Behind the yellow smiley face (Wal-mart) (page 2)

Farkel

DanTheMan,

: I would think that you'd have a good lawsuit if they fired you, but I could be wrong, after all we're living in GWB's corporate plutocracy.

Explain to us how, in just four years GWB turned our economy into a "corporate plutocracy." Be specific, please. What laws did he sponsor, what laws did he sign, what policies did he employ that made the USA go from NOT being a corporate plutocracy into BEING a corporate plutocracy.

Farkel

little1

Dear Farkel,

You make my head hurt. All that serious thought! You do good research, man!

How about -"How did Walmart go from being a place where only goods made in America were sold-thus saving jobs for Americans-to being an outlet store for low quality third world goods?" There's a question that bears looking into. Except that there's one simple answer: GREED.

Walmart doesn't care about people- neither employees nor customers. It cars only for $$$$$

L1

Nancy Drake

Farkel,
My bumper sticker says:
"Let's not elect him in 2004, either."

Matty

Walmart is supremely successful because they have no real competition in the US - in many areas they have a complete monopoly. In the UK, under the guise of ASDA, they have plenty of competition, particularly from Tesco, who also operate large, all-under-one-roof type superstores. They also aren?t allowed to build their hideous supercenters everywhere and anywhere they want in the UK like they do over here.

When I speak to people who only shop at Walmart for their groceries I find out that they generally think they are the cheapest. Why? Because they are told they are the cheapest, and just presume that they are! Very few Walmart customers have the time to do real price comparisons - they like the convenience of getting everything under one roof. I?ve checked prices at Albertsons, Kash n? Karry and Publix and have found that on branded goods they are certainly not always the cheapest - it pays to shop around.

Netty

Funny, just last night I shopped at Walmart The girl at the check out was complaining, to me that she had been standing on her feet for 8 hours, and still had not gone to lunch yet. She was scheduled a couple of hours ago, but so many had called in sick, there was no one there to relieve her. And she is not allowed to turn her light off, and go to lunch, or even to the bathroom, only a supervisor can turn the light off, thus closing the line for her to take a break.

Not to long ago there were several stories in the news about women who are fling a class action lawsuit against Walmart because they were constantly passed over for promotions and raises, while men with less seniority, experience, and education were handed the jobs.

I feel for you! I really hope you are able to find something else, less stressful and exhausting to do for work. Hang in there.

Also, isn't there somewhere you can report this, the labor board, maybe even your corporate office?

Cicatrix

I have a relative and a friend who both used to work at WalMart, so I've been aware of this issue for a couple of years.

I don't shop a whole lot at WalMart. We get our groceries from a store called "Aldi". Most of the stuff is store brand, and you have to bag your own groceries, but they cost about half what stuff at WalMart costs, their cashiers make $10 per hour, and the store closes on holidays. I don't know what kind of insurance benefits the staff gets.I haven't heard any of the employees complaining, in fact, I heard one employee praising the company.

Anyone here work at Aldi? I'd like to hear from insiders.

We buy our meat from a local meat market. It's a little more expensive, but we are helping support our local community members instead of a huge corporation.Plus, the hamburger doesn't shrink, tastes a lot better, and doesn't come in those nonrecyclable plastic containers that WalMart uses (we don't have a recycling center that will take that particular plastic around here).

We also shop at Kroger's, because they pay their employees well here.We also frequent the farmer's market in the summer.

I get most of my clothing and a lot of furniture at Goodwill. I consider it recycling;)We hit the clearance racks at JC Penney and Sears for anything we can't find at Goodwill or yard sales.I also like to buy gently used furniture from the want ads. I figure that way, the money is being directly funneled back into the economy.

It takes a little more time to do this instead of "one stop shopping." I can go yard saling all day and only end up with a few quality items, but the savings is usually phenomenal, and I think it's well worth my time to help out the local economy and mom and pop enterprises.

Sadie5

I wish more people would realize Wal-mart isn't what they claim to be. Here is a funny one: We had these large throw rugs in action alley. Each of the labels had a notch taken out of them. A customer came over and said :"Did you know Dollar General is selling these for $3.00 less than this? And the ones they have say DG up in the corner where that notch is."

And yes getting to take breaks and lunches is hard at times. I have worked with out getting a break, they have just enough people to cover areas and if someone doesn't show up, the remaining thinly spread out crew have to cover more areas. I read some place that Wal-mart's budget for operating costs are 16% while Sears budgets 24% and most places average 20%. Keeping labor cost low is the biggest way to keep their operating cost down. And that means more money for the Walton family.

Do you think they ever had to unload a truck? Or go several hours without being able to take a break, go to the bathroom, or eat or drink?

Sadie

ellderwho

Anyone seen this, people actually getting married at wal-mart. =bad for America.

Country Girl

Sadie:

In addition, since the employees get a discount, they funnel their paychecks right back into WalMart! Thank heaven there are a few American cities that are fighting the big corporate whores (I love that expression.. hehehe) from setting up shop in their towns! There's a lot of desolate buildings out there where Walmart closes down one store and opens a Supercenter on another corner.

Country Girl

Elsewhere

Yup, this is one of the many reason's I try to shop at Target.

A few weeks ago the mayor of Dallas was on the news going on about all of the terrible things Wal-Mart does... the ugly buildings, the traffic, the poor pay and work conditions, etc... basically she was explaining why she was denying Wal-Mart the needed permits to open another super-store. Then just the other day she turned 180 degrees and is singing the praises of Wal-Mart.

I can only suspect that someone at Wal-Mart shoved a wad of cash up her c**tch.

Behind the yellow smiley face (Wal-mart)

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