I Hate Walmarts

[masquerade]

When it comes to technology and electronics, you better throw Best Buy on the boycott list. I'm sure they too will be following suit with free shipping.

Best Buy does not usually even have the best prices on the same items. Their name lies and unless changed their retunr policy sucks.

They do have a price guarantee. I guess I've been lucky because I've never had a problem with returns to BB, or in using the Geek Squad.

My whole point is ... none of the electronics in any of these stores are made here in the USA.

 

[Dis]

I don't shop Walmart. I find the atmosphere there inferior. I don't like being fawned over by employees, but I do appreciate courtesy. I also don't like the fact that Walmart tries to promote themselves as All American, but in fact is aggressively exploitive of cheap labor in nations with weak labor laws.

I do read labels and buy American when there is a choice. It is often not too much more expensive for many items. I'd rather voluntarily pay a little more for a product made in our nation, which has strong labor and environmental laws, than be taxed involuntarily to pay welfare and unemployment for unemployed Americans.

I also prefer to buy products made as close to home as possible because shipping things a long ways is wasteful of fossil fuels and harder on the environment.

I'm not a pro-union person, but Walmart has employed what I view as unethical union-busting tactics. They also play a lot of games with schedules in order to keep their employees under the amount of hours needed for benefits. And, they have crabby employees, generally. I also dislike being greeted at the door, I find it incredibly phony and intrusive.

The people that work at Walmart have no ambition in life for anything more.. If they did, they'd be in school and/or busting their asses to get out of there. Instead, it's an easy paycheck.. Show up, avoid customers, do the bare minimum, go home, and still collect that paycheck.

I have zero sympathy for Walmart employees.

 

[masquerade]

When it comes to technology and electronics, you better throw Best Buy on the boycott list. I'm sure they too will be following suit with free shipping.

The only Big Box store I routinely patronize is the hardware stores, Lowe's and Home Depot. I'll freely admit, I'm the shit at sourcing their products...most of the manufacturers are unknown to me. Electronics I prefer to buy online direct from the manufacturer, and I don't buy frequently but I am sure I have bought goods made overseas.

I'm not perfect....all of us could always do more. I just wish some of us wouldn't shrug and say "I can do nothing".

I'm always on the look-out for the Made In The USA label.

 

[Zoom-boing]

do you have any clue how much time i waste trying to buy american? o and add to that the comments i get. I have one damned cookie sheet cause i cannot find one made in america...i remember when nc was a textile area...try buying towels made in american...any type of linens for that matter...i go into the finer stores...its still all made in ______________ (fill in any asia country)

Bones, Nordicware is made in the U.S.A. Quality stuff.

Aluminum Cookware, Aluminum Bakeware, Aluminum Kitchenware from Nordicware - Nordic Ware

All my baking pans, cookie sheets, etc. are ancient bought years ago. Holding up like iron.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Buy American... Good idea, "if"... American made stuff wasn't so high priced due to the inflated salaries that union members demand. There are pros and cons associated with shopping at Wal-mart. It's true that the majority of their stuff is made outside of America but America produces so little things "made in America" because of the cost of union labor. Wal-mart employs a lot of people in my area that would not have a job if it wasn't for them. There is a Wal-mart distribution warehouse not so far away from where I live. I know many people who work there. The pay there isn't great but if you don't farm, in my part of the world the jobs are few and far between. Everybody bitches and moans about Wal-mart but if they closed up shop today, there would be a large amount of people out of a job across America. So, whine about that. You can't have your cake and eat it too. It's a very noble thing to "Buy American" and I wish we lived in the time again when just about everything we purchased was made in America but these days very little is produced here and it gets worse every day. Quit whining.

 

[California Girl]

i dont find advocating buying local over walmart a bad idea or moronic....isnt it more moronic to support a foreign economy over your own? i would rather spend my money as locally as possible and support joe blow's family down the street, i would hope others would feel the same.

