Posted on 04/03/2008 6:07:11 AM PDT by Publius Valerius
Hurricane season is just around the corner, so Americans should know where to turn to if disaster strikes.
It's not the Federal Emergency Management Agency. A new study suggests Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowe's would be a lot more helpful.
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The study, by Steven Horwitz, a professor of economics at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y.,
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"Profit-seeking firms beat most of the government to the scene and provided more effectively the supplies needed for the immediate survival of a population cut off from life's most basic necessities," Horwitz wrote in the study, which was published by the Mercatus Center at George Mason University in Fairfax, Va. "Though numerous private-sector firms played important roles in the relief operations, Wal-Mart stood out."
Also, Wal-Mart leadership gave tremendous discretion to store managers and employees to make decisions rather than waiting for instructions from upper-level management, allowing for more-agile disaster response. CEO Lee Scott passed down a guiding edict to regional, district and store managers: "A lot of you are going to have to make decisions above your level. Make the best decision that you can with the information that's available to you at the time, and, above all, do the right thing."
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He also examined the conventional wisdom that businesses take advantage of disasters through price-gouging and other unsavory business practices.
(Excerpt) Read more at articles.moneycentral.msn.com ...
Remember the two black female N.O. cops ripping off their local Wal-Mart?
| In Wal-Mart We Trust |
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| Posted by TomGuy to Baynative On General/Chat 03/29/2008 10:03:12 AM CDT · 3 of 5
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When the Wal-Mart was looted, they totally stripped the place bare. Not a thing was left behind...except for the country-western CDs.
“We are gonna need Sugar and Febreeze.”
“Lightbulbs? did you get the Lightbulbs?”
“Not a thing was left behind...except for the country-western CDs.”
That’s hysterical, but true.
Gee, I wonder why ?... s/
Katrina is the most overrated, disaster hyped scam in history, due only to race.
Does that box say “Made in The USA”?...
From Walmart?
Sure it wasn’t staged?
Maybe it was just the box that made in the USA.
Having the Gov’t try to “help” in times of need always reminds me of the “free government cheese”. IIRC, it cost the taxpayers $6.50 per pound to give the cheese away, this is when grocery stores were selling cheese for $2.50 a pound, and making a profit at that!
I remember when they used to try and give that cheese away after it had set in a bomb shelter for ten years. No one would claim it.
I’m sure the box was made in the USA. Now the contents, that’s a different story.
In many ways, Wal-Mart is a great institution. But since Sam Walton died, the managment of the stores have lost their focus on customer service.
2 weeks ago, the wife and I went grocery shopping at a WM Supercenter in Huntsville, AL. Somewhere around 8:30 p.m., if I remember correctly.
They had 3 of 4 self-checkouts open. They were stacked up about 6 deep. They had 3 of 30 registers open with people manning the register. 3 of 30. And one of those was the 20-item or less express lane.
I timed it. It took us 35 minutes to check out. At times, they had 3 people standing around in the front of the store talking, but didn’t lift a finger to open any other checkout lines. When we got out of the checkout line, our line was 11 deep with customers waiting to check-out.
They have just about everything you want, and usually at a good price. But their customer service has gone in the toilet. And 98% of their products are made in China.
“A lot of you are going to have to make decisions above your level. Make the best decision that you can with the information that’s available to you at the time, and, above all, do the right thing.”
Too bad the gub’mint agencies can’t (won’t) operate that way. Too busy playing the CYA game.
Folks, as usual, we’re on our own.
There are no Rednecks in New Orleans ?
Great read. IMHO, private enterprise is not just more efficient than government, it’s more compassionate.
“There are no Rednecks in New Orleans ?”
Whatever rednecks that are in NO, They would not be into LOOTING.
Maybe it was just the box that made in the USA.
I’m sure the box was made in the USA. Now the contents, that’s a different story.
While shopping for our troops at Wal-Mart. On an end-of-isle display I spotted a box just like the one pictured. It contained packages of men's socks, an item I was looking for. Being suspicious of the "Made in the USA" printed on the box, I read the package, and sure enough, they too, were "Made in the USA" and were a good price as well!
I bought them all!
Do you not believe that the gub'mint made the best decisions they could with the information that was available to them at the time? Do you think they did not do the right thing?
What EXACTLY did you want the gub'mint to do for you that they did not do?
