Posted on 10/17/2010 5:51:36 AM PDT by Errant
I won't vouch for all the numbers below but the general idea has a lot to be said for it -- JR
1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart Every hour of every day.
2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!
3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.
4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target +Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined.
5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people, is the world's largest private employer, and most speak English.
6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the world.
7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger and Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only fifteen years.
8. During this same period, 31 big supermarket chains sought bankruptcy.
9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are Super Centers; this is 1,000 more than it had five years ago.
11. This year 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur at Wal-Mart stores. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 Billion.)
12. 90% of all Americans live within fifteen miles of a Wal-Mart.
You may think that I am complaining, but I am really laying the ground work for suggesting that MAYBE we should hire the guys who run Wal-Mart to fix the economy. This should be read and understood by all Americans Democrats, Republicans, EVERYONE!!
To President Obama and all 535 voting members of the Legislature, it is now official you are ALL corrupt morons:
a. The U.S. Postal Service was established in 1775. You have had 234 years to get it right and it is broke.
b. Social Security was established in 1935. You have had 74 years to get it right and it is broke. c. Fannie Mae was established in 1938. You have had 71 years to get it right and it is broke.
d. War on Poverty started in 1964. You have had 45 years to get it right; $1 trillion of our money is confiscated each year and transferred to "the poor" and they only want more.
e. Medicare and Medicaid were established in 1965. You have had 44 years to get it right and they are broke.
f. Freddie Mac was established in 1970. You have had 39 years to get it right and it is broke.
g. The Department of Energy was created in 1977 to lessen our dependence on foreign oil. It has ballooned to 16,000 employees with a budget of $24 billion a year and we import more oil than ever before. You had 32 years to get it right and it is an abysmal failure.
You have FAILED in every "government service" you have shoved down our throats while overspending our tax dollars.
AND YOU WANT AMERICANS TO BELIEVE YOU CAN BE TRUSTED WITH A GOVERNMENT-RUN HEALTH CARE SYSTEM?
You're right... From below, "The USPS is obligated to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality."
The USPS can't be expected to compete in today's highly competitive market if it can't have the same management flexibility, including lower human resource costs or ability to adjust product prices.
I'm not sure what the answers are but its more than one! From Wikipedia:
The United States Postal Service (USPS) is an independent agency of the United States government, responsible for providing postal service in the United States. It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution. Within the United States, it is commonly referred to as the "Post Office", "Postal Service", or "U.S. Mail".
Though postal services have existed on American territory before the United States' establishment, the USPS's first incarnation was established by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia in 1775, by decree of the Second Continental Congress. The Post Office Department was created from Franklin's operation in 1792, as part of the United States Cabinet, then was transformed into its current form in 1983, under the Postal Reorganization Act.
Since its reorganization into an independent organization, the USPS has become self-sufficient and has not directly received taxpayer-dollars since the early 1980s with the minor exception of subsidies for costs associated with the disabled and overseas voters. However, it is currently borrowing money from the U.S. Treasury to pay its deficits.[3] The decline of mail volume, due to the increased usage of email, has forced the postal service to look to other sources of revenue while cutting costs to maintain this financial balance.[4]
Employing 596,000 workers and over 218,000 vehicles, it is the second-largest civilian employer in the United States (after Wal-Mart) and the operator of the largest civilian vehicle fleet in the world.[2] The USPS is obligated to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality. It has exclusive access to letter boxes marked "U.S. Mail." It competes against private package delivery services who cannot deliver to letter boxes and must leave packages by front doors, if no one is available to receive them.
LOL, Wal-Mart is even bigger than the USPS. We let 600 corrupt MORONS in DC screw up the entire WORLD. What’s wrong with this picture?
I used to send or receive probably 30 or 40 items through the mail each month. Letters, bills or payments, etc.
Now it’s perhaps 2 or 3.
While the USPS has had its volume and therefore income cut by massive amounts, its overhead, which as you point out requires it to service all American no matter where they are located, is primarily geographically based, not volume based.
The answer, of course, is to recognize that mail service is obsolete and put some sort of gradual transition program in place to phase it out.
Not a conspiracy, but it works out that way. Wal-Mart squeezes and squeezes suppliers until they HAVE to go to cheap labor countries to survive. Other stores then ride the cheap-labor gravy train Wal-Mart creates.
If I don't go there once a month the junk mails piles up. There are TWO big mail bins on rollers that are always full.
I think the local post master is getting kick backs from ad companies. My Po Box that I use for my regular mail NEVER has any junk mail in it.
13. Wal-Mart allows travelers to dry camp in their parking lot’s, at no charge. ;>)
Wal-Mart did not create the situation - our idiotic trade and domestic policies did. For example, it should not be cheaper to send iron ore to china and have it sent back as steel, rather than doing everything in the U.S.; but our environmental laws, trade policies and labor laws have all worked together to make the situation the way it is.
Our government did this - not Wal-Mart.
Agreed, but it was implied. Wal-Mart just took advantage of existing stupidities. I should have been more specific - just didn't want to get the Free Trade crowd further drifting the thread because I wrote the four-letter word TARIFFS. :-)
Its stock is pretty flat.
One of the best things that Walmart has done is the $4.00 generic prescription program. Walmart started that, then others joined in. That program alone to me proves that competition not regulation is the only way to go.
Many think that Wal-Mart has reached business model apogee and is on it's way back down. There are many advantages to being the biggest kid on the block but one of the disadvantages is slow to adjust to changing market conditions. Regulation is seldom good for anyone and a tactic to remain relevant.
The mission needs to be defined such as maybe limited to regular/official mail with a size/weight limit, contract out distribution as you suggested and etc.
Woot! I’m saving this one!
I get my tackle at Wally World.
Why aren’t you condemning the suppliers? There is still no gun held to their head. They could advertise the fact that they said no to Walmart and their sales should double every year if all of the Walmart haters supported them.
That works out to $25,000 in income per minute. I am certain WalMart does not make an 84% profit.
I get 4.1% profit
They could advertise the fact that they said no to Walmart . . .
Another cost that I don't think would compensate them for their losses.
. . . and their sales should double every year if all of the Walmart haters supported them.
I suspect many Wal-Mart haters are that in name only. They can pose as such on these message boards but if they can save a buck by going to Wally World, who is to know? The only outfit I know of that told WM to take a hike was Snapper lawnmowers, and if I ever needed one (I'm in the desert) I'd buy one of theirs, but in any event, lawnmowers aren't an item people buy every week.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.