Until last year, Wal-Mart, the global retail chain known for undercutting local competitors by curbing wages and benefits, enjoyed so much clout that it placed its sprawling warehouse stores practically at will. But grassroots challenges to the healthcare practices of America’s largest employer have stalled its expansion bids, exposing a bullying streak beneath its homey veneer of red, white and… return to article
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Reader Comments (65)Page 1 of 1 pagessuprise-suprise- here’s one I wholeheartedly agree with you liberals on. I think wal-mart sucks. I admire Vermont and it towns and people for also fighting the wal-mart menace.
Posted by reddog on Jan 25, 2005 at 12:24 PM Not surprising news about Wal-Mart.....I boycotted Wal-Mart the moment I realized how wrongly they treated their employees. A financial giant to say the least, but alas “Dishonest gain does not prosper” and “in the end” many will give account to the Creator for how they did things in this world...oh happy day?
Posted by Amylee Bartlett on Jan 25, 2005 at 1:43 PM “The platform that Wal-Mart keeps advocating is bringing in jobs to low-income communities,” says Rev. Michael Pfleger of St. Sabina’s Catholic Church in Chicago. “But low-wage jobs, often without health care, keep families in poverty and keep people in shackles.”
Of course, for unskilled workers there is another choice. LEARN A SKILL!!! Unskilled entry level jobs are ALWAYS low paying. To make such an entry level job into a “career” is a choice, albeit a bad one.
So first learn how to do something that requires skill. Electrician, plumber, physicist, nurse, whatever. There is massive opportunity available for all! You can even use Walmart as a stepping stone to a better career.
But almost as importantly, after (or even before, if you are really ambitious) you have a nice job, save 10% (or more!) of your income. The ONLY way to break your “shackles” is via SPENDING LESS THAN YOU MAKE!
If all this sounds too difficult, then just sit around and complain about how unfair life is. I am sure there are many willing to listen - and commiserate - with that sort of thing.
Posted by obviously on Jan 25, 2005 at 2:14 PM “But since Wal-Mart saddles its staff with 33 percent premiums, the coverage often costs more than $200 a month per worker to maintain—a steep price for workers making between $8 and $10 per hour. As a result, just 58 percent of those eligible, less than half of all workers, or about 537,000 people, actually have the insurance.”
Double silly. First the complaint is that Walmart ONLY pays 2/3 of the cost of insurance (bunch of ingrates)! Second has it not occurred to the genius that wrote this that many people are in households that already have health insurance? Duh.
Posted by thinkHarder on Jan 25, 2005 at 2:18 PM Free enterprise people. Free enterprise. If those employees are truly being screwed over, they should go out and find another job.
Posted by Common Sense on Jan 25, 2005 at 2:49 PM common sense- how can they go out and get jobs somewhere else when every place else has been closed due to wal mart stifling, strangling and ultimately closing down everything. there is no hope to start your own business of find a good job beacuse this company reduces the value of everything. I hope someday wal-mart will face the mother of all monopoly suits for it’s evil controling practices.
It’s been said that most of the kids of wal-mart employees are on state aid so wal mart even screws us out of tax money to pay for it.
I think wal- mart is a blight on this country- the perfect capitalist dream- which is ok if you are a capitalist but then not all of us can be capitalists now can we. some of us have to be workers. ( no I do not work at wal-mart).
would it not abandoned wal mart buildings make excellent schools? or low income housing?
Posted by reddog on Jan 25, 2005 at 3:02 PM What does “In These Times” provide for its employees? Obviously, it’s way better than what Wal-Mart does! I mean, otherwise you would look pretty stupid.
Secondly, I just want to go on the record that I agree with the authors that people shouldn’t be given the right to shop where they want. People are stupid, especially inner-city people. We need to foster a culture of small stores all over the place that all provide 100% health care for free to everybody. Duh!
Posted by In My Times, or yours on Jan 25, 2005 at 3:31 PM It is pathetic to read comments such at those given by common sense. The USA, has allowed the siphoning of our mfg and service sector jobs to asia and latin america and under “the plan” foreign investments would allow foreign markets to grow furthering demand for American products.
All it has done is start the snow ball effect of
lost jobs in the USA, lower salaries with less benefits, and the irony is that these foreign markets still pay their workers .12 -.22 cents an hour ! Foreign markets are job rich not salary rich and our middle class is shrinking while the privileged class makes more money !Usually the individuals that say find another job do not understand the plight of folks that do not have a better education or are displaced workers.
United we stand, yea right, this is only false patriotism where caring for your fellow American by action or support is where it starts.Look at the article on Maytag in this websites archives, our way of life is slowly being taken away from us. Our jobs are our best export and is why our trade deficit is a joke since we are producing less and less. Companies like walmart are cashing in on this end result, cheap chinese imports bought at the expense of near slave labor and sold in the USA to the masses for real dollars. The fact that they have the nerve to cut benefits is a real crime. It is almost as if our own corporations are taking on the business plan of the chinese and other cheap labor markets than visa versa !
Does anybody remember when Walmart marketed under the MADE IN THE USA banner ! This was before Sam
passed away but when the new ceo took over, they like many “USA” companies have sold us out in order to appease the bottomless pit of wall street.There is something very very wrong and we all need to see this.
Posted by 7thangel on Jan 25, 2005 at 3:50 PM You can tell from their comments that none of people defending Walmart have ever been so down and out they needed to take a minimum wage job. I myself am fortunate enough to be in the same boat, but unlike some of the people posting on this site I would never pretend to understand something I have never experienced. Obviously, I don’t know what you expect to save when you make $8 an hour before taxes.
I also know that the only people who could possibly write anything in support of Walmart are people who make a living off the stock market in one way or another. The people writing in support of Walmart are probably well-fed business men who sit in an office all day swindling stock holders and living off the backs of people who actually work for a living.
For those of you saying to yourself, “That doesn’t describe me,” than congratulations, you are an idiot. The brokers simply write to justify the evil that benefits them. What is your excuse? I can’t believe that anyone could like shopping at Walmart that much.
People try and keep Walmart out of their communities for the same reason they try and keep drug dealers out: Walmart seduces and errodes already poor communities. But it is a free market, right? If people want the drugs we should leave the drug dealers alone, right?
As for the “right” to shop at Walmart, I don’t remember reading that in the constitution. If you are so attached to Walmart that you feel your rights are being violated when they don’t open one in your town, you probably need to see a shrink. Even if such a “right” existed (besides in a corporate PR firm) , it would come long after a right to a living wage and a decent standard of living (also not guaranteed anywhere, but I think more people would agree on these).
Poor Walmart, they only make billions every year in profits. Why should they pay for their employees health coverage? Forget about people who have to take $8 an hour jobs at Walmart because the business they used to own couldn’t compete, I don’t care about them. All I care about is a faceless corporation that pushes suburban sprawl. Then again, that could just be my Walmart stock talking.
