WalMart revisited

[Snide]

WalMart labor violations found (http://www.ajc.com/business/content/business/0104/13walmart.html)

Oh sure, people can choose where they work. Just quit and shop your skills around, right? I suppose, but really, I'm sick of corporate irresponsibility.

[Tmy]

I avoid Wallymart when I can. They are one of the richest companies in the US and they pay their workers almost nothing. Then theirs the Wally mart predatory nature towards competition.

WallMart reminds me of the old days of Carnagie, and the monopolies.

[c0rbin]

My friend has a tshirt that with the Walmart logo that reads below it simply: "Walmart. Cheap, Plastic Crap."

I agree and avoind that place when I can.

[Segnosaur]

I have no problem shopping at Wal Mart, if they have the best pricing on the items I want.

Yes, there are violations; there are probably going to be violations at any large company. (Some may be "misunderstandings", such as people not punching in and out at lunch, others may be problems with local management rather than wide-scale abuse.)

Not sure how they are in the US, but here in Canada, Wal Mart has gotten involved in some charaties where other organizations have failed; for example, they have supported certain war memorials when the federal government didn't bother.

[daenku32]

Best thing about WalMarts is the Oil Change. Cheap cheap cheap..Even with Mobil 1.

And since all Oil does actually come from the same place, it's good for me.

[Evolver]

If Wal-Mart forced people to skip breaks & lunches, and forced teenagers to work late, that is bad.

However, I once worked in a department store, and often people were making deals to skip breaks & lunch so they could leave early. If it's their decision so what? The same with letting teenagers work late. If they want to do it, and it's OK with their gfuardians, so what?

[KelvinG]

Ugh, Walmart.
I agree it's cheap crap. I used to shop there years ago for essentials when I had no money, but never again.

[Lemastre]

In a company as large as Wal-Mart, labor slip-ups are bound to occur. More disturbing is the fact that Wal-Mart pays its clerks so little that they can't afford the company's health insurance. This company policy leaves the lower-paid employees seeking medical care at public hospitals and other emergency facilities. So the quarter you save on a can of Wal-Mart beans may have to be paid out in increased county taxes to enable your hospital district to handle Wal-Mart families. This was covered on one of the network news magazine shows a month ago. I imagine other cost-cutting retailers do the same, though.

[Snide]

Originally posted by Evolver
If Wal-Mart forced people to skip breaks & lunches, and forced teenagers to work late, that is bad.

However, I once worked in a department store, and often people were making deals to skip breaks & lunch so they could leave early. If it's their decision so what? The same with letting teenagers work late. If they want to do it, and it's OK with their gfuardians, so what? Yep. Nothing wrong with that. But the article does state:

"More than 40 lawsuits have accused the company of forcing employees to skip breaks and lunches, according to the Times. Wal-Mart has successfully petitioned courts to keep the audit sealed."

Not to pass judgment yet (entirely), but that doesn't sound good.

[WildCat]

Originally posted by daenku32
Best thing about WalMarts is the Oil Change. Cheap cheap cheap..Even with Mobil 1.

And since all Oil does actually come from the same place, it's good for me.
But Mobil 1 is synthetic, so it doesn't come from the "same place".

[Jocko]

Originally posted by KelvinG
Ugh, Walmart.
I agree it's cheap crap. I used to shop there years ago for essentials when I had no money, but never again.

I shop there when I'm looking for something and have no earthly idea who might carry it. 9 times out of 10 Walmart does, so it's a "none of the above" option for me, at least since I let my Sam's Club membership lapse.

I've never seen Walmart brand stuff there, except their generic pop and other groceries, which I never buy. Most of their stuff is brand name, even if cheap brand name, but certainly no trashier than you'd find most other places. I've got no quibble about their selection or quality, since even the "cheap plastic stuff" is usually right next to slightly more expensive plastic stuff.

No, my problem with Walmart is the freakin' people. If you've been there, you know who I'm talking about.

It starts in the parking lot. The pimped-out van straddling two spaces, the clot-like growths of oversized blue shopping carts nesting in every open space, the clueless parents refusing to corral their 18 kids as they sprint to and fro in front of your car. And of course you have to circle the parking lanes, so that means you need to navigate that big area in front of the door, where these idiots gather like swallows at Capistrano(sp?). They stop in the middle of the street and check for their wallets, their keys, to check the time, and maybe, just maybe, see where their godawful children have run off to.

Then you get inside. You're greeted by some pathetic shell of a human being, usually. The guy will be 90 years old, in a wheelchair, or have some kind of malignant tumor sprouting from his neck. All I know is, that's one more employee who won't be manning the registers.

