I picked up a few items at Wal-Mart today, and while exiting the building I passed a small display where a lady was giving free samples of Degree deodorant. 1-800-DEGREE 1 is their toll free number. I just hope its accredited!
Deoderant for Degree Mills ? So, uh, if your a graduate of a degree mill, then it might come in handy?
The only unbelievable part of your story, Russell, is the bit about picking up only "a few" items at Wal-Mart. John Bear PS: Here's a short excerpt from Ten Speed's excellent (my opinion) book, How Wal-Mart is Destroying America (and the World). http://www.tenspeed.com/catalog/page.php3?ftr=67
the University of Walmart It is amazing that you got out of Walmart. Ours tend to have long lines. I was waiting at one once an the crowd waiting to check out started chanting, put the greeter to work! Many of the big corps. have a significant amount of in-house training. Particularly for those advancing up the management aisle. But degree deordorant, at a national store. have degree mills become mainstream? or is everyone after the quick fix? All the best!
Canada is being plagued by Wal-Mart also. I realize that business is best left to market forces. BUT! Does not society have a stake when thriving small towns are being destroyed and mom and pop small business owners are being turned into near minimum wage Wal-Mart cashiers? I forgot to mention something. My wife does own a small business.
Capitalism, Corporations and Market Forces I love Walmart and I love capitalism!!! Let the people decide which market they want to shop at!!! I went to a “Mom & Pop” store to buy a rake and it was priced outrageously high. Nuts. The Walmart sold the same rake for 1/3rd the price. Duh!!! Which rake does the consumer want to buy? If you want to shop at ”Mom & Pop” stores: For nostalgic reasons. To be an American patriot (???). To prevent corporations from thriving, even if it means: 1) The consumer will get the best price. 2) “Mom & Pop” shops will go out of business because they can’t compete. 3) To prevent corporate monopilization. Fine!!! Do your capitalistic duty and avoid Walmart and spend your money at the higher-priced ”Mom & Pop” Shops!!! But don’t try to curtail the capitalistic endeavors of Walmart (and associated corporations) for the above reasons!!! Let the market decide. Let’s not mix politics, nostalgic reasoning and ”feel good philosophies” in with capitalistic policies.
Wal-Mart Wal-Mart thrives in spite of capitalism, not because of it. The same supplier that sells to Wal-Mart probably charges close to twice as much selling to Mom and Pop. The same supplier that closes Mom and Pop's account after 30 days finances some large retailers for 6 months. (I am not sure if Wal-Mart does this) Wal-Mart sells many items in their stores at very close to cost. (don't know if any are actually below cost) Wholesale price differentials, with exceptions reasons of economy, and predatory pricing are illegal in Canada and probably the United States. While Canada has a nice set of laws concerning competition, they forgot to create a significant dedicated enforcement agency. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police are too busy busting kids for dope to be interested in commercial activity. To say that Wal-Mart proves the strength of the capitalist system is totally untrue. When any business becomes large enough to dominate its markets and its suppliers, maybe it's time to take a close look.
Re: Wal-Mart I assume that you are saying this in the context of today. From the point of view of the last 20 years, I believe that Wal-Mart is an excellent example of the success of capitalism. Twenty years ago, Kmart was in a better market position than Walgreens. Wal-Mart had a vision, to be the best and to do that they needed to be the cheapest and most efficient. Wal-Mart became the most efficient retail business in the marketplace. They put together the culture and managed to teach that culture to new employees as they expanded. They continued to expand because they continued to be the best retail business in the marketplace. I've talked to people that have worked with both data processing departments, Kmart and Wal-Mart. They both have the same data base system brand but Wal-Mart just takes much better advantage of their system. They use it more effectively to get the right products in the right stores. They use it to more effectively take advantage of opportunities and to create opportunities. Over the past 20 years, I believe that Wal-Mart is an excellent example of the successful excercise of capitalism.
wal-marts marketing Wal-mart markets on two themes. They go the extra mile and they are the cheapest. There are allegations that they are anti-union. Some wal-mart staff is trying to unionize. They aren't necessarily cheaper, people just think they are. The lines are, in this area, slower. customers put up with it because they think they are getting a bargain. Despite the fact that Wal-mart really is all about business... When a young part-time wal-mart employee died when he was hit by a drunk drive...the local Wal-mart gave employees paid time to attend the funeral. That sounds fairly rare in the business world. all the best!
Irat: When a young part-time wal-mart employee died when he was hit by a drunk drive...the local Wal-mart gave employees paid time to attend the funeral. That sounds fairly rare in the business world. John: In my research on how corporations deal with complaints (first for my dissertation; years later for my two books on the subject), it seemed very clear that there are both horror stories and satisfying stories associated with nearly every big company. It was big news here a few years ago when a Wal-Mart tire shop employee took a customer's car for a joy ride and totalled it -- and Wal-Mart refused to settle, because the employee was on his lunch hour. Russell: I just hope Wal-Mart doesn't get involved in selling degrees, they have just about everything else. John: There was a Heriot-Watt MBA student who was a Costco executive. We actually discussed the notion of a "road show" event at Costco, the way they do with pianos, art, fresh fish, etc., in the form of a 2 or 3 day booth with MBA counselors present. Cooler heads prevailed and nothing was ever done, but I still think it might of have worked.
Squished Burglar For litigious reasons, I am going to change the names in this story. In an unknown city, in an unknown country at a well known, no-name chain store, something bad happened: We had a juvenile delinquent who was extremely problematic for us. He was a suspect in numerous home burglaries and smash & grabs (that's where you drive up to a business, smash out the front plate glass window, run inside & grab what you want, and then run back to your car and drive away: All in less than 90 seconds). One night, he and his buddies decided to break into a thousand pound cola machine that was in front of that big no-name store. Our little burglar and his other juvenile friends decided to start rocking the behemoth cola machine, with our burglar in the front of it. Well, they rocked it too far and it fell directly onto our little burglar and he was crushed to death. What did our little co-conspirators do when they saw their dead juvenile friend? Naturally, they would call 911 at the payphone that was 20 feet away, right? Wrong!!! The little scumbags left and didn’t say a word. Later that morning, the no-name employees found the squished burglar and they called the police. Well, we eventually found out who they were. Anyways, the burglar’s mother decided to sue the big chain, no-name store for wrongful death. She contended that the cola machine should have been bolted down to prevent it from being accidentally tipped over. Naturally, she made no mention of the fact that her son was a convicted burglar, was a suspected in numerous burglaries and that he was attempting to break into the cola machine when he accidentally killed himself by toppling the cola machine onto himself and, subsequently, getting squished to death. Prior to the case going to court, the generious no-name chain-store offered her a tidy sum of money to settle the case. It was exceedingly generious. She declined the offer and sued and then lost her civil lawsuit. I'm not even going to touch upon the numerious psycho problems that this mother had. P.S. -- After the burglar’s death, many cases were subsequently solved and closed.
Don't give Wal-Mart any ideas, John. Wal-Mart Special of the Week BA: $99 MA: $129 PhD: $150 You know, with Wal-Mart's ability to buy in bulk, I'm sure they could offer the Ph.D. at a lower price than the Mom & Pop operation of American College of Metaphysical Theology.
corporate schism It does seem that a corp. may have a split personality. On the one hand have personnel policies which push employees to unionize. At the same time coming together around a tradegy. I wonder if the executives realize the split? In an old book on Asylums, Goffman discovered that when a bureaucracy isn't working well, the staff began to feel they were treated like the patients. I wonder if when a retail corp. isn't doing well if the staff feel they are treated like the customers? All the best!