Posted by Disseminator on Jan 25, 2005 at 7:36 PM Interested in the psychology of one who defends Wal-Mart...is it strictly ideological? Ideologies can be powerful in that the internal logic obscures the overall logic. That is, to claim that Wal-Mart succeeded under, and operates under a free market system is to go against the facts.
Like most multinational corporations, they favor some tariffs and boycotts while lobbying against others, depend on government aid when it serves them while preventing the populous (i.e., their employees) from the same conceptual aid, and expand due to advantages that do not necessary fall under the auspice of a more qualitatively sound product or service. This is hardly an invisible hand, nor is it “up-by-your-bootstraps” grit.
However, ideology or no, Wal-Mart? Come on, man. That little winking yellow fucking smiley face should be warning enough. Or those commercials of black people talking about how happy they are that Wal-Mart has come to their town. It’s like a preemptive Denny’s apology.
Posted by rocco on Jan 26, 2005 at 5:44 AM The business plan(s) that present day corporate America has employed with no end in sight places all of us in dire straights, if not now for some, sooner or later it will be felt by all. We are living in a free society, but how free are we when we allow ourselves to be subjected to policies of totalitarian business policies of markets such as china that in the end effect us.
Companies that have any desire to partake in asian markets literally have to sell there soul to do business with them and make no mistake about it, that soul is the American worker.The short and long term future of America is at risk on how we deal with the temptation of the low road of doing business with foreign markets and the aggression on all fronts of chinese expansionism of today. These times, albeit at a low level, remind me of the economic boom seen by Japan, and Taiwan of the 70s-to mid 90’s but at the same token, a similar feel to the Germany of the 30’s. This may have a dark tone to it but this is only my opinion, but it seems very clear to me. Until we as Americans start taking a real patriotic stand and back each other up and stop being oblivious to current events on how it effects us as a whole and not the individual, we are in deep trouble and would have to ask, how is your mandarin ?
One thought was I never heard a big thank you from the chinese on the results of there boom which many of us have paid for in our jobs and the suppressive lives that many have lived in china to subsidize the chinese expansion. When you think about it, we may have beaten the soviet version of communism but we are getting are back ends kicked in by the chinese version of it, and you have to ask yourself, WHAT IS OUR GOVT AND CORPORATE AMERICA THINKGING and why ARE WE supporting the “walmart’s” and politicians that are at the forefront of this betrayal ?
I personally would rather pay a few bucks more for anything made in the USA and would work my back end off for anyone that would run for office that would for once work for us and not an illusion.
BEIJING (AFP) - China’s booming economy expanded 9.5 percent last year after 9.3 percent in 2003 in an indication tightening measures have not proved effective enough and more could be in store, data showed Tuesday.
http://www.forbes.com/feeds/ap/2004/09/24/ap1559587.html
http://www.canada.com/businesscentre/story.html?id=da5dbff8-11ba-4965-bf24-2416e e7cd38fb
http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_T Type1&c=Article&cid=1106607011407&call_pageid=968256290204&col=9 968350116795
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/news/china/1999/e-11-18-99-5.htm
http://www.conservativeusa.org/panama-washtimes.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/553979.stm
http://worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=17269
http://english.enorth.com.cn/system/2004/11/07/000897715.shtml
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-4695831,00.html
http://www.defensenews.com/story.php?F=598327&C=airwar
http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2003/1/13/184647.shtml
THE PROPOGANDA ALREADY HAS STARTED.....
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2003/01/07/menzies/
Posted by 7thangel on Jan 26, 2005 at 11:07 AM First off, I am not a Walmart apologist. I simply believe that a person’s destiny is there own and if they feel that they are not getting what they deserve, they can leave. They may have to work a little harder and go to school or learn a trade, but in the end, the decision is theirs. That is what is great about this country and unfortunetly so many people do not understand that simple concept.
Posted by Common Sense on Jan 26, 2005 at 2:42 PM Free enterprise? The very existance of Walmart today as we know it (post Sam) is due to the “special relationship” our government has made with corporatist China. China supplies the labor at the cheapest possible level, while Walmart and Target are given special permission and tax incentives to exploit this labor to their heart’s desire. How is that free enterprise? If we truly believed in free enterprise we would cease giving China favored nation status and only trade with countries that follow the same code of labor standards we claim to abide by.
Posted by Jonathan Wright on Jan 26, 2005 at 5:23 PM The sad thing about the very existance of Wal-Mart is that it exists. nevermind that the government allows a business to behave like that, and nevermind that a business would treat its own people so shabbily. is a bit of a discount worth your soul? That’s the question you have to answer (or ignore) when you decide to shop in these places. The business wouldn’t even exist - it certainly wouldn’t be as big as it is now - if it wasn’t SO popular.
Things have already got to the point where many people are in a position to say “Well, it’s Wal-Mart or do without.” So doing without is not an option? OK. Your decision has been made. That’s fine. But even now, and even in those places, it IS a decision. There are other places to buy and ways to obtain food, clothing and shelter. Doing without a Thermos or whatever is not going to threaten your life, but I’m not going to criticize. I just want to point out that if you have ever shopped at Wal-Mart, it’s existance is YOUR FAULT.
This reminds me of the peole in the 80s who complained about how the Japanese seemed to own half of the United States. No one seemed to want to think about the fact that for every buyer (Japan), there is a seller(greedy or unpatriotic Americans)...and for every seller(Wal-Mart) there has to be a buyer (YOU).
Posted by Gregor Zieglou on Jan 26, 2005 at 7:57 PM Commom Sense-
“I simply believe that a person’s destiny is there own and if they feel that they are not getting what they deserve, they can leave.”Poor Sense. I wish it were as easy as leaving a part time job in order to go on to the next part time job. There are many people---I being one---who have a college degree (secondary education)who have seen job openings dissapear. What is your solution? To MOVE on? I have moved on through 16 part time jobs over the course of my lifetime. One of my most recent jobs had me working at Subway alongside 3 other people with teaching degrees.
Your rationalization of the disinfranchised is to simple. Your comments read as if you are racing down a dirt toad in an SUV, kickin’ dust up into the faces of the working poor.
Posted by Keepitgreen on Jan 26, 2005 at 8:06 PM Why do we keep calling Sam Walton’s company Wal-Mart? It’s been China-Mart for years. Get with it, or McDonald’s may lose its contract with China’s political prisoners to produce the plastic Happy Meal toys.
Posted by Mark Cartwright on Jan 26, 2005 at 11:27 PM Keepitgreen - have you considered: a) moving to a location where your skills are more in demand? b) working as a substitute (as my brother did) until a full time position opens up (this worked for him)? c) specializing in math or science teaching, which often has openings (at least where i am)? d) going back to school and getting a more marketable degree? How long did you say you have been looking now?
