Walmart the Devil?

[Symphonic]

Well, I know that Joe Fox put the Shop Around the Corner out of business.

[Cthulhu 2020]

http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php

[Jayburner]

wish there was a walmart close to me. Gotta a crappy Zellers nearby

[Deleted]

So I finally just watched 'Walmart - high cost, low prices' and I gotta say it's disturbing, of course the film is going to be a bit biased but do you really think walmart is as evil as they are portrayed? I saw my hometown gutted just like in the film with walmart destroying all local business and becoming the only remaining store left. I am now fortunate enough to live in a fairly affluent area where walmart is pretty small and ineffective due to the large 'buy local' vibe around here. I must say that buying local and keeping your money in your community works wonders.

Here is a link if you're interested, it's definitely worth checking out.
http://www.walmartmovie.com/
and no I'm not associated with the film and don't care if you buy or not.

A large continentspanning corporation that has low morals and lacks ideals and respect? I thought that came with being a big brand. Walmart is a tiny devil compared to some other multinational companies like Coca Cola.

[Rukentuts]

A large continentspanning corporation that has low morals and lacks ideals and respect? I thought that came with being a big brand. Walmart is a tiny devil compared to some other multinational companies like Coca Cola.

Wal-Mart is multinational. In fact it was in the news recently for suspected bribery from its Mexico branch.

[Beefhammer]

Again, I don't think Walmart is evil because its Walmart. I don't think they are even particularly bad. Walmart is nothing more than a side effect, a symptom if you will, of our own economic mismanagement during the last few decades. Walton was hardly the only one in the race to the bottom. He just happened to win it.

Blame his greedy children not the old man.

---------- Post added 2012-11-29 at 07:24 PM ----------

A large continentspanning corporation that has low morals and lacks ideals and respect? I thought that came with being a big brand. Walmart is a tiny devil compared to some other multinational companies like Coca Cola.

Don't forget Apple.

[Drekker17]

I never had hate for Walmart, and hating Walmart is pretty much silly in my area, I guess because it was created around the same time 90% of every other business during my cities boom, so all other business big and small naturally grew up with walmart as a competitor. Small businesses have no trouble forming. I guess walmart is a major killer if a city is small or slow growing.

[Eomar]

I don't think companies are evil. Greedy? Sure all companies are greedy to a point, all people are as well.

[Fugus]

I wouldn't call them the devil. They provide a ton of employment for a lot of people.

As a Walmart employee, I would not call what I have "employment". In my opinion, I don't earn a paycheck, I earn an allowance at this point. A paycheck allows you to support yourself, this doesn't fit the bill. I could earn my weekly pay in a single summer day with a lawnmower and a tank of gas.

They don't employ people so much as they exploit them. Except in the nations where they are forced to deal with Unions or areas where the people aren't hurting for jobs yet. Where I live, Walmart is virtually the devil but then you can go to areas up north where they have more work than they have people to do it and you see them actually giving paychecks that allow you to live. They are evil, but only as evil as they can get away with if that is really saying anything.

Ever since Sam Walton died, his bastard children and the CEO that was appointed to run it in his absence has killed everything that has made that company great and turned it into a shell of its former self. Just can't wait for rest of the world to see it. I know out of about every 3rd shift employ at mine, virtually all of them want a way out except the ones who has been there over a decade (before they got this bad) and got to keep what they got from back then and even they say they wouldn't work there if they had to start now with what they do.

[starkey]

I thought people went to Wal-Mart to look at the wide variety of weirdo's that shop there.

[B72691]

Walmart is literally the only store in my town, made a lot of businesses go down.

[Hraklea]

Small business' biggest enemy is the consumer, because people have decided they'd rather shop online or in a store that carries everything in one place.

This. If Walmart killed local stores, it's because people decided that Walmart cost-benefit was superior than the cost-benefit from local stores. I blame people, not Walmart.

[Rukentuts]

the wide variety of weirdo's that shop there.

That's actually why I go out of my way to avoid it.

[Deleted]

@clevername

The movie you watched is one of the most biased pieces of garbage out there also it is old and outdated Walmart has made many changes since then.As a former Walmart employee i can say that most of my bad times while working there was not with Walmart or it's managers it was the customers who made it a crappy place to work.

I ask you this question why so much hate for Walmart but not for a company such as McDonalds who pays it's employees less money and provides no heatlh insurance at all???If you ask me Mcdonalds is just as bad if not worse than Walmart. As far as buying locally from Mom and Pop stores why should i pay 40 bucks for the same pair of jeans that i can get at Walmart for 10 bucks.

