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Thread: What's the deal with Walmart bashers?

  1. #1
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    What's the deal with Walmart bashers?

    I've read a few threads lately about Walmart and how all you can buy there is Chinese made stuff. Last week I spent a significant amount of time shopping at Lowe's, Rite Aid, Walgreens, JoAnn's, Target, Linen & Things (I"ll miss them!), Pier 1, Toys R Us, Tuesday Morning, Walmart and even Tops and Wegmans.
    For the record, the only place I bought something that did NOT say "made in China" was WALMART!!

    So, I'd like to ask the Walmart bashers... What's the deal? Do you have some facts and figures on how much of Walmart's inventory is made in China? Got some sources that compare how much of their stuff is Chinese compared to other retailers? Or are you just repeating BS someone else is spouting without having a clue what you're talking about?

    Just curious

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    Published: December, 2005; Vol. 2, Num. 7
    Documentary Exposes Wal-Mart’s Rip-Off

    Wal-Mart’s image took another strong blow last month as the film documentary, Wal*Mart—the High Cost of Low Price, was released for more than 7000 private screenings nationwide.

    The 98-minute movie by Director Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films uses the personal stories of small towns, local businesses and former Wal-Mart managers to explain what really happens when Wal-Mart moves in:

    * A bunch of low-wage, part-time jobs are created that do not pay enough for employees to purchase Wal-Mart’s own health insurance.
    * Employees are directed to sign up for Medicaid and given the contact information for the local Salvation Army and other charities.
    * Long-established local businesses are forced to close.
    * Downtowns become ghost towns.
    * Environmental problems develop and serious crime multiplies.

    The story is well-told and compelling, though the cinematography might have carried more punch. Even if you love Wal-Mart’s low prices, this movie will make you stop and think. It says, sure, the prices are low, but that’s because the company dumps so much of its costs – particularly health care costs – onto employees, competitors, communities and local and state government. Is this the kind of business that the country needs?

    “Wal-Mart is rampaging through the economy,” says a Middlefield, Ohio, resident who worked at the local hardware store before Wal-Mart came to town and forced its closing, “and no one is doing anything about it.”

    Well, it’s too late for H&H Hardware in Middlefield and a slew of other small businesses across the nation, but more and more people are getting together, now, to do something about Wal-Mart. Greenwald points out that lawsuits in 31 states are pursuing the company for nonpayment of overtime wages, and he highlights the stories of scores of communities that are now fighting to keep Wal-Mart out of their town.

    Take a little over an hour out of your week and watch this documentary;Its very easy to find and there's also a book version of this doc.


    I watched this documentary and it covered how Chinese workers suffer while making peanuts to provide cheap goods for Walmart whose mission statement has gone way off Sam Walton's course as illegal aliens, women;MOST employees and of course underpaid, undernourished and poorly rested Chinese workers labor away so some poor underpaid Walmart workers can get crushed by a mob of retarded bargain hunters.

    No law (enforced) that has to say, "MADE IN CHINA"
    Just ask big pharma, who for over a year was telling the public,
    "Don't buy cheap drugs from Canada or Mexico! The ingredients are inferior to those made in the U.S."
    And it turned out that MOST ingredients for prescription drugs are made in........CHINA subject to little to no inspection.


    Watch the doc. Its excellent;Very entertaining and yes, I still plan on shopping at Wal Mart now and then;Doesn't change the fact that CORPORATE Wal Mart is a prime example of a "greedy, evil corproation that's too powerful for our own good."
    Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys.

    Emma Bull

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    The point wasn't that Walmart doesn't sell Chinese stuff or pay well. The point was there are many other retailers out there selling at least as much Chinese made stuff. Why single ONE of them out?

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    Quote Originally Posted by cookie View Post
    The point wasn't that Walmart doesn't sell Chinese stuff or pay well. The point was there are many other retailers out there selling at least as much Chinese made stuff. Why single ONE of them out?
    Because they are extremely good at setting a bad example?

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    It's all about the Unions (or lack of.)

    The Unions set up anti-WalMart propaganda, and every Tom Dick and Harry fall for it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by cookie View Post
    The point wasn't that Walmart doesn't sell Chinese stuff or pay well. The point was there are many other retailers out there selling at least as much Chinese made stuff. Why single ONE of them out?
    ...Sorry (head is bowed in shame and disgrace)

    I think that Walmart's "everything's made in China image" is because of people's mindset about the deep-discount store (whose advertising seems to cater to "the common people";
    "If its cheap, it must've been made in China!"

    Target, Sears & K-Mart and the rest of the thieves have a better image and I stress the word "image."

    And honestly, most Target stores are "classier looking" than Wal Mart stores which people do notice;Guarentee that "cheap" is equated with "made in China."

    Sooooo Walmart's an easy Target (no pun) because Wal Mart is damn near everywhere:They're ubiquitous;The biggest retailer in the United States so of course they're going to attract more negative attention than the other retailers.
    Coincidence is the word we use when we can't see the levers and pulleys.

    Emma Bull

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    I dont understand it either - however a good point was made about them being everywhere and Targets appearance - as in perceived value.

    As far as minimum wage, a lot of stores pay minimum now.

