Damn it I wrote my whole blog and then I switch networks and it deleted it so if this comes up twice some where sorry... To be so arrogant as to think that we have created an infallible economic system that in it's very nature will never need adjusting is foolish. To assert that a single Salt Lake Community College economics class has given you insight that economic analysts all over the world have been oblivious to is stupid. I would like to start this blog by acknowledging Walmart's right to exist under our current system of laws. There business plan could not be described as anything other than strategically superior. Whether or not you support Walmart has very little consequence for anyone other than yourself. It is America's particular brand of capitalism that deserves the criticism. American corporations live their lives year to year, and where that my look good on paper for the investor who know how to manipulate the system. It does not produce the long lasting stability essential for long term growth. In our current situation it would probably be in many corporations best interest to hold on to many of the important assets they are selling, and take a few years of bad press in order to make a strong return when the market swings. GM won't do that though because this year is all that matters. How do you change that? Well there needs to be a major paradigm shift in America as a whole, back to a time when quality and longevity were characteristics that were embraced. A responsibility to our country that has been tarnished by a string of presidents and other politicians that have uprooted the American peoples trust in the system, and restrictions on outsourcing and other unethical business practices. We can still make the rules as long as we're not shooting the ball.
As most people, I shop at WAL-MART! Not only can you find everything at Wal-Mart, it also has really low prices and good deals. I can't see how the major super store can be a negative influence, if anything it's has helped our economy drastically.
As one guy pointed out in class, it's capitalism at it's best. Wal-Mart has created jobs and helped develop communities. If so many people didn't like shopping at Wal-Mart it would show in the stores sales and production, however everytime im in there I have to wait a least 10 minutes in the check-out line. Yes, the 10 items or less check-out line to be exact. It's the simple concepts of supply and demand. Customers demand Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart supplies them with every day needs.
Today there is over 7,800 Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Club locations in 16 markets worldwide. The super store employs more than 2 million associates, and serve more than 100 million customers per year. (Walmart.com) How do these statistics not help our economy?
I like to joke around about how Wal-Mart is the devil in all of us and is a conspiracy by the government to take over our lives and make us depend on nothing but them. In reality, Wal-Mart as stated above is a superior business proposal. If it wasnt, Target, KMart, and Smiths would be joing the ranks of all in one stores to offer fashion, hardwear, grocery, sporting goods, tools and toys all in the same place. Yeah you can go to the mall and get most of that, But you will pay 4 times as much, deal with 10 times as many punk ass wannabe skater/emo kids with thier little sisters pants on half up thier legs. But no, walmart offers everything at a low price and as much as you may hate it, they will always be around no matter if you shop or not, the 5 houses around you in your neighborhood are for sure going to go there. The fact that they employ over 2 million employees world wide is astounding. I am sure every story you hear of a little mom-n-pop store going out of business because of Wal-Mart is true and sad. But how many jobs do they creat every year by making that store. How many lives do they save by opening 1 store and offering a place to work, get insurance and provide for a family in times like these.
Wal-Mart, I do not see anything wrong with a company that sells everything cheaper compared to other places, and also a store that gives people a ton of jobs to people all over the world. I believe that these people that are protesting against Wal-Mart, unfortunately, have nothing else better to do, plus they are probably mad that they were not the ones that had the idea first. It bothers me to hear such stupidity while there are more important things happening in this country that need that level of attention. There is a Wal-Mart everywhere in the world, they are just like McDonald’s, there is a MacDonald’s everywhere in the world and the only way to compete with them is to have a better food, so do so, instead of just complaining about a company that had figure it out. Plus I really do not know what are these people complaining about, I used to work for Sears 7 years ago and at that time they used to pay people 6.50$ per hour starting, my friend just got hired by Sears a month ago and she is getting paid 6.75$ per hour, why are these people only picking on Wal-Mart when they are paying people at a rate of 9.00$ per hour? I also think that if protesters had their way there would be a ton of jobs lost and the end result would be worse than it was before. The same complaints were against Bill Gates and his massive corporation, protesters that had the same complaints about Microsoft as they do for Wal-Mart, wanted to stop the monopoly and let other companies share the wealth, however how is this not so already. There are millions of Americans who have jobs because of these companies whether it is distribution, manufacturing, consulting, production, software, engineering, invention, patents, lawyers, and on and on. These protesters are ignorant and jealous people without any regard for their fellow Americans and the consequences it would bring if they had their way.
I always joke about how i hate wal-mart and how i hate going there, but i dont know of any other store who tries to appeal to everyone like wal mart does. but it is a super smart idea so they can create the largest market share possible and gain the most money. it does make lots of sense. if you need something and your not sure where one would go in order to purchase it, one would probably go to wal-mart in quest of something that they didnt know where to go because wal-mart carries almost everything. if its not at a local walmart, they have a huge online selection. as much as i make fun of wal mart, they really are a great company, they dont always have the lowest prices, but they do save the average person 2000 dollars a year. thats great news for me, i would love to have an extra two grand a year.
as for me, i am a fan of walmart and i like to shop there.
I says, I don't give the craps about WalMart,Ok. It's mean I shop only what its needed. I'm live in the world but not of the world. but I hope we each individual able pursuit their own goals or objectives. This is not time to tell which to good verse bad. because we can argue all day about this very complex issues. I think, we as the human doesn't have much of choices, doesn't we?. And who is telling us we can or can't do such of things. But, I don't see why we aren't work as hard and feeling greater satisfaction then this. Come together working together and die together in unlimited dreams. WalMart is absolutely the monopoly(one firm). They are control over price and resource markets. Block and eliminate the entry of the pure competition by using the collusions. Many pure competition will lower their price which mean no economic profits plus many completion making its harder to stay in business. d=D=MR however, because a monopolist can manipulate output and price by seeks maximum total profit, not not maximum price. Also, in monopoly the price discrimination is real in many cases like electric utilities or railroad s company in 1960. This can affect both buyer and seller. The question is how much tolerance do we have?
add me to the list ! i am also one who hates wal-mart, yet i shop there once in a while, love hate relationship with wal-mart. the reason i hate wal-mart is that my mom worked for Fred Meyer which is now Smiths Marketplace here in Utah. the reason they closed down the Fred Meyer on 3500 south (which is now a car dealership) was because wal-mart came to town. it does affect other stores but fuck they have some cheap shit so i will keep going to wal-mart to buy my food! as for the economic problems it causes thats all bullshit walmart.com puts it in words how many people they hire and how much they sell so what else can i say wal mart is the shit and i mean that in both good and bad ways.
@ MattMcCandless if you recall the main reason I got into the debate was when you mentioned that the government should impose tariffs on Wal-Mart's trade and then as I recall I said something along the lines that we shouldn't have the government put tariffs on trade because it was one of the causes for great depression. see link http://americanhistory.about.com/od/greatdepression/tp/greatdepression.htm Under reason number four.
As to what I was referring to with the economy was that we as society will choose whats best for the economy. If a business does good and succeeds that's great if a business sucks we should let them fail. The government has done way to much governing and needs to keep their asses out of saving and bailing out as well as greatly restricting businesses. I didn't say our economy had a great system it doesn't because the government sticks its business in everyone's noses even when they cant keep themselves out of debt.
The market I was referring to was you, me, the American people as well as outsiders that buy and sell in the American marketplace.
As for Wal-Mart being all bad yeah it definitely screws over some small businesses and decreases wages all around. Wal-Mart doesn't have everything though and so people will definitely go to other stores to shop. Other big box stores don't carry everything either. For example at the moment I currently work at big box that's orange in color and since I'm part time there I do have to take it in the ass quite often. However every day I have to send customers out to small local business because my store doesn't carry many of the items that are necessary to people's every day household dilemmas.
As for being oblivious and stupid I guess I must of offended you some how when I spoke since you seemed to be trying to offend me. I'm definitely not oblivious to what the Economist say and not stupid because I actually use real evidence and not just hearsay. So here is some links for both the pros and cons of Wal-Mart on the economy and as you might expect its bad and good.
And if you have sixty minutes which probably no one does, here is a video link for a Frontline episode on the subject that looks at both sides of the issue. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/view/#rest
I guess my only real conclusion to this is that it might be a good idea to start learning Chinese.
I learned something that I did not know on this episode. The world economic guru shed some light on the fact that some of Wal-Mart’s products come out of third world county sweat shops where these workers get paid in peanuts. But the flip side to this is that at least these people are getting paid which is better than the alternative of going hungry. We seem to judge the world by are standard of living when the truth is, it’s all relative. If they were able to pay them ten bucks an hour, they would all retire in a year.
