WalMart To Sell iPod Shuffle?

[gorkonapple]

Walmart stores are ugly,

Subjective. I think they are nice, if a bit on the cheap side with thier signage...not as cheap as Ames used to be.

abusive to their employees

PROOF? I have seen this at least two or three times in this thread. If your talking about a couple pending lawsuits, remember those are not settled yet to my knowledge. Also, with as large as Walamrt is, it would not surprise me in the least to have a few bad apple(sorry, no other word fits) managers that abuse the system. This should not be a blanket judgement of the company. I shop at several area Walmarts and not once have I heard anyone complain about the company. In fact, I had friends I used to work with at Meijer (which in my area is a Union Store) who went to Walmart because they paid better and did not put up with the crap Meijer did with thier union workers. Plus they had no union dues! The ones who I saw pulling the Union card at Meijer were all lazy slobs who would never work as hard as I or many others did.

bully their suppliers

Again, all companies ask their suppliers to get better prices. We'd be paying an arm and a leg if Walmart and others did not do this. Walmart tends to proove to their suppliers that while the supplier gets less per unit, they can make up for that in volume many times larger then their nearest competitor.

and yes, they do run out the local businesses because they undercut them in prices and cheap labor.

I have not seen a local business close unless they deserved to be closed. There are many times when I have seen mom and pop specialty stores close down because they mismanaged things to the point that when Walmart moved in, there was no chance they could catch them. Case in point, there's a ton of other businesses in almost every neighborhood that has a Walmart in my town that have not all closed down. The only one that is in any danger of closing is the Kroger operating next to my local Walmart. If Walmart moves in a superstore (expand the existing store to a super), then they MAY go downhill. I personally have not seen one valid point where Walmart has forced local business to close. What did the Walmart police come down on them? No. They just could not compete price wise. When you are at that point, you must compete in other ways. Take a mom and pop grocery. Sure, you can't compete on regular groceries, but what happens if you go organic? What happens if you start carrying things the Walmart does not carry? You CAN still survive against the goliath. How does Apple survive against Wintel???

I also do not think Apple selling iPod Shuffles at Walmart will degrade or reduce the brand. What about HP, Sony, or Epson? They are all still good brands. Sure, now others can buy them. Staying exclusive is not the way to make money in a down economy like we have now. Also, look at the largest companies in the world of which Walmart is one of them....they all sell products that people can afford. All anyone who hates this idea is concerned about is that thier Apple Mac's and iPods aren't cool any more. I personally don't think that staying exclusive is how Apple wants to be. Case in point, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak both had an idea about computers. They wanted everyone to have one and not just the rich. The Apple II was the peoples computer as was the Mac. Steve Jobs is still very much that way. If he was into the exclusivity, he would not have signed off on the Shuffle or Mac Mini projects. He wants to prove that the smaller company can take down the giant, Microsoft. Before that, the giant was IBM. The only way to do this now is to start selling the cheaper models where they will sell, Walmart, Sam's Club and Target. The iPod most be doing well at Target otherwise they would not have been on the list to sell the Shuffle. Plus for a brief instance, they were going to sell the Mac Mini at Target. Incredible. Anyone ever remember seeing computers at Target yet? I sure as heck haven't. The Mac Mini was the first. If done with a logical business plan, the low end Apple stuff should sell quite well in both Target and Walmart and I believe that's a good thing for all of us, Apple, Walmart, Target and Mac fans. I would love to see the Mac supplant Microsoft. I think they can do it. Just look.....even the Xbox Next is going to be powered by a PowerPC chip. I'd say the PowerPC line itself is growing leaps and bounds thanks to Apple, IBM and Motorola.

 

[~loserman~]

Again, all companies ask their suppliers to get better prices. We'd be paying an arm and a leg if Walmart and others did not do this. Walmart tends to proove to their suppliers that while the supplier gets less per unit, they can make up for that in volume many times larger then their nearest competitor.

Exactly

I have not seen a local business close unless they deserved to be closed. There are many times when I have seen mom and pop specialty stores close down because they mismanaged things to the point that when Walmart moved in, there was no chance they could catch them. They just could not compete price wise. When you are at that point, you must compete in other ways. Take a mom and pop grocery. Sure, you can't compete on regular groceries, but what happens if you go organic? What happens if you start carrying things the Walmart does not carry? You CAN still survive against the goliath. How does Apple survive against Wintel???