Wifey drug me over there around noon the day before yesterday, and the exact same scenario existed at checkout - only I timed us at just fifteen minutes in line.
No
Do you think they did not do the right thing?
No
What EXACTLY did you want the gub'mint to do for you that they did not do?
Let the people on the ground make decisions instead of waiting for the almighty, all knowing, omnipresent bureaucrats in DC make decisions
It was a HUGE disaster, due to the culture of the people living there,
it was greatly overhyped and politicized, due to the skin color of the people living there.
It is unfortunate that all people of that skin color are tainted by the culture of the majority of the people with that skin color.
Capitalism works every time it’s tried.
I was in one of those endless waits about 2 years ago but the boredom was relieved by a full out cat fight. It was kind of Julio Cesar Chavez vs Floyd Mayweather except not as good looking.
“...Real Katrina hero? Wal-Mart, Study Says...”
The real heroes in all this have been the Churches!! Many churches are still sending work crews to assist those who can’t help themselves. They have been a God-send.
Wal-Mart set up a ‘Wal-Mart Express’ in Bay St Louis. Their store there, brand new BTW, was destroyed. They set up a huge tent and stocked it with essentials. The prices were DISCOUNTED to levels below their other stores in the region. It was a great help to the locals.
Speaking of churches. C.A.I.R., yeah, THAT C.A.I.R., made a PR visit to the Coast. Their spokeswoman was interviewed on the local TV. She said that they were dedicated to helping as an act of compassion for the fellow citizens and to dispel the negative attitudes many people have toward Muslims. After the interview, they left. Haven’t been heard from since.
New Orleans is a whole ‘nother story.
” While shopping for our troops at Wal-Mart. On an end-of-isle display I spotted a box just like the one pictured. It contained packages of men’s socks, an item I was looking for. Being suspicious of the “Made in the USA” printed on the box, I read the package, and sure enough, they too, were “Made in the USA” and were a good price as well!
I bought them all!”
Every once in a while you see products like that. Of course, my first thought is that the people who work for those companies better keep their resumes up to date.
>While shopping for our troops at Wal-Mart. On an end-of-isle display I spotted a box just like the one pictured. It contained packages of men’s socks, an item I was looking for. Being suspicious of the “Made in the USA” printed on the box, I read the package, and sure enough, they too, were “Made in the USA” and were a good price as well!<
When shopping for the troops my wife always asks the store manager if he can give her a discount or further discount. You would be surprised at what some of them will do when she shows them the list of needed items.
You can read a little about the looting here, but the article does not mention the CDs.
There is only one reason liberals hate Wal-Mart: it is a highly successful non-union business.
If one government wealth-transfer program were half as efficient as Wal-Mart, now THAT would be shocking.
When the Wal-Mart was looted, they totally stripped the place bare. Not a thing was left behind...except for the country-western CDs.
Don’t forget the shopping center on the West Bank (across the Mississippi from NOLA) was burned to the ground after it was looted!
But, Sam’s (which owns Walmart)on Airline Dr. in Metairie opened it’s doors, as soon as the water subsided, and gave out what ever goods they had left. The National Guard also set up a comand post there where we could get water, ice and MRIs. The operation was a blessing and very successful. It only took a couple of days for this to post to be established and went on for weeks, if not months.
Not when they are facing a Cat 5 storm. The rednecks got the hell out of Dodge. ;)
Let me clarify.
State and local government failed miserably. Nagin & Blanco clearly did NOT do the best they could with the information available to them. FEMA was hampered by Blanco’s indecision, weather and impassable conditions on the ground. FEMA & the National Guard worked heroically to aid victims as soon as they could get into the area.
I am not saying FEMA & the NG & other agencies did not do their jobs. I am certainly not saying they didn’t care.
My point is- there ia ALWAYS a CYA factor built into the mindset of any government agency that sometimes prevents people making timely decisions.
Apparently, Wal-Mart’s leadership empowered their employees to make decisions at the sharp end of the situation. That sort of initiative is sometimes lacking (or is punished) in the alphabet soup of government agencies.
If I offended, I apologize.
we should make rules loud and clear that the govt is NOT responsible for disasters, and whatever help it can give, is purely for humanitarian reasons, and not required by the constitution...
in old yuppie-ville center, known also as "Costco".....look at where things are made.....mostly China...."American made" is the oddity...
