by Elsewhere 137 Replies latest jw friends
I have found most customers find that price is not their biggest concern. They want service. They want it to be easy. They want you to anticipate their needs. If you can do this, you will be successful.
Very true. I frequently choose to shop at stores that offer better service and a better shopping experience. I have found that they do cost more... but only a little more. I'm willing to pay a few dollars more and leave the store having had a pleasant shopping experience.
I hate Walmart with a Passion. Don't really know why, I just don't.
So with none of that money recirculating back into the community, the
consumers on the whole are poorer. In fact, the only time big-box
retailers offer truly superior pricing is when they first arrive in a
new community
This is patently untrue. Do you realize how many tax dollars flow in
every day to the economy from Wal Mart? They generate more tax revenue
in one day than you're likely to make in your entire lifetime.
Spare me the propaganda about not putting money back into the
community. I live in a community (Fayetteville AR) that is the home of
the University of Arkansas. The university received one of the largest
private party donations in history recently from the Walton family.
What do you say to this?
I ask again...did you even watch the documentary? Specifically the
part about the Walton's "donations?" Or do you work at the corporate
office?
Well, I'm going to pull a Danny Haszard on you guys, and give you lots
to think about!
My question is this---Are you REALLY saving money shopping there? I
think you'll see how much more you are actually paying after reading
this.
Walmart Welfare--How Taxpayers Subsidize The World's Largest Retailer
http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Corporate_Welfare/WalMart_Welfare.html
Just a bit of the article....
GJF investigators documented 244 Wal-Mart subsidy deals with a total
value of $1.008 billion. Taxpayer dollars have helped individual
stores and distribution centers with everything from free or cut-price
land to general grants. One example: in Sharon Springs, N.Y., a
distribution center made a deal with an industrial development agency
for the agency to hold the legal title to the facility so the
corporation could evade property taxes. Good Jobs First estimates that
Wal-Mart will save about $46 million over the life of this one
agreement.
Walmart and You--How Your Tax Dollars Subsidize the World's Largest Corporation
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/news/20051101-alt.html
The subsidies Wal-Mart lobbies for run the whole gamut: free or
reduced-price land, infrastructure assistance, tax increment financing
(TIF), property tax abatements or discounts, state corporate income
tax credits, sales tax rebates, enterprise zone tax breaks, job
training funds, and low-interest tax-exempt loans. The most deals and
dollars were found in Texas (30 deals worth $108 million) and Illinois
(29 deals worth $102 million). (This one I know about. Teachers were
fired here in Illinois. Schools were closed. The city gave the money
to Walmart. The teachers protested, to no avail.)
And because of poor disclosure in most states, this could be just the
tip of the iceberg.
Specifically, the company claimed that over the past 10 years, it
collected $52 billion in sales taxes, remitted $192 million in income
taxes, wage withholdings and unemployment insurance, and paid $4
billion in local property taxes. "Do the math and you will see that
every dollar invested returned more than thirty," the company
summarized.
Of course Wal-Mart "collected" sales taxes; as a retailer, it's
required by law to do so. But that's consumers' money, not the
company's. Wal-Mart is just a pass-through. And since much of its
sales come at the expense of other retailers, any gain is obviously
offset by lower sales taxes collected at competing stores -- and by
the taxpayer costs of abandoned downtowns and malls.
Of course Wal-Mart "remitted" income and payroll taxes -- it's an
employer, and is required to deduct taxes from its workers' paychecks.
But income tax is not the company's money; it's money from the
workers' meager paychecks. And since Wal-Mart jobs are largely shifted
from other retailers and Wal-Mart pays so poorly, any net revenue gain
is unclear.
And, of course, Wal-Mart paid some property taxes -- all property
owners have to support local services. Unless, of course, they get an
abatement; our study found more than 40 such instances. But Wal-Mart
offered no disclosure on how much in property taxes it hasn't paid.
