Wal-Mart???

if you want to out to eat and eat at chilis. have a coffee from starbucks. stop for a second and fill up your gas tank at exxon. then head over to home depot for that fathers day gift.

its getting late so you go by blockbuster to get a few movies. and then head over to walmart to get a few groceries. then the world is yours.

you probably started a thread using a microsoft windows pc. but lately they have had more competition and its a good thing that linux, mozilla, and apple are pushing them to perfect there products. because some of the stated may not have been around with out the goverments help a few years ago, when they put a few restrictions on microsoft.

i think there have to be some limits set on these companies. but really i dont see any end in sight. in 20 years i think every town you roll into is really going to look exactly the same. its pretty sad.

all these small business owners need better incentives to open businesses. i wonder how many businesses have gone bankrupt and then have in turn started working for walmart for mediocre low wage. i bet its happened a lot.

i dont know much about it but maybe this is the end result of capitalism. just a few companies providing that product or service. it just doesnt seem right.

 

The negative is that WalMart came in and put out of businesses all the mom and pop shops that popped up when Sears became uncompetitive. So far, their size hasn't prohibited them from responding to the markets. But eventually it will. It's the natural cycle of business.

 

On a recent fishing trip with my dad, he was talking about this subject. He said he does not even go into a Wal-Mart unless there is absolutely no alternative available. He said they do more good for foreign countries, like China, than they do for America. He said that Wal-Mart actually costs the government and taxpayers money in the long run.

 

I do the same. There is a WalMart a half mile from my house. I've been in it twice, both times at 6AM to pick up something in an emergency. Otherwise...I refuse to shop at WalMart. They definitely do more harm than good for consumers and the US economy. Your Dad is a very smart man.

 

Same.

I grew up in a small town.

Walmart came in and put my dad's automotive store out of business, along with several other locally owned retailers (feed stores, office supplies, home/garden, drug stores, etc)

I'd rather pay 50 cents more for eggs.

 

I just relocated to Bentonville, AR to work at the Wal-Mart home office. Not to be too dramatic, but all shall be assimilated. For each story of a small business going under, there is another story of a Wal-Mart moving into a community and bringing in new businesses from a satellite effect.

There are ~1.3 million folks working for Wal-Mart in the U.S. alone. That's a lot of people. The consumer benefit depends on where one's income level is. If a person isn't making big bucks, then Wal-Mart is great. For those who don't need to stretch a dollar, there is better quality elsewhere at a higher price.

Oh, be on the lookout for the "Neighborhood Market". Wal-Mart is slowly rolling out stand-alone grocery stores. And these aren't Food Town type grocery stores, but more like a Randall's/Kroger/H.E.B. level.

Regardless of one's sentiment about Wal-Mart, one has to be impressed at the sheer scale of the operation. It's a well-oiled machine.

 

I don't know if I agree with that statement completely. Wal-Mart surely is not a corporate saint, but I don't see how it could be costing the government money in the long-run. It pays a ton of income taxes every year (revenue for government), employs a lot of people (lower unemployment and revenue for government), has a lot of traffic which provides sales tax for the government (revenue for the government), and provides efficiency for the population. Instead of going to three or four stores to do your shopping you can go to one.

Now, should Wal-Mart be a little more ethical and treat its employees better? Of course, no one is saying otherwise, but it does provide a lot of positives for the community. It is a shame that the Wal-Mart causes some mom and pop stores to go out of business, but it shouldn't be faulted for having a superior business model. Remember, almost all major retail stores started off as a mom and pop store. The ones that succeeded and grew just had a better business model that allowed for tremendous growth.

 

somebody should post that south park wal-mart episode... funny stuff

 

Yes but if they are buying the majority of their products from other countries how is that assisting the U.S. economy? If they are putting businesses down and having people from these businesses join the unemployment line and get government assistance such as food stamps, how is that helping the economy? When they treat their employees without proper wages and health care so they depend on government assistance such as food stamps, WIC, and Medicaid how is that helping the government?

 

i think its mostly misguided anger at big corporations in general...'the man' if you will. Say what you will about them doing more for "foreign" countries than for america but welcome to globalization. Its here to stay. That being said, you cant ignore the benefit they provide in terms of value per dollar (customers saving money which can thus be spent elsewhere, helping other sectors, as well as employees being employed).

Someone else mentioned they are no saint, and thats true but they are hardly the devil people want to make them out to be.

aslo, like tulexan said you cant complain about a superior business model. Its competition. there are winners and losers. That being said, if a "mom and pop' store wants to compete, they will have to add value to their store. Maybe they cant compete on price, but there are other ways to gain business. Look for a new niche and use it to their advantage. Differentiate yourself. If its a good store that adds something extra, then slightly higher prices can be overcome and you can compete.

 

Easier said than done, especially when Wal-Mart even get government assistance while "mom-n-pop" stores don't.

 

no one said business competition is suppose to be easy. if you cant hack it, move into another industry, find another skill. thats economics.

 

Yet, monopolies are not allowed and that is basically where Wal-Mart is headed.

 

wal-mart is not a monopoly. popular...yes. big? yes. monopoly? no.

plus, their pricing is far from monopolistic.

 

Selling products for a less than their costs is not monopolistic pricing?

 

i dont think all their prices are below cost. if so, then they are magicians. taking losses on certain goods to move inventory is not all that unheard of.

 

Globalization is leading to more outsourcing, but is it the company's fault that it can get cheaper goods abroad? It is not like Wal-Mart is buying more expensive goods overseas just to hurt the U.S. The goal of any company is to make as much money as possible. If it can buy merchandise from China for half of the price that it can buy it from the U.S., what is the problem? It would make no business sense to do that.

Again, if the businesses that Wal-Mart are putting out of business had a good business model, then they wouldn't be in that position. I also doubt that Wal-Mart's poor employee treatment is costing the government anything. The fact that Wal-Mart pays over $6B in income tax alone tells me that it is helping rather than hurting the government. I'm sure the $350B in sales is leading to a hell of a lot of sales tax going to state governments too.

Like DonkeyMagic said too, Wal-Mart is far from a monopoly. The retail industry is one of the most fragmented industries in the world. Wal-Mart may be big and popular, but it is not putting other major businesses out of business. In fact if anything Target is starting to take business away from Wal-Mart.

 

i thought target was dead a few years ago. After Kmart went under i thought target was going to be next. But they really have turned things around and they offer good products at very competitive prices

 

Using "loss leaders" to get customers into the store is the exact practice, methinks.

I remember reading a story about a small town drug store owner who shopped at Walmart for toothpaste since he could buy it there cheaper than from his wholesale distributor.