My only fear is the concept of making the world flat with big business. One day we are going to miss the mom and pop shops and their uniqueness. I am already irritated in my travels seeing the same old thing. I will argue that big business kills culture.
After all that I as well shop at Wal-Mart. We can all complain until we are blue in the face but our actions speech louder than words and in he end what means most to all of us is our own wallets… My biggest beef with Wal-Mart are the crowds; I need to be in a patient mood to go to that circus.
it is unfortunate that Wal-Mart can kill most mom and pop businesses but I can't honestly afford to shop anywhere else, they have all of what I need and most of what I want so it (for me anyway) is a one stop shop. Unfortunatly it is poorly stocked when it comes to tabletop games so untill it reconfigures it's RPG/Card/Board game policy all of my game stores are perfectly safe. Which makes me very happy. (I do have to ask, how is their book selection?)
Haha, I hate Wal-mart because I only because I go in rich and come out broke as hell! Wal-mart has always taken good care of my everyday need. They are a one stop shop for the local community and provides great prices and services. I am sorry for all the mom's and pop's shop out there, but business is business.
I'm pretty sure Wal-mart might even take over GM & Chrysler, imagine every day low prices on cars! j/k
I personally dont' shop at wal-mart because I feel they are more concerned with profit rather than the person. Now in the movie it showed us some loving mother who is raising her kids on 8.50 an hour. Ummmm Fuck she is. I work for 8.50 an hour and as a person who is sinlge, no kids, going to school, I can barely live off that so not sure where all her money is coming from, cuz I know the 8.50 an hour wal-mart isn't giving her all that she needs. However, I do feel that it is good for some areas, because it brings new items, and jobs that may would not of been there if it was not for wal-mart. They also do bring the lowest prices, for the most part, GG target item or whatever they call it to get customers into the stores.
On the flip side, they did not mention the thousands of jobs wal-mart took away from people. By having such low prices they go to the manufacturers and say I will only carry your item for this amount, and those prices are too low. And the businesses that do go out of business are the American ones that are unionized with American workers making decent money for a decent living. So for low prices you want American workers to be jobless, and let wal-mart go over seas and pay people 2 dollars an hour and make a 256 billion dollar profit?? I will not shop at wal-mart but I dont' are if you do. They are a power house business that many could learn from, I think they have just gone extreme on the greed of the profit side :(
As much as I hate Wal-Mart, I have to admit I do shop there. I agree with Mason when he says that being single with no kids and making 8.50 an hour does not pay for jack shit! But hey its something. This episode paraded a big fucking banner of the mistreatment of WM employee's and blah blah blah.....my friend works for them and enjoys it. Now maybe not everybody does but whoever it was in the episode that was anti WM was making a huge blanket statement about the treatment of employees.
I do think that WM has an ugly monopoly on goods in that market because they low-ball everybody. The suppliers, the local competition, and communities who don't want them there. In Sandy, UT where the Geneva pit used to be on 13th East and about 98th ish South there is currently a WM and tons of other stores too. I remember growing up at the top of the hill near there and hearing people complaining about WM wanting to build on that spot. The locals fought them off for quite some time until WM pulled that imminent domain bullshit. But there is good and bad because of it. All those dozens of stores that came with WM generate a lot of revenue for the that area, so...it can go both ways.
Im a fan of the Wal Mart. Sorry you can hate me for it, but Im not stopping! I totally agree with Jordan Clark in saying if wal mart saves me 2000 bones a year hell ya i'm gonna shop there. I know that they have put a lot of companies out of business but it helps the community get exactly what they need without having to go to 3 or 4 different places to find it. I gotta go shopping, so wal mart here i come.
I love Wal Mart! They have almost everything you can think of. I think its dumb that people refuse to shop there just because they are "taking over the world". It's cheap, close and a one stop shop. The only down fall of Wal Mart is it is ALWAYS packed!! Even at 3 in the morning there are still tons of people there. I know some people that have worked at Wal Mart and they got paid pretty decent. People just need to stop complaining and worry about more important things in thier life than a grocery store.
The problem that I have with Wal-Mart is the quality of items that they sell are poor. See the reason that the mom-and-pop stores are going out of business is because most of their goods are better quality, but people don’t want the better quality so nothing is sold. It’s like a good pair of shoes you can buy from a good store, and the ones you buy at payless. In my experience the expensive shoes last longer and are more comfortable. The payless shoes die out in a few short months. Wal-Mart has the ability to have sweat shops over seas and so they don’t require them to be of good quality and they can sell them for super cheap. Mom-and-pop stores can’t, so they go out of business because Wal-Mart is cheap. But its what the people want, so who can complain? We give the people what they want. The argument that no one is willing to work the sweatshops is LAME. With the economy as it is and so many people out of work I know many people that would do anything for job! Any job. And what about the illegal immigrants who stand around all morning and sometimes get chosen for a job and sometimes don’t? Don’t you think they would be willing to have a steady secure job as well?
Location, location, location. This is how I feel about Wal-Mart. There are some that I really like and some that I think are kind of dirty and unkept. As a general I like the store. It's prices are low and it's people generally helpful. I can see though the fear of a wal-mart coming to town and taking jobs. My parents are divorced and my father was living in Wyoming running a animal feed store. When Wal-mart came to town he went out of business a year later. Yes Wal-mart brought many jobs to town and helped out many people but it did take my dad's and he did not want to go work at Wal-mart. I guess you have both sides of the story. Some people are not going to come out on top in the job market with a Wal-mart coming to town. Some people like the young lady in the episode will though. My dad was able to find another job. One that maybe he even likes better. Kids in the town were able to be employed which kept them out of trouble. So overall I think Wal-mart is alright. As long as there are Targets, Smith's, and Albertson's to keep there from being a monopoly then that is fine with me.
I'm a big fan of Wal-Mart. I'm not the type that when I go out shopping It's not always the brand names that's most important but rather the wallet. During these times especially, I love Wal-Mart even more because it's a one stop shopping experience with excellent product value and customer service that would make anybody come back for more. The notion that they treat their employees bad. I don't know about that because I personally have a really good friend that works for Wal-Mart and he loves his job. So I'm saying that It all depends on each individual case or maybe it's location. About the anti-Wal-Mart campaigners, they must not have anything else better to do or maybe find another way to be famous. It's simple, "Supply and Demand". Go figure...
Get ready everyone, here comes the United States of Wal-Bucks. Pretty soon the United States will be ran by the CEO's of Wal-Mart and Starbucks. I love Wal-Mart. Things are cheap there, and every time I go there I see hilarious people! It is a very entertaining place sometimes. I can't help but laugh at the parents who have all of their children harnessed to their belts. Can't wait until we see the tabloids of Octomom we all of her 9000 kids strapped to her.
I think that the controversy over Wal-Mart was started by people that are jealous of the success of Wal-Mart. the fact is that if Wal-Mart was not around then we would be living a lot less of a comfortable lifestyle. I understand that Wal-Mart has a habit of driving small business bankrupt but that is simply survival of the fittest.
When it comes to Wal-Mart I believe the biggest complaint that critics have is that this mega store is killing mom and pop shops and therefore it is seen as an evil corporation but do we really want our economy to depend on small stores that can barely make sales? I thought the main idea of the American economy had been that only the strong companies survive. If a business is meant to fail, then let it fail and another will step up and take its place. It is because of this that our country has grown over the decades, if we start to bail out companies that are meant to fail, then all we are doing is putting a stop to our economies growth. I believe that a business like Wal-Mart is good for the economy and if there ever comes a time that it starts to fail to meet demand, then I also believe another business should step in to take it’s place.
First I'd like to say... I LOVE WALMART! being a poor student I cannot afford to go anywhere else to get cat litter or cat food. The difference in prices is huge! maybe one day when I have a higher income I will switch and go to Target or wherever else...(not likely). However, I have heard alot of bad things about Walmart and the way they treat their employees but isnt almost everyone upset at their manager at one time or another? I know I have been.
I am a little worrisome about the future of walmart and how it might take over the world. but as for right now I enjoy their low prices and cute clothes... yes I said it. If you dig deep enough you can find them.
I appreciated Penn and Tellers explaination of how the clothes are made... It is sad to see children working but they made a good point that by having them work, they are giving them better working conditions then if they were working on the street. That I do support.
who cares if wal-mart is a super store and takes over the entire world? their prises are simply unbeatable. I shop there and I do not care one bit about it. people are trying to turn this into armagedon or the anti-christ. I say its no big deal. once the economy crashes, everyone will start at square one. but why is it such a big issue anyway? and why do people care so much about it? if they have such a huge peoblem with it then go create your own store with even lower prices. I dare ya. admit it, you live for wal-mart.