    Unions killed the auto industry and the steel mills around here, they abused their power and left many famlies without jobs.

    The funny thing that I find is that people want to buy made in America, but yet they don't want to pay the price for it. Things made in America are generally much more expensive as the cost (usually labor) is much much higher than out of the country.

    Walmart also provides jobs that if they weren't here, many people would not be working, period. If they raise the wages, and offer insurance etc etc, the prices in the stores woud go up. People then complain - they want their cake and they want to eat it as well.

    Bottom line is that Walmart is doing nothing different than many other major retailers - those other retailers just aren't as big as Walmart and are not in the spotlight.

    If so many people were genuinely concerned, they would stop shopping there and Walmarts profits would go down and Walmart would step up to plate so to speak.
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    "Unions killed the auto industry"

    You don't know what you are talking about!

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    Walmart is just today's fad. we had twin fair, gold circle, Hills, Ame's, and many others befor. we will soon add Sears and Kmart to the list of old favorites. ten or twenty years from now we will be talking about memories of Target and Walmart as the newest Mega store fad drives them out of business. and the Unions will be complaining about the newest fad store not having union workers.
    Walmart did not drive the small hardware stores out of business bad management did. there are successful stores out there with walmarts near them but we never hear about them just the cry babies who needed someone to blame for their own failure to keep out with the times
    One good thing about growing old is your secrets are safe with your friends they can't remember them either

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    Quote Originally Posted by CAugust View Post
    I dont understand it either - however a good point was made about them being everywhere and Targets appearance - as in perceived value.

    As far as minimum wage, a lot of stores pay minimum now.

    Unions killed the auto industry and the steel mills around here, they abused their power and left many famlies without jobs.

    The funny thing that I find is that people want to buy made in America, but yet they don't want to pay the price for it. Things made in America are generally much more expensive as the cost (usually labor) is much much higher than out of the country.

    Walmart also provides jobs that if they weren't here, many people would not be working, period. If they raise the wages, and offer insurance etc etc, the prices in the stores woud go up. People then complain - they want their cake and they want to eat it as well.

    Bottom line is that Walmart is doing nothing different than many other major retailers - those other retailers just aren't as big as Walmart and are not in the spotlight.

    If so many people were genuinely concerned, they would stop shopping there and Walmarts profits would go down and Walmart would step up to plate so to speak.
    Made in America is not expensive b/c of union labor. All told the price of that labor adds very little to the cost per good (especially considering how many items one employee produces). The problem is that companies wanted bigger profit margins to write their primary shareholders fatter checks, they understood that if they cut labor costs and kept the goods at approximately the same price, their profits would increase.

    Also, I would pay more for made in america *if* I knew I was getting a better product. However, given corporate mindset these days, the guarantee of higher price = better product is not there. I would spend say double the money for *quality* clothing would the shirt say last twice as long. Chances are the shirt is the same poor quality material / assembly (b/c workers don't decide how to assemble they just do what they're told) and will last the same as the "Made in China" shirt.

    Unions *killed* nothing. Management saw an opportunity to increase profit margins while charging the same prices to their consumers. They did it by cutting labor costs. There was no way that American labor could have competed with labor in China at the time those moves were made, unless American workers agreed to work for less than minimum.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Genoobie View Post
    Made in America is not expensive b/c of union labor. All told the price of that labor adds very little to the cost per good ...
    If this were true, we'd still have Trico
    First Amendment rights are like muscles, if you don't exercise them they will atrophy.

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    Quote Originally Posted by mesue View Post
    If this were true, we'd still have Trico
    Tell me, what's the price differential b/w a non-union wiper and a union wiper?

    $1.00? $2.00? I'm sure the differentials are small b/c the companies pocket the difference and charge what the market bears. You didn't understand the point of the post.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Genoobie View Post
    Tell me, what's the price differential b/w a non-union wiper and a union wiper?

    $1.00? $2.00? I'm sure the differentials are small b/c the companies pocket the difference and charge what the market bears. You didn't understand the point of the post.
    Oh, I understood your post. price doesn't matter. What is the number one reason why Trico left and set up shop in Mexico? The cost of doing business in the USA, especially NY State. What makes businesses less cost effective? Unions.
    First Amendment rights are like muscles, if you don't exercise them they will atrophy.

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    Perhaps you find so much made in China wares in all retail stores now because it was Wal-Mart that was the paradigm in retail that encouraged their suppliers to go to China becasue of the cheap labor market.

    Under Sam Walton wasn't Wal-Mart and Sam's Club noted for their "buy American" sales pitch? Didn't all that change when Sam died and the greedy family members took over; where there was at last count 5 billionaire Walton's?

    To stay competative, didn't the other retailers have to follow suit? That's the way I remember a lot of it. You don't remember when Wal-Mart openly bragged that they were the 800 lb gorilla in the room and that they would devour their competition?

    Hell, we didn’t need all those good paying jobs anyway, cheaper is better, right. And aren’t we all better off now?

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    I go out of my way to buy american made stuff. I am willing to pay more to buy an american made product over a foreign product.

    Which is why I have 3 fords sitting in my drive way, and a garage full of AMERICAN made tools.

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