It's moronic to scream 'boycott' about companies that employ Americans.

I shop locally - and choose to go to a slightly more expensive (but better quality) farm shop over my local massive grocery store. That is my choice. What I would never do is try to encourage a course of action that might throw other Americans out of work.

And... I have, time and again, on this board, encouraged my fellow Americans to buy American. And been criticized for doing so.

 

[Shadow]

I'm shopping Walmart this year. What a great deal.

Thanks for the info.

Me too.

 

[masquerade]

I don't shop Walmart. I find the atmosphere there inferior. I don't like being fawned over by employees, but I do appreciate courtesy. I also don't like the fact that Walmart tries to promote themselves as All American, but in fact is aggressively exploitive of cheap labor in nations with weak labor laws.

I do read labels and buy American when there is a choice. It is often not too much more expensive for many items. I'd rather voluntarily pay a little more for a product made in our nation, which has strong labor and environmental laws, than be taxed involuntarily to pay welfare and unemployment for unemployed Americans.

I also prefer to buy products made as close to home as possible because shipping things a long ways is wasteful of fossil fuels and harder on the environment.

I'm not a pro-union person, but Walmart has employed what I view as unethical union-busting tactics. They also play a lot of games with schedules in order to keep their employees under the amount of hours needed for benefits. And, they have crabby employees, generally. I also dislike being greeted at the door, I find it incredibly phony and intrusive.

The people that work at Walmart have no ambition in life for anything more.. If they did, they'd be in school and/or busting their asses to get out of there. Instead, it's an easy paycheck.. Show up, avoid customers, do the bare minimum, go home, and still collect that paycheck.

I have zero sympathy for Walmart employees.

My 17 year-old son is a Walmart employee. He's in all AP classes ... he's vice-president of his class ... student council member ... a National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist ... a Boy Scout. He busts his ass every shift he works at Walmart. A company willing to hire him when so many others in my area would not.

 

[Dis]

I don't shop Walmart. I find the atmosphere there inferior. I don't like being fawned over by employees, but I do appreciate courtesy. I also don't like the fact that Walmart tries to promote themselves as All American, but in fact is aggressively exploitive of cheap labor in nations with weak labor laws.

I do read labels and buy American when there is a choice. It is often not too much more expensive for many items. I'd rather voluntarily pay a little more for a product made in our nation, which has strong labor and environmental laws, than be taxed involuntarily to pay welfare and unemployment for unemployed Americans.

I also prefer to buy products made as close to home as possible because shipping things a long ways is wasteful of fossil fuels and harder on the environment.

I'm not a pro-union person, but Walmart has employed what I view as unethical union-busting tactics. They also play a lot of games with schedules in order to keep their employees under the amount of hours needed for benefits. And, they have crabby employees, generally. I also dislike being greeted at the door, I find it incredibly phony and intrusive.

The people that work at Walmart have no ambition in life for anything more.. If they did, they'd be in school and/or busting their asses to get out of there. Instead, it's an easy paycheck.. Show up, avoid customers, do the bare minimum, go home, and still collect that paycheck.

I have zero sympathy for Walmart employees.

My 17 year-old son is a Walmart employee. He's in all AP classes ... he's vice-president of his class ... student council member ... a National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist ... a Boy Scout. He busts his ass every shift he works at Walmart. A company willing to hire him when so many others in my area would not.

The key word being "ambition".. I don't expect he'll be there much after he's finished with school, either, from the sounds of it.

 

[Shadow]

I still think you should sue them. If you really care about all of us little people, you'll sue for us.

Otherwise, you're just whining.

How rude, but it is what I have come to expect from you.

What's rude about it (more like a true statement)...Madeline talks out of both sides of her face. Much like Obama does.

 

[dilloduck]

The people that work at Walmart have no ambition in life for anything more.. If they did, they'd be in school and/or busting their asses to get out of there. Instead, it's an easy paycheck.. Show up, avoid customers, do the bare minimum, go home, and still collect that paycheck.

