The Wal-Mart You Don't Know (Shades of A&P and Sears historic practices)

Fast Company ^ | December 2003 (Vlasic,etc), January 2006 (Snapper) | Charles Fishman

[dickmc]

The Wal-Mart You Don't Know

The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line?

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

If you hate Wal-Mart, DON'T SHOP THERE! PLEASE! Give the rest of us who do shop there a break.

The Wal-Mart bashers' job is to make the rest of us feel miserable that we're not spending our money buying $100 napkin sets with your initials stitched in them and platinum toilet paper at downtown boutique stores.

[TaxRelief]

Wal-Mart is anti-union. Good.
Wal-Mart is cheap. Good.

Costco puts little guys out of business and is expensive. Bad.

[Gabz]

The Wal-Mart bashers' job is to make the rest of us feel miserable that we're not spending our money buying $100 napkin sets with your initials stitched in them

LOL!!!

I buy the napkins in WalMart and stitch the initials in them myself :)

[MrLee]

Is Sam's Clubs supporting the queer/perverted agenda too?

[1rudeboy]

Dang - they missed my house this morning.

They took heavy casualties during Operation Snapper.

[sine_nomine]

That's a scream. Thanks.

[Gondring]

So is this Vlasic's excuse for reportedly* hiring so much illegal labor and helping the illegals hide from police, while competitor Mt. Olive made sure their immigrant labor was legal, and helped police when they came to the camps? How about an exposé on how Mt. Olive can't compete with Vlasic because of this, and how it all goes back to eeeeevil Wal-Mart?

*I don't have any direct connection with this...I base these statement on law enforcement officers who refuse to buy Vlasic--inisting instead on Mt. Olive.

[the crow]

bump

[Gabz]

Gotcha........that explains it then :)

[Gabz]

That's very interesting. Personally I have always preffered Mt. Olive products to Vlasic, in both price and taste.

[Diddle E. Squat]

"One of the things that limits or slows the growth of imports is the cost of establishing connections and networks," says Paul Krugman, the Princeton University economist. "Wal-Mart is so big and so centralized that it can all at once hook Chinese and other suppliers into its digital system. So--wham!--you have a large switch to overseas sourcing in a period quicker than under the old rules of retailing."

Yes, the same Paul Krugman who is far more famous as the virulent anti-Bush/GOP Op-Ed writer for the New York Times, caught in numerous lies over the years as the DNC voice on economics.

Nice try.

[gilor]

I just bought a knife at Wally world the other day. It's a Kershaw Model 1620H3. Excellent American made knife, at $34.98 it was a bargain. I did not buy any chinese crap.

[Tinian]

The article is crap:

Wal-Mart has the power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors.

No it doesn't.

Nobody is forced to sell to Wal-Mart and nobody but a fool would sell to Wal-Mart if it killed their profits.

You have to be an idiot to believe this stuff.

[Rate_Determining_Step]

What's up with THAT?! Is this some semi-annual story that this guy puts out?

[Kirkwood]

"Besides, if it wasn't for Wal-Mart, who would keep the economy of our great ally, Communist China, humming?"

Go into ANY local store and what do you find: products made in China. To single out Walmart for this is ridiculous. Companies couldn't afford to have the products made in the US any longer when the cost of labor and materials is so cheap overseas.

[Fiddlstix]

Good heavens how old is this article? Vlasic went "belly up" several years ago. It had nothing to do with Wal Mart. It was mismanagement by the Vlasic family.

Vlasic is now owned by Pinnacle Foods Corporation
(BTW, Pinnacle is not a publicly traded company. The "old" Vlasic company was)

I think I know what I'm talking about. I was a Vlasic shareholder for many years. I watched it's sad demise.)

Insofar as selling pickles in one gallon jars, my grandmother "put up" pickles in one gallon jars. I still have her old pickle crocks. If there are those who've never seen an old pickle crock let me tell you they're Big and heavy. I believe the smallest is about 3 gallons. The most common was 5 gallons.

I believe this to be just another "hit piece" against Wal Mart.
IMHO

[thile44]

You have hit the nail on the head. No one forces any company to sell to Wal-Mart at a discount except their greedy management. No one is forced to shop at Wal-Mart either.

[Wingy]

And the power and allure of Wal-Mart is such that even Jim Wier, the man who said no to Wal-Mart, a man who knows all the reasons why that was the right decision, has slivers of doubt.

"I could go to my grave, and my tombstone could say, 'Here lies the dumbest CEO ever to live. He chose not to sell to Wal-Mart.' "

[Kirkwood]

"I do not shop in Wal-Mart and never will. "

I used to be like you, but no longer. When every other store in the gulf was shut down by Katrina, Walmart opened first and it and Home Depot were the only places you could buy anything for many weeks. I soon found out that Walmart has the same products sold elsewhere, except they were often a lot cheaper. Walmart sells in volume, and doesn't have to rip off the customer by charging inflated prices.

So why should I throw money away just so it lands in someone else's pocket? The products are the same and come from places like China whether they are on the shelf at Walmart or some no-name store which jacks the price up.

[dickmc]

Sorry Should have searched further. Somehow I don't remember reading any of them.