Is Walmart good for America?
 

Check your local PBS schedule (it's on tonight here), it's the topic on Frontline.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/

Press release for the show
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/press/2304.html

Streaming clip on Frontline's homepage
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/

Read "Wal-Mart's next victims" at http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/...0.asp?GT1=5809

Holy crap! They are going to nearly double the number of supercenters they have within the next 6 years:eek2

yep and people in business who have positioned themselves in such entertaining light should explore all possibilities in out free market society.

Give it some time, and Walmart will be the next AOL online hawking internet connections.

One of the things that Wal Mart has managed to keep in mind, is that profit is good, and in mass volume it is even better. And by keeping prices low, they have more volume.


You can now pick up a HP desktop ( pretty good version ) for about 600$ try that in best buy.

They were ok at one time.. when it was just Wal Mart and everything they sold was made in the USA.. but when they started buying cheap foreign stuff out of greed and turning into supercenters, they ruined lots of small businesses..

Now it's almost as though they go into smallish cities just to see how many businesses they can ruin..

Walmart has an ISP called Walmart Connect Internet Service for $9.94/mo. Discs all over the store.

Wal Mart does so well because it employes mostly part time workers, thus getting out of paying any benefits.

What a horrible way of doing business. I never shop at Wal Mart.

There are no Walmarts near here, thank god.

anywhere where you can buy a goldfish, lingerie' & a saw can NOT be a good place. period.

Funny how when someone sells something too expensive they are "greedy" and when they sell something too cheap they are also "greedy" :1orglaugh

And, now they plan on cutting through my residential neighbourhood.....with a road that will connect to a major artery...right past an elementary school...


Yeah. We just LOVE Walmart here.

I think that Walmart STORE BRANDS (and the same goes for Safeway, Walgreens, etc.) are a time bomb. People don't realize, but 25% of Walmart's sales come from store brands.. This is scary. At some point they won't need the suppliers that kept them alive until now.

If Wal-Mart didn't exist, some other company with a similar business model would have probably emerged anyway. I think the existence of Wal-Mart type retailers is inevitable.

Whether it's good or bad, I dunno, but I do think it's inevitable.

Having worked in the recieving department at one time in my life. If you knew how stuff liek computers and TV were loaded onto a truck adn taken off and stored in the back you'd see why they sell them cheap. Trust me if something was too heavy or you just got too tired stuff just got tossed. Hey if you missed and it hit the ground hard oh well that wasn't your problem.

I also liked how stuff like liquid laundry soap or Mr Clean was stored on top of TV and computers when it was loaded on the truck and then on route something fell on bottle and busted the content all over the TV or computer and the food that was mix in with all the other crap. Those were fun days.

I have no doubt in my mind that every company we buy products from, whether retail or direct, is involved with some sort of "practice" that I don't exactly agree with. Whether it be store policy, employee policy, supplier policy, or even politics. Wal-Mart isn't that much different, they just have the spotlight more. If it wasn't them, it would be somebody else.

Hell there are companies in this business that employee shady "Wal-Mart like" tactics. Very few people refuse to send the traffic as long as they get their end of the deal, money.

Sorry, I don't feel sorry for the people working at Wal-Mart. Its a low end job. How much can you expect out of a low end job? You really want time and a half for stacking shelves?

Worry when Wal-mart rolls out their new line of Wal-Porn :1orglaugh

You have a crappy and disrespectful attitude. If it weren't for Wal-Mart workers, McDonald workers etc, where in the fuck would you eat and shop? You should at least appreciate people that are doing work that you probally consider yourself "too good" to do even if they paid you 5X what they make.

Watch a "A Day Without a Mexican"! :)

Where did I say I'm disrespectful to those people? I'm not. They're people just like I am. No matter the occupation, I treat everyone the same.

It still doesn't change the fact that stocking shelves is a low end job, and to expect top pay for such jobs is silly and irresponsible on the employees part. Those are unskilled jobs for unskilled people, such as high school teens, college students, people looking to make "extra cash", the elderly looking for "something to do". If these people want more money, it is available, all they need to do is learn a skill and take some initiative.

