Collarspace Discussion Forums


Home  Login  Search 

RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart


View related threads: (in this forum | in all forums)

Logged in as: Guest
 
All Forums >> [Casual Banter] >> Off the Grid >> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart Page: <<   < prev  4 5 [6] 7 8   next >   >>
Login
Message << Older Topic   Newer Topic >>
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 5:51:00 AM   
MizSuz


Posts: 1881
Joined: 1/1/2004
Status: offline
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. 


_____________________________

“The more you love, the more you can love—and the more intensely you love. Nor is there any limit on how many you can love. If a person had time enough, he could love all of that majority who are decent and just.”
- Robert Heinlein

(in reply to LTRsubNW)
Profile   Post #: 101
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 9:51:43 AM   
Amaros


Posts: 1363
Joined: 7/25/2005
Status: offline 		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.

(in reply to MizSuz)
Profile   Post #: 102
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 10:03:06 AM   
philosophy


Posts: 5284
Joined: 2/15/2004
Status: offline 		"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.

(in reply to Amaros)
Profile   Post #: 103
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 10:25:52 AM   
Sinergy


Posts: 9383
Joined: 4/26/2004
Status: offline
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.


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.


_____________________________

"There is a fine line between clever and stupid"
David St. Hubbins "This Is Spinal Tap"

"Every so often you let a word or phrase out and you want to catch it and bring it back. You cant do that, it is gone, gone forever." J. Danforth Quayle


(in reply to Saratov)
Profile   Post #: 104
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 10:31:34 AM   
Sinergy


Posts: 9383
Joined: 4/26/2004
Status: offline
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

_____________________________

"There is a fine line between clever and stupid"
David St. Hubbins "This Is Spinal Tap"

"Every so often you let a word or phrase out and you want to catch it and bring it back. You cant do that, it is gone, gone forever." J. Danforth Quayle


(in reply to LTRsubNW)
Profile   Post #: 105
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 7:21:59 PM   
LTRsubNW


Posts: 1604
Joined: 5/6/2006
Status: offline
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.

(in reply to cuddleheart50)
Profile   Post #: 106
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 7:23:06 PM   
LTRsubNW


Posts: 1604
Joined: 5/6/2006
Status: offline
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. 



(Only my deficit)

(in reply to MizSuz)
Profile   Post #: 107
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 7:25:47 PM   
LTRsubNW


Posts: 1604
Joined: 5/6/2006
Status: offline 		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).

(in reply to philosophy)
Profile   Post #: 108
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 7:40:01 PM   
Sinergy


Posts: 9383
Joined: 4/26/2004
Status: offline
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

_____________________________

"There is a fine line between clever and stupid"
David St. Hubbins "This Is Spinal Tap"

"Every so often you let a word or phrase out and you want to catch it and bring it back. You cant do that, it is gone, gone forever." J. Danforth Quayle


(in reply to LTRsubNW)
Profile   Post #: 109
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 7:44:21 PM   
LTRsubNW


Posts: 1604
Joined: 5/6/2006
Status: offline
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).

< Message edited by LTRsubNW -- 10/18/2006 8:35:36 PM >

(in reply to Sinergy)
Profile   Post #: 110
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 7:48:29 PM   
Sinergy


Posts: 9383
Joined: 4/26/2004
Status: offline
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

_____________________________

"There is a fine line between clever and stupid"
David St. Hubbins "This Is Spinal Tap"

"Every so often you let a word or phrase out and you want to catch it and bring it back. You cant do that, it is gone, gone forever." J. Danforth Quayle


(in reply to LTRsubNW)
Profile   Post #: 111
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 7:48:54 PM   
Lordandmaster


Posts: 10943
Joined: 6/22/2004
Status: offline 		Are you KIDDING?

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/17647

quote:

ORIGINAL: LTRsubNW

there wasn't anything underhanded in how they did it

(in reply to LTRsubNW)
Profile   Post #: 112
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 7:49:52 PM   
Noah


Posts: 1660
Joined: 7/5/2005
Status: offline
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.



(in reply to LTRsubNW)
Profile   Post #: 113
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 7:59:26 PM   
LTRsubNW


Posts: 1604
Joined: 5/6/2006
Status: offline
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.

< Message edited by LTRsubNW -- 10/18/2006 8:02:11 PM >

(in reply to Lordandmaster)
Profile   Post #: 114
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 8:05:54 PM   
Lordandmaster


Posts: 10943
Joined: 6/22/2004
Status: offline 		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" ?

(in reply to LTRsubNW)
Profile   Post #: 115
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 8:08:12 PM   
Noah


Posts: 1660
Joined: 7/5/2005
Status: offline
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.

(in reply to LTRsubNW)
Profile   Post #: 116
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 8:14:53 PM   
LTRsubNW


Posts: 1604
Joined: 5/6/2006
Status: offline
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.

< Message edited by LTRsubNW -- 10/18/2006 8:19:12 PM >

(in reply to Lordandmaster)
Profile   Post #: 117
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 8:21:41 PM   
LTRsubNW


Posts: 1604
Joined: 5/6/2006
Status: offline
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).

< Message edited by LTRsubNW -- 10/18/2006 8:23:38 PM >

(in reply to Noah)
Profile   Post #: 118
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 8:25:58 PM   
Lordandmaster


Posts: 10943
Joined: 6/22/2004
Status: offline 		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.

(in reply to LTRsubNW)
Profile   Post #: 119
RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart - 10/18/2006 8:29:53 PM   
LTRsubNW


Posts: 1604
Joined: 5/6/2006
Status: offline
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).

< Message edited by LTRsubNW -- 10/18/2006 8:31:04 PM >

(in reply to Lordandmaster)
Profile   Post #: 120
Page:   <<   < prev  4 5 [6] 7 8   next >   >>
All Forums >> [Casual Banter] >> Off the Grid >> RE: Our Friendly Neighborhood Wal-Mart Page: <<   < prev  4 5 [6] 7 8   next >   >>
Jump to:





New Messages No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages Locked w/o New Messages
 Post New Thread
 Reply to Message
 Post New Poll
 Submit Vote
 Delete My Own Post
 Delete My Own Thread
 Rate Posts




Collarchat.com © 2025
Terms of Service Privacy Policy Spam Policy

0.109