In June, Walmart was cited for 11 child-labor violations in the state of Connecticut.

Senators Kennedy and Corzine and Rep. Anthony Weiner put forth a measure that would require states to disclose the number of employees of large businesses receiving government-funded healthcare, and pointed out that in the 15 states already requiring such disclosure Walmart employees comprise the largest group of state health-care users. Several states are now considering legislation that would require companies employing 10,000+ to spend approx 8% of their payroll on health care.

Walmart has been cited as a primary influence in the driving down of pay and benefits in companies being forced to compete with it.

Cities have developed Walmart specific regulations to prevent the retailer from locating in the area, resulting in many court battles.

What do you suppose Sam would have to say about the business he loved and nourished and what it has become? He took pride in offering Made in the USA goods, which was a boost to many factory towns around the country. Now, that is no longer the case.

I know there have been threads on this stuff before, but I was just reading about it in the paper yesterday, and it got me thinking again about the topic. And, in discussing it last night, the one constant that kept coming up was that the stores never seem clean and organized, which is also a change from years ago when Sam was alive.

It seems to be looking more and more like we are heading for a minimum wage economy, with unions being broken and the idea of collective bargaining gone by the wayside, and the haves and have-nots being more pronounced than ever.


Sheesh, a bit rambling, heh........

I personally avoid Wal-Mart like the plague for the reasons you stated. i see them as anti-thesis to a healthy capitalist system.

Wal-Mart's practices have made big bucks for company leadership, but yes, a lot of states take exception to supplying health care for its employees. With so many states already on board with "big box store" legislation, more will follow. I don't know what Sam would say, but I'm all for making these companies take responsibility for their resource draining business practices.

I agree with getting rid of government funded healthcare.

Wal~Mart is the devil.

I love wally world. :p

:devil

You can take the girl out of the trailer park....


I hate going to wal-mart, with a passion. If I wanted to go to a store and hunt for shit where english is the second language printed on the box, I'd go back to Europe. I mean I'm all for people working and living in the United States, imigrants or native, but holy shit when I have to search for a half hour just to find one person who speaks english passably enough to help me find something there is a problem. Assholes at wal-mart should be supplying healthcare, and education classes for their workers.

Wal*mart is driven by the fact that you and I want Hanes t-shirts for $3.96 and a copy of Sin City for $13.88. We are the people who demand our $9.97 pleated-front slacks and $9.97 mens collared dress shirts (plus sizes $2 more). Wal*mart puts pressure on it's suppliers to be less expensive because we want less expensive goods.

I shopped at Wal*mart today with a friend. He bought Equate(tm) vitamins for half the cost of the name-brand.

I shop at Wal*mart for socks, underwear, and weekend t-shirts. I buy 24-packs of Coke's Dasani water there, and depending on if it happens to be the big electronics leader for the week, I buy some movies there. I buy bedsheets, pillows and towels there. I buy name-brand toys there. I bought my daughter's name-brand car seat there.

I don't know where the Wal*mart is that sells nothing but imported crap, with English as the second language on the box. The wrench I bought there was a Stanley. The glue I bought was Elmers. The storage bins I bought were Sterilite; and the battery I bought for my XM radio remote was Duracel. Hell, The Gillette Company owns both Duracel AND the company that made my deoderant. $2.24 a stick.

WE put pressure on Wal*mart to buy cheaper.

Also, do remember, as the world's largest retailer, they're also the world's largest retail employer, and the world's most frequently sued/violated/voilating employer.

Walmart sells the same stuff you buy at other stores. It's not second hand namebrand rip offs. That's a clue to not knowing what the hell yer talking about.

Tho I do see the devil in his Silk suit. I see what it does to Mom and Pop shops that so many of ya'll love. I hate having to go to 3 different stores to do what I can in minutes at Walmart. I love hitting Walmart , it's one stop shopping at it's best, even if it does bring out the compulsive purchase demon in me.

Fandros

Ahhhh and after reading Sam Walton's book I can safely say this about what Sam would say about today's SuperWalmarts....

He'd hate it...

Fandros

They actually make their employees sing a song every morning. I think I'd sue 'em too. :(

Actually we do the Wal~Mart cheer once a week. (at the distribution centers anyways.)

I do 90% of my shopping at wally world. my 10% discount takes care of the tax on non food items and stuff is still hella cheeper than any where else.

dey still da debil.

Wal*mart is driven by the fact that you and I want Hanes t-shirts for $3.96 and a copy of Sin City for $13.88. We are the people who demand our $9.97 pleated-front slacks and $9.97 mens collared dress shirts (plus sizes $2 more). Wal*mart puts pressure on it's suppliers to be less expensive because we want less expensive goods.