While i sympathize with you, your destiny is in your hands (btw - have you ever read What Color is Your Parachute?). Keep the faith and best of luck to you!
Posted by aFriend on Jan 27, 2005 at 12:03 PM “This reminds me of the peole in the 80s who complained about how the Japanese seemed to own half of the United States. No one seemed to want to think about the fact that for every buyer (Japan), there is a seller(greedy or unpatriotic Americans)..”
Personally i am all for the Japanese investing in our country. And us investing in theirs. The more interlinked the global community becomes, the better.
Posted by justAThought on Jan 27, 2005 at 12:05 PM justAThought,
I agree. I have no problem with Japan or anyone else investing in my country. I DO have a problem with Wal-Mart, but the point I meant to make was that people need to pay attention who they are railing against. If you don’t want Japan or anyone else buying up in the US, don’t blame Japan, blame the sellers. I don’t like Wal-Mart but I don’t blame Wal-Mart for turning a profit (well, I do blame them for their obvious preference for profit over humanity), I blame the masses who mindlessly give them money for doing it.
Posted by Gregor Zieglou on Jan 27, 2005 at 8:23 PM Walmarts Money seems stronger then concernd citizens wishes. Here in Tarpon Springs Florida, the town just approved a site for yet another Walmart Super center on pristine river water front.
1.enviromental impact and pollution
2.destruction of wildlife
3.changing the picture of an old time town with a unique Greek touch and ambiance.
Our town is still spreechless as to the audacity of the City Comission to go against their wishes and and approve the huge project when endless shopping centers on US 19 are already vacant . Is there anything that can stop Walmart and Sams to swallow up rual America..
Posted by seehawk on Jan 28, 2005 at 7:38 PM I personally cringe everytime I am forced to walk into a Wall-Mart. This started after I read the book “Nickle and Dimed” this book also gives insite to other low wage jobs many American’s are forced to work with little hope of decent health coverage etc. I then began reading any article dealing with the SUPER EVIL CHAIN as I like to call it. I dislike many chain like places but Wall-Mart one tops them all for obvious reasons.
Posted by Mandy on Jan 29, 2005 at 7:33 AM I personally cringe everytime I am forced to walk into a Wall-Mart.”
In MY country, no one can force you to walk into a Walmart! And if they did, i betcha they would face criminal and civil charges.
Are you in Iraq? Is that what that bastard Bush is doing there? I have heard rumors, but did not believe them. . .
Posted by terribleMon on Jan 29, 2005 at 2:22 PM That Rev. who stated that no jobs and no health care is better than jobs without healthcare is a perfect example of why the poor stay poor. No income is better? A good thing he became a Rev.: anything else and he’d be bankrupt quickly.
Posted by Paul on Jan 30, 2005 at 10:54 AM Instead of expecting the government and/or corporations to act as nannies which take care of us, we need to start taking back the control of our lives and quit letting others make us dependent. Maybe this means creating local organizations we contribute to and benefit from. Or learning about home remedies and other ways to avoid corporate medicine and such. And taking responsibility for ourselves to get strong and remain strong through lifestyle choices. Most health care today is spent on people with 100% avoidable conditions.
There is no reason an employer should provide health insurance. Or the government. We need to put these things back into our own individual hands--where we have complete control over it versus swinging on a limb dependent on the whims of employers and/or government.
Posted by Keri on Jan 30, 2005 at 1:25 PM All I can say about you people who get so worked up about Walmart is eat more fruit, more whole grains, and drink more water, because your so backed up with shit that it’s oozing out of your mouths and dripping all over your web posts. Or, if you prefer, you’re all just plain stupid. I’ll bet none of you have ever truly thought about the implications for the vast number of consumers who would certainly benefit from a store like Walmart opening up within their neighborhoods. And to the claim that by not paying health benefits Wal mart exploits its workers, bullshit! Don’t you morons know anything about private property? No company owes any employee health insurance; it’s not one of those unalienable rights Mr. Jefferson wrote about in the Declaration of Independence. If any of you shitheads believes that stopping a Walmart from being built is the mark of success, then you will never be anything good to your neighbors or this country, except as shining examples of why socialism always attracts the most stupid and ignorant from among us. And one aside, the gentleman who wrote this article bemoaned how Walmart employees making from $8-10 an hour had to pay $200 a month in health insurances premiums. Well, I earn a salary that pays less than $20 and hour, yet I pay $660 a month for my premiums. I don’t blame my employer. I’ll just shop around and find a better deal. If that doesn’t work, maybe I’ll change jobs and find a better insurance deal and a better employer. Even in George Bush’s fortress America, I can still change my job to better my condition. Why can’t any of you stupid, whining, fascist morons advocate that rather than forcing people and companies to use their property in ways that suit your empty-headed sense of fairness and equity!
Posted by G-man on Jan 30, 2005 at 6:33 PM After reading some of the comments by common sense and g-man, I can understand why the Republic is in trouble. I remember reading a quote to the effect that what we have in America is socialism for the rich and free market capitalism for the poor. Companies like Wal Mart should not be allowed to suck all the oxygen out of the economy. I agree that we Americans should get off of our backsides and do some old fashioned striking and boycotting like was done in our Grandparents time. I do support unions and workers rights and have not shopped at Wal Mart for years. I rather despise these Social Darwinists that are so fashionable today. “Just get another job” is about on the level of “Other than that, how was the play, Mrs. Lincoln?”
Posted by la on Jan 30, 2005 at 10:40 PM Gee, G-Man, you’ve put those “just plain stupid, b.s., s-head, whining,empty-headed, fascist morons” in their place! Your love for your fellow man with an opinion different from yours shines thru. You know the TRUTH and it shows. Keep the inspiring posts coming. Dubya is God!!! You are his messenger. Praise G-Man, Karl Rove and China,too. Remember the Alamo Car Rental Company…
Posted by Mark Cartwright on Jan 30, 2005 at 11:08 PM Well, Mark, you’re a shining example of exactly what I’m talking about. You can have your opinion, however misguided it is, I just you and yours to keep your hands out of my pockets and away from my property. That’s the problem with all you “enlightened” people on this message board who think that what I and everyone else earn is somehow first community property to be “shared” according to the dictates of a benevolent and caring government, and that I should be grateful to provide for complete strangers even though I might struggle to provide for my own family. The same government force that you idolize as a solution to all our social woes is the same one that corporate giants such as Walmart use to dictate the conditions of the market through bought politicians. All corporations do it. Hell, that’s the source of our foreign policy. “Our troops” do not serve their country; they are nothing more than mercenary forces in the employment of multinational corporations,protecting their bottom line. Our economic problems run deeper than what Walmart might do to secure markets in this country, but you people ranting against Walmart on this board can’t seem to grasp that government is the real evil. It started the so-called corporate takeover of the American marketplace. All you peope want to do is use the same government to direct theft and force in directions that favor yourselves. If you completely succeed if defeating all of your Walmart demons, then we are all truly screwed. And by the way, if it matters, I am not Dubya’s messenger. He’s just as much a socialist as all of you people and that’s probably why you despise him so much: he’s competition for your control of the wealth of this nation.