This is what competition is all about. And Competion is always good for consummers. Only unfair competition is bad( i.e. dumping ... like the Japanease did to the electronics industry... And using monopolistic practices like Micro$oft did to many others)Walmart's is Huge but not a monopoly and they beat there competion by lower prices. They dont then turn around and sale their products for higher prices. So I contend they are good for consummers

I also do not think Apple selling iPod Shuffles at Walmart will degrade or reduce the brand. What about HP, Sony, or Epson? They are all still good brands. Sure, now others can buy them. Staying exclusive is not the way to make money in a down economy like we have now. Also, look at the largest companies in the world of which Walmart is one of them....they all sell products that people can afford. All anyone who hates this idea is concerned about is that thier Apple Mac's and iPods aren't cool any more.

I believe you have hit the nail on the head here.

I personally don't think that staying exclusive is how Apple wants to be. Case in point, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak both had an idea about computers. They wanted everyone to have one and not just the rich. The Apple II was the peoples computer as was the Mac. Steve Jobs is still very much that way. If he was into the exclusivity, he would not have signed off on the Shuffle or Mac Mini projects. He wants to prove that the smaller company can take down the giant, Microsoft. Before that, the giant was IBM. The only way to do this now is to start selling thTe cheaper models where they will sell, Walmart, Sam's Club and Target.

Agree

 

[macidiot]

liar



liar


its like saying you never used winblows...

pants on fire!

I've never shopped at walmart either.

 

[macidiot]

Yeah, but Best Buy? Target? Only one of each in my city, but we somehow have 4 Walmarts, not including 2 Sam's Club stores. They may have the same business practices, but I don't see Best Buy destroying the local economy.

Fishes,
narco.

Umm, where the hell are these 4 walmarts? I'm in l.a. and as far as I know, the closest one I've seen was in Monrovia or something...about 30 miles from me. Hardly worth the trip. Then again, I don't get up to the valley that often...

 

[CTerry]

Wal*Mart are only selling it, it's not like it's a partnership! Geeze, does it matter where Apples products are sold just as long as they get sold? Wal*Mart sells loads of different companys products and it doesn't change a thing!

 

[narco]

Umm, where the hell are these 4 walmarts? I'm in l.a. and as far as I know, the closest one I've seen was in Monrovia or something...about 30 miles from me. Hardly worth the trip. Then again, I don't get up to the valley that often...

It's not in Burbank where I currently live, but in a different part of southern California where I am from and where my parents currently live. About a hour drive north east of L.A.

Fishes,
narco.

 

[cantthinkofone]

.....This is what competition is all about. And Competion is always good for consummers. Only unfair competition is bad( i.e. dumping ... like the Japanease did to the electronics industry... And using monopolistic practices like Micro$oft did to many others)Walmart's is Huge but not a monopoly and they beat there competion by lower prices. They dont then turn around and sale their products for higher prices. So I contend they are good for consumers...

Like i said in my other post on this topic. Any one that says anything positive or supportive about Wal-mart works for them in some way, and has wal-mart sitting on their shoulder 24 hours a day, 365.

We had a few VERY good mom and pop shops here where i live before wal-mart came to town. And they were very well managed and ran. But they couldn't not compete with wal-mart when every one started go there, and a few people came to them a week. They closed after 2 years when wal-mart came.

Did any one besides me watch that program on PBS "Is wal-mart good for America?" A very good hour of TV. They had plenty of people from wal-mart, ex-employes, over seas employes, ex-over seas employes.

Then just the other day, i was talking to a older gentleman and the topic changed to wal-mart. He told me about how a life long friend of his had died, and he had worked at wal-mart the last ten or so years of his life. And his wife went to cash in on the life insurance to pay all the bills, And the thing that got me was when he told me that Wal-Mart was one of the beneficiaries on the life insurance plan. The widower never knew of this, Wal-Mart never told her family of this.

Do other companies do this? I dont know of any that do.

 

[blybug]

Wow. A Walmart apologist. Here at Macrumors. Amazing.

Walmart sold Apple branded computers? No

<deleted>....

So relax, shop at Walmart. I do on the occassion. It's cool. It's just the wrong brand association for a company like Apple.

