Posted on 01/29/2005 9:23:51 PM PST by Former Military Chick
Here’s a shocker. I love Wal-Mart. I know it’s almost always on the receiving end of bad press. It ruins neighborhoods. It puts small businesses out of business. It wrecks the balance of trade. It pays its workers poorly and treats them mean. It makes overseas workers into slaves. That's what the news says. The truth is that Wal-Mart is a major blessing for most Americans who live close enough to one to shop there and for the people who work at them. My smart friend C.L. Werner in Omaha made the point really clearly. When a Wal-Mart opens in a town, he said, it's as if everyone in the town got a raise. That's because the stuff at Wal-Mart is so much cheaper than that same merchandise was anywhere else. This is not a trivial thing. Now, don't get me wrong. Target and Sears and K-Mart and J.C. Penney and Brooks Brothers also sell good stuff usually at bargain prices, but they do not have the same reach of stores, the same astounding prices that Wal-Mart offers every day. This makes the people who shop there richer. Price matters a lot to most people. I am sure Wal-Mart is stiff competition for the stores and supermarkets across America. I feel bad for the people who lose their stores because of Wal-Mart. But not everyone is a store owner. Everyone is a consumer, and Wal-Mart is about as good a friend as the consumer ever had.Is Wal-Mart ruining the balance of trade? Well, let me put it like this: I buy American whenever I can find it.
But there are a lot of things that are just not usually made in the USA any longer. Toasters. Hot pots. Color televisions. Underwear. Since the goods are almost always made overseas, why not buy them at the best possible price? By the way, if someone knows of a good American made toaster, please stand up and shout.
Is Wal-Mart wrecking small towns? Not the ones I see, which are mostly in North Idaho. Those towns are booming. And the closest you get to a town square is the Wal-Mart, where neighbors visit with neighbors in the aisles all day and all night, in air conditioning, out of the rain.
Is Wal-Mart impoverishing third world workers in sweat shops? Heck, no. Conditions in those places are far from ideal. But they are far better than working on the farm or begging in the streets or selling themselves into prostitution or whatever they were doing before they came to work for foreign suppliers of US stores. The gains in prosperity in the developing countries because their people can sell to America through Wal-Mart are astounding. As to the people who work at Wal-Mart, they seem to me to be bright, alert men and women who work there because it's the best they can do in their town or at their age. Plus, they seem happy. The usual clerk at Wal-Mart gives a lot better service than the clerk at Tiffany. I would like it if they were paid more, but they are in a competitive labor market. And what about those greedy stockholders? A lot of them are those same Wal-Mart clerks, many of whom got rich from their stock.
In the real world, Wal-Mart is as much of a boon to the American shopper as the Sears catalogue was long ago.
Jeer at it all you want, all you cool people, but, it's progress, big time.
Full Disclosure: God, I miss Minnesota. :-(
Not having a good day huh??
I usually don't go to WalMart because the one in our city is too far from us and toooooo busy.
BUT, one opened about 2 miles from us this past week.
I avoided it at first because of the crowds, but hubby and I stopped by late last night.
The employees were very friendly, especially the lady at the photo counter...she helped us make enlargements with their machine, and duplicate some prints.
Checkout was easy, and my husband went looking for some things and remarked he found lots of people to help.
I'll probably go back and shop there (but not for groceries, I didn't like the grocery section)...I'll just make sure I go late at night or early AM to avoid the crowds.
True, the older Wal-Mart stores are rather seedy. I like the newer Wal-Mart Super Centers much better, i'll only shop in those...ok, i'm a snob! K-marts can be pretty nasty also. I do like the stuff in Target also, but if that story about them not letting the Salvation Army ring a bell outside thier stores are true, they will not be getting my business anytime soon.
Oh, no you dih-int!
Just following your orders. :-)
Always.
I'm learning that every Wal-Mart is different.. good in some places, bad in others.. In one of our local Wal-Marts, the employees are told they must accept harrassment from the customers or be fired because "the customer is always right"... a few of our stores are not kept up by the employees very well and the service sucks in all of them..and yes, it's a madhouse most of the time, but I still shop there because the prices are usually better than anywhere else and beggars can't be choosers.
In January?????
Add a number 8 to your list: pompous a$$.
Good of you to slam FR and yet admit to
your purpose for signing on here: self promotion.
My parents are elderly and do not have the ability to run all over town gathering things they need for the activities of daily living..They are so lucky and blessed to have a Wal-Mart Super Store nearby and that is about the only place they have to go for anything they need. And, yes, their area is booming, partly because of Wal-Mart. It has been good for the economy in many ways..I have noticed that, in general, those who hate Wal-Mart are guess who..LIBERALS!
I personally don't give a rip.
I think the self-checkout aisle is cool. I don't use it at the Wal-Mart where I go to. You can't get the "Montana discount" from a computer terminal.
Detroit Bulls?
Have you ever noticed how clean and safe our Rest Stops in Oregon are too.
Hilarious post - the imagery, the color, the mucus....
FWIW, developers in Panama City Beach, FL just purchased a relatively new, well located Super Wal-Mart for $300 million. They're going to doze it and build condominiums.
Just before Christmas my husband suggested I purchase several Old Timer/Schrade knives as gifts as the 100 year old company was going out of business. I stopped in a locally owned sporting goods shop and asked the owner what happened to the company. He stated that they decided to sell to Wal-Mart exclusively, abandoning their long standing relationships and marketing targets of the past century - small retailers.
Wal-Mart constantly asked that Old Timer "roll back" prices. The company had to start laying off employees to retain a break even status. After so many pressured price cuts, apparently they just threw up their hands and closed their doors.
There are still a few Old Timers and Schrades on retailers' shelves. I recommend picking one or two up should anyone run across them as I suspect they'll be increasing in value rather rapidly before long.
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