People who diss where I work...

[Kimmik]

FFS Wal-Mart is not the evil godamn empire.
It is not the only store that sells products from other places..
no they do not pay slave wages
Actually they have pretty damn good insurance
No i dont want to belong to a union I like getting paid and raises based off my own merit.
We help the communities that we are in. Our money isnt donated to some far off place.

Yeah wal-mart has it's share of suckiness, show me one damn place that doesnt. Yes some of the management sucks ass but again this is not a specific...

I am so tired of hearing how evil Wal-Mart is... how big and bad... they are no different then any other big box... Except we are the whipping boy for what is evil... And it is not wrong of me to like my damn job.

[crashhelmet]

Here in Las Vegas, WalMart tried to open a new store a few years ago nearby the airport and took a lot of flack. A lot of the criticism they took was apparently because they hurt small businesses and other grocery stores in their neighborhoods. The sad thing about this whole incident was they were shutting down another store about a mile down the road to open this one.

CH

[elsporko]

Walmart only hurts small businesses with bad business plans. The four grocery stores around my Walmart are doing fine because they are smart enough to stock items Walmart doesn't have and higher quality items then Walmart has. Walmart vegetables are gross and their liquor selection is nearly non-existent, which is why I go elsewhere.

Walmart can actually help small businesses. People save money at Walmart which means they have more spending money to use on luxury goods Walmart doesn't sell. Nobody ever points that out however.

[smileyeagle1021]

No i dont want to belong to a union I like getting paid and raises based off my own merit.
.

Amen and Amen... same reason I will never join a Union and avoid places that use them. I want to be paid for my merit and I don't want to be paying extra so people can get their union mandated raises without actually having to earn them.

Though on the topic of Wal Mart... I hate going to Wal Mart and it has nothing to do with the politics and the "they hurt small business" mentality... I hate going because the closest one has some of the worse customer service on the planet, the second closest should have riot police on staff it is so crazy and busy all the time, and the third closest is so far away that any savings I would have had get eaten up in gas. That's for general merchandise... for groceries I go to Winco because they have higher quality at still lower prices (the customer service is non-existent, but how often do you need customer service at a grocery store... and for saving $20 a week at least I can bag my own groceries thank you very much).

[AdminAssistant]

I avoid the Wal-Mart here because it's gross and we have a Super Target. But the ones back home (in Arkansas, Wal-Mart's homeland) are huge and pretty nice, so I don't mind shopping there.

Either way, I have total respect for the people who work there. A job is a job is a job.

[Dreamstalker]

The few stores I've been in were disorganized and dirty, not to mention I can find better prices and service at Target. A cellphone charger I had to buy at WM once almost caught fire; I know that's not the store's fault, but it doesn't seem to reflect well on the quality of their gizmos.

I just dislike many of Walmart's principles; I've read too much on how they screw suppliers/vendors.

And witnessed it--a relative had a small company that dealt in retail stock tracking software. The WM in his area gave them a contract, then demanded proprietary code/implementation notes so they could take all the credit. This software requires some specialized training; WM deemed that unnecessary and tried to train people themselves based off a very general overview that one of the suits could recall from a meeting. I don't recall all the details, but basically it failed.

The WM Supercenter in Espanola NM does tend to have good steaks though.

[protege]

My borough actually *forced* Wal-Mart to reconsider trying to set up shop in the area. Most of it had nothing to do with "hurting" small businesses. Instead, my area was more concerned about possible problems it would bring. Things like an increase in crime, traffic, and other undesirable things.

All of which *did* happen after the store opened in a neighboring borough. So far, there have been several fights in the parking lot, a couple of muggings, an attempted carjacking, plus a woman was raped one night All of that crap went on the store's first year!

Locally, Wal-Mart sucks ass. Dirty store, rude employees, the above-mentioned crime risk...plus the lowest common denominator that place seems to attract. Because of that, I *avoid* that place whenever possible. I shop Target, Giant Eagle, and other stores instead.

[IDrinkaRum]

I <3 my Wal-Mart. It's always packed and the customers can be asshats, but otherwise, I love it.

I also love the fact that a mall one town over now has a Super Wal-Mart in it! YAY! No more going 45 minutes away to get to a Super Wal-Mart.

There was also 2 Super Targets about 45 minutes from my house. However, I prefer Super Wal-Mart. I can buy more stuff, for less money.

Plus, at the Super Wal-Marts, all the Plus-Sized Women Clothing are on deep, deep, deep discount. Which is very nice for me.

[guywithashovel]

I worked at Wal-Mart back when I first started using the CS boards, and at that time, there was a fair amount of anti-Wal-mart sentiment in the forums. Sometimes I felt a little persecuted for it.