This is not technically correct. Walmart sells stuff we want as cheap as they do because they rely on secondary purchases of overpriced goods to make up for the lead loss on Sin City. In effect Walmart is making a two prong investment, one into your tendency to buy other stuff while you're at the store, and one into the future in which all their competition has been killed off because they didn't have Walmart's pockets and could not operate at a loss as long. They're not serving a public desire for cheap goods, they're undermining it and turning it to their advantage in a way only large, rich entities can.

You can say whatever you want about them helping little old ladies find a job and cheaper underwear, Walmart does nothing that doesn't directly benefit Walmart and they'll rob you and Uncle Sam in the process.

Damn Selwen, you still workin for them slavedrivers?

And btw Wal-Mart wasn't the inventor of loss leaders, but they were one of the first with their ultra aggressive use. That coupled with a scientific bombardment of carefully merchandised impulse buys, meticulously planned out store and aisle layouts and highly effective buying and distribution system makes them the closest thing to the perfectors of big box discount retail.

They've taken every aspect of retail and pared it down, tweaked it, analyzed it, surveyed, polled, threatened and pressured it to get as much out of it and onto the bottom line as possible. If its meant not making a profit on a can of Coke sold within the last 20 years or seeing just how little they can get away with paying their understaffed sales floor per person, as long as their research shows it'll effectively impact the balance sheet in favor of the stockholders then that's what they'll continue to do.

And yeah I hear they do still sing that damn song every morning in some stores.

I don't buy the "operate at a loss until they finish crushing all of their competition" argument for a second.

This isn't Japanese televisions we're talking about.

there is a somewhat long article i will try to find, in Forbes (i think) magazine titled "The Cost of Low Prices"

Some of the key points:

*Not including House and Car dollars...consumers spend 38 cents of ever dollar at Wal-Mart. (IMO, this is why their customer service is so lacking and most staff unknowledgable of any product they sell. They don't have to be, they know customers will keep coming back)

*Wal-Mart, while possibley because of the consumer (nod to Palimax) has such a foothold in the consumer market (in my opinion boardering on a monopoly) that they force compannies to find ways to cost cuts. A large percentage of companies have sent work overseas where labor is cheaper. Even though they employ a ton of people, how many jobs have they ended? Not to sound...whatever the word is....How many AMERICAN jobs have they ended.

*They force companies to lower margins or they won't sell their product. Which in turn kills stock prices and in the end kills buisnesses.

*Due to Wal-mart being the largest retail store in our country, many companies are unable to negotiate with Wal-mart and have to take what they say due to fact that a majority of their product will be sold at a Wal-Mart, and a buisness will fold if they do not have the sales.

I work for radioshack, which is right next to a walmart. People don't realize how Wal-Mart saves money. They sell a HP printer for $30 less than Radioshack does even though its the same model. BUT the consumer doesnt realize that the printer doesnt come with the needed USB wire to hook it up. (even though Wal-Mart has added a sticker to the box stating the fact) So they come to us and they lose the $30 the saved on the cable they now have to buy from us. Or, 27in Magnavox TV they sell for $20 less. It has no A/V hook-ups like our model does, so they have to spend over $20 on a RF Modulator to hook up a PS2 or DVD player. Unfortunately consumers in todays market do not educate themselves on what they buy, they look at cost as the only factor.

Also, Wal-Mart is a very disposable end product seller. Portable phones for example, they do not sell the batteries for them, or if a store has them, they are in such limited selection it's useless. The life of a battery is roughly 18 months. So every 18 months the consumer goes back to walmart and buys a new phone instead of buying a new battery. Yay for the enviroment.

I avoid shopping at Wal-Mart if at all possible, many places if you just look hard enough can give you similar products (a lot of cases better products) for prices withing .25-$2 of Wal-Marts prices.

In closing, i feel that Wal-Mart is the perfect answer to the Lazy society that we live in now that would rather wait in line for 30 minutes at a drive thru rather than to get out and walk inside to the totally empty counter.

Wal*mart is driven by the fact that you and I want Hanes t-shirts for $3.96 and a copy of Sin City for $13.88. We are the people who demand our $9.97 pleated-front slacks and $9.97 mens collared dress shirts (plus sizes $2 more). Wal*mart puts pressure on it's suppliers to be less expensive because we want less expensive goods.

I shopped at Wal*mart today with a friend. He bought Equate(tm) vitamins for half the cost of the name-brand.