I used to be one of the anti Wal-Mart folk. I had friends tell me that it was taking over America and they were treating there workers like shit, all sorts of bad things. Why did I believe them well because I wasn’t educated enough about the situation to do anything else. For many years we lived next to a smiths and that’s were me and my family shopped. Not because were anti-Harmon’s or anti-Reams It was because it was the closest and most convenient. Now I live near Wal-Mart and that is where I buy my groceries.
The people that work there are nice and extremely helpful my mom is really sick and the pharmacy is one the nicest I’ve had to deal with. Do I love Wal-Mart? No, but I don’t love Smiths or Target either. It sucks the small businessman is getting bent over but that’s what our society is all about, supply and demand and the strong surviving. WE may say we hate it but it a small price to pay to live the way we all do.
I hate Wal-Mart. I refuse to shop there. There are much more important things than saving money. If I want to save money, I shop online. Wal-mart has a shitty selection, and is way too fucking busy. I hate that you step foot in there with thousands of other people. I am not so naive to think that my opinion matters, because there's no chance Wal-mart will go away, at least until people realize that their great deals are lower-quality products and get some damn taste. Wal-mart should die, simply because the atmosphere is horrible and I would pay more to not have to deal with the people there or the low-grade things they sell.
walmart does more good than evil. walmart is one of the leading employers in america. without walmart where would all those people work. if society is not willing to pay more for the same product than walmart is going to exist forever. walmart has done nothing wrong they are mearly trying to be the best store on the market. there is nothing wrong with providing jobs and selling inexpensive merchandise.
I work at wal-mart. They pay good and I love people working there and it is not like lots people say. They treat me very good and I think they really care about community and thier assciate.I do not hate or love walmart. It is just place that pay my bill and cheapest place to shop and close. I like to buy stuff for cheap. I feel sorry that other small company had to close their store because of wal-mart/ But even thoguh I do not work for wal mart, I do not blame them. Becuase especially right now, economy is so bad, if store sell for cheap it will help my family. I am donating money for cancer people from my every pay check/ Walmart try to help people who need help. If they decide to close walmart right now, there are so many people lose thier job.
i agree with my wife. we both work for wal-mart and of all the jobs that i have had it pays the most. i have worked at other places doing the same job and i can tell you that Kmart didn't pay as well and best buy pays about the same as walmart. i worked for a pharmaceutical warehouse before walmart's warehouse and they paid quite a bit less, but i made more money due to the massive amount of overtime. 11.75 there compared to the 17.75 i make at walmart. the benifets were also very similar as well. is walmart perfect? HELL NO!!!! but neither is anywhere else that i have worked. i worked in a metal fabrication shop where the employees taped porn to my workstation and the boss just gave me the finger and told me to go back to work when i complained about it. this would never happen at walmart. i have also applied at places that were union operated and i am sorry, but when they told me how much of my pay was going to support the union officers, i walked out. the pay wasn't really any better. one was a factory job and they topped out at 18 an hour. at the time walmart where i work was topping out at 17.50 and within the same 2 year time frame. the union demanded rotating shifts where you would work day shift one week and graves the next. walmart allows you to choose the shift you work on and then you stay on the shift. plus i don't pay union dues. on the other hand if you become management they will make you change shifts and departments whenever, but after talking to the managers, they said that their bosses will try to keep them on a certain schedule if life outside of work requires it. i will say that walmart, like any other place i have worked, really does want you to belong to them and that isn't always expressed in a good way. also like any other place i have worked, walmart is a work in progress.
I have no problem whatsoever with wal-mart really. I enjoy their prices on a lot of things. Hell I just not too long ago bought a Philips 47" Television from there. Trust me I looked around at many other stores and Wal-mart had the same quality of TV's, just cheaper. By the way, a little off the subject but Best Buy is definitely not the "Best Buy" if you know what I mean. Anyway people bitch about wal-mart cause they have nothing of real importance to bitch about. It's a store, live with it. Times are changing and most people prefer these superstores in place of the old fashion ma and pa stores.
I live in Bountiful and there recently was this big to do about a wal-mart coming into centerville. Everyone thought that it would increase traffic, they thought that it would destroy our community with bringing unwanted immigrants to shop, they thought a lot of things. None of them were true. It's a great place to shop and I support them. Plus another reason people bitch about it is because they are pissed that they didn't come up with the idea. Think if one of those protesters had a business of their own that was flourishing as wal-mart is, I guarantee they wouldn't give a damn about wal-mart.
I honestly have no problem with Wal-Mart either. I personally don't shop there but i don't think that a store such as that should be protested against. As the show explained, it is giving people more job opportunites and in the economy crisis we are in now it doesn't seem like such a bad thing. Though i'm trying to see why people wou'd be pissed at WM i can't connect any ideas. Maybe it's the mom and pop shops that are having to close up because WM offers their produts at greater and cheaper prices but what those shops should consider is that most people can't afford to be spending like they could have say a year or two ago. Wal-Mart to mee seems just like another means to an end. Why bitch about a place that supplies jobs and offers products at a lower price? Don't see anything wrong with that and fyi....most corporations are corrupted so why attack Wal-Mart and not other places like Target or your local Smiths? Where is the difference there.
Why some people get pissed about Wal-Mart is somewhat understandable in this sense, Wal-Mart has the big dollars to throw around in order to get what they want. Not too many people like it when big money stamps them out but here’s what I think. Wal-Mart fulfills a big consumer desire for convenience and low prices, this means they are here to stay but the small personalized experience people get in other types of business models is desirable as well. Wall mart is not going to ruin the open market from operation efficiently. People like variety, not only in the availability of products but the experience of how they receive those products. I don’t think price rules completely so let Wal-Mart do their thing and to those who loose sleep over it, go get your business started. Chances are people who don’t like the big box will keep your doors open and generate enough cash flow to keep a small business with lower overhead alive. You know what they say… The bigger they are the harder they fall. When they do those who aren’t to busy whining about the competition will be positioned to scoop up all they can handle and leave the picketers scratching their heads looking for work. One thing that just came to mind is how those t-shirt makers opposing Wal-Mart in this P&T segment were in a sense, simply employees of Wal-Mart themselves by making money from Wal-Mart in their fight against it. How many others anti this or anti that are really just vultures feeding on the kill of the big predator? There are too many people out there complaining instead of getting their own thing going. I was really happy to see how people who would otherwise be unemployed were doing just fine and holding their own by working at Wal-Mart. TAKE THAT AS AN EXAMPLE ALL YOU WALMART HATERS?
Ever since I've seen this movie I've heard more coments on people hating wal mart. They all have different reasons why they hate it but I thought all their excuses were lame. I personally shop at wal mart because they basically have everything you need for a really good price. With the econamy now days I think everyone should go to wal mart!! They are the only business who is going up at this time. They also treat their employee's really good which helps out in this tough time. The whole sweatshops thing was just a bunch of garbage!! People across the world needs jobs just as much as we do or even more so when people say that they are at a sweatshop they are actually supporting their families. They don't have to work there but they CHOOSE to. It's not like its punishment or anything. For all I know it helps them out!!! Everyone should give wal mart a break because it really is a good store!!!!
I've never heard people hating WalMart until watched this movie. WalMart is one of the store that I've always went shop. I quiet like there. The employees of WalMart are just like every other employee in every other stores, try to do their job and able to thier family or themselves. Hating WalMart by stealing other stores' business, yeah right, try to make your business better than WalMart offer, instead whining around. Business is just like competition, do your best to best other. This competition only making us stronger. And isen't the business is one part of Capitalism?
Unfortunately, i do all of my shopping at wal-mart. you just cant beat the prices. Before this movie, i was aware about the Walmart haters out there. But i dont believe walmart is all that bad. Walmart creates alot of jobs for people who would not have the opportunity to work at all. Seeing Walmarts everywhere does get annoying, but these stores have revived some communities who were in need of jobs. The only businesses which are mad are the ones who can not compete with this corporation. But these small time stores need to stop bitching and figure out a way to compete. Lowest prices is not the only reason people shop at Walmart.
while working there full time seems fine, i've only heard that the part-time workers had all the problems and Penn and Teller didn't go into that. so as for all the other stuff so what, better deal, even if sweat shops they're the best they got. it is kinda a depressing that ma and pa shops get closed down and hell even restraunts... R.I.P. Dos Seranoes. but people are still going to go.
The biggest thing about walmart is the convience. It can save you time from have to go to store to store. Now just becasue there are walmart doesn't mean i will jsut shop there. I like to go to Target and Smiths. sometimes it is nice to have a walmart special when are in a city that you are not familiar with, you can count on walmart being close by. I also think that some walmart are nicer. The only thing i hate is how there are shoping carts scattered around in the parking lot and i have can never park anywhere because i fear that a shopping carth will be left and hit my car. When i got to target and smiths they clean there carts up unlike walmart.
