WalMart: Evil Empire or Community Asset?

It seems that Wal-Mart is public enemy number one these days. Is that deserved? Or is Wal-Mart simply a successful business that provides a desired service to customers and reasonable employment? Wal-Mart has also received bad press for the way it treats its suppliers.

So, what do you think?

Are the employment practices abysmal? Wal-Mart doesn't pay terribly well and is currently being sued for making employees work "off the clock" and not paying overtime as it should have. According to Economist, Wal-Mart faces an employee turnover rate of 44%, and as a result "has to hire an astonishing 600,000 people every year simply to stay at its current size." Sounds like people don't like working there for long but that's still less than the industry average. Is this simply supply and demand at work in the labor sector? Should employment at Wal-Mart be viewed as a long-term career or a stepping stone for future employment? Is the value of an entry-level employee really worth more than $8?

Has Wal-Mart forced other retailers to be more competitive -- benefiting all consumers, even those who do not shop at Wal-Mart? A great company that has probably one of the most recognizable brand names?

Some may say these practices are just a part of doing business but not all retailers operate this way. Costco pays its employees upwards of $10/hr and is a very successful company (their starting salary is higher than the average Wal-Mart employee salary). Target offers its employees better wages and benefits too and doesn't seem to be hurting for that.

[PrincessFiona]

I'm not sure about how abysmal the practices are...though from reading "Nickled and Dimed" I'd say that there are some questionable things going on.

The Big problem that I have with Wal-Marts is that they don't offer their employees adequate benefits, pay the lowest wages that they can (and Sam Walton fought to have the minimum wage removed so that he could pay even lower wages), don't promote women as readily as men....and they move into communities and build these UGLY and huge parking lots....As a result of their rock bottom prices (the made in the USA company actually imports most things from China, etc...places with no good laws to protect laborers/child laborers) mom and pop stores go out of business...Then a few years later, Wal-Mart picks up and moves to a new location in town which generally leaves an empty ugly store and a strip mall where the remaining businesses also go under.

That all being said...I guess it's like me and food. I couldn't kill my own dinner...If I had to survive as a hunter I would be a vegetarian..but if I buy meat in the store it is a sort of 'out of sight/out of mind' phenomenom.

I don't like wal-mart and am philosophically opposed to it's practices...but...I shop there because it's cheap.

hypocrit!

Kris

I don't shop at Wal-Mart on principle, because I don't really like it, that little low-price smiley face pisses me off, AND because I have some better alternatives. I actually don't even know where a Wal-Mart is and don't think one is nearby. There is a Target close to our house (not Super Target though ) and a Costco just a little further. I could be a Costco junkie.

I think they are sort of a necessary evil, big box stores, that is. Smaller stores can't really compete on price or selection. When I can, I'll buy from a locally owned store. I do most grocery shopping at a locally owned store, tried to buy our new appliances from one, etc. But when I need TP, I head to Costco.

[DCJenn]

I have shopped exactly twice at Wal-mart in the last year. They were both times when it was late at night and my luggage didn't arrive and i needed something to wear to work the following day.

I HATE Walmart and Target and Kmart and all of the others because they and all of the f-ing chain restaurants that masquerade as fine dining are contributing to the homogenization of America. When I travel, I make it a point to shop at local stores and eat at locally owned restaurants. We usually ask the staff where we aresurveying where the best local restaurants are and invariably someone will say RedLobster, or Chilis, or Bennegans', or Ruby Tuesday, or Panera or Macaroni Grill. Hello- NOT LOCAL.

Nellie- this is truly a hot button topic for me. I also hate Lowes and Home Depot and try to support the local Ace (Also a chain but entirely different IMO) six blocks away instead.

What sent me over the edge about Wal-mart was when I read in the San Antonio newspaper that they wouldn't pay for birth control pills but would pay for Viagra.

hmmmmmm

Jenn

[PrincessFiona]

Target is no better than Wal-Mart in it's treatment of employees and business practices 8)

Hmmm...for some reason I thought Target did a little better in the employee treatment category. I'll have to check into that.

Jenn, I hate Lowe's and Home Depot, too, with Home Depot getting a little more of my ire. Both of those fall under the necessary evil category for me. Having moved recently, and needing a lot of different things at once has meant going there a lot. *deep breath*. I have been able to buy plants, etc from a local nursery. We had an ACE 10 blocks from our old house. Not any more. When I have time to look for one, I will. It's not really a place you can find the bathroom sink, faucet, etc that you want, but if you need basic hardware stuff it's great and the staff was always helpful.

btw, I hate chain restaurants too (Olive Garden is at the top of my list). If you ever do a suvey in Portland, I'll help you find some LOCAL places.

"I don't shop at Wal-Mart on principle, because I don't really like it, that little low-price smiley face pisses me off,"

You crack me up! That made me laugh out loud!

[PrincessFiona]

I'm the lone hypocrit!!!

Kris, I'm with you-- I actually don't shop at Walmart and Target because there just aren't any near me, but I WOULD because of the selection and price. When I can borrow a car, I make it a field trip to Target to stock up on stuff. The nearby Ace has a few home items, but it's too darn expensive.

High turnover in retail and restaurants is typical. Most chain restaurants have hourly employee turnover of over 100%. It's just the nature of the employee base. I don't know that much about how Walmart treats its employees, but I'm not surprised that it's not somewhere to make a career out of.

I also dislike chain restaurants and choose not to eat there, but they exist for a reason. A lot of markets don't have enough independent choices. Often that's because there aren't incentives for entrepreneurs there-- opening a small business is extremely risky, and maybe the real estate isn't favorable, or the taxes, or food distribution, or whatever.

Basically, I think it's important for Walmarts and the like to be in communities. Lower income people need access to items at reasonable prices and they need jobs. The jobs might not be perfect, but it's a start. And business development attracts other business development, improving the community.

It does make me sad when big boxes drive mom & pop's out of business, but I just don't know what the solution is.

No, Kris, you're not the lone hypocrit. We all get our own thing to be hypocritical about.

I just really don't like Wal-Mart a whole lot and their business practices are icing on the cake. The wage rate doesn't bother me so much as the way they treat employees -- or are alleged to treat employees. I don't think that a retail position should be paid a whole lot more than $8 and probably shouldn't be viewed as a long term career position. It is a great way to learn about the work world and gain some experience. A wider problem is that for so many people that type of job is the end of the line in their career and speaks more to training and opportunity issues.

Show me that Target isn't any better and, not that I go there a whole lot, I'll stop shopping there. Promise. Dang...where am I going to buy diapers (since Costco sells that weird 1/2 size combo that doesn't fit Anna).

[Auspicious]

We all get our own thing to be hypocritical about.

Do we only get one? 8O

I'm feeling generous today. You can have two.

[Auspicious]

Thank you! I will choose . . . wanting to scoff at the ridiculously wealthy while also wanting to be one of the ridiculously wealthy . . . aaaannnnnd thinking we stole this contient from the Native Americans but being unwilling to give it back. Whew, I feel better now.

[PrincessFiona]

Julie, I was right there with you with the "Just one" thing....I am a hypocrit extraordinaire! 8)

Those are good ones, Julie.
In the same vein as the wealthy one, one of mine is deriding Bush's tax cuts as ill-timed and publicity stunts (particularly the child tax credit check) that my kids will pay for but fast and furiously figuring out just how much $$ I get out of it.
And that's just the beginning....