What do you think about Wal Mart??

[lmitchell0012]

In your opinion, do the pros of Wal Mart outweigh the negatives. On the one hand, Wal Mart is helping a lot of people who have trouble feeding and clothing their families by making things more affordable for them. In this way, I think Wal Mart is good for America. However, like many things, Wal Mart has a dark side. As I'm sure you all are well aware, many businesses have been forced out of business by Wal Mart because they are able to sell the products that they buy at extremely low prices. So, what do you think, do you think Wal Mart is helping us more or do you think it's done more harm than it's done good for us??

 

[cantab]

Asda, in the UK, is owned by Wal-Mart. One of my former work colleagues had also done work for them, and said they were a really bad employer. Some examples: staff were not permitted to use the store car park (and I believe the store in question had a BIG car park), forcing him to park about ten minutes' walk away. Using a mobile phone at work was a fireable offence. Also in general, I've heard that Wal-Mart, and to some extent Asda, are viciously anti-union.

But certainly, they compete hard to force supermarket prices down. In that respect they are little different to other major supermarkets - in the UK the "big four" are Tesco (30% grocery market share), Asda (17%), Sainsbury's (16%), and Morrisons (12%). Supermarkets in general, including about a dozen smaller chains, account for over 95% of UK grocery spending. (source: http://www.nfuonline.com/Our-work/Food-chain/Retail-analysis/Latest-Grocery-Market-Share-Figures/ )

Personally, I buy from Tesco online, or from Morrisons when going to a physical store.

 

[Deck Knight]

Wal-Mart got a lot worse after Sam Walton died. His heirs have none of his restraint and only see it as a personal gold mine. A local example is we have a very low-cost supermarket run by Demoulas. Wal Mart wants to put up a Super Wal-Mart (which has a grocery store) right next door. Btw. the location has only one lane on each side presently (but two lanes further up). The owners of the local store have been fighting tooth and nail to keep the Super Wal-Mart out.

Moreover Wal-Mart already has a Super Wal-Mart on the other side of the same town (Route 44 instead of the planned location on Route 138). So basically everyone is displeased with the situation because of how much work it entails, but now that the Spawn of Walton run the show I fear it will come down the pike eventually.

As far as their business model, it's obviously wildly successful, and now has a worldwide reach. They've been expanding slowly overseas and I don't think anything is going to stop it outside of a horrendous series of product recalls. Wal-Mart is never going to unionize. If it does it will cease to be Wal-Mart because unions jack up the greatest cost to any business: labor. Thus they either won't enter countries that demand unionization, or else they will run those at a loss using the profits from other stores until they dominate the market, then raise it up to a rate that is profitable using unionized labor.

 

[Reverb]

While I have never been to Wal Mart, I admire their business savvy. It's nice to see a business not being crippled by greedy unions.

 

[Myzozoa]

There is a lot of evidence to suggest that they are a major factor in the us trade deficit with china, and where they move in they often crush local business, so even though they create jobs in the area that they move into, those jobs are generally lower paying which isnt good, and obviously anyone who has to close their business because they cant compete with them is going to be furious. They are well established as an awful employer. they have changed the manufacturing system to a push system to a pull system, which is bad for the people they buy products from. There is a PBS Documentary called "Is wal-mart good for america?" pretty much gives a full account of wal-mart in the context of the economy.

 

[fuck you all]

Wal Mart is good because the people of wal mart can go there and be accepted amongst the other people of wal mart, whereas the normal people in other stores would look down on them because of the way they act/dress/talk.

 

[TheAmazingFlygon]

Wal-Mart is bad for every country in which it operates; not only does it exploit their employees, but it also destroys other small businesses, but also exploit very poor people in under-developed countries to make such low-price stuff and the list goes on and on... Agreed, it helps some families, but none should benefit from the ''sadness'' ( in lack of a better word) of others.

 

[cantab]

or else they will run those at a loss using the profits from other stores until they dominate the market, then raise it up to a rate that is profitable

That is predatory pricing, and is illegal in many countries including I believe the UK and the US.

Under UK law it is unlawful for an employer to either require or prohibit its employees to be in a union. Wal-Mart, through having bought Asda, is here. In 2006, Asda reached an agreement with the GMB union after workers went on strike: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...3A05755C0A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
I'm unsure how many Asda employees are unionised, but it's certainly neither none nor all of them.

 

[Deck Knight]

That is predatory pricing, and is illegal in many countries including I believe the UK and the US.