I will agree I don't like to shop at walmart but the main reason is all the god damn people! First you can't find a parking spot that you don't have to walk a great distance to get there. Then once it takes you five minutes to get all the shit you need to buy, you have to stand in line for another half hour just to check out. That is my only beef with the place. I love that they sell things at a discount, they are the only place who sells my eye drops at a decent price. I understand how they can kill the little places but look at how many jobs wal mart brings to the area. They are huge and they get old people off the street to be greeters so they don't drive!
Wal-mart has good things said about them and bad. But you hear more of the bad stuff. I like the fact that walmart is providing jobs to the people of the US and now there going globle its also going to provide more jobs to the people that are struggling in other counties. But in order to make it better they need to know how to treat there workers better because it is them doing all the wrk for the company. Every body can say what ever they want because its there mind not mine.
My family has always been against Wal-Mart and would never shop there. I've always been down for helping out local stores and farmers markets and stuff like that. I think quality is way more important then quantity. Wal- Mart just comes in and takes over everything. And it works. Everyone is always there, and its always packed, no matter what time. The problem with helping out those small local buisnesses is they're not cheap. And in times like these where I got let go from my job and I am a poor college student needing to buy school supplies, Wal-Mart always had the best prices. I agree with the the post above me that they do help a lot of people with jobs. They seem like they are always hiring and looking for people who need work.
i am at a loss here. I cannot help but like shoppping there because it has such low prices but i dunno. they make things in sweat shops, but wait they are nice sweat shops. what the hell? that is like "oh but its a nice torture chamber cuz they don't torture you all day. i don't know though. after watching this it reminded me of the south park episode of "something walmart this way comes" if you have not watched this episode i highly recomend it. It is so funny because it is true. i can't make it you go on without me stan, i have to buy these stickers they are only 50 cents! ha ha ha so true.
I personally don't do my shopping at Wal-Mart, but not because I have anything against the company. Quality is more important to me than price. I would rather spend a little more money on something that is going to last, not something that I will be replacing shortly because it fell apart on me. They are a business, and all the businesses I know want to make money. If people don't like the way they are doing it they don't have to support them.
I like Walmart. I see no problem with it. Well I do understand the problem of when/where a Walmart will be built, small business owners will complain. However, this is what america is about: capitalism. Walmart has a winning formula. They made money. They expanded. And it continues to grow. Its the american dream at its best. They offer a lot a jobs for the area and is good for the the local economy and also the national economy. The only complaint I have is the need for 50+ handicap parking spots!
Wal-Mart has it pros and its cons. Now for those people trying to sale t-shirts they need to find a real job. Wal-Mart had made a lot of companies go under and have made a lot of companies really rich. I have taken a few business classes and most of my teachers have said that Wal-Mart is a great model to try and run your business by. My wife hates Wal-Mart because she believe all there stuff is crap. To a point she is right. Most of the stuff I buy at Wal-Mart last a month or two but it is a lot cheaper. I have read a report that Wal-Mart put cheaper prices in the stores that are in the communities that have higher income house holds then those in communities with lower income house holds. They now that people that are better of will take the time to shop around were people that have lower income go to Wal-Mart because they believe that they have the lowest price around with shopping around. I ok with Wal-Mart I may not shop there a lot but I do go there.
Hmmm Walmart.... I hate the hell out of walmart. Well actually I must not hate them that bad because I got lots of stuff from there like my favorite T, and always goldfish-only 12 cents a piece Awesome! I love their free samples and their flour tortillas. The thing I hate is the size. First of all they take jobs from all the places the put out. But they replace them with all their jobs so whats wrong. Well if you want every damn store to be walmart well I guess nothing but I personally dont want that. They are putting a walmart in Moab Utah and its going to change Moab forever. No more unique ma and pa stores. Instead its going to be ma and pa changing you oil and the walmart express lube. The thing I hate most about walmart is all the people and their stupid shopping carts. I cant even walk through the store. But I do shop there so what can ya do. I recommend the grocery walmarts not the supercenters, less crowded.
I understand the argument against the big box stores, but this is America. Capitalism at its finest. Obviously, the cheapest store is going to sell the most merchandise. It's survival of the fittest. To me, it's not worth paying the extra money just to feel like I'm supporting a small company. If you can't hang, then that's tought shit. Move to Russia. Then you can have the exact same size store with the exact same shit and make the exact same amount of money as everyone else. I'll take my chances.
walmart! possibly the best super store possible! everyone shops here! well not technically everyone... but most people i know shop here and love it. i mean you can buy everything you need here. not to mention it is always CHEAP! usually a few dollars under what other stores charge, also they have something that most people dont know, they have price matching! so even if another store does sell it cheaper, just bring in the ad and walmart will definitely match it for you, so again, all you need is this one store! also walmart provides so much jobs for many different people and people love working at walmart. i dont know how anyone can talk crap on walmart. and also most walmarts are open 24/7 which is also great!
I actually work at walmart as an auto technician and as an associate I can't complain because I get discounts from everything whether the quality of the product is shitty or not, I believe walmart is a great company they contribute back to the community as much as they can, even though walmart may put some people/ small companies out of jobs doesn't mean they're doing it on purpose. Companies grow and improve and some companies struggle and die. The economy right now is really bad and walmart helps by hiring as many people as they can, nearly everyone i've seen apply have been hired they never lay anyone off and they help support families as much as they can. I see that there a lot of people that hate walmart just because of there structure and bad quality in products but in knowing that there are people out there that will see these things and try to make them better for everyone. Walmart strives for success! They try to make things a bit easier in life for others by selling things for cheaper prices against there competitors who doesn't want a good deal?.. If you're on budget walmart meets the budgets most of the time, and hearing about how bad walmart treats there employees is total Bull Shit to me I'm an employee there, I know what it's like and to me I love it! Everyone is welcoming and I always leave with a smile on face everyday you could say.
I love walmart. I have no money. Who cares if they take over the world? they have good cheap food and the products I need in my every day living. No I don't shop there. It is absolutely ridiculous to say they will take over the world thought. I do not like the fact that everything they sell is so cheap because they have sweat shops. That needs to be changed immediately
I really don't feel one way or the other about walmart. I've boughten stuff from there a couple different times and it does seem to be cheaper than other places so hey i'm not complaining. I think that the people in the show who protested walmart were complete idiots. Why the hell would you waste that much time money and effort protesting something that does good for a lot of people and obviously isn't going away anytime soon. I guess it's not too surprising though because unfortunately those people looked like they literally had nothing better to do.
I shop at Wal-Mart. I go there because it is cheap and...cheap. I do not go there for their great customer service, because basically, their service sucks. They have everything I need, and it is super affordable, so why wouldn't I go there? The issues around Wal-Mart don't discourage me from shopping there, they just make me realize that every day, there are more and more stupid Americans out there. If you don't like Wal-Mart, then shop at Target or wherever you want. The more time you waste protesting Wal-Mart, the more attention they get, and hey, any company enjoys free publicity. I have a friend from Cambodia, he worked in a sweat shop, and he was one of the most well off people in his village. He had a computer and a motorcycle (most people in his village had to walk or take the bus). He was grateful for the job. Just because we wouldn't want to do the job because America is lazy, doesn't mean that others aren't thankful that they get to work somewhere.
New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff works to expose human rights violations primarily internationally. He has often been criticized for his endorsement of sweat shops overseas. But his position is the same as mine has long been: the conditions within those factories, while unpleasant and poorly compensated by our standards, are vastly superior to any alternatives offered locally. The life chances of people not lucky enough be hired there are truly very, very slim. People who hate Wal-Mart because of cheap overseas labor are simply too shortsighted to acknowledge that at times, the global economy can benefit the poor of other countries.
Damn it I wrote my whole blog and then I switch networks and it deleted it so if this comes up twice some where sorry... To be so arrogant as to think that we have created an infallible economic system that in it's very nature will never need adjusting is foolish. To assert that a single Salt Lake Community College economics class has given you insight that economic analysts all over the world have been oblivious to is stupid. I would like to start this blog by acknowledging Walmart's right to exist under our current system of laws. There business plan could not be described as anything other than strategically superior. Whether or not you support Walmart has very little consequence for anyone other than yourself. It is America's particular brand of capitalism that deserves the criticism. American corporations live their lives year to year, and where that my look good on paper for the investor who know how to manipulate the system. It does not produce the long lasting stability essential for long term growth. In our current situation it would probably be in many corporations best interest to hold on to many of the important assets they are selling, and take a few years of bad press in order to make a strong return when the market swings. GM won't do that though because this year is all that matters. How do you change that? Well there needs to be a major paradigm shift in America as a whole, back to a time when quality and longevity were characteristics that were embraced. A responsibility to our country that has been tarnished by a string of presidents and other politicians that have uprooted the American peoples trust in the system, and restrictions on outsourcing and other unethical business practices. We can still make the rules as long as we're not shooting the ball.
