Wal-Mart: Prices aren't the only thing they're keeping down
Thursday, 07 April 2005
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"...Look behind that yellow smiley face and see what's really happening to workers...that poor guy making $15, $16 an hour, now he's [going to be] making a fraction of that, $7, $8 an hour, working 32 hours a week; a meager health care plan that he's got to pay for now, token health care plan; no pension; no future...That's what's happening [behind] that big, yellow smiley face." -Jon Lehman, Former Wal-Mart store manager
Wal-Mart makes $285 billion in sales around the world each year in more than 5000 stores. Each year they account for about 2% of the GDP in the US. Lately they've been a pretty big punching bag for a lot of people, with a few stalwart defenders (including themselves and my father-in-law). Most of the defense-of-Wal-Mart arguments I hear have to do with their legendary low prices (economy of scale) and their efficiency (which revolutionized our economy). It's great that they are so efficient and have come up with new ways of streamlining business. But business is about more than efficiency--it's also about people (or it should be). And it's great that they are keeping the prices low. But to get their low prices, they're often forgetting about people again. And prices aren't the only thing they're keeping down...
Wal-Mart keeps down third world workers
Wal-Mart's network of suppliers (about 10,000) is constantly squeezed to lower their prices, so they continually scour the earth for places that can provide the labor cheaper and cheaper, battling with the other suppliers to come in the lowest. Each step of the chain of buying provides other opportunities for someone to cut a corner, or for someone to anonymously take advantage of disadvantaged, desperate people. Click
Wal-Mart keeps down unions
[Added 4/12/05] What would happen if a union formed in a Wal-Mart store? They shut it down. "Wal-Mart's decision to close the store reflects the retailer's deeply rooted aversion to unions, and its worries that organized labor had nearly established a beachhead, said Burt Flickinger III of Strategic Resource Group, a consulting firm specializing in retailing and consumer goods.
But he said the move could backfire for Wal-Mart, which has worked hard to counter a wave of bad publicity and portray itself as a generous employer."
"In the last few years, well over 100 unfair labor practice charges have been lodged against Wal-Mart throughout the country, with 43 charges filed in 2002 alone. Since 1995, the U.S. government has been forced to issue at least 60 complaints against Wal-Mart at the National Labor Relations Board. (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), Internationally Recognised Core Labour Standards in the United States: Report for the WTO General Council Review of the Trade Policies of the United States (Geneva, January 14-16, 2004)."
"In 2000, when a small meatcutting department successfully organized a union at a Wal-Mart store in Texas, Wal-Mart responded a week later by announcing the phase-out of its in-store meatcutting company-wide. Pan Demetrakakes, "Is Wal-Mart Wrapped in Union Phobia?" Food & Packaging 76 (August 1, 2003). Rather than comply, Wal-Mart is appealing this decision. (Dan Kasler, "Labor Dispute Has Historical Precedent," Scripps Howard News Service (November 3, 2003)."
"Wal-Mart has issued "A Manager's Toolbox to Remaining Union Free," which provides managers with lists of warning signs that workers might be organizing, including "frequent meetings at associates' homes" and "associates who are never seen together start talking or associating with each other."[7] The "Toolbox" gives managers a hotline to call so that company specialists can respond rapidly and head off any attempt by employees to organize." (Click)
Wal-Mart keeps down health care benefits
There was an article in the Post today about recently passed legislation in Maryland with requires Wal-Mart to increase the amount of money they put towards health care for their workers. The bill would require "organizations with more than 10,000 employees to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health benefits -- or put the money directly into the state's health program for the poor." It might seem like this bill unfairly targets Wal-Mart, but that's mostly because they're the only ones that don't meet the standard: three other organizations are large enough to be bound by this bill, but they all already meet the threshold.
Wal-Mart keeps down women
Wal-Mart has a history of paying women less than men, discriminating in training practices and of passing over women for promotions (2/3 of their workforce is women...1/10 of their management is). Now they've got a class action lawsuit against them, which covers more than 1.5 million women who have worked or currently do work for Wal-Mart. (See here or here).
