Primum non nocere: What's wrong with letting China subsidize my Wal-Mart purchases?

/ Kidding, but to all the Wal-Mart haters, do you every ask why? Why is Wal-Mart successful? Many communities are afraid to give consumers the choice. If Wal-Mart is so evil, wouldn't consumers boycott them on their own? Why does that choice have to be taken from them?

Google "free rider problem". It's the same reason you can't fund the government with voluntary donations.

What's wrong with Wal-Mart and the Clintons giving favorable trading status to China while serving on their board? It means I can now buy a 3$ hammer. Yeah lower prices!

/Hates Wal*Mart
//Thank them for it.

unlikely: Wal Mart also puts the Ma n Pa out of business and then hires Ma n Pa for less than a living wage and with no health benefits.

TJ's might compete with Safeway or Kroger or something, but they aren't going to pay any less to their bagboys. Not that they pay better than Wally World, they just aren't actively creating poverty in the communities they enter.

It's also less choice. While one mom and pop type would carry a few different brands, and another others, Wal*Mart means we all get the same shiatty selection. That isn't how capitalism is supposed to work.

violentsalvation: TheXerox: violentsalvation: Why even make this argument about walmart? Anyone who doesn't at least somewhat dislike walmart is an idiot. They have murdered small merchants everywhere in America and filled our lives with cheap plastic crap.

RTFA, the article states that REI did the same thing with several local outdoor apparel businesses in the Boulder area. Same applies to Trader Joe's, sure they have some neat stuff, but if you're in a town with a TJ's then you likely already have one or two local stores which already have an ample supply of weird stuff and aren't likely owned by a corporation.

REI might shut down a business or two when they come into town, but they won't shut down 20 by force-creating and then poorly filling those 20 voids.

Clothing, mens womens kids.
Jewelry
automotive
electronics
hobby craft stuff
toys
lawn and garden
power tools and simple home repair crap
hunting camping guns ammo paintball boating crap
pharmacy
photo
optometrist
salon
pet store
grocery bakery deli

Walmart has it hands in all that, probably more that I can't think of, and they do it all really poorly.

Friends keep telling me I need to go into a small business in lawn and garden. Don't know how i would compete.

/No, that doesn't mean mowing your lawn, you know who.

Relabeled Aldi's isn't anything to crow about. Whole Foods beats them on just about every front.

My Trader Joe's beats Walmart for prices and quality.

/Can't live without wasabi mayonnaise and lobster ravioli.

Aaah, format fail, sorry.

Because Trader Joe's is quaint and sells vegan anal lube, whilst Wal-Mart is notorious for raping kittens and braining puppies against trees, then chopping down those trees and using them to sodomize your local mom n' pop stores.

Seriously, Ma and Pa shops ain't always all that great. Their prices are usually pretty high. Not just more expensive than Wal Mart, but than any other chain mercantile store. Now there are franchise opportunities of course with places like Ace Hardware, and that's great assuming that like any other chain or independent store they pass on their customer service ethics and knowledge to their customers. Otherwise if I'm not gonna get great customer service, then I'm not willing to pay the extra cash.

My brother-in-law did major electrical work for WalMart. They didn't pay him for months so he put a mechanic's lien on them. WalMart SUED him for asking for his money.

Is there a corporate category in the 'Biggest Douche in the Universe' competition?

BarnacleBill: My brother-in-law did major electrical work for WalMart. They didn't pay him for months so he put a mechanic's lien on them. WalMart SUED him for asking for his money.

Is there a corporate category in the 'Biggest Douche in the Universe' competition?

something, something, something Bain Capital...

I yearn for days gone by when local Ma and Pa store's where the only game in town. Offering the one local piece of produce, bread baked whenever the fark they felt like and a choice of two generic cereals at a mere 700% markup. Always open, between 9am and 5pm (closed for lunch) leaving me 30secs to pick things up on a weekday. Oh yea and the blacks had to pick up their order in the back so I didn't have to set eyes on them.

blutendesherz: I yearn for days gone by when local Ma and Pa store's where the only game in town. Offering the one local piece of produce, bread baked whenever the fark they felt like and a choice of two generic cereals at a mere 700% markup. Always open, between 9am and 5pm (closed for lunch) leaving me 30secs to pick things up on a weekday. Oh yea and the blacks had to pick up their order in the back so I didn't have to set eyes on them.

