I really loathe Walmart

"Wal-Mart has set up a nifty system, best described by the magazine the American Prospect: "Wal-Mart, America's largest employer, pays its U.S.-based workers such low wages that salaries end up lower throughout the retail sector, and an underpaid working class is compelled to shop at low-end Wal-Mart. A thing of beauty, really, if you don't mind all the downward mobility it entails."

"The magazine also says the chain pays sub-subsistence wages in "sweatshops of the world" where it demands its products to be produced. It scans the globe for the cheapest goods."

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2004409260311
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Just recently, I was involved in a discussion
involving our local school system and Walmart. I was
told, basically, of how wonderful Walmart is because
they offer $1,000 grants to public schools and other
civic organisations, and that our hometown needs a
Walmart.

I responded that I loathe Walmart, and do not want any
of their money to be used to buy school restroom
surveillance cameras (like in other schools around the
country), in which case fear and intimidation tactics
would most certainly be the norm in our local public schools.

Walmart has a hidden agenda of using these so called "Good Works" techniques to endear themselves to communities.

I highly recommend anyone concerned about global
corporations affecting our lives and our freedoms to
read some of these books:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0971154236/ref=pd_sim_books_2/002-1901578-1020844?v=glance&s=books

"The Case Against Wal-Mart"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1580082319/qid=1096657870/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-1901578-1020844?v=glance&s=books

"How Wal-Mart is Destroying America and The World and What You Can Do About It"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0917582896/ref=pd_sim_books_5/002-1901578-1020844?v=glance&s=books

"Hometown Advantage : How to Defend Your Main Street Against Chain Stores and Why it Matters"

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1576750787/qid=1096657870/sr=1-6/ref=sr_1_6/002-1901578-1020844?v=glance&s=books

"Taking Back Our Lives in the Age of Corporate Dominance"

Why, in my opinion and others, is Walmart evil?

Because, simply put, Walmart promotes slavery.

The concentration of ownership and power, along with
treaties like GATT and NAFTA, and now SAFTA, means more and cruder exploitation of workers everywhere. I remember a
television interview in which a female worker in
Central America told Kathie Lee Gifford what it was like to
earn 31 cents an hour, allowed to go to the bathroom
only twice a day, be cussed out, and not be able to do anything about it.

Most of the workers in these cheap or slave-labor
factories around the third world are women, or worse,
girls!

I said that, if a Walmart comes to our hometown, our downtown will be destroyed and our shopping experience will be robbed
of its community flavour. You can't talk politics or
do anything like you can on a public sidewalk-why,
because Walmart is private property and they decide
what you can and can't do there.

Wal-Mart's annual sales are larger than the entire
Gross Domestic Product of 161 countries. Walmart cuts out the
distributor, and they buy so cheaply that they can
resell to other stores at cheaper than wholesale. Thus
they can ruin the competition through predatory
pricing.

And here is my answer to those readers that say,
"Walmart is cheaper, and I have to count my pennies,
and besides, it's just so convenient to shop at
Walmart instead of local stores in town."......

Well, yes, in many cases, Walmart is cheap and
convenient. For the shoppers, anyway. But guess
what?! Liberty, basic human rights, and social
justice are never cheap, and seldom convenient.

If you don't like Walmart, write a postcard expressing
your thoughts to:

Lee Scott, President
Wal-Mart Stores
702 S.W. 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716

Postcards can get the word out better than letters.

Also, please support your local business
owners, and always buy American.

I still have a pair of made in America, SAS (San
Antonio Shoes ) shoes that are just great, and they
are 4 years old.

If we don't start fighting back and taking back our
communities, we will only have ourselves to blame when
we are reduced to slavery.

There is no failure except in no longer trying, so
don't give up hope!
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No single version of anything ever says it all. Any information posted by this author is for informational purposes only, and this author does not take any responsibility for any assumptions made by any reader, especially if information provided by this author is not read. All reading should obviously be done with discrimination. No endorsement is necessarily given for any particular website, link, or its contents. Furthermore, information provided obviously does not constitute a "fair and balanced" look at events, and does not entail all possible viewpoints on any given subject. Posts by this author are not in the style of the faux "All things considered". This author believes that information is power, and that alternative viewpoints different from the mainstream media, mainstream academia, "average Americans", et al, should be considered. Please remember that at one time, people who stated that the earth was round were "kooks", and at one time slavery was favoured, and now, for the most part, by "enlightened" citizens (but not corporations like Walmart), slavery is frowned upon. This author's ultimate goal in any post at degreeinfo is to help lift the curtain of secrecy, which exists within all power structures, including, education, military, and private sectors, which contributes to the ignorance, fear, and confusion of our time and to hopefully, possibly, help create a new spirit of human tolerance and togetherness.