Wal-Mart keeps down our communities
Here are summaries of a few studies done on the Wal-Mart big box impact on rural communities and on counties:
"Rural communities have been losing retail sales to larger towns ever since Montgomery Ward and Sears Roebuck started their mail order businesses. However, the leakage of retail trade from small towns has accelerated in the last two decades with the rapid proliferation of discount mass merchandiser stores in the larger towns and cities. Studies in Iowa have shown that some towns below 5,000 population have lost nearly half their retail trade in the last 13 years. Public officials are placed in difficult situations as they decide whether to recruit and/or approve the establishment of new mass merchandiser stores. There is a need for an educational program aimed at public officials, to help them make better decisions regarding this problem." (Increasing Understanding of Public Problems and Policies, 1997, "Impact of the Wal-Mart Phenomenon on Rural Counties" (PDF))
"Wal-Mart has created tremendous economic benefits for consumers by providing more choices at lower prices, especially in communities that had only local retail monopolies prior to the chain?s arrival. Yet no retailer evokes stronger negative emotions than this chain. Recent media attention has focused on questionable labor practices and other impacts of the stores, while academic studies have examined impacts on retail wages, employment levels and existing stores. Missing from the literature is an analysis of whether the ?Wal-Mart effect? is large enough to influence community-wide poverty rates. We find, after controlling for other factors determining changes in the poverty rate over time, that both counties with more initial (1987) Wal-Mart stores and with more additions of stores between 1987 and 1998 experienced greater increases (or smaller decreases) in family poverty rates during the 1990s economic boom period. We offer three possible explanations for this finding, including that Wal-Mart stores destroy civic capacity in the communities in which they locate by driving out local entrepreneurs and community leaders." (Center for Economic and Community Development (Penn State), October 2004, Wal-Mart and County-Wide Poverty (PDF))
Wal-Mart keeps down the American taxpayer
"Due to low pay and lack of health care, Wal-Mart employees are eligible for federal assistance. The estimated total amount of federal assistance for which Wal-Mart employees were eligible in 2004 was $2.5 billion (?Harper?s Index,? Harper?s Magazine, Vol. 310, No. 1858, 3/2005) According to a study by the Institute for Labor and Employment at the University of California-Berkeley, California taxpayers subsidized $20.5 million worth of medical care for Wal-Mart in that state alone.[48] In fact, Wal-Mart personnel offices, knowing employees cannot afford the company health plan, actually encourage employees to apply for charitable and public assistance, according to a recent report by the PBS news program Now With Bill Moyers.[49]
...
The Democratic Staff of the Committee on Education and the Workforce estimates that one 200-person Wal-Mart store may result in a cost to federal taxpayers of $420,750 per year ? about $2,103 per employee." (Click).
"The single-minded pursuit of economic growth can exact a heavy toll on a community. Our economic goal of creating wealth should coincide with our ideals of human and societal development." (Batstone and Chandler) So, too, a single-minded "obligation to provide the lowest price of goods" (Ray Bracey, Wal-Mart Vice President for Federal and International Corporate Affairs) will keep the prices down, but will also keep down the dignity of many people.
Is the man keeping you down? Add your comments below the links, or discuss here.
Other Links (updated periodically):
Wake-up Wal-Mart (link): "The "Wake-Up Wal-Mart Campaign" is about Americans joining together in common purpose to change Wal-Mart. There is only one force powerful enough to change the #1 Fortune 500 company in the world ? the American people."
Is Wal-Mart Good for America? (link): "Wal-Mart's "everyday low prices" benefit millions of American consumers, and it is Fortune magazine's number-one most admired company in the United States. But others argue that Wal-Mart is a bad bargain for American workers."
Cultivate Three Rivers Initiative: Wal-Mart related Resources (link): "Citizens should be engaging in serious dialogue about whether Wal-Mart will be a positive or a negative addition to the...community."
Wal-Mart Litigation Project (link): "A guide for lawyers preparing to sue the company."
Wal-Mart Fact Checker (link): "Analyzes Wal-Mart ads for truthfullness"
Up Against Wal-Mart (link): "At the world's largest and most profitable retailer, low wages, unpaid overtime, and union busting are a way of life. Now Wal-Mart workers are fighting back."
The Wal-Mart Effect (link): "When Wal-Mart Stores Inc. demands a lower price for the shirts and shorts it sells by the millions, the consequences are felt in a remote Chinese industrial town, at a port in Bangladesh and here in Honduras, under the corrugated metal roof of the Cosmos clothing factory...Isabel Reyes, who has worked at the plant for 11 years, pushes fabric through her sewing machine 10 hours a day, struggling to meet the latest quota scrawled on a blackboard. She now sews sleeves onto shirts at the rate of 1,200 garments a day. That's two shirts a minute, one sleeve every 15 seconds..."There is always an acceleration," said Reyes, 37, who can't lift a cooking pot or hold her infant daughter without the anti-inflammatory pills she gulps down every few hours. "The goals are always increasing, but the pay stays the same."
Always Low Prices...Always? (link): [Added 4/18/05] The Best and the Worst About Walmart (blog).
The War on Walmart (link): A Wall Street Journal defense of the big box...for my father-in-law
Wal-Mart facts (link): "We understand that many of you want to know more about Wal-Mart. And we want you to know more about us..." Nothing we do is wrong. Everything you've heard is a lie...