Despite all that is wrong about Wal-Mart, this is certainly a “give-credit-where-credit-is-due” situation. In addition to the things mentioned in the article, I remember that Wal-Mart made it incredibly easy for me to give a donation, right at the cash register, to the Salvation Army for Hurricane Katrina relief.
“And 98% of their products are made in China.”
You will document or prove this?
No, I don’t think so.
I think even that figure is misleading. Perhaps 70% Walmart branded items, such as clothing and shoes, may come from China,
I don't know that the Stanley or Black and Decker tools, or the computer supplies and equipment, or the pharmaceuticals, or the guns and ammo, or the Heinz pickles , and numerous other items all come from China.
Even with clothing, my last visit to Walmart was Jan 2005 on the day I left the US.
My good winter coat from Walmart was from Sri Lanka. A bathing suit was from Indonesia. Ooops, my good winter shoes WERE made in China, but thats all.
It is not just Walmart. It is every store in the world.
Wallyworld just happens to be the whipping boy for some people. I don't know why.
I think even that figure is misleading. Perhaps 70% Walmart branded items, such as clothing and shoes, may come from China,
I don't know that the Stanley or Black and Decker tools, or the computer supplies and equipment, or the pharmaceuticals, or the guns and ammo, or the Heinz pickles , and numerous other items all come from China.
Even with clothing, my last visit to Walmart was Jan 2005 on the day I left the US.
My good winter coat from Walmart was from Sri Lanka. A bathing suit was from Indonesia. Ooops, my good winter shoes WERE made in China, but thats all.
It is not just Walmart. It is every store in the world.
Wallyworld just happens to be the whipping boy for some people. I don't know why.
In 2006 (last year for which I could find data), Wal-Mart’s cost of goods sold was approximately $240 billion. Chinese imports by Wal-Mart were approximately $27 billion.
In dollar volume, Chinese imports accounted for a little more than 11% of Wal-Mart’s sales.
Not 70%.
sitetest
Thanks.
I just Googled and pasted the first mainstream source I found.
From the comments of that BW page:
“An article in Information Week quotes analysts as saying that 50%-70% of Wal-Mart NONFOOD products are from China. This article implies 70% of ALL goods as opposed to 50%-70% of NONFOOD products. That’s a big difference. I agree with a prior comment, what’s the source for the 70% figure in this article? A Google search makes it seem as if the 70% figure is being repeated again and again by writers, copying each other, without a solid source.”
“Yhea sure, who payed for the studdy? Wallmart?” - - typical DUh-mocrat
“An article in Information Week quotes analysts as saying that 50%-70% of Wal-Mart NONFOOD products are from China.”
I'm disinclined to believe that, too.
First - “50% - 70%” sounds like the sort of estimate that someone pulled out of his ass.
Second, if either assertion - 50% or 70% were even remotely close to true, it would require that Wal-Mart was essentially a grocery store with a side business selling general merchandise.
If Chinese imports are 11% of all Wal-Mart dollar volume, then for Chinese imports to be 50% of all non-food Wal-Mart dollar volume, non-food Wal-Mart dollar volume would be 22% of all Wal-Mart sales, and food sales would account for 78% of all Wal-Mart sales.
If Chinese imports were SEVENTY percent of all Wal-Mart non-food sales, then non-food sales would account for only 15% of all Wal-Mart sales, and food would account for 85%.
That's hooey.
This stuff can be traced ultimately to anti-Wal-Mart AFL-CIO union thug-types, the people who put the stink in the American labor union movement.
sitetest
Here in East Texas, there is a disaster relief team formed by the Baptist Association. They are ready to swing into action across the country for any disaster. They are mostly retired, but skill outweighs age. There is a chainsaw team to clear away and a construction team to build things back up. Meanwhile, the food trailor cranks out thousands of meals. All this is free. Amazing.
You’re right. They have crammed “diversity” down the throats of management at the cost of customer service. Cashiers have to commit murder to be fired now; as witnessed by the buffet of junk food they eat while parking their fat arses against the registers while they don’t greet or help you. And the worst part about it is the cheap chinese junk they sell while ignoring american made products because their profit would be 2 pennies more on the chinese crap. Sickening.
Perhaps “Made in China” non-food items comprise 70% of Walmart inventory, but not 70% of what they pay for that non-food inventory.
Also, “American” products may be made mostly in China, but have some value added here to qualify as “Made in America”.
Don't know.
Here's the IW article - “analysts say...”:
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