I think one of the main reasons people pick on Wal-Mart is because they're so big. Unless things have changed, they are the largest retailer in the US. People always like to harp on the people on top, if anything just to try to knock them down a few pegs. It's the same reason why the president of our country is almost always fodder for late night comics, regardless of who he is, what party he belongs to, what policies he's instigating, etc. That's what I think, anyway.

[Boozy]

Several points:

1. It's rude to openly disparage the company that someone works for when you know that person likes their job and likes their company. If some of Kimmik's acquaintances have a problem with Wal-mart, the polite thing to do would be to keep their opinion to themselves while she's around.

2. "Good" and "evil" are not valid ways to describe companies. Corporations are amoral. Some of what they do is good; some is bad. But there's no evil intent.

3. A new Wal-mart in an already economically-depressed region is usually a good thing. Even if the area does not experience net job growth, there is pretty solid evidence that the downward pressure on area prices increases the average area household's net worth.

4. A new Wal-mart in an area that is thriving economically can sometimes create net job loss. However, it is not generally in Wal-mart's business plan to expand aggressively in these markets. Rich people don't shop at Wal-mart. Wal-mart prefers to open stores where potential customers live.

5. Wal-mart is not the best company, but nor is it the worst. Whole Foods, a darling of environmentalist shoppers, has consistently shown a worse record for environmentalism than Wal-mart.

[Kimmik]

Boozy I could kiss you...

[Stormraven]

I'm older than I like to be, and I can tell you that - in my area, at least - K-Mart used to get pretty much the same attitude. And for the same reason. They were the big boys on the block. I've always taken any complaints or bitches people have with Walmart with a small siberian salt mine - just as I did with K-Mart, and any other 'big bad company'.

[Giggle Goose]

Several points:

Rich people don't shop at Wal-mart. Wal-mart prefers to open stores where potential customers live.

You're right that Wal Marts are GENERALLY put in less affluent areas. But in a major urban area where I come from, a lot of the "rich" people will make a trip to the closest Wal Mart since they're not too far from each other. It's how a lot of them STAY rich.

5. Wal-mart is not the best company, but nor is it the worst. Whole Foods, a darling of environmentalist shoppers, has consistently shown a worse record for environmentalism than Wal-mart.

Do you have any more info on this? I'm just curious since I worked there part time after I graduated college and was looking for a full time job. I thought a lot of the management was pretty full of themselves, frankly. Don't even get me started on the customers...the majority were the worst I had ever dealt with anywhere.

[Boozy]

Do you have any more info on this?

Here's one link, although it's not the one I was looking for. I'll keep searching.

[smileyeagle1021]

My borough actually *forced* Wal-Mart to reconsider trying to set up shop in the area. Most of it had nothing to do with "hurting" small businesses. Instead, my area was more concerned about possible problems it would bring. Things like an increase in crime, traffic, and other undesirable things.

All of which *did* happen after the store opened in a neighboring borough. So far, there have been several fights in the parking lot, a couple of muggings, an attempted carjacking, plus a woman was raped one night All of that crap went on the store's first year!

Oh, Reno had the same thing. Wal Mart applied for a zoning variance for the store. The city approved it on the condition that Wal Mart provided the additional security and installed the infrastructure for the increased traffic (I think they need to install two traffic lights, a right hand turn lane, and some signage).
Come inspection time, would you have guessed, Wal Mart had not hired a single security office and had done almost none of the traffic upgrades that they promised. The city of course refused to issue the business license until the conditions of the variance were met. Wal Mart, rather than doing the right thing and meeting their original agreement, sued the city for loss of income and bullied the city into making all the upgrades and provide extra police at great tax payer expense.
That was most likely not Wal Mart corporates fault... most likely regional management is responsible for that charade. So while the company itself is neither good nor bad... a lot of its management is corrupt beyond belief (and as I had mentioned in a previous post, at least locally they hire the people who will work for dirt cheap because they are crappy employees and couldn't get jobs anywhere else). That's not to say that all Wal Mart employees are bad or that all areas are like that... hell, I know if I'm up in the Ogden area both the Harrisville Wal Mart and Riverdale Wal Mart have excellent service and do go out of their way to find good workers.

Though, as a side note, whoever is responsible for the region that has Logan Utah probably hates the folks who run northern Nevada (Carson City had a similar experience with Wal Mart too), because the Logan City council cited the two incidents in Carson City and Reno for refusing any new building permits to Wal Mart within city limits (that may have changed in the last four years since I moved though)... bite my neighbor once, shame on you, bite my neighbor twice, shame on them, try to walk towards me and I will keep my hands away from your mouth as possible.