Posted by Gman on Jan 31, 2005 at 6:36 AM Do you know what’s most sad? Not the poor in the inner cities. They’ll probably always be poor and fight it out. Not the fact that Wal-Mart is a blood sucking behemoth that destroys small business, big city bravado, small town charm, unions, good pay and everything in between. The sad thing is this bickering among supposedly intelligent, (might I even add intellectual) Americans of both the left and the right who have nothing to offer one another but mud slinging, vulgarity and even poor spelling and grammar. I don’t understand why the right visits this website so much. I’m sure that the National Review or the Pro America Coalition have its own websites. Why don’t you go off and join those dialogues so that you can all agree with each other’s hard-lined, pro-capitalist feel goodism. Why do you have to rain on our leftist parades? We like being leftist. We like dreaming. We like idealism. You’ve obviously given up all of yours, so why don’t you leave us alone?
What truly pains me is the illogicality of some of these rightist rantings. Get a better job? Get trained for something different? Go to school? Get off your ass and work? Where are the better jobs? Okay, so everyone now has to become a surgeon, a nurse or a lawyer; I get it. What about the extremely poor who can’t afford the elite colleges and the tickets to better employers they provide? Do these jerks realize how many people in the inner city commute up to 2 or more hours on public transportation to get to their low-paying jobs? Poor people may be many things, but they’re generally not lazy. Get trained for what? Most of the best jobs have been outsourced or driven down in cost by illegal immigrants flooding into this country. Everything else, including the once booming high-tech sector has been moved to China, India and the Philippines. Ever visit those countries? The economics or human rights there are not pretty.
To the dolt claiming he makes less than $20 an hour and pays $660 a month for health insurance, so why don’t you find a better job? Why don’t you get better benefits? What are you railing at us for? The truth of the matter is, you probably can’t find a better job and you won’t find better benefits. The companies aren’t doing that anymore. The government won’t do it. Whatever sort of a decent, middle class life America had is over, it’s history. Our parents enjoyed the greatest run of middle income prosperity in the history of the world. Too bad most of us or our children’s children will never know that. Notice how all the stockbrokers and financial planners line up to sell these people and not the younger generation with its mounds of bills and little disposable cash.
Business is business and capital should be allowed to do whatever it wants? No it doesn’t. We have rules and laws. Those are based on morals. We’re supposed to be a nation, a society, not an anarchy. This is America. We’re supposed to be better, different from the rest of the nations in history that won rights for its peoples
through bloodletting. Companies are responsible to communities. This is how people are able to live in dignity and pride. A nation without a social contract and based strictly on short-term gain and narcissism will eventually implode and turn on itself. I see that happening now. Americans are more foreign and alienating to each other themselves than a Frenchman and an American would be, even with their cultural and linguistic differences. Even Calvin Coolidge, the hard-lined zealot for business sovereignty, recognized the evils of that enterprise left unchecked. Even he was imbued with New England Congregationalist pragmatism, which included a shade of understanding about poverty and relief for his fellow man.But keep dreaming, you foolish Horatio Algers of this world. You still think this is 1956. This is why George Bush is spending 1B a week on a war we can’t win while he claims there’s no money for social health care. That’s why gas guzzling SUVs are plying our crumbling roads governments don’t have money to fix. That’s why gas prices are high and will probably go higher. This is the reason legitimately sick people, including veterans who fought for us can’t get disability, but rather, are told to tough it out and get a job. This is why dog eat dog rules the day and there’s absolutely no compassion left in this country. That’s why we work harder and harder for less money and why life in America gets lousier in a million ways great and small.
But keep telling us it’s our fault. Keep telling us we have to work harder. Keep telling us to pray and salute the stars and stripes, as if that would make things better for any of us. I’m not as sick of Wal-Mart and corporate greed as I am of the blockheads and nincompoops I’m sorry to call my fellow Americans!
If someone plans on rebutting this argument, feel free to do so. After all, this is supposed to be a free country, though I just heard a distressing radio report that numerous polled high school students throughout this nation feel the First Amendment is entirely too liberal and allows us too much free speech. Geez! In either case, if you’re going to argument intelligently, your thoughts are welcome. Do not curse me or show me your incivility by calling me every name under the sun just to prove you’re right and I’m wrong. I’ve already witnessed enough inarticulateness and stupidity at this forum, so please spare your wrath.
Posted by emmbee on Jan 31, 2005 at 10:37 AM well, well, well, just goes to show me in this article that i need to do EVEN MORE SHOPPING, at wal-mart. idiot writer
Posted by roger o. on Jan 31, 2005 at 2:50 PM thank you Emmbee for your smartly written comment.
The commend (if you could call that comment)that follows yours proofs your point in more then one way.
I do believe that writers who use profanity should no longer be allowed at this forum or should be ignored as they are destructive to any discussion and therfor useless
Posted by seehawk on Jan 31, 2005 at 7:36 PM I agree with you, Seehawk, Emmbee’s comments were excellent(A+). It is from those types of postings that I learn the most. Thanks…
Posted by Mark Cartwright on Feb 1, 2005 at 10:51 AM G-man
I am going to tell you something about yourself you probably won’t believe, because you seem fairly arrogant: You are afraid. Your words stink of it. Don’t believe me? How about this: the socialists are going to steal all your hard earned money. Is your heart beating faster yet? I wonder how many other catch all phrases would get your attention like that. How about communist or terrorist. Doesn’t G-man really stand for gay man? Feel uncomfortable?
You will always be easy to manipulate because you jump as soon as anyone talks about touching your pocket. This makes you a tool of the very government you hate and by extension the corporations you seem to love.
If you don’t think wealthy corporations should give their employees health benefits (the people who make them their money to begin with) than I hope you are starving one day and a man with a loaf of bread refuses to give you a slice. Because after reading your comments that seems like the way you would treat someone else. I will keep my “empty-headed sense of fairness and equity” over your empty-headed sense of greed and self-centeredness.
By the way, most people who call themselves socialists don’t consider the corporate welfare you are describing socialism.
Posted by Disseminator on Feb 1, 2005 at 1:29 PM Disseminator, very well put. Really well put in fact. Thank you.
Posted by Matilda Gatsby on Feb 2, 2005 at 12:10 AM for all who look with a critical eye at Walmarts..Mother Jones has a great article about the Super Super Invader of Urban America.