You hit the wall of shoppers who must, MUST examine every special from the circular ads posted on the wall there, and must do it from a distance that makes it difficult to get past on either side. In the aisles, you must detour endlessly around seemingly abandoned carts that congest the main avenues and maneuver around the invariably obese women who chatter in some random Slavic language in the center of the smaller lanes, utterly oblivious to people trying to get around them.

You jockey for position like a driver in lap 490 of the Indy 500, and finally identify a clear lane to the department you want to get to. Turn a corner and you hit a wall of boxes that tower over you like the monolith in 2001. They're restocking at noon. On Saturday. The busiest shopping time of the week.

So you adjust. You backtrack, but it's too late. A trio of children has decided to disassemble the entire auto parts section right in the aisle. Daddy, looking at hubcaps for his pimped-out Ford Focus, is too busy to notice the urchins at work. So you backtrack further. After dodging a thousand human landmines, you find what you came for. Triumphant, you head to checkout.

And here's where your problems really begin. You drop into the express lane, 12 items or less, behind a woman with 300 items (mostly consisting of quasi-colonial kitsch) piled onto the conveyer belt. Now, she's got easy access to the little divider bar that goes between customers' stuff, but she WON'T PUT IT DOWN. You can't reach it without violating her personal space, which you immediately sense would be a mistake, so you sit tight. You tap your fingers to remind her of your presence - and it's almost invariably a her - but she is oblivious.

Situational awareness is the common theme in all Walmart customer problems, in my opinion.

So the order moves forward to the cashier, and smelling your opportunity, you snatch the divider bar from over her shoulder and begin laying your one or two items on the belt. She looks at you as if she'd caught you raping her schnauzer. After all, these are HER items, on HER belt, waiting to be tallied by HER cashier. How dare you intrude on the sanctity of HER shopping experience?

So you check out, and if you're lucky you pay with only one swipe of your credit card in the reader. Then you must present your receipt to the codger running the "smile 'n secure" patrol at the exit. He stares at your receipt through glasses thick enough to focus terminal amounts of sunlight onto an insect, and though he obviously can't read a thing gives you the highlighter "seal of approval" so you may leave the store.

Then, in the parking lot, you must load your goods while fending off the space-hunting parasites that follow you, stalker-like, in their cars, hoping to snatch your spot. If you're wise, you'll dump your cart in your spot to slow them down enough that they don't catch you and eat your brains.

Since 90% of my negative Walmart experience comes from other shoppers, I can't really fault Walmart. Perhaps its time to open a discussion about reproductive rights, however.

[Theodore Kurita]

There are several things that are bad about Walmart!

1. They don't allow labor unions

2. Their stuff is cheap crap

3. They pay there workers low wages, so low that they are forced to shop at Walmart for food and other essentials.

I could go on and on with my rants on Walmart.

There is a Democratic Socialist Petition going around right now, loads of people have already signed it.

You can see it here.

From the DSA:


Working Assets Electronic Petition

Working Assets, the progressive long distance provider, has initiated an electronic petition to walmart, backed up by a pledge not to buy from Wal-mart during the holidays until they change their business practices. Their goal is 100,000 particpants. This is their messasge:

Wal-Mart engages in some of the worst labor practices in the country: paying its employees substandard wages, forcing unpaid overtime on its workers and refusing to provide affordable health insurance.

This holiday season, pledge not to shop at Wal-Mart and to ask your friends and families not to buy you gifts from Wal-Mart until the chain:

* Pays its one million workers a living wage
* Provides affordable health insurance to its employees
* Stops discriminating against women
* Stops attacking employees who want to be represented by a union
* Ceases forcing unpaid overtime on its employees
* Stops pressuring suppliers to lower their labor costs

Tell Wal-Mart that until it changes its ways, you will take your holiday shopping to other stores and will urge your friends and family to do the same.

Click on this address to join the campaign:
http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/petition.cfm?itemid=16041&ms=di




I highly urge that people sign this petition if you want a better chance for Walmart policy change.

Oh, and Walmart is not the only bad place.

Take a look at the Safeway strike and you will see what I mean:

{I do have permission from the DSA to post this!)


