Wal-Mart bashing?

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I find the "Wal-Mart's not socially acceptable" silliness on internet boards truly amusing, particularly when Wal-Mart's critics appear to be nearly illiterate.
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I wood lyke too reeplie too yor coment.

Here, on the border, we are accustomed to all Wal-Mart Public Service Announcements being made in Spanish. What reason is there to address the Anglos?

Most of the local Wal-Marts have employees less than fluent in English but one store, in particular, seems to excel in the number of employees that speak no english at all. Whatsoever, nada, nothing, zip, forget it. I am thankful that I speak something that resembles Spanish.

Recently, I had a small problem with mistakes made by a cashier (?empleada de caja, cajadera?) and spoke with a (low level) Manager. I mentioned that "well, these people come over here from Mexico looking for a way to better their lives but they're not accustomed to our ways" but his response was "yes, but we train them and they should know."

It is rewarding to know that all Wal-Mart employees are trained although the legality of the employment "may" be questionable and they cannot speak the language that is most universal in this noble nation.

I am bi-lingual. That tells you that I am illiterate in, at least, two languages.

I apologize, respectfully, for my near illiteracy.

!Muchas Garcias!

Illiterate, remember?
 
OK, mathman, let me make another generalization.

In a very real sense Walmart is a typical extractive industry and over time it impoverishes its resident communities. Extractive industries are industries which extract resources. We commonly think of natural resources extractive industries such as timber mills, coal mines, gold mines et cetera which remove commodity wealth and leave stripped forests and mine tailings but in the case of Wal Mart it is extracting money and leaving solid waste for landfills.

In a healthy economy money is a medium of exchange for persons who add value to products. But in the case of Wal Mart the money leaves the community in exchange for consumables, which are used and thrown away. No one makes anything, no one repairs anything, no one builds anything.

I hope this helped. :D

Some informative links:
http://www.emich.edu/public/geo/557book/c313.impactwalmart.html
http://www.livereal.org/WalMart-2.htm
http://walmartlawsuit.info/
http://www.ethicalcorp.com/
 
Wall Mart does have some nice deals on guns, but pretty much all of their other merchandize is pure sh*t. Made in China low quality crap.
I have never in my life bought anything other then ammo, oil or guns in Wall Mart. It has nothing to do with their corporate policies. I really don't care about some small shop which has to mark up their guns 75% to make living, but it only has to do with quality of the product they sell. I buy most of my stuff in Sacks 5th Ave, NM or Macies. My suits are off course bespoke.
It is better to by one $3000 suit once in 5-7 years then keep getting $400 pieces of sh*t every ear. Makes better economic sence.

The same goes for the cars, but this is another story.
 
I dont really want to argue with people who are obviously very passionate, almost seemingly seething with hatred about something as harmless as a discount retail outlet.

But I have to ask:

Why no outrage at Target or KMart?

What about Dollar General or Myers?

Or even Family Dollar or Big Lots?
 
Walmart also has a very large percentage of employees on public assistance.

People vote the stores in and watch local stores close for "low prices" and then their taxes are raised to support the people who work there.

I know a few people in my rural area who were doing decent running things like hardware stores etc then had to close when Walmart opened shop.
 
But I have to ask:

Why no outrage at Target or KMart?

What about Dollar General or Myers?

Or even Family Dollar or Big Lots?
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What about Walgreen's, Best Buy, Comp USA, Circuit City, Home Depot, Lowe's, Tractor Supply, Gander Mtn., Bass Pro....

They all purchase the same way Wal-Mart does. They all effect their respective mom and pop competition.

The genie is out of the bottle and he ain't goin' back in.

The small business which survives are able to demonstrate to their customers their value. They usually are not competing on the low price rather the quality of the product and post sale service.

Example: Here in the wheat belt a lot of farmers use Duct tape (often referred to as a Gleaner repair kit). I worked for a wholesaler who distributed to small hardware and farm stores. One of our product lines was Manco "Duck Tape". This is the same brand carried in Wal-Mart. A 60 yard roll was ??$2.99 at Wal-Mart. We carried 5 different Manco 60 yd rolls ranging in Wholesale price between $2.75 and $7. The $2.75 roll was the same SKU as the Wal-Mart roll, tough for ma and pa to compete. We advocated our dealers keep 2 or 3 grades in stock some of the cheap stuff some medium quality and a few of the best quality. The core spool on all grades was the same diameter, so if you centered the 3 rolls on top of each other the high grade roll with the same length was 2 1/2 times larger than the Wal-Mart roll. The result of this comparison for a customer was often an up sale. The margin was higher on the better tape and the dealer could still sell the cheap tape competitively with Wal-Mart.

The dealers who survive are not under capitalized and are willing to "buy in" when staple items were on sale. Manufacturer sales offered by small store's distributors are often in line with the wholesale price Wal-Mart pays. Many of the less successful ma and pas would refuse to buy 90 days supply of a staple product with a 20% discount, no amount of talking would convince them, then 30 days later they would be complaining they were unable to compete on the product. Anyone who wholesales to small business knows this is true of many ma and pas.

