The Wal-Mart Embargo

[Stampyhead]

Well, this is probably the easiest thing I'll ever do in my life. I have NEVER stepped foot inside a Wal-Mart and never will.

I used to be able to say that, but then I moved and the closest branch of my bank was in a new WalMart that they had just built. So it was either go in there or drive 20+ miles more just to go to the bank. I'm embarassed at which one I chose...
My sister used to work for the company that does the audit for WalMart. She said after seeing the inner workings of their company she refuses to ever shop at their stores. I try to get more details from her but she won't say a word. Very mysterious...

 

[combatcolin]

Down with Wal-Mart!! I'll boycott Asda in solidarity, not that I ever shop there anyway

Me too.

Don't like the place.

 

[Teh Don Ditty]

I have always wondered what is the average mental age of the users of this forum... or how far can fanboyism go?

BY the way you are judging Wal-Mart then let's boycott iTunes since we cannot use the files with any other player... or by that matter... let's boycott Apple by its eagerness to make money out of its customers using the most ridiculous excuses like the U1.99 fiasco to activate the n- in a product...

Please let's be consistent!

I'm not judging Wal-Mart on their new DL service. I'm judging them as a whole! The company itself. You know the one where they treat their employees like crap, force small businesses out of business, etc. This company will do anything for a buck and they wouldn't care what they did or whom they harmed to get it.

This isn't fan-boyism. I'm not blind to what Apple does or has done. This is just my hatred towards a company.

 

[Policar]

Me too.

Don't like the place.

Where do you shop then? I'm from the US and I think I like Asda more than Sainsbury, and Waitrose is too expensive. Haven't been to many Tescos yet.

Personally, I think Asda is much nicer than Walmart, although each targets a specific demographic. The food is infinitely better at Asda...but kind of pricey.

 

[combatcolin]

Morrisons.

One quite close to me, easy to walk to.

Asda has its "PART OF THE WALMART FAMILY" emblazed everywhere, more like Part of the Manson family" to me.

Theres good big American company's and then theres bad big American companys

 

[yojitani]

I'd love to boycott Wal-Mart, but I have no choice. I live in a tiny town that has nothing more than a Wal-Mart. Their business practices are disgusting. Their latest thing was after a huge ice storm in Missouri last month that left people without power for days and weeks, the Wal-Mart over here raised prices on refrigerated and frozen food knowing that people who had no power would have to buy a ton of food to replace everything that spoiled, so they decided to cash in. I hate that hellhole, and everything it stands for, but I have no choice and still shop there

Yeah, must be a midwestern thing. I mentioned in a similar thread some time ago that there are few alternatives here (Iowa) to shopping, at least a bit, at WalMart.
It's terrible. We all know how walmart not only exploits workers in the US, but they also have their mitts in the sweatshop industry in ways that are truly repulsive (we had several former sweatshop workers actually visit the local WM and identify clothes, especially, that their factories had produced)... because they also drive out competition, though, there's no choice. Not all of us can afford to shop at the local co-op.
Anyway, if yg17 lives just an hour outside of St.Louis, i can imagine that WM is all there is.

YT

 

[roland.g]

I have always wondered what is the average mental age of the users of this forum... or how far can fanboyism go?

BY the way you are judging Wal-Mart then let's boycott iTunes since we cannot use the files with any other player... or by that matter... let's boycott Apple by its eagerness to make money out of its customers using the most ridiculous excuses like the U1.99 fiasco to activate the n- in a product...

Please let's be consistent!

iTunes is Apple software later ported to Windows so that Windows users could use iPods and buy music. ITMS wasn't created, nor was iTunes for other mp3 players, though other players will work with a Mac. They just don't have the luxury of using the iTunes interface. You can still drag and drop songs into folders. Apple helps keep their system free from even more problems than might normally occur by not allowing other mp3 players to interface with iTunes.

The $1.99 activation may have seemed unnecessary, but those Macs were never advertised as having n built in nor do you have to activate it. You can buy an Airport Extreme and it will include the software. But don't kid yourself when it is by no means the same thing.

Sorry.

 

[snakelda]

why?I work at McDonalds(please don't laugh) and it's located inside a Walmart and it's convinient so when I get out of work,I just buy the groceries and they also had a couple of Wii's here too.

 

[yg17]

what part of st. louis are you from?

there're targets all over the place, and too many groceries stores to count, there are even two costcos...

lol, should've mentioned that I'm not in STL for college. I'm in Rolla for college...this hellhole also has a K-Mart, who does not sell groceries, and a Kroger, who's about twice as expensive as Wal-Mart and I can't afford that on a college budget.

But when I'm home in STL (Chesterfield to be exact) I never go to Wal-Mart, I try to go to Target as much as I can (although having worked at the one in Chesterfield for 4 years, I can tell you that their business practices aren't that great either and they treat their employees like crap too)

 

[rfruth]

Not okay for Windows only format from China mart but okay for no open source iTunes ?