And as economists point out, companies pass on the cost of property
taxes to customers as much as market conditions allow.
So there you haveWal-Mart's version of cost-benefit analysis.
Taxpayer costs for economic development are balanced by "benefits"
that mostly consist of, well, workers' costs, consumers' costs and
taxpayers' costs.
It's ironic that a company which promotes itself as a free enterprise success story is so highly dependent on taxpayers. This fact was
conveniently forgotten during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when
Wal-Mart garnered widespread accolades for its role in providing
emergency supplies to victims of the storm. Those truckloads of
supplies should be seen not as corporate charity, but as small bit of
payback for the huge sums the company has previously drained from
taxpayers of America.
Report Finds Wal-Mart's Low Wages Cost Taxpayers Millions
http://www.newrules.org/retail/news_archive.php?browseby=slug&slugid=230
Taxpayers are picking up the tab for Wal-Mart's low wages and meager
benefits, according to a new congressional report. Prepared by the
Democratic staff of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce
and released by Rep. George Miller in February, the report concludes
that the federal government is providing an average of $2,100 annually
in public assistance per Wal-Mart employee.
You can read the rest of the article by clicking on the above link.
http://www.progressivestates.org/content/457/survey-says-americans-are-uneasy-about-health-costs-want-solutions
Workers Protest Anti-Family Scheduling Policies by Wal-Mart
Nearly 200 Wal-Mart workers spontaneously walked off the job in
Florida this week in response to new rules that even two department
managers leading the walkout deemed "inhuman." Not only were hours cut
for all full-time workers -- from 40 hours a week down to 32 hours,
but employees were required to be available for any shift around the
clock. (this is very true, as it happened to me. I was cut to 30
hours, and that was supposed to be full-time. A lady I knew with a
family was cut to one day a week.)
Under a new computerized scheduling system, employees might have to
work 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. one week and noon to 9 p.m. the next. "So
workers cannot pick up their children after school everyday, and
part-timers cannot keep another job because they can be called to work
anytime," said Guillermo Vasquez, one of the department managers
leading the protest. (also true--saw it happen over and over)
While top Wal-Mart spokesmen said the reduction in hours was a
"mistake", (this is an out and out lie--I had a walkie and sometimes
the managers would forget. I heard them talking to each other about
how many people they could send home because they HAD to cut 135 hours
in a week) stood by the abusive scheduling system, one that is
intensely anti-family but fits with a strategy outlined in a leaked
memo from last year, where Wal-Mart executives hope to drive out
full-time workers with families who might demand decent treatment and
higher wages. (saw it over and over)
The Florida walk-outs are just the most visible sign of worker
challenges to these abuses by Wal-Mart management. Across the country,
Wal-Mart's workers have been suing the company over its illegal abuse
of employees-- and they've been winning:
Just last week, a Pennsylvania jury found that Wal-Mart owes 187,000
current and former Wal-Mart employees as much as $157 million for
illegally forcing them to work "off the clock" and denying them rest
breaks.
In fact, reports indicate that Wal-Mart is facing 44 different
lawsuits by employees in 30 states for forcing employees to work
off-the-clock.
With Wal-Mart now being held accountable in courts for these illegal
pay violations, the company's newer approach is apparently to use
abusive scheduling to purposefully drive out experienced workers with
family responsibilities who might demand higher pay.
http://www.dsausa.org/lowwage/walmart/2004/walmart%20study.html
Hidden Cost Of Wal-Mart JobsUse of Safety Net Programs by Wal-Mart Workers in California
Arindrajit Dube
UC Berkeley Institute for Industrial Relations
Ken Jacobs
UC Berkeley Center for Labor Research and Education
A Study for the UC Berkeley Labor Center
Main Findings:
Reliance by Wal-Mart workers on public assistance programs in
California comes at a cost to the taxpayers of an estimated $86
million annually; this is comprised of $32 million in health related
expenses and $54 million in other assistance.
