Posted on 03/04/2005 12:10:26 PM PST by Toddsterpatriot
But it wouldn't be hard for the shoppers, if they had gonads and a choice.
I'm with you on both sides of that joke. I actually don't like going to Wally, too crowded, too narrow in aisle and product depth, and lets face it the stuff tends to be cheap for a reason. But sometimes the beast must be fed, if I've got a fistful of stuff I wanna get where quality isn't an issue but I'd like to save a buck and want to get things done in one stop I know right where I'm going, hopefully early in the day so I can avoid complaint number 1. It's the store I hate to love.
Sounds like you and I are of about the same mind on the place. Can you believe how rude the other shoppers are there?
They still have a choice in most things, even in textiles and small appliances, the real question is do they care. I mean for me country of origin really only relates to a purchase decision as it reflects on quality and that even usually cycles through the manufacturer (like I know that KitchenAid generally makes the best of whatever they're making, now they happen to manufacture in America, but where KitchenAid doesn't play you can usually find Braun and they're not made in America (no idea where they actually manufacture) but they're good). In a lot of stuff America wins, but in some stuff they still lose (sorry I'm still a rice burner guy when it comes to cars, even though American quality is improving I still don't like the ergonomics of most American cars... of course most rice burners are built in America these days).
IMHO we need to get the EPA off the back of the manufacturing sector, break the unions and let the workers actually work, and then let things go. I think the trade deficit would shrink dramatically, though I doubt it would disappear just because we consume so damn much, but the playing field would even out and there'd be more good reasons to build in America.
Yes, regulatory reform, but don't forget tort reform as well. Plus shifting from taxing productivity to consumption. Plus shrinking government so the tax-burden brake on the economy can be released a little, Plus....
I don't really worry about rude, I'm probably not the politest shopper in the world (especially not after 10 minutes in Wally, that's when the muttering starts), it's the aisle campers that drive me nuts. A family of 4 stopping to paw everything and yell at their kids with their cart behind them so the aisle is completely block is sure to make me steam. sometimes I think God put these people on earth just to give me cardio workouts.
Yeah the beat goes on. It's amazing how not business friendly we've made this country.
Most do not, hence my reference to "gonads". I'm sure they wouldn't like it if I were trying my darnedest to make sure THEIR job was eliminated.
But are they trying to get rid of people's jobs or just shopping with different priorities? I think most people just don't care, they don't pay attention to where something is made or by whom, they want it, it fits their price demands, they buy. I think this is especially true in the low end where the discount retailers live, part of shopping cheap is prioritizing that above other decision points frequently.
And, of course, inside the world of manufacturing everybody is trying to get rid of everybody else's job. That's competition.
Yeah, blocking the (too narrow) aisles and getting their nose out of joint if you ask them to move is exactly the behavior I was calling rude.
Inside the business, sure. But I can tell you, when I lay down a buck, I try to pay attention to who is bringing the labor portion of that dollar home to the kiddies, and buy accordingly.
Oh I never ask them to move, I sideswipe em, flip around to come from the other side, or give up on the item completely. I don't talk a lot out in the world of retail, I can do dozens of transactions and spend hundreds of dollars and not say a word... other than the muttering when I'm in Wally (muttering like a nutter tends to get people out of your way).
No, these Chinese Wal-Mart's will be full of American exports.
Nah, they think it's run by Baptists.
They like the "church" of satan. :P
I'm totally a quality-cost buyer. I got my feature set, my durability and my price, those are my decision points everything after that is incidental.
I truly appreciate your deference and consideration. That being said, for as long as I've been here I've considered myself among friends that deal with each other in a respectful and mutually encouraging manner. Of course there are exceptions, but they're thankfully rare.
Makerting Manager, Home Electronics Products, Pioneer Electronics of Canada. Based in Toronto (Markham, actually). This after 14 years at Sony Canada in various positions (Sales to SAP and Six Sigma Management) but when certain opportunites come up, well...
Have a great weekend, eh!
Mitch
Chills! Spills! A typical Wal-Mart thread. Hysteria! Doom!
The only good thing about Wal-mart, China, is the stores will be Unionized! :-) Nothing is too good for the dictatorship of the proletariat.
it seems we've digressed. the real issue is china, and why we buy an inordinate amount of products made by a tyrannical, communist, religious destroying government, but we are not supposed to by a cigar from some place 60 miles off the coast of florida. its hypocritical insanity.
Don't forget the poor math skills involved. That's the scary part. No wonder why these crybabies can't compete with cheap foreign labor. They don't have the ticks.
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