Walmart Music Store

[Les Kern]

Slightly off-topic, but:
Folks talk about a visceral hatred of Microsoft. They're looking in the wrong place. Wal-Mart, by its arrogant and cruel employment practices and desire to make money at all costs, is, I think, a MUCH bigger evil. I don't step foot in them, and I think the folks behind that slave labor will one day find themselves sitting right besides Hitler. Think I'm going way over the top here? Just read these two, then investigate both "sides" on your own. When and if you do, your hard work will take you deeper and deeper into what's screwed up about our country, and you might wind up pretty damned pissed off.
Make copies, go to Wal-Mart, and drop a few off. Mail them to friends out of the area so they can do the same. Won't do it? See, THAT'S what's wrong with us. No outrage, just slaves. (Think I'm a left-wing nut-case? You'd be VERY wrong)

excerpted from "Thieves In High Places"
I hail from a small business family – my daddy and momma ran both a wholesale
magazine operation and the Main Street News in Denison, Texas. And to paraphrase George W, I also know about small business people, because "I are one" – my Saddle-Burr Productions is a small (bordering on tiny) enterprise that develops my books, radio work, newsletter, columns, speaking, and whatever other trouble I can stir up with pen and mouth.
So, in the spirit of full consumer disclosure, I’m biased for local, independent, unique, smallish business. But there are a host of unbiased reasons for saying that we ought not let the giant chains remake our local economies. One is price. I don’t mean the pricetag on the products, but the exorbitant price we pay for Wal-Mart’s "low price" model. Such
companies are predators, hitting neighborhoods and towns like a neutron bomb, leaving buildings standing, but sucking out all of the economic and democratic vitality. Wal-Mart concedes that when it comes to town, it’s out to eliminate competitors. Any store it opens can crush our local groceries, pharmacies, hardware stores, clothiers, and other retailers, not by being more efficient (and damned sure not with super service), but
by slashing its prices below what it pays for the products – a tactic known as
[WARNING: TECHNICAL TERM APPROACHING] "predatory pricing."
I hear your mind whirring. With my supersensory perception, I can hear you thinking, What’re you talking about, Hightower? Even Wal-Mart can’t sell below cost and stay in business. No trick to it. Wal-Mart has 4,400 stores. It can lose money at the one in your area ‘til the cows come home and not hurt its company-wide bottom line one bit. But
your local stores don’t have a global network of stores to subsidize them, so Wal-Mart
can just sit on top of them with a losing hand… and still win. This isn’t competition –
it’s mugging. And when it’s over, when the local competitors are bled to death, this Wal-Mart store’s prices rise. Then, the dollars you spend there are used to subsidize another mugging down the road. I’m hearing you again. You’re saying, Give me a for-instance on this predatory pricing thing, or I won’t believe that those nice friendly country people from Arkansas would do such a thing. Right you are. Check out Wal-Mart’s gas pumps, now in the parking lots
of 700 of its stores and soon to spring up like dandelions all across Wal-Martland…
assuming its lobbyists can change the laws. The company is selling gasoline at prices below what it pays to get it into the pumps. Eddie, or Felipe, or Maybelle, or Khanh, or Royce, or whoever’s selling the gas down the road can’t do that – they don’t have the deep pockets to match a losing price. How do I know Wal-Mart is doing this? Because several states have laws against it and, rather than comply, Wal-Mart is openly trying to repeal the laws, essentially claiming a right to kill its competitors by predatory pricing. Caught selling below cost in Florida, where it’s illegal, Wal-Mart has launched a lobbying and petition drive to make it legal. Likewise in Oklahoma, Wal-Mart was caught and has run to federal court,
claiming a constitutional right to kill competition.
Well, I hear you saying, at least Wal-Mart is a job creator for our communities. Sorry, no. By crushing local businesses, this giant eliminates three decent jobs for every two poorly-paid, part-time, high-turnover Wal-Mart jobettes that it creates. It’s an extractor of community wealth, not a creator. It doesn’t buy locally. It doesn’t bank locally. It
doesn’t advertise locally. In Kirksville, Missouri, a Wal-Mart SuperCenter opened a few years ago. In short order, four clothing stores, four grocery stores, a stationary store, a fabric store, and a
lawn-and-garden center were gone. And with their demise, the Kirksville Daily Express has lost major ad revenue and is struggling. Townspeople now go to Wal-Mart, or have to leave town to shop.
The SuperCenter sits there on the edge of Kirksville like a demonic tombstone sucking up local money and channeling it to Bentonville, where a portion of it can be used as capital for Wal-Mart’s assault on the next Kirksville. By dictating a new economy for low-wage workers, Wal-Mart and its corporate disciples are not merely cutting their wholesale prices, they’re doing something far more radical and dangerous to America’s social equilibrium: They are cutting themselves loose
from America’s two-century old quest for an egalitarian society. Let me put it in real-life terms: They are abandoning the notion that the middle class is essential to America.
And since Wal-Mart is by far the biggest employer and is capable of compelling so
many other major corporations to take the low-wage road, the upshot of their actions is that America itself is abandoning its middle-class pretensions and possibilities. Thanks to this shift, the fastest growing class in America is the working poor. For decades, our
country’s social cohesion has been grounded in a broad agreement that full-time work will afford you a middle-class slice. The Wal-Mart model breaks that agreement – its own "associates" can’t afford to buy a Ford on Wal-Mart pay.
How long do they think they can hold down so many hard-working people?
Already, the rebellion is simmering within the belly of the beast. The company tries to hide it, and the media rarely probes (whatever happened to the idea of the "inquiring reporter," anyway?) but those happy little "associates" have been hauling Wal-Mart’s corpulent hulk into court constantly. It’s the most sued corporation in the country, facing
more than 5,000 actions per year (almost 14 a day - for everything ranging from disability discrimination to sex discrimination to "off-the-clock" payroll fraud!), for it is an unrepentant, recidivist criminal, routinely violating practically all employee rights and all of America’s labor laws.
All of this from a corporation banking $250 billion a year and sending a steady torrent of cash into the coffers of "Simple Sam" Walton’s five heirs, who already are billionaires.

