned the now defunct TG&Y discount chain could have easily become what Wal-Mart has become. But they weren&8217;t smart enough.

But I digress.

Wal-Mart annoys me in many, many ways.

First, the place isn&8217;t convenient, despite what the smiling mascot purports. Have you ever considered how much traipsing about you have to do to find everything you need?

That is, of course, after you hike in a couple of hundreds yards (or at least it seems like that far) from the parking lot.

Lots of other local retailers offer the same &8220;stuff&8221; and usually without the parking lot hike.

The company has become so big that Wal-Mart now controls consumer purchasing by simply choosing what its stores stock.

Case in point. Wal-Mart can make or break a book, CD or DVD by deciding whether or not it will stock the selection.

Consequently, they can put incredible pressure on vendors to either give them the price they seek or simply go somewhere else. Wal-Mart&8217;s dominance has made, in many cases, the vendors need Wal-Mart more than Wal-Mart needs the vendors.

The latest annoyance, however, is more personal.

Wal-Mart, along with lots of other big box retailers have decided that a great way to increase their profit margin is just to get rid of non-essential people.

Wal-Mart now wants you to check yourself out at the cash register. What an insult.

Not only do they want me to hike into their store to get to the goods. Now they want me to check it out, bag it and haul it home, too.

Where is the customer service in that?

Pretty soon, if they can figure out a way to sell it to us, perhaps, the company will simple announce when the delivery trucks will arrive and we can simply meet them in the parking lot. They can just toss the stuff onto the parking lot and we&8217;ll gobble it up, give them a blank check and go home.

Wouldn&8217;t that be great?

In the meantime, I&8217;m back on the wagon, four days and counting.

Kevin Cooper

is associate publisher of The Natchez Democrat. He can be reached at 601-445-3539 or

kevin.cooper@natchezdemocrat.com

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