wal mart

[slipknottin]

While this practice works for some companies like this large paper maker I mentioned, a smaller company might not be able to pull off the same thing if their product isn't compelling enough to the other retailers.

Then wouldnt that be the companies problem rather than walmarts? Its the equivalent of saying that consumers are at fault because they didnt buy a good they didnt want.

In my mind though, when a company as large as WM shaves prices on their vendors as close as they do, someone pays.

Yea, the people who would potentially make money off of an economic profit, share and stockholders.

The manufacturers have costs from their own vendors and except for the largest of them, they can't force them to take less like WM does to them so, they have to make it up somewhere.

Yea, They have to improve efficiency... If they do not want to, or can not improve efficiency, then they get their economic profit cut until their is none. Any further pressure causes them to start losing accounting profit, essentially the first step in going out of business.

That means other retailers pay even more to make up for the losse on WM, right? Its either that or cut corners somehow.

Thats actually illegal for them to do so. But besides the illegal part, the other companies would refuse to sell the product when they know other companies (IE walmart) are getting it significantly cheaper. Also, assuming there is not a monopoly on that good, the other retailers can simply buy elsewhere.

The problem, again this is to my uneducated mind (not a shot, I'm serious), is that such aggressive business practices could eliminate competition rather than encourage it.

Aggressive business practices eliminate weak inefficient businesses, but encourage stronger ones. Any business that isnt as efficient should be eliminated.

 

[tomm10]

Thats actually illegal for them to do so. But besides the illegal part, the other companies would refuse to sell the product when they know other companies (IE walmart) are getting it significantly cheaper. Also, assuming there is not a monopoly on that good, the other retailers can simply buy elsewhere.

Well, it happens since Walmart pays less than cost for the items. Obviously a manufacturer can't let every store buy at less than cost so they would pay the "actual" wholesale price which, when you factor in losses to Walmart would eventually have to be greater than they would have been had Walmart paid the "actual" wholesale price in the first place. I think I just made myself a little dizzy.

Anyway, in the end I can't really argue the business end of this. I don't think any of the stuff they do regarding pricing is illegal or necessarily bad business I guess. I just don't really agree with it. It seems like a bully mentallity to me and I really hate that its shrouded in that "We're super friendly, good to your community, and hire the handicapped" wrapper they sell it in.

If its at all possible I shop someplace other than Walmart because I have choices. It would bum me out pretty hard if I didn't have any choices like many folks in more rural areas for whom Walmart is the only game in town.

 

[slipknottin]

Well, it happens since Walmart pays less than cost for the items. Obviously a manufacturer can't let every store buy at less than cost so they would pay the "actual" wholesale price which, when you factor in losses to Walmart would eventually have to be greater than they would have been had Walmart paid the "actual" wholesale price in the first place. I think I just made myself a little dizzy.

It may happen but its illegal, and not a good business practice of these manufacturers. I seriously doubt any of them are selling to walmart below cost on a consistent basis. What they should be doing is selling to walmart at the accounting price of the goods. Just enough to cover all their costs, without making any economic profits.

 

[125gJoe]

Time for another WalMart factoid :

" Wal-Mart Spends $18 Billion on China Goods

Retail giant Wal-Mart says its inventory of products produced in China is expected to hit $18 billion this year, contributing significantly to the United States’ expected $150 billion trade deficit with China.

Wal-Mart’s inventory of products from China has increased at an annual rate of 20 percent over the past two years, a trend that is expected to continue.

With more than 5,000 enterprises maintaining a steady supply alliance with Wal-Mart, China continues to profit from massive trade with Wal-Mart. It is estimated that if Wal-Mart were an individual economy, it would be China’s eighth largest trading partner, ahead of countries such as Russia and Australia.

Over 70 percent of products sold in Wal-Mart are produced in China, a country that continues to hire cheap labor and engage in unfair labor practices."

Hmmm..

Edited to post link(s)..
http://www.goiam.org/
http://www.goiam.org/publications/imail/imail_12_09_2004_print.htm

Time for a name change, like "ChinaMart" !



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[slipknottin]

Over 70 percent of products sold in Wal-Mart are produced in China, a country that continues to hire cheap labor and engage in unfair labor practices.[/i]"

what are these unfair labor practices? And whats wrong with hiring cheap labor to do unskilled work? Trading/outsourcing jobs to China is to our advantage, not disadvantage.


BTW- union websites dont tend to be very unbiased.

 

[125gJoe]

what are these unfair labor practices? And whats wrong with hiring cheap labor to do unskilled work? Trading/outsourcing jobs to China is to our advantage, not disadvantage.....

Over time - - this communist country will reap the $$$ we pump into them, - and for what?

Much of it will go the 'their' military. Not the 'underpaid' worker...
This has been proven already.

Correct me if I'm wrong, '100 to 1' Chinese to American soldiers.

I only hope ..
..never mind

 

[Jason01]

Yep, Most of the money China gets goes into its military. Although, I would venture to guess that in a few decades, China is going to need the support to rebuild from thier civil war.....

People in China are slowly figuring out what it's like to live elsewhere. China's "rulers" are trying to keep power(and thier money), by opening "Free Trade Zones" in southern China. Guess what? The Chinese people are begining to migrate to southern China. Eventually the government is going to have to either interviene by either stopping them, or makeing the free trade zone larger. From a humanitarian stand point, we all hope that the government slowly gives power back. Unfortunately, most likely there will be a civil war. However, once all is said and done, the businesses that are allready in china will be the first to rebuild/restart.