ReplyDeleteAs most people, I shop at WAL-MART! Not only can you find everything at Wal-Mart, it also has really low prices and good deals. I can't see how the major super store can be a negative influence, if anything it's has helped our economy drastically.
ReplyDeleteAs one guy pointed out in class, it's capitalism at it's best. Wal-Mart has created jobs and helped develop communities. If so many people didn't like shopping at Wal-Mart it would show in the stores sales and production, however everytime im in there I have to wait a least 10 minutes in the check-out line. Yes, the 10 items or less check-out line to be exact. It's the simple concepts of supply and demand. Customers demand Wal-Mart and Wal-Mart supplies them with every day needs.
Today there is over 7,800 Wal-Mart stores and Sam’s Club locations in 16 markets worldwide. The super store employs more than 2 million associates, and serve more than 100 million customers per year. (Walmart.com) How do these statistics not help our economy?
I like to joke around about how Wal-Mart is the devil in all of us and is a conspiracy by the government to take over our lives and make us depend on nothing but them. In reality,
ReplyDeleteWal-Mart as stated above is a superior business proposal. If it wasnt, Target, KMart, and Smiths would be joing the ranks of all in one stores to offer fashion, hardwear, grocery, sporting goods, tools and toys all in the same place. Yeah you can go to the mall and get most of that, But you will pay 4 times as much, deal with 10 times as many punk ass wannabe skater/emo kids with thier little sisters pants on half up thier legs. But no, walmart offers everything at a low price and as much as you may hate it, they will always be around no matter if you shop or not, the 5 houses around you in your neighborhood are for sure going to go there.
The fact that they employ over 2 million employees world wide is astounding. I am sure every story you hear of a little mom-n-pop store going out of business because of Wal-Mart is true and sad. But how many jobs do they creat every year by making that store. How many lives do they save by opening 1 store and offering a place to work, get insurance and provide for a family in times like these.
Wal-Mart, I do not see anything wrong with a company that sells everything cheaper compared to other places, and also a store that gives people a ton of jobs to people all over the world. I believe that these people that are protesting against Wal-Mart, unfortunately, have nothing else better to do, plus they are probably mad that they were not the ones that had the idea first. It bothers me to hear such stupidity while there are more important things happening in this country that need that level of attention. There is a Wal-Mart everywhere in the world, they are just like McDonald’s, there is a MacDonald’s everywhere in the world and the only way to compete with them is to have a better food, so do so, instead of just complaining about a company that had figure it out. Plus I really do not know what are these people complaining about, I used to work for Sears 7 years ago and at that time they used to pay people 6.50$ per hour starting, my friend just got hired by Sears a month ago and she is getting paid 6.75$ per hour, why are these people only picking on Wal-Mart when they are paying people at a rate of 9.00$ per hour?
ReplyDeleteI also think that if protesters had their way there would be a ton of jobs lost and the end result would be worse than it was before. The same complaints were against Bill Gates and his massive corporation, protesters that had the same complaints about Microsoft as they do for Wal-Mart, wanted to stop the monopoly and let other companies share the wealth, however how is this not so already. There are millions of Americans who have jobs because of these companies whether it is distribution, manufacturing, consulting, production, software, engineering, invention, patents, lawyers, and on and on. These protesters are ignorant and jealous people without any regard for their fellow Americans and the consequences it would bring if they had their way.
I always joke about how i hate wal-mart and how i hate going there, but i dont know of any other store who tries to appeal to everyone like wal mart does. but it is a super smart idea so they can create the largest market share possible and gain the most money. it does make lots of sense. if you need something and your not sure where one would go in order to purchase it, one would probably go to wal-mart in quest of something that they didnt know where to go because wal-mart carries almost everything. if its not at a local walmart, they have a huge online selection. as much as i make fun of wal mart, they really are a great company, they dont always have the lowest prices, but they do save the average person 2000 dollars a year. thats great news for me, i would love to have an extra two grand a year.
ReplyDeleteas for me, i am a fan of walmart and i like to shop there.
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ReplyDeleteI says, I don't give the craps about WalMart,Ok. It's mean I shop only what its needed. I'm live in the world but not of the world. but I hope we each individual able pursuit their own goals or objectives. This is not time to tell which to good verse bad. because we can argue all day about this very complex issues. I think, we as the human doesn't have much of choices, doesn't we?. And who is telling us we can or can't do such of things. But, I don't see why we aren't work as hard and feeling greater satisfaction then this. Come together working together and die together in unlimited dreams.
ReplyDeleteWalMart is absolutely the monopoly(one firm). They are control over price and resource markets. Block and eliminate the entry of the pure competition by using the collusions. Many pure competition will lower their price which mean no economic profits plus many completion making its harder to stay in business. d=D=MR
however, because a monopolist can manipulate output and price by seeks maximum total profit, not not maximum price. Also, in monopoly the price discrimination is real in many cases like electric utilities or railroad s company in 1960. This can affect both buyer and seller. The question is how much tolerance do we have?
add me to the list ! i am also one who hates wal-mart, yet i shop there once in a while, love hate relationship with wal-mart. the reason i hate wal-mart is that my mom worked for Fred Meyer which is now Smiths Marketplace here in Utah. the reason they closed down the Fred Meyer on 3500 south (which is now a car dealership) was because wal-mart came to town. it does affect other stores but fuck they have some cheap shit so i will keep going to wal-mart to buy my food!
ReplyDeleteas for the economic problems it causes thats all bullshit walmart.com puts it in words how many people they hire and how much they sell so what else can i say wal mart is the shit and i mean that in both good and bad ways.
@ MattMcCandless if you recall the main reason I got into the debate was when you mentioned that the government should impose tariffs on Wal-Mart's trade and then as I recall I said something along the lines that we shouldn't have the government put tariffs on trade because it was one of the causes for great depression. see link http://americanhistory.about.com/od/greatdepression/tp/greatdepression.htm Under reason number four.
ReplyDeleteAs to what I was referring to with the economy was that we as society will choose whats best for the economy. If a business does good and succeeds that's great if a business sucks we should let them fail. The government has done way to much governing and needs to keep their asses out of saving and bailing out as well as greatly restricting businesses. I didn't say our economy had a great system it doesn't because the government sticks its business in everyone's noses even when they cant keep themselves out of debt.
The market I was referring to was you, me, the American people as well as outsiders that buy and sell in the American marketplace.
As for Wal-Mart being all bad yeah it definitely screws over some small businesses and decreases wages all around. Wal-Mart doesn't have everything though and so people will definitely go to other stores to shop. Other big box stores don't carry everything either. For example at the moment I currently work at big box that's orange in color and since I'm part time there I do have to take it in the ass quite often. However every day I have to send customers out to small local business because my store doesn't carry many of the items that are necessary to people's every day household dilemmas.
As for being oblivious and stupid I guess I must of offended you some how when I spoke since you seemed to be trying to offend me. I'm definitely not oblivious to what the Economist say and not stupid because I actually use real evidence and not just hearsay. So here is some links for both the pros and cons of Wal-Mart on the economy and as you might expect its bad and good.
Pros:
http://mises.org/story/2377
http://www.fee.org/pdf/the-freeman/1005Semmens.pdf
http://seekingalpha.com/article/22151-is-walmart-bad-for-the-economy
Cons:
http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0827-06.htm
http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com/2008/10/17/the-economic-crisis-the-wal-mart-economy-dimension/
http://www.marshall.edu/cber/media/051105-bn-nine.pdf
Both Pros and Cons:
http://www.ag-econ.ncsu.edu/VIRTUAL_LIBRARY/ECONOMIST/novdec05.pdf
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aMHdYaKUGkHA
And if you have sixty minutes which probably no one does, here is a video link for a Frontline episode on the subject that looks at both sides of the issue. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/view/#rest
I guess my only real conclusion to this is that it might be a good idea to start learning Chinese.
I learned something that I did not know on this episode. The world economic guru shed some light on the fact that some of Wal-Mart’s products come out of third world county sweat shops where these workers get paid in peanuts. But the flip side to this is that at least these people are getting paid which is better than the alternative of going hungry. We seem to judge the world by are standard of living when the truth is, it’s all relative. If they were able to pay them ten bucks an hour, they would all retire in a year.
