Posted on 06/02/2004 7:26:39 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
What many people don't seem to understand is that the primary factor in the demise of small-town America wasn't Safeway, Sears, Wal-Mart, etc. -- it was the growth of the automobile as the primary means of transportation for middle-class Americans and the development of the interstate highway system in the 1950s. From that point forward, a retail location in a town center that was primarily pedestrian-accessible became a major disadvantage. The economies of scale realized by large shopping centers is what made downtown areas obsolete as retail centers.
Nobody is going to carry a couple of 4x8 sheets of plywood home from a local hardware store, or eight bags of groceries home from a local grocery store.
Pay attention to quality and keep track of where the clothes are made and how long the clothes last. For fast-growing children, cheap clothes are a bargain if you aren't going to hand them down. But if you plan keeping your clothes for a while, half the price isn't a bargain if the clothes you buy last half as long, or even less.
I've heard several claims that suppliers make special batches of goods for those big discounters (they deliver so many units to those retailers that they can afford a special run). A locksmith I knkow told me, for example, that he could tell whether a lock of a certain brand was bought from a local hardware store or a locksmith or a Home Depot because the normal insides were brass while the Home Depot version used stamped steel, instead, to save money. Cheaper? Sure. The same? Not always.
Remember - Hitlery used to be on their board.
Tell me what products you buy that are made in America?
Wal-Mart started as a small 5 and dime store on the west side of the square in Bentonville, Arkansas. (WALTON'S 5&10) I used to shop there when I was just a kid. They were friendly people and we enjoyed our time there.
Now They have made good and everyone is out to "get" the Wal-Mart group FOR BEING TOO SUCCESSFUL.
Small towns at the time had elected "town fathers" whose job it was to keep out competition and make sure the in town stores didn't cut prices on each other (Price fixing).
I wish I'd invested in WM stock 35 years ago. One of our locals worked as a low paid cashier there for years. She put all of her extra pay in company stock and retired RICH!
We sell a US made product with American employees for $19.00 per DOZEN pieces;(and we make a fair profit). Walmart imports from China the similiar product and pre-prices it at $9.99 for 3 pieces; ($39.96 per dozen). Obviously a 100% profit isn't good enough for Walmart. I guess paying for "imported" is better for many people.
Around here the "mom&pops" have long since succumbed but the convenience stores are their replacements, and most of them are, in fact, mom&pop operations. We have them every few blocks and each hires more employees than Mom%Pop ever did when they had their own stores. Nowadays Mom and Pop tend to be ex-Hindu or ex-Egyptian or ex-Vietnamese or their parents were. They provide the same high prices we all remember and love and they are successful. They pay taxes and they provide jobs, mostly for family members but many for non kin.
Walmart raised $8.5 million for the WWII memorial and GAVE $6 million to the project, what did the mom and pop stores do?
Well, I personally think Wal-Mart has brought my community together. If you you want to know where all the illegal aliens are on Saturday just go to Wal-mart.
If their profits were so rediculous, were all of those smaller shop owners living in mansions? And if their profits were so rediculous, why didn't other smaller shop keepers move into town to compete with them? The problem is that the economics of a small local shop are not the same as the economics of a big box store. That's why even the chain convenience stores are more expensive than chain supermarkets. But the real key is to think about where that extra money spent in those smaller local shops went. Where those shopkeepers stuffing it in their mattress or sending it out of state?
When Sam passed it was becoming no longer possible to sell American made *Mart type merchandise in an efficient discount store that could compete with Indonesian made stuff sold in a less efficient store with a higher markup.
FYI, Wal-Mart purposely avoids hiring people with a college education.
"Buy your cheap Chinese goods...."
If you don't like Chineese goods shop at Ace for Korean goods.
Atwoods for Chinese and Indonesian and goods made in India.
Stage and Gap for Mexican made goods.
Wal-Mart also has Russian made goods.
You have to really look to find goods made in the USA but you had better have a big wallet for the price.
If jobs are beiong lost where are the people in the US getting their money to shop and buy all of those foriegn made goods?
If no jobs are here in the US why are so many Mexicans crossing the river to take those non-existant jobs?
We just got our Wal-Mart. Sam's Club has been here for several years. I don't know that a retail store adds anything economically to a community. It does suck money out of pockets and sends some of it to general HQ whereever that is, which isn't here.
Even better than Walmart I like to shop online when possible because the overhead is so small and taxes can sometimes be avoided. (I pay enough taxes as it is)
As a consumer I prefer not pay a premium on goods for their rent and electric at a pyhsical location.
People have the right to compete and people have the right to choose where to shop. I am sick of all the do gooders telling me what to do and where to spend my money. If you don't like Walmart, it's simple, don't shop there. But let those who do want to shop there do so, stop trying to restrict everyone's freedom to choose.
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SECTION 1 Every contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal. Every person who shall make any contract or engage in any combination or conspiracy hereby declared to be illegal shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding ten million dollars if a corporation, or, if any other person, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars, or by imprisonment not exceeding three years, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.
SECTION 2 Every person who shall monopolize, or attempt to monopolize, or combine or conspire with any other person or persons, to monopolize any part of the trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, shall be deemed guilty of a felony, and, on conviction thereof, shall be punished by fine not exceeding ten million dollars if a corporation, or, if any other person, three hundred and fifty thousand dollars or by imprisonment not exceeding three years, or by both said punishments, in the discretion of the court.
Certainly worth repeating.
When you look at all the money flows in both directions there is NO balance of payments deficit or "trade imbalance". Investment is also trade and the money we send offshore for imports comes back for our exports AND FOR INVESTMENT in American industry. The money does not just go overseas and disappear. Ultimately it must return or it is inflation in the countries overseas, i.e. useless to those who hold it. The so called "balance of payments deficit" in fact acts as the savings in the American Economy. The savings rate of Americans is near zero. Without a source of investment capital the economy could not expand, could not maintain itself. Because we import more value of goods than we export the difference returns as investment capital and saves our economic butts.
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