Arkansas Blog

Gosh, this is a "no-bainer", just look at their parking lots. That is what Mr. Sam did.

Gosh, this is a "no-brainer", just look at their parking lots. That is what Mr. Sam did.

I make my obligatory daily visits and enjoy it.

Walmart is America...You need it ? They got it! .. and at the best price. And no labor union can hurt it. Joe six pack knows that labor unions means higher prices .

Wal-Mart certainly isn't my America. Do I shop there...you bet. Though I buy everything I can elsewhere. Wal-Mart is convenient and it has a few things I can't get elsewhere. But, in general, their employees are the least helpful of the big chains. Try getting some one to load your groceries 'cause you're unable to lift/etc...sure they'll eventually drag some one up to the front after a LENGTHY wait. Try calling their attention to the fact they're charged you the wrong price...you'd think the money was coming out of the employees back pocket. And try asking for help...sometimes you'll happen upon a knowledgeable/helpful employee but more times than not you'll find some one who 'works in another dept' so they can't help.

But most of all I detest Wal-Mart's employment practices and cultural arrogance (that censorship thing). I don't like censorship in general; but I can live with 'limits' handed down from those we hire to police that kind of stuff. I can't live with an arrogant/thin-skinned conglomerate that decides it doesn't like an artist's use of the Wal-Mart name or it doesn't like an artist's use of a word like 'DAMN.' It may be their right to play the role of a money-making big brother; but it's also my right to abhor and work against their crap.

The Wal-Mart of today is a far cry from Sam's vision. Aside from the 'buy America' push, his door/phone was open to any employee who had a beef or an idea.

And, Joe six pack is a fool (redundant I know) if he can't see that labor unions aren't his enemy. Despite their warts, unions saved us (and our children) from unsafe sweat shops and created the now-endangered American middle class. If there were no unions and/or govt regulations to check corporate gluttony, safety/health/environmental issues will always take second place to the big bucks. We need to strike a balance.

Mass quantities of cheap stuff peddled off the backs of employees who are treated unfairly and produced by third-world sweat shops is not the vision I have for America.

Thank you, Zelda. You have expressed my sentiments almost to the letter.
I will add one very cynical opinion. Not only is Joe Six-Pack a fool, but he is a selfish, avaricious jerk. Let him land one of those disappearing union jobs and see how quickly his opinion changes.

I was a fan of Wal-Mart and then I wasn't, then I was and now I'm ...not so much. There is nothing that can be done to stop the damage that Wal-Mart does to the local old time businesses when Wal-Mart comes to your town. Most of the old guys will buckle and break and become part of history, since they can't stock their shelves wholesale at the prices Wal-Mart is selling the same stuff for at retail. That's the power of buying a zillion cases vs. those that only buy 10 case at a time. No one can save Mom & Pop from Wal-Mart. So I give up on that one.

What should be expected from Wal-Mart are decent wages and benefits for it's employees. Decent enough to get their workers off state welfare rolls, food stamp rolls, indigent healthcare rolls. I'm willing to pay more for at the register to help accomplish that. It should be the rare exception that a Wal-Mart worker who works a 40 hour week still winds up needing a handout to make ends meet.

Wal-Mart could take a few tips from a Fort Smith company. Weldon, Williams & Lick at one time and maybe still is the largest printer of tickets in the world. Last I heard they are still the sole printer of Super Bowl tickets, Indy 500 tickets and about any other sporting and entertainment event you've ever heard of. Since 1898, WW&L has been churning out zillions of tickets each year right here in the Fort.

The remarkable thing is that they take care of their workers better than any other business I've ever heard of. WW&L pays very well. The benefits are still very good. At the end of every year the profits are figured and every employee gets a share of those profits back as a Christmas bonus. Some years it's been as much as 10% of their yearly salary.

Though half the work involves heavy lifting and the other half involves absolute attention to detail, most workers work at WW&L until they die. It's hard as hell to get on there because no one quits. Plus WW&L is a good neighbor, one of the founders of the Partners in Education program that our local schools have come to rely on. WW&L does no harm.

Lately Wal-Mart has been making noises like it's finally come to the conclusion that they must have big shoulders, must be concerned about more than just keeping their head down and selling cheap stuff at the very lowest price. They are the nations premier business. They're gigantic, they're unstoppable, they win!

America is not a nation of nameless, faceless Chinese coolies. Wal-Mart needs to wake up to the responsibilities they have to their workers and to the communities where their stores are located. They need to continue to lead the way in the reduction of useless packaging, wild life conservation and any other area their wealth allows them to make positive changes in.

Here at home Wal-Mart should be as embarrassed as I am that Arkansas continues to be 49th in everything. I appreciate Alice's art museum and at least the concept of her kids camp, may there be more good things to come. Maybe middle aged Wal-Mart will think harder and deeper about the world they've created for themselves and us and work a little harder at being a good employer, neighbor and friend to the American people, while they continue to deliver low, low prices.

DBI...Boy, you are a bore...cut your posts to 3 or 4 words...by now we all know what you are going to say....we are tired of having to scroll down past your blabber....Trish

Speak for your self Trish. You are not the thread monitor. Maybe you ought to study DBI's posts. Who knows, you might be able to work yourself up to a whole paragraph post.

...Who knows, you might be able to work yourself up to a whole paragraph post.

I don't know, Gaylord, a whole paragraph with complete, non-redundant thoughts might blow Trisha's (ha) circuit.