[loveheadphones]

I think Walmart has strayed from their core business. Sam Walton initially started the business to bring big-city items to rural towns, because it used to take hours just to shop for necessities. He brought items in at low prices so that everybody in rural america could afford them. He paid low wages because that was all that people in rural america needed to survive. Now, Walmart has come into the cities, and undercutting every major retailer. This has been made possible by embarrassingly low pay for employees, as well as predatory merchandise deals. Walmart (as an entity) now uses its market share to intimidate suppliers to lower prices.
Just recently, Toys-r-us signed some exclusive deals with toy suppliers - essentially making it so the toy supplier would only sell to Toys-r-us. Common speculation is that the suppliers agreed so that they wouldn't have to negotiate with Walmart. That way, their prices can remain higher and the suppliers can make more money.
Personally, I don't like Walmart. I hate seeing all the vacated warehouses once Walmart has come and gone from a city.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

While I think that Wal-Mart can be good for those towns needing big city items in one spot, having Wal-Marts in cities is the public's fault. I live in a city, and I can get almost anything withing a 5 mile drive. Why would I shop at a Wal-Mart? I blame all the lazy customers who cannot be bothered to go to more than one place to get their goods. It is indicative of our culture, we are a lazy people who will ignore any and all labor law violations to get low prices. It is OUR fault. Power of the wallet....

 

[PinkFloyd]

edit.

 

[RYCeT]

I don't really care about Wallmart, Most of the groceries that I've bought is not available at Wallmart. I usually go to Asian supermarket. I don't like shopping at wallmart either, Reason: The LONG LINES, even the 12 items or less line is longer than other superstore. The only supermarket that I like is Cole's, Australian chain of supermarket. IMO they got more selections for groceries than any supermarket in US that I know of. Hopefully one day they open one in Philadelphia

 

[The_Mac]

If wal*mart were such a horrible place to work, the employees would unionize. As it is, it's not a career, it's just like any other minimum wage job for high-school and college kids. Something that'll pay the bills, but that's about it.

If it's such a horrible place to shop, people won't do it. They're cheap, offer a lot of what people need, and they're convenient. If it means that mom&pop shops can't compete, then we shouldn't crucify Wal*mart because of it. That would be akin to saying that since light-bulbs are cheap and easy and will likely drive out the market for oil lamps, we shouldn't let light bulbs be sold. They'll remove diversity and competition from the household lighting market. The same argument could be made in any revolutionary change. The assembly line, the automobile, plastic pop bottles, computers, calculators. It's a new and better way of doing a cetain thing, but that doesn't mean we need to villify it, because we're attached to the older, less efficient way of doing something. If that were true, we'd ride horses, use slide-rules, talk via telegraph, and all sorts of other antiquated things.

Is wal*mart anti-competitive? In some ways, yes. I think that when dumping can be proven, then it should be prosecuted, but that's about all you can really get them for, and it's about all that they're diong wrong. Getting discounts from manufacturers? It's kinda expected when you're buying in lots of 100 000, and if they can't get a good price, they'll look elsewhere. And the manufacturers are happy because they still make a huge profit, just at smaller margins.

Does wal mart put mom&pop stores out of business? Yup, but you can't say that it's wrong. They're doing all the same things, only better.

I can't see it as ever being a bad thing as long as antitrust laws are in place. If they get market share, it's because people want them to have it, not because they stole it. They will always have competition, and if you don't like what they're selling, GO SOMEWHERE ELSE.

I think Wal*mart is brilliant, and really ought to be admired and have case studies done on it. It's fantastically successful and makes most people happy.

 

[Morphling]

There is actually a clause that if you join a union you will be fired. (Yes I'm a former in employee as you can see from an above post.)

 

[Wodgy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by The_Mac I can't see it as ever being a bad thing as long as antitrust laws are in place. If they get market share, it's because people want them to have it, not because they stole it. They will always have competition...