 

[flyfish29]

lol, should've mentioned that I'm not in STL for college. I'm in Rolla for college...this hellhole also has a K-Mart, who does not sell groceries, and a Kroger, who's about twice as expensive as Wal-Mart and I can't afford that on a college budget.

Ha Ha, Rolla...I grew up in KC and went to MU in Columbia so I know all about that hell hole. We had the same situation here in Keene NH as we only had Walmart and K-Mart until Target rolled into town a year ago. Now I have been to walmart only once since then- and that was because I couldn't find what I needed at either K-Mart or Target. Target gets 99% of my business.

Walmart is the #1 reason our economy, wages, benefits, etc. are so crappy right now. They affect EVERY part of our society by squeezing our economy and everyone that works in it. Please don't support them just to save a few cents. REally it is only a few cents. Those few cents more you pay at Target for items goes to pay your relatives, friends and neighbors better wages, benefits, working conditions, etc.

 

[yojitani]

Ha Ha, Rolla...I grew up in KC and went to MU in Columbia so I know all about that hell hole. We had the same situation here in Keene NH as we only had Walmart and K-Mart until Target rolled into town a year ago. Now I have been to walmart only once since then- and that was because I couldn't find what I needed at either K-Mart or Target. Target gets 99% of my business.

Walmart is the #1 reason our economy, wages, benefits, etc. are so crappy right now. They affect EVERY part of our society by squeezing our economy and everyone that works in it. Please don't support them just to save a few cents. REally it is only a few cents. Those few cents more you pay at Target for items goes to pay your relatives, friends and neighbors better wages, benefits, working conditions, etc.

Is Target really that much better?

 

[flyfish29]

Is Target really that much better?

Yes Target is geat compared to Walmart. Walmart has a pricing policy that if a product does not change in any way in a two year period the manufacturer MUST reduce the cost or else Walmart will stop carrying it. There is case study after case study done on Walmart on how they destroy brand after brand. They get a brand to committ to selling in walmart, then walmart forces them to make their products to walmart specifications. Then the products which used to be high quality are not anymore.

Home Depot does the same thing. All Skil brand power tools sold at Home Depot have plastic gears instead of metal like the ones sold at mom/pop hardware stores. Skil repair shops won't even work on a Home Depot sold Skil item for this reason. If you look closely at product Sku's (model numbers) they are usually different at Walmart than ones bought someplace else. Consumer Reports magazine writes at great length about this fact. I just researched car batteries today- despite there being really only three car battery manufactuers in the world, all "big box retailers have their own specifications for the car batteries they sell and of course perform very differently based on where you buy them.

Target is not perfect, but much better. They do cost more, but at times you can get many things much cheaper when they are on sale. They also sell better quality stuff (for the most part- stay away from their house brand electronics- junk!) and this better quality stuff saves you money in the long run. They pay their employees better, treat them better, provide much better benefits, etc.

 

[Sun Baked]

I just researched car batteries today- despite there being really only three car battery manufactuers in the world, all "big box retailers have their own specifications for the car batteries they sell and of course perform very differently based on where you buy them.

Last time I was in Wally World in the battery section, it had been reduced to just the Wally World brand and a few of the others in sizes they didn't have yet.

No more choice in 1/3 the space.

They used to be quite a few different brands not too long ago.

In fact choice in products has declined a lot in Wally World.

Sure they carry a lot products, but generally not a lot of different brand choices for those products.

 

[steamboat26]

I have been to one Wal Mart in my entire life, in Harrisonburg VA several hours away from where i live. As far as i know, that is the closest Wal Mart.

You have my full support on your embargo

 

[breakfastcrew]

This is where apple fanboyism goes too far... Competition in the market is a GOOD thing for any consumer.

No offense

Are you serous?? I guess walmart hasn't attacked Sweden yet. THis is what walmart does, they move into a small town lower prices kill off mom's and pop's stores and raise prices. There is no competition with walmart they always win and then they screw you over after all the other competition dies.

 

[SMM]

I have always wondered what is the average mental age of the users of this forum... or how far can fanboyism go?

BY the way you are judging Wal-Mart then let's boycott iTunes since we cannot use the files with any other player... or by that matter... let's boycott Apple by its eagerness to make money out of its customers using the most ridiculous excuses like the U1.99 fiasco to activate the n- in a product...

Please let's be consistent!

Some of us just appear to be fans to the trolls on the board, if you get my drift.

 

[holamiamigos]

i personally enjoy going to walmart on my way from sf to sacramento

 

[combatcolin]

Wally World?



Is there really a retail chain called that?