DSA Supports Grocery Workers

Democratic Socialists of America is urging its members, allies and frineds not to shop At Safeway stores until the striking and locked out grocery workers in Southern California are back at work. A resolution passed by the Interim Steering Committee of DSA National Political Committee urged DSA members and local organizations to participate fully in any mobilizations at Safeway organized by the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). The complete text of the resolution follows:

Resolution supporting Southern California Grocery Workers

Whereas grocery workers of Southern California have been on strike against Vons and Pavilions, subsidiaries of Safeway Inc. and have been locked out of Albertsons Inc. and Ralphs, a subsidiary of Kroger Company, since October 11, 2003, and

Whereas the main issue in the strike/lockout is the employers attempt to drastically cut back on health benefits and pensions, and

Whereas the employers blame competition from Wal-Mart as the reason they are attempting to convert their jobs into Wal-Mart style poverty level jobs, and

Whereas leaders of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) from Locals all across the U.S., plus national AFL-CIO leaders including President John J. Sweeney, met in Los Angeles on Dec. 16 and

Whereas UFCW President Doug Dority declared at that meeting: "If we lose here, it will set off a corporate tidal wave that will sweep away benefits in contracts in all industries", and

Whereas Dority further declared that there would be national mobilizations at Safeway, the parent company of Vons and Pavilions,

therefore

Democratic Socialists of America urges its members, friends and allies not to shop at Safeway stores until the strike/lockout is settled and workers have returned to their jobs, and

further resolves to give all possible support to the striking grocery workers in their effort to achieve a fair contract, including publicizing, supporting and participating in any national mobilizations at Safeway stores.

We further resolve to actively communicate this intention to DSA members and locals around the U.S. and urge every DSA member to participate in these efforts.


If you want this in a nutshell, the DSA is opposed to any type of Low Wage Economy!

Again, I have permission from the DSA to post this:


Democratic Socialists of America
Confronting the Low Wage Economy

Forty years ago, Michael Harrington's book The Other America alerted middle-class Americans to the continuing existence of poverty. Breaking the invisibility of poverty in the 1960s was key to the creation of the anti-poverty programs of the Great Society. But the situation is worse today. The deregulated market economy has resulted in a massive upward redistribution of wealth with a large part of the working population permanently stuck in low-wage jobs. DSA Honorary Chair Barbara Ehrenreich's recent book, Nickel and Dimed, gives a vivid picture of their situation. This new economy affects everyone, but has been especially devastating to women, children, people of color and recent immigrants. As in the 1950s and 60s, the mass media hides the reality of massive inequality from public view. Even for the left, the desperation of people without affordable housing, health care or childcare has not been high on the list of priorities for political action.

The overall goals of the DSA Low-Wage Justice Project are to bring the human consequences of the low-wage economy to the attention of the American people, to promote low-wage activist campaigns around specific issues, to support the efforts of low-wage workers and their communities to raise their wages and conditions through collective action, and to associate DSA with these issues at the local and national levels.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

I admire the company, but I avoid the stores because I don't want to be around trailer trash. I would rather spend more somewhere else to be around a higher class of people.

[Jocko]

Originally posted by Theodore Kurita
There are several things that are bad about Walmart!

1. They don't allow labor unions

2. Their stuff is cheap crap

3. They pay there workers low wages, so low that they are forced to shop at Walmart for food and other essentials.

I could go on and on with my rants on Walmart.

[blah blah blah socialsist crap]

There is a Democratic Socialist Petition going around right now, loads of people have already signed it.

You can see it here.



you're big on petitions, aren't you? Ever notice how they all come to nothing?

Begone, commie.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Originally posted by Theodore Kurita
There is a Democratic Socialist Petition going around right now

And they would be......????? In other words, am I supposed to be impressed?

Originally posted by Theodore Kurita

, loads of people have already signed it.


Yes, all 17 who showed up at their national convention. I'm sure Wal-Mart is shaking in their boots.

[corplinx]

I worked at a Wallyworld while I was in college. Most people working there were either earning supplemental income for their family or working there as a highschool/college job.

That said, no friggin duh they don't pay 60 grand a year. Its one step up from flippin burgers. Cashiers can't afford the health insurance? So what?

Jeez people, get a grip.

[xouper]

We just spent $73 at Walmart yesterday. Bought mostly name brand stuff too, not "cheap crap".

For example:

Coca Cola ®, $0.88 per 2-liter bottle

Dawn ® brand dish soap
($2 off Kroger price)

Campbell's Chunky soup, $1.50 per can
(saved over a $1 per can)

Campbell's Tomato Soup, $0.50 per can
(half off Kroger price)

some Kraft ® brand foods
(at huge savings over the Kroger or Farmer Jack prices)

General Electric light bulbs

some school supplies (made in the U.S.)

