wal mart

[centralharbor]

ok, i know you guys dont like to buy fish from wal mart, but recently in my ethic studys course at the university i go to, our professor mentioned a speaker that was gonna be there later on for a talk on walmart, well, to make a long story short, my prof said that the jist of what the speaker was gonna talk about was how when you buy stuff from walmart, you dont save money, you lose money! the point he made was that with the low prices they offer, they cannot pay their workers a whole lot, so they end up going on welfare anyway, and their kids get reduced or free lunch and other reduced or free things at school and basically the only people that benefits is the higher up's while we pay taxes to support the workers that cannot pay for lunch for their kids

just thought id bring that up since my prof did...

 

[dwayne]

hippies... haha just kidding.

I've heard that point brought up many times in many different "anti-WalMart" debates. I'd like to know the actual statistics though, of how many WalMart workers are actually reliant on welfare and the like, before I buy into it...

 

[OrionGirl]

Which is a common tirade against walmart. But--check out the benefits they offer, and see what your local store has as starting pay. It's more than a lot of other unskilled jobs available, and the benefits are good. Not to mention--they really promote from within, so that hourly cashier becomes a well paid middle manager if they have the motivation. As for taxes...Well, the federal taxes I pay are pretty minimal. I don't pay state income tax, and everyone in my local area pays the same local taxes as me--and the type of 'costs' identified come from a different pot. I'd be very interested to see numbers that substantiate the attacks for more then a few isolated communities.

Bashing the 'big-box' retail companies is like the new, hip way to show you care.

 

[Harlock]

Indeed, OG. The bandwagon made room for some new drivers. I know a man that was a manager at the local Wal-Mart supercenter. He was a kind man, and his family did very well on his one income. He had started for Wal-Mart when he was younger and had little to no real business training beforehand. He later went on to open stores in Inonesia and Germany and has since moved up in the company and back to the states. They honestly do promote from within better than most companies do these days, I feel. Not to mention, our local Wal-Mart gives a lot back to the community through charity and helping in fundraising.

If you want to blame low wages for unskilled labor type jobs on Wal-Mart, you really are just picking a target and being the biggest store, Wal-Mart has the biggest bullseye. I could take everything that ethics speaker will say and apply it to a local telemarketing firm, or the local debt collection agency in this area. The biggest contributor to people being on free and reduced lunches, food stamps and medicaid is most likely single income families. That is an epidemic that Wal-Mart did not create.

 

[centralharbor]

actually, i agree with you guys, theres worse companies out there, just thought it was an interesting argument

as a side note, he also mentioned there will be 10,000 wal marts at the end of this year, opening 3 a day worldwide, i thought that was impressive

 

[Snake Eyez]

Blaming WalMart? Why not simply look at the lack of skills that the employees have, therefore not deserving of a higher wage. Improve or develop a skill and your worth and pay will rise. There is nothing wrong with working at Walmart or any place like it. But if you perform a job that everyone around you can do, then that will be reflected in your wages.

 

[ash]

actually since I'm on the "bandwagon"- it's more than just the way they treat their employees- It's the markets they enter, the way they intentionally undercut the competition, the massive documented cases of antitrust, outright abuse of illegal immigrants, sorry, I'd just rather support a hardworking local business that gives back to the community directly by being part of it. I care about the future of small business. I don't want my choices limited any more than they already are in terms of where to shop. And if Walmart at its core was truly bent on "giving back" why are its heirs among the richest in the nation? as a matter of porportions, I've seen local businesses give a heck of a lot more.

 

[125gJoe]

... Wal-Mart has the biggest bullseye. ......

Are you sure?

 

[Harlock]

:laugh: Okay, okay, Joe wins.

 

[slipknottin]

That speaker must not have a clear understanding of economics.


I only recently stopped supporting walmart, but not because of any of these so called 'economic' or 'walmart is too powerful' type arguments.

I stopped supporting walmart because of its decision on banning concealed carryring into the store. For a store that sells the guns and ammo, thats a pretty hypocritical decision.