ReplyDeleteMy only fear is the concept of making the world flat with big business. One day we are going to miss the mom and pop shops and their uniqueness. I am already irritated in my travels seeing the same old thing. I will argue that big business kills culture.
After all that I as well shop at Wal-Mart. We can all complain until we are blue in the face but our actions speech louder than words and in he end what means most to all of us is our own wallets… My biggest beef with Wal-Mart are the crowds; I need to be in a patient mood to go to that circus.
it is unfortunate that Wal-Mart can kill most mom and pop businesses but I can't honestly afford to shop anywhere else, they have all of what I need and most of what I want so it (for me anyway) is a one stop shop. Unfortunatly it is poorly stocked when it comes to tabletop games so untill it reconfigures it's RPG/Card/Board game policy all of my game stores are perfectly safe. Which makes me very happy. (I do have to ask, how is their book selection?)
ReplyDeleteHaha, I hate Wal-mart because I only because I go in rich and come out broke as hell! Wal-mart has always taken good care of my everyday need. They are a one stop shop for the local community and provides great prices and services. I am sorry for all the mom's and pop's shop out there, but business is business.
ReplyDeleteI'm pretty sure Wal-mart might even take over GM & Chrysler, imagine every day low prices on cars! j/k
I personally dont' shop at wal-mart because I feel they are more concerned with profit rather than the person. Now in the movie it showed us some loving mother who is raising her kids on 8.50 an hour. Ummmm Fuck she is. I work for 8.50 an hour and as a person who is sinlge, no kids, going to school, I can barely live off that so not sure where all her money is coming from, cuz I know the 8.50 an hour wal-mart isn't giving her all that she needs. However, I do feel that it is good for some areas, because it brings new items, and jobs that may would not of been there if it was not for wal-mart. They also do bring the lowest prices, for the most part, GG target item or whatever they call it to get customers into the stores.
ReplyDeleteOn the flip side, they did not mention the thousands of jobs wal-mart took away from people. By having such low prices they go to the manufacturers and say I will only carry your item for this amount, and those prices are too low. And the businesses that do go out of business are the American ones that are unionized with American workers making decent money for a decent living. So for low prices you want American workers to be jobless, and let wal-mart go over seas and pay people 2 dollars an hour and make a 256 billion dollar profit?? I will not shop at wal-mart but I dont' are if you do. They are a power house business that many could learn from, I think they have just gone extreme on the greed of the profit side :(
I love how all my posts are after Mason.
ReplyDeleteAs much as I hate Wal-Mart, I have to admit I do shop there. I agree with Mason when he says that being single with no kids and making 8.50 an hour does not pay for jack shit! But hey its something. This episode paraded a big fucking banner of the mistreatment of WM employee's and blah blah blah.....my friend works for them and enjoys it. Now maybe not everybody does but whoever it was in the episode that was anti WM was making a huge blanket statement about the treatment of employees.
I do think that WM has an ugly monopoly on goods in that market because they low-ball everybody. The suppliers, the local competition, and communities who don't want them there. In Sandy, UT where the Geneva pit used to be on 13th East and about 98th ish South there is currently a WM and tons of other stores too. I remember growing up at the top of the hill near there and hearing people complaining about WM wanting to build on that spot. The locals fought them off for quite some time until WM pulled that imminent domain bullshit. But there is good and bad because of it. All those dozens of stores that came with WM generate a lot of revenue for the that area, so...it can go both ways.
Im a fan of the Wal Mart. Sorry you can hate me for it, but Im not stopping! I totally agree with Jordan Clark in saying if wal mart saves me 2000 bones a year hell ya i'm gonna shop there. I know that they have put a lot of companies out of business but it helps the community get exactly what they need without having to go to 3 or 4 different places to find it. I gotta go shopping, so wal mart here i come.
ReplyDeleteI love Wal Mart! They have almost everything you can think of. I think its dumb that people refuse to shop there just because they are "taking over the world". It's cheap, close and a one stop shop. The only down fall of Wal Mart is it is ALWAYS packed!! Even at 3 in the morning there are still tons of people there. I know some people that have worked at Wal Mart and they got paid pretty decent. People just need to stop complaining and worry about more important things in thier life than a grocery store.
ReplyDeleteThe problem that I have with Wal-Mart is the quality of items that they sell are poor. See the reason that the mom-and-pop stores are going out of business is because most of their goods are better quality, but people don’t want the better quality so nothing is sold. It’s like a good pair of shoes you can buy from a good store, and the ones you buy at payless. In my experience the expensive shoes last longer and are more comfortable. The payless shoes die out in a few short months.
ReplyDeleteWal-Mart has the ability to have sweat shops over seas and so they don’t require them to be of good quality and they can sell them for super cheap. Mom-and-pop stores can’t, so they go out of business because Wal-Mart is cheap. But its what the people want, so who can complain? We give the people what they want.
The argument that no one is willing to work the sweatshops is LAME. With the economy as it is and so many people out of work I know many people that would do anything for job! Any job. And what about the illegal immigrants who stand around all morning and sometimes get chosen for a job and sometimes don’t? Don’t you think they would be willing to have a steady secure job as well?
Location, location, location. This is how I feel about Wal-Mart. There are some that I really like and some that I think are kind of dirty and unkept. As a general I like the store. It's prices are low and it's people generally helpful. I can see though the fear of a wal-mart coming to town and taking jobs. My parents are divorced and my father was living in Wyoming running a animal feed store. When Wal-mart came to town he went out of business a year later. Yes Wal-mart brought many jobs to town and helped out many people but it did take my dad's and he did not want to go work at Wal-mart. I guess you have both sides of the story. Some people are not going to come out on top in the job market with a Wal-mart coming to town. Some people like the young lady in the episode will though. My dad was able to find another job. One that maybe he even likes better. Kids in the town were able to be employed which kept them out of trouble. So overall I think Wal-mart is alright. As long as there are Targets, Smith's, and Albertson's to keep there from being a monopoly then that is fine with me.
ReplyDeleteI'm a big fan of Wal-Mart. I'm not the type that when I go out shopping It's not always the brand names that's most important but rather the wallet. During these times especially, I love Wal-Mart even more because it's a one stop shopping experience with excellent product value and customer service that would make anybody come back for more. The notion that they treat their employees bad. I don't know about that because I personally have a really good friend that works for Wal-Mart and he loves his job. So I'm saying that It all depends on each individual case or maybe it's location. About the anti-Wal-Mart campaigners, they must not have anything else better to do or maybe find another way to be famous. It's simple, "Supply and Demand". Go figure...
ReplyDeleteGet ready everyone, here comes the United States of Wal-Bucks. Pretty soon the United States will be ran by the CEO's of Wal-Mart and Starbucks. I love Wal-Mart. Things are cheap there, and every time I go there I see hilarious people! It is a very entertaining place sometimes. I can't help but laugh at the parents who have all of their children harnessed to their belts. Can't wait until we see the tabloids of Octomom we all of her 9000 kids strapped to her.
ReplyDeleteI think that the controversy over Wal-Mart was started by people that are jealous of the success of Wal-Mart. the fact is that if Wal-Mart was not around then we would be living a lot less of a comfortable lifestyle. I understand that Wal-Mart has a habit of driving small business bankrupt but that is simply survival of the fittest.
ReplyDeleteWhen it comes to Wal-Mart I believe the biggest complaint that critics have is that this mega store is killing mom and pop shops and therefore it is seen as an evil corporation but do we really want our economy to depend on small stores that can barely make sales? I thought the main idea of the American economy had been that only the strong companies survive. If a business is meant to fail, then let it fail and another will step up and take its place. It is because of this that our country has grown over the decades, if we start to bail out companies that are meant to fail, then all we are doing is putting a stop to our economies growth. I believe that a business like Wal-Mart is good for the economy and if there ever comes a time that it starts to fail to meet demand, then I also believe another business should step in to take it’s place.
ReplyDeleteFirst I'd like to say... I LOVE WALMART! being a poor student I cannot afford to go anywhere else to get cat litter or cat food. The difference in prices is huge! maybe one day when I have a higher income I will switch and go to Target or wherever else...(not likely). However, I have heard alot of bad things about Walmart and the way they treat their employees but isnt almost everyone upset at their manager at one time or another? I know I have been.
ReplyDeleteI am a little worrisome about the future of walmart and how it might take over the world. but as for right now I enjoy their low prices and cute clothes... yes I said it. If you dig deep enough you can find them.
I appreciated Penn and Tellers explaination of how the clothes are made... It is sad to see children working but they made a good point that by having them work, they are giving them better working conditions then if they were working on the street. That I do support.
who cares if wal-mart is a super store and takes over the entire world? their prises are simply unbeatable. I shop there and I do not care one bit about it. people are trying to turn this into armagedon or the anti-christ. I say its no big deal. once the economy crashes, everyone will start at square one. but why is it such a big issue anyway? and why do people care so much about it? if they have such a huge peoblem with it then go create your own store with even lower prices. I dare ya. admit it, you live for wal-mart.
