I like Wal Mart. They almost always have whatever it is I'm looking for (except last night the one I went to didn't have Civ IV), the prices are always good and they're consistant across the country. I can get the same thing for the same price in Georgia or New York. As far as quality that so many people bash, they seem to have the same stuff I see everywhere else (Oster blenders, Casio calculators, SoundBlaster sound cards, Grape Nuts, etc). Combined with the fact that since it's 24/7 it's the only store open when I get off work, it's just about the only place I ever shop during the week.

I do go to boutiques and specialized stores when I want something specific (Men's Warehouse for clothes, whatever the local computer company is to get SATA cables, Barnes and Nobles for books) but my need for those items is less than my need to buy at midnight, say, a gallon of milk and a cheap replacement watch for the one I just lost

feepness

As was said earlier, check the net and pay a few extra bucks for shipping...

BobtheFascist: I remember seeing a website by & for Target employees when my mom worked there part time. It was a forum where everyone biatched about low wages, bad bennies, etc. Sounded like Target has a lot of the same issues WalMart has but since Target is owned by the family of Mark Dayton, a left of center MN senator, they don't get quite the same negative publicity.


I've worked at Target, and at least at target, the managers don't treat you like disposable scum.

And still it appears no one has RTFResearch Paper

I thought most of wal-mart's "OMG LOW PR1C3S!!1!" came from the fact that instead of selling things for $9.99, they sell them for $9.97 or what have you. Technically they do have lower prices, but if you buy 50 pieces of plastic crap you save a dollar. Yay!

Suck it.

Lusiphur

That's true. My mom had no problems w/ the mgmt or fellow employees. But she did hear a lot of the full timers griping about pay & bennies. I can't imagine it's really that much different in any hourly retail based environment. I always worked commission retail. Never had to deal w/ the WalMart/Target type environment.

i really don't enjoy going into wal-mart, so i try to make it as fast a journey as possible, but their one-hour photo (at least the one at my local wal-mart) is consistantly the best photo developing place in my area. it could be that the same people have been working there for all the years i've been taking my film there, but whatever it is, they do a great job. and i don't just mean snapshots taken with some disposable camera or something, i'm talking a professional canon 35mm camera. only one-hour, though. their 2 day service tends to suck. dunno why.

just thought i'd throw that into the mix.

2005-11-04 06:02:34 PM macedon
Hey! According to the chart, we'll probably only have about a $700,000 deficit this year! Cool.

Sam would be rolling over in his grave if he knew how hellish Wal Mart got once he passed on.

If you can't afford to spend the extra scratch go shop at WalMart by all means - if you are making a good living and still shop at WalMart to save yourself $1 on a package of socks then you are a short sighted, self centered piece of garbage.

I don't shop at WalMart because I don't think a company that encourages sweatshops and the desruction of the US manufacturing industry is worthy of my business.

Yarrielle: Sam would be rolling over in his grave if he knew how hellish Wal Mart got once he passed on.

He would probably be rolling in cash... in his grave.

Manufacturing loss is a problem in the US, but it's our fault. If we can't compete with some other country when their goods have shipping/taxes added to them it's our own fault. Most of manufacturing should be able to be automated by this time, and that should allow cheaper goods to be made here. I guess we're just not investing in the robotics infrastructure we need to compete internationally in manufacturing.

Ummmm... when you employ foreign sweatshop and child labor and pay them starvation wages, it stands to reason that some of the savings might trickle down to consumers.

Unfortunately, there's more to life than simple economics - people eventually realize stuff, and then there you are...

trippdogg: people eventually realize stuff, and then there you are...

Wow.... that's...umm... great. Yeh.

HappyFunNorm:

I guess we're just not investing in the robotics infrastructure we need to compete internationally in manufacturing.

Don't you mean investing in the slave-wage labor pool?

Unfortunately, we won the whole capitalism vs communism thing. Hurray for our team!

Now we are competing with 3 billion workers who are happy to be fed for a 12 hour day.

There are factories in China that don't use machinery because the electricity costs more than the human labor.

If behemoths like Wal-Mart are allowed to continue in the US, then business loans should be easier to get for people looking to start small businesses.

Complete with tax breaks and fair interest rates, especially if they get forced out of business.

Frickin' David vs. Goliath.

2005-11-04 05:52:59 PM Lusiphur

The souls are not actually for sale, as wal*mart refuses to release them from their prison of poverty and subjugation. They're just there for display purposes and serve no real function. If you don't believe me on that, just ask a wal*mart employee for help. Not that I don't sympathize, but it does make finding stuff harder. On the bright side, it turns every trip into a wacky scavenger hunt, sorting among piles of shiat for something of value.

So, basically, you shop at Wal-mart and validate their practices, but then try to act holier than thou and condemn them? Typical.

And what exactly are you doing to free those poor souls from their poverty and subjugation (also known to liberals as employment and pay checks)? Posting tripe on FARK? Typical.