Understanding the Wal-Mart Effect (link): [Added 4/13/05] An anecdotal analysis of a college town which proved resiliant against Wal-Mart leads this author to conclude that "the Wal-Mart effect is overwhelmingly beneficial."
Immediatly upon reading your blog I had to go to Walmart to observe the evil empire in action. As I pulled into the nearly full parking lot I realized what an immense task you have in convinving the American public to voice their disgust with Walmart tactics by taking their dollars and spending them elsewhere. Given the ignorance of all those folks shopping in Walmart I fully expected to see W stickers on every bumper but here were suprinsingly few displayed on the older model cars that seemed to dominate the parking lot. Upon entering the store I was greeted by Jean with a cherry "Welcome to Walmart". I wondered if she was hypnotized, psychologically brainwashed or under the influence of a foreign substance. She seemed to be appreciative that Walmart would hire a great grandmotherly type who probably has few other job prospects to supplement her meager social security check. Perhaps if FDR had set up private retirement accounts she would not have to be employed but then again, maybe she would miss the smiles and and the "thank you" she receives as she nudges a shopping cart in the direction of each entering shopper. Absent mindedly taking a cart when I had no intention of shopping I headed off to see Victor in the Vision Center. I met Victor a few months ago when I purchased new eyeglasses. I apologize for shopping at Walmart but it seemed to be a good ideal to be able to go for my fitting after work hours rather than take time off but perhaps conviniece is as sinful as saving money. Anyway, Victor intrigued me because one does not often meet a early 20s disabled Native American who works in the medical field. In fact, I think he is the first Native American and the first disabled person who has ever assisted me in any medical office. I wondered why Walmart hired Victor. He certainly was not Walmart efficient as he bumped around in his electric mobility cart. I wanted to ask him if he was working for $7 an hour but he had the day off. I would think Walmart would put him on commission so as to avoid wage and hour laws. Disappointed with Vitor's absence I headed off the the eletronics department to see John. He is the assistant manager of the department even though he is fighting the demons of past drug addiction. Some days he is so incapacitated with his struggle that he is unable to work as scheduled. I'm surprised that a huge impersonal corporation puts up with his personal difficulties. John wasn't there either but as I walked past the VCRs I wondered if the Sanyo I purchased recently was assembled in an Asian sweatshop. Since the unit was cheaper at Walmart than at competitors I'm guessing that Sanyo pays workers less for units assembled for sale at Walmart less that they do for units for sale at competitors. I don't see any other way Walmart could sell for less unless that yellow smiley face guy with the sword and Zorro mask is out of control.I know Kathy works two days a week so I thought I would try to find her. She only works two days a week because she is on disablity due to bi-polar disorder. On the way through the sporting goods department I met Donald. Donald was buying a gun. (Yes, there are people in America who buy guns) It was a shock to see Donald who has been a lifetime Walmart hater. (Can you believe Walmart haters even buy guns?) He was embarassed at being caught but explained that the $50 he was saving was just too much to pass up. I wanted to ask what he would do with the $50 he was saving by shopping at Walmart but I figured it was none of my business but I did wonder how many people are employed because American consumers who shop at Walmart have money to spend on other goods and services.Giving up on locating Kathy I wandered over to the grocery area still mulling over the question promted by the $50 savings. Lets see, if a Walmart Super Center drives down grocery prices by 15% then a family that spends $100 a week at Walmart saves $780 a year. I do wonder what they do with that money. For my friend Sharif who was raking for a lawn service company for $7 an hour $780 is a lot of money to save in a year. (I didn't know Walmart ran lawn service companies) If there are 75,000 households in our community and each one saves even $600 per year that is 45 million a year. I wonder how many businesses and their employees live off that money as it is spent to purchase additional goods and services?By this time I was concerned at my inability to discern an overwheming sense of evil about the place. Perhaps I was as brainwashed as Jean. Rushing out of the store I located my truck, sped home, and reread the blog to clear my head and restore my perspective. Thanks, Laryn. Keep working on me and I may trade in the truck for a hybrid, sell the guns, tune my radio to NPR, and boycott Walmart.
Thanks to the Wal-mart stores here where I live I have been able to supply good paying jobs to several people who are now able to live quite well. They save tons of money shopping at the stores I employ them to service. they are now able to cotribute those savings to thier 401ks'have purchased homes and are raising families happily, Thanks Wal-Mart live better shop wal-mart.
