http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2012/11/26/the-great-walmart-debate Comments On: The great Walmart debate by David Ramsey en-us Copyright 2013 Arkansas Times. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Arkansas Times readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Arkansas Times. robert@arktimes.com (Arkansas Times Webmaster) Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:01 -0500 Wed, 22 May 2013 23:45:00 -0500 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
Me? Now, I like Walmart. Wouldn’t walk through their doors if I didn’t. Like the prices and enjoy chatting with the people who work there. Don’t see any unsmiling and unhappy workers. Sure some exist, though. As they do in any bidness.

Some friendly and sincere advice for those who find Walmart and the Waltons toxic: For the sake of your health, do yourself a huge favor and stay away from their stores. Just don’t go there. Ever. Under any circumstances. It’s not like you don’t have options in your town or a nearby city.

Instead of Walmart, shop with the good people at Belk, Dillard’s, Target, Gap, Kohl’s, Steinmart, Feinstein’s, Sears, J.C. Penney, K-Mart, Dollar Store, Radio Shack, Kroger, Harp’s, Whole Foods, and Edward’s Food Giant.

And Gander Mountain, Toys R Us, Pet Smart, Roberson’s Jewelry, Sissy’s Log Cabin, Hocott’s, Green Tree (love ya, Boots!), Ace Hardware, Lowe’s, Home Depot, Container Store, Hallmark Crown Shop (yer welcome for the shout-out, John and Mary Jim!), Barnes & Noble, Wordsworth (Yo David!), Walgreen, Tanglewood Pharmacy (Hi Adam!), and on and on and a thousand times on.

There’s not a thing at Walmart you can’t get at lots of other places. Look to your left; look to your right; look behind you. Stores, stores, stores galore! Ya simply don’t gotta go to Walmart. So, just say no. And don’t go!

What you’ve read above is what I keep saying to Grouchy Jim, my Walmart-hating next door neighbor, several times a year. GJ complains and bitches incessantly about Walmart and the Waltons. Yet (as I’ve noted here for years) I can hardly walk into a Walmart store in LR without seeing old Grouchy Jim there.

Guess the guy enjoys torturing himself. The rest of y’all?

PS: Almost forgot. Gotta Costco membership about a year ago. Use it mainly in Memphissippi, but also in Dallas when visiting the bro. Like Costco. Would welcome one here.
Posted by Durango]]> Tue, 27 Nov 2012 09:10:07 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Verla Sweere]]> Tue, 27 Nov 2012 08:01:01 -0600 Arkansas Times A typical Costco store has around 4,000 SKUs, most of which are stacked on pallets so that you can be your own stockboy. A Walmart has 140,000 SKUs, which have to be tediously sorted, replaced on shelves, reordered, delivered, and so forth.

Costco's higher revenues are also a function of their demographic. Costco shoppers have an average income of $85,000--not surprising, because Costco tends to locate itself in affluent suburbs. Walmart shoppers are what the firm calls "value driven shoppers" which is to say, there's not a lot of spare money lying around the house,

One final thing that's worth pointing out is that Costco doesn't even make money selling the groceries and the six person hot-tubs. Their annual membership fee revenue exceeds their net profit--which is to say that the actual business of selling stuff is operating at a loss....hahahahhaha BOy they are great business people kinda like the government..

Costco's bulk & membership-driven retail model is inaccessible to a majority of American consumers
Posted by Conservative Arkansan]]> Tue, 27 Nov 2012 06:04:03 -0600 Arkansas Times
And to the question about Mickey D's and other food places. They, at one time, were the "first job" location for those entering the work force after the gas stations cut back from being "service stations". Their entire pay program was based on a high turn-over level but the economy has forced more adults into the counter roles at these places. When we lived in MA, there were retirees on Cape Cod working at Mickey D's because their retirement didn't cover the increased cost-of-living.
Posted by couldn't be better]]> Tue, 27 Nov 2012 05:57:05 -0600 Arkansas Times
Walmart on the other hand pays minimum wage, has mostly part-time workers so it doesn't have to pay benefits, has a CEO that makes more in an hour than most Walmart workers make in a year, pays such a low salary that many Walmart workers are on food stamps, and the Walton family is rolling in money.
Posted by NeverVoteRepublican]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:23:11 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by MEnLR]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:02:10 -0600 Arkansas Times
http://203.194.162.10/listco/hk/lifung/ann…