I also fid it funny, in a not funny what so ever kind of way, that the anti Wal-mart crowd loves to condemn them for their ties to China, as if China is somehow a bad country to deal with.

But the first thread that comes along where some right wing yokel says something bad about communist this, or China that, these same 'OMG wal-mart and China!' crowd immediately go into 'China is the greatest country ever!' mode.

You farking tools.

ZenGuru: I bet most self-confessed 'Wal mart-hating' farkers shop there all the time...

I've been in Wal-Mart about 5 times in my life total. 4 times were because I needed something quick (sunglasses because I lost them, etc) when I lived *right* next door to them, and one time for the 1 hour photo for black and white prints from my wedding reception.

I felt like showering afterwards each time, and these were two different Wal-Marts. They're all the same on the inside.

sod213:

I felt like showering afterwards each time, and these were two different Wal-Marts. They're all the same on the inside.

They actually have inter-dimensional connections between themselves and a central location.

They are literally, all the same Wal-mart.

How do you think they expand so fast?

Ponderous man, ponderous.

trippdogg: people eventually realize stuff, and then there you are...

feepness: They actually have inter-dimensional connections between themselves and a central location. They are literally, all the same Wal-mart.

To those touting this 'Lowest Prices at Wally-World' hooha, I only have one thing to say.

Shop More Serious.

Yeah, good ol' american made ammunition is dirt cheap at wally world, 100 rounds of 9mm for $10, 550 rounds of .22 for $6 - they don't even check ID's, have a friend with a felony conviction that buys all his ammo there, heck you can get a good deal on an american made gun - hate to be a manager there that p1ssed off an employee with a key to the cabinet.

namatad: what social obligation does walmart have to provide health care?
they can QUIT and get a job elsewhere which does provide care.


Where?

I recently ended my "ban" on Wal*Mart. Why? For years I would shop anywhere BUT Wally world for moral reasons. Those moral reasons were nothing more than grandstanding. I have wasted tons of money shopping else where. I had to go there recently after moving. It was the only store open and I needed a shower curtain and some dish soap. Holy crap that was cheap. I was shocked and felt stupid for spending more elsewhere for the exact same crap.

I wouldn't buy their edited movies or cds. But honestly, they DO have cheap prices. In this economy I have to look out for #1. I still feel "dirty" shopping there, but my wallet is much happier

sod213: Where?

Banks, schools, ... and (gasp!) retail stores in the mall (I use to work at one so I know). Lots and lots of employers have entry-level/full-time positions which also include nice health care plans.

in order to provide health care, they would have to PUNISH everyone who shops at WALMART by raising the prices ...

Or... they could punish everyone in the country by putting more people on Medicaid. You're going to pay more one way or another.

As you quoted earlier...

"Additionally, Sefl noted other reports showing retail workers lost 4.7 billion dollars as a result of depressed wages and that nearly half of the children of Wal-Mart employees qualify for the government's Medicaid health program for the needy. "

smokeymcpot: In this economy I have to look out for #1. I still feel "dirty" shopping there, but my wallet is much happier


Not only that, but everybody (pro and anti Walmart), for some reason never mentions their kick ass return policy. I've returned things months old and they've given me back cash... without a receipt! That's customer service in a tangible form.

smokeymcpot: But honestly, they DO have cheap prices.

Which is the proverbial carrot on the stick.

Kudos to the communities that had the cojones to kick these bastards out.

You know, it's happened in the United States--despite all the Wal-Mart dicksucking I've seen in this thread.

My tax dollars go to pay for food stamps and medicaid for Wal-Mart employees and their families.

Yes, thats right food stamps.

Color me crazy, but I thought we lived in a society where businesses failed or succeeded on the merits of their own innovation. Not by the government dole.

Did you know that Wal-Mart gets tax credits for employing single mothers? The really cute thing is that since they pay them less money than they need to live, the women in this program also get financial support from the Government. So like, not only are we (the taxpayers) paying for their transportation to and from work, healthcare for her and her kids, government sponsored housing and food... we also have the privledge of paying the company that employs her a subsidy so that they can give her a crappy wage that makes all the previous services necessary.

It completely boggles my mind how Republicans can rail against income re-distribution plans (aka, tiered tax rates, estate tax, etc) but it doesn't seem to bother them at all when the government essentially gives their tax dollars to large corporations.

That Kool-aid must be farking strong.

feepness:There are factories in China that don't use machinery because the electricity costs more than the human labor.

Jeeze, they must be whittling wooden objects by hand by the flickering light of their oil lamps. I can barely imagine a business with no machines at all! Brings a whole new meaning to the concept of being 'hand woven', eh? :)

Perhaps they're melting ingots over wood fires and hand pouring the molten plastic into clay molds. At any rate, their efficiency must be attrocious!

Well, I was going to comment on the fact that this BS, but I believe that was well taken care of already.

The problem could be alleviated with basic education.

