Evil Walmart?

[Brian R.]

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

Strange story - Judge for yourself

[GT98]

Ouch is all I have to say...

[UtwigMU]

We have similar case and I heard similar stories about leading retailer here.

Unless something changes this is teh bright future™.


Just like the pickle jar - local example:

A company A comes to the company B producing conserved vegetables in jars and says: we'll buy that much of your B-production goods to sell under our brand.

Company B has to sign and it increases their volume since the store brand is cheap and store chain is big (big here, among say top 20 in Europe or so). But it canibalizes their other sales since people just buy the cheap store branded products.

Now company A owns company B.


Even though companies survive with such deals, they have to canibalize their profits, brands and they no longer can invest, thus becoming overrun by competition from lower GNP countries.

[SitFlyer]

I avoid shopping there, like the plague

The company I work for has had a bad experience, second-hand, with Wal-Mart.

[MultimediaMan]

Another Wal-Mart Basher...OK guys, I'll fess up here, I am a Wal-Mart employee, and I'm proud of it...

The Author's inferences are way off base.

Regarding the Huffy section: The author steadfastly fails to report that ALL of the manufacturer's entry-level bicycles manufacturing has moved out of country; Huffy, Murray and Schwinn, again, all them, have moved manufacturing out of the country. It's because the cost of doing business in general is higher in the U.S., the laws in the U.S. are more of a hassle. The bottom line is that it's MORE EXPENSIVE to manufacture in the U.S., and since entry-level items are, by default, low margin, it's not good business to make low cost items when your base costs are already higher than your competitors: and we have our own lawmakers to blame for it. They tax the stockholders of the companies, the factories, the equipment in the factory, and yes, even the employees in the factory to the point where the owners say "Why Bother?": so they leave and go elsewhere. Elsewhere being a place with little or no taxation or regulation.

None of them blame Wal-Mart for outsourcing: Sears has been importing bicycles from China for over twenty years, and they still manage to show a loss. Outsourcing does not equate to profitability or market dominance.

Look at the Levi's section of the Article very carefully: He's got his facts straight, but he can't bring himself to put in the context that will ultimately make him look foolish:

Levi's stopped making jeans in the U.S. three years before they started doing business with Wal-Mart. (Gee, that doesn't prop up his story, does it?)

Lest anyone forget: Levi's is still in a $2.1 Billion Dollar hole caused because of their "exclusivity". They were nearly doomed by projecting their own vision of retail instead of the reality, we as the consumer, had already dictated.

The consumer "Voted with their feet" as they always do.

Pricing? Look at PCs when they first came out:

We, as consumers, willingly paid $1,500 for a 33MHz computer in 1994., we buy computers nearly 1000 times faster for the same money. Look at DVD players... In 1997 we bought them for $1000, in 2003 we bought them for $50.00, with more features.

In 1980, we paid $40.00 for a pair of Levis. Levi's stopped selling when they hit the $50.00 price point in 1994: Why? Undaunted, right up until 2002, that same series of Levis cost us $60.00 for what amounts to the same material, the same name and the same features. We were being charged for a name. And an old one at that, that offered us nothing new. And we weren't buying it.

We pay for innovation. We pay for newness. We pay for style.

We don't want to pay very much for the old sundries, though: Semi-durable goods and consumables are ever-cheaper to manufacture, because of amortized design costs and improved manufacturing infrastructure. This is an accepted business standard worldwide.

This not a Wal-Mart phenomenon, this is the Global economy, this is how business is now, and the author has a hard time accepting it. He finds Wal-Mart an easy target, because it's such a big one, but in truth, every retailer out there does what Wal-Mart does on some scale.

[The PIT]

Well these aren't pointless.

http://www.totallypointless.net/random/

Enjoy.

[Brian R.]

MM - Didn't mean to bash Walmart, I shop there periodically. I just found this article and don't know what to make of the allegations.

[gt40]

Originally posted by Brian R.
MM - Didn't mean to bash Walmart, I shop there periodically. I just found this article and don't know what to make of the allegations.

Actually they make many points.

