Numerous V.I. residents have emailed the Source in the past week asking for an investigation into rumors that Walmart, and possibly other retailers, had stopped shipping to the territory. The Source made efforts to purchase and ship items to the territory, but these attempts were not successful, with every item selected being rejected subject to shipping restrictions.
The online window displayed the message: “Due to carrier restrictions, one or more items in your order cannot be delivered to the shipping address entered.”
That “test” was followed up with calls and emails to the company. A customer service representative said Walmart was still shipping to the territory and that any items that would not ship were items its shippers had listed on its lists of restricted items.
The company representative could not produce a list of items or identify its shippers and suggested writing a physical letter to Wal-Mart Stores Inc., its corporate headquarters.
On Thursday, Delegate to Congress Donna Christensen issued a statement saying her office had been inundated with complaints about the same question.
“We have reached out to our contacts at Walmart,” Christensen said. “They indicate that their policy of sending products ordered to the Virgin Islands has not changed. But after further discussions, we were able to clarify the nature of the complaints and they have called an internal meeting to address the complaints. When we receive the outcome of those meetings, we will alert the public.”
Christensen said residents who are experiencing similar problems with the Walmart website are encouraged to contact her district offices to fill out a Privacy Act Release form and to provide copies of their Walmart online order forms that indicate the restricted items. Complaints can also be submitted online at www.donnachristensen.house.gov.
The VI is just figuring out that 95% of the big retailers can’t or won’t ship to the VI?
Yes, many of them won’t ship to foreign countries like the US Virgin Islands.
Nonsense, I have been using Walmart for over 8 years. I actually received an order from them in September, before these complaints started via Facebook. I haven’t order since then though. Also, Walmart uses the Postal Serbice, so what could the problem be?
In response to my relentless calls to Walmart, they responded via Email stating that due to shipping restrictions, they no longer ship certain items to the VI. The email listed “food and household cleaning items” as examples of what can’t be shipped here.
Every item in my shopping cart was rejected, including items that were neither food nor cleaning supplies.
I know of several people who have been receiving items from Walmart with FREE shipping until very recently. FREE shipping was only available on items with the “Home Free” icon next to the item name.
If you own any stock in Walmart, you may consider sending a letter to Investor Relations in addition to letters to our senator and Walmart, as suggested in the article.
What a catch-22 situation and how residents fail to see the big picture. Of course, we should have the right to buy from online sources and have stateside companies stop treating us like some foreign country. But at what cost?
I am a consumer of local goods and online goods. I am also a consumer of government services. We all might not use the same government services but I am sure we have noticed how several government services have had to cut back due to our tight economic situation. We have also noticed how local goods have increased in costs due to the increase in gross receipts, electricity and the general higher cost of doing business here in the Virgin Islands.
So what is our immediate reaction to these increases? Probably to shop more online. What happens the more we shop online…..The more the local government fails to
collect on local taxes like excise and gross receipts that are used to provide local services…like the education of our children, the training of our police officers… and more.
And then we feel we have the right to complain that we are not getting the services we deserve.
What is the government’s reaction to the loss of collection of taxes….to increase the taxes on the local businesses. and the cycle continues….
Many states have recognized the loss of revenue caused by online shopping and implemented a simple solution.
Taxation.
It is false to think that we do not pay taxes when we make purchases locally! We pay taxes…all hidden in the price we pay.
We should do our part and support taxation of online purchases or we are doomed. I doubt that that we would stop our online purchases and this would allow local businesses some relief from higher taxes and a little chance to compete and provide local jobs. The government would then have the revenue sources needed to provide the services to keep our community healthy and vibrant.
Peace
Marcus