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Life at Wal-Mart

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Re: Life at Wal-Mart

#21

Post by jordanf »

This is so cool, and great to hear.

I've never quite understood the anti-Walmart sentiment. What do people have against low prices? Poorer people can afford to buy (or save) more if they are fortunate enough to have a Walmart nearby.

One reason to despise the retailer: Walmart has recently been lobbying congress to raise minimum wage.

If successful, this could force more small businesses to go under because they cannot afford to pay their employees more, but Walmart can. And they know it.

Re: Life at Wal-Mart

#22

Post by Retric »

icey wrote: post #11
ph0rque wrote: post #2

Some of the things described in this article shows that wal-mart is implementing lean mfg ideas (or lean retail, rather).

You point out something that is incredibly interesting. Walmart is a juggernaut of capitalism, but all we generally hear about is how evil they are. I bet they have some business practices that are worth learning about, other than the oft-heard about exploitation of their workers. As an aside, I've known a few people who have worked at Walmart and they preferred it to a lot of jobs they'd held previously.

I wonder how much Walmart adjusts working conditions to the local job market. Things like high turnover have significant real costs and adjusting the the local job market could save them massive amounts of money. There also seems to be significant differences in the quality of the store depending on the local economy.

EX: I walked though a Wallmart in Arlington VA that seemed to be struggling where the Wallmart in Charles Town WV was thriving. I expect they lose out on the "high end" items like HDTV's and high quality items when people have more options and cash.

Re: Life at Wal-Mart

#23

Post by smhinsey »

Mistone wrote: post #12

Its so annoying to me that many people (esp in Bay Area) loath Wal-Mart, and then turn around and gush over how cheap they got this or that crappy chinese made product for at Target. Both are massive big box retailers, both threaten smaller businesses by discounts and volume. Both pay their employees entry level low wages. Target def has better marketing and gives money to school. But that hardly accounts for the dif…

for the purposes of a conversation about loathing, i think you're presenting a false equivalence here. in such subjective terms it's hard not to admit that despite whatever flaws it may have, target has at least not had books written and movies made [1] about their misdeeds.

[1] on amazon, "target" had one result on the first page related to the company that was positive, whereas with walmart the second result is " How Walmart Is Destroying America And The World: And What You Can Do About It" and it doesn't really improve from there

Re: Life at Wal-Mart

#24

Post by pixcavator »

pragmatic wrote: post #4

Manufacturing is not much better. I worked in a lot of mfg companies during college. Starting pay with either at or a little above minimum wage. There is no easy fix. Companies don't stay in business by paying people more than they are "worth" in economic terms. Capitalism is the worst economic system, except for every other one.

>Capitalism is the worst economic system, except for every other one.

"...that has been tried." This is a crucial part because, I am sure, you can devise a better system - in your head! In fact, it seems to be happening as we speak.

Re: Life at Wal-Mart

#25

Post by netcan »

>> Most of all, my coworkers wanted to avoid those “mom-and-pop” stores beloved by social commentators

I am suspicious of this writer & his agenda & the possibility of confusing the fun of slumming it with the fun of feeling trapped in minimum paying jobs(mentioned here previously). But the above quote plays to my other suspicions. It goes also for McDonalds, Nestle, Nike & any other pet hate companies. They are under so much scrutiny, that they can't get away with what a lot of the small companies can get away with.

Re: Life at Wal-Mart

#26

Post by wildwood »

kqr2 wrote: post #7

Nickel and Dimed by Barbara Ehrenreich was first published in 2001 so presumably she worked at Walmart sometime before that. So life at Wal-Mart may have changed since then. Also, he should have worked at the same Wal-Mart to help control for location.

Also, Ehrenreich didn't just work at a Wal-Mart - her focus was on trying to make ends meet on a minumum wage. She tried finding an apartment and a lifestyle that she could afford on a Wal-Mart paycheck.

Since this blogger talks about going home from work and looking some things up on his computer, I'm guessing that he didn't try to replicate her experiment faithfully.

Re: Life at Wal-Mart

#27

Post by wildwood »

gojomo wrote: post #14

Here's another vigorous refutation of Ehrenreich's 'Nickel and Dimed' mindset: http://libertyunbound.com/archive/2004_07/lamon-poor.html

Yeah, 'vigorous' is about the nicest word I can think of to describe it... :)

People who can barely make ends meet should move to the sun belt to save on clothing? If you can't afford the deposit on an apartment, it's your own fault, because people have bailed on a lease before? Huh?

But if you get past the overall obnoxiousness, though, he does actually have some good points.

Re: Life at Wal-Mart

#28

Post by bayareaguy »

The only conclusion I would take from this article is that a dull and low paying Wal-Mart job is not too bad when you're there mainly to satisfy your curiosity about the place and you can go back to your regular job as the section editor of a magazine whenever you feel like.

Re: Life at Wal-Mart

#29

Post by Radix »

smhinsey wrote: post #23
Mistone wrote: post #12

Its so annoying to me that many people (esp in Bay Area) loath Wal-Mart, and then turn around and gush over how cheap they got this or that crappy chinese made product for at Target. Both are massive big box retailers, both threaten smaller businesses by discounts and volume. Both pay their employees entry level low wages. Target def has better marketing and gives money to school. But that hardly accounts for the dif…

for the purposes of a conversation about loathing, i think you're presenting a false equivalence here. in such subjective terms it's hard not to admit that despite whatever flaws it may have, target has at least not had books written and movies made [1] about their misdeeds. [1] on amazon, "target" had one result on the first page related to the company that was positive, whereas with walmart the second result is " H…

Target isn't as big as Walmart. When making a book or movie I expect a person to attack the largest company to make their point.

Re: Life at Wal-Mart

#30

Post by gojomo »

wildwood wrote: post #27
gojomo wrote: post #14

Here's another vigorous refutation of Ehrenreich's 'Nickel and Dimed' mindset: http://libertyunbound.com/archive/2004_07/lamon-poor.html

Yeah, 'vigorous' is about the nicest word I can think of to describe it... :) People who can barely make ends meet should move to the sun belt to save on clothing? If you can't afford the deposit on an apartment, it's your own fault, because people have bailed on a lease before? Huh? But if you get past the overall obnoxiousness, though, he does actually have some good points.

Migration has, over thousands of years, been the most effective antipoverty program.

So yes, if you "can barely make ends meet" in a cold expensive place with no jobs, you should move to a warmer cheaper place with jobs. Steal bus fare, if you must.

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