Walmart?

[Sunnydaydreams]

What are your opinions about walmart? personally i dont agree w/ its low pay, corporate ruthlessness, & mistreatment of employees. i have seen it take over small towns, putting small shops out of business. ive even heard that walmarts trying to start their own bank & even an oil refinery!

heres a link to a story about walmart: http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0214-28.htm

what can we do to stop the spread of walmart besides boycotting them?

peace & love

[nappydread]

...i apologize since i haven't read the link yet:)

But one way to stop some of the things you speak of above is to unionize the workers. Walmart management would HATE this b/c it gives some power back to the employees. To my knowledge they have closed down 2 stores in Quebec in recent months due to this.
Either that...or we as hippies could organize a huge love in :hippie: :group_hug where we all camp in walmart parking lots...say for like a year. While we do this we can barter/trade our own goods and harrass/scare off wal mart buyers...i dunno...now im just dreaming i guess :bandit:

peace

[BandAide]

My husband has a ban on all Wall Mart purchases. I think he'd divorce me if I dared to cross this decision he's made. There are very few things my husband hates, and WallMart is one of them. He hates them more than he does Dubya.

Did you see the piece John Stewart did on the Daily Show about it?

[Sunnydaydreams]

i dont think i saw it, but i've heard about it. did you hear that jon's book is banned at walmart? heres the article:

By AVA THOMAS BENSON, Associated Press Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Wal-Mart canceled an order for a best-selling book by Jon Stewart and the writers of "The Daily Show" after executives learned that it contained a photo of nine naked, aged bodies, each with the superimposed head of a Supreme Court justice.

"America (The Book)," a mock school text that lampoons the American government in much the same way the Comedy Central show spoofs the news, includes cutouts of the justices' robes and a caption asking readers to "restore their dignity by matching each justice with his or her respective robe."

Executives for the Bentonville-based retail giant deemed the book inappropriate for its shelves this week.

"We were not aware of the image that was in the book (when Wal-Mart ordered it) and we felt the majority of our customers would not be comfortable with it," said Wal-Mart Stores Inc. spokeswoman Karen Burk. "We offer what we think our customers want to buy. That just makes good business sense."

Jamie Raab, a publisher for Warner Books, which produced "America," said the naked justice joke fits perfectly with the book's theme.

"It's not gratuitous and it's very much in tune with the rest of the book," Raab said. "It's funny, yet to the point. When you undress the Supreme Court justices, they're just men and women and you have to judge them on who they are and what they do. It makes you look and think and laugh."

Raab said she doesn't fault Wal-Mart for its decision, but added that she didn't see the point in banning something that isn't intentionally sexually explicit.

Wal-Mart has a well-known policy of refusing to carry magazines with racy covers or CDs with explicit lyrics.

The chain is offering the book on its Web site. Burk said the store's online customers are a "different audience" and that the company wanted to give an option to people looking to buy the book from Wal-Mart.

Copyright 2004 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

[BandAide]

Duh, right!?

I mean, people who shop in wallmart never get naked, right?

Their "audience" is perma-clothed!

ha!

[LIBRA]

they are building a SUPER WALMART in my town which will replace the regular walmart. since walmarts moved in small stores all over have closed its really sad, they cant compete with the prices and thats what consumers are all about I know money is a huge issue with me especially when you are trying to eat naturally and buy naturally its expensive and on one income its real hard so I see why people shop at walmart I dont agree with and I dont but its gonna be a hard chain to break cause its getting bigger and bigger by the minute!!! I wish someone would do something about the cost of trying to live green, its very expensive maybe they could make a green walmart! ha I am soooo just kidding!!!!!! good luck with your boycott/campout nappy!!!
I actually had a freind that worked there breifly but she had health insurance and the pay wasnt to bad for her she liked it, she quite to follow phish, go figure!!!

[Pedata]

Sadly, I don't think anything is going to stop walmart. They are affordable. One day there will be nothing but walmarts :traurig00

Things you will be able to do at walmart one day~

Hire a lawyer
Get a pap smear
Purchase a mobile home

Walmart came to our town about 8 years ago. They are building a new building that is twice as big as the old building and only a few hundred feet from the old building.

Nappy- I saw on the news about a walmart in Canada that closed down because they were about to go union. How sad. Walmart can afford a union. They're "family owned" and really don't pay much taxes. It's all about money.

