RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart

RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (Full Version)

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MizSuz -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 5:51:00 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW I'm withholding my special dates until the deficit is below 6 trillion. And you think buying at the evil empire is going to HELP the deficit? Poor lonely man. [:D]

Amaros -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 9:51:43 AM)
There is no reason that smaller firms cannot take advantage of the same technologies Wal-Mart uses to cut overhead - and do it better: special orders, etc. My local bookstore/coffee shop can special order books for me at a deeper discount than any of the larger chains. Several smaller firms can combine resources to cut their inventory costs, etc. Similar business often tend to locate near one another, a economic phenomona known as clustering - it increases sales since more potential customers looking for the same thing, furniture or resturants for example, will be drawn to a cluster - if they can't find what they want one place, they'll find it at another - these firms could be getting deliveries off the same truck, even if they are using different suppliers. The problem with online grocery shopping was the cost of delivery - this problem could be solved by private entreprenuers working with neighborhood groceries - the small groceries could serve as local depots, and commodities could be distributed by people servicing their individual neighborhoods - all you'd need is a couple of refigerators, and some garage space to create a neighborhood distribution node. If it's localized enough, you could even deliver from a bicycle to cut costs - bike trailers with 200+ lbs capacity are available on the internet.

philosophy -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 10:03:06 AM)
"If it's localized enough, you could even deliver from a bicycle to cut costs - bike trailers with 200+ lbs capacity are available on the internet." ....thing is though...if small businesses go down this line, and begin to take business away from Wally-world, then all Walmart will do is institute similar services and due to their immense buying power get the bikes so cheap they'll be able to undercut the local guys and gals.......when businesses get past a certain size they operate in a new sort of fiscal universe, the free market exerts no control over this and so laws limiting big business become necessary.

Sinergy -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 10:25:52 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Saratov If a man walks into a party and sees another man wearing an identical suit he doesn't go hide or run home. [8\|] I dont? Just me, could be wrong, but there you go. Sinergy p.s. I do own suits. I have been told I have fabulous taste in men's wear. But you would never know it looking at me in an old ratty 501s or bathing suit, t-shirt, and flip-flops. The life of a longshoreman is not overly conducive to needing to wear nice clothes.

Sinergy -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 10:31:34 AM)
quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW quote: ORIGINAL: Sinergy Fun fact of the day: A couple of years ago, China (who make a huge percentage of Walmart products) refused to allow Walmart to open Walmarts in China because China does not approve of the way Walmart treats their employees. Just me, could be wrong, but there you go. Sinergy Actually, China has 11 WalMarts. I could have told China: RESISTANCE IS FUTILE, YOU WILL BE ASSIMILATED BY WALMART! Just me, could be wrong, but there you go. Sinergy

LTRsubNW -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 7:21:59 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: cuddleheart50 Thanks Level, I'm also going to be checking it out to see if there is someplace else that I can shop. Me too.

LTRsubNW -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 7:23:06 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: MizSuz quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW I'm withholding my special dates until the deficit is below 6 trillion. And you think buying at the evil empire is going to HELP the deficit? Poor lonely man. [:D] (Only my deficit)

LTRsubNW -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 7:25:47 PM)
Ya know...everybody forgets that WalMart started out as one single store. They got big by providing the same products at less margin. (Anyone could have done it, several tried, most failed...some are still around such as Target...but anyone could have done it. They did..and there wasn't anything underhanded in how they did it...they just did it better).