As for Walmart, They sell what ppl will buy , and that ususally means the cheaper imported stuff. How can you compete with countries where the average pay for a day is the same as the average pay per hour here?
You will see alot of manufacturing going overseas in drastic proportins over the next few years.
In my industry alone, we have see a large shift to overseas suppliers in the last year alone.
Tooling for the automotive industry is being produced in China for 1/3 of what it is here. For a while this wasn't an isssue because of the sub-standard work produced there, but in the last few years the quality has improved dramatically.
Tool and Die shops here are running at less than half capacity. And don't think that it's just the American big three that are going overseas. We used to do a great deal of work for some upper-scale European names who are now also turning to China (Yes Guchi - expect some chinese content in your vehicles).

All of this when I decide to open my own business in the automotive industry.

[UtwigMU]

It's not Walmart that's at fault for manufacturing moving overseas.

If Walmart wouldn't be squeezing their supliers someone else would, it's just the nature of globalization. Like I pointed out same thing is happening in Europe - you could just insert different companies into that article and it would still apply.

[Jon P. Inghram]

The bottom line of any economic discussion is: People suck.

[gt40]

Nope, not Walmarts fault.
It's all of us.
We are shopping ourselves out of a job.
We don't care where it's made, as long as it's the lowest price.

[Dilitante1]

As a former employee of walmart I can say it is a shame the way they handle internal business as well. They are being sued for labor law violations in almost every state for "forcing" managers (dept and asst) to work off the clock or be replaced.
The typical issue is when the 40 hour mark is being approached, a member of the management team comes out to remind the person that they are almost into overtime (BIG NO NO) so the person goes out back, punches out, and returns to work OFF THE CLOCK for fear of losing the job to someone who WILL work off the clock with no issue/complaint.

20/20 did a big scoop on this subject with people all over the country and Walmart's response is "we dont condone that kind of activity"

MY ISSUE:The retirement rules changed in regards to eligibility to gain vestment in the plan. When I was hired you had to work average of 35 hours a week OR "peak-time" being busy times of day evenings and weekends being the norm. I was fulltime (night receiving) 1.5 years and went to weekends only due to working full time elsewhere for better $$$$. At the 5.5 year point with Walmart I have to terminate employment due to burnout (7 days a week for 4+ years)According to "home office" i am only 20% vested in plan as i am part time now. I remind them the conditions for vestment were 35 hours avg OR peak time, they say not any more. I ask when did the change happen? They couldnt tell me and NOONE I worked with here in NH knew about it from my personnel to the district big whigs.

I lost 1200$ by my estimates in the "plan"

I thanked Wally world for the screwing and refuse to shop there anymore.

[Wombat]

Wal-Mart is evil for many reasons, especially labor practices and site hazards. I have plenty more links at home.

[KvHagedorn]

MMM.. you probably need to be deprogrammed. Seek help. I remember some Wal-Mart manager from a distribution center who was a customer of mine once. My God, the man went on and on about Wal-Mart with a sort of glazed look in his eyes.

You can't blame Wal-Mart for being a lion in a chicken coop. The real problem is our government does not do its job in limiting this sort of thing. The differences in communities with a Wal-Mart and without a Wal-Mart is striking. I went to a town without a Wal-Mart.. there were people talking to each other in the town square. There were lots of smaller stores.. lots of competition.. lots of small business owners making a decent living independent of the corporate feudalism companies like Wal-Mart introduce into small towns. In short, the people were still human beings, not serfs without dignity. My aunt lives in a town where no one but Wal-Mart sells thread.. you have to go there. They have driven all those small businessmen out of business, often into bankruptcy. If they want a job now, they have to be a greeter at Wal-Mart for minimum wage. They lower the cost of living a small amount, but greatly lower incomes and personal dignity in the towns they victimize. They also ruin their suppliers by being such a huge customer that they can declare terms. Their prices are not always that great either, especially when they become the ONLY store in town. The only people who profit from all this are the Walton family and other long-time stockholders. Screw Wal-Mart. I never shop there if I can avoid it. Not that this means anything.. there are always plenty of sheep that do.

[Jon P. Inghram]

I never liked going to their distribution centers when I drove an 18 wheeler... after delivering two different truck loads of Huffy bikes to Wal-Mart I got the impression that they wern't exactly the most friendly company.