Wal-Mart

Anyone else seen the documentary about this company? It may be old news stateside, but i was glued to it on wednesday evening.

Basically, they sound like they're ruining these small rural towns/cities right across america just to make some quick cash.

These are five of the main points brought up:

1. They basically build a huge store on the outskirts of a small town,forcing all the small independent family companies out of business.

2. They pay their employees,less the the US poverty line.

3. Once they've used up all the resources of the above mentioned small towns, they then close that store and move on.

4. Employees, are not allowed to join a union of any type whatsoever. In fact,even mentioning it was in the companies eyes, justification for being sacked.

5. The Walton family who own Wal-Mart make up the majority of the top ten richest people in america,yet dont do anything for their employees or charity.

It was pointed out that out of their combined wealth (which is in excess of $100,000,000,000 they have hardly given anything to charity, compared to Bill Gates who has given nearly 60% of his wealth away.

So what!!

Asda's own chicken curry & rice is tasty though.

Steve One wrote:

5. The Walton family

Surley not???

wasn't it all explained in South Park?

Yeh what a great corporation where a large number of its employees have to go on welfare.

Steve One wrote: Anyone else seen the documentary about this company? It may be old news stateside, but i was glued to it on wednesday evening.

Basically, they sound like they're ruining these small rural towns/cities right across america just to make some quick cash.

These are five of the main points brought up:

1. They basically build a huge store on the outskirts of a small town,forcing all the small independent family companies out of business.

2. They pay their employees,less the the US poverty line.

3. Once they've used up all the resources of the above mentioned small towns, they then close that store and move on.

4. Employees, are not allowed to join a union of any type whatsoever. In fact,even mentioning it was in the companies eyes, justification for being sacked.

5. The Walton family who own Wal-Mart make up the majority of the top ten richest people in america,yet dont do anything for their employees or charity.

It was pointed out that out of their combined wealth (which is in excess of $100,000,000,000 they have hardly given anything to charity, compared to Bill Gates who has given nearly 60% of his wealth away.

Yup, all old news in the states, except #3. Someday, Wal-Mart shall rule the world!!! Bwahahahaha

I stay away from Wal-mart like the plague. But there are a few things you forgot to mention that impact the U.S.A. more than the closing of family businesses.

1. They are THE largest retailer and the their "purchasing" products can make or break a company. They demand lower prices for the product,so quality has been a real decline in American products due to this. Plus this has driven factories out of the U.S. and into 3rd world countries.

2. Wal-mart is one of the leading causes to part-time employment for the population. This way they don't have to pay for benefits, healthcare, etc. More and more people are working two or more part-time jobs to survive.

I could go on and on, but I'll end it here. Wal-mart is our slaughterhouse to our economy.....and people happily stampede to it awaiting the slaughter, all for cheap prices for cheaply designed/made products.

I didn't miss them out, i left them out to further the thread as opinions built up. But that wont happen because its not about sausages, sex or your top 5 something or other...

Have you seen this article on the Vlasic Pickle and Wal-mart? Definately a good read:

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

You didn't mention this, but there was a case of the manager of one Wal-Mart (I forget the location, but it could've been near Philly, maybe) tampering with a worker's hours to purposely reduce her pay. I remember reading that a 12 hour shift she did was reduced down to one minute of time.

This isn't the article, but it has a similar theme http://starbulletin.com/2005/11/03/news/story08.html

King John Honest John wrote: So what!!

Asda's own chicken curry & rice is tasty though.

i would have agreed up to a couple of months ago but recently the asda chicken has gone all solid and shite,why the change

Well, thankfully the three Wal-Marts in Salem, the capitol of Oregon, can't get away with the stuff in Steve's #1 point, there's other places to go, but I shudder of the effect that the company has in a small burg like Lebanon, where I swear the highlight of a lot of people's day is to go there and "hang out and be seen" (I was in there only cause I had a little time to kill during the lunch hour one day, and there is literally nowhere else to go).

Been told here before, but I had a friend who had seasonal (i.e. Christmas time) help at the Wal-Mart in Salem on Lancaster, and the management strongly encouraged all of the employees to have a "potluck holiday get together", quite presumably so that the company wouldn't have to foot the bill.

Quite glad I live in a place where there aren't a ton of Wal-Marts afoot, and I do my best to support the "little guys" when and where possible, the thought of hanging out at Wal-Mart as the highlight of my day is too fckin' depressing to really consider.