Sinergy -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 7:40:01 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW Ya know...everybody forgets that WalMart started out as one single store. They got big by providing the same products at less margin. (Anyone could have done it, several tried, most failed...some are still around such as Target...but anyone could have done it. They did..and there wasn't anything underhanded in how they did it...they just did it better). Not quite. They also did it by keeping their overhead (wages, benefits) low, by hiring teams of anti-union busters to ensure that their work force did not demand a living wage. They also did it by refusing to buy quality american products, but to instead bargain with the cheapest suppliers on the planet. While you can stand up and insist Walmart is pro american (which any idiot can see by all the Red/White/Blue jingoist nonsense that festoons their stores) I challenge you to find any product they sell made in America. Just me, could be wrong, but there you go. Sinergy

LTRsubNW -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 7:44:21 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Sinergy quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW Ya know...everybody forgets that WalMart started out as one single store. They got big by providing the same products at less margin. (Anyone could have done it, several tried, most failed...some are still around such as Target...but anyone could have done it. They did..and there wasn't anything underhanded in how they did it...they just did it better). Not quite. They also did it by keeping their overhead (wages, benefits) low, by hiring teams of anti-union busters to ensure that their work force did not demand a living wage. They also did it by refusing to buy quality american products, but to instead bargain with the cheapest suppliers on the planet. While you can stand up and insist Walmart is pro american (which any idiot can see by all the Red/White/Blue jingoist nonsense that festoons their stores) I challenge you to find any product they sell made in America. Just me, could be wrong, but there you go. Sinergy I never once said, nor suggested they were pro American in any fashion. I simply said they sell products Americans want, at prices Americans want to pay. How they accomplish that task seems to be one of unending debate...but to date, try as they might, no govt. agency has found fault enough with their system to regulate them, cause them to be broken up or even, for that matter, have a Justice Dept. review to bring them down to DOJ to have them disprove that they've done anything wrong. (I think their sales growth curve and profit margins attest well enough to that fact that I don't need to validate it). No one has to buy from them...but it seems more and more people every single day are able to get over their uncontrollable contempt for the place to send them another billion dollars. All anyone has to do to stop this gigantic danger to society is...quit sending them money. (But that doesn't appear likely anytime in the near or distant future).

Sinergy -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 7:48:29 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW I never once said, nor suggested they were pro American in any fashion. I simply said they sell products Americans want, at prices Americans want to pay. (I think their sales growth curve and profit margins attest well enough to that fact that I don't need to validate it). Ok, one more time. The price you pay for whatever at Walmart has to be added to the price your taxes pay to provide health care, subsidized housing, food stamps, etc., to the person who works for them. You might think you are getting a great deal buying shoes made in Indonesia for $24.99 instead of the shoes selling for $29.99 that were made in the United States, but if you do the math you are actually not saving very much AND you are contributing to the economic destruction of the United States, as well as the unemployment of people who live here. Believe what you want to believe. Peace out sinergy

Lordandmaster -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 7:48:54 PM)
Are you KIDDING? http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17647 quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW there wasn't anything underhanded in how they did it

Noah -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 7:49:52 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW and there wasn't anything underhanded in how they did it...they just did it better). Unless you consider stuff like chronic and systematic violation of labor laws underhanded.

LTRsubNW -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 7:59:26 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Lordandmaster Are you KIDDING? http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17647 quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW there wasn't anything underhanded in how they did it Again I ask...where's the Justice Dept. review for a Sherman Antitrust breach...where's the multiple states attorneys general up in arms about any number of issues? Show me where the feds have said "we're gonna break you up because you're evil monsters destroying the fabric of this country" ? Even within this thread, we've heard from several people who work for WalMart, who love the work, their employer, the products, the work environment. When a WalMart opens, in NY, BFE, Los Angeles or even Seattle they have let's say 200 jobs available. Consistently they get 1,000 or more applicants for these jobs. WTF up wit dat? I pay 3 times what WalMart pays, we have immediate benefits, vacation pay for all, over time on damn near every paycheck, our checks never bounce and we've been in business for decades, known throughout the region. I'll tell you what...I can't get 1,000 people to apply for a job at our place...I'm lucky to get 5 to come in...and 80% of those don't even bring a damn pen in to fill the thing out...I'll never understand what the draw is for WalMart new hires...but you have to ask an obvious question: "If they're so doggone evil, if they pay such horrid wages and next to zero benefits...if they're that plain awful to work for...why the hell is the above story so consistent and why does almost every one of these things when they open have damn near a tsunami of applicants?" It's a valid question.