I shop at Wal*mart for socks, underwear, and weekend t-shirts. I buy 24-packs of Coke's Dasani water there, and depending on if it happens to be the big electronics leader for the week, I buy some movies there. I buy bedsheets, pillows and towels there. I buy name-brand toys there. I bought my daughter's name-brand car seat there.

I don't know where the Wal*mart is that sells nothing but imported crap, with English as the second language on the box. The wrench I bought there was a Stanley. The glue I bought was Elmers. The storage bins I bought were Sterilite; and the battery I bought for my XM radio remote was Duracel. Hell, The Gillette Company owns both Duracel AND the company that made my deoderant. $2.24 a stick.

WE put pressure on Wal*mart to buy cheaper.

Also, do remember, as the world's largest retailer, they're also the world's largest retail employer, and the world's most frequently sued/violated/voilating employer.

Don't mass generalize. It doesn't become you.

Let me try to understand this argument. Because Wal*mart provides such great deals, we shouldn't care about how they provide them? Or, we do care but we support it because they have such great deals so we put up with it?

Or perhaps that is just how YOU justify shopping there. I don't give a rats ass if they give away everything in their store for free, I'm not going in and I honestly don't understand how anyone else can either knowing how they operate.

But wait, they gots stuff for cheap yo! :rolleyes:

It's called convenience. Wally World has the monopoly on convenience, with the 50 cash registers and everything in the world you could want items....How can ya not shop there?

:devil

This isn't Japanese televisions we're talking about.

Ah, Max, but that's *exactly* what it is, or more specifically, Chinese ones. If you haven't ever seen it, take the time to check out the excellent Frontline documentary on Wal-Mart, produced about two years ago. One of the stories it documents is that of an American television picture tube manufacturer, struggling to stay in buisness in the wake of Wal-Mart's relentless price pressure and their mammoth manufacturing farms in the autonomous zone in Guangzhou, China. For a while, the company manages to stay afloat by giving up the standard sized television market and concentrating on large, high end televisions (and closing their plant north of the Mason-Dixon line), but eventually loses even that business and is forced to declare bankruptcy after a round of dumping where the company finds that they can buy the glass premade in China *and* have it shipped to the US for less than it will cost them to manufacture it in the states. The same thing has happened with many other businesses in other industries where Wal-Mart's vise-grip technique (relentless price pressure combined with their own heavy investment in Chinese manufacturing infrastructure and distribution networks) has driven them to bankruptcy, most notably Westpoint-Peppermill, the nation's largest textile manufacturer.

Link to the Frontline page at pbs.org here, the video is available for download for free, and also for sale: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/

In particular, check out the 'secrets' links page, and the information on Walton as the architect of the 'Buy Asia' program in the 1980s (linked here for the lazy):

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/secrets/

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/secrets/wmchina.html

As far as whether Sam Walton would be spinning in his grave over the recent human rights violations here in the US (child labor, use of illegals, etc), the answer appears to be a pretty clear-cut 'No' - despite his flag waving profit-sharing image, Mr. Walton was actively involved in Wal-Mart's philosophy of applying unceasing pressure to keep employment costs down as well as in the procurement process, although that opinion is not universal (check out the interview with Jon Lehman, a 17 year Walmart manager, also available in the section).

Back when I shopped at Wal-Mart (not for the past three years), it wasn't the promise of a 24-pack of T-shirts that got me in the door; it was the fact that I, as a poor graduate student, could acquire 'luxury items' such as a microwave for 40.00 or a small television for 98.00. The question one has to ask one's self is - at what cost does that 40.00 microwave *really* come? For me, the fact that I *can't* go to the Westpoint-Peppermill outlet store anymore (which I used to do regularly) and buy sheets and towels, because they were driven out of business, that I *can't* buy an American-made television anymore even if I wanted to (or soon, a washing machine), tells me that that price is too high.

I'd like to do a much more thorough job on this post, but I'm sitting here unwashed in a dirty nightgown and class starts in 20 minutes :/.

Regards,
Nydia

Edit: As a point of clarification, Westpoint-Peppermill was the major textile supplier to Wal-Mart for many years, and *the* major contributing factor to their bankruptcy after 80+ years was the loss of that contract after they could no longer afford to do business with them given the concessions on price that they demanded; the same is true for the televison manufacturer.

P.S. There was a recent CNBC documentary on Wal-Mart as well, where they tried to present the positive side of Wal-Mart doing business with American suppliers by depicting the ordeal that a couple with a small business endured getting their product approved and on Wal-Mart store shelves. That product: Novelty paper cutout picture frames... a far cry from televisions, or even sheets and towels, but I suspect it was one of the few 'success stories' they could find...