Very interesting. I'm looking forward to part two and beyond, where you interview the sweatshop workers, investigate the union issue Wal-mart wide, inquire about their health benefits options, ask some tough questions about why there aren't (m)any women in management roles, and do an in depth analysis of the "race to the bottom" that Wal-mart affects on the surrounding communities nationwide (and through their suppliers in the third world).Your question about the low-price savings got me to thinking...what if Wal-Mart dug into it's profits (which are very high) and remedied some of these problems that way? (Oh, yeah, I forgot. The profit margin is sacred, that would be like taking communion bread to feed a starving person. Wait, that doesn't sound like that bad of an idea, either.)Another intesting question: what do you think all of Wal-mart's gazillions of employees would be able to spend their extra cash on if they had decent medical coverage? That could turn out to be a lot of money that they could use in other ways, and it might lift them above the poverty line.Looking forward to your next reports... :)L.Ps. you might consider a diesel truck instead of a hybrid (you could use biodiesel or get the vegetable oil modification). Also, I found an interesting writing about turning guns into plowshares that you might be interested in. Gotta run, Car Talk is starting soon.
hey Laryn ever written the check out to an employee or have you always been the begger at the bottom anyway...you should try to employ people for a change have you ever created a paying job to anyone? I see just another one of the crybabies who get from others instead of creating your own.....typical liberal fingers up with your hands out.
I was interested in the compilation you assembled of Wal Mart atrocities, many of which I have seen before. Mistreatment of workers, sweatshops overseas, decimating the small businessman, and, I suspect, contributing to the delinquency of miners.(no, not a typo.) Since it seemed evident that I should not support such a nefarious organization, I set out to locate an acceptable alternative. This morning, on my way to work, I needed to by some transmission fluid and freon 134a for my car. (I know, I should be riding a bike the 26 miles to work, and not use air conditioning, but it gets kind of hot in the summer, and I like my creature comforts.)after passing at least six closed auto parts stores, all of them chain stores, I was unable to find a mom and pop store to sell me freon. Since I had to be at work at 7:30, and not free agin until after most of those stores would close, I drove up to wal mart. I was greeted at the door by a singing senior citizen. His voice was poor, but he seemed truly cheerful as he said good morning, at 7:10 AM. I went straight to automotive, and couldn't find what I needed due to the bewildering array of products available. A helpful mechanic from the garage, who was passing through on his way to work, stopped and led me to what I needed, which was priced, literally, at half the cost of the same product at an auto parts store. (Damn those evil wal-martians, have they no shame?)Obviously, Prestone must have a special double secret sweatshop set up overseas to produce little cans of chemicals only for wal mart. The East Hampton Long Island Prestone Plant, (where employees recieve superior pay and benefits, and free massages), next to Martha's house, must be where Sears gets their prestone products. (didn't Kmart just buy Sears?) So it seems that convenience is king at wal mart, but that alone shouldn't influence me. The fact that working there is an underpaid purgatory should convince me to never again darken their doorway. I arrived at work to find my colleagues complaining that their health care costs continue to rise, and are unnafordable on our meagre salaries. The management is clueless and we are not provided with adequate resources. I absolutely agree with some of these complaints, and have already tendered my resignation. My coworkers will probably be making the same complaints three years from now. but will never leave. Some are not qualified to get better work, some are too securely in their comfort zones to make a change. It is now and always will be their choice to stay or go, as is true of unhappy wal mart workers. I googled wal mart employee complaints and got weblogs of people with the usual litany of complaints I have heard from the perpetually disgruntled at every place I have worked. I worked with professionals making 100K with full free benefits who whine like galley slaves under the lash on an egyptian funeral barge. Shocking to hear that you could find a disgruntled employee or two in one of the worlds largest employers, where most of the workforce is unskilled, uneducated and competing with McDonalds and Kmart for employees.Since only Wal Mart has this problem, I also searched Kmart Shocking! They too have some underpaid, mistreated and discriminated against employees. Some have even been fired for no good reason! (or so the ex employee states.) Target however, is more upscale, charges more, and must be better. But wait! some target employees feel underpaid, overworked and mistreated. A last search, of Nordstrom's revealed that they too have unhappy, mistreated employees. With further investigation, we find that most of the products sold at the three stores are produced by the same manufacturers.(It must be that dual supply stream again, the nice airy light Target supply versus the swirling vortex of evil supply chain for Century baby seats. So, we have determined that wal mart provides lower prices and convenience at the expense of low wages and employee mistreatment, as well as decimating the third world. Since all of wal marts competitors seem to be doing the same thing, perhaps wal mart is just better at it, and competence is being rewarded with customers. No wal mart employee is held there against their will, and there are other job options. Unemployment is at 5% give or take, which was considered full employment when I took economics. The poor oppressed sweatshop workers are making more money, despite the poor conditions, than their parents ever dreamed of. There is competition in these places to get these "horrible" jobs. I know your reaction may be that I have "won life's lottery" and should look after those less fortunate than myself. I do look after those less fortunate, but I do it through providing opportunities, like wal mart does. in order to win life's lottery, I had to buy the lottery ticket. I did this by putting myself through college, (4 years of poverty), taking a cruddy job, losing it, working in a junkyard, a mental hospital, a factory, going to school nights for 16 more years, earning several degrees while always working two or more jobs. People who whine that their employer is doing too little for them should do more for themselves. Try collecting and selling scrap metal to get by. Makes wal mart sound cushy. And, wal mart is air conditioned. Wal Mart is not to blame for the failure of inefficent businesses, or the willingness of overseas producers to cut costs, they, and thus we, are the beneficiaries of it. and we can then take our savings, and improve our lives.