Because 10 bucks for a pair of jeans means the workers that crafted them are underpaid, not safe, overworked, unchecked, defenceless.
That's the idea behind it all.

[nnelson54]

As a Walmart employee, I would not call what I have "employment". In my opinion, I don't earn a paycheck, I earn an allowance at this point. A paycheck allows you to support yourself, this doesn't fit the bill. I could earn my weekly pay in a single summer day with a lawnmower and a tank of gas.

So then quit.

[SirRobin]

So then quit.

I did, and I'm pretty sure I have not been in a Walmart since. Still, I had the option to quit. For some it may simply be the best job they can find.

[nnelson54]

I did, and I'm pretty sure I have not been in a Walmart since. Still, I had the option to quit. For some it may simply be the best job they can find.

If it's the best job that he can find then it's clearly better than the alternative, so he's got nothing to complain about if he decides to stay.

I just can't get behind people complaining about their jobs as some sort of long-term problem. Everyone has bad days or weeks. I've had bad months. But if your job makes you that miserable for that long a period of time, get a new one. And if you can't find a new one or your current one is better than another one you could find, then I guess it's not so bad afterall.

[SirRobin]

If it's the best job that he can find then it's clearly better than the alternative, so he's got nothing to complain about if he decides to stay.

I just can't get behind people complaining about their jobs as some sort of long-term problem. Everyone has bad days or weeks. I've had bad months. But if your job makes you that miserable for that long a period of time, get a new one. And if you can't find a new one or your current one is better than another one you could find, then I guess it's not so bad afterall.

Well if the Walmart has killed most of the other businesses in your community, it is the only job available, and your most viable alternative is moving? Then of course its okay to bitch about your job when it doesn't have to be this way. Walmart makes frankly shocking amounts of money. Nothing says they can't pay their employees a little more. Walmart's size gives them tremendous bargaining power. Which they could use to negotiate better insurance options. Walmart could let their employees unionize without closing the store after a location's employees get fed up enough to do so.

Now if they live in less economically isolated areas with better employment options? Then of course its their own fault for staying. I could leave, so I did. Doesn't mean everyone can as easily. If all you've got to eat is gruel or starve? Doesn't make the gruel actually taste any better nor become more nutritious than a sandwich.

[Raenas]

That's actually why I go out of my way to avoid it.

Same here, heh.
If I want to look at the crazies that shop at walmart, I need only go to peopleofwalmart.com. :I

That said, I have several friends who have been or are currently employed at walmart and all of them hate their jobs. What's worse is that the management does not give two shits about the associates whatsoever and it's almost impossible to speak up against them because if you do, they will make your life hell until you just quit.
And, as fugus said, the pay is terrible. A couple of the people I know who were/are employed by walmart had families to provide for and were forced to take on a second (and third, in one case) job because of the crappy pay. One of my friends brought this up with her manager at walmart after two years of working there and instead of a raise, they cut her hours bit by bit over the course of several weeks and eventually she ended up quitting.

[Clevername]

@clevername

The movie you watched is one of the most biased pieces of garbage out there also it is old and outdated Walmart has made many changes since then.As a former Walmart employee i can say that most of my bad times while working there was not with Walmart or it's managers it was the customers who made it a crappy place to work.

I ask you this question why so much hate for Walmart but not for a company such as McDonalds who pays it's employees less money and provides no heatlh insurance at all???If you ask me Mcdonalds is just as bad if not worse than Walmart. As far as buying locally from Mom and Pop stores why should i pay 40 bucks for the same pair of jeans that i can get at Walmart for 10 bucks.

Oh believe me I never go to mcdonalds but then again I never eat fast food so kind of off my list by default. The mom and pop stores are not that grossly overpriced and the reason to pay a bit more is because those locally owned business direct much more money back into the community.http://www.time.com/time/business/ar...903632,00.html While walmart is definitely not the only entity guilty of my previous gripes it is the largest and most easily identifiable.

---------- Post added 2012-12-01 at 03:57 PM ----------

I never had hate for Walmart, and hating Walmart is pretty much silly in my area, I guess because it was created around the same time 90% of every other business during my cities boom, so all other business big and small naturally grew up with walmart as a competitor. Small businesses have no trouble forming. I guess walmart is a major killer if a city is small or slow growing.

Exactly, it's a small city killer. Large urban areas have no problem with it and handle it better but in my small town of Laurens SC it pretty much gutted the local businesses and now we're left with a Walmart SuperCenter and chains of fast food restaurants.