Today's Olympian

This should make it official: the city of Tumwater, like most these days, is about to become all but entirely dependent on corporate businesses for any and all commerce.

The issue of Walmart, good or bad, is an interesting one. Personally (in case the lead sentence above didn't make it clear), I am among those who refuse to shop at Walmart (unless it's the only option) and take every opportunity to attempt (politely and objectively) to convince others that they shouldn't shop there. My reasons for taking this stand are many, but the big ones are as follows:

1. Their notoriously low wages render most employees incapable of affording their health plan contributions, leaving them little choice but to take advantage of government-subsidized healthcare. Whether we shop there or not, every working American is paying for Walmart's health plan.

2. While it wasn't always the case, the majority of the products sold at Walmart are manufactured in China. This keeps prices low, but it is a particularly glaring example of how corporations have sold American manufacturing down the river (or perhaps across the ocean?). I should add that the reasons for doing business overseas are very sound, strictly from a business standpoint, and I do think American labor has become unsustainably costly, but those things are for another thread.

3. Once a Walmart appears in a given city/town, the majority of that community's small businesses disappear because they can't compete. This is pure Capitalism at its finest, but it is an especially detrimental consequence of corporate megastores, of which Walmart is king.

4. Walmart abuses its buying power to force suppliers to give them cheaper wholesale prices. Because suppliers can ill afford to lose their Walmart accounts, they regularly succumb to pressure to lower prices for Walmart, which means those suppliers then need to increase the prices they charge smaller customers in order to earn a profit and stay afloat. In turn, the smaller businesses have no choice but to mark up their prices, which steers their customers toward, you guessed it, Walmart.

5. The Walton family is seldom associated with humanitarian or community-enhancing endeavors, despite the fact that they are all very near the top among the world's wealthiest individuals. By comparison, look at someone like Bill Gates, who also sits among the elite in terms of wealth. I'll grant you that his business practices have done more than their fair share of damage to competition in the software industry, but he spends billions of his own dollars annually on humanitarian efforts and his own foundations, so he is certainly giving something back to the world that has made him what he is.

6. The general experience of shopping at Walmart (at least in Aberdeen) is a nightmare. I'd rather pay somebody else more for my stuff than deal with the stress of trying to navigate aisles that aren't big enough to allow two carts to go through side by side, never quite sure where I will find what I am looking for.

To be fair, there are some good things about Walmart (at least on the surface. To begin with, they offer low prices, which helps many Americans afford things they need(?). They also employ large numbers of people in their communities, even if they do pay them poorly. In addition, one would be hard-pressed to argue with the convenience of being able to find the variety of items under one roof that can be found at Walmart. Americans love convenience, and aside from the sometimes challenging shopping conditions, Walmart provides that in spades. Walmart is also a shining example of a small, independent business owner benefitting from the American Captialist system to become hugely successful. The Walmart business model, laiden with undesirable side effects though it may be, is absolutely brilliant.

It's interesting (and sometimes discouraging) to me to read through the comments readers submitted regarding the linked article. The people who make many of the same arguments I just made are typically condemned as liberals. I find this strange, as conservatives are typically the ones who most strongly promote small business, which is probably the biggest loser in the Walmart game. Conservatives also tend to be anti-big government and social services spending, and it seems to me that the argument regarding Walmart's health plan would be one a conservative would typically make. I can see where the warm, fuzzy, humanitarian stuff comes across as liberal, but I think if liberals and conservatives alike took a close look at this particular issue, they would find they have much more in common than they might expect.

So now you know why I don't shop at Walmart. I don't look down on anyone who does shop there (or at least not just because they shop there). Lower prices are a very powerful argument, especially in today's economy. That said, I would submit that the price on the price tag is not necessarily representative of the total cost of items purchased at Walmart.

I try to keep an objective viewpoint on this stuff. If anyone has anything to point out that I should be considering, I'd like to hear it.

Oops. I just used up my whole lunch break. Oh, well. Happy Friday!

Walmart is turning America into a 3rd world country one town at a time.

You make a great point that I forgot to raise, Aunty. Once Walmart's been in the area for a couple of years, especially in a small town, it becomes the only place to shop, so ethics be damned, you'll be shopping there, too. Further testimony to the brilliance of their business plan.

+1 on Fred Meyer, and I also manage to justify shopping at Costco. No doubt, both of these chains have put some folks out of business, but at least they're Nortwest companies, and they take decent care of their employees so they don't have to go on welfare to see a doctor.

I also agree that going to 5 or 6 Mom and Pop stores is inconvenient, but I must say I'm encouraged to learn that you have that many Mom and Pops left where you live. Sorry to revel in your misery, but....

Thanks for the thought.

Wally World also secretly takes out life insurance policies on it's sick employees. The same one's they won't offer heath insurance too.

Only good thing abought Walmart is ---The people of Walmart

I always love this one. Seen and listen to every one one the arguments a hundred times. Then comes the biggie............... NOBODY IS FORCED TO SHOP AT WALLY WORLD! People shop because they choose to so, don't like Wally? Then don't shop there but your going to be in the minority.

The made in China bit, BS, as it is that way in most All businesses as we have shipped most manufacturing overseas. Wally didn't do that but rather the D&R's in congress can take credit for that joy. From NAFTA to MFN we have been shipping jobs out for 60 years as before China was India, Korea, Japan, Mexico, get the picture? All Wally does is mass purchase and distribute cheaper than others. As for the wages, yep need to be higher but most large scale retail jobs do not require many skills and with the cheap labor driven by immigration not just Wally pays low. You should see what meat packers, fruit growers, or timber workers have had done to them.

