A New "Wal-Mart is Evil" thread...

80% of Wal~Mart's suppliers are in China, according to the 2004 Frontline story. 80%.

UPDATE: According to Google:

1 Chinese yuan = 0.127686198 U.S. dollars.
(Note: CNN reports tonight that the trade deficit with China swelled to a record $24.4 billion in October, as imports from there surged to $29.3 billion, also a record. I don't think the U.S. doesn't have a trade deficit with any other country - certainly not one anywhere near that high.)

1 Euro = 1.3192 U.S. dollars
1 Japanese yen = 0.00855724799 U.S. dollars (Yikes!)
1 British pound = 1.9522 U.S. dollars
1 Mexican peso = 0.0923071243 U.S. dollars
1 Russian ruble = 0.0380171762 U.S. dollars

 

I try not to frequent a store where the stench of white trash gets caught in my hair.

 

Bubbler, please, please, please re-post the Wal-Mart at midnight story.

 

I'm at Wal-Mart in the middle of the night every other week. I'm sure I could add to that story.

 

Good recent documentary on the issue, "The High Cost of Low Prices."

 

Someone needs to alert John Edwards' staff about this latest news.

 

Wal-Mart is gross for a variety of reasons. I don't shop there at all.

I do like the steps they have taken to improve environmental standards. The company sees value in that and will therefore take the necessary actions.

Wal-Mart is well managed. I may not like some of their measures but they at least get the most out of every last penny.

 

I took the exact same list of groceries and did an experiement a few months back where I did one shopping trip at Wal-Mart, then three weeks later, I took the exact same list to a regional grocery store.

I purposely avoided advertised specials and didn't use coupons.

If it was an advertised special at Wal-Mart, I didn't buy it, and then also didn't buy it at the regional grocery store when I went there.

Wal-Mart came out ahead by a whopping $2.38 on the receipt.

Of course, I also spent 25 minutes in line there waiting to check out.

At my other store, where the groceries were $2.38 more expensive, I waited in line for 6 minutes.

I've quit grocery shopping at Wal-Mart not for any political reason, but just because 19 minutes of my time is worth more than $2.38.

 

That's funny River. I and the better half spent a whole day price comparing: Wal-Mart, three chain stores and the local independent grocer. We had a list of 30 items and checked the regular price of them at each place. Like you, we found Wal-Mart was cheaper, but not by much. For about two months, we pinched pennies and vowed to buy each item where it was cheapest. After about two months, I said fuck it and shopped wherever was convenient.

Also, ever notice Wal-Mart's "Roll Back Pricing?" They have a piece of paper/boxboard clipped to the shelf that says "Rolled Back!" and has the price. Lift up the tag, look at the sticker on the shelf which happens to be beneath a plastic coating and adhered to the shelf itself: IT'S THE SAME PRICE AS THE "ROLL BACK" PRICE! So, what's it actually rolled back from?

 

I can't believe it, but I'm going to side with Hondo on this one. And maybe I'm evil for this, but I really couldn't give two fucks who made my cheetos (or Doritos, in my case) or whatever else, nor do I care how much they got paid for it.

I used to crank out quality 12-page A sections on a daily basis, and the wage I got paid was ridiculously low. No one cried for me.

 

It's not evil, it's short-sighted.

You know that expression, "There's no free lunch". Well, there isn't. It makes a good starting point for economic thinking.

So by outsourcing the majority of your manufacturing so that people can save $2.00 on a T-shirt means, in the long run, that your manufacturing base disappears--as it is now across North America.

And what you're left with is poverty level service jobs that continues the erosion of one of North America's greatest achievements--the middle-class. So you end up paying for this $2.00 savings in otherways--higher welfare payments and ncreased health care costs--to name a couple.

That's overly simplistic but as long as you always keep in mind, "There's no free lunch", you can seldom go wrong.

 

Well-managed? You mean they have the power to brow beat everyone and get their way.

There was a story in the NY Times a few days ago about how they fired their new advertising/marketing manager. She apparently was the genious in charge of the lingerie bowl.

One of her first jobs was hiring a new firm for a $1 billion contract so she is seen everywhere sleeping with her assistant (allegedly) hitting up potential clients for inappropriate gifts and such and causes pulses to race in Arkansas.

So now they have had to kill a commercial she oversaw they thought was too racy, start a new search for an advertising firm from scratch because she handling it completely against company policy and pay her who knows how many millions to get lost.

Any idiot could have guessed that she wouldn't be a good fit for that company.