Fifteen or twenty years ago, Wal-Mart was a great thing. Their buying in bulk and low margins allowed the lower to lower middle class a much needed increase in buying power, at a time when their buying power was at an all time low. Between their "Made in the USA" push and all the people they employed, they helped to preserve and create a lot of legitimate American jobs.

Now, they've become about the exact opposite.

Isn't that what SAM's club is now Sanchek? The buying in bulk part, I admit I don't shop at Wally World but I do venture into SAMs from time to time. Hell I got my 40GB iPod last Christmas for $250 when everywhere else they were $300+.

They aren't well liked in this neck of the woods. We have 2 within a 10 mile radius and they are opening up another one in the "country" part of the county. It has been protested for over a year with people near the proposed land hanging rather large banners from their barns indicating their distaste. They did however get it approved so in a few months they are going to convert more of South Central PA's corn fields into a huge SuperCenter so that we have 3 within 10 miles of eachother.

I heard recently that Walmart pays their female employees less than their males, is this true? I also heard that there are more people who work for/at Walmart than we have in the active duty military, that seems hard to swallow too.

I mean Wal-Mart bought in bulk and sold regular quantities, but passed a lot of the savings down. Great for someone on a tight budget to improve their quality of life, but maybe not so great for everyone in the long run.

Don't mass generalize. It doesn't become you.Oh puhleeze. Must I take every "you" and "we" and replace it with some long-winded speech about "many people" and "most of us" and put little asterisks after things sending them to the footnotes about the percentages of people who shop there?

You GET the point. We all do. Wal*mart has adopted their pricing structure because it's effective and it gets us* in the door.

Finally, I don't need to "justify" anything. During those times I shop at Wal*mart, I do so because it's the most convenient place for me to buy something cheaply. I keep odd hours, and my Wal*mart is 24 hours. Also, I have very "down to earth" dress requirements, which puts me in a lot of Hanes t-shirts. As long as they're open at 3am, and happen to already be selling the things I'd like to buy for a good price, I'll shop there.

*For purposes of this post, US means all the people who shop at Wal*mart, but not Grift3r, because he's too cool to be lumped into an "us" bucket without a huge disclaimer.

Nydia, while I appreciate your posts - I always do - I still beg to differ about the Japanese television situation.

A number of large Japanese Keiretsu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiretsu) made the decision to sell televisions below cost as a long-term multi-decade strategy to overtake the television market.

See: MATSUSHITA ELEC. INDUSTRIAL CO. v. ZENITH RADIO, 475 U.S. 574 (1986) (http://www.stolaf.edu/people/becker/antitrust/summaries/475us574.htm)

After some gains were made in the late 70's, of course, these same Kieretsu shifted their focus to VCRs, DVDs, and other home electronics.

Ok, now that history time is over, the difference between these Kieretsu
(and what they did with Televisions) and Wal*mart is that Wal*mart isn't using their billions to take massive losses on Hammers to put Home Depot out of business. They put pressure on their suppliers. They underpay their employees (or, you can argue, they pay them exactly what it takes to keep them employed). And they sell Hammers at the lowest cost that their unbelievably efficient juggernaut of a retail operation can sell hammers for and still make a bit of cash for their investors. Anti-trust laws aside, I'm sure the war-chest over at Wal*mart could sustain selling $20 Bicycles and $6 Barbies at huge losses until they took ToysRUs out of business - but that's NOT what they're doing. They're just pressuring their suppliers (and everything else) to give them a cost so they can sell cheaper than ToysRUs.

Do I think Wal*mart is evil? Sure. Evil like a fox.

I heard recently that Walmart pays their female employees less than their males, is this true? I also heard that there are more people who work for/at Walmart than we have in the active duty military, that seems hard to swallow too.A female/male wage discrepency is among their greater alleged problems - yes.

As to rates of pay, I found this. There's a lot of discussion after it, in terms of ranges, but few people on the threads dispute the salary averages.

Hourly Positions

Support Mgr my rate is $14.98 but in my store the five supports make between $9.93 to $21.23 an hour. The person making $21.23 has been with company 26 years so he skews the average. Btw we don't follow company policy about discussing rate of pay

Dept Mgr $10.62
Sales Assoc. $8.27
Overnight Stockers $9.29
Cashiers $8.05

The average walmart hourly pay $9.26

Salary Positions

Regional VP $279,772
District Manager $177,149
Store Manager $89,000
Co-Manager $56,317
Asst. Manager $37,322
Mgmt Trainee $22,371

Oh, and one last thing. You can always discuss your compensation with another emploee. You just can't do it, necessarily, at work -- because if you're doing that, you're not working, and not working is something they can fire you for. Feel free to discuss it with them any other time. Fair Labor Laws... 63? someone remind me the year...make that possible.