Walmart absolutely postitively 100% sold Macs up unitl the iMac/Jobs era. They carried several of the all-in-one Performa models such as the Performa 5400 I bought there for my sister in 1996 (still working and in occasional use, by the way). I used to always stop by the Mac section and fix up the half-booted extension-conflicted System 7's and fix the hard drives that were always renamed ,,,,,,,,,,gggh

Maybe many of the members on this board only joined the Mac club since Apple has become considered a "premium" or niche product. But that was certainly not the intention of Jobs & Wozniak when they built the computer "for the rest of us." They wanted "the rest of us" to buy a Mac and 10-15 years ago just about ANYWHERE that sold computers including tacky old Walmart sold both Macs and PCs. Nobody back then thought that Macs were "too good" to be sold anywhere...and I was always happy to be able to go into any store (Walmart, Sears, BestBuy, mom&pop computer shop) and be able to buy a new machine, peripheral, or software. Got very frustrating since the late 90s when the closest place is 35 miles away and sucks (CompUSA) with an Apple Store 50 miles away. Now I buy online or from catalogs.

The idea that Apple desires to be a "niche" company with only high-end marketshare and accessibility is ridiculous. I'm certain that Apple didn't become too good for Walmart...it was sadly quite the other way around. As the personal computer revolution boomed in the mid 90s, the "rest of us" Apple was aiming for bought PCs because they were cheaper and had already established themselves in most people's workplace, so PCs were what they were familiar with. Why should Walmart, Sears, and mom&pop continue to waste shelf space on computers nobody was buying anymore?

It's taken Jobs the better part of a decade to rebuild Apple into a company that again has the brand recognition and exciting products that are slowly making their way back into the Targets, Sears, BestBuys, and Walmarts. So far it's just the iPod family, but why would Apple or its stockholders or its supposed fanatics on this board want anything less than for Apple to have its computers back on the shelves where people can see them, find them, and buy them in order to make a dent in the Windows PC market?

Kind of conflictual, hypocritical, and ignoring the facts of history. Walmart and MANY other ordinary stores used to sell Macs, and despite the debatable corporate tactics of this store, if there is demand and they think they will sell, Walmart will sell Macs again.

 

[hulugu]

Walmart! Booooooo!

A deal with the devil. Everyone knows you can't buy anything "cool" at Walmart. I don't think this is good news.

Fishes,
narco.

I agree, Walmart is too much of an extension, once you see something at Walmart or Old Navy it is on its way out.
Besides, I can't stand Walmart.

 

[hulugu]

This is what competition is all about. And Competion is always good for consummers. Only unfair competition is bad( i.e. dumping ... like the Japanease did to the electronics industry... And using monopolistic practices like Micro$oft did to many others)Walmart's is Huge but not a monopoly and they beat there competion by lower prices. They dont then turn around and sale their products for higher prices. So I contend they are good for consummers...

Walmart has always failed in true competition, which is to offer the customer a better prodcut for less money. Walmart offers cheap crap—for the most part—for low prices. Everything I've bought there that wasn't a specific name-brand was worthless. The stores are souless and boring—we can talk about Target, etc. also—and Walmart often pays its workers as little as possible; hedges on their benefits (if any); locks employees in their stores, demands workers stay late without overtime; crushes small-town businesses that are well-run and well-established; and doesn't help the local economies it absorbs; Walmart also tries to enforce 'family-values' on CDs and books and has demanded that several classic books be released in 'abridged' versions. And, their prices aren't any better than what can be had locally, in small local stores run by people you know who produce things because of their knowledge and love.
Walmart rarely lowers prices, takes away from the local economy, is a mediocre employer at best, and has eliminated diversification in those local economies.
I wish Apple would stay away from Walmart.

 

[clayj]

You could condense all of what 'hulugu' said to three simple words:

Wal-Mart is crap.

 

[autrefois]

How does where it's sold impact the quality?

I never said it did. I said it would affect the "prestige/coolness" factor. Please re-read my post.

It seems some people here are too elitist.

I completely agree! Oh wait, are you referring to me?

I only brought up Rolls Royce, if that's what you're referring to, because the car analogy is often brought up on the forum. I personally don't care about the prestige factor of Apple, although it is nice having people think that I have cool stuff.

That's the same attitude I'm hearing from some posters here - sell it at walmart and it's junk because too many people will have one or can afford one?