ASDA is Wal-Mart, and you can get add announcemtents saying "all you cunts get off your leagally precribed breaks and get on the tills or we'll sack you". I am not sure if you seen the same doc as me ( the one I watched was "the high cost of low proces" I think), but they do they same shit as my place, employ too few people to do the work, try and get them to do extra hours and then stiff them on the pay...when you wisely refuse to work extra hours fro free next time, they imply that it;s expected of you and that if you wont do it they will employ someone who will.

I try to not shop in ASDA, but their fresh bread is very nice.....and they;ve already killed off all the real bakies round here.

true,and the chicken in the curries has gone really shit

ASDA aren't pursuing the US Walmart model over here yet. I don't want to upset Diggy Mike but its Tesco that have adopted that model over here, as far as i can see.

And I need another excuse for posting this:

[darkgreen]Green[/darkgreen] wrote: Well, thankfully the three Wal-Marts in Salem, the capitol of Oregon, can't get away with the stuff in Steve's #1 point, there's other places to go, but I shudder of the effect that the company has in a small burg like Lebanon, where I swear the highlight of a lot of people's day is to go there and "hang out and be seen" (I was in there only cause I had a little time to kill during the lunch hour one day, and there is literally nowhere else to go).

Been told here before, but I had a friend who had seasonal (i.e. Christmas time) help at the Wal-Mart in Salem on Lancaster, and the management strongly encouraged all of the employees to have a "potluck holiday get together", quite presumably so that the company wouldn't have to foot the bill.

Quite glad I live in a place where there aren't a ton of Wal-Marts afoot, and I do my best to support the "little guys" when and where possible, the thought of hanging out at Wal-Mart as the highlight of my day is too fckin' depressing to really consider.

As sad as this is to admit, when I lived in Beaufort, SC, there really wasn't anything else to do other than than hang out at the Wal-Mart. It actually was the place where people "hooked-up", hung out, and spent a weekend.

Thank god I'm live no where near there anymore. Wife actually told me that if I got stationed there again, she'd leave me.......

Including USMC recuiters

I probably shouldn't laugh, but its so close ot home and too near the bone.....

Burt Reynolds wrote: ASDA aren't pursuing the US Walmart model over here yet. I don't want to upset Diggy Mike but its Tesco that have adopted that model over here, as far as i can see.

And I need another excuse for posting this:

This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote: You didn't mention this, but there was a case of the manager of one Wal-Mart (I forget the location, but it could've been near Philly, maybe) tampering with a worker's hours to purposely reduce her pay. I remember reading that a 12 hour shift she did was reduced down to one minute of time.

This isn't the article, but it has a similar theme http://starbulletin.com/2005/11/03/news/story08.html

The manager deserves shot for that

gazman wrote:

This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote: You didn't mention this, but there was a case of the manager of one Wal-Mart (I forget the location, but it could've been near Philly, maybe) tampering with a worker's hours to purposely reduce her pay. I remember reading that a 12 hour shift she did was reduced down to one minute of time.

This isn't the article, but it has a similar theme http://starbulletin.com/2005/11/03/news/story08.html

The manager deserves shot for that

I totally agree. No one should work for no pay. In the article below, it's not the same, but it mentions that as a "punishment" for workers coming back from break late, the time clocks would clock them out immediately, so they'd be working 3 or 4 hours for nothing -- which basically slave labor.

I remember at my old job at a Dairy Queen when I and another co-worker were working a 9 hour shift and one of our other co-workers tried to convince us that when you work for 9 hours, you only get paid for seven. Needless to say because the manager wasn't around, we proceeded to embarrass him in front of the customers by making him look like a retard for the rest of the night. And that was just for trying to stiff me 2 hours. If I ever found myself working at a WalMart (I never did, although a friend of mine briefly worked at one) and they cut me off 4 hours, I'd probably bring a crowbar to work the next day and give the manager a good Philly-style ass kicking.

you forgot to mention that they sell great products at cheap prices...maybe they wouldn't be so succesful if they didn't attract scores of customers

Jon Murphy wrote: you forgot to mention that they sell great products at cheap prices...maybe they wouldn't be so succesful if they didn't attract scores of customers

More like cheap quality products for cheep prices. The brands make cheaper quality products JUST for Wal-mart.....Levis is a good example.

I'm just saying they must be doing something right to keep getting customers to return....otherwise they'd be out of business. It is important not to generalize, because 3 yrs ago I got a nice flannel shirt and raincoat that have held up fine, ya know?? I don't agree with all their business practices, and I don't go there much, but sometimes Wal- Mart is the place to go.