Breath Palimax, breath.

You say you don't have to justify it yet you proceed to do that very thing by explaining how convenient it is to shop there.

But I digress, the point I was trying to make was that by shopping there you endorse what they do. Are they an easy target for a cause? Sure they are. It still doesn't change the fact that they employ reprehensible business practices that affect our economy in a what a lot of people* consider a negative way.

Now I'm not going to sit here and suggest you or anyone else is a bad person for shopping there, I just wanted to raise the question of how much are you willing to concede for the low price and convenience.



*refers to only a portion of the population, up to and including cool people like myself.

You say you don't have to justify it yet you proceed to do that very thing by explaining how convenient it is to shop there.I don't feel as though my shopping at Wal*mart requires some sort of explanation -- BUT this wouldn't be much of a thread if we all just sat here LOOKING at each other.

Wal-Mart is a life-saver. I go to EB Games and gawk at their horribly high PC/Video game prices, as Wal-Mart seems to be about $10 cheaper or bigger percentage (on everything else too). They may not be leading the most ideal business practice, but they have improved lives.

Online stores are often cheaper than the real deals as well.

Wal*mart is that Wal*mart isn't using their billions to take massive losses on Hammers to put Home Depot out of business. They put pressure on their suppliers.

Other corporations like Home Depot and Sears are not who Walmart is trying to put out of business. For one, it would probably bankrupt them to do it since all of them benefit enough from economies of scale and have sufficient credit to survive the deep losses of a supply-side cost war. Secondly, they operate in markets WalMart usually does not (ie, professional-grade building materials and premium appliances). Walmart probably already has all the business it will get in the low-end goods markets such businesses share.

However, anyone below the national retail level basically does not. Manufacturers have to cave in to Walmart's pricing model because it is no longer profitable for them to sell solely elsewhere (phase 1 complete!), but a city or state sized operation doesn't benefit from that. Moreover, Walmart's model (and the required sales volume to make it work) is the only model the manufacturers can turn a profit at with those prices. Connect the dots here and see what this does to your favorite regional chain .. if it still exists.

I'm not going so far as to say Walmart is evil, but they are certainly operating beyond the bounds of what most people would consider ethics. That isn't implicitly a problem, it's what any human organization does once it's of size, except that anti-trust and other business law has essentially gone unenforced in this country for decades. Something else Walmart is doing it's best to make sure keeps happening...

(Michael Moore is a dishonest, self-aggrandizing asshole, but he was dead right about us needing some sort "Corporate COPS!" show to focus on the real crimes that affect people's lives).

Wal-Mart is a life-saver. I go to EB Games and gawk at their horribly high PC/Video game prices, as Wal-Mart seems to be about $10 cheaper or bigger percentage (on everything else too). They may not be leading the most ideal business practice, but they have improved lives.

No comment is really necessary with this one.

Wal*mart's goal isn't necessarily to put anyone out of business. I just think it's a (fortunate|unfortunate) side effect of it all.

Of course Walmart wants to put people out of business. Create dependancy. Walmart is akin to a virus that takes over cells. They arent creating new markets for anything, they are co-opting existing markets.
I recently moved to one of the best towns in Connecticut. One of the reasons its one the best is that it firmly resists any of the corperate stores. No Walmarts, No Home Depots, No Starbucks, No Dominos. No National chain supermarket. No store that would usurp any existing local business.
The result? The small, local businessman can not only survive, but prosper. More family friendly, more revenue staying in the community, high wages and more tax revenue. Better quality of life for everyone.

MicroSoft's goal isn't necessarily to put anyone out of business. It's just a (fortunate|unfortunate) side effect of it all.

Hardly a perfect analogy, I know, but it certainly rolls off the tongue in the same way.

No comment is really necessary with this one.

Lol yes I know that I sound ignorant with my that last paragraph of mine, but my feelings are shared by quite a few as you know and have said (yes that doesn't redeem me either). However I'm going to keep buying from them as long as I get the best deal and so is everyone else in America and whatever other countries Wal-Mart has influence in (I actually do most of my shopping online).

What is the proposed solution to this potential problem do you think? We can't have a Ma & Pop shop for everything on every corner.

Wal-Mart is just good at capitalism and working the system (which is not necessarily a good thing either). The only thing you can do about it is replace their head hanchos, sue them to death, or shut them down for a charge that's not 100% clear/incriminating.