 

[Robertk2012]

ok say walmart puts every other business in a city out of business. Big deal, walmart will then be the only employer so what they sell depends on the wages they pay their employees. 😉 Im not a fan of walmart especially with the gas thing but their effeciency is what makes their profits. So what if after they kill the competition they raise prices to just slightly below what the prices of goods were before they came. Oh so they turn 3 jobs into 2. Good productivity boost there freeing up an additional (mostly educated) worker for a job that requires skilled labor. Look at the workers next time you are in walmart. Do you really believe they should be making 50,000- 100,000 a year. I thought not.

 

[Les Kern]

Originally posted by Robertk2012
Big deal....

That's a reply that they hope to hear, and work hard to promote. I'm not a communist, or a socialist, but I do believe in a greater good for our country. Wal-Mart does not. At the one near here they are even eliminating MORE $6.00 an hour jobs by installing auto-checkout lanes, where you do everything yourself. So now we have other stores and supermarkets closing depressing the area, with fewer jobs in the area because of mobility issues. Remember when Wal-Mart proudly boasted that they would "buy American"? Not now. There was a directive sent that said buyers will concentrate on foriegn-made goods because of the prices. So now they are taking jobs away nationally. As for your comment about looking at the workers next time I'm in there... well that's just great. I guess you think there are disposable people and we shouldn't care about them. Niether does Wal-Mart; here's a good one: At the Wal-Mart in my town recently an associate was severely injured when they were struck by a car in the parking lot. Wal-Marts policy is to catch shoplifters at any cost. So the worker ran after one, was struck by the shoplifters, THEN Wal-Mart didn't want to pay the medical bills, saying the worker, though following company policy, was careless. They quickly relented after THAT bit of news hit the street, but it gives you an idea of where their REAL interest lies... the almighty dollar and happy investors.
All of their stores should be burned to the ground by the people who live near one.

 

[solvs]

Originally posted by Bunzi2k4
alright, i think toys r us, gateway, vons, ralphs, and taget are gonna have their own online music stores online.

Actually, Gateway already had one. Came out right before iTunes. Wonder how they're doing?

 

[Robertk2012]

When you do away with a job you increase the productivity of your country. The higher your productivity the better off your country is overall. This is a good loss of jobs, that will be replaced by others in a growing economy. Just think if we never has these increases in productivity them we would all still be growing our own garden a making our own clothes. Computers wouldnt even exist. The increases in productivity that are drove by profits is what makes capitalism work and is why socialism doesnt. This can also be seen in the perscription drug market. If we force makers to decrease prices then there will be less incentive to creat new drugs. Short term you are better off but long term you are shooting yourself in the foot.

 

[Les Kern]

Originally posted by Robertk2012
Short term you are better off but long term you are shooting yourself in the foot.

