Wal Mart thread

[mrmitchell]

This is for JohnT. The reply I was writing in the A/C forum thread couldn't be posted in time for it to be locked due to all you spammeisters.

JohnT used as an example, a post in the Straight Dope forum where he said Wal Mart was just like every other corporation and one day it would fail.

What makes Wal Mart like GM and Sears?

In fact, it's not even fair to compare it to most of your examples, like Piggly Wiggly, Sears, K Mart...these are grocers and dept stores and are probably failing specifically because of Wal Mart.

(I'm not registered at the Straight Dope, btw)

[Zkribbler]

. . . Wal Mart was just like every other corporation . . .

Not true. Walmart excels at exporting its expense to the general public.

It gets local government to condemn land for its use so it doesn't have to bargain with the land owners. It demands tax concessions from local government to build a store. It doesn't provide health benefits, so its workers have to crowd into emergency rooms, public health clinics and county hospitals to get health care. It pays below market wages, causing many of its employees to apply for food stamps. It uses preditory pricing tactics to drive competing businesses into bankruptcy.

All in all, it's a gigantic corporate parasite which sucks the economic vibrance out of any community it touches!

[Ted Striker]

Inglewood told them to go to hell Zkrib!

[Tuberski]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


Not true. Walmart excels at exporting its expense to the general public.

It gets local government to condemn land for its use so it doesn't have to bargain with the land owners. It demands tax concessions from local government to build a store. It doesn't provide health benefits, so its workers have to crowd into emergency rooms, public health clinics and county hospitals to get health care. It pays below market wages, causing many of its employees to apply for food stamps. It uses preditory pricing tactics to drive competing businesses into bankruptcy.

All in all, it's a gigantic corporate parasite which sucks the economic vibrance out of any community it touches!

True, true, true.

Hwever, I got the new Harry Potter book in 20 minutes at Wal-Mart and paid less than a book store.

ACK!

[Ming]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
It doesn't provide health benefits, so its workers have to crowd into emergency rooms, public health clinics and county hospitals to get health care.

Another myth

From Walmarts website...

HEALTH BENEFITS
Our health plan covers most major medical expenses. The company contributes to the cost of health benefits and we offer affordable Associate plans. There is no limit for most health coverage. 60% of our Associates tell us they joined Wal-Mart because of our benefits. We also offer:


Dental Coverage
Company-Paid and/or Dependent & Optional Life Insurance
Business Travel Accident Insurance
Long- and Short-Term Disability
Illness Protection Plan

True... part time workers don't get healthcare, just like most companies...

[DanS]

There's a lot of anti-Walmart propaganda going around because Walmart's not a union shop and many of its competitors are union shops.

Wrt the opening post, Sears and GM were once every bit as successful as Walmart. Companies are human institutions. Mistakes are made. Lessons learned are forgotten. And then there will be somebody that figures out a better way to do business and Walmart will go by the wayside.

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by Zkribbler


It doesn't provide health benefits, so its workers have to crowd into emergency rooms, public health clinics and county hospitals to get health care.

Where did you get that from? They did when I worked there a few years ago. I never had any problem with getting things taken care of. But I suppose you shouldnt take the word of someone who actually worked there

[Zkribbler]

Inglewood told them to go to hell Zkrib!

I know.

But Walmart has now turned its attention to small cities within LA. It got its nose under the tent in Rosemead with support of its five city councilmembers. Then two of three who were running for re-election were turned out of office. The mayor barely survived, but he was running against a write-in. Now, there's a recall effort to toss out the other two.

Grrrr PEOPLE POWER!

I got the new Harry Potter book in 20 minutes at Wal-Mart and paid less than a book store.

True. Waldemart excels at advertising "loss leaders" to lure people into their stores.

The company contributes to the cost of health benefits

This is a half truth. What percentage does it "contribute?" Do the low salaries provide enough for its "associates" [cough] to pay the difference? Offering to contribute to a plan your employees cannot afford ain't worth diddly.

[DanS]

To be fair, most other companies only contribute a portion of health care insurance costs. Walmart isn't out of the ordinary in this regard.

[mrmitchell]

It gets local government to condemn land for its use so it doesn't have to bargain with the land owners.

Maybe in some cases. But I can show you 99 out of 100 Wal Marts that communities eagerly welcomed.

It demands tax concessions from local government to build a store.

I wouldn't know, there haven't been any new store around here very recently.

It doesn't provide health benefits, so its workers have to crowd into emergency rooms, public health clinics and county hospitals to get health care.

IIRC at least half of Wal Mart employees (all of them, full and part time) get health benefits, probably more than "mom & pops" would give them.

It pays below market wages, causing many of its employees to apply for food stamps. It uses preditory pricing tactics to drive competing businesses into bankruptcy.

Wal Mart pays well over minimum wage for starting positions and has a policy to promote from within. Many times they hire unskilled adults who would otherwise have difficulty finding employment.

All in all, it's a gigantic corporate parasite which sucks the economic vibrance out of any community it touches!

Examples, please, good sir.

[flash9286]

IIRC at least half of Wal Mart employees (all of them, full and part time) get health benefits, probably more than "mom & pops" would give them.

According to Store Wars( a PBS mini-series im guessing) less than half of Walmart employess buy their health insuracne becasue it is so expensive( they pay 35%, almost double the national average).

