Posted on 07/11/2005 2:36:13 PM PDT by devane617
This is funny. I hate wall mart but this article is an unfair hit piece. First the author says this:
"The response was curious because, when a public relations person is faced out-of-the-blue with questions on a random topic like robots, he or she would typically pause, jot down some notes, and say something along the lines of, "Gosh, I have no idea about that, but I'll check into it for you."
The point? That wall mart was not hit out of the blue but knew about it. Then the author says this:
"And I am apparently not the first to hit a Wal-Mart nerve with a robot story."
To which I say, "Obviously. And that is why they were not hit 'out-of-the-blue' by your questions."
I've always said I prefer to buy my gas at self serve stations because the service is much faster.
I have a robot and I love it! It's my Roomba, and he vacuums my floors for me. I am looking forward to welcoming his brother Scooba when it comes out later in the year. Scooba will mop my floors for me.
Life is good!
In the original series, currency was still in use. By TNG, it seemed to have faded away, in favor of "replicator credits".
Still, the point where Star Trek and robot labor meet has yielded some interesting past results:
If this is what Wal-Mart has in mind, I'm willing to be open-minded about it. ;^)
Actually I see nothing wrong, rather where it leads. WMT buys virtually all products from China. Replace the majority of employees with robots and who gains? At some point in the future we Americans will have to start protecting our jobs or no money exists to buy WMT goods.
I gotta be honest here, the night before (11:00pm)Hurricane Dennis made landfall, which was also 36 hours after a MADATORY evacuation was issued, Walmart was open for business as usual. I'm talking managers, cashiers, stockers, the works. Everywhere else was closed, boarded up, and for the most part, people had left town. As I strolled the aisles of Walmart that night gathering my last minute hurricane supplies, I couldn't help but wonder what was keeping Walmart, and Walmart alone to keep operating as normal. Do they entice thier employees to volunteer to ignore evacuation recommendations and work for a little more money? Sort of a hazardous duty compensation?
To echo some other accounts here, our local WMT was open during a flash blizzard in April when nobody else in town was open. People were coming off the nearby interstate - which was closed - because they were stranded, and at WMT they found good service and a warm, welcoming store. They would have been without anything if it weren't for the local WMT.
So all you WMT bashers here, well, feel free to stay on that icy closed highway by yourselves next time.
once again, most of the products you see at Walmart are available elsewhere (usually at higher prices). Local Mom and Pop stores, Target, Drug Stores, major department stores etc. all get a lot of products from China. If you have recently bought furniture it very likely was made in China. Please don't assume that China is a Wal-mart problem. It is simply where it is cheap to currently produce pretty good quality goods.
Well, as far as I can tell from the Star Trek series, they all become Starship captains.
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