Peace,
Cassandra

[nappydread]

hey cassandra... :cheers:

...Nappy- I saw on the news about a walmart in Canada that closed down because they were about to go union. How sad. Walmart can afford a union. They're "family owned" and really don't pay much taxes. It's all about money...

you got half of it...money and POWER...
Wal-Mart’s calculated ruthlessness was not about profit. It was about power – the absolute power that Wal-Mart wants over its workers, and suppliers and towns it does business in.
http://www.walmartworkerscanada.com/news.php?articleID=00097
(...hehehe...sorry for all the canadian shit...but its big news up here :bandit: )

peace

[tooter_mcgee]

i watched a tv show the other night about wal-mart and how it operates. the one thing about wal-mart that bothers me most (the obvious set aside) is the way they conduct business with their suppliers. they strongly urge them, basicly force some of them to move their manufacturing operations off-shore to keep costs low. namely, china and other countries where they have tons of kids and mothers working in horrible conditions for low pay. this couple had designed this kind of wall hanging with little pockets and such to keep your car keys in and other small things. wal-mart signed a deal with them to buy from them for a year. after the year was over, the couple was told that they needed to have their product manufactured off-shore to lower costs, or they would face losing their deal, and selling this product was this couples primary source of income. sad huh? not to mention sick, immoral, manipulative.... :mad:

[delta9]

While I was living in Germany, WalMart acquired a chain store called Werkauf... One got burned down by the angry consumers ;)

From this forbes article (http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2004/0412/076b_print.html)
What a contrast to Wal-Mart's $2.7 billion German operation. Six years into it, it still loses money, say analysts; same-store sales are stubbornly negative. Things went badly from the outset, when Wal-Mart purchased Wertkauf and Interspar, two small German chains, in 1997 and 1998. (Interspar, a dog, had already been sold five or six times before.)

To make matters worse, "We moved the head office, rebranded, repriced--all within 12 months," says DeNunzio, chief financial officer of European operations 2000-01. "In hindsight, it was much too fast."

Germans were caught off-guard by cashiers bagging their stuff. "People said, ‘What are they doing with my merchandise?'" says a company spokeswoman. Nevertheless, Wal-Mart still offers to help pack customers' groceries. One big hit: singles day. At designated spots throughout stores--"flirt stations," if you will--unattached shoppers can pick up free samples of products and foods--and romantic prospects.

For decades German law forced stores to close at 4 p.m. on Saturdays and all day Sundays, Wal-Mart's busiest days. Some restrictions have been relaxed. Now stores can open from 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. six days a week. (Sunday is still verboten.)

Wal-Mart predicts positive cash flow by year-end, but that may be a stretch. The retail colossus almost seems in retreat. There are no openings planned for 2004. In an almost unprecedented move, it closed a store in the Esslingen mall near Stuttgart, then chose not to rebuild a Cologne store that burned down. It stepped back from a projected store in Berlin. Thomas Lindau, a marketing consultant with Research International, holds out scant hope for a turnaround: "For years they've tried and tried and didn't succeed. It's going to be tough."
Stick it to the bastards with no thought on other people's culture or way of life... Just money money money, and that causes strife.

[toman]

I have been in wal mart stores probably all of three times, and I refuse to ever go back. That store is the most sickening display of low class america I have ever seen; stupid people arguing, having domestic spats, disgusting unbathed screaming halfbreed children running loose everywhere, it literally makes me ill. The people working there look like a bunch of freakin over medicated zombies who might at any minute either vomit on you or stick a shank in your gut. So yeah, everything else said here is proably true, but you won't find me having anything to do with one of those stores. There's absolutely nothing there that interests me, including a social cause. Anyone who's invloved in either end of that business is asking for whatever they get or don't get.

[treehugger]

Have any of you read the book "Nickel and Dimed"??? It's written by a woman who deliberately takes low-paying jobs and tries to live off them and writes this book to improve awareness of the working poor.

Anyway, one of the jobs she took was a Wal-Mart (Mall-Fart) job...and she said when she was working at Wal-Mart, she couldn't even afford to SHOP at Wal-mart.

How sad.

They also degrade their employees by making them all stand at the front every morning and sing "the walmart cheer".....