The families of Wal-Mart employees in California utilize an estimated
40 percent more in taxpayer-funded health care than the average for
families of all large retail employees.
The families of Wal-Mart employees use an estimated 38 percent more in
other (non-health care) public assistance programs (such as food
stamps, Earned Income Tax Credit, subsidized school lunches, and
subsidized housing) than the average for families of all large retail
employees.
If other large California retailers adopted Wal-Mart's wage and
benefits standards, it would cost taxpayers an additional $410 million
a year in public assistance to employees.
Tax Fairness: Closing Corporate Loopholes
http://www.masshomecare.org/AtHomeDetail.asp?Sequence=555
Here is an example of how this loophole works: The Wal-Mart
corporation is the largest retailer in the world. It had $312 billion
in sales last year. Wal-Mart has 48 stores in Massachusetts. According
to the Wall Street Journal, Wal-Mart created a series of corporations
ten years ago, that allow the company to pay rent to its own
subsidiary in Delaware, for its 48 stores in Massachusetts, and then
deduct that rent as a business expense to lower its taxable income.
No money ever changes hands. It's just a bookkeeping entry that allows
Wal-Mart to shift income to another state, and lower its taxes in our
state. One research group, Change to Win, estimates that Wal-Mart
alone avoided paying $37.8 million in Massachusetts taxes from
1999-2005. That's an average of $5.4 million a year that Wal-Mart does
not pay in taxes.(what was that you stated about taxes, John Doe???)
Combined reporting requires a multi-state
corporation to add together the profits of all its subsidiaries,
regardless of location, into one report for taxation purposes.
Now, I am no mathematician, but I'm not stupid either. I can figure
out for myself that shopping at Walmart costs way more than those
3/$1.00 onions. And maybe if it was K-Mart cutting hours, I'd give
them some slack, because K-Mart has closed thousands of stores and are
struggling to survive. But Walmart is the RICHEST COMPANY IN THE
WORLD! Yet, it treats its employees AND CUSTOMERS like crap. Next time
you walk into a Walmart and pick up that "cheap" pair of jeans, triple
or quadruple that price. That's what you're paying, if not more.
One thing I do before I make any decisions in my life now...is to study thoroughly any subject that affects it. Be it religion, work, medicine, etc. I learned that from being a witness and not researching anything. I worked for this company for almost 4 years of my life. Because it was a spur of the moment job that I HAD to have, I didn't do my homeowrk. You can bet I have now.
Hey, you asked!
I forgot one.
http://campusprogress.org/features/279/ten-things-wal-mart-doesnt-want-you-to-know
Find out the true costs behind those “everyday low prices.”
By Jared Cram, Temple University
Living on a college campus brings with it two immutable truths: last call always comes about four hours too early and you never have enough money in your pocket. Given this second fact, I’m sure most of you have ventured into your local Wal-Mart at least once. (Sure, that same Wal-Mart is probably the fifteenth to open in your town and maybe even qualifies for its own zip code at this point.) But the next time you’re tempted by a color television selling for about ten bucks, consider the following ten facts that Wal-Mart doesn’t want you to know about the real costs behind its “everyday low prices.”
1. Wal-Mart regularly violates federal law and flouts international human rights standards.
The right of workers to organize labor unions is protected by the National Labor Relations Act and is also cited as a basic human right by the International Labor Organization. In 2002, 43 distinct charges were filed against Wal-Mart for violations of the National Labor Relations Act and since 1995, 60 complaints have been filed against Wal-Mart with the National Labor Relations Board. These complaints and charges range from illegal firings to threats and intimidations against workers who attempt to exercise their right to organize. In fact, Wal-Mart provided store managers with a “toolbox for remaining union-free” that includes lists of warning sings that employees may be organizing and a hotline number to summon a corporate anti-union SWAT team. (true--saw it myself)
2. Wal-Mart regularly falls below industry standards for employee pay.
In 2001, the average pay of a Wal-Mart worker was $8.23 per hour, more than two dollars less per hour than the average supermarket employee wage of $10.35 per hour. Furthermore, Wal-Mart associates only average 32 hours a week, causing many employees to be classified as “part-time,” thus restricting their access to health care and other benefits exclusively earmarked for full-timers. In fact, Wal-Mart wages are so low that the average Wal-Mart worker’s annual salary in 2001 was almost $1,000 below the federal poverty line of $14,630 for a family of three.
