Posted on 06/02/2004 7:26:39 AM PDT by .cnI redruM
Walmart has the market power to tell Teh-ray-zuh how much she can charge for her ketchup. That's really gotta chap her ass.
****I bought my Lawnmower at a mom and pop hardware and small engine repair store two blocks from WalMart.***
Woopie do for you. I bought a $600.00 tiller at Wal-Mart (made in USA) and it would not even tear up the soil for my garden. I took it back the next day dirty and dusty and they gave me my money back. Try that with a Mom and Pop store!
IGA cat food, .48 cents a can. Same brand at WM .32 cents.
How does that apply to Walmart? How many Target and Kmart stores are there? How many Costco stores are there? There is plenty of competition out there and none pay more than Walmart, none are unionized. They are indentical in the purchasing , employment and pricing policies. Why is it that ONLY Walmart gets singled out and the others get a pass for operating the same way?
Remember WalMart used to have to survive as an Arkansas Corporation.
Rediculous profit.. would that be like the rediculous profit of those who are now outsourcing. Oh, wait, no - it's only rediculous profit if you don't get a stock percentage or your company isn't making enough to pay it's execs 230 million dollars in bonuses while the workers are making subpoverty wages, right. Almost forgot the crowd we're talking to..
You said a mouthful there. No one wants to walk anymore. It used to be common in our small town to see ladies walking to the local grocery wheeling their little 2-wheel grocery totes. Now everyone wants to drive everywhere; Americans love their cars.
What has happened here in our very rural small town is that the Wal-Mart and Tops were built on the best farmland, and their bulk buying power undercut the local businesses who do not have that advantage. One small example was their horse-equipment department; after the local feed & equipment store went out of business, Wal-Mart dropped that department, so now instead of two choices for buyers there are none. The big store management-level employees were all from out of town, and most of the rest are part-time. While many people love the lower prices and easy parking, their taxes have gone up since Wal-Mart eroded the tax base by putting downtown retailers out of business and by employing out-of-towners.
The presence of Wal-Mart and (foreign owned)Tops is a double-edged sword, and while things are certainly different, I can't honestly say that there is an improved the quality of life or of economics here.
And what were those overhead expenses? Some are waste (e.g., your rent and electricity below). Others help the local economy (e.g., employment, profits spent locally, etc.).
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)
In theory, if your state has a sales tax, you probably owe a use tax. In practice, almost nobody pays it but states do sometimes go after it for big-ticket items that they find out about (and they have ways to find out about some big ticket purchases).
As a consumer I prefer not pay a premium on goods for their rent and electric at a pyhsical location.
I think the bigger problem is paying for loss -- theft and goods damaged by gorilla shoppers. My biggest concern over the loss of local retailers is the loss of the ability to look at what you are buying before you buy it. Retailers definitely offer a showroom capability that mail order businesses cannot match. And while some people browse at retailers and then buy mail order to save money, that's only maintainable if the retailers stay in business.
There seems to be some confusionhere between "profit" and "mark-up". High markup does not denote high profit. The determinant of profit is more apt to be efficiency, costs of doing business.
Shopping at Walmart is all well and good until the day comes when our military faces off with China's.
We all will have had a hand in funding the very weapons that will kill Americans one day.
Don't blame WM for Clinton sending China all the secrets for building a modern nuclear military.
Please point out where I've proposed passing a law to ban Wal-Mart or stop you from shopping there. In fact, I don't think anyone has here.
I am sick of all the do gooders telling me what to do and where to spend my money.
That's nice. Remember freedom of speech? You've got a right to choose where to shop and others have got a right to comment on it, especially in an open forum like this.
If you don't like Walmart, it's simple, don't shop there.
And if you like Wal-Mart, it's simple. Keep shopping there and ignore the people telling you not to.
But let those who do want to shop there do so, stop trying to restrict everyone's freedom to choose.
And let those who think that shopping at Wal-Mart is a problem say so and stop trying to restrict everyone's freedom of speech. See how freedom works? It's a two-way street. People are trying to persuade you not to shop at Wal-Mart. Feel free to try to persuade them they are wrong or should stop complaining. But please spare me the righteous indignation about how your freedom and rights are being infringed upon.
My impression is that the journalist is a Wal-Mart apologist who utilized that quote to mock Wal-Mart critics. But in doing so, he also inadvertantly expands the discussion as to how the chain retailers have denigrated American society far beyond undermining Main Street Mom & Pop merchants and the livelihoods of small-town factory workers who used to supply our manufactured goods.
Over the course of decades, it has indeed been the evil retail chain stores who have systematicly obliterated state's rights and "blue laws". ("Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy" (Exo.20:8).)
In defiling this Commandment, the national chain retailers are guilty of undermining family values and the moral fabric of American society. It is in the name of their unrelenting worship of commercialism that we now suffer exposure to Janet Jackson's boob in the guise of "entertainment". Or Roseanne Barf grabbing her crotch while singing the national anthem.
Chain store apologists will, of course, deny any direct responsiblity for this shift in American society.
But the answer is "NO".
Jesus would NOT shop at WalMart. Nor at Target, nor at K-Mart, nor at J.C. Penney, nor at May's, nor at Sears, nor at Marshall Field's, nor at etc. etc. etc.
Jesus wouldn't shop at ANY of 'em on the Sabbath.
I'm not worried about their nukes.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20040602-010016-1638r.htm
Now that you seem to have all the answers, please answer the most important question that you ignored-what about Target, Kmart and Costco? They fit the same mold and yet you have nothing to say about them. Why? Please use your freedom to explain to me why they are different?
As a Walmart shopper I also use some mom and pop shops. A jeweler , Army /navy, local BBQ, and other restaurants ect..
When possible I spend money in town, such as insurance and car repairs.
It sure is nice to buy bread and milk at the same place, while also buying spray paint,a tree,a toy for the kids,some 3" wood screws and a new fishing lure...all cheaper than elsewhere.
Convienience and better prices are strong selling points.
I don't go to Sam's Club because I rarely have a need for a ten-gallon jar of mayonaisse.
Not exactly the same model, though Home Depot might. The difference is how Wal-Mart treats its suppliers and competators. For example, see:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html
(The bit you need to consider is the impact that this strategy ultimately has on quality. A supplier can't keep making the same goods for less, especially when their own raw material costs go up. They've got to cut something. At first, it may be waste but, ultimately, they'll start to cut quality -- and I think that's already happening.)
If you've got evidence of Target, K-Mart, or Costco doing the same thing, I'd be more than happy to look at it.
The purpose of buying clothes is to be clothed, not to employ Americans in South Carolina doing "skilled" work. I am as interested in what they do for a living as they are in my career. If the shirt fits, looks good, is decent quality, at a good price, I'll buy it. That's my clothing strategy, which works fine. As for world economics and the retail and textile industries as a whole, it's not for me to say. I have no expertise and nothing to do with it.
And don't forget to breath and look both ways before crossing. Pearls of wisdom.
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