Shop at Wal-Mart?

Inkara1 said:
I wasn't saying stay open until 9 or later... I was only saying to stay open past 5.
Click to expand...

I know...I'm just using it as an example. :) Doesn't matter when you close, 5, 7, 9, whenever, you still have additional overhead when you stay open. WalMart has made a killing here because nearly every town in the state has a mainstreet that all but completely shuts down at 5. ;)
 
I shop at walmart because i can. All other stores here are local and literally twice as expensive. I don't agree with many of walmarts practices but they do have the business model of the future so i expect to see more companies becoming walmart-like over the next decade.
 
Yep, have to agree with Hex there. I know Walmart pretty well did in the five and dimes, the small hardware stores, and the small grocery stores in a lot of small towns across America. But they also provide the same stuff at better prices. As a consumer, I have to look at that.
 
PuterTutor said:
Yep, have to agree with Hex there. I know Walmart pretty well did in the five and dimes, the small hardware stores, and the small grocery stores in a lot of small towns across America. But they also provide the same stuff at better prices. As a consumer, I have to look at that.
Click to expand...
So in the end it really doesn't matter what they do to the local economy, the environment, discriminate against women, ruin small business, destroy US jobs, poor treatment of employees, support sweatshops, or burn to death 3 small children in Sweden for every 100 dollars you spend....

....you're going to keep shopping there because their prices are a little lower right?
 
I just have to comment that adding "ruin small business, destroy US jobs," and also harm "the local economy" to your list of complaints is rather ridiculous. That's the whole "big business must be evil" mentality. Corporations aren't evil, but the people running them might be and that's where the problem should be addressed. Also, if a particular business model works better than the "mom and pop" stores in a smaller town, tough luck for mom and pop. They are guaranteed the ability to participate in the economy and compete with other businesses. They aren't guaranteed success.

The other complaints are entirely legitimate and deserve all the concern they draw. Hopefully they'll get enough attention that something will be done.
 
flavio said:
So in the end it really doesn't matter what they do to the local economy, the environment, discriminate against women, ruin small business, destroy US jobs, poor treatment of employees, support sweatshops, or burn to death 3 small children in Sweden for every 100 dollars you spend....

....you're going to keep shopping there because their prices are a little lower right?
Click to expand...

Well, I see my local Walmart as a place that provides jobs to about 50 people, pretty significant to a town of 2,000. The people that work there also seem rather happy to have jobs. As for what they've done to our local economy, yeah, they ran a crappy, dirty grocery store out of business, the other nice one is still doing fine, they may have had something to do with the higher priced hardware store going out too, the bigger, better priced hardware store is still doing fine as well.

As for shopping there cause the prices are lower, yeah, I've got six kids to get school supplies for, clothes for, and feed. Now, I can go to Walmart and supply my kids for school with around 1,000 dollars, or I can go to 4 different stores and spend about 2,500. Yep, I'll choose Walmart.
 
outside looking in said:
I just have to comment that adding "ruin small business, destroy US jobs," and also harm "the local economy" to your list of complaints is rather ridiculous.
Click to expand...

By ridiculous do you mean untrue or that small business, US jobs, and local economy is of no concern to you?

When their "business model" involves so many shady and corrupt business practices it doesn't seem right to say "tough luck mom and pop".
 
PuterTutor said:
Well, I see my local Walmart as a place that provides jobs to about 50 people, pretty significant to a town of 2,000. The people that work there also seem rather happy to have jobs. As for what they've done to our local economy, yeah, they ran a crappy, dirty grocery store out of business, the other nice one is still doing fine, they may have had something to do with the higher priced hardware store going out too, the bigger, better priced hardware store is still doing fine as well.

As for shopping there cause the prices are lower, yeah, I've got six kids to get school supplies for, clothes for, and feed. Now, I can go to Walmart and supply my kids for school with around 1,000 dollars, or I can go to 4 different stores and spend about 2,500. Yep, I'll choose Walmart.
Click to expand...

Studies show that while Walmart does indeed have employees the trend is normally less employed people total, lower wages, less healthcare than without a Walmart. Maybe this is the case in your area...maybe not, it seems to be their modus operandi though.

Now for the rest of the issues from my question that you didn't address...does a bit of savings outweigh all moral, ethical, and legal concerns about their business practices?
 
Thier moral, ethical and legal problems need to be addressed, sure. But I'm looking at my bottom line. It's not a "bit" of savings for me, but a pretty good chunk. Do I buy my kids one outfit each, or do I buy them three or four? When you have kids to support, and have to do it on a budget, you may change your tune.

If that makes me bad, yep, fuck it, I'm bad. I'm also living in a capitalist society, one which you seem more and more to want to get out of.
 
Some of us actually work for our money. I, for example, work two part-time jobs, for a total of 55-60 hours a week, to bring home about $1,300 or $1,400 a month. The Fresno job market leaves a lot to be desired, but I also can't afford to move. I can't afford to be taxed any more than I am, and I have a hard enough time affording an $18 pair of pants for my wife, let alone the $30 or more the mom-and-pop stores would charge. I could take the high-and-mighty path of boycotting Wal-Mart and feeling good in my heart... but then I wouldn't be able to put gas in the car, which would really throw a wrench in my pizza delivery job.
 
