Is Walmart good for a community or BAD for a community?

Question

Looking for BOTH sides of the story......

Answer 1

Good for customers, bad for other small buisnesses.

Answer 2

My personal opinion is Walmart is BAD for the community. They come in and use predator pricing and run smaller business out. They toot their horns about all the jobs they create but they fail to acknowledge of the jobs they devourer. This impact isn't as big in larger metropolitan areas as it is in the smaller more rural communities, but it is an issue all the same, I have watched this occur first hand.

Walmart would also rather make a overly huge profit, rather than settle for a large profit and this is done by teaching their employees how to sign up for government health care and other government assistance programs. This means Walmart keeps more money while our taxes go to assisting their employees.

I think Walmart should step up and do the right thing, and provide a good wage and health care for their employees. They did back when Sam Walton was running the company. His goal was to do right bay the US and his employees.

Yes, Walmart offers low low prices but what does shopping there really cost its community?

Answer 3

BAD, if you can keep em out do it, they (Walmart) and other large discount stores are the reason for much of the economic problems, why do you think so many businesses are outsourcing their work to countries like China, Tiawan,etc.. cause these large retailers demand lower prices, but if all the jobs go there, who could even afford to buy these "cheap" products? My wife has had to take a pay cut for the last 3 years so her employer could keep in competition with walmart. As the other person said they do bring jobs to a community though, $6.50 an hour jobs-this is not a living wage. the Rich get richer, the poor lose there better paying jobs, all disguised as a "good neighbor"

Answer 4

It was bad for the community because all of the profits from the sales would be transferred from the owners of the local shops to the main shareholders in Bentonville. The local owners would have been likely to spend those profits in the same community. However, Wal Mart just took advantage of a better business model. Even if Wal Mart did not exist, the local shops would have probably suffered the same fate due to competition from the Internet.

Answer 5

Wal-Mart is bad for a community, because it drives away mom-and-pop businesses. Some people may argue that Wal-Mart brings jobs to an area, but if the jobs pay very little, the benefits aren't very good, and the employees are treated like s**t, what good are all these new jobs?

Answer 6

I think that if you try to analyze companies you will find that most are the same one way or another. It is sad how WalMart does their employees but only the employees can change that. I personally try NOT to get everything there. We support our local businesses and smaller stores the majority of the time.

Answer 7

I don't go to Walmart nor do I see any inherent value in them. They force smaller businesses to close and they try to put up stores within 15 or so miles from each other. Most towns here have fought and won against Walmart building stores in their towns.

Answer 8

It's good for someone else's nearby community, not mine! :o)

Actually, I don't even go in to those stores unless I have no other choice. I don't like walking around in a huge warehouse trying to find someone who can help me find something and then standing in one of many long lines just to buy the item or two that I came in for.

Answer 9

Speaking as someone who was employed by Wal-Mart, I can say it is bad for the community and people as a whole. I worked there putting up with them running my hours late so that I was working 10 or 11 hour days and then penalizing me for working unauthorized overtime. I finally gave up when they locked us in on Christmas Eve for two additional hours on top of the 10 or so hours we'd already worked so that we could clean the store for the next business day. One woman was throwing up every few minutes but they refused to let her out of the building because, "It wouldn't be fair if she got to go when the rest had to stay." The back fire exits were blocked by new merchandise and as the front doors were locked and no one but managers had keys we were in serious danger. I've seen how they deal with environmental and health issue cases and am appalled. One person that I worked with was sick but they would not let him go home. That night he died in his sleep because he didn't get to the hospital when he should have. They fired him when he did not come in to work and as far as I know refused to give his family his life insurance policy because he was fired. (I could be mistaken on that I was not privy to that information and only heard about it from rumors.) They show no concern for waste and throw away things rather than give them to people who need them. I've seen managers at the store I worked at throw away perfectly good food because it was slightly old when there was a homeless man down on the corner who could have used it. Managers don't seem to care about customers either. Once a girl slipped on a spill and no employees were allowed to help her up because it is against company policy. She waited 20 minutes for a manager to come to help her but no help came. Their methods of keeping unions out of Wal-Mart are incredible. They spend millions yearly on an anti-union response team and the "tool kit" that managers use when they suspect employees are unionizing. They've gone so far as to shut stores down to keep them out. Personally I think that a union is just what wal-mart needs. There are plenty more things that I dislike about wal-mart. If you want good information check out the links below.

Answer 10

Its great for the community, employes hundreds.And our community save s on average abnput 49 percent than other stores in our area

Answer 11

Our Wal-Mart in Altoona, PA is involved with the community... support.. scholarships... etc. However, they have forced many places to go out of business.