Point is creative business owners who have not been known for gouging their customers prior to Wal-Mart coming to town often survive.

Also I may have understated, in my previous post, the value the discount houses have been to our economy by helping to keep a lid on inflation.

-
 
"Negative impact their presence has on small (gun)shops in surrounding communities...?"

As opposed to the positive impact their presence has had on my wallet?

No offense to the smaller shops, but America is a capitalist society, and one of the main rules of a capitalist society is eat, be eaten, or find a niche.
 
OK, mathman, let me make another generalization.

In a very real sense Walmart is a typical extractive industry and over time it impoverishes its resident communities. Extractive industries are industries which extract resources. We commonly think of natural resources extractive industries such as timber mills, coal mines, gold mines et cetera which remove commodity wealth and leave stripped forests and mine tailings but in the case of Wal Mart it is extracting money and leaving solid waste for landfills.

In a healthy economy money is a medium of exchange for persons who add value to products. But in the case of Wal Mart the money leaves the community in exchange for consumables, which are used and thrown away. No one makes anything, no one repairs anything, no one builds anything.
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MeekandMild,

I completely agree, but if others don't agree now, they probably won't ever...
 
Why no indignation about Target, Best Buy and Safeway? Because there is also Kohl's, Circuit City and Food Lion.

The objection to Walmart doesn't have to be the David and Goliath one of Mon&Pop vs. the Super Store. But Walmart's business practices damage other major chains, and their wholesalers.

If Walmart was comparable in size to Kmart and Target they would not be the topic of discussion. But we are talking about THE BIGGEST CORPORATION ON EARTH. How does a company that deals in trinkets, ugly clothes and toilet paper become a bigger company than a zaibutsu like Mitsubishi that builds and sells cars, planes, boats, TVs, paper, food, building material, etc? The only thing Walmart produces is more Walmarts!


All of us illiterates agree: Walmart is definitely NOT just another discount retail store. They are an economic juggernaut with the ability to have great national and local influence, and they are having a measurable negative impact on standards of living for both their producers and client communities. Companies of that size are dangerous and damaging (insert Microsoft example here).
 
Good thread! Everything stated in the anti wally posts are real and correct.
Walmart is truly a cancer in this consuming society.
Walmart came to CA put the gun shops out of business and then botched so miserably the purchasing procedure that they lost their state sanction to sell guns. That void isn't being filled anytime soon.
Poor folks in small towns have little alternatives to working there now that the giant put many if not all competition under.
Most vendors are forced to private label things for Walmart at a price which is often equivalent of NO profit..just cash flow. Those same vendors employees must also on their own time take responsibility for the shelf schematics, rotation and stock rather than paying a Walmart employee.
Many Walmarts have "implied" policys regarding freetime vs clock time. You're going home? How come the job isn't finished...and then the managment puts their hands over their eyes and see's nothing!
Chinese sweat shops, prison labor, and the like are nothing new there.
As to Home Depot's, Lowe's, Best Buys, Circuit City and many other retailers a real benefit package is in place. Commissions are equitable. Good retailers want good employees...Walmart wants warm bodies..and not very damn many either. It's run via a computer from Bentonville. Besides Tractor Supply is a long way from becoming the largest most powerful bully on the planet!

Last week a shootin' buddy of mine was looking for some CCI Velocitors.
Couldn't find them anywhere..since there's no longer anyone selling gun supplies. He stumbled into walmart..."Do you have any CCI Velocitors?" The "person" behind the counter says "you mean CCI's?" ..."yeah velocitors"
"Maxi mins?" What???? No velocitors! "Here they are ...Mini Mags" NO NO NO Velocitors!!" Ok...hmm.. I don't seem 'em. You want hollow point or aluminum? :eek:
My friend claimed he yelled "menthol" and turned and walked! :(

Rimrock
 
But I have to ask:
Why no outrage at Target or KMart?
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ROTFLMAO - because - K-Mart bashing is so like a 90's thing to do!
There's plenty of old threads beating up on K-Mart and saying how wonderful Wally World was.
 
No outrage at other retailers because no other "retailer" has the buying power of Wally Wart. As such, no other retailer can control pricing, from the manufacturer up, like them.

Basically these threads are pretty simple to figure out: Those who are in business themselves, or conscious of their communities, oppose Wal Mart. The ones whose only worry is finding a bargain love it. I'm sure someone will pop in to say how they are self-employed and love it and all I can say is, yeah, you can claim anything on the 'net. :rolleyes:

Hal, why don't you dig up some of those Wal Mart lovin' K-Mart bashin' threads. Love to see 'em...
 
Does anyone else here find it amusing that the vast majority of posters here tend toward Libertarian or Republican ideals of less government interference...until you start talking about Wal-Mart? Then they want the government to step in and manipulate the free economy.

Americans ultimately vote with their dollars. In the 70's they tended to vote for K-Mart..until K-Mart was no longer appealing to them and were replaced with Wal-Mart. Wal-mart may or may not go the same way depending on their business decisions good or bad...however, that's what a free economy is about. The most certain way to screw things up will be to allow the government in to manipulate free economic competition.

