Solid Snake Hates: Walmart

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by hooskins

Any store will be "run out" of business.

The reason all those stores will be run out of business is they hold no competitive advantage over Wal-Mart.

As I said, most of the stuff Wal-Mart sells requires no customer service, so the consumer selects the retailer simply based on price.

Some mom & pop places can hang with a Wal-Mart, if they offer service so great that it outweighs the price difference. If you're talking about a mom & pop consumer electronics store, they pretty much need to come to your house and set it up for you. Because these days, most consumers are perfectly capable of getting online and doing their own product research. The "expert" at the store is rendered obsolete.

Culture. Pffft.

Our culture is evolving.

[Trample the Elderly]

Originally Posted by Schneed10

The reason all those stores will be run out of business is they hold no competitive advantage over Wal-Mart.

As I said, most of the stuff Wal-Mart sells requires no customer service, so the consumer selects the retailer simply based on price.

Some mom & pop places can hang with a Wal-Mart, if they offer service so great that it outweighs the price difference. If you're talking about a mom & pop consumer electronics store, they pretty much need to come to your house and set it up for you. Because these days, most consumers are perfectly capable of getting online and doing their own product research. The "expert" at the store is rendered obsolete.

Culture. Pffft.

Our culture is evolving.

I love capitalism but Walmart is cut-throat capitalism. It gives everyone else a bad name. Walmart is no different than a plantation or a robber barron. Yes there are good things about the company, but there were good things about pirate ships too.

[dmek25]

i see a whole lot of bitching going on here. so how come every time i pass Walmart, the parking lot is full? i personally do not shop there. but there has been talk about one basically across the street from my development. as far as the mom and pop stores, i know Walmart can employ many more people then the smaller stores that they replace. so why the feelings towards the older, smaller stores? is it purely sentimental?

[Trample the Elderly]

Originally Posted by dmek25

i see a whole lot of bitching going on here. so how come every time i pass Walmart, the parking lot is full? i personally do not shop there. but there has been talk about one basically across the street from my development. as far as the mom and pop stores, i know Walmart can employ many more people then the smaller stores that they replace. so why the feelings towards the older, smaller stores? is it purely sentimental?

The US gov borrows money from China to finance wars without end. The gov also pushed through free trade agreements. Remember that giant sucking sound? The Chinese devalue their currency making their exports cheaper. All of our factories went to China. (See the sucking sound) They (the Communist) use slave labor to export cheap BS products that kill people in the US and undercut American jobs. Happy tax day. Did I leave anything out?

[SolidSnake84]

Originally Posted by dmek25

i see a whole lot of bitching going on here. so how come every time i pass Walmart, the parking lot is full? i personally do not shop there. but there has been talk about one basically across the street from my development. as far as the mom and pop stores, i know Walmart can employ many more people then the smaller stores that they replace. so why the feelings towards the older, smaller stores? is it purely sentimental?

Yes, i think the feelings are mostly sentimental. But trust me, if that was YOUR family business, and your livelihood depended on it, as did your children's, you'd feel differently about Walmart trying to put you out of business..

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

Yes, i think the feelings are mostly sentimental. But trust me, if that was YOUR family business, and your livelihood depended on it, as did your children's, you'd feel differently about Walmart trying to put you out of business..

Sucks, but the lower prices benefit the greater good.

[dmek25]

SS84 i feel your pain. and TTE, i work in production, so im in total agreement. NAFTA is one of the worse pieces of legislation to ever pass. until the US figures out a way to level the playing field, more and more jobs will be lost. and more and more cheap exports will flood the US

[MTK]

I'm not a fan of Wal-Mart but I'm really starting to hate theses types of threads more lol

Seems that every small town always resists when WM is coming to town, but once they come everyone shops there and love the prices. All of a sudden the anti-WM sentiment goes out the window pretty quick.

[SmootSmack]

Target baby! Target takes Walmart and makes it its bitch

[MTK]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Target baby! Target takes Walmart and makes it its bitch

I'll second that.

[SolidSnake84]

Yeah guys you never hear about target like you do WalMart. Does anybody know what they pay their associates?? I'm curious to if it's as much as Walmart workers make? or More?

[jdlea]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

Yeah guys you never hear about target like you do WalMart. Does anybody know what they pay their associates?? I'm curious to if it's as much as Walmart workers make? or More?

Well, here's an interesting read about that:

Target: Wal-Mart Lite

[SolidSnake84]

Thats a good read. I'm glad to see they mentioned Costco. I had a friend that i went to high school with, who worked at Costco for 2 years. He just retrieved carts, but he was making 11.00 an hour, which is nice money for a high school kid.

I used our company's subscription to PayScale, to check the starting wages around here. They pay 7.25 at both Target and Walmart in Winchester, VA

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by SmootSmack

Target baby! Target takes Walmart and makes it its bitch

Yeah, they could have some larger depts though.. sporting goods, automotive (I couldn't even find brake fluid at one of the locations), etc

[tryfuhl]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

Yes, i think the feelings are mostly sentimental. But trust me, if that was YOUR family business, and your livelihood depended on it, as did your children's, you'd feel differently about Walmart trying to put you out of business..

Yeah, I get that.. at the same time having lived in rural areas most of these family businesses man.. it's hard to imagine how they survived to begin with. They don't always offer great/knowledgeable service, unique products, or really anything that I can't get elsewhere.. they just luck out on being the only ones around carrying something in that range of products.

If they can't form a niche or keep up with the times they didn't plan their venture very well. The ones that can separate themselves from Wal-Mart and make the price less important will survive. The ones that don't get with the times, well they're gonna be gone eventually, if not by Wal-Mart, when someone with a better business model in that area shows up.