3. Wal-Mart has made the glass ceiling wider and thicker than ever before.
In 2001, six female employees in California filed suit against Wal-Mart, triggering the largest class action lawsuit in American history involving more than one million current and former female employees. Women in the Wal-Mart “family” make up more than two-thirds of its hourly employees, but hold only one-third of managerial positions, according to a report in the Financial Times. The report also notes that only 15 percent of Wal-Mart store managers are women. Check out Selling Women Short: The Landmark Battle for Workers’ Rights at Wal-Mart to learn more.
4. Wal-Mart sometimes doesn’t even pay its low wages at all.
Poverty level wages are bad enough. But Wal-Mart apparently feels that not paying wages at all is even better for its bottom line. As of December 2002, 39 class action lawsuits in 30 states were filed against Wal-Mart claiming tens of millions of dollars in back pay owed to hundreds of thousands employees. These lawsuits included instances of Wal-Mart forcing employees to work through breaks, forcing employees to work off the clock, and even deleting hours from employees’ time sheets without their knowledge. According to a former Wal-Mart manager in Alabama and Mississippi, Wal-Mart’s central office threatened to write up managers who didn’t reduce labor costs and this led to managers leaning on assistant managers to falsify time sheets and force employees to work without pay.
5. Wal-Mart routinely makes health care unavailable or unaffordable for its employees.
Wal-Mart’s company health insurance is too expensive or practically impossible to get for many of its employees. Just over 40 percent of Wal-Mart employees have insurance through the company plan, far fewer than the 66 percent that is typical of a firm the size of Wal-Mart. There are a few causes for this: classifying employees as “part-time,” increasing the waiting period for eligibility, and refusing to allow employees to extend coverage to spouses and children. The end result of this is that the public is forced to pick up the slack with our tax dollars. According to a study put out by the Institute for Labor and Employment at the University of California-Berkeley, Wal-Mart employees received $20.5 million in public health care assistance in California alone. And Wal-Mart is more than happy to keep this subsidy gravy train going. Knowing that its employees can’t afford the company health plan, or because they just refuse to make it available to employees, Wal-Mart encourages employees to apply for public assistance programs like Medicaid that are meant to be last resort safety net options, while Wal-Mart continues to bilk American taxpayers for millions in health care costs.
6. Wal-Mart regularly drains public coffers at all levels of government.
The government subsidization of health care for Wal-Mart employees is just the tip of the iceberg. Wal-Mart routinely uses taxpayer money to finance its never-ending corporate growth. A report commissioned by the House Committee on Education and Welfare estimates that a two hundred person Wal-Mart store costs federal taxpayers approximately $420,750 a year, or $2,103 per employee. These costs include:
-$36,000 a year for free and reduced cost school lunches,
-$42,000 for Section 8 housing assistance,
-$125,000 for low-income family tax credits and deductions,
-$100,000 for additional Title I expenses,
-$108,000 for state children’s health insurance expenses, and
-$9,750 for low income energy assistance
State and local governments also lose when Wal-Mart comes to town. A study commissioned by the Los Angeles City Councilin 2003 found that Wal-Mart is a net loss for the communities it moves into. An influx of “big box retailers” such as Wal-Mart was estimated to cost an additional $9 million in state health care costs and a loss in pensions and retirement benefits so large that the increase in public assistance necessary to make up the shortfall could not even be covered by increased sales and property taxes.