When a college kid is perfectly happy with $8 an hour why would the business hire a 35 year old mother of 2 expecting $10 an hour for the same job? Thats ridiculous.

My gardner is Mexican. Tons of Mexican workers around here, many illegal. I don't know exactly what they make but I sure as hell know it isn't "white wages". American have this over-inflated sense of worth.

Walmart is utterly evil... haven't shopped there once in years.

:2 cents:

Wal-Mart supports communism.

Well that was an interesting show. They should substitute economics for all the damn English classes in school.

wal mart is good, even though they dominate there are laws to prevent monoploys and the larger their market share the better the prices for the consumers

i hate walmart, the lines are always jam packed and the self checkout machines are always bottlenecked by some dumbass who cant figure out how to use it

i only like the fact its open 24hrs..

only time i go is after midnight if i need something.

fuck all that hassle to save a few cents.

Yes. They offer lower prices and extended shopping hours. If small business wants to stay in business, they should do the same thing.

...and terrorism... and late term abortion!

Good question. Not sure if it's good or bad. I'm kind of torn on this one.

http://www.phonelosers.org/wal-mart/

;]

http://media.phonelosers.org/sound/P..._Scam_Mary.mp3

The service desk lady runs to the back room to see if we're lying to her when we tell her we purchased a computer modem, took it home, removed the circuit board, replaced it with crushed Pepsi cans and got a refund for it. Her co-worker tells us that "It's not a funny joke." Geez, lighten up, Wal-Mart!


ROFL

ahaahahaha... did you read this in the 'Comments' section?

"07/18/04 - Kalak from NC: I am a Wally world slave myself, and I hope you guys keep this up, I tired of all the managers and haveing to do 500 things at once (I am one of thoes few Knoledgeable associates in my store and get used for it many times in any given hour)"

Damn, if she's one of the smart ones then.... wait, better not go there!

:1orglaugh

Jeez there's more:

"11/16/04 - wlmart associate from florida: walmart is the best job ive ever had they treat me well and just because u work at walmart doesnt make u retarded i could be promoted andmake a lot of money working for them its better then flipping burgers not everyone had the honor of a college education and walmart is a good way to have a good job"

:1orglaugh

LOL joe c.

listen to all the clips ROFL they are so funny

http://media.phonelosers.org/sound/s...stmas_bows.mp3

"Excuse me, I'm a customer!" "You haven't bought anything yet, you're not a customer!"

ROFLROFLROFL

if people never took part in incorrect behavior in the business world, atom bombs would be dropping all over the world like hotcakes on sunday

yes it is! w/ its' prices so affordable and the quality of the products is quite okay. that's why it's a bi hit in any branches in all cities and countries

They've put up a ton of info at that address since the program ran, http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/

If you missed the show and want to see it, check that same address on Friday when it goes online.

did know wal-mart was that powerful.

SLAVERY REDUX.

Walmart will continue to exist as long as the consumers feed it.

And their employees are hardly slaves. My son worked there an in our little town where the cost of living is very low, he was making $7.00 an hour and then got a 10% profit sharing bonus so in essence, was making $7.70 an hour. In addition, he received 10% of all non-food purchases and made an extra $1 an hour on Sundays no matter how few hours he'd worked. Considering the vast majority of workers at Walmarts are unskilled and uneducated, $7.70+ an hour seems pretty good.

Health insurance should be covered by the employee, not the company. It's a BENEFIT, not a right. If they offer it, great. If they don't then they certainly aren't doing anything wrong.

it was an interesting show....


ive read too much lately about the baton being passed off to China as far as the #1 country


It ain't lookin' good for us... Tee

"They were ok at one time.. when it was just Wal Mart and everything they sold was made in the USA.. but when they started buying cheap foreign stuff out of greed and turning into supercenters, they ruined lots of small businesses..

Now it's almost as though they go into smallish cities just to see how many businesses they can ruin.."


I agree. I sometimes wonder whether everything these days is made in China.

:(