I have zero sympathy for Walmart employees.

My 17 year-old son is a Walmart employee. He's in all AP classes ... he's vice-president of his class ... student council member ... a National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist ... a Boy Scout. He busts his ass every shift he works at Walmart. A company willing to hire him when so many others in my area would not.

The key word being "ambition".. I don't expect he'll be there much after he's finished with school, either, from the sounds of it.

and that somehow makes him a slouch now ?

 

[Madeline]

I'm confused... First off, I don't shop Walmart for much of anything because I find *most* of their quality to be inferior, and they're slowly forcing brand names out of their stores, and replacing them with "Great Value", which really isn't... I go there for things like 5-Hr Energy shots, which NOBODY can beat as far as price..

But if you're trying to boycott them (right before Christmas, even), isn't that going to put several *thousand* people out of work, vs. just 1-2 Mom and Pop places, which are probably on the rocks anyway, since they feel their markup should be higher because they're smaller?

Walmart's prices are lower because they are masters at capturing efficiencies of scale at every juncture, from manufacturing to transport to retail pricing.....things that a small, local business cannot do. Let's say you needed a case of paper, Dis. Your local stationer's will sell you American made paper for $15, and Walmarts will sell you Chinese made paper for $12.

Save $3 at Walmarts?

Not when you factor in the unemployment a Walmarts caused when it forced many local small businesses to close (your local stationers' will likely be next), the environmental impact these stores have, the loss of local culture as everything we buy becomes homogenized, etc.

Chances are, your local stationer's is also helping keep that American paper company in business. Once it closes, that plant is in greater jeoprady.

I'm not saying you can always choose to pay more for American....I'm saying there's a terrible, hidden cost to buying foreign-made goods at Walmarts. Mayhaps you can sometimes choose to Buy American?

 

[dilloduck]

I'm confused... First off, I don't shop Walmart for much of anything because I find *most* of their quality to be inferior, and they're slowly forcing brand names out of their stores, and replacing them with "Great Value", which really isn't... I go there for things like 5-Hr Energy shots, which NOBODY can beat as far as price..

But if you're trying to boycott them (right before Christmas, even), isn't that going to put several *thousand* people out of work, vs. just 1-2 Mom and Pop places, which are probably on the rocks anyway, since they feel their markup should be higher because they're smaller?

Walmart's prices are lower because they are masters at capturing efficiencies of scale at every juncture, from manufacturing to transport to retail pricing.....things that a small, local business cannot do. Let's say you needed a case of paper, Dis. Your local stationer's will sell you American made paper for $15, and Walmarts will sell you Chinese made paper for $12.

Save $3 at Walmarts?

Not when you factor in the unemployment a Walmarts caused when it forced many local small businesses to close (your local stationers' will likely be next), the environmental impact these stores have, the loss of local culture as everything we buy becomes homogenized, etc.

Chances are, your local stationer's is also helping keep that American paper company in business. Once it closes, that plant is in greater jeoprady.

I'm not saying you can always choose to pay more for American....I'm saying there's a terrible, hidden cost to buying foreign-made goods at Walmarts. Mayhaps you can sometimes choose to Buy American?

Walmart does not force people to stop shopping at mom and pop stores.

 

[Dis]

I'm confused... First off, I don't shop Walmart for much of anything because I find *most* of their quality to be inferior, and they're slowly forcing brand names out of their stores, and replacing them with "Great Value", which really isn't... I go there for things like 5-Hr Energy shots, which NOBODY can beat as far as price..

But if you're trying to boycott them (right before Christmas, even), isn't that going to put several *thousand* people out of work, vs. just 1-2 Mom and Pop places, which are probably on the rocks anyway, since they feel their markup should be higher because they're smaller?

