Solid Snake Hates: Walmart

[Monkeydad]

Originally Posted by Mattyk

Tyranny

Apathy

[MTK]

Originally Posted by Monkeydad

Apathy

Tyranny
Cruel and oppressive government or rule.
A nation under such cruel and oppressive government.

Do we live in the same country?

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

This ^^^^ Go watch the documentary "Wal-Mart: The high cost of low price". Excellent made film and it was so good that Wal-Mart tried like hell to keep it from getting released to the general public. I also had to read Sam Wal-Mart's book when i was in college, and from the get go the guy's whole operation was about coming in and knocking off the mom and pop stores, maximum profit while spending as little as possible. The book even goes into detail at one point about their stance on why they pay so low. The morale of the story is that they feel a low paying Wal-Mart job is better than no job at all, which i think most people don't agree with.

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....

Seen movie read book.

Basically you have options don't shop there if you hate it and/or get a education or learn a trade so you don't have to work there.

End of story.

I buy a few things there because it is real cheap on those items mainly Mobil One Oil. Otherwise I avoid the place but if someone wants to go there by all means have at it.

And for the teary eyed mom and pop store owner. Guess what one strong advantage you have over Wal Mart; service. Give every customer who comes in to our store that real one on one service that Wal Mart will never be able to give due to it's volume. You will build up or maintain a loyal customer basis you will survive.

[Chico23231]

I dont have a problem with walmart, but usually the experience of getting in and out is a pain the ass. I have one right by work so ill jump in to grab things that are reasonably priced...this year i switched back to charcoal bbq-ing only, got a new weber grill and set up cheap. I re-uped by beach supplies at walmart and did it on the very cheap with towels, chairs, sun block etc. I usually go in and grab bathroom and pet stuff for good deals. I have no qualms about shopping there.

Ive bought deals online too and shipping was fast. Bought earlier in the year a 47 LG smart tv $100 cheaper than Best buy , arrived in 3 business days...not bad.

[mredskins]

Originally Posted by Chico23231

I dont have a problem with walmart, but usually the experience of getting in and out is a pain the ass. I have one right by work so ill jump in to grab things that are reasonably priced...this year i switched back to charcoal bbq-ing only, got a new weber grill and set up cheap. I re-uped by beach supplies at walmart and did it on the very cheap with towels, chairs, sun block etc. I usually go in and grab bathroom and pet stuff for good deals. I have no qualms about shopping there.

Ive bought deals online too and shipping was fast. Bought earlier in the year a 47 LG smart tv $100 cheaper than Best buy , arrived in 3 business days...not bad.

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

[itvnetop]

Originally Posted by SolidSnake84

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...

[mlmdub130]

Originally Posted by mredskins

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.

[Giantone]

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


Is Wal-Mart Evil? 20 Shocking Facts | EconMatters




Where Wal-Mart Gets Its Products (Graphic Source: Cyncical-C.com & Consumerist, added by EconMatters)
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 a year at Wal-Mart.



#2 In 2010, Wal-Mart had revenues of 421 billion dollars. 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 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 grocery dollars is spent at Wal-Mart.


#5 Amazingly, 100 million customers shop at Wal-Mart every single week.


#6 Wal-Mart has opened more than 1,100 "supercenters" since 2005 alone.


#7 Today, Wal-Mart has more than 2 million employees.


#8 If Wal-Mart was an army, it would be the second largest military on the planet behind China.


#9 Wal-Mart is the largest employer in 25 different U.S. states.


#10 According to the Economic Policy Institute, trade between Wal-Mart and China resulted in the loss of133,000 manufacturing jobs in the United States between 2001 and 2006.


#11 The CEO of Wal-Mart makes more in a single hour 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 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.


#14 Amazingly, 96 percent of all Americans now live within 20 miles of a Wal-Mart.


#15 The number of "independent retailers" in the United States declined by 60,000 between 1992 and 2007.


#16 According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Wal-Mart spent 7.8 million dollars on political lobbying during 2011. That number does not even include campaign contributions.


#17 Today, Wal-Mart has five times 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 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....

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.

[SolidSnake84]

Originally Posted by itvnetop

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..

[Giantone]

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

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




A protest in Utah against Wal-Mart (Photo credit: Wikipedia)


Costco’s most recent quarterly earnings report 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 TGT -0.01% 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.

[NC_Skins]

Wal-Mart says it will pull out of D.C. plans should city mandate ‘living wage’ - The Washington Post

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!!!

[NC_Skins]

Originally Posted by Monkeydad

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

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.

Papa John's Schnatter Says He Will Honor Obamacare And Give Health Insurance To All Employees - Forbes


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




God damn tyrannical communist bastards!!

[CRedskinsRule]

Two dozen countries with a higher minimum wage than America’s | The Exchange - Yahoo Finance

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

[SolidSnake84]

Originally Posted by CRedskinsRule

Two dozen countries with a higher minimum wage than America’s | The Exchange - Yahoo Finance

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....

[SolidSnake84]

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....