The Walmart you don't know

[Hengst]

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line?

 

[ChefWide]

Not only are we shopping are way to unemployement, but our relationships with crooks like the IMF and World Bank will destroy all we claim to hold as right.

 

[Ashamed]

supermarkets like Tesco's are often accused of the same thing....

 

[WODIN]

Not only are we shopping are way to unemployement, but our relationships with crooks like the IMF and World Bank will destroy all we claim to hold as right.

Woooh...You've got more than 2 brain cells!

 

[ChefWide]

why, thank you wodin.

 

[atlantabiolab]

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

The giant retailer's low prices often come with a high cost. Wal-Mart's relentless pressure can crush the companies it does business with and force them to send jobs overseas. Are we shopping our way straight to the unemployment line?

Such attacks on large corporations always neglect the history of free enterprise. Where is Standard Oil, Woolworths, Texas Instruments, K-Mart, etc.?

The real danger of Wal-Mart is in its use of local government's power of eminent domain.

 

[ChefWide]

I was just taking a poetic shit on Standard Oil in post yesterday, by coincidence. The imediate danger is of course the far reaching and insidious tentacles of any company that holds such sway within its own medium. WalMart handles one out of every 10 cents sold retail in the US.

Watchout.

 

[Hengst]

Re: Re: The Walmart you don't know

Such attacks on large corporations always neglect the history of free enterprise. Where is Standard Oil, Woolworths, Texas Instruments, K-Mart, etc.?

The real danger of Wal-Mart is in its use of local government's power of eminent domain.

did you even read the article?

 

[milo hobgoblin]

...

Just one of the MANY reason I will not step foot into Wal Mart.

 

[MattTheSkywalker]

It;s good to point out that wal Mart harms many of its suppliers (the Vlasic reference, etc.)

The insidous nature of it all, and the article doesn't really get into this enough, is that wal-Mart represents a huge revenue boostr for many small businesses, but once the contracts are signed, wal Mart forces them to change the way they do business to suit Wal Mart and only Wal Mart.

Eventually, the supplier chanegs itself to fit its biggest customer, and then wal MArt extracts ridiculous price concessions that the supplier has no choice but to give it, as it has neglected other customers.

Sophisticated business people often avoid Wal Mart, but it is unreasonable to criticize them too much - they have lowered the cost of many goods for hundreds of millions of Americans.