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Walmart didn’t kill the small town, it is the small town

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Re: Walmart didn’t kill the small town, it is the small town

#81

Post by leetcrew »

r00fus wrote: post #61
throwawaysleep wrote: post #6

It’s price and the ease the price enables. Low price demonstratably rules in everything from plane tickets to groceries to basic services to clothing as it enables a life of abundance and mental ease. A friend loves Walmart as it means he no longer has to maintain his lawnmower. He just throws it away and buys a new one annually at the start of the season. He can still mow his lawn while abandoning the need to mainta…

Simply amazing. And I thought I was wasteful. What happens to the old mowers? Does your friend sell or give away his old mower? I almost feel like our way of life (artificially cheap) is going to hit a brick wall once gas stops being cheap (peak oil).

also what is the guy doing with his mowers that they only last a year? my dad neglects his mowers pretty badly and it still runs fine 10+ years later. only issue is the dull blade.

Re: Walmart didn’t kill the small town, it is the small town

#82

Post by afavour »

notyourday wrote: post #45
FrustratedMonky wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the issue is more about the systematic destroying of the small town. They open multiple Walmart's, the small town stores go out of business, then they can close some percentage of the Walmart's to consolidate into a few stores in central locations, now all of the small town people have to drive farther to get anything at all. And the small town dies.

There's nothing great about small towns. All of this is waxing of people who don't live in small towns that think it is oh so nice to be able to go to a cute little store on vacation at 11:30am to get a muffin on Saturday. Never mind that the store itself is closed Monday to Friday.

Grew up in a small town, couldn’t disagree more. But what you’re describing is a vacation town, many small towns have become one because of the proliferation of second homes: there aren’t enough people around in the week for stores to justify staying open.

But not all towns are like that.

Re: Walmart didn’t kill the small town, it is the small town

#83

Post by [deleted] »

dingnuts wrote: post #62
toomuchtodo wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Small towns should be able to change and adapt, but Walmart being the corporate small town core is another version of enshitification (Walmart being your IRL ecomm platform), with your town's core dictated and governed by Bentonville, Arkansas. Build strong, local communities and economies instead: https://ilsr.org/ | https://www.epa.gov/smartgrowth/how-small-towns-and-cities-c... (it will not be extremely economical…

You might consider it enshittification because it's not as cute as "Main Street" but in rural and impoverished areas Walmart brought affordable necessities -- like much cheaper groceries -- and real quality of life increases for people who otherwise would have simply had to do with much less. The lower prices that Walmart is able to offer actually do matter and have a material impact on people who are not rich.

[deleted]

Re: Walmart didn’t kill the small town, it is the small town

#84

Post by kikokikokiko »

shortlongterm wrote: post #22
throwawaysleep wrote: post #6

It’s price and the ease the price enables. Low price demonstratably rules in everything from plane tickets to groceries to basic services to clothing as it enables a life of abundance and mental ease. A friend loves Walmart as it means he no longer has to maintain his lawnmower. He just throws it away and buys a new one annually at the start of the season. He can still mow his lawn while abandoning the need to mainta…

Is this satire? Lawn equipment ain't complicated enough to maintain to justify throwing out every season. This is insane consumerism.

Lawnmowers nowadays are coming with "engines that do not require oil changes, ever!!!"... Either the lawnmower industry has deciphered the code to create frictionless moving parts and unoxidizable oils, or maybe the cynic in me is right in thinking that they just want you to throw away your perfectly serviceable lawnmower every couple years and buy a new one.

Re: Walmart didn’t kill the small town, it is the small town

#85

Post by redgreenshoe »

scottLobster wrote: post #36
no_wizard wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consider it the fact that Walmart for a long time had a mostly rural and suburban strategy that skews demographics to people 40+. It’s a Sam Walton hold over that I think is being slowly replaced. What WalMart hates the most is that they can’t get people of affluence who want to save money to shop at one though. When I worked there the complaint out of HQ I heard the most is that Michelle Obama and Oprah would shop…

The harsh lighting and reflective white paint literally hurts my eyes in Walmart. Like there's a low-grade sting and I'm slightly squinting for the duration of my shopping trip. Target doesn't have this problem, and I'm willing to pay a slight premium if it's convenient. Maybe they can fix that first.