 

Problem with WalMart is that they spend more on trying to convince people what a good corporate leader they are instead of just being one.

But alas, the purpose of a corporation is to make money and to please its stockholders, period. Not to be good corporate people. If people are dumb enough to work for them, or even dumber for shopping with them, then all the power to them. I beleive in capitalism because it works.

With that said, I won't shop at WalMart because they are a poor excuse for a corporation. The use sweatshops to make their cheap products and most of the money goes back to the Walton family. That is not illegal or immoral. However, as a consumer, I don't have to accept it.

BTW: I won't shop at Home Depot either - since the founders left, the new order has driven them into the ground, making customers second to profits.

Now to clarify (for those of us who cannot read or comprehend very well)

1. WalMart is not unethical or immoral for the way they legally run their business.

2. If you don't like the way WalMart conducts their legal business dealing, join me and shop somewhere else. If you don't like their benefits, don't work for them.

Period - end of story. Nothing is for free and nothing is guaranteed, nothing is equal. It is your job as a citizen and consumer to make the choice that you want to - not for WalMart to do it for you. Look at KMART -- they sucked and looked what happened to them over time.

 

Hello,

You can hate Walmart, HD or any other company you please but guess its called capitalism and competition. Walmart just does it better than everyone else and their success makes them a giant target.

You are right they have by market competition forced wages down for jobs that are low skill, which they should be. Why should the consumer support artificially high wages for low skilled positions by paying higher prices? At an Albertsons the shampoo was $7.99, and same bottle and size at Walmart $4.28. Why should anyone pay 86% higher price for a commodity? Low prices help poor peoples dollar go farther, so your angst is misdirected. Additionally, no one forces anyone to work for Walmart, anyone can take their labor somewhere else or get educated for higher positions.


Also, globally, the market forces companies to move to the lower cost producer inorder to stay competitive. Former low cost labor countries like Taiwan are now have much higher incomes that have risen over time.

So, lets put government incharge, let them regulate prices and labor mmmmmmmmmmm.....thats called socialism and at its most abhorant form communism. But wait, even the biggest communist country China is now moving aggressively to the market based due to the FAILURE of the regulated economy.

It is not the corporation but the market. People are not enslaved they have choice. I choose to shop and Walmart and Home Depot proudly, infact I'll go today.
Enough rambling.

Enjoy!

 

Hi Mr. Engineer. Thank you for reading my rant (smiles) about Walmart. And thanks for always writing your thoughts when I make my neurotic (smiles) ramblings.

http://www.homedepotsucks.com/

I remember a quote by General Douglas MacArthur that goes along with your "nothing is free, nothing is guaranteed statement. He supposedly said that "there is no security, only opportunity."

 

Before you decide what defines "low skilled positions" you would be wise to read Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting by in America , by Barbara Ehrenreich, published by Henry Holt.

Ms. Ehrenreich did a Studs Terkel-style exploration of working America in so-called "low skill" positions by actually joining the ranks of those working in such jobs and living the lives they lead. (Incidentially, after its publication Ms. Ehrenreich's book received a resounding endorsement by Studs Terkel.) Her resulting book is an excellent read and a real eye-opener. (Yes, as part of the hands-on research for her book Barbara did a stint working at Wal-Mart, among other low-wage jobs.)
Here's a link:

http://www.henryholt.com/holt/nickelanddimed.htm


Kit

 

Hi Jacques - Interesting post. Good links. Everyone already knows the story of , "Wal-Mart comes to town and every Mom&Pop store within 20 miles goes out of business." Of course, the follow up story is about how Mom and Pop have to get jobs as Wal-Mart Greeters in order to make ends meet. (It's a sort of, "Let's add insult to injury," type of story). The part about what happens in other countries is closer to the cutting edge and your use of the term "slavery" is not an exageration. This is something that most people don't understand, that there is actual slavery occuring throughout the world (even in the USA). Good post. Sure you're not a Social Worker?
Jack

 

Well done, Jacques! As a clergyman in a rural 'depressed' area, I've seen firsthand what you describe.