ReplyDeleteI used to be one of the anti Wal-Mart folk. I had friends tell me that it was taking over America and they were treating there workers like shit, all sorts of bad things. Why did I believe them well because I wasn’t educated enough about the situation to do anything else. For many years we lived next to a smiths and that’s were me and my family shopped. Not because were anti-Harmon’s or anti-Reams It was because it was the closest and most convenient. Now I live near Wal-Mart and that is where I buy my groceries.
ReplyDeleteThe people that work there are nice and extremely helpful my mom is really sick and the pharmacy is one the nicest I’ve had to deal with. Do I love Wal-Mart? No, but I don’t love Smiths or Target either. It sucks the small businessman is getting bent over but that’s what our society is all about, supply and demand and the strong surviving. WE may say we hate it but it a small price to pay to live the way we all do.
I hate Wal-Mart. I refuse to shop there. There are much more important things than saving money. If I want to save money, I shop online. Wal-mart has a shitty selection, and is way too fucking busy. I hate that you step foot in there with thousands of other people. I am not so naive to think that my opinion matters, because there's no chance Wal-mart will go away, at least until people realize that their great deals are lower-quality products and get some damn taste. Wal-mart should die, simply because the atmosphere is horrible and I would pay more to not have to deal with the people there or the low-grade things they sell.
ReplyDeletewalmart does more good than evil. walmart is one of the leading employers in america. without walmart where would all those people work. if society is not willing to pay more for the same product than walmart is going to exist forever. walmart has done nothing wrong they are mearly trying to be the best store on the market. there is nothing wrong with providing jobs and selling inexpensive merchandise.
ReplyDeleteI work at wal-mart. They pay good and I love people working there and it is not like lots people say. They treat me very good and I think they really care about community and thier assciate.I do not hate or love walmart. It is just place that pay my bill and cheapest place to shop and close. I like to buy stuff for cheap. I feel sorry that other small company had to close their store because of wal-mart/ But even thoguh I do not work for wal mart, I do not blame them. Becuase especially right now, economy is so bad, if store sell for cheap it will help my family. I am donating money for cancer people from my every pay check/ Walmart try to help people who need help. If they decide to close walmart right now, there are so many people lose thier job.
ReplyDeletei agree with my wife. we both work for wal-mart and of all the jobs that i have had it pays the most. i have worked at other places doing the same job and i can tell you that Kmart didn't pay as well and best buy pays about the same as walmart. i worked for a pharmaceutical warehouse before walmart's warehouse and they paid quite a bit less, but i made more money due to the massive amount of overtime. 11.75 there compared to the 17.75 i make at walmart. the benifets were also very similar as well. is walmart perfect? HELL NO!!!! but neither is anywhere else that i have worked. i worked in a metal fabrication shop where the employees taped porn to my workstation and the boss just gave me the finger and told me to go back to work when i complained about it. this would never happen at walmart. i have also applied at places that were union operated and i am sorry, but when they told me how much of my pay was going to support the union officers, i walked out. the pay wasn't really any better. one was a factory job and they topped out at 18 an hour. at the time walmart where i work was topping out at 17.50 and within the same 2 year time frame. the union demanded rotating shifts where you would work day shift one week and graves the next. walmart allows you to choose the shift you work on and then you stay on the shift. plus i don't pay union dues. on the other hand if you become management they will make you change shifts and departments whenever, but after talking to the managers, they said that their bosses will try to keep them on a certain schedule if life outside of work requires it. i will say that walmart, like any other place i have worked, really does want you to belong to them and that isn't always expressed in a good way. also like any other place i have worked, walmart is a work in progress.
ReplyDeleteI have no problem whatsoever with wal-mart really. I enjoy their prices on a lot of things. Hell I just not too long ago bought a Philips 47" Television from there. Trust me I looked around at many other stores and Wal-mart had the same quality of TV's, just cheaper. By the way, a little off the subject but Best Buy is definitely not the "Best Buy" if you know what I mean. Anyway people bitch about wal-mart cause they have nothing of real importance to bitch about. It's a store, live with it. Times are changing and most people prefer these superstores in place of the old fashion ma and pa stores.
ReplyDeleteI live in Bountiful and there recently was this big to do about a wal-mart coming into centerville. Everyone thought that it would increase traffic, they thought that it would destroy our community with bringing unwanted immigrants to shop, they thought a lot of things. None of them were true. It's a great place to shop and I support them. Plus another reason people bitch about it is because they are pissed that they didn't come up with the idea. Think if one of those protesters had a business of their own that was flourishing as wal-mart is, I guarantee they wouldn't give a damn about wal-mart.
I honestly have no problem with Wal-Mart either. I personally don't shop there but i don't think that a store such as that should be protested against. As the show explained, it is giving people more job opportunites and in the economy crisis we are in now it doesn't seem like such a bad thing. Though i'm trying to see why people wou'd be pissed at WM i can't connect any ideas. Maybe it's the mom and pop shops that are having to close up because WM offers their produts at greater and cheaper prices but what those shops should consider is that most people can't afford to be spending like they could have say a year or two ago. Wal-Mart to mee seems just like another means to an end. Why bitch about a place that supplies jobs and offers products at a lower price? Don't see anything wrong with that and fyi....most corporations are corrupted so why attack Wal-Mart and not other places like Target or your local Smiths? Where is the difference there.
ReplyDeleteWhy some people get pissed about Wal-Mart is somewhat understandable in this sense, Wal-Mart has the big dollars to throw around in order to get what they want. Not too many people like it when big money stamps them out but here’s what I think. Wal-Mart fulfills a big consumer desire for convenience and low prices, this means they are here to stay but the small personalized experience people get in other types of business models is desirable as well. Wall mart is not going to ruin the open market from operation efficiently. People like variety, not only in the availability of products but the experience of how they receive those products. I don’t think price rules completely so let Wal-Mart do their thing and to those who loose sleep over it, go get your business started. Chances are people who don’t like the big box will keep your doors open and generate enough cash flow to keep a small business with lower overhead alive. You know what they say… The bigger they are the harder they fall. When they do those who aren’t to busy whining about the competition will be positioned to scoop up all they can handle and leave the picketers scratching their heads looking for work. One thing that just came to mind is how those t-shirt makers opposing Wal-Mart in this P&T segment were in a sense, simply employees of Wal-Mart themselves by making money from Wal-Mart in their fight against it. How many others anti this or anti that are really just vultures feeding on the kill of the big predator? There are too many people out there complaining instead of getting their own thing going. I was really happy to see how people who would otherwise be unemployed were doing just fine and holding their own by working at Wal-Mart. TAKE THAT AS AN EXAMPLE ALL YOU WALMART HATERS?
ReplyDeleteEver since I've seen this movie I've heard more coments on people hating wal mart. They all have different reasons why they hate it but I thought all their excuses were lame. I personally shop at wal mart because they basically have everything you need for a really good price. With the econamy now days I think everyone should go to wal mart!! They are the only business who is going up at this time. They also treat their employee's really good which helps out in this tough time. The whole sweatshops thing was just a bunch of garbage!! People across the world needs jobs just as much as we do or even more so when people say that they are at a sweatshop they are actually supporting their families. They don't have to work there but they CHOOSE to. It's not like its punishment or anything. For all I know it helps them out!!! Everyone should give wal mart a break because it really is a good store!!!!
ReplyDeleteI've never heard people hating WalMart until watched this movie. WalMart is one of the store that I've always went shop. I quiet like there. The employees of WalMart are just like every other employee in every other stores, try to do their job and able to thier family or themselves. Hating WalMart by stealing other stores' business, yeah right, try to make your business better than WalMart offer, instead whining around. Business is just like competition, do your best to best other. This competition only making us stronger. And isen't the business is one part of Capitalism?
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, i do all of my shopping at wal-mart. you just cant beat the prices. Before this movie, i was aware about the Walmart haters out there. But i dont believe walmart is all that bad. Walmart creates alot of jobs for people who would not have the opportunity to work at all. Seeing Walmarts everywhere does get annoying, but these stores have revived some communities who were in need of jobs. The only businesses which are mad are the ones who can not compete with this corporation. But these small time stores need to stop bitching and figure out a way to compete. Lowest prices is not the only reason people shop at Walmart.