I am a smart person, I buy things like ViewSonic monitors for about 20% more. My viewsonic is going on 6 years now, in the same span my friend has bought 2 monitors.

So not only does my monitor look a hell of alot better, it has a lower cost of ownership.

Yay! It realy is that easy.

HappyFunNorm: I'm sure the reference is to such things as sewing shops which often use pumping foot petals, and a reduction in machinary as in guy instead of large robot arm pick up that car door to install it.

Let me illustrate why I hate shopping at Wal-Mart. I go there about once a week and mostly buy groceries and other household goods. The same exact goods I could buy at Target or a regional grocery chain. But Wal-Mart charges me less for them than the other stores. The farking bastards. How dare they! They even have a gas station on the premises that undercuts my local Shell and BP stations by at least five cents a gallon. The horror! I can't believe they can get away with this. Why can't congress step in and make them charge me more money.

Wait. What? Ok. Maybe it really is all about the wages they pay their workers. Hmm. Well, let me take a quick poll of everyone I know that makes a livable wage at a local grocery store or discount retailer. Hmm. Nobody? How about a full-price retailer, like at the fancy mall. Still nobody. Crud. I actually know more people trying to support a family by working at McDonalds than at any retailer that even resembles competition for Wal-Mart.

Mother Smurfer: Hate Walmart. Can't afford to shop anywhere else. When I can go to Walmart and get a chicken for $3.00, when I would pay $7-8 at Food Lion, I'm going to shop where it's cheapest. It sucks but I have to pinch as many pennies as I can. I really wish we would have lower priced grocery stores around, I'd shop there more often. Instead they've gone for the "niche" markets therby driving up all their prices.

Man, this "Food Lion" place must suck ass. I can usually get a chicken from Vons for around 4-5 bucks, and they're one of the more expensive supermarkets in my area.

/I've seen what Walmart does with consumer goods, I wouldn't trust them with food and produce
//no, not even if it saves me a few dimes

-TwistedFark-

"Did you know that Wal-Mart gets tax credits for employing single mothers?"

Did YOU know that every bussiness, regardless of size, is entitled to this same credit. Read federal Tax form 8850, The Welfare to work Credit.

----------

I always like reading economic studies, its so much more of a soft science than they would have you believe. I'm not saying I agree or disagree with these studies, I just find it interesting that the greatest minds in economics can't seem to come to an agreement on what should be the most basic prinicples of their profession. Why is it that two equally learned men, masters of their field, can't agree on what the economy will be doing, even in a very general sense.

I guess I just don't understand economics. I will, however, be happy to answer any other questions you might have regarding Wal-Mart, or what tax credits they might or might not enjoy.


/Longtime and very satisfied Wal-Mart employee
//Only a short stint in the personel office - but long enough to know what tax credits we have to turn in for new hires...

Ratbert42: Wait. What? Ok. Maybe it really is all about the wages they pay their workers. Hmm. Well, let me take a quick poll of everyone I know that makes a livable wage at a local grocery store or discount retailer. Hmm. Nobody? How about a full-price retailer, like at the fancy mall. Still nobody. Crud. I actually know more people trying to support a family by working at McDonalds than at any retailer that even resembles competition for Wal-Mart.

In California, the average grocery store worker makes about 11-13 bucks an hour. The average Walmart worker makes about 7 bucks an hour. The minimum wage? $6.75.

Remember, this is California. You're lucky if you can find a studio apartment that costs less than $600 a month here.

Of course, there's the unpaid overtime, the lack of benefits, the sweatshops in foreign lands, the various lawsuits (Per-capita, Wal-mart is the biggest target for employment-related suits), et al, et al. And leaving the labor relations pool for a second, we can start talking about censorship, low-quality merchandise, the general biatch-slapping of suppliers...

I may pay a few bucks more for my food (very few), but at least I can say I don't take part in the exploitation.

You "Wal-Mart sells cheap crap" folks realize that Wal-mart sells the same HBA items (drug store stuff) for much less that drug stores or grocery stores do. Most of the appliances and such are the exact same items you get everywhere. As are their toys, bikes, sportging goods, auto supplies, etc.



True, but it's so much fun to bash the guy at the top.

In the world of sports, see NY Yankees.

In world politics, see the United States.

Goods from China are cheap junk.
That's all wallmart has
One of the largest holders of US debt: China.
We're beholden to China to continue buying our debt.
Walmart sells an incredible volume of the crap purchsed.
It's a virtuous circle. Wh is anyone complaining.

2005-11-04 06:48:21 PM feepness

They actually have inter-dimensional connections between themselves and a central location.

They are literally, all the same Wal-mart.


Actually... their NCR Teradata datacenter (actually plural), located in the heard of Wally-central is pretty darned close. Transactions are transmitted near real-time, then inventory flow from vendor and regional warehouse adjusted accordingly. When any one of their systems goes down or fails their < 30 minute maintenance window, phones ring and people yell. I know this well... for I am sometimes on the receiving end of those calls.

Spooky stuff.