Wal-Mart - Good or Bad?

[evearael]

PetShopBoy88, sometimes the employees have other options and sometimes they don't. Regardless, I do not support companies who mistreat their employees. (Of course, I have high expectations of employers AND employees. I expect employees to have a good work ethic and work hard for their company and customers.)

 

[Guitar's Cry]

Walmart is Evil, a song by Guitar's Cry :guitar1:

Walmart is evil!
Walmart is evil!
Walmart is evil!
We should get rid of them all....

You can find their stores almost anywhere
Even next to Aztec ruins.
They spoil the sacredness wherever they go
And push out everyone else.

Cause....

Walmart is evil!
Walmart is evil!
Walmart is evil!
We should get rid of them all....

They treat their fish as if they were toys
Packaging them in plastic containers
With water of questionable purity
Where they barely have room to swim.

Cause....

Walmart is evil!
Walmart is evil!
Walmart is evil!
We should get rid of them all....

In the parking lot, people are yelling,
In the store, people are shoving
Litter is everywhere....
The people don’t really care...
It’s the Devil’s fair.

Walmart is evil!
Walmart is evil!
Walmart is evil!
We should get rid of them all....

It’s capitalism gone awry
Consumeristic greed.
It’s all about money, power and wealth.
Personal want before world need.

Cause....

Walmart is evil!
Walmart is evil!
Walmart is evil!
We should get rid of them all....

 

[Ðanisty]

That's a nice story. Doesn't happen though,

Sure it does. Wal-Mart put several stores in Rincon, GA out of business. Wal-Mart also has this tendency to build new buildings when suitable buildings already exist. Then they close their stores and build new buildings 20 miles away leaving huge vacant buildings. Wal-Mart sucks. Their service sucks, their quality sucks, their ethics suck and yes, their parking lot does suck. I would rather buy quality products at a small store. You get what you pay for.

 

[SoyLeche]

Then they close their stores and build new buildings 20 miles away leaving huge vacant buildings.

I've never seen that part of the story happen. I've seen them build a Super Walmart right behind an older walmart, and then tear the old one down when they are done and replace it with even more parking though.

 

[SoyLeche]

I thought I'd seen this thread somewhere before

http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/showthread.php?t=23401

(BTW, I miss DarkDale )

 

[PetShopBoy88]

PetShopBoy88, sometimes the employees have other options and sometimes they don't.

There's no such thing as having no option. They have an option. If Wal-Mart wasn't there, they would have no option, because small businesses employ few people (most of whom are friends and aquaintances) and require greater levels of skill, because there is less job differentiation.

Regardless, I do not support companies who mistreat their employees. (Of course, I have high expectations of employers AND employees. I expect employees to have a good work ethic and work hard for their company and customers.)

The company can't be blamed for "mistreating" their employees when their employees choose to be there.

Wal-Mart also has this tendency to build new buildings when suitable buildings already exist.

...giving construction workers, contractors, truck drivers, etc. jobs and buying merchandise like cement, wood, and steel.

their quality sucks

Wal-mart sells the same brands as most other stores. Sony electronics, nintendo gaming systems, levi pants, Kellogg cereals, etc. The only things you can't buy quality at a Wal-Mart are speciality items with relatively small consumer bases and relatively inelastic demand, like guitars, cars, or high-powered rifles.

 

[Ðanisty]

...giving construction workers, contractors, truck drivers, etc. jobs and buying merchandise like cement, wood, and steel.

It doesn't matter if you're creating some jobs if you're eliminating other jobs...

Wal-mart sells the same brands as most other stores. Sony electronics, nintendo gaming systems, levi pants, Kellogg cereals, etc. The only things you can't buy quality at a Wal-Mart are speciality items with relatively small consumer bases and relatively inelastic demand, like guitars, cars, or high-powered rifles.

That all depends on what you are buying. Try buying household items like stuff for the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. Oh and as far as the clothes go, all the women's clothes are made by crappy brands named after celebrities. They don't fit right, they don't look right and they fall apart in a matter of months.

 

[PetShopBoy88]

It doesn't matter if you're creating some jobs if you're eliminating other jobs...

