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  1. TopTop #1
    Sciguy
     

    Statistics, interesting

    From Danny Schechter's blog, I lifted this list of Walmart statistics:



    01. At Wal-Mart, Americans spend $36,000,000 every hour of every day.


    02 .This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!


    03. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.


    04. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears +Costco + K-Mart combined.


    05. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private employer. And most can't speak English


    06. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World.


    07. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years.


    08. During this same period, 31 Supermarket chains sought bankruptcy (including Winn-Dixie).


    09. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.


    10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are SuperCenters; this is 1,000 more than it had five years ago.





    Sciguy

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  2. TopTop #2
    toddwquigley
     

    Re: Statistics, interesting

    Yes, Wlamart is evil, just ask any of their employees, the majority of which are only scheduled to work part-time hours so the don't have to pay benefits.

    On the other hand, they are generally the cheapest price on whatever they sell, so in a way they help support the poor. There are millions of people that cannot afford to play at the American consumerist lifestyle except at Walmart. Hey, they are helping to perpetuate the American way of life, which is to spend out of proportion to your income...

    Which is it, do they victimize or do they help?

    Like everything else in life, it seems to be both. If you are a customer or an investor, they are either capitalism at it's best, if you are an employee, or a competitor they are an example of the worst.

    My optomitrist charges $28.95 for a box of contact lenses, Costco is $24.95, but Walmart is $16.75. Guess who gets my business?

    Now am I hurting people by shopping there? Well since I am buying basically twice as many lenses as I would at my optomitrist, I am therefore theoritically employing a second person at Johnson and Johnson. Hmm, sounds like maybe Walmart helps people after all. Then there is my Walmart stock, which still keeps making me money when virtually all else has failed because of bad management.

    That puts money back into the economy also...

    So again, there is no hard and fast answer...
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  3. TopTop #3
    ChristineL
     

    Re: Statistics, interesting

    As Wallmart has spread, it has lowered the overall standard of living. Safeway, for example, used to be an excellent place to work; salaries and benefits were good. Post Wallmart Super Stores, Safeway pays less, gives less in benefits and also keeps many employees working only part-time hours.

    Supporting Wallmart, as opposed to stores such as Cosco and G&G who do pay a living wage, causes more stores to either close or reduce wages and benefits which creates more clientelle too poor to shop elsewhere.

    They are also primary sellers of products from China, many of which are proving poisonous to pets, babies and other living things.

    Personally, as broke as I am at the moment, I buy less and spend a little more on some things. Most "stuff", such as clothing, I purchase at thrift stores which costs even less than Wallmat and the quality is often far superior. If we, as consumers, don't "vote" with our wallets, stores that pay enough for people to be able to support themselves and a family will continue to go out of business or start paying a lot less.





    Quote Posted in reply to the post by toddwquigley: View Post
    Yes, Wlamart is evil, just ask any of their employees, the majority of which are only scheduled to work part-time hours so the don't have to pay benefits.

    On the other hand, they are generally the cheapest price on whatever they sell, so in a way they help support the poor. There are millions of people that cannot afford to play at the American consumerist lifestyle except at Walmart. Hey, they are helping to perpetuate the American way of life, which is to spend out of proportion to your income...

    Which is it, do they victimize or do they help?

    Like everything else in life, it seems to be both. If you are a customer or an investor, they are either capitalism at it's best, if you are an employee, or a competitor they are an example of the worst.

    My optomitrist charges $28.95 for a box of contact lenses, Costco is $24.95, but Walmart is $16.75. Guess who gets my business?

    Now am I hurting people by shopping there? Well since I am buying basically twice as many lenses as I would at my optomitrist, I am therefore theoritically employing a second person at Johnson and Johnson. Hmm, sounds like maybe Walmart helps people after all. Then there is my Walmart stock, which still keeps making me money when virtually all else has failed because of bad management.

    That puts money back into the economy also...

    So again, there is no hard and fast answer...
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  4. TopTop #4
    toddwquigley
     

    Re: Statistics, interesting

    Safeway is union, which means it's a workplace that fosters mediocracy. Not too long ago, everybody was complaining that Safeway did the exact same thing that Wally World does: Keep everybody part-time so they didn't have to pay benefits.