 

My only beef with WalMart isd that I don't like the stores and hate the entire shopping "experience." The parking lots are terrible to navigate, the stores ill designed, and it takes forever to find anything.

Regardless of why
moral reasons or seasons,
I vote not to go

 

Sounds like you have been at the WalMart at McCarthy Ranch!

 

Living in a rural community (Rolla, MO), I like shopping at our Super-Walmart, and conduct 90% of our family shopping there.

The employee's at this Walmart are the most helpful/courteous store worker's I've encountered in the world, and appear to be pretty happy with their jobs- compared to not having any job. For a rural area, the jobs are well-paying and result in a nice lifestyle. On my street of new 3000+SF homes, two of the families are employees of Walmart, along with the professors, and MD's, in the neighborhood.

The only real competition in town is a Kroger supermarket, which has adapted by attracting shoppers with a better deli, and the butchers will custom cut/trim your meat [personal service]. Prices are higher, but quality is very good.

There's a saying in town-'If Walmart doesn't have it-you don't need it..."

I don't see the fuss-especially in big cities where there's a lot of competition from fancy Target Stores and Kmart's (smirk). Walmart was the first to see the opportunity in our town and took advantage of it. Good for them.
SFarrar

 

Rolla really rural? ROFLMAO!

Well, in my rural area (which is not a university town) there are no new 3000+ sf 'homes' and there are no streets filled with MD's and professors. Your post radiates condescension, whether toward the folks who shop at "(smirk)" Target or KMart or toward the contented underlings at Wal-Mart who be grateful to ol' Marse Sam. I'm glad they're courteous--good help is so hard to find.

Humbug spoke earlier of the horrors of socialism and a controlled economy, and of the glories of capitalism. Well, shuck my corn, Earl, whut we have here is one o' them Hegelian synthesees : "If Wal-Mart doesn't have it, you don't need it."

"You know, Koba--"
"Yes, Ilyich?"
"There's some funny stuff going on."

 

There was a recent story done here by UC Berkeley about how much money Wal-Mart costs the state, indirectly. Because WM doesn't pay a living wage to their employees (at least not living in CA), the state must foot the bill in terms of food stamps, uninsured medical costs, subsidized housing and school lunches etc.

The report estimates the cost at $86 million a year to CA taxpayers.

http://laborcenter.berkeley.edu/lowwage/index.shtml

 

Hmmm....

I really have a hard time seeing Walmart as evil incarnate. I understand they have a huge impact when going into a rural area both good and bad. I am guessing alot of those workers at whatever level were unemployed before Walmart opened. At the same time it must make a lot of people feel powerless to be in a direct relationship with them.

What I don't like is the focus America puts on money and what a corporate like personality our culture has developed. I feel like we have given up a lot of our soul and higher existence. I believe this is something we have chosen. As a beginning, I would like to see every High School and College require part-time service to others.

 

Wal-Mart

I find this post interesting. I hate to admit this but I used to be a manager at a local Wal-Mart Supercenter. From my experence working in a supervisors position, Wal-Mart treats most of their employees with intemidation and bullying that should not exist in the job market. We most likely all heard stories of employees asked to work off the clock or during their break periods. Wal-Mart denies this however it happens all the time. As an employee you either do what your manager tells you or you let go. Of course your let go for some other reason. Our turnover was approximately 45% each year. And if your willing to stick it out with wal-mart your salary will progress but then your placed on salary which means you normally work approximately 60 hours a week.
And don't forget the illegal workers that work for wal-mart, and of course wal-mart didn't know anything about that. When any employee talks about a possibility of contacting a union or organizing your fired. The official stance is that wal-mart isn't against unions they feel they can treat employees better. What I believe they are really afraid of is if all the employees would stick together and demand better working conditions that serious changes would have to take place.
Remember those commercials that use to be on television about how wal-mart buys and sells American made products, you don't see those commercials anymore. Why do you think that the current wal-mart commercials are pushing the idea that they are community friendly? I believe they are trying everything they can do to brainwash the general public that wal-mart is a fair and vital asset to their community, which helps to hide the flip side of what is currently happening. Is wal-mart all negative NO but its not the friendly neighbor that they pretend to be either.