Posted by agnes on Feb 2, 2005 at 7:26 AM thanks to most of you for your positive comments and intelligent reason. yes, roger o., go and shop til you drop at that venerable all american institution, wal-mart. eventually, after you’ve purchased all their cheap products, none of which are made in america, and you can no longer make a living because you’ve either been rightsized or your customers can no longer pay for your services, then we’ll see what tune you’ll whistle. disseminator, very good. funny, how no one blinked an eye when st. ronald reagan wrote a 1B check to bail out chrysler. or what about all the free money being thrown at united airlines as it proceeds to go broke, bilk their employee’s pensions all while helping the ceos to 8m bonuses and stock options for the year? what’s most amazing is that while so many people’s lives are being wrenched by the so called global economy and things are getting so much worse for many of us, there are those who gloat and seem to relish that fact. i can’t understand what has happened to this country and why there is so much cruelty and lack of empathy. what happened? what went wrong? did the american experiment fail? yes, i’ve been thinking of leaving here for a long time. but is it really better anywhere else? comments, please!
Posted by emmbee on Feb 2, 2005 at 8:54 AM Many Wal-Mart employees are but one step away from being homeless. Why do they work there and not someplace else where they might make a better wage and maybe get benefits, many of you ask?
Has it ever occurred to you who reply so that many of these people are lacking in the ability to afford an education which might allow them to earn a liveable wage like some of us do? In the times in which we are living, it has become necessary to have at least a Bachelor’s Degree, if not a Master’s Degree, in order to get a job that will pay anything resembling a wage high enough to live on.
Wal-Mart employees are among the forgotten class of what is known as the “working poor”. They hold down jobs, but with what they earn, they can barely afford rent or a mortgage, let alone food on the table. Some of you complain that these people are not living within their means. I would urge you to read Barbara Ehrenreich’s most excellent book, “Nickel and Dimed - On not getting by in America”, and David Shipler’s book, “The Working Poor: Invisible in America” before you level another complaint about these people trying to live far too extravagant lifestyles for the wages they earn.
Until you’ve walked in their shoes, I urge you to stop complaining about these people. I know. I’ve been there myself.
Posted by SallyB on Feb 2, 2005 at 10:35 AM Corporations are not how the phenomenon of the United States of America came to be. The founders had many different points of view. Some were agrarian, some paternalistic much like corporations, some scientific, etc. Having a few acres to call home, being free to pursue ones interests without exploitation, having the freedom to explore the spiritual without coercion, ability to safeguard one’s family, the ability to participate in community, the opportunity to participate in decisions of community import, the advantage of group negotiations on any scale are basic values that have been afforded us by the American experiment. It has not lasted long enough when we compare it to other civilizations to earn the title of success. Many of the individual rights, protections and possibilities afforded individuals have been usurped by corporate and other entities which operate outside the individual and community scale and reap benefits for a very few at the expense of the common wealth. We are not all the same. We are born into different circumstances, with different biological potentials. One of our goals can be htat each should have a place of peace in the whole. Perhaps what we can work on is for each of us to develop a bit of empathy and acceptance for our fellow man. As for huge corporate meglo nongovernment governments using our common resources to achieve power and wealth on the world stage...to hell with them all.
Posted by prefertofloat on Feb 2, 2005 at 10:58 AM If you liked this article, e-mail it to everyone you know - especially in the South.
Posted by Athena on Feb 2, 2005 at 11:30 AM g-man and others of similar ilk, once upon a time your philosophies would have branded you “nuts.” After 25 years of right wing propaganda, you are, sad to say, just part of the dialogue being given time.
Anyway, for those who can, drive up to Salida, Colorado. A beautiful mountain town in Chaffee County with Monarch Pass and many 13000 foot mountains to the west. Now, let’s see, you need some groceries. Hmmmm. Safeway or Wart-Mart, the only grocery stores left. OK, some camping equipment. Hmmmmmm. Only Wart-Mart. Want to get a job that isn’t Wart-Mart? Hmmmm.... all those locally owned stores that put their profits back into Salida are boarded up. They surround Wart-Mart. Better paying jobs in town? Yes the UNION jobs at Safeway, but no one is giving them up voluntarily. At another merchant? Why would they pay $12/hr if their competition (W-M) is paying $8? Without benefits?
Learn another skill? Where in Salida? College grads guide the river rafters in the summertime.
Even if one is willing to make long commuutes to Pueblo or Gunnison to further their education, how do they pay for it? Bush is cutting Pell Grants and other federal funds designed to help those trying to help themselves. Get a student loan? Sure, that will help as you still need to work at Wart-Mart to pay rent going to school and then when you are done, you have $25,000-60,000 worth of debt on your Masters degree. BTW, the private banks making the loans are subsidized against loss by the taxpayers, another example of corporate socialism.
g-man, I am so glad you selected the right parents, genes, and location to succeed as you wish. Not everyone has the same foresight.
We all do better when we all do better.
pzo
Posted by pzo on Feb 2, 2005 at 11:51 AM Our founding fathers were deeply suspicious of corporations. Remember the story about the Boston Tea party? Through out most of the 19th century corporations did not enjoy the rights and protections that they do now. They were much more restricted in terms of their influence on public policy. Reconstruction and the transcontinental railroad changed that. Money talked and democracy walked. Just for giggles look up “Santa Clara vs. Southern Pacific” on a good search engine. You’ll see that this is where this ridiculous idea started that money = speech and that corporations have civil rights as if they were living, breathing and feeling human beings. It all boils down to to what kind of community we want. The right seems to prefer unregulated markets with communities around them and progressives seem to prefer towns with regulated markets in them.
By the bye gman I’m sure you don’t talk to people like that “live on the street”,(otherwise health insurance would definitly be a neccesity and not an option for you, right?) What makes you think it’s acceptable here? Your cyber rage makes it hard for one to want to try and understand your point of view. Lighten up a little and you’ll find that a lot of progressives are just as distrustful of (federal) government as you are.
Posted by surfdaddy on Feb 2, 2005 at 11:53 AM The one thing no one has remarked about is the fact that Wal-Mart owns it’s own insurance company. Instead of allowing their employees buy their insurance at a good rate, they make profit off that too.
Also, someone smarter than me should read their insurance policies. the deductible was really high and it looked as though there was a cap of $3,000. What good is that? You’d be smarter to put that $200. plus a month that they charge in the bank.
I’m sure policies for the top echelon is better than that. But working class poor always pays more for anything than the wealthy do.
The one thing that would serve to keep Wal-Mart from being able to make slaves out of the working class would be a Union. But if you mention that term anywhere within hearing distance you are automatically fired.
OOPS!! That isn’t entirely true. If they fire you they’d have to pay workmans Comp. They never fire you. They make your life so miserable you quit. The totally humiliate you, they take away every raise you’ve earned since you bagan working for them. They accuse you of everything under the sun and there is absolutely nothing you can do.
