A Walmart greeter is an employee whose role is to wait at the front door of a

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores in the United States and 23 other ...

store and greet all shoppers who enter. CEO and founder

Sam Walton Samuel Moore Walton (March 29, 1918 – April 5, 1992) was an American business magnate best known for Co-founding the retailers Walmart and Sam's Club, which he started in Rogers, Arkansas, and Midwest City, Oklahoma, in 1962 and 1983 res ...

implemented the role nationally in the 1980s. The position is considered to be a big part of the company's identity and

culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...

, as well as one of its most recognized hallmarks. A Walmart greeter stands at the door. The greeter's primary task is to cross-check customers' receipts when they leave, as well as to provide a sunny disposition to welcome customers.

History

The concept of having dedicated greeters at the front door of a store may have originated from an employee of the company, Lois Richard. She was working in the early 1980s as an

invoice An invoice, bill, tab, or bill of costs is a commercial document that includes an itemized list of goods or services furnished by a seller to a buyer relating to a sale transaction, that usually specifies the price and terms of sale, quanti ...

clerk at the Walmart store in

Crowley, Louisiana Crowley (Local pronunciation: ) is a city in, and the parish seat of, Acadia Parish, Louisiana, Acadia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 United States census, Crowley had a population of 11,710. Crowley is the principal city of ...

. The Walmart store in Crowley, which had opened in 1980, was experiencing

shoplifting Shoplifting (also known as shop theft, shop fraud, retail theft, or retail fraud) is the theft of goods from a retail establishment during business hours. The terms ''shoplifting'' and ''shoplifter'' are not usually defined in law, and genera ...

and had a significant "inventory shrinkage" after two years. The initial idea was to have an employee standing at the door in order to try to decrease shoplifting. After a shoplifting

sting Stimulator of interferon genes (STING), also known as transmembrane protein 173 (TMEM173) and MPYS/MITA/ERIS is a regulator protein that in humans is encoded by the STING1 gene. STING plays an important role in innate immunity. STING induces typ ...

conducted by the local police showed that piles of merchandise could have been taken away, Richard pitched the idea the next day to her manager and it was accepted. In 2019, it was announced that on April 26, greeters would be replaced with 'customer hosts' at 1,000 stores. This new position will require that hosts be able to climb up ladders to get products, lift packages weighing 25 pounds, and stand for long periods of time. The announced change was met with disapproval by

disabled Disability is the experience of any condition that makes it more difficult for a person to do certain activities or have equitable access within a given society. Disabilities may be cognitive, developmental, intellectual, mental, physica ...

greeters. Walmart announced that it would make "every effort" to continue to employ disabled workers in other positions. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

Walmart greeters gained increased importance because of the fact they had to enforce and remind customers of store

mask mandates During the COVID-19 pandemic, face masks or coverings, including N95, FFP2, surgical, and cloth masks, have been employed as public and personal health control measures against the spread of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In comm ...

Bibliography

References

{{Walmart Walmart Hospitality occupations