Why Shop at Wal-Mart?

Question

Do you think Wal-Mart is hurting the capitalist market. How can Wal-Mart set prices. Supply & Demand no more?
To keep their prices low they require other companies to either lower their prices, outsource, or eliminate their product. Wal-Mart decides for these other companies what the ingredients can be. Wal-Mart told Coke cola our way or the highway. What is going to happen when Wal-Mart buys out all the other retailers; and then refuse to carry the product you or I want? We are being censored and most are not aware. I'd suggest that people read in the July edition of Harper's Magazine. Barry Lynn writes an Essay which I have found to be exactly what Wal-Mart is doing.

Answer 1

I don't shop at Wal-Mart. I prefer Target, and will drive 30 miles to shop there. Wal-mart is only 10 minutes away, but I won't go there.

Answer 2

The only time I shop at Wal-Mart is when a particular item isn't carried by another department store. Wal-Mart is too much of a corporate bully for my tastes. When I heard that they were trying to get products at such cheap prices that the companies in the 3rd world couldn't make them for those prices, I had it with Wal-Mart and stopped shopping there. If you've ever taken a good look at their products, the quality is certainly substandard. I'm to the point I'll either pay more, and if I really can't afford to pay more then I do without.

One of the things I noticed in our local Wal-Mart here in Canada is that they claim to support Canadian "suppliers". Not Canadian producers but "suppliers". Meaning that if a company has a one room shop anywhere in Canada with at most a few employees and imports cheap (and often faulty) products then Wal-Mart will maintain that it supports the Canadian economy. I realize that Wal-Mart is an American-based company, but I really do think that if it's o.k. to take another nationality's money then it's o.k. to support that nationality's producers.

Answer 3

I don't know about other people but I have my own reasons for not shopping at Wal-Mart. I'm not going to tell other people not to shop there especially when most of the people that patronize Wal-Mart are on a fixed budget and do what they have to to make ends meet. I'm hoping that other retail chains will come along and perhaps take some of Wal-Marts clientele away. Wal-Mart isn't the greatest company with the best track record when it comes to employment as well as with other issues. But like I said, right now it's a personal choice. I just hope other people see what's going on and they choose not to patronize the store.

Answer 4

I agree with you, and I wish more people could be made aware of that. However, Wal-Mart has a tendency to be (or become!) the only game in town, and their prices are so, so low that they're tempting. People have to know what those low prices will do to them in the long run--you pay from the front end or the back end, and when you lose your job because WalMart's run your company out of business, well, that's the back end!

Answer 5

I do not shop at Walmart and have not for the past 10 or 15 years.
Ever since the lie we only sell 'Made in America' products was exposed. And the fact that they were out to put K-Mart and Target and others out of business no matter what.
Every one of us should stand up for a few things we believe in even if it costs us a little money. I sometimes wonder about exactly what the majority of people that shop there actually believe in and what their values are.

Answer 6

Every one is entitled to his opinion. and almost all here have got good reasons not to shop at Walmart--in most cases.

For the many who still get their supplies from there, it's a matter of economics or staying within a tight budget. There is nothing wrong with separating a purchase decision with the actual personal preference for Walmart.

Ironically, Walmart is disliked also for political reasons by some of the consumers. This may be caused by Walmart on getting many of its supplies from China as indicated by the Made in China tag. Another reason is chauvinism by expecting Walmart the world's biggest retailer to source from local producers instead of local suppliers in Canada, where it has business there. In a free market, the retailer will get its supplies from the cheapest, though not necessary of the best quality. As a business, they also have the freedom of hiring at low wages within the law. On the other hand, the consumers have the choice on where to shop.

Should there be diminished support by the consumers in America or elsewhere Walmart, Walmart may shift its business elsewhere. The business will go to place of profits as a likely outcome, so local jobs will just dissapear.

In this age of globalization, competition is inevitable. The bottom-line is keeping the jobs at home rather than keeping foreign workers busy. This has become the basis for trade negotiations to correct any trade inbalance, say between the US and mainland China, or US and the Canada lobe-sided trade. Self interest is no longer a dirty word in this real world anymore.

The mainlander Chinese are now catching up on quality of consumer goods, though they may have some years to go on certain technological products. Singapore MM Lee Kuan Yew mentioned a time gap of around 20 years for the Chinese to catch up on the lcd monitor technology example. The point is also about working smarter and harder through technology advantage instead of going the low cost way by merely low wage.

Now back to Walmart. They have to stay relevant to the consumers in place where they have existing business by being responsible corporate citizen as well as adding value in supplies for the end-users. If Walmart is facing strong consumerism in America, it may be the time to act wisely.

Answer 7

I no longer shop at walmart. The consumers in this nation are the ones in control. I have been able to find everything I need here locally (and I'm in a small community) with just as good or better prices than walmart. If you do not like Walmart, then do not shop there. Join the movement! But china will be disappointed if you do.

Answer 8

Chairman MAO and the People's Republic Army thank you for shopping at Wal-Mart

Answer 9

We have a Wal-Mart not to far from where we live, but we
almost never ever go there. Its not really fun to shop at Wal-Mart.
Haven't been there in over 5 years.
I Corinthians 13;8a, Love never fails!!!!!

Answer 10

I shop at Wal-Mart super-centers for cheap food. The less I spend the more I save.