I think if you follow the money trail all the way from your pocket back to your pocket, with and without a big box chain like Wal-Mart, you'll find that you aren't really as much better off as you think you are. Saving a few bucks seems nice today, but at what cost tomorrow?

Lol yes I know that I sound ignorant with my that last paragraph of mine, but my feelings are shared by quite a few as you know and have said (yes that doesn't redeem me either).
Glad you can see my point. =)
What is the proposed solution to this potential problem do you think? We can't have a Ma & Pop shop for everything on every corner.
One solution is the legislation numerous states are passing that target big box stores (and Wal Mart in particular). Another solution is for people to recognize the long term damage Wal Mart does and to just stop shopping there despite the best short term deal. This is the route I took, a matter of principle. A third option: attempts to unionize. That got Wal Mart out of Quebec and several other cities.

This (http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/22/nyregion/22walmart.html?ei=5070&en=78d4941647344e81&ex=1125374400&emc=eta1&pagewanted=all) article describes Wal Mart's attempts to find a home in NYC and the opposition it's faced (it's the NYT, so free sub required). The article points out how Target has been welcomed, but Wal Mart shunned, based on employee treatment.
Wal-Mart is just good at capitalism and working the system (which is not necessarily a good thing either).
I think it indicative of capitalism getting out of hand. I'm all for a free market, but not at the expense of so much else.

Anyway, you have the option to take action and stop shopping there. If that $10 for the video game is just too essential, then...it's your call.

I detest Walmart. It isn't about any deep feelings for what they are doing. It's because the damn place is too crowded with long check out lines.

Brunos is a mile closer to my house. As is Lowes, Circuit City, Radio Shack, and even the friggin mall (which is less crowded).

I do find myself in Walmart maybe 1 time a month...

Hell, where else do you go when time is short and you need brake fluid, an air mattress, asprin, a case of beer, and bacon?

One stop shopping is attractive when gas is near 3 bucks a gallon and you have an hour to have all of what you need.

Back to the Health Insurance issue...

I used to work for one of the Insurance Carriers that covered Wal-Mart as an employer group. This Insurance Carrier specialized in providing "liability" levels of medical/dental/vision coverage to its employers, meaning maintaining the required minimum levels of coverage to comply with state/federal legislation. Wal-Mart is self-insured and much like its sales/marketing strategies, it employs several low-cost PPO Networks to maintain coverage for its employees. Like many employers, HR packages pay for less and less each year... Wal-Mart happens to be another example.

The Wal-Mart website describes its Health Benefits as follows:

HEALTH BENEFITS
Our health plan covers most major medical expenses. The company contributes to the cost of health benefits and we offer affordable Associate plans. There is no limit for most health coverage. 60% of our Associates tell us they joined Wal-Mart because of our benefits.

I can tell you that covering *most* major medical expenses is no prize. This means that after your enormous deductible (all you), and your not-so-great coinsurance (they pay 70%, you pay 30%, for example), you could be destitute before the "no-limit" lifetime max has any benefit to you. The word *most* also means that your benefit has exclusions and limitations. At $10.00 per hr, you will be grateful for your 10% discount on cheap pharmacy items.

Awful as it is, Wal-Mart is simply capitalizing on saving money, again.
Always Low Prices. Always.

Hell, where else do you go when time is short and you need brake fluid, an air mattress, asprin, a case of beer, and bacon?My kitchen?

Hell, where else do you go when time is short and you need brake fluid, an air mattress, asprin, a case of beer, and bacon?
You know, I've found if I go to an auto store, convenience store, or whatever else has the specific things I need; I end up getting it all done just as fast and usually get better quality goods.

I'm still confused about this "better quality goods" thing. Which one of those products above do you think that Wal*mart doesn't cary in grade-a quality name brand?

All I know is that in my fairly rural area, without Wal-Mart we'd be screwed in many ways, as there really is no other all-around 'general store' available.

Considering how rabid I am on monitary efficency, the only time I venture into walmart(maybe 2 or 3 times a year) is for the simple sake of convience on a nesseccary item that I need at 3am.
(Or in a recent case, walmart actually had the best deal on something for once... DVI to HDMI cable..$99 minimum at radioshack?wtf, $24.99 at walmart, especially considering digital signal cables are all identical, unlike analog where the quality and shielding of the cables actually makes a differance, you either get the best possible signal with digital, or you get none, gah I went off on a tangent).

Being what I consider an "Informed Consumer" I find that local "Mom & Pop" or just small chain stores give the best deals to *established* customers.
I.e. My Family business has been a dilligent customer at NAPA for 20+ years, The guys at the store know out spending habits and are willing to beat out walmart on similar items to keep us as a customer.

