Filthy Wal-Mart

[ArmorOfGod]

Okay, everyone here knows how much I hate Wal-Mart (aka: "The End of Western Civilization"), so here is a juicy link:

http://flickr.com/photos/filthywalmart/sets/72157594480314905/comments/

then when you are done with that, click on this link, which will show you some of the fallout and reactions to that mess: http://www.filthywalmart.com/

AoG

 

[Bob Hubbard]

Looks like the ones near me. I finally stopped shopping there as they never had anything in stock that I needed.

 

[exile]

Costco. Costco. Costco.

That is all ye need to know....

 

[BrandiJo]

our walmart is fairly clean.... but yuck!

we would shop costco if we had one near here lol but its a 3 hour drive
​

 

[tellner]

MallWart has contributed more to the destruction of American industry, declining standards of living, loss of local small business and deterioration of labor standards than any other single entity in the past twenty years. Un-**** 'em. ****ing is too good for 'em.

One of the reasons that Costco's stock price is so low is that, so the analysts universally say, they are being punished for treating their workers too well. Their marginal profit is high. Their productivity is spectacular. But the founder insists on treating his workers well, giving them a living wage and real benefits. Wall Street thinks that is just scanadalous and that he should treat them more like WalMart does.

 

[terryl965]

Yes Costco is a great alternative

 

[Carol]

I like BJ's Wholesale. Heaven only knows why a single gal needs to buy paper plates by the 600-pack but hey...the price is right. :lol:

 

[MA-Caver]

I like BJ's Wholesale. Heaven only knows why a single gal needs to buy paper plates by the 600-pack but hey...the price is right. :lol:

Well you only need to buy them once a year... think of the cost savings right there!

Walmarts I've seen/shopped at aren't as messy as the one in the photo. To me it says bad management and ill treated employees.

Costco is a great alternative even for single people who have the space to put up bulk stock. Still one is able to buy bulk food and keep it fresh long enough for consumption. :idunno: I'd shop there if there was one around.

 

[Blotan Hunka]

A department store is responsible for the downfall of western society? I LOVE that. The WallMart gestapo must be rounding up all those customers and transporting them to the doors by train. LOL.

 

[Mark L]

Blaming Wal-Mart for societal decline? Two words: Market Economy.

 

[Blotan Hunka]

Blaming Wal-Mart for societal decline? Two words: Market Economy.

And those who want to limit our freedom to buy what we want from whom we want? Communists.

Not that Im a WallMart shopper. The environment doesnt appeal to me, but when I want to buy something of medium quality at a low price, they do fill that niche nicely.

 

[JBrainard]

So that's how they
keep their prices so
low, they don't use
any labor cleaning.
%think%

MallWart has contributed more to the destruction of American industry, declining standards of living, loss of local small business and deterioration of labor standards than any other single entity in the past twenty years.

For all who are laughing at this comment: Sorry guys, it's true. Read up on it and you'll probably stop laughing.

 

[shesulsa]

Costco pays better than most stores of its kind, is cleaner than most stores of its kind; though buying in those quantities is sometimes NOT cost-effective. Be careful what you buy at Costco - like ... restraunt-sized barbecue sauce. Unless it's your only condiment and you utilize a pint per day, you're not likely to use all of it before much of it goes bad.

But back to Hellmart ... think about it. What is the benchmark of the American Corporation right now? How are companies evaluated? What drives the economy? The almighty dollar.

If many people patron places based on the stretchability of their funds alone, the dollar rules the day ... and we allow it. This means the person raking in the dough makes the rules. Walmart doesn't buy from suppliers at the same cost other distributors buy at - they tell suppliers what they will pay for the items they want to buy ... and suppliers will give them that price because they KNOW the product will move at Walmart. What they lack in profit margin they make up for in volume.

Walmart, IMO, is a Mob retailer. I boycott them.

 

[Lynne]

Eww. Our Wal-Mart is very clean. Now, I have seen rotten cauliflower and slimy carrots though.