What if you're creating more jobs than eliminating, giving many people a better alternative to what they have, and allowing others to keep more of their income by providing them lower priced goods?

That all depends on what you are buying.

Yep. Like I mentioned, it's the same stuff as you can buy in other stores unless you're buying something with a small consumer base and inelastic demand.

Try buying household items like stuff for the kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.

Wal-Mart sells Windex, Farberware, GE, and the biggest selection of towels I've ever seen.

Oh and as far as the clothes go, all the women's clothes are made by crappy brands named after celebrities. They don't fit right, they don't look right and they fall apart in a matter of months.

That's funny. But it's still important to note, Dickies, Levis, Lee, Hanes, and Wrangler are all huge names in terms of clothes. High quality clothes aren't being sold there (or almost anywhere) because demand for quality is lower than demand for image. It has nothing to do with Wal-Mart, because most stores, and most clothing stores, sell image instead of quality.

 

[McBell]

I shop at walmart.
In fact, most of my shopping is at walmart.

I really like the theory that walmart drives other businesses out.
In Kendallville, IN they built a brand new walmart supercenter.
The other stores then raised their prices.
Care to explain that?


The same thing happened in Springfield, OH.
They build a new Walmart and the other stores raised their prices.

The same thing happened in Fairmont, WV.
Once the new walmart super center was open the other stores raised their prices.


These are the incidents that I know of for fact form my own personal experience.

 

[SoyLeche]

I shop at walmart.
In fact, most of my shopping is at walmart.

I really like the theory that walmart drives other businesses out.
In Kendallville, IN they built a brand new walmart supercenter.
The other stores then raised their prices.
Care to explain that?


The same thing happened in Springfield, OH.
They build a new Walmart and the other stores raised their prices.

The same thing happened in Fairmont, WV.
Once the new walmart super center was open the other stores raised their prices.


These are the incidents that I know of for fact form my own personal experience.

That makes sense from the standpoint of "there are a lot of people who will refuse to shop at Walmart because they think it is evil". The other stores around lose some of their shoppers to Walmart, but the ones who stay are willing to pay more to not shop at Walmart, so they can raise their prices :woohoo:

 

[McBell]

That makes sense from the standpoint of "there are a lot of people who will refuse to shop at Walmart because they think it is evil". The other stores around lose some of their shoppers to Walmart, but the ones who stay are willing to pay more to not shop at Walmart, so they can raise their prices :woohoo:

That is just it though.
My whole family stopped shopping at the 'local' places because we could get the exact same thing from walmart for considerably less. As did most of my neighbors.

So I do not understand this whole "Walmart drives other businesses out" theory when it is actually the businesses raising their prices that did it.

 

[astarath]

But that is exactly how they drive them out. Private retailers can not compete with the wholesale costs Walmart can offer. The lower income families then shop there and the private shops lose these customers. As a result they have to raise prices. When they do this, they then lose the middle class. They have to raise prices again this pattern continues until the prices are so high that nobody will shop there and they are forced to close.

 

[McBell]

how does walmart moving in, with their prices actually the same as the local stores, make the local stores 'have to' darn near double their prices?

 

[astarath]

Ah..that's the misconception. Producer's of product let's say Kellog's for example will offer greater discounts if more product is purchased. As a local store can not find a need to purchase as many Kellog's products as a Wal-Mart they pay a higher price for goods. Walmart comes in and charges a slightly lower price than local vendors but because of the bulk size of their orders actual they end up making more profit. This starts the aforementioned cycle in my previous post

 

[lilithu]

I don't shop at Walmart. It isn't hard to avoid given that I live in the city and Walmarts are in the burbs.

The last time that I was in a Walmart with the intent to buy something I got a phone call out of the blue from a friend who asked me what I was doing. When I told him I was in Walmart, he shamed me into leaving the store empy-handed. While most of my friends are what the more conservative of you would call "PC" (from their perspective they are trying to live their values), this particular friend is not. He's a beer-drinking sports fanatic who was in favor of the war (tho not how it was implemented). And he shamed me out of Walmart empty handed.