 

anyone who believes such writing really needs to brush up on their economic theory...unless of course they are believers in the fully refuted socialist economics

 

Lookit, I don't stay up nights brooding about Wal-Mart. I stay up nights brooding about 17th Century theology.

I just think that we've all had quite enough Arkansas colonialism between Massa Sam and the Clintons , and I've seen too many small town CBD's wither under the impact of Wal-Mart and similar outfits.

Having been called a Nazi on another thread for believing in the true presence in the Mass (I gueth if you are a certain category of militant you can say anything and it's OK, no matter how vile), I don't begrudge anybody their ideological convictions, or making Wal-Mart a test case for them. I just don't care for the store and its policies. But it ain't a holy war for me.

 

Well why the heck not stay up nights brooding about Wal-Mart if you're going to stay up nights brooding about theology? The hypocrisy many apply to Wal-Mart is so similar to the one many apply toward religion.

People will go to church and yell "Amen!" about a sermon preaching brotherhood and loving thy neighbor. On the way out they'll even congratulate the clergy member on such an excellent sermon, so relevant to our troubled times. Those same people will still curse their 'brother' for getting a better parking space at the supermarket, even if the 'brother' got there first.

It's the same with shopping at Wal-Mart. Everyone says they want clean air, clean water, living wages, and the best healthcare. Yet many aren't willing to pay for products manufactured under the conditions that make all those things possible. So they go to Wal-Mart where they can buy especially cheaply, with no regard to the fact that many of those products were manufactured in places that pollute the air and water, pay poverty wages or use slave labor, and don't give a rat's fecal orifice about anyone's health.

Kit

 

Hi all,

Love the banter on this over Walmart.

When I start reading the words "living wage" and other it tells me the camp one is coming from.

Capitalism is about opportunity not always fairness. We all have the same opportunity in the US and if we don't want to work at Walmart we can get a degree or start our own business or find a niche that WM doesn't fill. Capitialism can be cruel at times and displacement of workers is part of it but it keeps the US competitive in a changing market. We need to fill the needs of healthcare etc, but we also can not turn our economy into Europe and others which are turning back their generous benefits and overburdened healthcare.

If I had a company selling Video cassettes, guess what the world has changed and we need to adapt and walmart is just part of that. Fifty or a hundred years ago Woolworth and Sears were dominate, but cycles, tastes and markets change.

As for squawking about the cost to California for Walmart workers but atleast they have legitimate jobs and contribute to the tax base. The real cost in California is not Walmart it is the high costs fo education, healthcare and other services for the huge illegal alien population which is growing unchecked. Anyone in Southern California, Arizona or Texas can attest to that.

Couldn't resist.

This is an important discussion.

BAH

 

durak irks janko

Hi Menger and Humbug:

Kit's unprovoked attack on me (when I agreed with the scary, irony-free entity on Wal-Mart) shows why the left so often fails to persuade.

I guess it's so emotionally gratifying to launch an attack on "religion" (involving, as here, a cartoon version of fundamentalism and the hoary canard of hypocrisy), that alienating an ally in a discussion is a small price to pay.

It's more fun disagreeing with you than agreeing with Kit.

Have a nice day, comrades.

Your slave-labour-approving, hypocritical-amen-screaming, vacuous-brotherhood-promoting pal,

Janko

 

I wonder how many people who hate WalMart have ever attended a planning commission meeting at their local city hall?

Bottom line about WalMart:

1. They exist to make money for the Walton family. Period.

2. If you hate them, go to your planning committee meetings and press to reject their applications. If all else fails, get an initiative on the ballot to reject zoning of WalMart Superstores.

3. Don't shop at WalMart or WalMart.com. Tell your friends and family to do the same.

I find WalMart stuff to be cheaply made - sort of like a Kia or Yugo (you get what you pay for).


As a sidenote: I have a friend who is an exec for Walmart. She said that at their last company meeting, the BOD mentioned god and Jesus no less than 17 times and implied that they are a "godly corp". What rhetoric. It almost sounds like someone elses rhetoric when they say that "god in on their side".