Horrible, horrible company. :(

[Sunnydaydreams]

i read that book in my sociology class. its really good & informative. i recommend that book to people who like to read & feel strongly about consumer advocacy. that book is one of the many reasons why i refuse to shop there. its the 6th reich; thats why it will never flourish in germany! they dont need anymore nazis there :D jk to anyone who may be offended to my nazi reference (see the ward thread!)

peace & love

[PEACE FROG]

Little Boxes on the hillside, Little Boxes made of ticky tacky, Little Boxes, Little Boxes and they all look just the same.....Bobbie Bouchet, WalMart is the Devil!!!!!!

[mamasharones]

I hate walmart but I live in rural illinois and it's the only place to shop that has decent prices (since I'm a college student) I wish I could shop elsewhere but the closest thing is 45 miles away and that's far.

[tooter_mcgee]

Little Boxes on the hillside, Little Boxes made of ticky tacky, Little Boxes, Little Boxes and they all look just the same.....Bobbie Bouchet, WalMart is the Devil!!!!!!

Bobbie Bouchet, fooseball is the devil!! ;)

havent watched that in awhile...lol, thanx for the laugh :D

sorry to go off topic by the way

:hippie:

[Stardust002]

well sorry to say that i work for one of the companys that have a contract with walmart it sucks but i do not have to go by anything that walmart does. trust me when i say that being in walmart 24-7 sucks. i love my job as a photographer but some days are just to much.

[RockyJay]

We have a similar store here, it's called Uniwide. They mostly fire employees within six months and those who survive that get lower wages here because it's in the province. The employess don't complain much because it's either that or nothing. It's sad.

[perseidchild]

from http://www.northernsun.com

http://www.northernsun.com/ns/images/thumb/5407MallWart.jpg

[Strawberry]

My favorite Wal-Mart put down is the episode of South Park where they get a "Wall-Mart". It's hilarious. You all must watch it. It's the embodiment of exactly what you are all saying.

I myself will NOT shop at wal-mart. If they should become a monopoly and run out every other store, I'll move to a farm, grow my own food, sew my own clothes and eat my own dog to not shop at wal-mart. I went in ONCE and nearly vomitted. It is white trash central. There are actually people that just "hang out" all day in the McDonald's. But yea.. I'd so join in a love in and live in their parking lot and sell goods to their cutomers and pass out flyers and what not. Wal-mart is ruining our economy. Bring back k-mart, bring back Hills, bring back all the poor little stores that are now out of business... and bring down Wal-Mart!!

[Tuatara]

There is a Wal-mart store in Quebec that is closing down because it went union. Maybe we will get lucky and all wal-mart atores will go union.
http://www.cbc.ca/story/business/national/2005/02/09/walmart-050209.html

[PEACE FROG]

Good post Cowboy, Respect.

[kermit]

LMAO what if you were Mr.Walmart?

http://www.ani-community.net/forums/images/smilies/rippedhand.gif

had to add my favorite smiley...

http://www.ani-community.net/forums/images/smilies/4-sunshine.gif

[PEACE FROG]

LMAO what if you were Mr.Walmart?

http://www.ani-community.net/forums/images/smilies/rippedhand.gif

had to add my favorite smiley...

http://www.ani-community.net/forums/images/smilies/4-sunshine.gif From one Frog to another...WHAT? ;)

[Strawberry]

You know.. I was thinking about Wal-Mart today... mostly because we're moving in two weeks and we have absolutely no stuff... Of course everywhere you here about low prices and what not... but... I was actually remembering...

Last summer, I worked at our zoo in the gift shop.. it was a company called Service System Associates.. SSA. In alot of ways, there were like Wal-Mart... I got paid absolutely minimum wage, no benefits, no union, over worked, no respect from the company, disposible employess... it was really sad. Thankfully, school started again so I had an excuse to quit. But there are alot of evil companies out there that share the same mentallity Wal-Mart does. I think we should close down all chains and just open up little shops that offer one of a kind, handmade goods. That would be cool..

but it won't happen. :hippie:

[teleonomic]

I personally despise wal-mart and avoid it at all costs. Ever thing about it is high stress, just parking and walking from your car takes an hour. The way the take over towns and put people out of business is crap. Last year at the shareholders meeting, some local family put on a protest in Bentonville AR where their home office is, and hopefully this year we can come together and let them know we dont want low prices at costs to others. Ironically I am a server at a fine dining restaurant that Lee Scott (the head honcho of wal-mart) frequents and have waited on him several times. :mad:

[Pedata]

I am a server at a fine dining restaurant that Lee Scott (the head honcho of wal-mart) frequents and have waited on him several times. :mad:
Omg! Eavesdrop and report!!!