 

[Teh Don Ditty]

Wally World? I think of National Lampoons Vacation! For those who don't know here's link

 

[shikimo]

Are you serous?? I guess walmart hasn't attacked Sweden yet. THis is what walmart does, they move into a small town lower prices kill off mom's and pop's stores and raise prices. There is no competition with walmart they always win and then they screw you over after all the other competition dies.

And then, after they drive everyone else out of business and dominate the market, they will often close the store to open a bigger one in a nearby, and slightly larger, population center, thus bankrupting the original community that made them successful in the first place. (For example, this is happening as we speak in Denison, IA.) To suggest that this is the free market at work is ludicrous and irresponsible; it is rather the work of manipulating, strong-arming and monopolizing shipping, production and marketing conduits in ways that are clearly illegal under Sherman but largely uninforced for reasons I don't understand.

And roland.g is right to suggest a boycott, even to the tiny percentage of people who read this forum; as he points out, people CAN stop being held hostage by malignant companies who don't give a rat's a$$ about the people who keep them in business. Spending money is like voting: it's up to you to decide who you want to support (although to be fair, it really sucks for those who don't have any other options anymore...I don't know what I would do if Wal-Mart was the only place to buy food in my life. Hunger strikes are rarely productive.)

 

[Foxer]

Walmart is big, nebulus and (worst of all) they make lots of money. They're easy to hate and poseurs never miss an opportunity to make an uniformed stand.

The evidence is incontrovertable. Walmart is good for the economy. They have the clout to force suppliers to sell to them at a discount (my wife used to work for a large household consumer products company, and she always complained about Walmart's control of the supply chain.) But you know what? They pass those savings on. Target comes close, but Walmart is significantly cheaper than everyone else in the market. And do you know who benefits the most from that? The poor, becasue they are the ones that shop there. You all complain about how awful Walmart is, and how the people who shop there are idiots - well, I think that is just some upper-class elitism sneaking through. You "care" for the poor, but you don't want to shop at the same place as them.

Mom and pops? It is clear that in almost every case, a Walmart in a new town creates more jobs than those mom and pops. Also, beleive it or not, they pay more than those stores, in both salary and benefits. Also, have you ever gone to one of those mom and pops? Esepcially in the "marginal" neighborhoods? The prices they charge are confiscatory. Several dollars for bread or milk or other staples. There is a reason why Walmart wins. And I'd like to see your supporting evidence for price hikes. Walmart prices are fairly well standardized across the country, it is part of the whole effiencies of scale.

So boycott if you want. I actually prefer Target. But Walmart is not evil, and I just hate illinformed claptrap. And don't link to some screed on the DailyKos or Mother Jones (or even the NY Times) refuting that. Find something in the real media if you want to make a point.

Now lets get back to Apple talk. Where's my Leopard?

 

[gkarris]

Can't afford to shop elsewhere...

It's a downward spiral.

I've tried to boycott Wal-Mart, but I can't afford to do so.

My really nice IT job was offshored, and it took almost 3 years to find an IT job at less than 1/2 my original pay...

Wal-Mart is notorious for finding goods made in "offshoring" countries where the pay is dirt...so they can offer goods at low prices.

I had to buy a vacuum cleaner for floors. I tried to get ones elsewhere, and they ran about $69-$89. Walmart had one for $45. Saving a few dollars when I can is crucial.

I'd like to boycott Walmart, and I usually shop at Target. But that's starting to take a toll...

 

[jeremy.king]

Right on Foxer!

Wal-mart is the larget employer in 37 states in the US and growing. Can't really complain about the jobs they create, can we? As for closing mom and pops, well - the consumer decides where to shop, so if they choose Wal-mart and not the mom and pop, how can you blame Wal-mart? In an time now where you can't even live on minimum wage, getting the best deal or price is a requirement for survival. The mom and pop stores need to stop ripping people off and stop complaining about competition.

Anyways, an embargo is a government block. The better term to use would be boycott.

Personally, I don't shop at Wal-mart. Not because of the "questionable" practices, but frankly because the service is so-so at best, Cashiers are slow, lines are always long, stores are disgusting, and I don't care for the crowds. Instead we usually shop at Target, Sears Grand (K-mart), and a variety of grocers.

 

[Teh Don Ditty]

You all complain about how awful Walmart is, and how the people who shop there are idiots - well, I think that is just some upper-class elitism sneaking through. You "care" for the poor, but you don't want to shop at the same place as them.

I'm choosing to ignore the rest of your post and just focus on this one part.

I don't think anybody said that anybody who shops there is an idiot. Upper-class elitism? Honestly, what because I can afford an Apple computer automatically makes me upper-class? I think not, I worked my ass off to buy this computer (and the othe 2 in my sig). I'm just a working middle class man just trying to make a honest.

I also don't associate Wal-Mart to poor people. That's a generalization you just made. This is about taking a stand against something that you know is wrong on so many levels.