Do you guys think we have a moral obligation to not shop at Walmart and the like?

Question

Ive always been anti-walmart until I had two kids and found myself poor lol Now I almost feel I am forced to shop there and Im pretty bummed out about it actually. What are everyone's opinions on their hold in our culture and if we have and moral obligation to not shop there or other stores like them..ie Target, etc

Im really surprised by the answers on here. There are some intelligent people on at night too. Does no one study what this type of capitalism is doing to our country? I have a need to shop there as well, but I cant say they are "great" nor can I really condone exploiting people desperate for work in "insert cheap labor country" so I can save a few bucks. Our country is getting richer, our jobs are getting lost and everyone thinks Walmart and like stores are great for consumers. I am an American too, but this is a sort of typical american thought.

DREAMED: right on! My thoughts exactly, As sad as it seems we are in the minority.

BRANDON: I have no "class issues" I have fundage issues and I have to shop there to survive. The muppets and the rich folks perhaps have a choice, I as poor folk do not.

XENA: huh? Im worried about the workers/children in countries that are expolited so walmart can make a killing on the markup of goods that we buy in this country. How was that not clear?

Answer 1

Sorry kid but they'll only let me give you one star. Great question because it's the type of question that truly moral people should be asking instead of the idiot morality- of - sex- questions that we all too often see
Jon Talton(sp) who is a business columnist for the Arizona Republic once wrote a column about what he described as the Walmart Paradox
The people that benefit the most from Walmarts pricing policies are hurt the most from Walmarts wage and benefit policies.
In addition Walmarts choice to buy Chinese goods in effect helps to put American workers on the street .
Then there is the true moral issue which is
Is it moral to buy goods that were manufactured under conditions and by individuals that would be blatantly illegal in America ? How moral is it to tacitly support child labor in order to save money ?
How moral is it to put your own countrymen out of work in order to save money ?

Answer 2

Why the guilt over saving money? I shop there because the prices are usually a third cheaper than shopping at one of the supermarket chains. The only time I do go to a neighborhood supermarket is just to pick up a few items. Because it's futher to drive to the Wal-Mart and not worth the time to stand in line, over just a few items. Granted the selection isn't the same as shopping at a major supermarket. But if your counting pennies and trying to live on a budget, Wal-Mart is great.

The big picture is, almost nothing anymore is made in the USA, and thats in almost any store you can choose to shop at. By that I am not implying groceries or foodstuffs, but everything else available in our society.

It's a nice indulgence to spend money, a nicer dream still is to wish we had all the money in the world to spend on whatever we wanted. But the reality is, we got to watch the money we spend. So saving a few dollars each and everytime we shop, really can add up over the course of months and in a year. Why be upset your saving money and doing everything a mother can do to help her family?

don j

Answer 3

Not at all. It's called competition and free enterprise.

ADDENDUM

"Our country is getting richer, our jobs are getting lost and everyone thinks Walmart and like stores are great for consumers."

Do you, seriously, believe that Walmart originated the trends you describe? Or that they, single-handedly are going to topple the American economy?

Nonsense!

I agree with you that we have a serious problem in losing jobs - and ENTIRE INDUSTRIES - to overseas competition, but what do you really do, personally, to combat it? What are the chances you drive an American car? Pretty slim I would imagine. Where was the computer you are now using made? Not in the U.S. of A. I will bet. Are you eager to fly Boeing's new 787? It may be assembled in Washington State, but about 70% of its component parts are made overseas at the expense of high-paying American jobs. Do you like Hershey's kisses? They're made, along with many of Hershey's products, in Mexico, not Pennsylvania, at the cost of 3,000 American jobs (out of 13,000 total for the company) this year, alone.

U.S. service jobs (IT, accounting, call center, HEALTHCARE, and many more) are rapidly being pulled overseas. A former secretary of labor estimates that as many as 30-40% of ALL U.S. service jobs will move "off-shore" in the next decade.

So, manufacturing and service jobs are leaving. Engineering jobs are leaving - Boeing has a design center in Moscow! We are importing ENGLISH teachers from INDIA! How many burger flippers can we employ?

You can't blame Walmart. Blame our shortsighted government, poor education system, and lazy students and workers.

You ain't seen nothin' yet. You think there's a mortgage crisis now? Just wait until more and more good jobs leave our shores and people who used to have solid credit start to default. It's coming.

Answer 4

I understand your point. There's a huge disconnect in our society where people don't realize that when you buy something you ARE supporting the companies that manufacture, market and sell that item, whether you like it or not. There are consequences to how we spend our money, and we rarely acknowledge them.

I also hate it every time I'm forced to shop at Wal-Mart, because the only alternative is (literally) to drive 80 miles to a competitor's store. The only way we (middle and working-class families) can really win is to get anti-trust legislation actually enforced and allow genuine competition among localized businesses that actually are a part of the community not a parasite upon it.

Peace to you.

Answer 5

Walmart is not nearly as evil as certain people would have you to believe.

They offer products at a price that many people can afford. They provide these prices by buying in larger quantities (hence the name 'big box store'), since it allows them to get greater discounts on goods...which they in turn pass along.

They employ a good number of people, who for the most part, can't find better work (single mothers who need flexible schedules, retirees who can't quite make ends meet on fixed budgets, disabled people). These people can also, with time, get benefits that they otherwise wouldn't be able to.

Walmart has not, as some people would have you believe, destroyed the economy of a town. By employing people, and offering goods and services, they actually help stimulate it.

It is not in Wally world's interest to put mom and pop stores out of business. Competition is good. Unfortunately, many of the smaller stores refuse to break their existing paradigm and grow. There is a certain nostalgia associated with shopping in the 'small hometown stores'; but usually, many people find that the service is lacking or not what they remember.

Walmart donates huge amounts of money to various charities each year.

The 'sweat shop labor' that many people want to cry about, fails to take certain cultural aspects into account. In many cases, these are the only jobs available to the people working them...period. We may view a job that pays (the equivalant of) $7 a day as pathetic, but in many of these countries, that's a lot of money. We project our culture onto others, and assume that because they don't meet our standards, they're being abused.

Answer 6

I try to never shop at walmart , but alas sometimes I do. My husband and I call it "The evil empire" not walmart.

Answer 7

You just left a bad taste in my mouth after the meal I've had... If you are so concerned about status, go and find a sugar - daddy. If you want someone to purchase things to you from most expensive stores, just go ahead.

Being disgusted with using products from very poor nations-child labor & cheap slave labor is one thing.
Being upset over your 'social standing' is another.

You remind me so much of my mother in law!!!! wow!

Answer 8

i saw a video about what the sweatshop workers go through in indonesia to sew pants for walmart.
i wanted to cry. it sucks all the stuff we have here says "made in china" and "made in indonesia"
i have made it for myself a moral obligation to try to buy things that are made by well sufficiently paid people working 8 hour shifts, when available and if i can afford them. i can tell you 99% of my clothes say "made in usa" today. :)

Answer 9

What is the moral dilemma? Do you think they are the only ones that do some things you do not agree with? It is OK to shop there, but if you have a more dilemma about going there, don't.

Answer 10

WTF are you smoking lady? Walmart is a super center for a communitys groceries and goods, it isn't deemed for just the poor class considering alot of their goods are not cheap at all. Whoa I never thought I'd see someone knock walmart or target. You have some class issues that you need to deal with hun.