How about the boat loads of products they buy from CHINA? Walmart is the crown prince of outsourcing at the expense of the US economy. They also offer dead-end jobs to less fortunate people so that they can capitalize on the cheap labor.
Lots of stuff in all stores come from china. I am not sure what world you live in, but here on earth in the United States that is pretty common, because the people here will not work at the same wage to make the products as the chinese will to make them.
They offer dead end jobs? Nobody is forcing anyone to work for wal-mart, and it seems the people who work for wal-mart are better off than the chinese making the products ALL American retailers sell.
The reason other stores couldn't compete with Walmart is NOT always due to mismanagement. It has to do with ability for Walmart to buy and sell for pennies on the dollar due to bulk buying and cheap labor.
That is called mismanagement. If you are getting aced out on price alone, you are doing something wrong. If you can't compete with them on price because you can't compete on volume then you must do something else to make your experience/service/store attractive to consumers, or else you go out of business. God should strike down Wal-Mart for providing cheaper goods to the American consumer then they could ever dream of, thus substantially reducing their cost of living and providing them money to spend on other things. The horror.
Wal-Mart competes by providing the barest bone or service and experience. If you choose to offer the same minimal experience for a more expensive price, you deserve to go out of business.
Smart business practice, but it drove most mom and pop stores out of business. Those mom and pops made up the foundation of american businesses. Now it's all going to the larger corporations and they are one of the main reasons our economy is in a hole.
That is ridiculous. Those mom and pop businesses had to overcharge consumers because they had to overpay for goods themselves, and to top it off their workers had almost no benefits, because individual little stores could not afford to provide benefits.
So actually the consumer and employees are all better off with the net result. You don't get allowed to run a small business and suck at it, just because you are a small business. You have to compete by the same rules as everyone else. If you can't compete you go out of business.
But, nice try defending them. You work there?
No. But in the past I have worked and owned retail businesses myself, and have owned my own businesses for a long time, and I actually understand what goes on and how it has impacted thing and am not relying on propaganda spread by ignorant people who don't actually know what they are talking about.