I'll admit I haven't gone around pricing EVERYTHING in the various Walmarts I've been in, but I haven't seen much of a price differential between them in the things I've bought (which are usually common everyday things that people would buy)... I do know the Gibson's here in town has a better gun selection, though. I got my home protection device from them for a pretty damn good price... But, all in all, the Walmart here offers me a couple of things...low prices and a ton of convenience when I go in...I can get a sledgehammer and 2 lbs of king crab legs at the same time...and I value my time like I value my money...
One argument I don't understand is this one: "Walmart is a product of the free market and is therefore a good thing." Where does this "therefore" come from? I think evolution is a marvelous process, but I'm not about to argue that the stinkbug is a marvelous creature.
I don't "hate" walmart. I choose not to shop at walmart. reasons? #1 - too many tables and displays in the middle of every aisle make it hard to get around some fat guy trying to decide which dvd he wants to buy long lines crappy customer service I don't care to see any of my money go to Arkansas shop there all you want, but I'd rather spend a few dollars more at Target and avoid the above
Walmart is merely a symptom of a larger problem. I think some of the problems with traffic and the "big box" aspects can be solved with zoning and more regulations. If Walmart is forced to invest more in a building they will not be as likely to up and move and this will solve some of the aesthetic and traffic problems, of course, costs will go up. Also, rising oil prices might cause Walmart to make some changes. The two problems that are more difficult to solve are low wages and cheap imports, which are big factors in the lower prices. Walmart, enabled by technological advances, has been able to remove much of the skill from retail jobs. This enables them to hire and fire people very easily, because the jobs are easy to learn. This also prevents unionization, which would increase labor costs. Also, they can manage payroll much more easily, because it is easier to hire the marginal worker that is not skilled. Now, many of the products Walmart sells are manufactured in China, this is because labor costs are cheaper in China. I buy food, toiletries, hardware, and cheap clothes at Walmart. So the Hanes' sweatpants and socks I buy are manufactured overseas, and then shipped to the USA. These things probably used to be made in the Carolinas, but they are pretty simple to manufacture. The textile workforce had to be more skilled than the people at the retail level, and this probably enabled them to unionize, and the wages at the mills were probably pretty good, but the products can be made much more cheaply overseas. My solution to the problem would be to strengthen the social safety net, i.e., measures such as a universal health care program, job training, etc. We should not be in the job protection business, because we should want to maximize productivity. We should, however, be in the worker protection business, and this would make workers less fearful of losing their job and more likely to do the necessary work to get a better job, this will also give them more leverage to get a better wage, because they will not be so dependent on their employer. Also, universal health care will make our manufacturers that compete against Germany and Japan more competitive, because in those nations the governments (through higher taxes) pick up the health care tab, not the manufacturers.
Attached is a link from Wake Up Wal-Mart (a union driven website), which identifies a lot of reasons why there is hate for Wal-Mart. I'm not saying I advocate any of these. Just providing the "real facts about Wal-Mart" (according to this website). The Link
I don't hate walmart as a company or entity or corporation with the right to make money- but I hate them as a place to shop- I won't shop there. I don't like the fact that they treat you like a criminal- follow you around the store, and you have to provide a receipt to get out of the store. Hey- it's their right to do so, but it's my right not to shop there. As to the other stuff though I thikn it's overblown. And nobody in this thread has said walmart is evil- but plenty of libs out there are saying that- I think it's probably the kook fringe though.
I'm with NAIU on this one. My mom lives in a small town and the same thing happened. Now they're talking about closing that big box to steer customers up the road 15 mi to a SuperCenter! Yeah, it's capitalism, I know. The mom-and-pops should've found a better way to compete, yada yada. But it seems predatory, and I think with WalMart, it is. Then people get dependent on WalMart and the ****** stuff they sell. Personally, I refuse to shop at WalMart. It's been nearly 5 years since I set foot in one. I can't stand the products that fall apart after three washings, the stores in disarray, the ignorant and careless customer service, and the hordes of people who shop there. And by "horde" I mean the people with 5 kids in tow taking up the whole aisle without regard to other customers. The same **** happens at Sam's. WalMart bugs the crap out of me and I get everything I need elsewhere with less hassle and chaos.
Bravo, TxBabe. There is capitalism, and there is capitalism. WalMart is bad captialism-explotative labor practices, monopolistic and predatory business model, destructive colonization of third world marketplaces. The whole concept sucks. And the worst part of all is attempting to go in there and buy something, and dealing with the surly, self-centered employees who just want you to go away. The last time I went to one, which was a plumbing emergency the night before Thanksgiving a couple years ago, and it was the only place open, was a memorable disaster. After waiting in one check-out line, they closed it as I neared the register (some magic time had been reached), actually they closed the whole side of the store, must have been 20 registers, and told everyone to go over to the other side of the store, which required public transportation to find. Then the lines were extremely long, and the one I chose had an upset employee who wanted to go home and would do nothing but fume about how it was her time to leave, wouldn't help the person in front of me with some price check or some problem, I could have easily strangled her and left. But I vowed to never enter the hellhole again, and I haven't.
accuratehorn, but they were open the night before thanksgiving allowing you fix your plumbing emergency, no? would the local mom & pop have been open? Could you emergency have waited till friday to get a plumber? Lover or Hate Walmart, until you have a better alternative for those who need it and a better alternative for those who want it, then you should blame the consumer.
See I disagree with you accurate on the first half of your rant (about it being bad capitalism with exploitive labor practices etc) but agree wtih the second part about being a pain in the *** that I don't grace with my business. You cannot have exploitive labor practices in a free market- nobody would sign up for the jobs if they could find better. So be it the textile worker in china or the checker in chicago they are both saying- hey this is the best job I can get and are better off for it, regardless of how much you, I or John Edwards would think the job sucked.
