Solid Snake Hates: Walmart

I'm happy to see my old thread alive again. By the way, Stephens City did end up getting their Wal-Mart, kinda sad because they tried hard to not have it go in....

Hey, I went to Sherando. Wasn't there a 24 hour Wal-Mart in the area way back in the 90s? Maybe it was in Funchester...

Now you want bash stores I am all about bashing that one. F them!

I'll second that. Best buy has to be one of the worst stores ever. No one there gives a s about anything and no one there knows anything either, not to mention it is crazy overpriced. I honestly have no idea how Best Buy operates to this day. I hate that place and get irritated at just the thought of going there. And don't even get me started on those friggin geeks.

Some things about Wal-Mart you might not know.....


Is Wal-Mart Evil? 20 Shocking Facts | EconMatters (http://www.econmatters.com/2012/07/is-wal-mart-evil-20-shocking-facts.html)




http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2cqWNyYXUQg/T_W2_qk9I4I/AAAAAAAADY0/W97ZKJ_v1bE/s640/walmart+map.jpg (http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2cqWNyYXUQg/T_W2_qk9I4I/AAAAAAAADY0/W97ZKJ_v1bE/s1600/walmart+map.jpg)Where Wal-Mart Gets Its Products (Graphic Source: Cyncical-C.com & Consumerist, added by EconMatters)
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rM4MdwQ8oLc/T_W3OsuXnnI/AAAAAAAADY8/pRLggBMSlec/s640/chart.jpg (http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rM4MdwQ8oLc/T_W3OsuXnnI/AAAAAAAADY8/pRLggBMSlec/s1600/chart.jpg)Where Wal-Mart Gets Its Products (Graphic Source: Cyncical-C.com & Consumerist, added by EconMatters) #1 The average U.S. family now spends more than $4000 (http://www.otherwords.org/articles/50_years_of_gutting_americas_middle_class) a year at Wal-Mart.



#2 In 2010, Wal-Mart had revenues of 421 billion dollars (http://frugaldad.com/2011/12/01/weight-of-walmart-infographic/). That amount was greater than the GDP of 170 different countries including Norway, Venezuela and the United Arab Emirates.


#3 If Wal-Mart was a nation, it would have the 23rd largest (http://www.businessinsider.com/16-walmart-facts#walmarts-405-billion-in-revenue-last-year-makes-it-the-23rd-largest-economy-in-the-world-bigger-than-sweden-2) GDP in the world.


#4 Wal-Mart now sells more groceries than anyone else in America does. In the United States today, one out of every four (http://www.otherwords.org/articles/50_years_of_gutting_americas_middle_class) grocery dollars is spent at Wal-Mart.


#5 Amazingly, 100 million customers (http://www.businesspundit.com/stats-on-walmart/) shop at Wal-Mart every single week.


#6 Wal-Mart has opened more than 1,100 (http://www.otherwords.org/articles/50_years_of_gutting_americas_middle_class) "supercenters" since 2005 alone.


#7 Today, Wal-Mart has more than 2 million employees (http://frugaldad.com/2011/12/01/weight-of-walmart-infographic/).


#8 If Wal-Mart was an army, it would be the second largest military (http://www.dailyfinance.com/2010/10/13/planet-walmart-five-big-facts-about-the-worlds-largest-company/) on the planet behind China.


#9 Wal-Mart is the largest employer in 25 different U.S. states (http://www.businessinsider.com/16-walmart-facts#walmart-is-the-largest-overall-employer-in-the-usa-and-the-biggest-employer-in-25-states-7).


#10 According to the Economic Policy Institute, trade between Wal-Mart and China resulted in the loss of133,000 manufacturing jobs (http://economyincrisis.org/content/not-made-in-america-top-10-ways-walmart-destroys-us-manufacturing-jobs) in the United States between 2001 and 2006.


#11 The CEO of Wal-Mart makes more in a single hour (http://frugaldad.com/2011/12/01/weight-of-walmart-infographic/) than a full-time Wal-Mart associate makes in an entire year.


#12 Tens of thousands of Wal-Mart employees and their children are enrolled in Medicaid (http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php/) and are dependent on the government for healthcare.


#13 Between 2001 and 2007, the value of products that Wal-Mart imported from China grew from $9 billion to $27 billion (http://www.otherwords.org/articles/50_years_of_gutting_americas_middle_class).


#14 Amazingly, 96 percent of all Americans now live within 20 miles (http://frugaldad.com/2011/12/01/weight-of-walmart-infographic/) of a Wal-Mart.


#15 The number of "independent retailers" in the United States declined by 60,000 (http://www.otherwords.org/articles/50_years_of_gutting_americas_middle_class) between 1992 and 2007.


#16 According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Wal-Mart spent 7.8 million dollars (http://www.tradereform.org/2012/07/not-made-in-america-top-10-ways-walmart-destroys-us-manufacturing-jobs/) on political lobbying during 2011. That number does not even include campaign contributions.


#17 Today, Wal-Mart has five times (http://frugaldad.com/2011/12/01/weight-of-walmart-infographic/) the sales of the second largest U.S. retailer (Costco).


#18 The combined net worth of six members of the Walton family is roughly equal to the combined net worth of the poorest 30 percent (http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2011/12/05/the-few-the-proud-the-very-rich/) of all Americans.


All over the country, independent retailers are going out of business because they cannot compete with Wal-Mart and their super cheap Chinese products. Often communities will give Wal-Mart huge tax breaks just to move in to their areas. But what many communities don't take into account is that the introduction of a Wal-Mart is often absolutely devastating to small businesses (http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php/)....
A study of small and rural towns in Iowa showed lost sales for local businesses ranging from -17.2% in small towns to -61.4% in rural areas, amounting to a total dollar loss of $2.46 BILLION over a 13-year period.

