BF2S Forums Wal-Mart: good or bad?

CameronPoe wrote:

Monopolies=fail

Wal-mart is not a Monopoly.  There are plenty of other choices like Target and K-mart just in my immediate area.

Wal-mart is good because it help alot of poor people buy stuff that they normally could not afford because of their business inefficency.  Wal-mart, being a retail outlet, average full-time employee wage is $17,000/year.  Its a retail job, you shouldn't expect to get paid alot.  Doing my research below I noticed there were ALOT of legal action against Wal-mart because of its labor pracitices.

So if labor is so expensive, why don't they replace retailers with kiosks and automated attendants?


The Good:

• Wal-Mart is the world's largest retailer, with more than 3,500 stores in the U.S. and 1,100 more across Canada, Mexico, South America, Asia and Europe.
• the company reported sales of $312 billion and employed 1.8 million people in FY 2006.
• China's eighth-largest trading partner
• According to the Washington Post, Wal-Mart employs approximately 1.3 million workers, of which less than 700,000 are estimated to HAVE company health insurance (53% with company health insurance)
• Owns and operates Sam's Club warehouse stores and Supercenters, which combine traditional discount wares with groceries.
• World's biggest retailer.
• Provides the public with cheap, pentiful products allowing them to extend their hard earned dollar.
• Purchases its inventory in large quantities and efficiently moves the goods to shelves that keeps costs down that are passed to the consumer.
• The nation's largest private-sector non-union employer overhauled its policies on pay, promotion, diversity and scheduled break times in 2004, following a number of alleged wage-and-hour violations in addition to reported sexual discrimination.
• Wal-Mart Canada Receives Accolade For Energy Initiatives
• Wal-Mart Calls on Suppliers to Reduce Packagin

The Bad:

• Wal-Mart leaves the lifeless shells of mom-and-pop stores in its wake.
• According to the Washington Post, Wal-Mart employs approximately 1.3 million workers, of which more than 600,000 are estimated to be without company health insurance (47% without company health insurance)
• Many local authorities to block the authorization of Wal-Mart stores in their neighborhoods because they are so efficent.
• 2001 sex discrimination class-action lawsuit charging discrimination against female employees in promotions, compensation and job assignments
• November 2001, a South Carolina mother filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart, alleging her daughter was fondled by a store employee listed on the state's sex offender registry
• August 2004, after another employee sexually assaulted a shopper, the company announced a new criminal background check policy for people deemed ''qualified candidates'' for hiring
• June 2004, Wal-Mart and RiteAid settled suits charging the companies with submitting false prescription claims to federal insurers. Wal-Mart agreed to pay $2.8 million for allegations that some of its pharmacies dispensed partial prescriptions due to insufficient stock, but later billed Medicaid and other programs for the full amount prescribed
• October 2003 raid of Wal-Mart stores resulted in the arrest of 250 illegal immigrant workers in Wal-Mart stores across the country, working on 61 cleaning crews in 21 states (the workers arrested were hired by Wal-Mart directly, but were part of cleaning services from outside contractors), however Federal law enforcement officials claimed information from an undercover investigation suggested some store managers were aware of the immigration violations
• Wal-Mart has received over $1.2 billion in tax breaks and other corporate subsidies such as low-cost financing and even grants. Additionally, becuse Wal-Mart does not provide health insurance for all its employees, the burden is placed on American taxpayers to fund Medicaid and other government programs.
• Rainforest Relief is calling for consumer action against Wal-Mart for distributing furniture made of precious wood from endangered old-growth forests.
• In May 2007, Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report on Wal-Mart's anti-union efforts stating, "While many American companies use weak US laws to stop workers from organizing, the retail giant stands out for the sheer magnitude and aggressiveness of its anti-union apparatus."
• A Pennsylvania court ordered Wal-Mart to pay workers at least $78.5 million for unpaid hours and denial of breaks
• Sweatshop Labor accusation from The National Labor Committee’s May 2006: Human trafficking and involuntary servitude of guest workers
• Sweatshop Labor accusation from The National Labor Committee’s May 2006: Confiscation of workers’ passports and denial of legally required identification cards
• Sweatshop Labor accusation from The National Labor Committee’s May 2006: Routine work shifts of 14.5 to 19 hours. In the Caliber Factory, 10 percent of the workers were obligated to participate in all night shifts
• Sweatshop Labor accusation from The National Labor Committee’s May 2006: No sick days, paid vacations, or government holidays allowed
• Sweatshop Labor accusation from The National Labor Committee’s May 2006: Wages below the legal minimum. At Hi-Tech, workers were cheated of 45 to 80 percent of their wages. Workers at the United Garment factory earned below 10 cents for each shirt shown under Wal-Mart’s labels
• Sweatshop Labor accusation from The National Labor Committee’s May 2006: Inadequate and unsanitary working conditions
• Sweatshop Labor accusation from The National Labor Committee’s May 2006: Reports of sexual abuse and rape
• Sweatshop Labor accusation from The National Labor Committee’s May 2006: Workers subject to violence and threats if production goals not met
• A California court found Wal-Mart guilty of breaking a state labor law requiring employers to allow 30-minute unpaid lunch breaks to employees working shifts longer than 6 hours