Some people seem to imply this, but I don't think my post did and that's certainly not how I feel.

How about, change the world by making products both easy to use and affordable?

Or as I put it, "I think Apple should definitely offer Apple quality at inexpensive prices, which I one of the reasons I love iPod shuffle and Mac mini." I just think now that that wasn't their main motivation is all. I think gaining marketshare was their motivation. Does that make the iPod shuffle and Mac mini any less good? No, it just changes my attitude about Apple and where they may be going as a company.

How is it a good thing if the millions of people who shop and WalMart and spur of the moment buy an MP3 player don't even have an iPod as a choice?

At the risk of getting a barrage of hegative reactions to this, I will say that it's rarely a good thing when anyone spur-of-the-moment buys something, especially something that costs $100 (or whatever the whistling smiley face will price it at). I hope that if people do buys iPod shuffles at Wal-Mart, it will at least be a somewhat educated choice, knowing Apple (generally) means quality.

I already said why I would rather Apple not deal with Wal-Mart. I feel:
* Wal-Mart destroys communities and gives its employees bad benefits and pay
* Wal-Mart is not cool, whereas Apple (in the eyes of many) is or was

Others, including you, have given their point of view:
* Apple will reach a wider audience with Wal-Mart
* Wal-Mart is only doing what any business would do in its place and offers good prices

I think we're both right, so there's no use arguing.

This is not the first time that Apple has sold it's products through Walmart!

They sold computers/printers/monitors and software in the 90's.

I'm aware of this. That's why I never said it was the first time Apple sold anything through Wal-Mart. It would also be interesting to see when in the 90s this was: was this when Apple was in dire straits?

While a new product, this is not a new relationship.

Okay, let's call it the rekindling of an old/dead relationship then.

Apple products rock. And now I can purchase them at more locations.

What's wrong with this?!

I don't know. Ask Steve.

I think Steve Jobs put it well in 2002. From the Mac Observer in 2002:

<< Apple [...] earlier in the week was reporting drab financial results. Jobs blames the economy. "I'd rather be us than some of the other guys out there," he says. "It's only us and Dell making money [among computermakers]. They're making money because they're Wal-Mart, we're making it because we're innovating."" >>

Apparently Steve Jobs used to think Wal-Mart was a bad thing...

 

[dejo]

Do other companies do this? I dont know of any that do.

The last company I worked at wanted to get a life insurance policy on me to the tune of $5 million. (This was a few years ago when they had tons of money; other "superstars" had similar, if not higher, coverage amounts) But the sole beneficiary was the company, no family allowed. I thought this was too creepy and told them I wouldn't allow it.

 

[Lacero]

Corporations' sole purpose for existence is profit before all else. If it means destroying the fabric of america or causing lost manufacturing jobs to cheap overseas labor, or if it means exploiting the workforce of middle america, you can be sure corporations are at fault. Since corporations are treated as a person under US laws, they can get away with owning other companies and have all the rights afforded by a person. Corporations are psychopaths. Be careful.

 

[Kagetenshi]

Corporations' sole purpose for existence is profit before all else.

Common misconception. In the US, a public corporation's reason for existence is required by law to be to keep the shareholders happy. Oddly enough, the shareholders like money.

~J

 

[asphalt-proof]

Subjective. I think they are nice, if a bit on the cheap side with thier signage...not as cheap as Ames used to be.

Did you grow up in the Soviet Republic? Yes its subjective but still ugly.

PROOF? I have seen this at least two or three times in this thread. If your talking about a couple pending lawsuits, remember those are not settled yet to my knowledge. Also, with as large as Walamrt is, it would not surprise me in the least to have a few bad apple(sorry, no other word fits) managers that abuse the system. This should not be a blanket judgement of the company. I shop at several area Walmarts and not once have I heard anyone complain about the company. In fact, I had friends I used to work with at Meijer (which in my area is a Union Store) who went to Walmart because they paid better and did not put up with the crap Meijer did with thier union workers. Plus they had no union dues! The ones who I saw pulling the Union card at Meijer were all lazy slobs who would never work as hard as I or many others did.