If you don't like Wal-Mart, don't shop there. If you do like Wal-Mart, shop there. A vote will be taken every day by way of your dollars.
 
One other point I forgot to make...While selling wholesale to the ma and pa hardware and farm stores many of the owners would pack up periodically and go to Sam's to buy stock for their store. It happened all the time. Then they would complain about Wal-Mart.

This is what I think is happening here...I hate Wal-Mart but I think I'll go get some Winchester white box. There is advantage to bringing the cost of staple supplies down. You say they make nothing. True they distribute manufactured goods. Groceries, clothing, etc. The range/gun store I go to has 230 gr FMJ range ammo marked $20/50, if you are a regular $18. IMO this is a gouge because I am at the range, captive consumers. This same type of pricing has gone on for years in small towns across the country.

As to Home Depot's, Lowe's, Best Buys, Circuit City and many other retailers a real benefit package is in place. Commissions are equitable. Good retailers want good employees..
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Wal-mart has a fair benefit package for dept managers up. Many of the home stores have good help because the ma and pa lumber yards/hardware stores who went belly up trained the help who took a pay cut to work at these places.

Walmart came to CA put the gun shops out of business and then botched so miserably the purchasing procedure that they lost their state sanction to sell guns. That void isn't being filled anytime soon.
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I have always wondered why the State of Cali always puts odd ball rules in place making interstate commerce difficult if not impossible. California emissions, CA legal guns, etc. Maybe the lack of gun shops in CA has to do with idiotic, unnecessary regulations.
 
Economies of Scale.

Wally World can be beat. But it takes lots of planning and your own company has to have deep enough pockets to survive the initial onslaught.

As was pointed out by pipoman, you have to be willing to overbuy when the manufacturer gives a discount. Another thing you can do is to vary your inventory. There are lots of like items that can be put in place of one or another. Items that don't carry big prices, but are new "brands" to you customers. Changing brands on slower moving items helps to keep customer interest. And of course, using "house brands" for their real effect: Loss Leaders.

Wal-Mart has not affected the gun stores in our area. Why? Because these owners carry big ticket items that Wal-Mart will not. Because they carry used guns and Wal-Mart does not. Because they carry complete lines of reloading gear while Wal-Mart will carry only a few select items. While traditional ammo sales have pretty much bottomed out, because of Wal-Mart, they have brought in calibers that are popular here but calibers that the local Big Box won't carry.

When the local Wal-Mart Supersized and went into the Grocery biz, the successful local stores changed how they bought and marketed, and are staying competitive. One store, at which I was a manager, didn't change its practices. It is slowly being eaten alive. I changed stores as the owner was still of the mindset of the 1950's market. He won't change. My current employer will buy truckloads of a particular set of items, so as to have a constant supply of certain products at prices comparable to Wal-Mart.

We have a recognized house brand. Wal-Mart can't carry that brand. We can keep the house brand at a price point that breaks even, encourages customer loyalty and like any retailer, profit is made on the other merchandise. The point is to get the customer into the store. Modern computerized inventory methods allow the general management to keep on top of the buying habits of the customer base. Our base is growing, not shrinking.

Of the seven (5 of which are locally owned) food stores, the 2 chains and one local are hurting. The other four have changed practices and are actually growing their customers.

Not a single gunshop or other sporting goods store has gone out of business.

Initially, 2 of the four building supply houses went under. Huh? Well they relied upon paint and fixtures for their revenue trail and simply wouldn't or couldn't lower their lumber pricing to offset reduced sales in their major departments. Last year a new building supply store opened up. Paint and fixtures are priced only slightly above Wal-Marts prices, but it is the lumber that has been reduced. Drastically. They are growing.

There are valid strategies that will allow the locals to compete against Wal-Mart and their "Low Prices, Always" perception. The trick is to find what works for you.
 
Simply put, greed. Consumers demand lower prices, and that is what drives the market. Some of the same people that knock it, are pushing carts around at Wally World. Truly, "..we have met the enemy, and the enemy is us...". (not a direct quote, but, you get the idea.)
 
AMERICA=Economy=based on a capitalistic model=based on the competitive element, which pushes supply and demand which sets prices......Many of you here seem to think that the best model will be a socialistic society..?? Vote for Hilary...you can get your wish and she will feel your pain...and wallet......Wal-mart, as good as the best and better than the rest........
 
Don't be so simplistic, Super Hornet. We have many laws in place to help rein in capitalism to prevent things like huge price controlling monopolies, bank runs and stock market crashes. Those controls are for stability and don't make us socialist.

A totally free market economy runs the risk of burning itself out if money doesn't keep circulating. If any one entity controls too great an amount of the available capital, "capitalism" pretty much stops.


If you want to end up being a sharecropper, have at it with the totally free market. It is much like the reason we are a Republic rather than a true democracy - total democracy usually votes itself out of existence.
 
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