Theres a Video game store here thats privately owned, I Pay just alittle over his cost (games don't sell for alot over cost to begin with though), ussually get a $49.99 game for $41.99 at launch from him. Because he knows I spend over $4000 a year at his store(Yes, Its an addiction).

I don't do any of this out of a hatred for walmart, but most of the time, they simply do not actually have the best deals.
Between alittle social engineering with local retailers , scouring the internet for *real* deals(like the Sony 30KDXS955 I recently got for $380 as opposed to $1400), and planning most your purchases you can *ussually* do better then walmart.

The main argument for shopping at walmart seems to be convience , your paying for it , though I suppose thats a legitimate reason if you feel the convience is worth the money(and I suppose to alot of people it is).

So why Walmart and not Kmart or Target? Aren't they all pushing and selling the same thing? Convience?

I'm with Darus, it's not about pricing you can find deals and things much cheaper if you spend the time to find them. My experiences with the Walmarts in this neck of the woods are not pleasent. The stores are dirty, isles full of crap where people just ransack shit and never put things back or let their kids run amuck. I find the Kmart, Target, or in some cases the malls and grocery stores to have the same deals on the items and damn if they aren't cleaner.

I don't know about K-Mart, but Target has a better record (or, at least, is better perceived) in supplying health care (and wages, too, I think) to its employees than Wal-Mart.

email i got today, thought it was kinda ironic since we are having this discussion here:

Go Back to School
But Not Back to Wal-Mart for School Supplies

http://img.getactivehub.com/aflcio/custom_images/wfean/wmsmileyy.gif (http://javascript%3Cimg%20src=%22images/smilies/redface.gif%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20tit le=%22Embarrassment%22%20smilieid=%222%22%20class= %22inlineimg%22%20/%3El%28%27http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/walmartpledge/5dw68s4z76x7dx?%27%29;)

Tell Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott you will not buy back-to-school supplies from Wal-Mart this year because Wal-Mart needs a real education about how to treat workers.







Click on the link below to take the pledge:



http://img.getactivehub.com/aflcio/custom_images/wa/btn_pledge_sm.jpg (http://javascript%3Cimg%20src=%22images/smilies/redface.gif%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20tit le=%22Embarrassment%22%20smilieid=%222%22%20class= %22inlineimg%22%20/%3El%28%27http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/walmartpledge/5dw68s4z76x7dx?%27%29;)
(Click here.) (http://javascript%3Cimg%20src=%22images/smilies/redface.gif%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20tit le=%22Embarrassment%22%20smilieid=%222%22%20class= %22inlineimg%22%20/%3El%28%27http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/walmartpledge/5dw68s4z76x7dx?%27%29;)





It’s time for back-to-school shopping—but not at Wal-Mart.



America’s biggest retailer—with $10.3 billion in profits last year—has a shameful record of child labor violations, sex discrimination, low wages and lousy benefits.



We don’t need to reward Wal-Mart for that kind of corporate behavior. Pledge to buy back-to-school supplies somewhere other than Wal-Mart this year, and we’ll send those pledges to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott.




http://img.getactivehub.com/aflcio/custom_images/wa/btn_pledge.jpg (http://javascript%3Cimg%20src=%22images/smilies/redface.gif%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20tit le=%22Embarrassment%22%20smilieid=%222%22%20class= %22inlineimg%22%20/%3El%28%27http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/walmartpledge/5dw68s4z76x7dx?%27%29;)



There are hundreds of reasons to pledge not to buy back-to-school supplies at Wal-Mart this year. Here are a few:





As the world’s largest retailer, today Wal-Mart is setting the standard for America’s workplaces—and it’s a standard of low wages, poor benefits and worker abuse that working families cannot accept. Together, we have to stop the Wal-Marting of America’s jobs.


Wal-Mart has racked up huge fines for child labor law violations. This rich company reportedly makes children younger than 18 work through their meal breaks, work very late and even work during school hours. Several states have found Wal-Mart workers younger than 18 operating dangerous equipment, like chainsaws, and working in such dangerous areas as around trash compactors. (The New York Times, 1/13/04; Daily News, 2/18/05; Hartford Courant, 6/18/05)


Wal-Mart pays poverty-level wages and fails to provide affordable company health insurance to more than 600,000 employees. That means Wal-Mart workers and their families have a hard time paying the bills and getting the health care they need—and Wal-Mart tops state lists of employers whose worker are forced to rely on taxpayer-funded health insurance programs like Medicaid. (Wal-Mart annual reports; Business Week, 10/2/03; state reports)
Pledge not to buy back-to-school supplies at Wal-Mart this year. Click on the link below:



Take the pledge now (http://javascript%3Cimg%20src=%22images/smilies/redface.gif%22%20border=%220%22%20alt=%22%22%20tit le=%22Embarrassment%22%20smilieid=%222%22%20class= %22inlineimg%22%20/%3El%28%27http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/walmartpledge/5dw68s4z76x7dx?%27%29;).