Proof: My wife worked there for three years while I was in grad school (this was in Utah). She witnessed first hand discrimination against several female assistant managers, their pay structure was slanted toward male because "they can lift more" even when the job description demanded no lifting or light lifting only. One female worker complained about a manager sexually harassing her and was fired the next day... also threatened that if she reported their would be "consequences". These are not isolated incidences either. I have a friend who works therewhile he is getting himself through school (this is in North Carolina). He has also witnessed events like these. The problem is that this is part of their corporate culture. This is why there is a class-action lawsuit against them. It is pervasive and long-standing.

Again, all companies ask their suppliers to get better prices. We'd be paying an arm and a leg if Walmart and others did not do this. Walmart tends to proove to their suppliers that while the supplier gets less per unit, they can make up for that in volume many times larger then their nearest competitor.

The problem is that the suppliers hav to cut costs in order to meet Walmart's demands. Those costs usually come at the expense of worker pay. Workers make less thus they are forced to shop at the cheapest place they can find. WHere is that you say? WalMart.

I have not seen a local business close unless they deserved to be closed.

How do you know that they "deserved" to be closed? Because Walmart is able to wield so much buying power over its suppliers, they get a much better price for their goods then the mom and pop (see above why). Plus, the suppliers stick to the mom and pops on the price because 1. they know they can, 2. they have to make up some the margins they lost from their negotiations with Walmart. Mom and pop stores cut costs to compete, once again labor costs are cut) but can't because they have no buying power relative to Walmart. Pretty soon they are their are employees are shopping there because its the only place they can afford. THe problem that so many economists, social activists, communities, etc. have with Walmart does not value the worker, the community it resides in, or its impact on the community. THis is actually well documented in several books and the PBS piece that was produced a while back. So ummm there is you proof.

There are many times when I have seen mom and pop specialty stores close down because they mismanaged things to the point that when Walmart moved in, there was no chance they could catch them. Case in point, there's a ton of other businesses in almost every neighborhood that has a Walmart in my town that have not all closed down. The only one that is in any danger of closing is the Kroger operating next to my local Walmart. If Walmart moves in a superstore (expand the existing store to a super), then they MAY go downhill. I personally have not seen one valid point where Walmart has forced local business to close. What did the Walmart police come down on them? No. They just could not compete price wise. When you are at that point, you must compete in other ways. Take a mom and pop grocery. Sure, you can't compete on regular groceries, but what happens if you go organic? What happens if you start carrying things the Walmart does not carry? You CAN still survive against the goliath. How does Apple survive against Wintel???

I also do not think Apple selling iPod Shuffles at Walmart will degrade or reduce the brand. What about HP, Sony, or Epson? They are all still good brands. Sure, now others can buy them. Staying exclusive is not the way to make money in a down economy like we have now. Also, look at the largest companies in the world of which Walmart is one of them....they all sell products that people can afford. All anyone who hates this idea is concerned about is that thier Apple Mac's and iPods aren't cool any more. I personally don't think that staying exclusive is how Apple wants to be. Case in point, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak both had an idea about computers. They wanted everyone to have one and not just the rich. The Apple II was the peoples computer as was the Mac. Steve Jobs is still very much that way. If he was into the exclusivity, he would not have signed off on the Shuffle or Mac Mini projects. He wants to prove that the smaller company can take down the giant, Microsoft. Before that, the giant was IBM. The only way to do this now is to start selling the cheaper models where they will sell, Walmart, Sam's Club and Target. The iPod most be doing well at Target otherwise they would not have been on the list to sell the Shuffle. Plus for a brief instance, they were going to sell the Mac Mini at Target. Incredible. Anyone ever remember seeing computers at Target yet? I sure as heck haven't. The Mac Mini was the first. If done with a logical business plan, the low end Apple stuff should sell quite well in both Target and Walmart and I believe that's a good thing for all of us, Apple, Walmart, Target and Mac fans. I would love to see the Mac supplant Microsoft. I think they can do it. Just look.....even the Xbox Next is going to be powered by a PowerPC chip. I'd say the PowerPC line itself is growing leaps and bounds thanks to Apple, IBM and Motorola.

Did you grow up in the Soviet Republic? Yes its subjective but still ugly.