I hear a lot of the "everybody else is doing it, too" defense of Wal-Mart. Focusing on Wal-Mart doesn't mean I think it's the only place this happens (God knows it's not), and it doesn't necessarily endorse other companies (as you seem to suggest, David K). It merely acknowledges that as the primary power player in the industry, Wal-Mart has the ability to sway how things are done, and a certain responsibility for charting the course. In relationships where one side has power over the other, the onus is (to some degree) on the side of power to effect positive change in a negative situation. Congratulations on all your hard work, but telling desperate people to shut up and buck up and be happy that they aren't being whipped in an Egyptian galley won't effect that change (especially not without some kind of a pointed critique of Wal-Mart along with it!)Fatalistic attitudes about how "it's the way the business world works" aren't of interest to me. If that is how the business world works, then it needs to change. We need to learn how to do economics (to quote EF Schumaker) "as if people mattered."Comments like yours seem to imply that Wal-Mart is just playing by the rules, and therefore bears no responsibility for what they do (as long as it doesn't break any laws). I reject the idea that corporations (and the way that they are structured and operated) are morally neutral. (I also reject the idea that corporations are "persons," but that's another story).Thanks for your comments!
well I gotta tell ya that there is a pretty pathetic comeback.You can keep on trying to put it to wal mart but really I think wal mart has already got you as a savings customer and you just don't want to tell us of your trips to the liquor dept,where you save on the chew and the coors light.
...by the way, one of the things my original post didn't include was instructions on how boycotting Wal-mart will solve this. That is one option that many people will use to get Wal-mart's attention. Others will choose not to stop shopping there completely, but will find local options when possible and will cut down on their visits to Wal-Mart. Others will use their role as shareholders to try to effect change from within. Some will try to keep new stores from being built in their neighborhoods. Others will push for legislation to regulate how big-box stores may operate in their jurisdictions. Some will write letters. Some will combine multiples of the above.Any other ideas?
here is a great idea....though the years of boycotting from unions surely has seemed to work....."right" as most unionized workers save up thier dues money by shopping wal mart...you could umm boycott yourself and it will like it always has fallen on deaf ears.your shopping wal mart and you just are a follower of the democratic party who complains that you shop thier while they do too.
Since the problem seems to be a failed or flawed overall business plan in retail, would it behoove you to set up an alternative, improved plan to combat the obvious injustices of wal mart and it's brethren competitors? Insted of just a boycott, as you suggested in your last note, perhaps a proactive competition would provide the impetus needed to stop the creeping (or surging) growth of these anti-competitive companies. I would love to see the business plan for this new breed of retailers. We will spend more, charge less, and provide enormous benefits for our employees. I've seen these types of business plans enacted before. Pets.com comes to mind. It did great until the seed money ran out. I suppose the only way to truly meet the social responsibility of a retailer without being too heartless to the employees and the community is to charge a sliding price scale. Those with lower incomes could pay a lower price, and for those truly in need products will be free. The extra costs , of course, will be borne by those who have more money, and will be glad to pay more knowing they are helping those less fortunate. Unfortunately for your business plan, Those who should be willingly paying more will be unaware of it, because they are shopping at Nordstrom's and won't darken the door of wal mart. Where do I buy stock in this new retailer? sounds like the new business model for the 20th century, as outlined by Lenin. We all know how well that worked. Sorry, have to go to work now, so I can pay more taxes to help those who have lost life's lottery.