Posted by Jeanne Rushton on Feb 2, 2005 at 1:06 PM That the rich have a better chance than the poor of getting richer is actually a matter of mathematics, not politics.
Imagine that you and I play a play a cut throat game of “flip the coin” with a perfectly fair until one of us is bankrupt. The odds are even, right?
Wrong.
If I start with two coins and you start with one, I have twice the cance of bankrupting you that you have of bankrupting me.
Simply, after the first flip, there is a 50% you will lose (and be bankrupt) and a zero chance I will be.
If you win the first round, you now have two coins and I have only one—so on the second round, there is a 50% chance I will bankrupt and you win *on that round* but getting to that round is only a 50-50 chance, so it’s 50% of 50%—or 25% at the start of the game that I will lose (successussive pairs of rounds merely repeat the first two).
That gives me a 2-1 edge over you in a perfectly “fair” game. (if I start with 3 coins, my odds are 3-1, etc....)
In a real business example, Ford could afford the Edsel and Coke could afford “New Coke”—a new company can’t afford to have it’s first product crash and burn....
All those who talk about a free market being a great market miss the fact that a free market is a huge advantage to those already well entrenched—even when they go after an exiosting, but less financially strong, competitor (as Microsoft went after Netscape or, more relevantly, Wal-Mart goes after local outlets).
Does the customer win? How can he when a free market doesn’t actually offer real competition?
Posted by Old Fogey on Feb 2, 2005 at 1:16 PM Also, g-man, I hope you never have to call upon the help of our socialist police dept. or the socialist fire dept. or use our socialist library system, or drive on our socialist highway and roads. Wouldn’t wanna see ya have to lower yourself or anything.
Posted by Allen Brooks on Feb 2, 2005 at 1:37 PM The economics of being rich does give you an advantage. So does the politics of protect the rich at the expense of the poor. Gman you say that what you got is yours and stay away. That is only true as long as society agrees with your point of view. The rich don’t need to help the poor just to be good guys. You don’t have to go beyond our borders or our history, however to see what happens when the balance tips too far one way. I have no problem with a straified society. You can stand on my shoulders to get ahead. When you start standing on my throat, watch out.
Posted by bushburner on Feb 2, 2005 at 1:38 PM While I appreciate the upbeat idealism behind comments like “get some skills and move up,” I don’t think they represent our current economic reality. As at least one other reader has pointed out, the current economy has a surplus of degreed and qualified workers available for a consistently decreasing number of positions. Engineering and technical jobs, as well as management and manufacturing positions, are increasingly being shifted to overseas labor markets, and the people here with those qualifications are not simply able to “move on” to greener pastures. At the university where I work, departments save thousands of dollars by hiring PhD-holders as temporary workers rather than offering them a full-time position. Many white collar workers find themselves working as high-skill temps at businesses that have “streamlined” their permanent workforce.
This is the fundamental power difference between globalized corporations and local workers. As long as there are no legal or social restrictions that prevent a company form expoiting the labor of the more destitute peoples, they can succeed in the capitalist arena without providing even a livable wage to any of their workers. For labor to really be able to change the behavior of corporations and to balance their self-interest, it would have to be equally mobile and globally organized so that nobody would accept a crappy wage or a polluting factory or a hazardous workplace. So far we do not live in that world.
In the meanwhile, it is important for stories like this to be told, because WalMart is not simply making its money by being a succesful capitalist. They are actively using taxpayer money as a means to keep down their costs. If there were NO public healthcare, and WalMart were forced to deal with the problems that would cause them - say massive absenteeism due to illness or high turnover due to health problems - they might be forced to do something to keep their workers healthy. Instead they get a backdoor subsidy for their company by sending their uninsured workers off to taxpayer funded clinics and hospitals.
You don’t have to be a flaming leftist, or a boycott advocate to recognize that this company is screwing EVERYBODY by being so cheap with their employees. Even conservatives should not want their money to be sucked up into taxes so that WalMart can maintain its corporate profits.
Posted by Dave Linton on Feb 2, 2005 at 1:51 PM The US constitution and our form of government has worked well enough for a while, but it is running out of steam. Government *is* the organization by which people build and improve their society. If this one is no longer working, “by the people, of the people, for the people” then the people have the right to dissolve it and try to form a better, “more perfect” government.
In other countries, people have bought in to building a better society for all. In the US, far too many are focused solely on I, me, mine. Too much focus on constant “growth” and not enough on creating a sustainable balance. We can do better///
Posted by graysonl on Feb 2, 2005 at 2:41 PM Wal Mart has risen to its levels on the backs of the average citizen. They axctually require companies to move to China to do business with them. All the while posting record profitts and ahving all 4 heirs of Sam Walton become amongthe richest people in country. All we have to do is not but from them.
Posted by Rich McIntosh on Feb 2, 2005 at 3:01 PM In response to obviously: This asserted argument has so many holes, one wonders where to start.
What if the people who you are asking to learn a skill have an IQ of say, 80 maybe 85, they are capable of working in Wal-Mart type jobs, but being plumbers, electricians, physicists? Are these people on the lower end of the intellectual scale undeserving of affordable health care while holding down a full time job and paying taxes and making their employers wealthy? Try thinking of others and their capabilities before you make specious assinine arguments.
Posted by Hello on Feb 2, 2005 at 3:38 PM I agree that employers shouldn’t have to provide health insurance to their workers, but that’s the system we chose and that’s the one we have to live with unless we change it. Employers in other 1st world countries are not burdened by the cost of insuring their employees because the state took over that responsibility. Now our companies can’t compete even with those in other 1st world countries because of this large and growing cost. The answer is to level the playing field for our businesses by shifting the burden to the state. I don’t understand why true capitalists don’t see this as a pro-business move, aside from the obvious libertarian objections.
Posted by Brad on Feb 2, 2005 at 4:01 PM For me, the point is that both Target and Cosco manage to offer better coverage to their employees at a lower cost to the employee and sooner than Walmart does—and, surprise, they still make a ton of money. They offer products at fair prices without gouging their suppliers and exploiting their employees, and to me, that’s responsible business. Why can they manage to do it, but Walmart supposedly can’t? Please, someone answer that one for me!
On a personal note, my sister (a stay-at-home mom, who, Gman, previously had a career before marriage and kids) recently lost her husband. She has two small children (two and three years old) and can only work part time because they aren’t in school yet. Since COBRA is so expensive (over $600 a month) and money is so tight, she needed to get a job that offered benefits and flexibility. Walmart was out—she couldn’t wait two years to receive coverage. Both Target and Cosco were viable options for her, though, and she is now working at Target and getting good benefits without having to spend all of her check on them. It’s not her dream job, obviously, but it’s exactly what she needs right now until the kids are in school and she can get a better paying job. If Walmart had been her only option, she would have been screwed.