Walmart's prices are lower because they are masters at capturing efficiencies of scale at every juncture, from manufacturing to transport to retail pricing.....things that a small, local business cannot do. Let's say you needed a case of paper, Dis. Your local stationer's will sell you American made paper for $15, and Walmarts will sell you Chinese made paper for $12.

Save $3 at Walmarts?

Not when you factor in the unemployment a Walmarts caused when it forced many local small businesses to close (your local stationers' will likely be next), the environmental impact these stores have, the loss of local culture as everything we buy becomes homogenized, etc.

Chances are, your local stationer's is also helping keep that American paper company in business. Once it closes, that plant is in greater jeoprady.

I'm not saying you can always choose to pay more for American....I'm saying there's a terrible, hidden cost to buying foreign-made goods at Walmarts. Mayhaps you can sometimes choose to Buy American?

Using your example alone, my local stationers paper is $16.99 for a single ream of ultra-white 20# paper.

My local Walmarts price is $3.00 for a single ream of ultra-white 20# paper.

That's a savings of $14.00, which is almost 5 gallons of gas, which is 1/3 of what my Rav4 holds.

My local stationer is in the middle of downtown, which is a bunch of small overcrowed curvy streets with angled parking, and you generally have to park a few blocks away from where you want to be, and walk.

My local Walmart is right off the freeway exit, on my way home from work.

Seems both cost, and time efficient to me...

 

[Dis]

My 17 year-old son is a Walmart employee. He's in all AP classes ... he's vice-president of his class ... student council member ... a National Merit Scholarship semi-finalist ... a Boy Scout. He busts his ass every shift he works at Walmart. A company willing to hire him when so many others in my area would not.

The key word being "ambition".. I don't expect he'll be there much after he's finished with school, either, from the sounds of it.

and that somehow makes him a slouch now ?

Where did I say any such thing? Go look at your average Walmart employee, and get back to me.. There are exceptions to every rule, so you can waste your time trying to pick a fight with someone else.

 

[California Girl]

I don't shop Walmart. I find the atmosphere there inferior. I don't like being fawned over by employees, but I do appreciate courtesy. I also don't like the fact that Walmart tries to promote themselves as All American, but in fact is aggressively exploitive of cheap labor in nations with weak labor laws.

I do read labels and buy American when there is a choice. It is often not too much more expensive for many items. I'd rather voluntarily pay a little more for a product made in our nation, which has strong labor and environmental laws, than be taxed involuntarily to pay welfare and unemployment for unemployed Americans.

I also prefer to buy products made as close to home as possible because shipping things a long ways is wasteful of fossil fuels and harder on the environment.

I'm not a pro-union person, but Walmart has employed what I view as unethical union-busting tactics. They also play a lot of games with schedules in order to keep their employees under the amount of hours needed for benefits. And, they have crabby employees, generally. I also dislike being greeted at the door, I find it incredibly phony and intrusive.

The people that work at Walmart have no ambition in life for anything more.. If they did, they'd be in school and/or busting their asses to get out of there. Instead, it's an easy paycheck.. Show up, avoid customers, do the bare minimum, go home, and still collect that paycheck.

I have zero sympathy for Walmart employees.

I don't disagree, but I'd rather that Wal Mart pay them for doing jack shit than for us, as a nation, to be paying them to do jack shit.

 

[Big Black Dog]

I don't shop Walmart. I find the atmosphere there inferior. I don't like being fawned over by employees, but I do appreciate courtesy. I also don't like the fact that Walmart tries to promote themselves as All American, but in fact is aggressively exploitive of cheap labor in nations with weak labor laws.

I do read labels and buy American when there is a choice. It is often not too much more expensive for many items. I'd rather voluntarily pay a little more for a product made in our nation, which has strong labor and environmental laws, than be taxed involuntarily to pay welfare and unemployment for unemployed Americans.

I also prefer to buy products made as close to home as possible because shipping things a long ways is wasteful of fossil fuels and harder on the environment.

