I do not shop at WM .

The place is a trap...Go in there for some Shampoo, detergent & cooking oil & you come out with 2 DVD's, toys for the little ones, buggy full of groceries, fish in a plastic bag & some gardening tools. A trap I tell ya!

I havent seen the actual statistics. As we all know.. Walmart lowers prices for everyone, but do they balance that with the low wages, lack of health care, retirement. child care....etc that their employees have to live with?

The average hourly wage for WM in KY is over $10.00 per hour, while not $40,000 a year still pretty good pay for the job that is expected.

 

60% of the managers in the stores began their careers as hourly associates, because of Wal-Marts policy of promoting on merit and not seniority they have had an opportunity to promote within the company. Asst. Mgrs can make well of $40,000 a year, pretty good change when the average college graduate comes out of college making around $30,000 a year.

 

Health care is available to every employee in the company even part time, for as little as $10-15 every two weeks.

 

Retirement? I know of several people who have retired from Wal-Mart with profit sharing accounts of several hundred thousand dollars and a few with well over $1 million dollars. WM also matches 15% of an employees stock purchases, there is also 401K with automatic company contributions even if the employee puts nothing into the account.

 

 

I work with the low income community. What is the ultimate savings compared to the overall cost to the government/community? Someone pays the price for Walmart's "cost of living" cuts. I guarantee you its isnt Sam Walmart or his family.

 

What cost to the community? Wal-Mart has lowered prices mostly form being ruthlessly efficient. One example is new stores are being built that use 50-60% less energy than those built 10-15 years ago. When your electric bill is $60-70,000 per month in some stores, that's a pretty big savings.

 

Walmart could not care less about USA products. It is all about cutting all of its vendors deep to the bone....which might be OK if you are Pepsi, not so good if you are Bushes Baked Beans (a great product by the way). Smaller, yet successful companies are held hostage by such companies

Wal-Mart is one of the leading exporters of goods made in the USA, Wal-Mart ships billions of US goods to their stores around the world yearly. I would venture to say they export more Made in the USA items than any other company in the country. Wal-Mart buys the items competitively from vendors from around the world, when quality is comparable then the best price will invariably win the contract. When consumers decide they want to pay more for items made exclusively in the USA then you will see WM, Sears, Target ect. pay more for those items and sell them for more. For now the consumer in mass has made it plain they want the best price.

 

Maybe Bushes should feed Duke some Ol' Roy instead of some gourmet food that he probably eats now.:lol: BBB seems to have a pretty good relationship with WM, their beans are on the shelf of every store.

 

I admit, I shop there myself when I am desperate, but 99% of the time you will find me at Krogers or Remkes.

Do you shop Kroger because of convenience or because you like paying more for the same item.

 

Kroger made themselves a giant in the grocery industry by doing what Wal-Mart is always accused of. Local grocers were gone way before the local WM Supercenter opened, Kroger had taken care of them years before.

The place is a trap...Go in there for some Shampoo, detergent & cooking oil & you come out with 2 DVD's, toys for the little ones, buggy full of groceries, fish in a plastic bag & some gardening tools. A trap I tell ya!

 

:lol: I am that exact shopper. I see bright colors with numbers, and I assume I am getting a bargain. I buy whatever pops out in front of me.

Yes if I stay away we have more money. I have shopped but rarely.

I DO NOT shop there at all. Hate the place.

My biggest complaint is that you go to check out and there are 6 cashiers with lines backed all the way up. You would think that all the money that they make they would hire more employees but maybe thats why they have that money.

I shop there because I am poor.

I try to avoid shopping at WM, but I do enjoy the people watching when I go. Personally I'd rather shop at Krogers or Meijer or Biggs and would much rather go to the farmer's market to help the local economy. I was told that they contracted with ACDC to be the only place selling their new album, that just shows how cutthroat they are.

I shop at Wal Mart because of necessity and price. With my time constraints and the entourage I usually have with me, it is far easier to get almost everything at one place. Plus, Kroger is usually about $1.00 more expensive in staple food. When you buy 5 loaves of bread per week, saving $.75/loaf adds up pretty quick!

I try to avoid shopping at WM, but I do enjoy the people watching when I go. Personally I'd rather shop at Krogers or Meijer or Biggs and would much rather go to the farmer's market to help the local economy. I was told that they contracted with ACDC to be the only place selling their new album, that just shows how cutthroat they are.

 

Really, do you put any of this on ACDC. Fact is many artist are choosing to release directly with WM and cut out the record companies. Thus saving money and selling the albums cheaper than normal releases.

I don't fault ADDC at all, but I was not aware that other artist also do the same.

I'd like to see the report that makes this claim and how they ccame up with their conclusion.

I don't fault ADDC at all, but I was not aware that other artist also do the same.

 

So you blame Wal-Mart? How do you get that? ACDC has the right to sell their music anyway they want to, they were not forced to go this route. If you don't agree you have to blame them. WM would have sold their album either way.

 

The Eagles and Garth Brooks have both done it as well as some others. When their new albums came out they were around $3 cheaper then other new releases. This deal gives the artist complete control of their albums without any input from a record label. It gives us great music at a more affordable price.

Edited September 16, 200818 yr by Jumper_Dad

I'd like to see the report that makes this claim and how they ccame up with their conclusion.

 

Here is one article where an Phd from Ball State looked at the claim.

Link

 

If you extrapolate the $2,500 per family that he talks about hear times 100 million families it comes out to $250 Billion.

 

While you might say that I don't save that because I don't shop there, the savings is for all Americans. Based on Wal-Mart's efficiencies and expense controls they have made their vendors more efficient which in turn allows them to sell their product cheaper to all retailers thus effecting prices across America. The WM effect has positively lowered prices and helped keep the cost of living in check.

So you blame Wal-Mart? How do you get that? ACDC has the right to sell their music anyway they want to, they were not forced to go this route. If you don't agree you have to blame them. WM would have sold their album either way.

 

The Eagles and Garth Brooks have both done it as well as some others. When their new albums came out they were around $3 cheaper then other new releases. This deal gives the artist complete control of their albums without any input from a record label. It gives us great music at a more affordable price.

 

Well, I might argue this statement with you ...

 

But I think you may be mistaken about how the whole deal works. The way I understand those exclusive deals, the record company itself isn't being shut out, just the distributors, thereby lowering the middleman's cut. Established artists such as AC/DC and The Eagles don't just end multi-decade deals with record companies on a whim.

 

I can fault Wal-Mart's borderline racist policies when it comes to what albums they carry, under the guise of being a "family-oriented" store. Especially when they still carry those nasty dime-store at the front of the store in their discount book section, let alone carrying the (arguably less controversial) white artists whose albums managed to get past the PMRC labels, despite a few F-bombs lurking throughout the album.