    Now they have been replaced by Wally World, because Wally's does it cheaper. What's the difference? You seem to have fonder memories of Safeway than I do.

    I'm not saying Wally World is a great place, but they have their place, and they have their place within the community. I buy some things there, and I buy the rest at small, privately owned businesses when the price difference is not too big.

    Look at everyone's beloved "Whole Paycheck" (AKA: Whole Foods), they are almost as bad as Wally's. They are a big chain, and they are concerned with nothing but profit, they make huge amounts of money on the concept of healthy food, but they really don't care about the customer, the employee or their vendors, it's all about money.

    There's the gist of my point: "We can talk about ethics in business all day long, but 95% of them are all about, and only about the money. Is Andy's market that much better than Whole Paycheck, and are they really that much better than Safeway, and is Safeway really much better than Wally World? Not really, but it sure gets cheaper when you go to a bigger corporation to make your purchases.

    This brings me back to my point, that lower prices have a positive effect on the community and economy, that pretty much offset their bad business practices. I'm not going to, but somebody else might make the arguement that in the end, when you do the whole equation, that WalMart actually benefits the economy and community more than some small locally owned store.

    Like I said, I'm not saying that, but it might make an interesting Masters thesis for somebody.
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  5. TopTop #5
    ChristineL
     

    Re: Statistics, interesting

    I guess this might be just an opinion, but....I can see no great overall benefit to the community from lower prices obtained through bringing down everyone's wages and benefits. Creating a whole class of people who have to shop there hardly seems to be a benefit to the overall economy as I see it. As for the locally owned store...isn't being able to create your own business part of the American Dream? Isn't that something for young people to aspire to? Aren't local people invested in their local community good for the community? It would take dozens of locally owned stores to sell all the goods sold in Walmart. That's my vision of businesses being invested in the community, not to mention it makes for a lot less truly ugly architecture.

    As for your opinion that a union workplace is one that fosters mediocraty, I'll say a non-union workplace is one that fosters employee abuse. I worked on construction sites for several years and observed this first hand. As for the Safeway Union, it now has no teeth and does not advocate for its members any more. Union vs. Non/Union is a tough one. Many Unions went too far in their demands, but employers like Walmart are a perfect example of why they are needed. As a part-time home care worker, I am grateful to that Union. If it were not for the Union, State Home Care Workers would still be paid minimum wage and have no benefits. In the private sector our $11.50/hr. job pays at least $15.00/hr., more if medical training of any kind is required.

    Just for the record, Whole Foods is not beloved by me, I patronize Food for Humans a locally owned Guerneville store.

    Quote Posted in reply to the post by toddwquigley: View Post
    Safeway is union, which means it's a workplace that fosters mediocracy. Not too long ago, everybody was complaining that Safeway did the exact same thing that Wally World does: Keep everybody part-time so they didn't have to pay benefits.

    Now they have been replaced by Wally World, because Wally's does it cheaper. What's the difference? You seem to have fonder memories of Safeway than I do.

    I'm not saying Wally World is a great place, but they have their place, and they have their place within the community. I buy some things there, and I buy the rest at small, privately owned businesses when the price difference is not too big.

    Look at everyone's beloved "Whole Paycheck" (AKA: Whole Foods), they are almost as bad as Wally's. They are a big chain, and they are concerned with nothing but profit, they make huge amounts of money on the concept of healthy food, but they really don't care about the customer, the employee or their vendors, it's all about money.

    There's the gist of my point: "We can talk about ethics in business all day long, but 95% of them are all about, and only about the money. Is Andy's market that much better than Whole Paycheck, and are they really that much better than Safeway, and is Safeway really much better than Wally World? Not really, but it sure gets cheaper when you go to a bigger corporation to make your purchases.

    This brings me back to my point, that lower prices have a positive effect on the community and economy, that pretty much offset their bad business practices. I'm not going to, but somebody else might make the arguement that in the end, when you do the whole equation, that WalMart actually benefits the economy and community more than some small locally owned store.

    Like I said, I'm not saying that, but it might make an interesting Masters thesis for somebody.
    Last edited by ChristineL; 12-05-2008 at 09:25 PM.
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