I'm not a pro-union person, but Walmart has employed what I view as unethical union-busting tactics. They also play a lot of games with schedules in order to keep their employees under the amount of hours needed for benefits. And, they have crabby employees, generally. I also dislike being greeted at the door, I find it incredibly phony and intrusive.

The people that work at Walmart have no ambition in life for anything more.. If they did, they'd be in school and/or busting their asses to get out of there. Instead, it's an easy paycheck.. Show up, avoid customers, do the bare minimum, go home, and still collect that paycheck.

I have zero sympathy for Walmart employees.

That's a pretty wide brush you are painting Wal-Mart employees with... There's no doubt that there are some poor employees working at Wal-Mart but those same kind of bad employees work in just about every other industry too. I think your statement is off-base. Somebody at Wal-Mart must have pissed you off. The point I am trying to make is that Wal-Mart doesn't have a monopoly on bad employees. All companies have both good and bad employees. 95% of the time I get great service at Wal-Mart and that seems to be about on par with everywhere else I shop. Chill out.

 

[goldcatt]

I don't shop Walmart. I find the atmosphere there inferior. I don't like being fawned over by employees, but I do appreciate courtesy. I also don't like the fact that Walmart tries to promote themselves as All American, but in fact is aggressively exploitive of cheap labor in nations with weak labor laws.

I do read labels and buy American when there is a choice. It is often not too much more expensive for many items. I'd rather voluntarily pay a little more for a product made in our nation, which has strong labor and environmental laws, than be taxed involuntarily to pay welfare and unemployment for unemployed Americans.

I also prefer to buy products made as close to home as possible because shipping things a long ways is wasteful of fossil fuels and harder on the environment.

I'm not a pro-union person, but Walmart has employed what I view as unethical union-busting tactics. They also play a lot of games with schedules in order to keep their employees under the amount of hours needed for benefits. And, they have crabby employees, generally. I also dislike being greeted at the door, I find it incredibly phony and intrusive.

The people that work at Walmart have no ambition in life for anything more.. If they did, they'd be in school and/or busting their asses to get out of there. Instead, it's an easy paycheck.. Show up, avoid customers, do the bare minimum, go home, and still collect that paycheck.

I have zero sympathy for Walmart employees.

I don't disagree, but I'd rather that Wal Mart pay them for doing jack shit than for us, as a nation, to be paying them to do jack shit.

Working at Wal Mart is a job, especially in times like these any job is nothing to be ashamed of.

I wouldn't want to see Wal Mart go out of business, but I would like to see them clean up their stores and go back to their older business model. I don't run the place, not my choice, so I choose not to shop there unless I absolutely have to - and that comes out to about twice a year.

Whatever anybody else does with their time and cash is up to them. I just like to bitch.

 

[Intense]

BRISBANE, Calif. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is going for the jugular in the holiday retailing war, announcing Thursday that it will offer free shipping on nearly 60,000 online items -- with no minimum purchase requirement.
The world's biggest retailer, long known for its low prices, is raising the stakes just over two weeks before Black Friday, viewed as the official kickoff of holiday shopping.

Wal-Mart's free shipping offer, which includes electronics, jewelry and toys, will run through Dec. 20.
Items purchased from the company's website will be delivered to customers' homes within three to five business days from the order's processing via standard shipping. Return shipping is also free, or items can be returned to a local Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart offering free shipping for online buys | cleveland.com

How many small businesses in your community will this kill? Please consider boycotting this company; the products you buy from them are sometimes made by child or slave labor -- which of you needs to save a nickel that badly?

Buy American Made products. Shop locally as much as you can, and support small businesses.

Don't make a Xmas gift out of the suffering of children or enslaved people overseas and your neighbors here.

I love Walmart!!!!! I bought my last Canon there.

 

[PixieStix]

Maybe it is just me, but at least the walmart employees have a job. At least they are working toward a paycheck instead of going down to the local welfare office and making excuses for a free ride