Source: Wal-mart Profile
Source: Responsible Shopper - Profile: Wal-Mart

I hate Wall-mart  with a passion I service them because I work for 7up and they threat the workers like crap and the vendors worse. they have stupid fucking rules and if you don't do as told they kick you from the store and and force your company to fire you.

they force companies to offer them low prices and if you don't then your are not good for them.

Stingray24 wrote:

Cheap stuff = good.  All companies are bad in one way or another.

Like the videos I posted said. It's not so much that they are out to help communites but they do good by doing good.

Crap overall for a varity of already mentioned reasons

BUT you cant deny the one thing they do give us, Great potential Zombie Fortresses

Kmarion wrote:

Stingray24 wrote:

Cheap stuff = good.  All companies are bad in one way or another.

Like the videos I posted said. It's not so much that they are out to help communites but they do good by doing good.

...Is that why they (like so many other corporations) lobby for huge tax cuts that small business owners don't have the possibility of getting equivalents of in order to build stores in areas where they monopolize the market and kill entire slews of small businesses in the process?

Normally, I'd say, "let the market clear things", but huge tax breaks aren't exactly playing fair.  Local governments are betraying their constituents by using their tax money to help corporations put them out of business.

I'd say the bad FAR outweighs the good under that arrangement.

Capitalism is one thing, but corporate fascism is quite another.

Since Wal-Mart bought the British supermarket "ASDA" the fruit and vegetables at my local store have been of shit quality, they are utter dross.

Wally World has low prices because their goods are of extremely poor quality.  You may think you're saving money, but when you have to replace their garbage merchandise 2-3x more often, it really doesn't work out to being a better deal than paying more the first time to get a higher quality product.

Before I knew more about the corporate practices of Wally World and their effect on local merchants and economies, I had shopped their a few times.  A pair of shoes I purchased began coming apart after only 3 months.  I went out and spent 3x more on a pair of name brand shoes, but here it is, over a year later, and other than normal wear-and-tear, they are still in good shape.  So, make no mistake about it.  Wally World isn't always the money saving merchant you may think.

WalMart sells  many of the same brands you buy at every other store. Their Walmart brand clothing line may be crap but the savings you get are not to their brand.

doctastrangelove1964 wrote:

Wal-Mart won't open a store in New York City because in NYC if you employ a certain number of people, they have to be Union and Wal-Mart doesn't let workers Unionize.

that is part of how they save you money.

they hire shit.....so they pay shit.

doctastrangelove1964 wrote:

Parker wrote:

doctastrangelove1964 wrote:

Wal-Mart won't open a store in New York City because in NYC if you employ a certain number of people, they have to be Union and Wal-Mart doesn't let workers Unionize.

that is part of how they save you money.

they hire shit.....so they pay shit.

Well the unions do train workers before they let them take a job.

And Wal-Mart employees are the most inept idiots I have ever met.

yes they are.....right up there with "The Home Depot" employees.

im not sure how those people even function on a day to day basis.

RECONDO67 wrote:

usmarine2005 wrote:

It has to be a good company.  Hillary Clinton was a board member from 1986 to 1992.

so the Texas ranger must had been an ass kicking team when the W was the owner or halliburton most be a great company cause the devil Cheney was a chairman or maybe Exxon it's environmental friendly because condo was another board member.

Focus...wal-mart.  Say it with me.. w a l - m a r t.  Now repeat until you realize the subject of the thread.

Parker wrote:

doctastrangelove1964 wrote:

Wal-Mart won't open a store in New York City because in NYC if you employ a certain number of people, they have to be Union and Wal-Mart doesn't let workers Unionize.

that is part of how they save you money.

they hire shit.....so they pay shit.

The average Walmart employee makes 10.16 an hour. That's well above min wage.