3 DVDs, $5.50 each (amazon.com price in parentheses)
- "Volunteers", with Tom Hanks and John Candy (9.98)
- "My Fellow Americans" with Jack Lemmon, James Garner, and Dan Aykroyd (13.48)
- "The Astronaut's Wife" with Johnny Depp and Charlize Theron (9.98)
That's just a partial list, obviously.

I estimate the total savings at almost $40.

I'll shop at Walmart again. It is no more of a hassle than any other store around here.

[pgwenthold]

See the post by Jocko above.

I call WalMart "the pithole of the earth." It is an absolutely horrid place to be.

Yet, I do go on occasion, mainly because it's closeby (just a couple blocks from home). If I have the chance, I will go to Target instead, but it is across town.

A good tip for WalMart: Check out in the electronics section. If you have three DVDs like xouper did, you can just check everything out in electronics. Never a line...

[BJS]

For all those people who say they never do and never will shop at a Walmart, I have a question?

Where do you go to buy the following things:
Garbage can
Dish drainer
Motor Oil
Shower curtain
White cotton undershirts
Bath mat
Vacum cleaner bags
Disposable plastic table cloth
Etc.

Yes, I suppose I can go to 5 different stores, hoping that each has what I need and a variety to choose from, or I can go to Walmart and get it all at once, at a good price, with decent quality.

[BJS]

[QUOTE]Originally posted by Theodore Kurita
[B]

* Pays its one million workers a living wage
* Provides affordable health insurance to its employees
[Quote]


Do the following places offer those 2 things:
Shoprite, Target, Kmart, Pathmark, McDonalds, Subway, Burger King, A&P, Rite Aid, Wendys, Taco Bell, BJs, Costco, etc.

Why only complain about Walmart? Where are the petitions for every other of the hundreds of companies that generally pay around minimum wage with no health insurance for low skilled jobs??

[mjh36]

Originally posted by BJS
[QUOTE]Originally posted by Theodore Kurita
[B]

* Pays its one million workers a living wage
* Provides affordable health insurance to its employees
[Quote]


Do the following places offer those 2 things:
Shoprite, Target, Kmart, Pathmark, McDonalds, Subway, Burger King, A&P, Rite Aid, Wendys, Taco Bell, BJs, Costco, etc.

Why only complain about Walmart? Where are the petitions for every other of the hundreds of companies that generally pay around minimum wage with no health insurance for low skilled jobs??
I'll tell you why...

Because Wal-Mart has the deepest pockets to pilfer from...that's why. It is assumed that because WalMart has many stores and dominates their particular industry, that they are supposed to abandon profit motive for their shareholders and become the altruistic benefactors of society, as envisioned in Star Trek and socialist propaganda. Look at the gripes, and take each one for what it is:

1) They don't allow labor unions. That is bad? They are under a federal microscope based on being so huge, so they follow government regulations on wages. Unionization is nothing more than workers demanding more money, more protection and more security from their employer, while offering nothing increased in return. WalMart has every right to say no to unions, know why? Because 95% of their jobs require very little skill or experience.

This means that if someone is disgruntled with their wage or working conditions, they can quit, and WalMart can fill their position in under 30 seconds...and they know it. Why unionize, raise wages by 30% across the board, and severely damage your P&E ratio, when you can just keep your revolving door of unskilled laborers rolling along?

And what union anyway? The United Stock Shelf Stackers local 1312? Give me a break. Is there a journeyman level certification for cashiers who do the mentally and physically demanding job of moving objects past a scanner and then making change?

2) They don't pay overtime. Boo hoo. The entire white collar, salary exempt workforce of this country is working unpaid overtime and always has. Medical school residents average $25,000 per year and work roughly 90-100 hours per week for 3-6 years, which equates to just below minimum wage for the entire time they are residents, with no guarantee of becoming successful doctors. Of those who do, less than a third pay back their student loan debts within 15 years. The hidden detail they leave out is that different states have different overtime laws, and of those "not getting paid overtime" most are receiving pay at their normal rate for extra hours, and the others are salaried exempt and don't get anything extra by contract.

3) They are a monopoly. Nope, they are just the biggest and cheapest. It is a vicious cycle with them on top, but they are only a part of the cycle, not the whole thing. If consumers didn't like their prices or goods, then they wouldn;t shop there. If suppliers were bummed about their deal with WM, then they would remove their products from Sam's shelves. All WalMart does is use competitive advantage to stay in business and make profits for its shareholders. That's what capitalism in America is all about.