Hey, I went to Sherando. Wasn't there a 24 hour Wal-Mart in the area way back in the 90s? Maybe it was in Funchester...

The Super Center in Winchester, now referred to as the "old walmart" by locals, , has been there since about 1995 or 1996 I believe. It replaced the regular Wal-Mart that is now located where Kohl's store is, if you remember the area.

There is one 5 minutes away that is nearby Winchester Medical Center, 20 minutes away down I-81 in Front Royal, and then the one in Stephens City, which, in a 15-20 mile radius amounts to 4 stores..

Walmart Pays Workers Poorly And Sinks While Costco Pays Workers Well And Sails-Proof That You Get What You Pay For - Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2013/04/17/walmart-pays-workers-poorly-and-sinks-while-costco-pays-workers-well-and-sails-proof-that-you-get-what-you-pay-for/)

Walmart Pays Workers Poorly And Sinks While Costco Pays Workers Well And Sails-Proof That You Get What You Pay For




http://b-i.forbesimg.com/rickungar/files/2013/04/300px-Wal-Mart_protest_in_Utah1.jpg (http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wal-Mart_protest_in_Utah.jpg) A protest in Utah against Wal-Mart (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


Costco’s most recent quarterly earnings report (http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=83830&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=1794682&highlight=) reveals a fairly healthy eight percent rate of growth in year-on-year sales—including a five percent rise in same store sales. What’s more, with membership fees rising from $459 million in the same quarter last year to $528 million this year, it’s pretty clear that a significant number of customers are moving over to the retailer to do their discount shopping.
Meanwhile, Costco’s primary competitor, Walmart, saw an anemic 1.2 percent rise in sales, while other competitors such as J.C. Penny and Target (http://www.forbes.com/companies/target/) TGT -0.01% (http://www.forbes.com/companies/target/) experienced even greater disasters in their sales results.

In an identical economy, how do we explain Costco’s growth vis-à-vis the failures over at Walmart?
Here’s a crazy thought—might it have something to do with the fact that Costco pays nearly all of its employees a decent living (well in excess of the minimum wage) while Wal-Mart continues to pay its workers as if their employees don’t actually need to eat more than once a week, live in an enclosed space and, on occasion, take their kids to see a doctor?
And just in case the occasional Walmart employee finds a way to squeak by, the company has sought to put an end to that by cutting their employment roster by 1.4 percent, even as they increased their store count by thirteen percent.
The result?
Walmart service now pretty much sucks—and customers don’t like it.

Wal-Mart says it will pull out of D.C. plans should city mandate ‘living wage’ - The Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/wal-mart-says-it-will-pull-out-of-dc-plans-should-city-mandate-living-wage/2013/07/09/4fa7e710-e8d0-11e2-a301-ea5a8116d211_story.html)

DC gives walmart the finger if they don't agree to pay people more money. Like Walmart, they want to pay as little as possible and let the government supplement the extra money via food stamps/welfare. We then turn around and tell these bums (who have jobs) to go get a job. MURICA!!!

Exactly.

Plus, with the new Healthcare laws, MOST business of any level are being forced to cut people down to part-time so they're not penalized by the IRS. You can't blame Walmart or any business for trying to survive in the face of tyrannical regulations being forced upon them like this.

Tyranny. This is what tyranny looks like people.

PolitiFact | Bernie Sanders says Walmart heirs own more wealth than bottom 40 percent of Americans (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2012/jul/31/bernie-s/sanders-says-walmart-heirs-own-more-wealth-bottom-/)

When the Walmart heirs own more wealth than the bottom 40% of America, I don't think you can classify anything regulated against them as tyranny. My mind is boggled by the mere thought of such statement.



Here we have John Schnatter, who originally balked at Obamacare, and claimed it would rise prices of pizza from 11 to 14 cents. This was later debunked and found that the real cost would be about 4 cents per pizza. They also found that the promotional 2 million pizza giveaway would alone cover the costs for healthcare. He got so much heat and public backlash that he reversed his stance(publicly anyway)

Papa John's Obamacare Stance Costs Company Its Reputation: Study (http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/papa-johns-obamacare_n_2233525.html).

Papa John's Schnatter Says He Will Honor Obamacare And Give Health Insurance To All Employees - Forbes (http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/11/21/papa-johns-schnatter-says-he-will-honor-obamacare-and-give-health-insurance-to-all-employees/)


Meanwhile, John Schnatter lives in a mansion such as this.

http://cdn.cnwimg.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/papa-john-schnatter-house.jpg


God damn tyrannical communist bastards!!

Two dozen countries with a higher minimum wage than America’s | The Exchange - Yahoo Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/two-dozen-countries-with-a-higher-minimum-wage-than-america-s-162113410.html)

my only question regarding this clearly biased article is "what about the other 160+ countries?"

Two dozen countries with a higher minimum wage than America’s | The Exchange - Yahoo Finance (http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/the-exchange/two-dozen-countries-with-a-higher-minimum-wage-than-america-s-162113410.html)

my only question regarding this clearly biased article is "what about the other 160+ countries?"

This is a great article. Well written.

I think maybe we as a whole (nation), need to look at everything real close and start to maybe reconsider this notion that America is the best at everything. Don't get me wrong, i love this nation as i hope most citizens do, it's just, without ever having lived anywhere else (outside of USA), i cannot say 100% for sure that this is the best place. I'd like to imagine that there are countries out there that are getting by just fine (Canada comes to mind), where the people have a good quality of life, good jobs, etc....

And i also want to add that i know we have / enjoy great freedoms here, not taking that for granted for a minute...

But i'm looking at other problems - behind on education, our obesity epidemic, the healthcare problem, the list just seems to go on and on....