7. Wal-Mart makes a habit of flouting immigration laws and regulations.
As Wal-Mart continues its race to the bottom in worker compensation, Wal-Mart routinely seeks out the most vulnerable and powerless workers in the American economy: undocumented immigrant workers. On October 23, 2003, federal agents raided 61 stores in 21 states leading to the arrest of 250 janitors who were undocumented workers. Similar raids in 1998 and 2001 led to the arrest of an additional 102 undocumented Wal-Mart employees. In addition, the 2003 raid led to a grand jury being convened to consider federal labor racketeering charges against Wal-Mart executives. These charges were bolstered by wiretapped conversations between Wal-Mart executives and labor contractors that proved Wal-Mart knew its employees were undocumented immigrants.
8. Wal-Mart has played a major role in the outsourcing of American jobs overseas.
Although Wal-Mart has always tried to pass itself off as a company deeply concerned with the well-being of everyday American workers, actions speak louder than words. No longer content to follow its old motto of “Buy American,” Wal-Mart now imports over 50 percent of its merchandise from overseas. In 2003 alone, Wal-Mart purchased one-eighth of all Chinese imports to the United States. And by insisting on the low prices that only sweatshop labor can provide, Wal-Mart has used its tremendous power in the marketplace to bully American firms into moving their production facilities overseas. And once overseas, these firms are required to keep prices low at all costs to please Wal-Mart; even if it requires forcing employees to work in sweatshop conditions for little pay producing products that the factories lose money on.
9. Wal-Mart has consistently discriminated against disabled workers.
Wal-Mart has also been an equal opportunity discriminator by choosing to ignore federal laws banning discrimination against the disabled. Wal-Mart has been the defendant in a number of suits alleging this kind of discrimination and in 2001 alone it was required to pay $6 million to settle 13 such lawsuits. These lawsuits were brought not by individuals, but by the federal government through the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. These settlements also required that Wal-Mart change its hiring practices and provide more training for employees in anti-discrimination laws. Nonetheless, on January 20, 2004, Wal-Mart was again in court after refusing to hire a man in Kansas City because he required a wheelchair.
10. Wal-Mart routinely puts its employees at risk of serious injury or death.
Wal-Mart has also chosen to flout federal worker safety regulations on a regular basis. This is most apparent in its policy to “lock-in” employees overnight. Wal-Mart claims this is to prevent employee theft and unauthorized breaks. In order to enforce these rules, Wal-Mart threatens to fire any workers who use the fire exits and only provides a key to unlock the doors to a manager. On many occasions, workers have been locked in overnight without a manager, forcing employees to wait until morning to receive treatment for injuries such as broken bones and lacerations. And although it has yet to happen at Wal-Mart, American history teaches us what happens when employees are locked in with no way to get out. In 1911, 146 employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, mostly young women, were burned alive behind doors locked by the owners. More recently, in 1991, 25 workers were killed when a fire broke out in a chicken processing plant in North Carolina where the employees were locked in. The reason for the locked doors? Management concerns of employee theft and unauthorized breaks.
(The above is true, and I have seen it myself.)
In the end, it’s pretty obvious that Wal-Mart is one of the most irresponsible employers in America today. It is hard to narrow its corporate misdeeds to only ten points. This list doesn’t even include Wal-Mart’s penchant for censorship or its damaging environmental record. As the largest retailer in the United States, Wal-Mart is a giant whose dominance allows the company to set standards in the retail sector and instead of acting as a responsible corporate citizen, it has chosen to lead a race straight to the bottom for American workers. Carry this list with you next time your wallet looks a little empty and you’re deciding where to shop.
Tatiana, one small question for you. What incentive do cities have for giving Wal Mart reduced priced land or tax breaks? Why do they do this? You're good at posting copy and paste drivel, now let's see how well you answer a simple question in your own words.
