**** Wal-Mart

That's exactly who you should be trying to talk to. If you can't find it in any of the investor relations materials at walmart.com, chances are the store manager is not permitted to release the information to you.

Where I work, we're under strict orders to refer all media inquiries to the public relations office; the unofficial maxim is to extend this to any non-employee asking specific questions about policy or operations that aren't covered in the investor relations materials. You can be fired for non-compliance.

Chances are, the Wal-Mart staff is just being cautious, and who can blame them? You don't say specifically what questions you're going to ask, but "living wage" is probably in the Top 5 of red-flag topics for Wal-Mart personnel. The factors that go into employee compensation at a Fortune 500 retail company are largely outside the control (and, frankly, probably the understanding) of front-line managers. Your best chance to get your questions answered is the corporate public relations office.

I will say they ought to be a lot more up front with you if that's why you're getting the cold shoulder. But you seem to be taking this awfully personally given the fact that you're dealing with a gigantic corporation and not in a customer capacity. What benefit is there to Wal-Mart to help you...?

 

We can all safely safe that it appears BK moonlights as a Wal-Mart Assistant Manager and that was his attempt at an apology for blowing you off......

 

start a gay p*rn site and then pose as a reporter of a far right publication. You will be able to get into ANYTHING.

 

I just think you're assuming too much.

There's no risk from your perspective. Think about it from the store's perspective. How do they know that only you and your professor will see it? And how do you know the managers at that store haven't gotten in trouble for giving interviews before? How do you know they won't get in trouble if corporate finds out?

Maybe the assistant manager was wrong. Like I said in my post, these things can be a lot more complicated than you would logically assume. I think most people take the attitude of "What's the big deal? I just have some questions for a school assignment". However, corporate PR people don't see it that way.

And it's not unusual to get blown off by PR people when you say you're a student. It happened to me last week with Rio Audio. Luckily I am such a great writer that my paper was a success without Rio's assistance.

Now, really. If they think you're lying about that just to get an interview, why would they assume that you would present their side of things fairly?

I just think you're making a lot of assumptions about Wal-Mart when you don't have all of the information. We might think the manager and the store should act a certain way, but there are factors influencing their behavior that we're just not privy to.

Here is my advice: go through the corporate PR office. Explain what you are doing and why you want their input. Be as upfront as possible so that they know what they're responding to. Sell the questions as an opportunity for Wal-Mart to respond to the perception that you, your classmates, and your professor share (this may not be true but it sounds good).

If you can't get what you want from them, write the paper from the perspective of someone who is raising valid concerns but cannot get a comment from Wal-Mart (this is about all you can do).

I can't imagine your professor will cut your grade because Wal-Mart won't give you an interview. Half of Michael Moore's movies are him traipsing his fat ass around getting turned down for interviews, to give the impression that the subject has something to hide. Maybe you could portray Wal-Mart's reticence that way.

Good luck with this. Bump this when you get your grade, I'm curious as to how this turns out.

No, Wal-Mart has some kind of RULE against hiring convicted felons. I SWEAR, you embezzle $300,000 from ONE Wal-Mart store-- OK, four-- and then burn them down to bury the evidence, killing several employees in the process-- and they hold it against you the rest of your life.

 

The manager (well..co-manager) should have been upfront about not granting the interview. Though you should have been fair and called ahead to schedule a convenient time.

I can understand why he or she is reluctant. An interview on "living wage" is likely to have a certain bias going in. And on an issue that they are particularly sensitive about. And with the ol' internet out there, and lots of people who beef about walmart..the 'just-between-you-me-and-my-prof' pledge probably doesn't give much comfort.

Their 'media relations' people field these types of questions. Fire away at them. They'll have well rehearsed answers, so know your stuff. And now you've got the additional bit as to why all these requests have to go through them to query them on.

Good luck.

 

This issue has been covered extensively in the media. Surely you can track down contacts that are superior to a store manager, who has no incentive to help you.

 

I've worked with a lot of retail giants in my short time spent as a journalist and they ALL have a policy forbidding any local reps and managers to say anything to anyone mildly resembling a reporter. They're on strict information lock-down.

As you guessed, the media relations people will be completely useless to you if you have any sort of deadline. Sadly, they're the only ones with any sort of clearance to get the information you need. Hope you have a couple weeks, 'cause they're not exactly known for being quick.

Your best bet is to simply tell whomever it is that you're trying to get the info from that you're writing the story no matter what, and it would probably be in their better interests to at least get their own points in on the topic rather than a graf stating, "Local and national Wal-Mart representatives refused all inquiries." That usually helps get the ball rolling at least, but it's not much of a threat if you're just turning in an assignment. Try it anyway.

Good luck!

 

Good luck Zac

 

Listen to BK and Hippieloser. They can get into serious **** for talking to anyone.

They directed you to media relations, which is all they are really supposed to do.

 

Or get a job with the New York Times or CBS and just make stuff up.

 

You should be calling media relations down in Arkansas. These are the only people allowed to speak on anything that has anything to do with the company or any store. I work for a Houston television station and we can't get squat at the store level. The individual store cannot grant access for a camera to film any part of the inside of the store (we don't need permission for the outside or anything in their parking lot, so long as we stay on the sidewalk.) The individual store cannot comment on any incidents that happen there. For example, a while back a man was shot in the changing room of a store in Baytown. The local folks couldn't talk to us about it, we had to call corporate. If you have a Target store there in Ithica, I highly suggest you contact them. Target does not yet refer everyone to corporate; they can answer questions on a local level.

I know it seems trivial, but this is the way companies are going these days. Wal Mart isn't the only company like this...I'd say more than 50% of companies are like this now. Heck, my station refers most questions about the station to our parent company or to the network we're affiliated with. That's just how things work now. It totally sucks, but it's not going to get any better -- ever.

You say it's just a college paper (totally get that, and i've been in your shoes before)...but I gotta ask...have you seen "The Pelican Brief"??????

Good luck with your paper!