Good suggestion about competition, though I am not ready to agree with your suggestion as the "only solution." I think there's a lot more creative brainstorming that needs to happen. One example that I know of which you may be interested in is called "No Sweat Apparel", a for profit clothing manufacturer committed to paying fair wages.While we're brainstorming, the sliding scale idea might work best in the form of one base price, with the option to pay more to help out those who can't afford (similar to what you may see on your heating bill) and some sort of a system available for those who need assistance. If there is truly a way to do this without unnecessary bureaucracy, I'd like to hear it.Of course, I don't believe that competition alone will solve this problem. The globalized economy, with it's array of various middlemen and links in the chain of production and distribution, hides injustice too well. If people had to buy their clothes from the sweatshop and walk past the people who are actually making the clothes, or if they lived next door to one of them, or were friends with them, or went to church with them, Wal-Mart (and the others) would not be doing nearly as well as they are. Part of the issue is just making people aware of it in a way that isn't so easily forgotten or ignored--a hard task. Another aspect is to encourage corporations to be part of transparent, independent monitoring programs. (Interestingly Nike has become a little more transparent RE: sweatshops, and then signed a deal with Wal-Mart for a lower-end shoe. And there's no need to apologize about going to work--I do the same thing. (Many of the taxes we pay go to help Wal-Mart employees):NPI:"According to Congressman George Miller's report, here at home in the good 'ole USA, taxpayers would have to pick up $420,750 per year for a typical Wal-Mart store employing 200 people. These costs include:* $36,000 a year for free and reduced lunches for 50 qualifying Wal-Mart families;* $42,000 a year for Section 8 housing assistance, assuming three percent of the store?s employees qualify for such assistance;* $125,000 a year for federal tax credits and deductions for low-income families, assuming 50 employees are heads of household with a child and 50 are married with two children;* $100,000 a year for additional Title I education funds, assuming 50 Wal-Mart families, each with an average of two children, qualify;* $108,000 a year for children?s health insurance costs, assuming 30 employees, each with an average of two children, qualify for the Children?s Health Insurance Program (CHIP);* $9,750 a year for subsidies for energy assistance for low-income families."
cost-minimization is often cost-shifting, ie. shifting the burdens of socially valuable tasks onto others. The real issue with Walmart is that of int?l governance and determining what are fair rules of the game of trade. Check out some posts I?ve made on the topic over at my blog, the Anti-Manicheist.
dlw
I have heard the arguement that wal mart workers are partially supported by government payments, and then we see dramatic sums demonstrated by multiplying assumptions be falsehoods and adding in opinions to add up to what is presented as a verifiable fact. The dollar amounts you repeat so eagerly are fallacious. I can point out the innacuracies by examining one of the sets of assumptions. A cost, per store of $125,000 per year because of federal tax credits and low income deductions, for 50 head of household and 50 families married with two children. 1) where did the 50 come from? surveys? employment data? ice round numbers that can't be proven? I vote for the latter. So, we make up a number of 100 poor families working at a wal mart. I can believe that, because none of the rich people I know take jobs stocking shelves at wal mart. That's because we all know it pays poorly, and if you are going to lead a middle class life, you can't do it as an unmarried mother of two on a clerk's salary. It is not the employer's, or society's responsibility that individuals make poor life choices that put them in poverty. Very few unwed mothers ever get out of poverty. Who should take the blame? probably the individual who couldn't or didn't think through the long term implications of their actions. I don't think I did anything to force them into poverty, and I don't force them to take a subsistence job. This leads to the major flaw in your reasoning, which is that, if wal mart suddenly saw the light, and ceased to exist, where would these people find employment? Citibank has enough vice presidents, and the average wal mart clerk doesn't have an MD to begin practicing medicine, so they will apply for jobs for which they qualify, such as 7-11, McDonalds, convenience stores. All of these other opportunities pay comparable, or less, in benefits to wal mart. Therefore, the costs you associate to wal mart for the community ($425,000 or so per store) are actually costs attributable to the burdens of poverty on our society. These are more reasonably credited to the abysmal failures of our government school systems which, despite masssive spending increases over the past 40 years in real dollars, are pouring out functional illiterates who are lucky to get a job as good as wal mart. As a friend of mine, who taught at a second chance public charter school used to say, when asked if the kids were learning much, "No, but if we can keep them out of jail and get them a GED, the world needs more roofers, too." His goal was to get them up to the level of a rotten job. I've done roofing before. Pay is a little better than wal mart, but you're much more likely to die at work. Makes wal mart look like a better opportunity.
David K, you seem to have a certain set of assumptions that you keep expecting me to conform to, and you are often wrong. If you go back and reread this page, you'll see that I have not claimed that Wal-Mart should see the light and then "cease to exist." You will see that my point has been that Wal-Mart, as the global leader with an enormous amount of power (and therefore responsibility), needs to change and set a course that is more just.If Wal-Mart drives down wages, offers a health care package many of its employees cannot afford, keeps back wages and overtime from employees, etc. etc., then it contributes to the burdens of poverty on our society and does bear some of that responsibility.Perhaps you have a lower view of work than I do--I am not content to say that jobs are jobs and some just suck and others are great. That may be how it is, but I don't think that is how it should be, and I am not content to just shrug and say "Que sera, sera."We do agree on one thing--the schools need improving. (But there's nothing inherently wrong with roofing.)