(Puts on Flame Suit)How many other businesses buy from overseas? I'm thinking that most of the things that Best Buy sells are not made in america. Do you want to know why all of our jobs are being outsourced? Were to **** greedy! We want Union protection, Union Wages, and we want to ensure that even if we do our job half-@$$ed, we still get to have it. I have my current NON union job, because a plant that is owned by another of mine (Dura/Atwood, some of you might recognize the RV line of Atwood parts), closed their doors because the owners of the plants were sick of the Unions increasing demands. The union contract expired, and they locked the doors. They moved ~1/4 of the plant to where I work right now for $10.75 an hour(I am looking at getting a raise in the next few weeks to $11.50). The same work that was preformed at the other plant was to be for no less than $25.00. They had a set-up(thats a job, the set up the machines, and preform adjustments/repairs) come to help us get running. He was very understanding as to why he didn't have a job anymore. He was getting $37 an hour.

Looking at that, I understand why companies such as wal-mart will outsource their jobs. I would too.

For those who say that $10.75 an hour is cheap, I make(presuming a only 40 hour week, but ~50-60 is the norm) around $22,000 a year. The average income for 2 people in my area(household) is $32,000. I am fairly well off, again, as most of the time, my weekends don't exist, because of the demand for the parts that I make(which is about to go insane, and I will be working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week)!

sorry for the longwinded post, I'm done ranting for now!

 

[125gJoe]

what are these unfair labor practices? And whats wrong with hiring cheap labor ..

That's only the "small" of it... Learn more...

Quote:

"China is planning war against the United States.

Read what its leaders are saying. "Seen from the changes in the world situation and the United States' hegemonic strategy for creating monopolarity, war is inevitable...We cannot avoid it. The issue is that the Chinese armed forces must control the initiative in this war....We must be prepared to fight for one year, two years, three years or even longer." Chi Haotian, Chinese Defense Minister, Cheng Ming, Hong Kong's newspaper, January 11, 2000



In the document, "China Prepares for War", Beijing envisions a blitzkrieg-like attack on Taiwan, launching a "first fatal strike so that" the Taiwan forces have no way to organize effective resistance. Under this plan, "we will be able to control Taiwan before the U.S. intervention and then concentrate our forces to fight the U.S.
Beijing anticipates that the United States will not be able to maintain its forces in combat against China for an extended period. The document reasons that the conflict will not escalate into a nuclear missile exchange, because the U.S. will lose its will to fight and withdraw after suffering serious casualties, while the Chinese side will be able to absorb heavy casualties and prevail.


And what they have been taught; Mao Tse-tung founded the People's Republic of China in 1949. He was one of the founders of the Chinese Communist regarded, along with Karl Marx and V. I. Lenin, as one of the three great theorists of Marxian communism.

In the document, "China Prepares for War", Beijing envisions a blitzkrieg-like attack on Taiwan, launching a "first fatal strike so that" the Taiwan forces have no way to organize effective resistance. Under this plan, "we will be able to control Taiwan before the U.S. intervention and then concentrate our forces to fight the U.S.
Beijing anticipates that the United States will not be able to maintain its forces in combat against China for an extended period. The document reasons that the conflict will not escalate into a nuclear missile exchange, because the U.S. will lose its will to fight and withdraw after suffering serious casualties, while the Chinese side will be able to absorb heavy casualties and prevail."

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http://www.jeffhead.com/redseadragon/index.htm

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[Harlock]

Ah, Joe, thanks for bringing me back to all the Cold War to Hot War scenarios I remember as a kid.

Fact: Communism looks good on paper, but fails in the end.

Yip. In the end a totalitarian regime always gets too much power and we know power corrupts. Look at Hong Kong, for goodness sake. China obviously knows Capitalism makes them more money and so, they left its economy basically alone after the turnover. Next, a few McDonalds will move into mainland China, a Wal-Mart maybe, and the revolution will begin. Now, as tongue in cheek as the majority of this post is, let us never forget the claims that the Russians had plans to invade the Continental US and engage in a conventional war because the nuclear war that everyone feared would simply cost too much in terms of land and lives. And what happened there? Yeah, I think we all remember.

As for buying goods from China and businesses moving overseas, well, let's think about that for a moment... what can we do to keep businesses here in the sates? When Price Point matters I think in order to keep business in the US we have to do A LOT to be competitive. Tax breaks for corporations, because really, otherwise they do pack up and go bye bye; saying goodbye to the labor unions that drive up costs; lowering or doing away with minimum wage, because why pay $5.25 an hour when you can pay $10.00 for a 12 hour day in China; removal of benefits and Federally run healthcare and hospitals; this is what it would take to keep these jobs in the US. Sorry, a free market economy is a free market economy. Do you have any idea at all how much the cost of living would go up if we placed trade restrictions on China or did away with trade with China altogether? The phone on my desk would have cost more, my Logitech mouse would have cost more and those are two things that were just convenient to my hands! It's all well and good to look at China and say they are the cause of a sagging economy, but truth of the matter is, they keep the cost of living down in our country.

 

[Snake Eyez]

You can't carry in Walmart? I haven't seen a sign at the door to the one's that I visit and hence I don't leave my weapon in the car when I visit the store.