Jon Murphy wrote: you forgot to mention that they sell great products at cheap prices...maybe they wouldn't be so succesful if they didn't attract scores of customers

Not all their products are great. I once bought a shirt and pants from them and they still hold up, but I also bought an umbrella and that fell apart within a year. Yes, everything there is dirt cheap but not all of it is good. And, quite frankly, if I want nice looking but cheap clothes, I prefer Kohl's or Burlington Coat Factory over the selection at WalMart.

I will never set foot in a Wal-Mart as long as I live. In adition to the aforementioned reasons, I cannot do business with a company that believes in censorship. They refuse to sell books or music that they find morally offensive.

Also, I can't stand to look at the people that shop there. Fat disgusting mouth-breathing rednecks.

Fuck Wal-Mart and their cheap shoddy censored merchandise.

I'm not a red neck. After all, not many rednex I know listen to New Order, right? I'm not trash either. Sometimes Wal-Mart has the best deal for what your looking for. My main reason for not going there is because it is a traffic nightmare getting into and out of the place. Easier to just go somewhere else and pay a few extra dollars. Good points and bad points, just like anything else, including NO. Whether the bad outweighs the good is all the difference.

Argh, traffic. I'm not one of those people who drives up and down the parking lot a million times looking for a spot close to the store. I park in the first space I see. if I have to walk, fine. I get inside sooner than the people looking for a "good" spot.

This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote:

Jon Murphy wrote: you forgot to mention that they sell great products at cheap prices...maybe they wouldn't be so succesful if they didn't attract scores of customers

Not all their products are great. I once bought a shirt and pants from them and they still hold up, but I also bought an umbrella and that fell apart within a year. Yes, everything there is dirt cheap but not all of it is good. And, quite frankly, if I want nice looking but cheap clothes, I prefer Kohl's or Burlington Coat Factory over the selection at WalMart.

I have never thought about shopping for clothes at walmart, not even for my own children.

The only thing I can say walmart is usefull foris picture developing. They have unbeatable prices and good quality....everything else, for the most part is crap. Not onl that, but the people that come out of the woodwork to shop at this place, where the hell do they come from? I live in Southern Cal, and our community has 80% college degrees, with the white pickett fence and everything, yet somehow there are rednecks that flood this place. Where the hell do they come from?

EdelBrock wrote:

This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote:

Jon Murphy wrote: you forgot to mention that they sell great products at cheap prices...maybe they wouldn't be so succesful if they didn't attract scores of customers

Not all their products are great. I once bought a shirt and pants from them and they still hold up, but I also bought an umbrella and that fell apart within a year. Yes, everything there is dirt cheap but not all of it is good. And, quite frankly, if I want nice looking but cheap clothes, I prefer Kohl's or Burlington Coat Factory over the selection at WalMart.

I have never thought about shopping for clothes at walmart, not even for my own children.

The only thing I can say walmart is usefull foris picture developing. They have unbeatable prices and good quality....everything else, for the most part is crap. Not onl that, but the people that come out of the woodwork to shop at this place, where the hell do they come from? I live in Southern Cal, and our community has 80% college degrees, with the white pickett fence and everything, yet somehow there are rednecks that flood this place. Where the hell do they come from?

I typically wouldn't shop there either, but about three years ago, I was in Maine and my luggage never arrived at the airport in Portland. In the town that I went to, the only place to buy anything -- except for food and stuff from CVS -- was a WalMart. So, I bought about three days' worth of clothes there and tried to find my lost luggage.

Sux that nobody round' me sells any New Order/ Joy division t-shirts, including wal-mart...guess there are few people who know how to rock nowadays!!!

Jon Murphy wrote: Sux that nobody round' me sells any New Order/ Joy division t-shirts, including wal-mart...guess there are few people who know how to rock nowadays!!!

You definetly won't find a NO/JD shirt at a WallMart. If you want one, buy it online. Or, is there a mall near you? If your mall has a t-shirt store or a Hot Topic, you can probably find one. But, it's much easier to find it online.

what no chronic

This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote: is there a mall near you? If your mall has a t-shirt store or a Hot Topic, you can probably find one.

I have yet to see a NO/JD shirt at a Hot Topic. Surprising, now that I think of it.

Tesco are following many of the same practices.

Rip-off merchants.