Wal-Mart, uniquely among large stores I've been in, makes me feel bad. I don't remember this being the case, say, 20 years ago. It seems to have worse over time. I think it's the lighting and design, though I'm not sure exactly what about it. Walking in instantly makes me miserable. Probably doesn't help that shoppers and workers alike all look sad, constantly (but how much of that is because the store itself is doing that to them?)

Also, nobody in them seem to know how to exist in public without constantly being in the way. Wal-Mart has an uncanny ability to feel crowded while not actually being crowded. I don't get it.

Re: Walmart didn’t kill the small town, it is the small town

#86

Post by rblatz »

shortlongterm wrote: post #22
throwawaysleep wrote: post #6

It’s price and the ease the price enables. Low price demonstratably rules in everything from plane tickets to groceries to basic services to clothing as it enables a life of abundance and mental ease. A friend loves Walmart as it means he no longer has to maintain his lawnmower. He just throws it away and buys a new one annually at the start of the season. He can still mow his lawn while abandoning the need to mainta…

Is this satire? Lawn equipment ain't complicated enough to maintain to justify throwing out every season. This is insane consumerism.

Blades need sharpened, gas maybe needs to be drained, are there other fluids that need take care of? Do I need to oil bits, are there bolts that I need to tighten?

I could spend hours learning to do this, and then buying the tools and materials to actually do the maintenance, plus the few hours of effort of actually doing it. Walmart has several mowers listed under $200, I can see why someone would find it not worth the time/effort/money to maintain a mower and just buy a new one. Hopefully, they are setting it out on the curb with a sign that says free for someone that does find that tradeoff worth it.

Re: Walmart didn’t kill the small town, it is the small town

#87

Post by jxramos »

gottorf wrote: post #52
no_wizard wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I consider it the fact that Walmart for a long time had a mostly rural and suburban strategy that skews demographics to people 40+. It’s a Sam Walton hold over that I think is being slowly replaced. What WalMart hates the most is that they can’t get people of affluence who want to save money to shop at one though. When I worked there the complaint out of HQ I heard the most is that Michelle Obama and Oprah would shop…

> What WalMart hates the most is that they can’t get people of affluence who want to save money to shop at one though. Inflation is doing the trick[0]. For several quarters, they've reported marked increases in the share of higher-income shoppers, especially for groceries. [0]: https://www.axios.com/2023/05/18/inflation-walmart-prices-ea...

very interesting, I wonder if they picked up on my demographic and kept pestering for reviews and feedback when I let it out regarding my price experience shopping there and noting explicitly the lack of inflation increase I had seen elsewhere at the other stores I frequent. I definitely contributed a data point to these reports referenced above.

Re: Walmart didn’t kill the small town, it is the small town

#88

Post by batch12 »

hollerith wrote: post #51
batch12 wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My wife chuckles because I darn my socks a few times before throwing them out. I chuck them when they either aren't comfortable, look terrible, or are too damaged to fix.

I'm curious what tools and supplies you use to do it (besides the obvious needle and thread).

That's it- just needle, thread, and scissors.

Re: Walmart didn’t kill the small town, it is the small town

#89

Post by [deleted] »

throwbadubadu wrote: post #28
throwawaysleep wrote: post #6

It’s price and the ease the price enables. Low price demonstratably rules in everything from plane tickets to groceries to basic services to clothing as it enables a life of abundance and mental ease. A friend loves Walmart as it means he no longer has to maintain his lawnmower. He just throws it away and buys a new one annually at the start of the season. He can still mow his lawn while abandoning the need to mainta…

Except that we should have more long lasting things and should not add to the garbage pile because of cheapness and laziness :( But money sure trumps environmentalist idealism. Different topic: As a foreigner, really every visit to a Wallmart left me with a very strange feeling, because almost every employee had a zombie like appearance one or the other way, demotivated, sad or emotionless looking, slurping slowly th…

[deleted]

Re: Walmart didn’t kill the small town, it is the small town

#90

Post by rblatz »

kikokikokiko wrote: post #84
shortlongterm wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is this satire? Lawn equipment ain't complicated enough to maintain to justify throwing out every season. This is insane consumerism.

Lawnmowers nowadays are coming with "engines that do not require oil changes, ever!!!"... Either the lawnmower industry has deciphered the code to create frictionless moving parts and unoxidizable oils, or maybe the cynic in me is right in thinking that they just want you to throw away your perfectly serviceable lawnmower every couple years and buy a new one.

Most mowers I had growing up were two-stroke engines, that had oil mixed in with the gas. So they never needed an oil change.
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