Peace,
Cassandra

[kermit]

From one Frog to another...WHAT? ;)

dang board will not email me!

if you owned the prize? wha would you think about this. kind walk a mile in my shoes kinda thing...

P.S. I love this click!

[nappydread]

kind walk a mile in my shoes kinda thing...
i thought frogs 'hopped' along in bare feet...no? :D

anyway...i was having wal-mart thoughts this weekend...kinda rambling but hey its monday:) ...and in the city i live ( pop: 1million) there are no wal-marts downtown...i assume b/c their stores are too big and rent would put them into bankruptcy. So all the wal-marts are set up in suburbia where they have room to set up their 5 acre parking lot. But this cuts out many urban dwellers who can't get out to these mega-stores...so i dunno...maybe they will start making mini wal-marts better suited for downtown cores...instead of the urban sprawl mega stores...
as for walmarts in general....i think toman said it best !!! :cheers:

peace

[freakyfairy]

...

Either that...or we as hippies could organize a huge love in :hippie: :group_hug where we all camp in walmart parking lots...say for like a year. While we do this we can barter/trade our own goods and harrass/scare off wal mart buyers...i dunno...now im just dreaming i guess :bandit:

peace
teeheehee... that sound like such a fun idea! lmao!
i am proud to say, that camping in the parking lot wiould be the closest i have ever got to a wal-mart store..... wOOt

[kermit]

teeheehee... that sound like such a fun idea! lmao!
i am proud to say, that camping in the parking lot wiould be the closest i have ever got to a wal-mart store..... wOOt

thank you for making me laugh today..

and I think mini-walmarts would be cool.. but would the shoping carts be smaller also? :ufo:

[treehugger]

I have gotten crap in my inbox about wal mart boycot day and such, but imagine if for just one day, all the employees nation wide walked out, took a day off, and spent time with their loved ones, the world would be a better place, the economy wouldnt be so great, but I'd like to see it happen

OMG...what an amazing thing THAT would be....it gives me a warm spot just thinking about it.

Kath

[freakyfairy]

wow...that would be cool....too bad it would never happen though huh? :(

[Unkle_John]

I totally agree with Toman.
It's like the Rodney Carrington joke about wal-mart. I do see kids getting spanked there. It's sad thought to see these familes who are low-income (much like myself) wandering around wal-mart whist their children run rampant. Back when I was growing up I thought wal-mart was alright, just like any dept. store like Gibsons, Motts, or M.E. Moses (jeeze i'm showing my age). Now I don't like stepping foot in one. Screaming kids, cheap junk, etc. I hate the super wal-marts the most (the ones with a McDonalds.. don't get me started on them). Everytime I've walked through the place I can smell the grease and it just turns my stomach. It gets worse as you get closer to the deli.
I also hate how they think they need to shelter me from the "big bad nego's filthy lyrics" or the "scream of a punk rockers rage". EFF them! I'll listen to what I want and I like it pure! Wal-mart is a cespool of urban sprawl. Since we moved to an area wherethere are mom and pop stores still in operation, I will gladly pay the higher price than spending the gas to go to the next county to get food or a desk or something.

[hippieskier]

I just ran accross this article and it makes me sick what wal-mart does to make a buck.
http://www.progressive.org/march05/teoti0305.html

[sabbath_hawks]

So nice to finally talk to people who agree on the subject. My husband and I will do without before we go to wallmart. However I've noticed you don't have to do without becuase there are plenty of other places to go. I have never seen more of a need to unionize in my lifetime.

[mellowman05]

i like walmart buti dont think that they should close a store just to stay out of a union
unions a definately needed more in our society but that would cause them to not be able to fuck over their employees

[forrest]

Support communist china, shop mal-wart!

[Unkle_John]

Here's the analogy I have on spraWal-mart.

Wal-mart comes to town and says they will create 300 new jobs...
That means when they run you out of business, they have room for you.