Wal-mart isn't really cheaper than other stores if you live in a larger metro area and shop around, and their choices tend to be tacky... just don't shop there. I never do, Wal-mart is rather unpleasant place to go to anyway

Of course if you live in a less populated area, you don't have much to choose from...

Aries wrote:

This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote: is there a mall near you? If your mall has a t-shirt store or a Hot Topic, you can probably find one.

I have yet to see a NO/JD shirt at a Hot Topic. Surprising, now that I think of it.

I've seen the Ceremony shirt and the one with the cover of Closer on it.

They're trying to put an "up-scale" Wal-Mart here in central Austin and there's been a huge public uproar about it. Wal-Mart wanted to put a 200,000 sq. foot store in a disused shopping mall in a residential neighborhood. It would be open 24 hours and their trucks would be rumbling through at all hours. So far, the neighborhood association has gotten them to reduce their business hours and the time of day that deliveries were allowed, but they haven't been able to stop the store from happening. My family lives in small towns where Wal-Mart has run out all the long-time family businesses. It's now the ONLY place to shop.

By the way, wtf is an "upscale" Wal-Mart? The mind boggles...

I am sad to say that I have spent countless hundreds of dollars at Shit*Mart for years now...but that's what you do when you barely make $1200 a month.

They are starting to build more Targets around here. I would choose Target 100 times out of 100 over Wal*Mart.

Sheds on a Plane wrote: I would choose Target 100 times out of 100 over Wal*Mart.

As would I, but replacing one huge corporate store with another one isn't much of an improvement, is it?

His Holiness, The Pope wrote:

Sheds on a Plane wrote: I would choose Target 100 times out of 100 over Wal*Mart.

As would I, but replacing one huge corporate store with another one isn't much of an improvement, is it?

No, but does Target have the same business practices as WalMart?

This blue-eyed boy that wants to be wrote:

His Holiness, The Pope wrote:

Sheds on a Plane wrote: I would choose Target 100 times out of 100 over Wal*Mart.

As would I, but replacing one huge corporate store with another one isn't much of an improvement, is it?

No, but does Target have the same business practices as WalMart?

Better business practices, but surely still detrimental to local economies. These local economies become thrown by the wayside when huge corporate-owned one-stop stores like Walmart, Target, Kmart, and all the rest move into an area and start battling for control. Having to choose one corporation over another is a choice made in bad faith.

His Holiness, The Pope wrote:

Sheds on a Plane wrote: I would choose Target 100 times out of 100 over Wal*Mart.

As would I, but replacing one huge corporate store with another one isn't much of an improvement, is it?

I agree...I do experience a certain self-loathing shopping at Target too, but it is the lesser of the two evils (doesn't justify it though).

The problem is the city I live near...it's dead, been dead for years. Almost no "mom & pop"-type stores anywhere, declining to nil infrastructure, even the quaint first generation shopping malls that didn't include massive chain stores are gone, replaced by....well, you know, the ConHugeCo HomeDepotLowesWalMartBestBuyCircuitCityRegalCinemasBedBathandBeyondPetco-land 5000.

Sheds on a Plane wrote:

His Holiness, The Pope wrote:

Sheds on a Plane wrote: I would choose Target 100 times out of 100 over Wal*Mart.

As would I, but replacing one huge corporate store with another one isn't much of an improvement, is it?

I agree...I do experience a certain self-loathing shopping at Target too, but it is the lesser of the two evils (doesn't justify it though).

The problem is the city I live near...it's dead, been dead for years. Almost no "mom & pop"-type stores anywhere, declining to nil infrastructure, even the quaint first generation shopping malls that didn't include massive chain stores are gone, replaced by....well, you know, the ConHugeCo HomeDepotLowesWalMartBestBuyCircuitCityRegalCinemasBedBathandBeyondPetco-land 5000.

I live in a city that didn't exist 15 years ago. Its built up so fast that is also all we have. There wasn't anytime for mom/pop stores to be built (though we are the land of furniture mom/pop stores). It seems the only type of mom/pop store that is albe to exist anymore is for specialty professional goods. Anything for the masses comes out of huge corps.

My sister and I were in the local W-M last week, goofing off, when I accidentially knocked over a display of fishing rods. Good stuff...I don't know if I'm banned for life (because I didn't stick around to see if they caught that on camera), but it would suck because I love making fun of the mouth-breathers who shop there like it's manna from Heaven.

banshee wrote: true,and the chicken in the curries has gone really shit

I know. The Vindaloo I had on Saturday was full of gristle.:(