Are any of you fundamentally opposed to Wal-Mart?

Question

You know .. buying from poor countries so they can sell cheaper. Underpaying employees.. etc. What do you think of Wal-Mart? Do you shop there? I do sometimes..They have everything..But then I feel like I shouldn't shop there.

Answer 1

I only go four times a year..i dont agree with the way they threaten their suppliers.!! They took away Kmart here I used to go there or Roses... Now no choice anymore cuz Target is way too expensive and they dont even have birdseed!

Answer 2

To be fundamentally opposed to Wal Mart is to be fundamentally opposed to any sort of outsourcing and importing. Yes, I am sure that Wal Mart's actions in those areas are probably more egregious than those of their similar counterparts, but do you honestly believe that any company who outsources to the poorer countries pays their employees an honest wage? I do feel a tinge of guilt when shopping at Wal Mart; I also feel completely disgusted that nothing you buy from Wal Mart is of any sort of quality. However, unless you are prepared to either pay more for what you buy so that it can either be American made or can come from people who were paid a decent wage or you are able to make everything you need, you can't be stop shopping at these places. I wish that people would boycott Wal Mart. I think that it would send a message, but in the end, Americans are addicted to cheap goods that are readily available. It just won't happen.

Answer 3

I used to be a regular Wal-Mart customer, but, after hearing about the company treatment of employees (gender discrimination, paying their associates wages so low, most cannot afford to pay out-of-pocket health insurance costs, forcing employees to clock out, then continue working, to avoid paying them overtime, etc.), I've stopped shopping there.

While I was still a Wal-Mart customer, I found it irritating that the store aisles are not only very narrow, there is always store inventory blocking the already narrow aisles. Also, while their prices are low, other than an item like toothpaste, there aren't many choices for the average item. I also found that going to Wal-Mart in the early afternoon on a Saturday was like visiting an insane asylum - aisles crowded with customers, screaming children, very long lines at the check-out lanes and a nightmare of a parking lot. I've also read that Wal-Mart is so demanding of its' suppliers that some have been forced to lay off American workers and move their operations overseas, where manufacturing and labor costs are cheaper. I've also read that Wal-Mart has been so demanding of some suppliers, that some have been driven out of business.

Funny you asked this question. I need to buy one item that only Wal-Mart seems to carry, so I'm going to have to break down and go there in the next few days. But, it will be very early in the morning, just after they open. To me, Wal-Mart is much too big and much too powerful. A company with the power of Wal-Mart should treat its' employees much, much better.

Answer 4

I'm weak, I yield to temptation and low prices, and every so often I forget my resolutions and go in the store. Here's my most recent Wal-Mart experience:

A camera was in a locked display case, with a red clearance price label that said “Polaroid 5.0 mp $49”.

I asked the clerk if I could look at the $49 Polaroid camera.

The clerk unlocked the case, took out the box from on top of the $49 price tag, and let me look at the box.

The box was marked Polaroid and specified 5 megapixels, 3X optical zoom, and 32 mb internal flash memory.

I agreed to buy the camera.

The clerk rang up the camera and my other purchases.

The camera rang up at $148.

Store staff refused to sell me the camera at the price displayed on the shelf.

Store staff said the $49 was for a different Polaroid 5 mp camera.

I asked to see the 5 mp Polaroid camera that cost $49.

Store staff said they were sold out of the $49 Polaroid 5 mp camera, and only had the $148 camera.

I asked to speak to a supervisor, and I worked my way to Craig Schaffer, Store Manager. Craig stuck with the story that the $49 price was for a different Polaroid 5 mp camera, not the Polaroid 5 mp camera that was in the case at the $49 price. Craig stuck with the story that the $49 Polaroid 5 mp camera was sold out.

Craig offered to reduce the price to $100. He said this was a big savings. I said no. $100 was $51 more than the price the camera was displayed at, and I did not want to pay $100 instead of $49.

Please note that the camera and price label were in a locked case. The case was completely under the control of Wal-Mart staff. It was not possible for a customer to have put the box in the wrong place. Wal-Mart staff posted a price label of $49 for a Polaroid 5 mp camera, and Wal-Mart staff stocked a 5 mp Polaroid camera at that price label.

Answer 5

Most major companies are corrupt and without conscience. The question becomes for the consumer what level of comfort do you have with the company your buying from. If you buy products from a company with ties to Iran, you may feel uncomfortable as Iran is constantly threatening us. Therefore, you would feel justified doing business with another company. If you shop at Wal Mart, you can enjoy savings while buying inexpensive merchandise, tell yourself that the foreign countries they buy goods from mistreat their workers and there is nothing you can do about it, and that their employees who get paid low wages made their own beds and now they can lie in them. The world is full of corruption and bad practices. We cannot control all of it, do much of anything about it, or make it go away. But we can take little steps to ease our conscience when just trying to survive ourselves.

Answer 6

I live in a small town and I could hardly afford to buy food if it weren't for WalMart. The mark-up at other stores here is ridiculous!! There are so many things I would never be able to have if I had to buy from private establishments. I used to work at WalMart and it was one of the better paying jobs here and they also have good benefits for their employees. In this community they are one of the largest employers in an area where jobs are few.

Answer 7

Yes. I don't shop there. Their employee practices are usurious.

Sales associates, the most common job in Wal-Mart, earns on average $8.23 an hour for annual wages of $13,861. The poverty line for a family of three is $14,630.

Cashiers, the second most common job, earn approximately $7.92 per hour and work 29 hours a week. This brings in annual wages of only $11,948.

The average two-person family (one parent and one child) needed $27,948 to meet basic needs in 2005.

And do they support American workers? No--80% of goods sold there are made in China.

Answer 8

I try not to shop there. I'm opposed to any cooperate thing moving in and taking over. I really thing that walmart needs to stop... they're a big chain that's just making the rich richer, try to shop at locally owned places more. It might cost a little more, but the money stays in your community. Like.. a pizza hut is opening in the small town i live in (Ashland, MO) and there's already a pizza place there, it has a great environment and everything there is just... less to a model, you know?

Answer 9

No, but I do hate how Walmarts look and feel trashy, have long lines, smell, and are generally depresessing places to shop. That smile logo only goes so far when all the Walmarts in my area look like they've been hit by Hurrican Katrina. I rarely shop at walmart (sometimes it can't be avioded), when I do I feel dirty afterwards.

Answer 10

Sort of. I have to shop there do to my low income. I try to get things at other places but it usually cost to much.

Other posters claim those people make stuff get less wages, not necessarily. Some are provided with state health care at no charge. Remember each country has a different cost of living.

Answer 11

wal-mart has the task of fullfilling the needs of the new lower middle class...those who are now in their upper teens and early twenties...the ones who will never make as much or live the life styles they grew up with.

The next generation, will find it normal to wear walmart type cloths, live with their other adult friends thoughout their 20's, drive older cars and live a merger life.

Look around, TV shows, commercials, ads, etc all cater to this lifestyle, and Americans see nothing wrong with it....they are buying it...and what walmart etc sells.