ReplyDeletewhile working there full time seems fine, i've only heard that the part-time workers had all the problems and Penn and Teller didn't go into that. so as for all the other stuff so what, better deal, even if sweat shops they're the best they got. it is kinda a depressing that ma and pa shops get closed down and hell even restraunts... R.I.P. Dos Seranoes. but people are still going to go.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest thing about walmart is the convience. It can save you time from have to go to store to store. Now just becasue there are walmart doesn't mean i will jsut shop there. I like to go to Target and Smiths. sometimes it is nice to have a walmart special when are in a city that you are not familiar with, you can count on walmart being close by. I also think that some walmart are nicer. The only thing i hate is how there are shoping carts scattered around in the parking lot and i have can never park anywhere because i fear that a shopping carth will be left and hit my car. When i got to target and smiths they clean there carts up unlike walmart.
ReplyDeleteI will agree I don't like to shop at walmart but the main reason is all the god damn people! First you can't find a parking spot that you don't have to walk a great distance to get there. Then once it takes you five minutes to get all the shit you need to buy, you have to stand in line for another half hour just to check out. That is my only beef with the place. I love that they sell things at a discount, they are the only place who sells my eye drops at a decent price. I understand how they can kill the little places but look at how many jobs wal mart brings to the area. They are huge and they get old people off the street to be greeters so they don't drive!
ReplyDeleteWal-mart has good things said about them and bad. But you hear more of the bad stuff. I like the fact that walmart is providing jobs to the people of the US and now there going globle its also going to provide more jobs to the people that are struggling in other counties. But in order to make it better they need to know how to treat there workers better because it is them doing all the wrk for the company. Every body can say what ever they want because its there mind not mine.
ReplyDeleteMy family has always been against Wal-Mart and would never shop there. I've always been down for helping out local stores and farmers markets and stuff like that. I think quality is way more important then quantity. Wal- Mart just comes in and takes over everything. And it works. Everyone is always there, and its always packed, no matter what time. The problem with helping out those small local buisnesses is they're not cheap. And in times like these where I got let go from my job and I am a poor college student needing to buy school supplies, Wal-Mart always had the best prices. I agree with the the post above me that they do help a lot of people with jobs. They seem like they are always hiring and looking for people who need work.
ReplyDeletei am at a loss here. I cannot help but like shoppping there because it has such low prices but i dunno. they make things in sweat shops, but wait they are nice sweat shops. what the hell? that is like "oh but its a nice torture chamber cuz they don't torture you all day. i don't know though. after watching this it reminded me of the south park episode of "something walmart this way comes" if you have not watched this episode i highly recomend it. It is so funny because it is true. i can't make it you go on without me stan, i have to buy these stickers they are only 50 cents! ha ha ha so true.
ReplyDeleteI personally don't do my shopping at Wal-Mart, but not because I have anything against the company. Quality is more important to me than price. I would rather spend a little more money on something that is going to last, not something that I will be replacing shortly because it fell apart on me. They are a business, and all the businesses I know want to make money. If people don't like the way they are doing it they don't have to support them.
ReplyDeleteI like Walmart. I see no problem with it. Well I do understand the problem of when/where a Walmart will be built, small business owners will complain. However, this is what america is about: capitalism.
ReplyDeleteWalmart has a winning formula. They made money. They expanded. And it continues to grow. Its the american dream at its best.
They offer a lot a jobs for the area and is good for the the local economy and also the national economy.
The only complaint I have is the need for 50+ handicap parking spots!
Wal-Mart has it pros and its cons. Now for those people trying to sale t-shirts they need to find a real job. Wal-Mart had made a lot of companies go under and have made a lot of companies really rich. I have taken a few business classes and most of my teachers have said that Wal-Mart is a great model to try and run your business by. My wife hates Wal-Mart because she believe all there stuff is crap. To a point she is right. Most of the stuff I buy at Wal-Mart last a month or two but it is a lot cheaper. I have read a report that Wal-Mart put cheaper prices in the stores that are in the communities that have higher income house holds then those in communities with lower income house holds. They now that people that are better of will take the time to shop around were people that have lower income go to Wal-Mart because they believe that they have the lowest price around with shopping around. I ok with Wal-Mart I may not shop there a lot but I do go there.
ReplyDeleteHmmm Walmart.... I hate the hell out of walmart. Well actually I must not hate them that bad because I got lots of stuff from there like my favorite T, and always goldfish-only 12 cents a piece Awesome! I love their free samples and their flour tortillas. The thing I hate is the size. First of all they take jobs from all the places the put out. But they replace them with all their jobs so whats wrong. Well if you want every damn store to be walmart well I guess nothing but I personally dont want that. They are putting a walmart in Moab Utah and its going to change Moab forever. No more unique ma and pa stores. Instead its going to be ma and pa changing you oil and the walmart express lube. The thing I hate most about walmart is all the people and their stupid shopping carts. I cant even walk through the store. But I do shop there so what can ya do. I recommend the grocery walmarts not the supercenters, less crowded.
ReplyDeleteI understand the argument against the big box stores, but this is America. Capitalism at its finest. Obviously, the cheapest store is going to sell the most merchandise. It's survival of the fittest. To me, it's not worth paying the extra money just to feel like I'm supporting a small company. If you can't hang, then that's tought shit. Move to Russia. Then you can have the exact same size store with the exact same shit and make the exact same amount of money as everyone else. I'll take my chances.
ReplyDeletewalmart! possibly the best super store possible! everyone shops here! well not technically everyone... but most people i know shop here and love it. i mean you can buy everything you need here. not to mention it is always CHEAP! usually a few dollars under what other stores charge, also they have something that most people dont know, they have price matching! so even if another store does sell it cheaper, just bring in the ad and walmart will definitely match it for you, so again, all you need is this one store! also walmart provides so much jobs for many different people and people love working at walmart. i dont know how anyone can talk crap on walmart. and also most walmarts are open 24/7 which is also great!
ReplyDeleteI actually work at walmart as an auto technician and as an associate I can't complain because I get discounts from everything whether the quality of the product is shitty or not, I believe walmart is a great company they contribute back to the community as much as they can, even though walmart may put some people/ small companies out of jobs doesn't mean they're doing it on purpose. Companies grow and improve and some companies struggle and die. The economy right now is really bad and walmart helps by hiring as many people as they can, nearly everyone i've seen apply have been hired they never lay anyone off and they help support families as much as they can. I see that there a lot of people that hate walmart just because of there structure and bad quality in products but in knowing that there are people out there that will see these things and try to make them better for everyone. Walmart strives for success! They try to make things a bit easier in life for others by selling things for cheaper prices against there competitors who doesn't want a good deal?.. If you're on budget walmart meets the budgets most of the time, and hearing about how bad walmart treats there employees is total Bull Shit to me I'm an employee there, I know what it's like and to me I love it! Everyone is welcoming and I always leave with a smile on face everyday you could say.
ReplyDeleteI love walmart. I have no money. Who cares if they take over the world? they have good cheap food and the products I need in my every day living. No I don't shop there. It is absolutely ridiculous to say they will take over the world thought. I do not like the fact that everything they sell is so cheap because they have sweat shops. That needs to be changed immediately
ReplyDeleteI really don't feel one way or the other about walmart. I've boughten stuff from there a couple different times and it does seem to be cheaper than other places so hey i'm not complaining. I think that the people in the show who protested walmart were complete idiots. Why the hell would you waste that much time money and effort protesting something that does good for a lot of people and obviously isn't going away anytime soon. I guess it's not too surprising though because unfortunately those people looked like they literally had nothing better to do.
ReplyDeleteI shop at Wal-Mart. I go there because it is cheap and...cheap. I do not go there for their great customer service, because basically, their service sucks. They have everything I need, and it is super affordable, so why wouldn't I go there? The issues around Wal-Mart don't discourage me from shopping there, they just make me realize that every day, there are more and more stupid Americans out there. If you don't like Wal-Mart, then shop at Target or wherever you want. The more time you waste protesting Wal-Mart, the more attention they get, and hey, any company enjoys free publicity. I have a friend from Cambodia, he worked in a sweat shop, and he was one of the most well off people in his village. He had a computer and a motorcycle (most people in his village had to walk or take the bus). He was grateful for the job. Just because we wouldn't want to do the job because America is lazy, doesn't mean that others aren't thankful that they get to work somewhere.
ReplyDeleteNew York Times columnist Nicholas Kristoff works to expose human rights violations primarily internationally. He has often been criticized for his endorsement of sweat shops overseas. But his position is the same as mine has long been: the conditions within those factories, while unpleasant and poorly compensated by our standards, are vastly superior to any alternatives offered locally. The life chances of people not lucky enough be hired there are truly very, very slim. People who hate Wal-Mart because of cheap overseas labor are simply too shortsighted to acknowledge that at times, the global economy can benefit the poor of other countries.
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