Being Canadian, you get to "enjoy" the results of this kind of laissez-faire attitude in the banking and finance sector, where the major players have consolidated sufficiently to partition control of the entire sector into a rough 20% five-way split (at which point they were stopped by legislation, which will not likely last for long). The results are not just annoying for consumers, including enormously higher fees for personal and commercial banking as compared to the USA, but tangibly damaging to the nation's overall economic growth. When there are only five lenders, all of whom operate in a quasi-cartel environment, it is difficult to obtain capital to start a new business; in Ontario the banks have decided to no longer lend medical students enough for four years of medical school, etc. You would do well to study the example of Alberta in the 1970s, when the banking sector -- at that time far less consolidated than it is today -- in the middle of an oil crisis refused to lend money for oil exploration and development in the province. This would have caused severe and lasting damage to the Alberta economy (which is booming today precisely because of oil discoveries in the 70s), had the local government not stepped in to restore competition by selling bonds to capitalize a new banking institution.

In much the same way, Wal-Mart's growing market dominance, if left unchecked, has the potential to cause serious damage to the US economy. Every industry benefits from having a competitive retail sector. Foreclosing competition benefits Wal-Mart, but it is almost certainly a net loss to the overall US economy. Economics 101. It would be an enormous shame if the US retail sector ended up as screwed up as the Canadian banking sector.

 

[Sovkiller]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Genetic P.S. I never went there and never will....

What are you waiting for, hurry up, offers are limited...LOL...They have exceptionally good deals....

 

[Iron_Dreamer]

If Wal-mart were reducing prices by say inventing new was of producing goods, or obtaining raw materials, then it would be a great benefit to society, like replacing oil lamps with lightbulbs. However, the way they reduce prices is by muscling people across the globe into working more and more for less and less just because it is better than nothing, and by cutting every corner possible to put the lowest quality schlock on the shelves that people will still buy. It is completely backwards thinking, which I guess is only natural considering the people behind this beast and what is driving them to be so backwards in the first place.

 

[roadtonowhere08]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Iron_Dreamer If Wal-mart were reducing prices by say inventing new was of producing goods, or obtaining raw materials, then it would be a great benefit to society, like replacing oil lamps with lightbulbs. However, the way they reduce prices is by muscling people across the globe into working more and more for less and less just because it is better than nothing, and by cutting every corner possible to put the lowest quality schlock on the shelves that people will still buy. It is completely backwards thinking, which I guess is only natural considering the people behind this beast and what is driving them to be so backwards in the first place.

Bingo. And the public LETS it happen. Shame on us, if we had balls Wall-Mart would be gone.

 

[Genetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sovkiller They have exceptionally good deals....

OK maybe they have but I'm wondering how many young pharmacists are realy going to include this in their curriculum vitae:

«Over the past ten years, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. and its Pharmacy Division have provided numerous $1,000 one-year scholarships to college pharmacy students with above-average scholastic and extracurricular performance.»
(source: www.WalMart.com)

Amicalement

 

[SBomm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mr.PD All this reminds me that I need to go to WalMart and get some oil and a filter for my car.

This is the only thing I buy at Wal-Mart.

 

[comabereni]

I haven't read this whole thread, so I assume it is largely about Walmart muscling its way into the fabric of American society while putting everyone else out of business while creating only low paying jobs, etc. But consider this story:

My young teenage son saved for weeks to buy a mountain bike. Tonight, I took him to several stores in the greater Salt Lake area looking for a decent bike for his hard-earned $150. I purposely saved Walmart for last--I hoped we would find something elsewhere. In the end, we found an all-aluminum full suspension bike with decent equipment for only $99 at Walmart. I had a hard time telling him to support the competition. Immediately next door was the Big K and there was probably 6 people in the entire store where people were tripping over each other in the Walmart Supercenter.

So the gulf widens...

-coma

 

[skullguise]

Just read on CNN.com that KMart is buying Sears!

Mall*Mart anyone ?

 

[Genetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skullguise Just read on CNN.com that KMart is buying Sears! Mall*Mart anyone ?

Humm.... I just bought an air conditionning from Sears...I wonder if I can return it...

Amicalement