Read “Nickel and Dimed: On Not Getting By in America” to see what working at Walmart is really like and how employees are treated there. In the meantime, KEEP UP THE BOYCOTT, GUYS!!!
Posted by bongo-lips on Feb 2, 2005 at 5:09 PM A few random thoughts regarding Wal-Mart:
Years ago I worked as a semi truck owner/operator, and delivered one load to a Wal-Mart warehouse. I spent several hours there being treated by warehouse managemnt personnel as someone deserving of absolutely no respect whatsoever, and was told that they would unload my truck “whenever they felt like it.” and if I didn’t like waiting six or eight hours or maybe even an entire day for them to do it, well, that was just plain tough. However, this kind of behavior isn’t limited to just Wal-Mart. There are a few outfits around the country that use truckers as “auxilliary warehouses,” which is fine for the driver is he or she is on an hourly wage, but most over the road drivers are paid by the mile, and thus, make nothing by sitting still./
Needless to say, I never accepted a load of freight bound for a Wal-Mart again (or for anyone else who pulled that number for that matter). Nor have I spent any money at their retail outlets.
Then a few years later, I happened to have a next door neighbor who was an assistant manager at a Wal-Mart. While I’m sure that he would have liked to have found a better job, the unfortunate truth is that he worked six days a week from 8 A.M. until midnight or so. And a schedule like that doesn’t leave any time to circulate résumés, let alone school yourself for a better profession. Then he ended up getting ordered to move halfway across the state on like two weeks notice--so even had he had the time to improve his education, a semester’s worth of work could have been all for naught had he been ordered to move prior to the end of the school term.
I also think that the presumption by some people that the choice for low income people is between Wal-Mart and doing without. is nothing but a convenient excuse. Unless you’re in an extremely rural area, this simply isn’t true. Being a ceritified thrift store junkie, I can tell you that in many cases. places such as Value Village, Goodwill, and other thrift outlets can be a much better option--especially for furniture, You can get items made out of real hardwoods for the prices that Wally and others charge for their pressboard crap--while your money goes to help out some very worthwhile charities.
FInally, while it would be nice if Big Government could legislate civility,and affirm basic human dignity while Big Religion preaches it on Sunday, I don’t look for it to happen anytime soon. Both idioms are too busy playing divide and conquer for fun and profit.
Anyway, those are my thoughts about WallyWorld.
Oh--Just in case anyone is interested in reading some rants and bitches by Wally’s employees, there’s a blog of them here:
http://www.walmart-blows.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=4&sid=46bc0286bdec85593c2 2213c18e7f1062
Posted by R-G on Feb 2, 2005 at 9:26 PM Those who have responded negatively to this article by singing praised to and worshiping the god of “free enterprise” should think a little bit about history. Untramelled free enterprise leads to the success of the most ruthless and, hence, to sweat shops, child labor, and (ultimately) the death of free enterprise by the attrition of all effective competition.
Our representative democracy (remember, the form of government that so-called patriots march out as a support for their assault on the people’s rights)? The basis of our government the rule of the majority, while protecting the rights of the minority. Restraints on free trade, in order to curb its excesses and to ensure the common good, iw well within the right of OUR government.
Jerry
Posted by Jerry on Feb 3, 2005 at 10:51 AM I applaude any community across this country who has taken Wal-Mart on. I used to work for a consultant to Wal-Mart, and I’m here to tell you that the way they treat their consultants is just as bad as the way they treat their employees. They love to scapegoat others and not take responsibility for their own mistakes on issues, and they will use every trick in the book in order to get out of complying with a city or county’s regulations. Simply put, they think they are “God” and that the whole world revolves around them. They are flaberghasted when a community wouldn’t just welcome the revenue and jobs a Wal-Mart would bring to them with open arms. Well, they do not realize that maybe certain communities are sick of the homogenization of America, and do not want it to happen to their community, because they care about the “mom and pop” local diners and general stores who would go out of business as a result. Maybe they do not want to see their main streets lined with more of the same corporate logos, discount chains, and fast food restaurants they see everywhere else. An American company should stand for more than buying and selling cheap goods from China and $8.00 to $9.00 an hour jobs for its employees anyway. I hope more communities will join in this movement. Thank you all.
Posted by DPC on Feb 3, 2005 at 11:06 AM My son is a manager at a pizza chain store doing over $1 Million in sales per year. He is 3rd in charge of the restaurant. He has to take bank deposits late at night and was once robbed at gunpoint. He makes $9 per hour and he’s been there over 3 years. He might be better off to work at Wal Mart and I don’t hear anyone bashing the pizza business. He has to contribute to his own health insurance as well. He has much more responsibility than the idiots who get hired to run a cash register at Wal Mart who can’t even spell. Some of them are overpaid for sure. Perhaps the Wal Mart stock holders are to blame by hogging the profits and not sharing with the employees. Giving a big chunk of the profits in a Christmas bonus would certainly make the giant seem more friendly.
Posted by Bob on Feb 3, 2005 at 6:53 PM wal mart is a glaring example of the “myth” that wages need to be low to be competitive, and that suppliers to merchants must sell their goods at the lowest possible wholesale price.
first, let’s look at two specific examples which prove that this theory if false.
one is costco. they pay good wages to their workers, they cover most of their workers health insurance, they sell their products at a great price to the customers, and yet they make more profit per store than wal mart does.
another is in-and-out hamburger restaurant. (a chain here in california). they pay the highest wages in the fast food industry. their managers make almost double what a manager at a mcdonald’s or any other fast food place makes. their prices are just a low as any other fast food place. and they make a quite nice profit on top of it.
squeezing suppliers for ever lower prices on goods and keep worker’s pay low only serves to create a downward sprial of the standard of living for both the worker in the store and the worker producing the product. the only people who make decent money in this case are the company owners and the stock holders. but it is not a healthy or sustainable model. eventually it will snuff itself out, or worse, lead to worker rebellion, strikes, violence, etc.
the jobs that are being created here in the u.s. lately are paying less than the jobs that they are replacing. this is not good for us as a country.
the free market, when left to it’s own devices, will NOT always work for the common good. we need the government to make laws and regulate commerce and business. imagine if they had never outlawed child labor here in the u.s.? would it be okay for your 8 year old to work a 12 hour shift every day in the factory, just because that’s what the “free market” wanted? please. anyone who says let the free market determine everything is either mis-informed or just uncaring about their fellow human beings.
workers who are paid well and treated well are more productive, and are healthier individuals to boot.
we’re all in this together.
just like one of the previous posts said:
“we all do better when we all do better”.and my favorite quote to use when talking to someone who doesn’t believe in a minimum wage or health coverage for workers, etc.
it’s from henry ford, when he raised the wages of his assembly line workers to 5 bucks a day. (and unheard of amount to be making back then).
everyone told him he was crazy to pay that much and that it would bankrupt him. he replied “if i don’t pay my workers well, who will buy my cars?”
we are all not only workers making our wages, we are consumers. when we all make a decent wage, it benefits all of us, worker, and company owner alike.