Don't be a retard. They opened at 7.

No one shops at Wal-Mart like no one voted for Nixon.

Walking into a Walmart is like walking into a gulag. You don't exactly see happy, smiling faces of either the employees or the customers. Very depressing.

When I visit TJs, the people, both employees and customers seem happier. It a nice place to shop and I don't care that I'm paying more for a bottle of olive oil. It's also a plus that TJs is not full of every sort of human freak imaginable. Walmart is 5 minutes walk away. TJs is blocks and blocks away in another part of the city. I don't care, it's well worth the long walk.

blutendesherz: I yearn for days gone by when local Ma and Pa store's where the only game in town. Offering the one local piece of produce, bread baked whenever the fark they felt like and a choice of two generic cereals at a mere 700% markup. Always open, between 9am and 5pm (closed for lunch) leaving me 30secs to pick things up on a weekday. Oh yea and the blacks had to pick up their order in the back so I didn't have to set eyes on them.

Are you a walmart greeter or something?

Fett56: blutendesherz: I yearn for days gone by when local Ma and Pa store's where the only game in town. Offering the one local piece of produce, bread baked whenever the fark they felt like and a choice of two generic cereals at a mere 700% markup. Always open, between 9am and 5pm (closed for lunch) leaving me 30secs to pick things up on a weekday. Oh yea and the blacks had to pick up their order in the back so I didn't have to set eyes on them.

Are you a walmart greeter or something?

Nope just don't fall for the BS nostalgia that is the classic American Ma and Pa store. The good independent stores are still around like the ones who sell a specialist product or the ones that sell general stuff at a reasonable price and have nice staff. I'm sure some good ones lost bad to Walmart but most were just vultures who sold a limited selection of cheap shiat for insane markups because as the only game in town they could.

I'm also sure a lot of stores lost out to bad economies, an ever more mobile population, local, state and federal bureaucracy and some bad personal decisions and circumstances etc, but but Walmart.

I always figured greeters were folk who failed with their own stores. That's why they look disappointed when you show them the receipt and haven't in fact stolen anything.

Because liberals hate Wal-Mart, so they're willing to be hypocrites about it. You can close as many local "mom and pop" shops as long as you are a store that liberals like. Hell, you can fark the worker over six ways from Sunday as long as liberals "like" your store. It's because most liberals don't actually have standards, instead they have a laundry list of emotional responses to external stimuli. Big store that puts locals out of business? BAD! Big store that puts locals out of business but sells Wasabi mayonnaise? GOOD! Why? Wasabi mayonnaise!

Liberals don't object to Wal-mart on any moral ground, they just think the store is cheap and they don't want to give poor people the option to shop there.

Jamieboy: You don't exactly see happy, smiling faces of either the employees or the customers

Ever watch them doing the roundup pep talk they give the employees at the start of the shift? Its like they just stepped into a scene from office space.

There are rules for working when you aren't working for yourself:
1:you wont get rich - stop working like its a possibility.
2:Someone else will get the credit for any extra you do - If nobody is noticing the shine its time to stop polishing.
3:Nobodys heart will break if you aren't the employee of the month.

Working a shiatty job like walmart is made exponentially worse when you have co-workers who don't follow these simple rules.

Trader Joe's is crap anyway. 2nd rate prepared foods leveraged by the biggest grocery conglomerate in the world Aldi (Albrecht Discount). Don't think that hokey "Captain and hawaiian shirt crew" garbage is anything other than making shopping a Disney experience for aging middle classes.
Trader Joe's is just a notoriously secretive corporation with an aggressive campaign that to buy from them makes you hip.
Even the famous Two Buck Chuck is a scam. Charles (Chuck) Shaw sold his eponymous winery in '91. It has been scooped up by Fred "All I care about is making money" Franzia and added to his glut of 40,000 acres, grandfathering in the name "Napa" where it is otherwise not permitted.
I also used to hate the fake "old timey" newspaper styled junk mail Trader Joe's would cram in my mailbox in Philly. Christ, do they still do that nonsense?