Proof: My wife worked there for three years while I was in grad school (this was in Utah). She witnessed first hand discrimination against several female assistant managers, their pay structure was slanted toward male because "they can lift more" even when the job description demanded no lifting or light lifting only. One female worker complained about a manager sexually harassing her and was fired the next day... also threatened that if she reported their would be "consequences". These are not isolated incidences either. I have a friend who works therewhile he is getting himself through school (this is in North Carolina). He has also witnessed events like these. The problem is that this is part of their corporate culture. This is why there is a class-action lawsuit against them. It is pervasive and long-standing.

How many Mercedes do you see being sold at the Ford dealership? (to resurrect an old analogy). How many celebrities do you see going into Walmart to get their gear? You mention HP, Epson, and Sony being sold the but these are not brands that the cultural literati typically glom to. (Sony being an exception I guess.) Someone mentioned above that once a product hits middle America it ceases to be 'cool'. Apple has great brand recognition and impact globally (#1 with Google being #2... NYOnline) and a lot of that comes from the 'Cool" factor and its innovation. How many times have you read on /. that HP was upping their processor speeds on their line of laptops, or Time magazine do a write up on Sony when they release a new product?

Like it or not a company is associated with the outlet that sells it. That's one reason Apple started its own band of stores. Walmart is all about commodization. Apple has been anything but.

 

[alandail]

Like it or not a company is associated with the outlet that sells it. That's one reason Apple started its own band of stores. Walmart is all about commodization. Apple has been anything but.

what are the iPod shuffle and the Mac mini if they are not intended to be mass market products? Apple is dominating the exploding MP3 player market and expanding there OS market share for the first time in years.

That doesn't mean they can't be cool at the same time. Apple has the iPod positioned where it's not cool to not have one. And they are showing it's possible to have low end products that are cool too. In fact, the Apple coolness factor is probably at an all time high. People don't want "MP3 players" anymore, they want iPods. The iPod name has superseded the term MP3 player.

 

[Rod Rod]

People don't want "MP3 players" anymore, they want iPods. The iPod name has superseded the term MP3 player.

Not only that... but if someone says, "give me a Kleenex," and only Puffs were around, hardly anyone would say, "how about a Puffs instead," because Kleenex has become a generic term for facial tissue.

However, if someone says, "I just got an iPod," and they have a Dell DJ or Rio Carbon, just about everyone would say, "that's not an iPod, you fool."

Even if the iPod goes the way of Kleenex, Xerox and Coke, that's not necessarily a bad thing. Brand recognition and pervasiveness is good. That's why Coca-Cola sells better than RC.

 

[jmurray]

Sold their soul to the Devil Apple did. Normally I’m not ravenously opposed to any one company on principle but Walmart is actually worse then Microsoft in terms of their business practices and how they treat their employees.
Normally I would be pro any choice Apple makes but I think this is a mistake. Best Buy, fine. Target, fine. CompUSA, fine. Circuit City, fine. Walmart. Not so fine.

I couldn't agree more. Nicely said SA!

Remember the days after 9/11? Aside from GWB, no one waved the USA flag stronger than WalMart. In their ads, on their trucks, in their stores. It was inescapeable. Take a peek however, at the products WalMart sells. Overwhelming majority are NOT made in the USA. By demanding cheaper prices, companies are forced to outsource. Someone mentioned Rubbermaid going out of business, that's the tip of a colossal iceberg. Harper's had a recent article citing WalMart administrators passing out literature to its employees about how to spot a union and to STAY AWAY! They have something like 1.2 million employees. Guess what the average wage is? About $7.50 an hour. It's abhorrent. If Apple's gonna jump in bed with the chains, I vote to stay out of WalMart.

 

[pubwvj]

Guess what the average wage is [at Walmart]? About $7.50 an hour. It's abhorrent.

Wrong. That is the starting wage, for unskilled labor. And that is an good wage too. Many people make more at Walmart. I have several friends who work there and are very happy with Walmart.

Of course, you don't have to buy at Walmart, but in many places there isn't much other opportunity for shopping, or working. Not because Walmart drove the other stores out of business but because they weren't there to start with. Walmart is a great thing in rural America.

If you don't like buying stuff that was imported, then look at the labels and buy stuff made in America. But beware that the whole concept is rather slippery and Macs are _not_ made in America either.

 

[jmurray]

Wrong. That is the starting wage, for unskilled labor. And that is an good wage too.