10. Wal-Mart routinely puts its employees at risk of serious injury or death.
Wal-Mart has also chosen to flout federal worker safety regulations on a regular basis.This is most apparent in its policy to “lock-in” employees overnight. Wal-Mart claims this is to prevent employee theft and unauthorized breaks. In order to enforce these rules, Wal-Mart threatens to fire any workers who use the fire exits and only provides a key to unlock the doors to a manager. On many occasions, workers have been locked in overnight without a manager, forcing employees to wait until morning to receive treatment for injuries such as broken bones and lacerations. And although it has yet to happen at Wal-Mart, American history teaches us what happens when employees are locked in with no way to get out. In 1911, 146 employees of the Triangle Shirtwaist Company, mostly young women, were burned alive behind doors locked by the owners. More recently, in 1991, 25 workers were killed when a fire broke out in a chicken processing plant in North Carolina where the employees were locked in. The reason for the locked doors? Management concerns of employee theft and unauthorized breaks.
Let's disect just this one quote, which has serious bias. I'm sure that when "Wal-Mart threatens to fire any workers who use the fire exits and only provides a key to unlock the doors to a manager," you're not given the whole story. Fire exits are not locked in large buildings, and can be opened at any time from the inside. This is the reason they even mention terminating employees who use them--because employees can use them, otherwise the rule makes no sense. This fact alone makes the references to the wokers killed in fires completely irrelevant and not applicable. The keys to unlock doors mentioned most certainly refers to the main entry doors, which can be locked. Locking fire exits is against safety regulations, for obvious reasons.
Furthermore, I will guarantee you that not allowing workers to open these doors is limited to opening doors for frivolous reasons. I'm personally aware of a charge in the last city in which I lived that the fire department makes to retailers any time the fire alarm goes off for any reason--$2500. Were you aware of this? Do you think a retailer should allow employees to open doors that create a $2500 charge for any reason? Surely you're not seriously arguing that point?
The article you've quoted gives an extremely slanted, one-sided view that is obviously intended to decieve and give a distorted picture. Any person concerned with accuracy will give it no credence.
Taxpayers are picking up the tab for Wal-Mart's low wages and meager
benefits, according to a new congressional report. Prepared by the
Democratic staff of the House Committee on Education and the Workforce
and released by Rep. George Miller in February, the report concludes
that the federal government is providing an average of $2,100 annually
in public assistance per Wal-Mart employee.
No one is saying that working at Wal Mart is a skilled job. Are you arguing that it should be paid as a skilled job? What about all the other companies that hire unskilled labor--fast food chains, gas stations, etc. Why should a company be required to pay more than a job is worth or the market will sustain?
where Wal-Mart executives hope to drive out
full-time workers with families who might demand decent treatment and
higher wages.
Wal Mart is mainly a college kid job, and is paid as such. What business does a man with a family to support have working at Wal Mart? Should Wal Mart be responsible for the family man's being too lazy to get a better paying, more skilled job?
No money ever changes hands. It's just a bookkeeping entry that allows
Wal-Mart to shift income to another state, and lower its taxes in our
state. One research group, Change to Win, estimates that Wal-Mart
alone avoided paying $37.8 million in Massachusetts taxes from
1999-2005. That's an average of $5.4 million a year that Wal-Mart does
not pay in taxes.(what was that you stated about taxes, John Doe???)
Can you show many one corporation, or indvidual for that matter, who does not use accountaints to avail themselves of the most profitable tax laws? Furthermore, why are you ignoring the taxes the company did pay, and focusing on those they didn't? With tax rates at about 10% in most places and sales in the millions per store per year, 5.4 million is a relatively small amount.
I could continue responding point by point to this biased nonsense, but it's a waste of time. From a psychological perspective, it's interesting, but it's also frustrating. Reason and logic makes no difference to the person who hates something irrationally. Hating Wal Mart is a wierd part of the psychological makeup of many, some sort of cathartic need to hate anything succesful or large. Quite sad actually.