Oh yeah, it's not an American company either, it's German. Theo Albrecht (he's dead now, but was Forbes no. 31 in the world) bought it and retained the false veneer of a cozy concerned California grocer in a classic PT Barnum style.

Hippie Conundrum was awesome. I saw them 5 or 6 years ago in Cincy. Great show.

Lsherm: Because liberals hate Wal-Mart, so they're willing to be hypocrites about it. You can close as many local "mom and pop" shops as long as you are a store that liberals like. Hell, you can fark the worker over six ways from Sunday as long as liberals "like" your store. It's because most liberals don't actually have standards, instead they have a laundry list of emotional responses to external stimuli. Big store that puts locals out of business? BAD! Big store that puts locals out of business but sells Wasabi mayonnaise? GOOD! Why? Wasabi mayonnaise!

Do you have evidence that the "liberal" places like Trader Joe's or Ben and Jerry's partake in shady business practices? Me personally, I don't really care either way about Wal-Mart, they serve a purpose.

TheJoe03: Do you have evidence that the "liberal" places like Trader Joe's or Ben and Jerry's partake in shady business practices?

I do. They're corporations. If nothing else, pretending that a company is a person and has the rights of a person while shielding the actual decision-makers from the consequences of their decisions is a pretty shady business practice.

Ed Finnerty: untaken_name: TheJoe03: Do you have evidence that the "liberal" places like Trader Joe's or Ben and Jerry's partake in shady business practices?

I do. They're corporations. If nothing else, pretending that a company is a person and has the rights of a person while shielding the actual decision-makers from the consequences of their decisions is a pretty shady business practice.

I think you were asked for some type of citation, or evidence. Not just your own opinion on how words are defined.

That was sweet, though.

I provided evidence. Perhaps you're thinking of "proof". Those are different things. My evidence may or may not be persuasive, but it's certainly evidence....and thank you.

DjangoStonereaver: field engineers were always
complaining about how Wal*Mart demanded the fastest service while they were
always behind on paying their monthly fees.

I used to work support for a computer company which sells things to Wal-Mart. This is the most succinct description of dealing with them I've ever seen. They also wanted special extended support contracts on devices which had gone EOSL up to 5 years prior...and they got them.

Around here there are only two stores within a short driving distance that are open 24 hours. One is Giant Eagle. The other is Walmart. Neither has 24 hour pharmacy coverage; for that I would need to drive to Willoughby. Giant Eagle is okay for groceries, but I tend to avoid it as much as possible. If I do need to go there, I meticulously plan the trip based upon sales and the fact that they double coupons.

Walmart, though, while they have some groceries, is great in a pinch for an emergency repair item (toilet parts, gaskets, etc) or if you are just a night owl and want to get some clothes/movies/music/ & etc. I end up in Walmart late at night simply because I have a paper route that starts at 2 am and if I need something I know Walmart will be cheap.

//prepared for people to flame me

Anastacya: //prepared for people to flame me

If that's a real profile picture, I'd "flame" you. Assuming I could get you to drink the roofies, of course.

Ablejack: Even the famous Two Buck Chuck is a scam. Charles (Chuck) Shaw sold his eponymous winery in '91. It has been scooped up by Fred "All I care about is making money" Franzia and added to his glut of 40,000 acres, grandfathering in the name "Napa" where it is otherwise not permitted.

But it's cheap, it's a good wine for parties, and if you want to open a bottle and have a glass or two, you don't think twice about sticking the cork back in it and tossing it in the fridge. Sometimes, it even tastes better the next day. In any case, it's better than that boxed shiat he puts his name on.

And I think Two Buck Chuck is the main reason people are excited TJ's is finally coming to Colorado. Coloradoans no longer have to drive to Santa Fe to get it.

/Not that we do
//It's just that whenever I find myself in NM, I make sure to bring a case or two back.
///Sunflower Market is way better for produce and hippie dry goods -- WAY cheaper than Whole Foods.