Below is the link to the article. Your'e right, I misquoted, it's 1.3 million employees with an average wage of $8.00 an hour. Oh, that makes ALL the difference. This is according to the United Food and Commercial Workers. I'm just passing it along.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1111/is_1853_309/ai_n6332642

 

[pubwvj]

Your'e right, I misquoted, it's 1.3 million employees with an average wage of $8.00 an hour

And that is a good wage. No education necessary. No particular skills. And if you stick around and are half descent you can move up to managment work fairly quickly and earn a lot more than $8/hr. Walmart is offering a good deal to many people, both buyers and employees. Many people like working there. Many people like shopping there. If you don't, the solution is simple. Don't. This is a free country and you have the right to spend your money where you wan't. Don't confuse that with the idea that you can tell other people what to do.

 

[Kagetenshi]

And that is a good wage.

No, no it isn't. At 30 hours a week to avoid paying for benefits, that's $12,480 a year, or about two-thirds of the poverty level.

~J

 

[jmurray]

This is a free country and you have the right to spend your money where you wan't. Don't confuse that with the idea that you can tell other people what to do.

I don't spend my money there, but that's a personal choice, not one that I am imposing on others.

Look, this is a rumor site where people log on to give opinions. This is my opinion: Apple should stay out of WalMart because the company is a blood-sucking, unrelenting, greedy, very un-American [traditional], playground bully whose façade implies the inverse. The consumate display of hypocrisy!

Now, if that "opinion" is rendered in such a way that you feel I've misprepresented your experience, fine, say so. But, and I'll use your own words, "Don't confuse that with the idea that you can tell other people what to do."

 

[Munimula]

A point to Ponder

Hmm. Wal-Mart is anti-union. Union websites don't particularly like Wal-Mart and spread misinformation and messages of hatred toward Wal-Mart. Go figure. Makes sense to me. When was the last time you saw a Ford billboard that read "Cheverolet has the Best Designs" or "Dodge has more Power"?

Lets set the record straight on a couple of things.
First, for accurate, verifiable information on Wal-Mart and it's payscale/benefits, quit looking to the 'Enemies' of Wal-Mart, go to WalMartFacts.com

Yes, you should expect, as I did, to find an equally skewed view, as Wal-Mart runs that website, however the information there is accurate. Even for those who refuse to believe this should at least admit that if you want the best information about someone/something, you ask those against the entity, and those for it, then find common ground somewhere in between.

Second, Wal-Mart does not 'keep people at 30 hours so they can refuse them benefits'. They never have. 80% of Wal-Mart's workforce is regularly scheduled at least 34 hours. Usually this includes part-time. The trick is, at Wal-Mart, 34 hrs. is considered full time, eligible for all full time benefits, which are admittedly lower than some people get, but much better than any other retail company. People always make the mistake for forgetting, because of the size of Wal-Mart, that it is still retail. If you want to talk about wages/benefits/treatment, you must look at others in the same industry. Back to scheduled hours, though...by corporate policy, and non-overridable failsafes in the systems, no Full Time (see above) associate at Wal-Mart can be scheduled less than 34 hours, unless they are taking vacation/sick, etc. Even on these instances, their benefits are not discontinued. An associate is considered full-time active until their actual worked time drops below 34 hrs for 3 consecutive weeks. At my store (yes, I do work at Wal-Mart, and have for almost 10 years, I am well educated, and also a small business owner. I choose to stay at Wal-Mart because I refuse to work for any company that does not respect or listen to it's associates, draw your own conclusions.) We have a female former Assistant Manager (no, not discrimination, she started a family, and requested to step down) who only works 16 hrs a week, as training coordinator. She is full time. She gets full benefits.

I would go on, but this is likely falling on deaf ears, though I am glad to see at least some people on this forum who seem that they would understand what I am getting at.

Third, and last, Today I checked the Wal-Mart supplier listing, as I have been doing since this rumor first began, and have found that under 'Apple Computer, Inc.' are entries for:

Apple iPod Shuffle 512MB, $97.46
Apple iPod Shuffle 1GB, $148.96
Apple iPod Sport Case, $27.96
Apple iPod mini 4GB, $178.96

Yes, I think the price on the mini is likely an error, but for now, that's how it stands. I work in receiving, checking in all direct-to-store deliveries, as I assume a product launch of this type will initially be, so I'll be glad to offer more insight/information once the iPods start arriving.