Wal Mart pays well over minimum wage for starting positions and has a policy to promote from within. Many times they hire unskilled adults who would otherwise have difficulty finding employment.

Yes, but after two years of being employed walmart employees make 25% less than other retail employers that work with unions.

Also their we give back to the community campaign is total bull****. They ranked last among major discount retailers, donating four-tenths of a percent of its earnings, well behind its competitors.

http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/stores3.html

[Mrs. Tuberski]

Way back when walmart first opened it only opened in small communities What changed and had them move into big cities. I find the store just a bit of convience cause a few stay open 24 hours and offer everything you could need at 230 am. I have to admit they have ran stores like albertsons and kmart out of san antonio but then again albertsons was expensive and kmart was well id say cheesy. I dont have a clue on much inside info about walmart but if the things said here are true then that sucks

[JohnT]

Did ya check out the link, MrMitchell? Here's the entire post which should answer your question:

...............

One of the things I really don't understand about all this Wal Mart hubbub is why people don't understand that Wal-Mart, like all corporations, has a limited shelf life, soon, within most of our lifetimes, to die (or worse, become irrelevant) like Sears, Montgomery Ward, A&P, Winn Dixie, Piggly Wiggly, Kmart, and a whole host of other national and regional players.

Back in college I once calculated Sears revenues accounted for a full 2.1% of the US GDP in 1972... today, Wal-Mart's revenues are at 2.6% of US GDP. Sears dominated the American retail landscape for 100 years, and then nearly died, to be purchased by a discount retailer that itself was in bankruptcy two years prior to the "merger." And Sears just wasn't a mega-corp, it was an American Icon, the institution that made it possible for housewives in the prairie to get pot-bellied stoves, starched cotton shirts, the latest perfumes, and a whole host of "luxuries" quickly turned into necessities. Not to mention the catalog itself, a book put to many, many uses.

Today Sears doesn't mean **** to people, a company largely supported by their financial services division, but still not worth saving from the likes of Kmart. Poof, gone, now no longer a proud organization that benefited our nation but a brand, a name for the marketers.

And Sears isn't the only one. From the mid-twenties to the mid-thirties, A&P opened up over 14,000 grocery stores, wiping out local grocer after local butcher after local baker (I don't know what happened to the candlestick makers - sorry.) They ignited a fiery storm of protest (overwhelmed in the greater story of the Depression, FDR, and Hitler) much like the one heard today, and are now no longer a market maker but a market taker, reduced to a regional grocer of 105 stores in New York/New Jersey.

So what about Wal Mart?

Of their $287 billion in 2004 revenues, they have an operating income of $17 billion, or 5.96% of gross revenues... many people here expect their stock portfolios to do better than this (so they then load up on Wal Mart. ) After taxes, etc, you end up with a mere 3.4% return for your efforts.

But for the company, it gets even worse. They pay out 21% of their income in dividends, leaving them with retained earnings of a paltry 2.7% of gross revenue! Sorry for exclaiming twice in consecutive sentences, but that's horrible! The damn inflation rate in the US is 3.15% for March, meaning that with bad planning on Wal Marts part, their entire profit could be spent on inflationary pressures rather than increased capital improvements, acquisitions, R&D, and the all important "improving your cash position."

Cite, PDF document, skip all the crap in the front and go to page 33.

Don't get me wrong - they're currently doing well, and things are proceeding and growing at a nice clip... but they're not so large as to be unaffected by externalities such as bad management or somebody else coming up with a "better way", as every single one of the above listed retailers found themselves to be.

Here's my prediction: Some Asian store is going to come out of nowhere, supported by a home or regional market of 300,000,000+ and kick Wal Marts ass, just as Toyota is doing the Big Three. You wait and see. And then people will really be yelling!

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=312905&page=4&pp=30

[Mrs. Tuberski]

Ohh toyota is slated to open a plant here in san antonio in a few years, that has opned up alot of high paying jobs to the area. I dont know how that will affect the other three motor cos. since they dont have a plant here just car lots to sell the cars..

[mrmitchell]

Here's my prediction: Some Asian store is going to come out of nowhere, supported by a home or regional market of 300,000,000+ and kick Wal Marts ass, just as Toyota is doing the Big Three. You wait and see. And then people will really be yelling!

Why would they need to? If you believe what everyone says, Wal Mart is already Asian except in name. IIRC they're China's biggest exporter...I have no doubt they will establish Wal Marts in China.

today, Wal-Mart's revenues are at 2.6% of US GDP.

That number will grow. There is nothing in the immediate picture that may possibly slow them down.

Don't get me wrong - they're currently doing well, and things are proceeding and growing at a nice clip... but they're not so large as to be unaffected by externalities such as bad management or somebody else coming up with a "better way", as every single one of the above listed retailers found themselves to be.

Until society is totally changed, Wal Mart is the only "better way"...if someone could find any new place from which to squeeze out inefficiency or add value, it would have already been done. Now, if the rise of the Internet dismantles brick and mortar retailers, that is the only thing I can see stopping walmart, but those predictions kind of fell out of style with the burst of the tech bubble.

There are some things like Lee Scott's outrageous salary that aren't good for walmart, but since Sam has passed, it is a cost of doing business, you have to pay good executives a lot of money or they'll leave. As long as he's not fcking up the growth walmart is going through, his salary makes more sense under that light.