i live in Australia, just wondering if Wal-Mart is really that good?

Answer 1

Wal-mart is terrible.
This is what I hate about wal-mart:
1) I hate their customers the most. They are annoying and oblivious to anyone else shopping around them. They don't care if their kids are running around screaming. They have giant rear ends that you can't get around. There is absolutely no enjoyment going to Walmart unless you're very keen on Sam's Choice soda.
2) I hate that they brain wash their employees with their little meetings to thinking it's sucha wonderful place to work. They could get paid a million dollars an hour, it still wouldn't be enough for dealing with their customers*see point 1. Though most of their employees barely get paid minimum wage, and are deliberately scheduled not enough hours for health benefits.
3) I hate that they have essentially killed any kind of competition in smaller communities. In the town I grew up in, they built across the street from Kmart. Kmart is now gone. Even they couldn't compete. There use to be like 10 family owned grocery stores, now there are 3 grocery stores in the whole town and one of them is in the walmart super center.
4) I hate that they're a giant box store. Box stores are notorious for polluting the area around them.
5) They claim to be so "Christian" thus they won't carry the morning after pill, but they will carry viagra. So they'll help old men get a woody, but they won't help some poor girl who has been raped. Seems real "Christian" to me. So in some small town where Walmart has driven a competing pharmacy out of town, there's no place for a victim of rape to even go. Nice. Real Nice.
6) They feed the American consumer's desire to buy as much crap as possible for as little money as possible. How much roll back junk do we really need? (See #4 -- almost all this s#!t ends up in the landfill).
7) Did I mention how much I hate their customers? I even hate how oblivious they are in the parking lot. They'll drive and drive for the best parking spot, only to walk around A GINORMOUS STORE.
8) They're bullies to communities. If town A refuses to allow Walmart to be built, they'll just show them by moving to town B just five miles down the road. Now which town gets all the tax benefits, and all the mom and pop stores are still shut down. The money doesn't stay in that town either, it ends up in some Walton's bank account. Lucky them.

There are more reasons, but I'm tired of typing.

Answer 2

Wal-Mart is a business that clearly does a good job of serving consumers in some countries (it is a massive success in America and China, but failed badly in Germany), so it is good in that regard. Many people dislike the fact that Wal-Mart pays their workers what are claimed to be low wages (however, the workers wouldn't be working there if they had any better job offers, so I don't think it can be argued that their wages are actually low). Wal-Mart mostly sells products from China, which protectionists and nationalists don't like. However, these practices are required for Wal-Mart to offer low prices (and its prices are usually pretty low, as Wal-Mart is run efficiently, for the most part). Consumers benefit from the low prices by an increased standard of living (if people don't decide that shopping at Wal-Mart is their best choice, they won't shop there).

Supermarkets had much of the same opposition that Wal-Mart currently has when they started, but they never got shut down (even though their less efficient competitors did either become more efficient or go broke due to lack of consumer interest). If Wal-Mart wasn't beneficial to people, they wouldn't be shopping there (because there is nobody forcing anybody to give their money to any legitimate business, it earns its money solely voluntarily, though there are illegitimate businesses that earn their money through criminal acts such as war profiteering or offering a "protection" racket).

Answer 3

You can go in to one store, do your banking, get your hair cut, buy anything from plants to produce and everything else. And you get the cost benefits of Wal-Mart's buying power.

Is it good? People worry that Wal-Mart is taking over. I say, as long as there is a Target and a Sears, Wal-Mart has competition (a good thing).

Answer 4

It's just a store, but a good one. They offer a very wide range of merchandise--think in terms of Sears, Roebuck years ago--and they do try to make their customers happy. Their success has earned them the emnity of their competitors and also of those who make a career out of hating anyone who succeeds at anything, but they're certainly not evil in any way at all.

Somehow the retail experience in the US has become so pervasive that odd powers are attributed to the Wal-mart corporation, as if they're in a position to control any more than the contents of their store and the prices they charge there. In general, the prices they have are substantially lower than in other stores--sometimes only by a few cents. My own opinion is that they have a certain amount of experience to gain in the food business.

But in general, they do a good job.

Answer 5

That all depends on who you ask. For the vast majority of the population it is a good thing but there are those who think that offering goods at low prices that will drive competitors out of business is a bad thing. I don't think these people truly understand how the free market works. Personally, I do a great deal of shopping at Wal-Mart but then again my wife works for them and has for 12 years.

Answer 6

The good thing about Walmart would be that you can get almost everthing you need at one place with decent prices, the bad thing is that the customer service level is the pits. Walmart prides itself on being for the community when in truth, it hires uneducated people (for low wages who can't afford to pay for the health care the corporation offers) who end up disgruntled and underpaid so the customer service they provide is as low as possible. What ends up happening is that you go shopping, stand in long lines (because they under staff) and you get poor service.
I would rather pay a little more and go somewhere that I feel welcome and don't have to hear the tellers complain or see them roll their eyes when they have to help you. My choice is Target.

Answer 7

Wal-mart is good for some things. Just depends on
what it is that you are looking for. Its great for groceries
if you are on a fixed budget. The clothes are ok.

Answer 8

Walmart is like any other store, it has good points and bad. The prices are fairly low, but often the quality is too. 90% of their merchandise is made in China, which makes you worry if you're buying any children's toys or paint. It also means instructions for anything requiring them are likely to be uninterpretable by the average English-speaking person! LOL The worst thing about Walmart is that they tend to wipe out any Mom and Pop stores in the neighborhood, causing a loss of individuality of culture in wide areas.

Answer 9

Walmart is a good place to get cheap items quickly. Sam Walton was a genius, he revolutionized distribution.

Love Jack

Answer 10

Wal-Mart is a good place to shop. They loads of merchandise to sell. The prices are always the best. You cannot beat success.