It's the customers who are more of a pain-in-the-backside than anything. I have never seen so many rude people in my life. How can someone block a 10-foot wide aisle? Easy. They turn their cart sideways and stick their big bum out. And you can't get around them! The people on scooters are rude,too. They don't care.

Master Trudgill from Wales gave a clinic at our school. His clothing was lost. He asked my daughter, "Bonnie, where should I go to get clothes? Should I go to Wal-Mart?" Bonnie replied, "You'll see Americans at their worst." Lol.

 

[Kacey]

I personally don't like Wal-Mart - if I want something in that range, I'll go to Target, as the Targets around me are closer, cleaner, better staffed, and similar in price. I also belong to Costco, and, speaking as a single person with room to store bulk items - the only things I don't regularly buy at Costco are perishables (although they have great prices on cheese, and I can eat that fast enough for it not to go bad, and their seasonal fruit prices are wonderful) and soda, which is cheaper at the grocery store. I'll buy things like milk at Costco if I happen to need it when I'm there, but it's not worth a separate trip.

 

[Mark L]

For all who are laughing at this comment: Sorry guys, it's true. Read up on it and you'll probably stop laughing.

The point I was trying to make is that Wal-Mart is so successful and pervasive because so many shop there. They are in business to make money, and like it or not, they're pretty good at it. If we don't like their business practices (and the corresponding results of those practices on our communities), rather than bemoaning their methods and impacts we are all perfectly free to shop elsewhere, which I do.

 

[tellner]

The problem with that classic "vote with your feet" capitalist screed is that it runs into problems in the real world.

First, WalMart has market power. Their presence kills off the competition, particularly small and locally owned businesses. If they are in your area the alternatives become few, marginalized and often completely non-existent.

Second, they tend to negotiate (or demand) and get huge public subsidies in the form of tax breaks, "regulatory relief", not having to pay for the costs of installing and maintaining public infrastructure and so on. Reports from a couple of years ago put those subsidies and resulting artificially lower prices at the tens of billions nationally.

Third, they use their economic power to get local laws and ordinances passed which are favorable to them and their business models in effect using the power of government as a way of lowering their costs.

Fourth, they have a pattern of lowering prices temporarily - until the competition has been driven out of business.

Fifth, their labor practices make it impossible for workers to negotiate for decent pay and conditions. They are famous for discrimmination on the basis of sex and age, knowingly hiring illegal aliens and firing anyone who even suggests unionization let alone tries to organize one. They also lower their labor costs artificially by squeezing out benefits such as health care in ways that somewhat smaller competitors can not do. They have the economic and political power to do so. There was a bit of a scandal a couple years back where their national policy on health care for workers was revealed. Except for a chosen few the procedure was for the managers to have a list of local charities and social service agencies. In other words, they sloughed the cost of health, dental and accident insurance off onto the taxpayers and the generous.

They really are that evil.

 

[CoryKS]

I personally don't shop at Walmart. My past experiences with trying to get help from the employees leads me to believe that, at least in some cases, they are overpaid even at minimum wage. Grunting and pointing to the rear half of the building is not the correct answer to "Where would I find...?"

 

[MA-Caver]

I personally don't shop at Walmart. My past experiences with trying to get help from the employees leads me to believe that, at least in some cases, they are overpaid even at minimum wage. Grunting and pointing to the rear half of the building is not the correct answer to "Where would I find...?"

HA! In nearly every store I go to I ask where this or that item is... and it's always "...oh, it's at the back of the store, along aisle... "
But it's because they're being paid (less than) minimum wage is why you get such crappy service... minimum wage is SUPPOSED to be (now) $7.25 an hour but the president hasn't stopped killing people long enough to sign the bill into law though it was "supposedly passed by congress months ago.

 

[Xue Sheng]

I didn't like Wal-Mart before I saw the photos and I STILL don't like Wal-Mart.

I tend to feel it must be one of the signs of the apocalypse or at the very least I agree with ArmorOfGod it is "The End of Western Civilization"