Wal Mart thread

[Barinthus]

Originally posted by JohnT


He lives in Arkansas, so in effect he is on retainer for Wal-Mart.

My housemate is from Arkansas and he's a rabid fan of Wal-Mart

[JohnT]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara


I've done more for less.

I rest my case.

[Japher]

It is hard to predict a future of a company. I think walmart will last for some time, or at least until a stupid law suit requires them to get a female CEO... then, all is doomed

[:) Smiley]

What % of the Arkansas economy is Walmart and its suppliers?

[pchang]

Walmart will go away

In the future, there will be no need for retail stores at all.

Think of Neal Stephenson's The Diamond Age

[rah]

Retail funnies from this morning's Chicago Tribune.

Retail funnies: After Wal-Mart opened a store in a heavily Amish community, Jay Leno had a kinder, gentler joke than late-night rival David Letterman, who made a wisecrack about Chinese-made butter churns.

Said Leno: The Wal-Mart "is doing a lot better than that Amish Circuit City that opened."

[mrmitchell]

What % of the Arkansas economy is Walmart and its suppliers?

Good question

As for only Northwest Arkansas, although Wal Mart isn't the only huge corporation there (there's also Tyson [chicken] and J B Hunt [trucking] ), they're definitely the one driving the most growth...Wal Mart employs 12,000 people in that corner of the state, and 20% of jobs at the HQ are (high paying) IT jobs.

200 suppliers have built offices in Bentonville and relocated high-paid executives to the region, causing a skywalker-level housing boom, and a boom in stores that cater to these high spenders (ie, not Walmarts.)

In addition, they've (Wal Mart corporation and the Walton family) given hundreds of millions of dollars to institutions there, for example, $300 million to the University of Arkansas in 2002.

Statewide:
The wholesale / retail trade industry accounts for $10B of $75B in gross state product for 2002:

Industry Breakdown by GSP (Millions of
Current Dollars $ 2002*)
Agriculture, Forestry & Fishing 1,941
Construction 3,442
Finance, Insurance & Real Estate 10,226
Government 9,268
Corporate Management 2,270
Manufacturing 13,202
Mining 309
Services 13,160
Transportation & Public Utilities 5,076
Wholesale & Retail Trade 10,324
Information 2,712
* Last year detailed industry data available.
Aggregate data for 2003 shows $75.528 billion GSP.

But not all of that is Wal Mart, or even probably half.

Wholesale and retail trade is 14% of the economy, behind services (18%) and manufacturing (19%).

In 2003, the State of Arkansas was the state's number one non manufacturing employer, but Wal Mart was second.

Wal Mart probably has a lot more AR suppliers than this small, list but I can think of: Alliance Rubber (rubber bands, Hot Springs), Arquest (diapers, Camden), Murphy Oil (gas, El Dorado)...and don't supercenters carry Tyson chicken? I'm 99% sure they do but there's not one in Camden so I never really grocery shopped at one. And, of course, there must be more, but I'm not like an encyclopedia or something.

[flash9286]

Originally posted by Ming


The only thing that study proved was that companies that pay low salaries have their employees take more advantage of public resources... the same wage paid (and higher in some cases) than most fast food chains and ANY company paying minimum wage. To single out Walmart is just a classic example of bad research. And again, they had no REAL facts that prove Walmart is any worse than those paying similar wage... and again, those who only pay minimal wage would be even worse.

The only people who work in a minumum wage job are either highschool students or college students, in my expericence. And they dont have many bills. Why might they single out walmart bc its pays 31 percent less than other large retail chains. And Walmart covers 23% less health insurance for it employees than other retailers. They did have real facts they used wage data and compensation polices obtained in the sexual harrasement trail.