I understand your desire for wal mart to take a leadership role in changing society and the labor market, but if they did as you suggest, it would be tantamount to "ceasing to exist" Bankruptcy would probably take a few years, but, like woolworth's stores, they would become non-competitive, and fade away. Human nature would drive people to a lower cost competitor, where they undercut costs and draw business away. Along with it's customer base, it would lose it's " global leaderwship and enormous power. " Then, whoever stole their market share would be the new villian.At one time, I also thought that if people were just more considerate and tolerant, the world would be a better place. I still think that, but I recognize that it is a fantasy to think that human nature will take a sudden shift towards this idealized world. I once thought that war would end if we set aside our own pugnacious ways, beat our swords into plowshares and worked together for the benefit of mankind. Unfortunately, there is evil in the world, and somewhere, sometime, someone will beat their plowshare into a sword and come after me. So it's best to keep a few swords around. Human nature can be hard and cold and cruel, as can business, and changes like you envision are unlikely at best. I've seen the bumper sticker philosophies, No War, Make Love Not War, Visualize Whirled Peas, and agree they all have merit, but, like in warfare, one can support and believe in peace, but if attacked, the only way to to stay peaceful is surrender. Business is like a less violent form of warfare, and if any business does as you suggest, and intentionally raise costs for a truly noble cause, then they have likely conceded their own defeat in the marketplace.
oh, you're a cynic. why didn't you say so? (it would have saved some time.)out of curiosity, how many more months until taco bell's inevitable demise, now that they've begun to raise farm labor standards?
I appreciate you taking the time to join me in discussion, David K. It is often good to talk about things with people who hold differing opinions. That is why I like to talk to my "evil" father-in-law so much. ;)
Co-op America's Retailer Scorecard"With sweatshop abuses spanning the globe, and with more and more giant corporations subcontracting their manufacturing to third parties, making an informed choice about where to shop for sweatshop-free products can be daunting. That's why we've created Co-op America's 'Retailer Scorecard', as an at-a-glance reference to help you choose where to shop."(Wal-mart receives an F)
Responsible Shopper has collected information on a fair number of companies and lays out praises and criticisms for each, the company's major holdings/names, etc...http://www.responsibleshopper.org
I'm adding a link at the top to the upcoming Walmart movie (click here) by the director of Outfoxed, as well as a link here to a pro-Walmart article in a Canadian magazine (click here).
A NYT article today:"Wal-Mart is taking a page from the modern political playbook. Under fire from well-organized opponents who have hammered the retailer with criticisms of its wages, health insurance and treatment of workers, Wal-Mart has quietly recruited former presidential advisers, including Michael K. Deaver, who was Ronald Reagan's image-meister, and Leslie Dach, one of Bill Clinton's media consultants, to set up a rapid-response public relations team in Arkansas.When small-business owners or union officials - also employing political operatives from past campaigns - criticize the company, the war room swings into action with press releases, phone calls to reporters and instant Web postings.One target of the effort are "swing voters," or consumers who have not soured on Wal-Mart. The new approach appears to reflect a fear that Wal-Mart's critics are alienating the very consumers it needs to keep growing, especially middle-income Americans motivated not just by price, but by image.The first big challenge of the strategy will come Nov. 1 with the premiere of an unflattering documentary. "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" was made on a shoestring budget of $1.8 million and will be released in about two dozen theaters. But its director, Robert Greenwald, hopes to show the movie in thousands of homes and churches in the next month. The possibility that it might become a cult hit like Michael Moore's 1989 unsympathetic portrait of General Motors, "Roger & Me," has Wal-Mart worried. "
People point to Walmart and cry "anti-union".Unions enable disfavored people to live satisfactorly without addressing their disfavor. This way their family's problems are never resolved. Without the union they would have to accept the heirarchy, their own inferiority. Unions serve to empower.Walmart is anti-union because they are good. They try to help people address and resolve their problems by creating an enviornment where there are fewer hurdles. Media ridicule and lawsuits are creations to reinforce people's belief that Walmart is evil in a subsegment of the industry dominated by the middle and lower classes.Low-cost disfavored Chinese labor is utilized by corporate america to maximize margins. They all do it. Only WalMart gets fingered because they are the ones who help, and those who seek to create confusion in the marketplace want to eliminate the vast middle class who have a real chance and instead stick with lower classes who may not work otherwise. So they dirty him up while allowing the others to appear clean.The coining of the term "Uncle Sam" was a clue alluding to this::Sam Walton's WalMart is one of few saviors of the peasant class.
"Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, is promoting a corporate code of conduct that it calls one of the strictest in the industry. But an investigation by SRC, the French-language service of the CBC, casts doubt on the company's capacity to enforce that code in dealing with Third World countries."CBC
WHAT ABOUT THE FACT THAT: If Walmart hired and payed more for competent workers, maybe they wouldn't have almost killed me.ON 1-27-05 MY VEHICLE WAS SERVICED AT MY STORE. ( TIRE ROTATION AND OIL CHANGE). I LEFT THERE AND GOT ON THE FREEWAY IN MY SUV, AND THE TIRE CAME OFF IN THE POURING RAIN.I WAS EMOTIONALY DAMAGED AND IN THERAPY FOR MONTHES.THEY DISCLAIM LIABILITY ANDI WILL HAVE THEM IN SMALL CLAIMS COURT IN COMAL COUNTY, TEXAS ON 1-5- 06. WISH ME LUCK. WALMARTS' LOW PRICES ALMOST COST ME MY LIFE. ITS NOT WORTH IT. BOYCOTT WALMART!!!
Sorry to hear about that incident, Maggie. I hope you are doing well. I am not sure that I'd make a blanket statement about the competency of Walmart's employees, and I try to give some grace for human error in a one-off like this (not a pattern or systemic issue that I've heard about), but I wish you the best.In other news...Wal-Mart Stuck With $172M Lunch Tab: "An Oakland, Calif., jury Thursday whacked Wal-Mart Stores Inc. with a $172 million verdict -- including $115 million in punitive damages -- for failing to provide a class of about 200,000 employees with legally-mandated meal breaks."
Gone are the days of "it takes a village". We have all become a bunch of selfish SOBs that would rather sue anybody than accept any kind of responsibility, or just accept the fact that Stuff happens. Maggie I hope you lose. It was probably some 16 y/o kid trying to earn gas money, that forgot to put the lug nuts on. Undoubtedly it is Walmarts fault. I'm quite sure you've never made a mistake in your life.As for the rest of you whiners. Get over it. Do you buy Marathon gasoline or the cheapest. i.e. are you supporting the American workforce of foreign. I suspect you go cheap. Is it ok to buy cheap gas, but not the less expensive Walmart products? It's a global market. As long as there are balance sheets, people will choose the lowest price. Which checkbook would you like, the one with $1 in it or the one with $100 in it? Why do you fix up your house? to make it livable? to make it more valuable? Do you buy the cheap paint or the most expensive? Looks the same on the walls doesn't it. Despite all your bemoaning you are just as selfish as the rest of us. Why pick on solely Walmart?Is anyone forcing these abused people to work for Walmart? I don't see any 'help wanted' signs out front. I believe the employees might actually want the job. They have a choice. If they work hard they can climb the corporate ladder. & good for Walmart to keep the unions out. They only protect people who are too lazy to bust their butt. If they don't feel they are treated fairly.. go find another job. They're not shackled there. Will they encounter an unfair boss? Probably. Show me one place on earth there isn't one. Life isn't fair. Get over it. Move on.I suggest that instead of wasting your time researching all these moral violation of a single company you get off your butt & do something practical. Go work in a homeless shelter, or the folks affected by Katrina. There you could actually make a difference. Someone could have a better life because of you.BTW, the monitor I use to read your ramblings.... I bought at Walmart. Life is just not fair!
You sound a little bitter, outsider. Let's try to keep it civil, though. If you're content with "Life's just not fair" then what would be the point of working in a homeless shelter? How would getting Wal-mart to clean up it's act in a whole range of areas not be making a practical difference in many people's lives? As for whether I buy the cheapest--sometimes, but not always. That's the point of this whole page.
I thought you were coplaining about the U.S military until I saw the title. All of the points apply--low wages, poor medical, rotten bosses, terrible hours and working conditions. That is called free choice-I get to work where I want to--I also get to shop where I want to-when I get out of this god forsaken desert
I started @ wal-mart in November and already want to quit. I THOUGHT I was hired for a full-time position, but I only work 26-32 hours a week. When I asked about it, I was told that "the system" says I'm part-time. I can't pay my bills. I have spoken to management about the problem, to no avail. As for training, it's laughable! I was assigned to a "sponsor" (who didn't do a thing to help me), the training plans have not ever been done, I asked when we were doing the training exercises and drew a blank stare. I was running a register in a week and a half, not knowing anything. And if you ask for help, the supervisors get annoyed with you. They have all these requirements and forms and they're gung-ho about their corporate beliefs, but no one really does anything by their own book. I'm sick of working crazy hours and different days for $150 a week. Does anyone know where to find a decent paying, full-time job here in las cruces, new mexico? I'd really appreciate it.
