The Walmart Google Maps Issue
February 24, 2017
First, I’ll admit it. Missy and I stayed at a lot of Walmarts on our road trip. Nearly all let you stay overnight. They’re often open 24 hours, making bathrooms a cinch. Even the ones that aren’t open 24 hours are usually only closed in the middle of the night. They’ve got auto supplies, which is something we often needed.
Certainly, their practice of paying workers a low wage or limiting their hours and then turning around and recommending them to get government assistance to make up the difference is nothing less than dreadful. Not to mention the economic pressure they exert on local businesses. In my regular life, I don’t know the last time I went to a Walmart. All of that said, there are plenty of places in this country where there isn’t much else around.
This isn’t really about that though. This is about a relatively funny occurrence on the road. Google Maps is usually my go-to for finding things and getting around. That naturally leads me to searching for Walmart in Google Maps.
Despite clearly entering “Walmart,” Google still wanted to know if I meant “Walmart.” Maybe they’re just judging my choices. I’m not sure what caused this error, but I seem to remember it being fixed by killing the app and trying again.
I tweeted about each of them at the time. That’s the best way to complain these days, right?
