Chrisreyn

OK guys, I am not asking this to start arguements, so lets start by agreeing to stay civil.
In at least three active threads right now, Wal-mart is getting bashed and blamed for everything from illegal immigration, the decline of american familys, the trade deficit and the dissappearance of unions......
What gives? I have family that works there, never heard a complaint about the pay or benifits....
Looking at the WalMart website( http://www.walmartstores.com/GlobalW...te.do?catg=316)
they offer a lot more and better benifits thatn the cushy govt. job I am working......and pay more than what an E-4 on just basic pay makes.....
So why all the hatred directed at a company that is doing what we expect American Corperations to do, grow and succed???

Shovelhead

I believe part of it may come from the simple fact that when a Wally-World comes to town, it pretty much signals the demise of most of the other locally owned stores in the area.
It's difficult to compete as a Mom-& Pop store buying a couple of dozen products from a supplier, against a Mega chain buying the same item by the train load, or Chinese container ship load.

Chrisreyn

Well thats the part I dont get.....
as Sears grew to be the largest retailer in the country during the 70's, it shut down the "home-town' hardware stores, clothing stores, auto parts stores and such by the thousands... but no-one seems to hate Sears for it, or blame them for the decline of the nation......now WalMart is doing it, and its like their a foregin invader.... makes no sense to bash a company for succedding at capitolism at a time when we are holding ourselves and our social structure up as a 'model' we want others to emulate....
jest plain cunfuses me........

DieselDaze

Its often not what you do, but how you do it that matters.
Sears came into the picture as part of the Roebuck (sp?) company years ago. If I remember this correctly, the Roebuck company had a lot of smaller franchises through out the county and many (if not all) of those were mom&pop owned. When Roebuck merged with Sears, many store owners were able to keep their shops... at first.
It was this "easing" into the community that helped Sears.

Walmart has more of the "bulldoze" into the community approach. Its this bullish approach that often rub folks the wrong way to start with.

Like it or not, I think the future will be filled with "MegaMarts" of one sort or another.

Rich.

Geico266

The mom & pop shops owners don't like competition. They like marking everything up 100% over cost. The trouble is no one likes to pay it. I think it is funny how everyone hates Walmart, but everyone shops there for something.

Times changes, stores become more efficient at buying, marketing, & distribution. Local store owners need to adapt or close their doors.

Chrisreyn

I agree...

Folks are posting things about how we are subsudizing their employees health care, how they are ruining our economy, dont pay taxes....
it realy gotten a little out there imho.

Tengu

My 14 year old daughter wanted to buy some stuff for a school project (due the next day) I was on my way to Wal mart so I told her to come with me. She flat refused to go. She went on for 1/2 hour about the "Evil Empire" that is Wal Mart. She is being fed this stuff from her TEACHERS AT SCHOOL!

O.K.....take it easy.....in with the good air.......out with the bad air.......It is too early to relive that episode.

chaikwa

I don't have a lotta love for Walmart, mostly for the reasons Shovel & Rich stated. They just kinda plow their way into a town whether or not anyone wants them there. They seem to have a knack for getting around regulations as well.

I don't hate them so much that I won't shop there, but it does make me wonder what options we will have in 15 or 20 years. They could conceivably become the 'only game in town', then do whatever they want to do with pricing.

Back east, a large chain-store hardware and lumber retailer opened a store a few towns away from my town. A friend of mine had a hardware store in my town and specialized in paint and wall coverings. After the chain store opened, she lost a ton of her customers to them, not so much because of pricing, but because her customers could now do the 'one-stop-shop' thing. They no longer needed to go to her for their paint, then the lumber yard for lumber, then somewhere else for windows, etc. They get it all in one place. Her little hometown paint & hardware store is now closed, as is the lumber yard in the next town. I think this is the kind of thing people see that gets them so mad about Walmart and chain stores like them.

chaikwa.

Commatoze

Can you compare 70's commerce to today? I personally don't think you can. Wages were lower, insurance costs were far lower than today, and goods were "Made in America". Let's assume that Wal-Mart has an excellent benefits package. My next question would be "How many employees actually take advantage, or are able to receive these benefits?" Most of the workers at these stores are part-time and aren't eligible to receive insurance benefits, etc. So the percentage of workers receiving benefits is probably small. I have a Wal-Mart in my small town. I shop there almost exclusively as the nearest mall is 20 miles away. The majority of the stuff they sell is made "offshore" and isn't the best quality either. So what I'm taking out of there certainly isn't benefitting the American worker. That probably wasn't the case back in the 70's. I think many people feel that Wal-Mart is succeeding at the expense of the American public. I'm particulary sensitive to this because I'm employed by one of the few remaining American consumer electronics companies. All of our products are designed and most of them are assembled in the US. All I hear from people when they find out where I'm employed is "Your stuff is too expensive! I can buy a system from Sony for half the price!" OK, where did it come from? Certainly not the US. Then these same people whine about the decline of the US economy! It costs a lot to cover our salaries and benefits hence the price of our products. We use to support each other by buying one another's product. Now it' Me, Me, Me, and the heck with you! If I can buy it cheaper, I don't care where it's made! Drive around the many dilapidated mill towns up here in New England that used to be thriving textile centers and you get a general idea of what stores like Wal-Mart of have done to our country. You're right. It's not just them, but I think they've become the representive of the sad situation.

Begle1

While the short term affects of a free market economy may appear to be negative, I refuse to disapprove of Wal Mart because of an otherwise inadequate competition. I remain an advocate of a purely free market economy.


If mom and pop shops are driven under, then they deserve to be. It's a real world, the government has no role to stop the big stores from providing better products at cheaper rates in order to maintain a status quo. That is directly in contrast with the freedom that I believe in. Is what I believe in perfect? Of course not. But it is better than protectionism.