No references to WalMart in their release, but they mention a company called Kids Headquarters, a division of LF USA. Hoover's has a record for a "Lf USA Inc." -

http://www.hoovers.com/company-information…

I'm not sure if it is the same company, but they're listed in the Apparel Accessories Manufacturing category in Far Rockaway, NY, which took a bad hit from Hurricane Sandy.
Posted by radical centrist]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:12:31 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Tim Crane]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:04:39 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Rebecca Haden]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:53:33 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by plainjim]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:20:51 -0600 Arkansas Times www.allamericanclothing.com
Posted by Paul Covert]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:15:07 -0600 Arkansas Times I recommend that all visitors to this blog make at least one Christmas purchase!
Posted by Paul Covert]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:12:32 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Paul Covert]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:56:40 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by plainjim]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:54:59 -0600 Arkansas Times
Can you say shell game?
Posted by Doigotta]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:47:54 -0600 Arkansas Times
Check out the Trader Joe's business model for comparison. The real winners in the Walton scam are those members of the lucky sperm club whether they be children or married into the family. The rest of us are the losers. So I don't contribute to their need. See my previous postings about "job creators."
Posted by wannabee conservative]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:21:46 -0600 Arkansas Times I believe that it should be considered a PRIVELEDGE for a corporation to have access to the US consumer market, not a RIGHT. In return for the priveledge of selling to the American consumer, there should be minimum standards of conduct for the corporation.
If a corporation does not wish to meet these standards, they can go pedal their shit in Bangladesh, and leave the US alone - simple as that.
Wall Street, drug companies, oil companies, insurance companies, and WalMart behave as though they are ENTITLED to infinitely rake in record profits, while the general welfare of the USA goes to hell...sorry for the rant, carry on...
Posted by Paul Covert]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 18:06:16 -0600 Arkansas Times
"The Tazreen factory was no longer authorized to produce merchandise for Walmart," Wal-Mart said in a statement. "A supplier subcontracted work to this factory without authorization and in direct violation of our policies."

Shortened URL to Reuters -

http://tinyurl.com/cld4tew
Posted by radical centrist]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 16:55:16 -0600 Arkansas Times
If neoliberals are going to compel so many to continue to provide/seek health insurance through employment... then companies as wealthy as wally should never receive a subsidy.

But somehow it can make a few siblings richer than the lower 50 million Americans combined... that is a USA Government Inc. feature, not a bug.

And the prices are often not low. The remaining smaller local merchants around NWA Wal-Marts often have better quality at or below Wal-Mart prices.... from food to clothing and electronics.
Posted by Eureka Springs]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:45:01 -0600 Arkansas Times
http://www.bdnews24.com/details.php?cid=4&…
Posted by radical centrist]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:30:31 -0600 Arkansas Times
What keeps them viable is cheap fuel: to transport the raw product from one nation where it's produced, to another nation where there's an abundance of cheap labor for manufacture then, export finished products to yet another nation.

Iron ore is extracted in So America, shipped to China for cheap processing then imported to North America. Only cheap fuel allows this arrangement to continue.

Well, there's always nuclear powered cargo ships to keep WalMart afloat in cheap labor goods.
Posted by eLwood]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 14:08:42 -0600 Arkansas Times
We have the result, both worldwide and in the U.S. - too many workers.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/25/magazine…

***It’s easy to understand every perspective in this drama. Manufacturers, who face increasing competition from low-wage countries, feel they can’t afford to pay higher wages. Potential workers choose more promising career paths. “It’s individually rational,” says Howard Wial, an economist at the Brookings Institution who specializes in manufacturing employment. “But it’s not socially optimal.” In earlier decades, Wial says, manufacturing workers could expect decent-paying jobs that would last a long time, and it was easy to match worker supply and demand. Since then, with the confluence of computers, increased trade and weakened unions, the social contract has collapsed, and worker-employer matches have become harder to make. Now workers and manufacturers “need to recreate a system” — a new social contract — in which their incentives are aligned. ***

But the 1% doesn't want a new contract. They want the masses to not have birth control in order to perpetuate a captive class of workers.

Perhaps the real flaw in capitalism is that efficiency and profit unbalances the demand for workers all the while the supply side continues to increase.
Posted by Vanessa]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:25:59 -0600 Arkansas Times
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/factory-fire…
Posted by radical centrist]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 13:06:04 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Sound Policy]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:59:05 -0600 Arkansas Times
Salon - "Wal-Mart’s connection to firetrap Bangladesh factory is unclear - UPDATE: The retailer stopped working with 50 fire risk factories, but photos show Wal-Mart clothes in fire wreckage"

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/26/wal_marts_…
Posted by radical centrist]]> Mon, 26 Nov 2012 12:27:51 -0600 Arkansas Times