My local WalMart has less business than local Mejer or Cosco.
Wal Mart, at least in my area, does have serious competitors... including other WalMarts popping up and canibalizing each other.... which infuriates already instated WalMart managers.
WalMart may auto destruct... however, after the KMart-Sears stupid expensive useless deal, WalMart has a lot of margin to grow still... with a stupid competition like this which listens to bankers and not customers, that is.
I stopped reading at this line:
"A gallon-sized jar of whole pickles is something to behold. The jar is the size of a small aquarium. The fat green pickles, floating in swampy juice, look reptilian, their shapes exaggerated by the glass. It weighs 12 pounds, too big to carry with one hand. The gallon jar of pickles is a display of abundance and excess; it is entrancing, and also vaguely unsettling. This is the product that Wal-Mart fell in love with: Vlasic's gallon jar of pickles."
Duh. Our "Hometown Food Store" has gallon jars of pickes, mayonaise, soup, beans etc...
It's for small institutions: schools, caterers, churches etc that use such things, but can't afford to ship in supplies by regular shipping.
For example, if the Baptist church holds a supper, they will often buy large jars locally instead of going 100 plus miles to buy wholesale. Big deal.
Heck, even large families will buy large jars to save money.
As I frequently tell my economics students...no one is holding a gun to anyone's head forcing them to shop at Wal Mart. Wal Mart's success is not based on "screwing" people. Where that the case they would have gone out of business long ago. Their success is based on the fundamental law of demand--people buy more goods at a lower price than a higher one.
This article is more than a year old, and had already been posted at least 3 times on Free Republic. Why did you spam it again today?
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?s=Wal-Mart+You+Don%27t+Know&ok=Search&q=deep&m=all&o=score&SX=41ec1b4876bb356060831482167c591ac0f69d19
And out of curiousity, were you the banned 'LibertySailor' who previously posted this article?
Wow, thanks for posting-- I just realized that I need to run out and pick up a few things at, you guessed it, Walmart! ;)
For those THREE reasons, we will continue to buy items from Walmart that we can use.
Just go to the back of the electronics department, find Walmart's heart and destroy it. Problem solved. Kumbayah...
My shopping game: every time I read an anti-WalMart article I add to my "buy at WalMart" shopping list.
I generally avoid shopping at walmart, because the experience sucks, (most of the time it's not an enjoyable shopping experience), and a lot of what they sell that is not name-brand stuff is crap and not even worth the cheap prices they charge. Sometimes I do shop there, but not very often. I've found that in mamy cases, you get what you pay for.
To each his own though. If folks like shopping at walmart, they are welcome to it. Most of the time though, I'll look elsewhere and see if I can find something made in this country, rather than chinese slave labor.
God Bless Sam Walton. I hope he's riding around heaven in his beat up red pickup truck with his trusty hound dog Ol' Roy. Some slackers just can't stand seeing a regular guy like that make it so successfully. Rest in Peace, Sam. You completely changed the retailing business world.
As most on this thread point out, there are plenty of good things to say about Wal-Mart. Along with those, there are two clear, huge negatives about the company, as well. First, they're accelerating the loss of American manufacturing and making us more dependent on China--our mortal enemy--by the day. Second, they totally re-shape the entire culture of small towns when they enter, by putting the mom-and-pop stores out of business and basically turning downtowns into ghost towns.
I find the second factor to be sad even if it is inevitable. (BTW, please save the "if you can't stand the heat" crap.) The manufacturing angle is much more troubling from a national security perspective, though. And to be clear, it's far from being purely Wal-Mart's fault. We also have a huge problem of a lazy/soft/spoiled workforce in this country. But no matter the reason, we're gonna look up one day in around twenty years and be in a real pickle, pun intended. It's never good to become dependent on one's enemies.
MM
The solution is so obvious; Ban Pickles! When pickles are outlawed, only Outlaws will have pickles! ;)
Liberal hogwash pickle barrel Bump
I'm getting real tired of these hit-pieces on Wally World.
GREED is the reason jobs are being sent overseas.
Just for arguments sake let's take 2 pro-dim companies: Tommy Hilfiger & Nike products are all made overseas. That means it is cheaper for them to be made. Is the savings in manufacturing passed on to the consumer by these companies? Heck NO! Their prices continue to soar.
This is just more Dim babble brought to you courtesy of the Lame Stream Media.
I didn't get past the sinister description of the Vlasic pickles.
For crying out loud. It's a store selling a jar of pickles. The HORROR of it all!!!!!!!!!
Good grief.
that reminds me, i forgot to buy something over at wal-mart.