Lordandmaster -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 8:05:54 PM)
You really don't read much, do you... http://money.cnn.com/services/tickerheadlines/for5/200610131644DOWJONESDJONLINE000939_FORTUNE5.htm quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW Again I ask...where's the Justice Dept. review for a Sherman Antitrust breach...where's the multiple states attorneys general up in arms about any number of issues? Show me where the feds have said "we're gonna break you up because you're evil monsters destroying the fabric of this country" ?

Noah -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 8:08:12 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW quote: ORIGINAL: Lordandmaster Are you KIDDING? http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17647 quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW there wasn't anything underhanded in how they did it Again I ask...where's the Justice Dept. review for a Sherman Antitrust breach...where's the multiple states attorneys general up in arms about any number of issues? Gee. Just how many states' attorneys general have to be up in arms before you'll acknowledge that "anything underhanded" has gone on? I hope you aren't this strict with the young men your daughter wants to date.

LTRsubNW -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 8:14:53 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Lordandmaster You really don't read much, do you... http://money.cnn.com/services/tickerheadlines/for5/200610131644DOWJONESDJONLINE000939_FORTUNE5.htm quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW Again I ask...where's the Justice Dept. review for a Sherman Antitrust breach...where's the multiple states attorneys general up in arms about any number of issues? Show me where the feds have said "we're gonna break you up because you're evil monsters destroying the fabric of this country" ? Yep, they got fined. They were baaaaaaad. They got fined in California some months back for hiring a firm that hired a bunch of illegal aliens for their janitorial services that they apparently were aware of and looked the other way. I didn't argue that they have never been bad. Most Americans have someone whom they've hired to do yard work that doesn't have all their papers, most people don't check...most don't have the wherewithall to check...it happens every day. Businesses across the country don't pay overtime even when they're legally required to do so. You can be certain that if WalMart goes out of business tomorrow morning, newspapers will never run out of new stories about those who do the same thing. I compete with businesses that are supposed to pay what's called "Davis Bacon" wages on publicly funded work...but they don't. It happens in large and small companies every day and it's overwhelmingly illegal. It's also highly unfair to companies like my own that operate entirely on the up and up. But, I wasn't talking about, nor did I suggest that they, along with many other businesses hadn't done things on one side of the law or the other...I said that no federal agency or state agency has felt to date that their breach was so bad that it merited a full and complete dismantling of the company. When they do, I'll have no option but to agree with your argument...until that happens...they're not a whole lot different from thousands of other companies around the country...they just get more scrutiny and press when they do.

LTRsubNW -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 8:21:41 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Noah Gee. Just how many states' attorneys general have to be up in arms before you'll acknowledge that "anything underhanded" has gone on? (I would think "one" would be more than adequate).

Lordandmaster -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 8:25:58 PM)
Because they do it on a much more massive scale and cause more social and economic harm. Saying that Walmart isn't really very bad because there are all kinds of other bad companies doesn't make sense. Walmart is bad AND many other companies are bad. quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW they're not a whole lot different from thousands of other companies around the country...they just get more scrutiny and press when they do.

LTRsubNW -> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart (10/18/2006 8:29:53 PM)
quote: ORIGINAL: Lordandmaster Because they do it on a much more massive scale and cause more social and economic harm. Saying that Walmart isn't really very bad because there are all kinds of other bad companies doesn't make sense. Walmart is bad AND many other companies are bad. quote: ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW they're not a whole lot different from thousands of other companies around the country...they just get more scrutiny and press when they do. I don't know if WalMart's bad, or by way of comparison they're better or worse than others...I only know that the federal government (and some state governments), who has/have not only the right, but the responsability to enforce every nuance of every argument made in the great WalMart debate by way of all kinds of federal laws and restrictions, share a vastly different view. If they didn't, we'd see the same kinds of actions taken against them as we saw taken against Microsoft. (It hasn't happened).

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