Wally is your target simply because they are at the top...................BUT they are not the worse of the worse by any means.

I like it when the big "America First!" folks...often uneducated and poor middle-Americans...are the first to run to Wal-Mart to pay cut rates for a bunch of garbage made in China.

I live about three miles from a Wal-Mart...been there once in my life, never again...I wish they'd just take it and move it to Tumwater instead of building a new one.

Fish on...

Todd

Just for the sake of tweaking you T. Name me a major department or hardware store ( furniture does not count ) that over 70% of the merchandise DOES NOT come from over seas.

Better think about it as I took the challenge and went zero for five before throwing in the towel.

Thank you as you hit on it and nobody else did. Service..........you pay for it. Quality .................. you pay for it. 80% of the American public does not want ( or can not afford ) to do so. We are a disposable commodity society and Wally, Lowes, HM Depot, Target, Sears, JC Penny are all that run. Stores and retail are products of HOW we spend our money. It works like that.

note to self, avoid Littlerock Rd after Walmart is built.

Rivrguy, I mostly spend my money at shops where when I walk in, they say "Hi, Todd! How's it going today?"...granted, I can't buy everything at those shops, but I'm willing to pay more to talk to someone above pay grade "moron" if I have a question...surprisingly, I guess, my local Home Depot is pretty good at answering questions...the Lowe's, not so much.

It's an easy concept for me, because I try to sell a premium product at a price that is pretty big compared to a lot of knockoff junk out there...but when my customers call or email me, an actual person (me) answers the phone or the email, and I typically have at least a halfass relevant answer to their question...sometimes even three-quarter-ass

Fish on...

Todd

No kidding. It's already fuct.

It's the next College St.

Chuck, you need to swing in the Fred Meyer in Corvallis if you are ever traveling through... don't bring your wife however. It's about 2 blocks from Sorority Row... the amount of pajama pants, shower hair, and Hawaiian Tropic SPF 2 is EPIC! Every time I bring a Fred Meyer bag into the house, my fiance says, " You went to Fred Meyer? " In this strange, accusatory tone...

i fall in or agree todd on this one. i prefer to give the local home grown local stores the very first option. wallyworld's success is proof that this country is breeding a lower standard of citizen. but thats just poor opinion.

I'm not sure if WalMart destroyed the middle class in this country, or if the middle class in this country destroyed themselves by being tight-asses who will drive a mile to save a dime.

I'm pretty certain the tight-asses came first, so they probably brought the whole Waltonization on themselves.

F'n people who buy it based ONLY on cost is what brought on the situation we're in now. Sure, everytone likes to save money, and I'm no exception. But there's a point where it becomes rediculous.

I think we may have reached that point. When people say they HAVE to shop at WalMart, that's not right. Nobody should HAVE to shop anywhere, other than possibly a utility or a hospital or something of that nature.

WalMart isn't capitalism at its finest, it's capitalism at its worst.

Oh me, oh my, capitalism? In a way but retail sales of any commodity are 100% customer driven. A friend of mine bought a new truck on line in Idaho and was 5k under the local dealer price before rebates. Had to wait 3 weeks and drive to get it as we live on the coast of WA.

So think about it. Service is really not much in anything anymore as it is mostly contracted. All in appliances, electronics, most electrical. Sales little better but at what price? 10% increase of retail? 20%? Service businesses are very different though as you are paying for it but they are on the ropes a bit. Used to be you booked trips through agents or 2nd parties. Now? On line and tag in the hotel and car and air and IT IS WAY CHEAPER. So travel agencies and outfitters are dying out.

It is Bill Gates fault ( and Al Gores as he invented the interweb ) as you can go online with any product or retailer track down the cheapest price and gauge the risk of services. As things steadily become more computerized you will see less small retail. More Costco, more Wally because as now anyone can find the lowest price for any item they want AND GET IT. They are not limited to the retailers in their area as it was 25 years ago. That is technology AND capitalism at work and it matters little if you and I do not care for it. ( I don't do Wally or Costco ) People will use technology will seek out and purchase a grade of product they want and can afford at the cheapest price they can find.

It is what it is.

The thing that made me mad about Walmart was their disregard for the environment when they expanded and developed property. Lots of Clean Water Act violations. They built the one down the road on a wetland by my first home and then they built one up the hill at the headwaters of Johnson Creek.

as in the case of aberdeen, once walmart goes into the smaller towns, your choices start to become limited because everyone else disappeared.

i hate going into that hellhole, i thought the one in lacey was bad until i moved out here.

interesting thing is that walmart here is always totally packed with people all hours of the day...just nowhere really else to go for a lot of things, unless you want to drive to olympia. of course, it's not a pleasant experience because they've only got 2 checkstands open for 40 customers waiting in line(can't screw up the profits by putting another checker on the clock).

Lots of union propaganda out there driving the Walmart hate machine.

It's all about money.
BIG FUKKINMONEY.


Imagine the union initiation fees and the monthly dues collected if the UFCW could nationally unionize Wal-Mart.
The mind reels.
That my friends is why you see such a nasty smear campaign by democratic based unions toward Wal-mart.

For Christ's sake are the Wal-Mart employees slaves?
If conditions were half as bad as you read about , who in the Hell would continue to work there?


Don the foil hats boys the kool aid is exceptionally sweet tonight.

Stopped in the Aberdeen Wally to get my license for last years SRC. I concur that it is, in fact, the scrungiest of Wally I've ever seen.