Need more reasons to buy school supplies elsewhere this year? Try these:




Wal-Mart has a shameful record of paying women less than men. Wal-Mart pays women workers nearly 40 cents less an hour than men. Some 1.6 million women are eligible to join a class-action lawsuit charging Wal-Mart with discrimination. (Richard Drogin, Ph.D., 2/03; Los Angeles Times, 12/30/04)


By demanding impossibly low prices, Wal-Mart forces its suppliers to produce goods in low-wage countries that don’t protect workers. A worker in a Honduran clothing factory whose main customer is Wal-Mart, for example, sews sleeves onto 1,200 shirts a day for only $35 a week. (Los Angeles Times, 11/24/03)


Wal-Mart can afford to do better. Wal-Mart—America’s largest private employer—raked in $10.3 billion in profits last year. CEO Lee Scott landed nearly $23 million in total compensation last year alone. Wal-Mart has no excuse for its behavior.
As always, thank you for all you do for working families.



Sincerely,




Working America, AFL-CIO
Aug. 26, 2005

yeah take the pledge to drop sales so those under paid people get less hours and therefore, less pay. That makes a lot of sense.
This kind of move does nothing to hurt the big wigs at wally world. It only hurts thehourly associate who cant get their hours in. Not just at the stores either. If the sales are light, then our schedule at the D.C. is light and we don't get our hours either.
While our pay is decent at the warehouses, I agree the store associate gets boned. They don't get benifits because they get hired as part timers.(Not that ours are all that great.)
The union is pulling something like this because Wal Mart doesn't have unions.

Working America, AFL-CIO
Aug. 26, 2005 OMG! A union sending anti-Wal*mart mail? Say it ain't so!

Tale of two Walmarts:

Walmart 1:

Located on Cobb Parkway in Marietta GA, right across the street from Dobbins AFB/NAS Atlanta. The place is constantly overflown by C-130s and F-18s. Thus the nieghborhood around it is pretty much lower working class Mexican. That is who staffs this Walmart. No one speaks english and most look to be 14 years old and still wet from the swim across the Rio Grande. There are 50 registers with only 4 of them open at any given time. The place is trashed. There is at least 10 screaming infants at any given time. Pure hell. I could not stand going there unless it was 3 in the morning. I usually ended up going to Jiffy Lube instead of putting up with the wait in hell to get a case of 10w30 and a Fram oil filter.

Walmart 2:

Sequim, Washington.

This store is located on a new traffic circle on Old Olympic Highway. It staff is mostly the local retired crowd and the local teens from the highschool. This store is a gem. Everyone is proud and happy to work there and the community likes it because it sells the everyday stuff that usually requires a trip to Silverdale to obtain. All the other shops and businesses locally are boutique type nitch market establishments and are not in direct competition with Walmart. I got in and out of there with my case of 10W30 and Fram filters in 10 minutes on a saturday morning and took the stuff home with a big ole smile, content I could get my car into the barn and change the oil before lunch.

So, it really depends on where Walmart is drawing its labor. Most don't get paid enough by Walmart to travel too far from the store in the case of the Marietta store, so the surrounding latino nieghborhood is where the employees are being drawn from. Some of them are probably on the very young side, but thats all they can get to work there frequently for the wages they pay. The other Walmart is mostly retired people who already have incomes from pensions etc and are looking for an easy job to keep them busy as well as bring in extra money for a new motorhome, deer rifle or hunting camp. The funny thing is...the Walmarts are beloved in both nieghborhoods because they provide the essentials for cheap. Stuff like toilet paper, soap, motor oil etc. For everything else there is all the other stores in the surrounding area which are still doing good business.

My guess is Sam would be indifferent if he was alive. His empire is too large and too diverse now for him to keep on top of everything it does and it operates in an economy where most everything is designed in the US or Japan, machined in Mexico, shipped on Korean made frighters by Cypriot shippers to be assembled in China and flown back on French Airbus planes by Japanese airlines to Los Angeles so it can be unloaded by mexican ground crews and loaded on Swedish built trucks and driven to Walmart's distribution centers.