It's already documented how Walmart treats its employees poorly.
http://wakeupwalmart.com/facts/

It's already documented that Walmart's low prices come at the expense of the American worker. Somewhere between 50-60% of the supposedly patrotic corporation's merchandise is from overseas.
http://www.democracymeansyou.com/walmart/WALMARTREPORT/page0012.htm

It's also already been stated that when Walmart comes into town it forces local stores out of business. What hasn't been stated is that when Walmart comes to town, it intentionally forces local stores out of business by agressively undercutting their prices. That's great news for shoppers, temporarily.

The thing is, once the competition is gone, Walmart then has a monopoly in the area, and they can raise their prices to whatever they want. A Los Angeles Times article that I read a couple of years ago showed how in the long run the price of groceries actually increased relative to Walmart-free parts of Southern California when Walmart SuperCenters came into the area.

There's been controversy about the fact that Walmart censors the music that it sells. There's been controversy about the fact that Walmart originally refused to sell the morning after pill in its pharmacies. Now on first glance these may seem like first amendment issues, but think of it in terms of a store that has a monopoly. If Walmart is the only place that women in the area can get their prescriptions filled and Walmart refuses to stock the morning after pill, what does that do to the women in the area?

 

[McBell]

Ah..that's the misconception. Producer's of product let's say Kellog's for example will offer greater discounts if more product is purchased. As a local store can not find a need to purchase as many Kellog's products as a Wal-Mart they pay a higher price for goods. Walmart comes in and charges a slightly lower price than local vendors but because of the bulk size of their orders actual they end up making more profit. This starts the aforementioned cycle in my previous post

And yet you still did not answer the question.

The price is $5 for something.
Has been for several months.
Then walmart moves in and all of a sudden walmart has it for $5 but the other store raised their price to $8.50.
Why?

If walmart had it for a lower price then I could understand, but walmarts price was the exact same until the other store raised their price.

 

[astarath]

Because you are only looking at one item. Local venues can not offer the broad range of items as well so they lose someone who wants to by a bike and Kellog's cereal because they only sell cereal and walmart sells both. The change of price is their attempt to be proactive to the threat of Walmart.

 

[McBell]

Because you are only looking at one item. Local venues can not offer the broad range of items as well so they lose someone who wants to by a bike and Kellog's cereal because they only sell cereal and walmart sells both. The change of price is their attempt to be proactive to the threat of Walmart.

And I am not talking about one item.
I am talking about bread, milk, eggs, batteries, fish (live aquarium ones), fish food, Doritos, cell phone accessories, Ipod accessories, bread, Campbells soup... the list goes on and on.

The fact is that your "buying in bulk" reason does not answer this particular question because it is not the difference in buying in bulk.
The fact of the matter is that in the three places I specifically listed, the other stores considerabley raised their prices for seemingly no other reason than because walmart was built.

In fact, the one store in Kendallville, Indiana, Scott's. has raised their prices three tines in the last five months since walmart was built, yet the little mom and pop store has their prices only five - ten cents more than walmart.

 

[astarath]

And I am not talking about one item.
I am talking about bread, milk, eggs, batteries, fish (live aquarium ones), fish food, Doritos, cell phone accessories, Ipod accessories, bread, Campbells soup... the list goes on and on.

The fact is that your "buying in bulk" reason does not answer this particular question because it is not the difference in buying in bulk.
The fact of the matter is that in the three places I specifically listed, the other stores considerabley raised their prices for seemingly no other reason than because walmart was built.

In fact, the one store in Kendallville, Indiana, Scott's. has raised their prices three tines in the last five months since walmart was built, yet the little mom and pop store has their prices only five - ten cents more than walmart.

As I mentioned before they are being proactive and preparing for the loss of customers that is bound to occur either way.

 

[lilithu]

And yet you still did not answer the question.

The price is $5 for something.
Has been for several months.
Then walmart moves in and all of a sudden walmart has it for $5 but the other store raised their price to $8.50.
Why?

If walmart had it for a lower price then I could understand, but walmarts price was the exact same until the other store raised their price.

There's a very simple, possible explanation:
Walmart moves in.
Walmart buys up all of the item(s) from the local suppliers.
The other store now has to go further to stock the same item(s), increasing its expenses which it passes on to the customers.