Posted by jeff on Feb 4, 2005 at 11:21 AM cold, hard, callous indifference vs empathy, compassion, and ideals? Marie Antoinette said let them eat cake and we all know what her end was now don’t we?
jobs lost forever, small businesses gone for good, main street usa a thing of the past, but hey, we can all go to wal-mart and buy all of the cheap merchandise we don’t need, so who cares.
everyone cannot be a doctor, lawyer, ceo, or whatever. do those who aren’t not deserve to live in some manner of dignity, or are they unimportant because they are low income wage earners?
Posted by divaofatlanta on Feb 4, 2005 at 1:44 PM I have avoided Walmart from the beginning. However, my original reason was that I hate warehouse kinds of environments. Then I had the wonderful opportunity to read “Nickel and Dimed” by Barbara Ehrenreich. It is an exceptional exposure to the world of the working poor.She devotes a long segment to the Walmart mean-spiritedness in regards to its employees.
We are so in the danger of losing our integrity totally. Walmart is a perfect example of that.
Posted by Sarah Wilmarth on Feb 4, 2005 at 2:46 PM If you liked this article, it’s very important to make an effort to send it, forward it, cut and paste it - whatever works best for you - to any Republican friends or colleagues you know who aren’t likely to see anything wrong with shopping at Wal-Mart.
Also, someone else pointed out that it’s an especially good idea to send it to people you know - professors, journalists, religious ministers, rabbis, activists - that you might know who are living in the South. We need to change the conventional wisdom around.
Posted by Celeste on Feb 6, 2005 at 6:11 PM Anybody who says Wal-Mart work is “unskilled” is full of shit.
The muckraker Barbara Ehrenreich has a Ph.D in biology and she was wrung to the bone by the sweatshop stress at Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott should be brought before The Hague.
Posted by Patrick on Feb 12, 2005 at 10:11 AM “unskilled” is kind of a lame term. it means a job you can do without a college degree or some kind of technical school training. but it really has NOTHING to do with how difficult the job is. how much stress the job creates. etc. etc.
to the people making the comments such as “let them go get another job if they don’t like it”. or “let the market decide what the job should pay”. that’s bogus. there’s a bias in some sectors of our society that thinks that so called “unskilled” labor doesn’t deserved to be rewarded financially.
go spend a few months working a 40 or 50 hour week at wal-mart and then try and tell me that those workers don’t deserve a better wage and better benefits.
Posted by jeff on Feb 12, 2005 at 10:27 AM Man! This is one intense site. I have just read every remark and put-down that is in here. I think that some of you really have no clue of how stuck you can get in a job and not knowing or not being able to go any further. I don’t know that personally either but I sure have seen it in so many people around me. I have these two good friends who are slightly learning disabled and I feel that if working at a “menial” store job is what they have to do then they should be treated fairly and be able to reap the benefits of their loyaty to the companies they work for.
I live centrally between the places that WalMart feels they need stores. If I drive south I will encounter one WalMart within 10 miles. If I drive east I will encounter three WalMarts and a Sam’s Club within 20 miles. If I drive west I will encounter three more within 20 miles.
And Now...the reason I ended up here…
I cannot bear to have a WalMart in front of me as I walk out my front door but this is what the development company and the city I live in is proposing. Their tire center will be about 80 feet from my front lawn, which by the way is a regular sized city lot in a regular development.
Lorie
Posted by Lorie on Feb 17, 2005 at 10:56 AM Even though I’m someone who loves a bargain and needs to save as much money as I can, strangely enough, I’ve ALWAYS hated to go to Walmart. I don’t understand people who actually like to shop there. I hate the parking, the long lines, the crowds of milling shoppers with no one to help you in sight, the hugeness of the place. I think the atmosphere is creepy. I’ve also heard from a former employee that they would offer to show him the “Walmart Video” at times such as, waiting to speak to his manager. He would just flatly refuse. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t work there anymore. Walmart employees also have to join together in a creepy “Walmart cheer” at the start of their shift. I remember witnessing this one morning and thinking, “That’s really strange!” I do like shopping at Costco however, even though it’s also big and crowded. Shopping at Costco is an adventure, while shopping at Walmart makes me feel like being in a herd of cattle.
Posted by DeeAnn on Feb 24, 2005 at 9:02 PM I really don’t know. But hey…
!!EXAMPLE!!...?
My best friend’s father works at Wal-Mart Distribution, and his mother works at Wal-Mart...His father has worked his way up the chain to a decently high position in the Distribution Center. His mother is somewhat important, compared to the average worker, in that specific store.My friend: He has participated in baseball, skateboarding, an unhealthy diet of mountain dew, fast food, and frozen pizzas...and has had lots and lots and lots of physical problems...of course.
He’s been to the doctor once. ONE TIME. His parents would NOT let him go to the doctor. So many cuts and scars and things...it’s insane. Working with razor blades at work, he put one in his pocket...reached in...and was cut..ouch. No doctor. His parents told him to take care of it at school so he went to the trainer...because it’s free.
Well, last year, he went on his own, with his own money, to those cheaper kinds of doctors...it’s not a hospital...they’re called “urgent care” or “first assist” things like that.
He had his wrist checked out and it is a piece-of-crap wrist...fractures and all kinds of stuff. (from punching things, jumping off a roof, skateboard accidents, baseball accidents, etc.). He has acid-reflux...and sores in his mouth, and he’s sick constantly because of his diet. His teeth are bad. His gums are bad.
I can’t think of a time when he’s been to the dentist.
His whole body is destroyed because his parents refused to take him to the doctor, who would have told them..."Get this here boy to start eatin’ right.” or “Goodness gracious. We need to get a cast on that boy.” “Have your boy wear this support on his wrist.”
Their family health insurance, which they actually have and get through work, must not be very good.
But...then again, I really don’t know, seriously.
Always be aware of what you know, but never let yourself start to think you know what you don’t know. Always be aware of what you don’t know, but don’t think you know what you don’t know, mostly because you don’t.
Posted by Appalachian foothills on Apr 7, 2005 at 12:50 PM Well, Wal-Mart will break ground in my front yard very soon unless the referendum vote gets passed. We will have to wait until November to see. I’m sure Wal-Mart will pay mucho bucks for advertising and we will have no money to spend, just our time and effort.
I would like to again tell everyone that Wal-Mart is not good. They have let greed get into their way of doing business and that is obvious from the guy who will be indicted in the very near future...his charges will be grand theft, however, I bet he has a better story to tell. Considering he was given this money to spend on union busting without a question??
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