I agree somewhat. This isn't a question about productivity, even though US workers are still #1 in the world due to the big corporations demand for it, partly due to a fear of losing one's job because of it... it isn't about those new jobs being created, because in fact the latest jobless rate, when parsed out, shows a huge increase in service jobs and a huge decrease in manufacturing jobs... it isn't even about a capitalism vs. socialism discussion. It's about what is good and decent, and the role that huge, incredibly powerful corporations have over us. How can you say that it's a "good loss of jobs"? Wal-Mart causes small and mostly family-owned business to go under by selling cheap foriegn goods Americans don't even make, than those people go... where? To work at Wal-Mart? It doesn't necessarily mean one is a socialist to ask this one, small favor; that the money-hungry giants put forth an OUNCE of decency toward the fine people that work for them instead of concentrating on shareholders. It's class warfare, and I will do whatever it takes to help people look at the other side.

 

[Robertk2012]

ok you know those mom and pop store owners always have the option of investing their money in walmart instead of their company.....The job gains are going to be in service as the gains in manufacturing came from agriculture job losses. This is just a new phase in our economy. The increase of automization decreases the need for employees in manufacturing, the same way machinery decreased the need for employees in agriculture.......Its going to be even more noticible in the future. Just imagine robots building robots that build more robots that manufacture our goods.......Just because there is change doesnt mean it is bad. Oh and what are the faimly owned businesses that are being put out of business by Walmart? Kmart? Large grocery chains? Dont try to call it class warfare because it isnt. Anyone can buy stock in an American Corporation. If you are an inteligent individual I imagine Walmart wouldnt mind you working your way up through their ranks. One last though... the last time I was in walmart I didnt seen anyone who might have been a former store owner. Some of the people there where probally lucky they had a job.

 

[Phil Of Mac]

Originally posted by Les Kern
At the one near here they are even eliminating MORE $6.00 an hour jobs by installing auto-checkout lanes, where you do everything yourself.

Good! We need more engineers and artists and writers and less menial laborers.

 

[Robertk2012]

See someone has the right idea.

 

[mjconnor]

One thing important to note about America being #1 in productivity is that we barely are #1. Europe is within 1-2% of us.

The interesting thing is that they come so close to us considering they get 5 weeks of paid vacation annually, along with more holdiays, sick days, etc. They also work around 34 hours a week. In the U.S., the average vacation taken each year is seven days, regardless of how much vacation workers have actually earned. Let's not even mention how many hours a week Americans work.

Could it be that people who are rested and have a semblance of a personal life actually achieve nearly as much as U.S. workers do, while they work over one month a year less, and during that time work 25% fewer hours a week?

Nah, that can't be, 'cause them's a bunch of socialists over there. And besides, America is always #1 no matter what (even when it isn't.) And anybody that says different is one of them NPR commies.

 

[Robertk2012]

Dude what are you smoking? We are by far number 1. Am I going to have to mail you one of my economics books. Germany may be close but they are the only european country within a earshot.

 

[Phil Of Mac]

Japan, where workaholism is the national religion, ranks pretty highly too.

 

[Robertk2012]

you cant just look at the averages per worker either. You have to consider that unemployment here is much lower than in europe. Oh and Japan I suppose there economy is on fire. What I dont get is we are haveing a downturn in the economy while averaging 3-4% gains in GDP and unemployment in the 6% range. What the hell is wrong with that. The last numbers on GDP showed 7.2% growth.

 

[Phil Of Mac]

Japan's been in a recession for almost a decade. They've had their interest rates bottomed out for a long time.

 

[Dros]

Originally posted by Robertk2012
Dude what are you smoking? We are by far number 1. Am I going to have to mail you one of my economics books. Germany may be close but they are the only european country within a earshot.

I tried to look this up... here are some bits I found on the web:

"Six European countries showed higher productivity than the U.S. in 2002, as compared to four in 1990. The six were Norway, Belgium, France, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Germany, with Denmark in a virtual tie with the U.S. at number seven.
“One needs to be a bit careful in looking at the productivity rankings for particular years,” says Bart van Ark, co-author of the study and Consulting Director for The Conference Board’s international research program. “While the rankings are relatively stable and reflect long-term structural factors, short-term shifts can come from cyclical shifts can form cyclical shifts or small changes for countries closely ranked. For example, the U.S. ranking fell to 10th in 2001, reflecting the depth of its recession.”"

Different source:
"Japan ranked 19th among 28 industrialized members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in terms of productivity as of 1999, up only one notch from 20th in the previous year, a think tank said Wednesday."

I found both of these surprising.