PuterTutor said:
Thier moral, ethical and legal problems need to be addressed, sure. But I'm looking at my bottom line. It's not a "bit" of savings for me, but a pretty good chunk. Do I buy my kids one outfit each, or do I buy them three or four?
Click to expand...

Well, it's pretty hard to believe that there is no other store anywhere close that doesn't have clothes for less than 3 or 4 times as much money. They have cheap clothes at Target, JCPenney, Sears and many other places.

If that makes me bad, yep, fuck it, I'm bad. I'm also living in a capitalist society, one which you seem more and more to want to get out of.
Click to expand...

Living in a capitalist society doesn't necessarily mean that we have to support bad moral, ethical, and legal business practices to save money does it? I don't want to get out of the capitalist society, I prefer my capitalism in forms like this strip of stores within walking distance from me where I try to do most of my shopping.
 
Alright, go down to Pioneer Bike Shop and find me a 50 dollar bike I can get for my kids.
 
flavio said:
So in the end it really doesn't matter what they do to the local economy, the environment, discriminate against women, ruin small business, destroy US jobs, poor treatment of employees, support sweatshops, or burn to death 3 small children in Sweden for every 100 dollars you spend....

....you're going to keep shopping there because their prices are a little lower right?
Click to expand...

You're being a bit of a hypocrite here Flav. Considering the fact that your a drug user(since you probably don't get them all from the pharmacy) you could probably do a lot more good in the world just by quitting drugs than PT's going to do by shopping somewhere other than walmart. I think you're smart enough to know the harm the drug trade does all the way up the ladder to the point of supressing even the poverty stricken people that grow the stuff.
 
Are you that uncomfortable with the topic that you're going to try to change it with a thinly veiled insult based off a number assumptions about my personal habits?
 
PuterTutor said:
Alright, go down to Pioneer Bike Shop and find me a 50 dollar bike I can get for my kids.
Click to expand...

They may have one...maybe not, I'll take a look next time I go past there. The point of this thread is no that everyone needs to shop at mom and pop stores exclusively. It was to point out that walmart seems to have some particularly nasty business practices that I don't think should be endorsed.

Target, Sears, and Sportmart also have cheap bikes. Maybe they have some of the same issues but a quick search doesn't come up with a whole lot.
 
flavio said:
They have cheap clothes at Target, JCPenney, Sears and many other places.
Click to expand...

Where do you get your clothes? Obviously not at JCPenney or Sears if you think those are cheap places to shop for clothes. As for Target, the pair of pants I mentioned before for $18 at Wal-Mart would be $22 there. That means my wife can buy a pair of pants AND a three-pack of underwear across the street at Wal-Mart for the same price as just the pair of pants a mile and a half away at Target.
 
Flav, there was no insult there whatsoever. I've probably puked more drugs than you've taken in your entire life so the last thing i'm going to do is insult drug users. I was simply making a point. It's rather silly to be bashing others about thier lives when there are things that you can do to make the world a better place first but don't. It's even more silly to get as upset as you are about it. First change what you have control over(namely your own actions) then you can preach about other peoples bad habits. Until then you will be a hypocrite. It doesn't mean that you're wrong, only that you're drowning in a sea of hypocrisy.
 
Flav,

I simply separate the issues, that's all. Some of the things on your "list" are attributed to corrupt business practices, others are attributed to the nature of a large corporation (by nature, I mean it's inherent "economy of scale" power, not it's ethics). They are two separate issues.

I have a problem with corrupt and unethical practices within corporations. Wal-mart practices plenty of that, as do many others, and I sincerely hope something is done. I won't for a single minute though blame Wal-mart for lost jobs or running mom-and-pop stores out of business solely due to the economy-of-size issue. Sure, corrupt practices may increase these attributes, but it isn't solely responsible for them.

If Wal-mart were 100% ethical in their practices (meaning that all employees were compensated fairly, both here and abroad, and that there were no illegal actions taken by the corporation in their own self-interest), and they still ran mom-and-pop stores out of business left and right due only to their size and efficiency, you and many others might (would?) still have a problem with that.

I wouldn't. There's nothing at all "unethical" or "immoral" about being bigger, more efficient, and more successful than your competition.
 
Inkara1 said:
Some of us actually work for our money. I, for example, work two part-time jobs, for a total of 55-60 hours a week, to bring home about $1,300 or $1,400 a month. The Fresno job market leaves a lot to be desired, but I also can't afford to move. I can't afford to be taxed any more than I am, and I have a hard enough time affording an $18 pair of pants for my wife, let alone the $30 or more the mom-and-pop stores would charge. I could take the high-and-mighty path of boycotting Wal-Mart and feeling good in my heart... but then I wouldn't be able to put gas in the car, which would really throw a wrench in my pizza delivery job.
Click to expand...
Whoever gave me negative karma for the above-quoted post with no comment needs to stand up and identify him- or herself. I stand by what I said.
 
flav when I worked in a Wal Mart it wasnt that bad. it was a great enviroment and they are against sexism. they stated their policies on sexism and racsim. now i can see where your coming from but like Inky said some work for our money and they hired me. also realise that Wal Mart isnt the only company people can complain about. and also realise that because they have lower prices people will go there since it saves money. especially if they are on a budget. inky i gave good karma for above said post.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top