Under UK law it is unlawful for an employer to either require or prohibit its employees to be in a union. Wal-Mart, through having bought Asda, is here. In 2006, Asda reached an agreement with the GMB union after workers went on strike: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpa...3A05755C0A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all
I'm unsure how many Asda employees are unionised, but it's certainly neither none nor all of them.

Well, it may be illegal but the main question is will they enforce it. Wal-Mart is infamous as a few other posters noted for employing similar tactics. If the only standard is "not at a loss" then Wal-Mart can use their economies of scale to get a sufficiently low break-even point, virtually guaranteed to be lower than competitors tied by the same laws. Wal-Mart also has its own small army of legal analysts to ensure they don't suffer too badly legally.

So basically while I do admire Wal-Mart for being a company that has changed the face of global business, it's strong-arm tactics of late are troubling. It has nothing to do with the fact they are a corporation, there are hideous skinflints running minor outfits as well. It is however an example of excess that often oversteps its bounds into territories where it is not wanted.

 

[Myzozoa]

I could be wrong but Im fairly sure that there is no law against predatory pricing in the u.s starbucks uses predatory pricing right and left to put the competition out of business. please correct me if i am.

 

[FlareBlitz]

While this isn't saying much, Wal-Mart is one of the most ethical major corporations in the country. They have a ridiculously low profit margin (hovering around 2%, last time I looked at their earrings report...for reference, Abercrombie & Fitch runs a profit margin of around 24%), they have programs in place to help small business owners through Sam's Club, they have cheap stuff that very low-income people can buy and survive on...

My primary concern with them is how shitty they treat their workers, but really, if we consider corporations "necessary demons" then they're not exactly lucifer, as these things go.

Oh, a side note about the unionization thing...wal-mart doesn't ban unions. No, they merely close down any store that shows signs of unionizing. God knows why this isn't illegal yet, but...yeah.

Edit: No, predatory pricing is definitely illegal. Proving and prosecuting are the tricky aspects. Not sure if starbucks does this though, they have ridiculous prices everywhere regardless of the local market...

 

[Firestorm]

Starbucks has anything but predatory pricing ._. A Frappuccino costs me twice as much at Starbucks than an Iced Capp at Tim Hortons. I don't even bother with Starbucks coffee otherwise...

Wal-Mart's effects on small businesses and especially how they treat their workers is what worries me the most. It's absolutely despicable.

 

[God.]

While I have never been to Wal Mart, I admire their business savvy. It's nice to see a business not being crippled by greedy unions.

is this post a joke. what is more greedy than a bunch of spoiled rich kids who never had to work a day in their lives(the walton family) trying to stop workings from negotiating a livable wage?

finding out exactly HOW economical walmart is to consumers would be an interesting task. certainly it has favorable pricing, but does its huge amount of volume really indicate the pricing is THAT much better than the competition, or is it moreso a matter of market share. i worked at a unionized grocery store and the prices were definitely a bit higher than wal-mart grocery prices, but the benefits of shopping at walmart, while certainly there, were not SO staggering as to legitimize ignoring the fact that the union at my store was able to actually provide a truly livable wage to (older, longer term) employees. it would be an interesting study to do, or to see if one has been made. anecdotal evidence, sure.

 

[TheAmazingFlygon]

Starbucks has anything but predatory pricing ._. A Frappuccino costs me twice as much at Starbucks than an Iced Capp at Tim Hortons. I don't even bother with Starbucks coffee otherwise...

Wal-Mart's effects on small businesses and especially how they treat their workers is what worries me the most. It's absolutely despicable.

Just saying they try to prevent every single syndicate from forming in any of their shop...

 

[AJers]

I really dislike walmart....

but I shop there all the time. :(

Like, if I'm doing my shopping during normal business hours (rarely) I hit up the local farmers markets and whole foods and shit; however... most of the time I go shopping pretty late at night and the only thing that is open to shop at is Walmart.

I don't know. Walmart is pretty horrible for the small-business market and I am a huge small-business fan. Also, I don't think Walmart really offers that competitive of pricing; if you shopped around nine times out of ten you can find stuff for cheaper than what walmart has to offer. What Walmart offers is the ability to be lazy about your shopping, it takes a lot of the work out of what the "coupon clippers" used to do.

On a side note, I think that all stores should have a "coupon clipper" checkout aisle. Do you know how freaking annoying it is to be behind them? ugh.