I understand that it isn't always possible, but in theory those driven under by Wal Mart can adopt a niche not covered by Wal Mart and make a living that way. If a town is big enough to support Wal Mart, then it is big enough to support a plethora of little niche stores as well. ACE hardware is a darn good example- ACE is a tenth the size of Home Depot, yet the two coexist. How? ACE makes a living selling what Home Depot doesn't. ACE knows that Home Depot doesn't sell corral clamps, carriage bolts, leather aprons and welding rod, so they make a living off of that stuff. You cannot beat a Wal Mart at general marketing, obviously enough, and you don't deserve to beat Wal Mart at general marketing if you are 1/100 of there size. However, you can adapt and beat Wal Mart at rare hardwares, or high-range electronics, or maternity clothing, or collectibles and trading cards, or candy, or automotive goods. In order to compete with Wal Mart you only need to compete on one niche, and that's really not too hard. A mom and pop shop that wants to compete with a Wal Mart only has to steal a fraction of a percent of their customers, and that's enough to live off of. And while specialization occurs, the consumers, a group which all of us belong, get the widest variety of the cheapest and best goods.

I realize that the Specialization Theory is an ideal, but it is hands down the ideal we should be following. It isn't perfect by a long shot, but it is without question better than the other. In short, specialization is the only way to grow an economy, and you're commiting suicide if you adopt a protectionism, "hold-them-down-so-we-get-ahead" approach in your town.

Ben

I agree with Begle.

We had the Wally World superstore (groceries also) open up here about 3 years ago. Alot of people were speculating that it would drive a lot of businesses under. It hasn't.

The Target across the street is doing well. The local grocery stores are doing well. If anything, to me it has helped. Because this place is so stinking busy it almost forces people to go to the other stores. The floundering KMART, even before Walmart, is still kicking.

The wal-mart actually draws people to this town. Alot of people come from "real" rural areas to stock up for the month. They spend the weekend. They pay money to stay somehwere, to eat, for fuel, and other stores besides Walmart.

One store that's been visibly hurt was by Home Depot. It was the local building center, nicknamed "U've Been Cheated." I think you can figure that out. Although you can get better deals on some stuff there. The ACE hardware on the south side of town is thriving. The local fleet farm store is doing well also.

EClancy

ya know, i don;t think walmart is all that bad in the overall scheme of things. I live in a small town where we have a walmart mega-store, a price chopper grocery store, a tractor supply, and a smaller hardware store. all the other stores seem to be doing just fine. no one has gone out of business since walmart rolled in. i shop for most everything at walmart, except for truck parts from napa, and stuff tractor supply has that walmart does not.
if you compare walmart grocery prices to that of another store, in my case; price chopper, you would have to be stupid to shop elsewhere. their prices are generally half of the other grocery store, and i have no problems eating sam's choice food and drinking sams choice soda at $.50/2-liter bottle. when the gov't stops taking so much money out of my puny little paychecks, i might have more disposable income.
So in general, it kinda gets to me when everyone complains about how walmart is the end-all of america. yeah, it'd be nice if they sold more american made products, but i couldn't tell ya the last time i bought something at walmart that was some cheap plastic china made junk. anything i buy at wlamart, i could buy elsewhere under the same brand name for more money.

FiverBob

My biggest concern in the whole mess - - and it does not necessarily center around Wally World - - is the importation of foreign goods. But, then I remember that we have done that to the rest of the world for years - - until what??? Until our products got so high the rest of the world could no longer afford them. Now, we can't either. Why? What is happening in New York city today with labor demands?

Wal Mart buys 10% of the total exported goods shipped from China. HHMMMM???? What country is the largest Communist nation??? Does China give a rats patooty about us? On the contrary. Does China allow free exchange of American goods into their country? NO!!! HMMMM Now what does this mean in the long run when China has billions of American dollars hanging around looking for key American companies like power and energy companies it can buy? Note, that is not free enterprise in China trying to buy American companies - - it is the Chinese government. So what do we do about it? Order another 1000 containers filled with Chinese goods. I am concerned about this imbalance and appearant ambivilance on the part of our government to recognise this situation.

Likewise, the oil problem. We pour our dollars out to countries that hate us and yet will not open up our own oil reserves for drilling and will NOT bite the bullet and do something about alternative energy.

Go get another cup of Bob before you get mad.

P.J

How about the FACT that WalMart was origianlly trying to have the average citizen believe that they sold goods made in the USA? I speicifally remeber them having an aggressive marketing campain back in the late 90's about how they provided things "Made in the USA" What percentage of the stuff they sell is made in America? (3%?)

They are cheaper, but because the products are all made by an 11 year old girl in New Delhi.

I hate Walmart, we go there as little as possible.(1.5 times a month avg.) It's not just because of thier negative impact on our community, but because of the treatment we recieve from their emplyees. I'm sure everone has their own story about who they know (or maybe even themselves) working at WalMart, but I can tell you that at our local store, they atttract the most rude, careless and inconsiderate staff I have ever seen. We have a short fuse for people who treat their customers like crap, do it once and we will figure your having a bad day. Have it happen just about every time you step foot in the place and something is wrong.

I like Sears. Let them and KMart answer to Wally in the next few years. Then we'll have another choice.

tbone

I avoid Walmart at all costs in my town. It is just about always busy and just isn't a pleasant shopping experience. I can get groceries for the same price at the grocery store. I used to go there to buy Mobil 1 only. Now I buy my Delo and PS at Tractors Supply right down the road. Tractor Supply is about a billion square feet smaller and is much easier to get in and out of. The prices are about 3 to 5 cents higher there and I will gladly pay it to not have to deal with the horrid employees and customers that are at Walmart. I won't even go into their stupid ammo policies.