4) They have kids working during school hours. So what? I guarantee 99% of those kids are there under a false pretense to earn money rather than sit at school. Hell, I worked during school hours my junior and senior year and it was to buy a car. I lied and said I only had school 4 days per week. Plenty of kids do that. I doubt there is some evil manager who subjugates the little waifs into 16 hours at the machines, ala Oliver Twist.


Nope, WalMart is nothing more than flavor of the day in the world of sensationalism's newest thing to freak out about. Folks need a boogeyman to anchor their universe and have something to rail against. Last week it was Microsoft, this week it is WalMart, and next week we will pick some other deep pockets and be horrified by them.

[Checkmite]

I don't know where the "cheap crap" accusation comes from...really, I don't. I went shopping there once for supplies for my new apartment, and found:

GLAD™ garbage bags,
Energizer™ batteries,
A SONY™ CD player/AM-FM radio,
A Hitachi™ Television,
Cookware by Corning™,
Containers by Rubbermaid™,
RAID™ Wasp & Yellow Jacket killer,
Clorox™ laundry detergent, and
Mr. Coffee™ coffee maker.

All that among other things.

There are plenty of reasons to put down Wal-Mart, but if "cheap crap" is one of them, I suggest writing to DuPont, Dow, Proctor & Gamble, Post, Johnson & Johnson, Kenmore, SONY, Black & Decker, and the makers of the other products they sell, and telling them about the quality of their products...I'm especially interested in how brands sold everywhere suddenly become cheap crap at Wal-Mart.

[BJS]

Originally posted by mjh36

I'll tell you why...

Edited for length



No, no, no...you are supposed to let someone I disagree with answer!!;)

** Great answer by the way!

[Thanz]

Originally posted by pgwenthold
Yet, I do go on occasion, mainly because it's closeby (just a couple blocks from home). If I have the chance, I will go to Target instead, but it is across town.
And target doesn't sell "cheap crap" either!

A friend of mine went into a Target store and asked the greeter person where he could find some "crappy lawn furniture". The greeter immediately informed him, "We don't sell crap here, sir."

[originalgagster]

Originally posted by mjh36


They are under a federal microscope based on being so huge, so they follow government regulations on wages.Unionization is nothing more than workers demanding more money, more protection and more security from their employer, while offering nothing increased in return.

The power of unions can sometimes go a little too far, but they also do a good job preventing workers rights being trampled all over in the relentless pursuit of profit. Do you really trust federal regulations to safeguard the welfare of ordinary working people?

Originally posted by mjh36
WalMart has every right to say no to unions, know why? Because 95% of their jobs require very little skill or experience.

Although this is undoubtedly one reason why walmart finds it easy to squash any hint of unionism, I am a little uncomfortable with the idea that the rights of a worker should be proportional to their educational background and training. Should a person from a poor background who has not had the priviledge of a good education not be entitled to the same job security as someone with a professional background?


Originally posted by mjh36
Is there a journeyman level certification for cashiers who do the mentally and physically demanding job of moving objects past a scanner and then making change?

I have never worked as a cashier, but i know the most stressful jobs are those which involve a great deal of repetitiveness...production line workers, cashiers etc. They deserve as much respect and should have the same rights as anyone else.


Originally posted by mjh36
2) They don't pay overtime. Boo hoo. The entire white collar, salary exempt workforce of this country is working unpaid overtime and always has. Medical school residents average $25,000 per year and work roughly 90-100 hours per week for 3-6 years, which equates to just below minimum wage for the entire time they are residents, with no guarantee of becoming successful doctors. Of those who do, less than a third pay back their student loan debts within 15 years. The hidden detail they leave out is that different states have different overtime laws, and of those "not getting paid overtime" most are receiving pay at their normal rate for extra hours, and the others are salaried exempt and don't get anything extra by contract.

This is not really a fair comparison. The time a student spends going through medical school is really an investment which will be paid back many times over after graduation. That is not the case with walmart employees.
Furthermore, you are comparing walmart employees with the white collar sector who earn far more than the pittance earned by people forced to work at walmart.

[mjh36]

Do you really trust federal regulations to safeguard the welfare of ordinary working people?
In America's overly litigious society, where there is a legion of attorneys who exist solely on sucking money out of deep pockets with claims of abuse...hell yes I do.
Although this is undoubtedly one reason why walmart finds it easy to squash any hint of unionism, I am a little uncomfortable with the idea that the rights of a worker should be proportional to their educational background and training. Should a person from a poor background who has not had the priviledge of a good education not be entitled to the same job security as someone with a professional background?
What you fail to realize, or have been brainwashed into forgetting, is that the higher you go, the less protection you have and in many cases, the harder you get to work for that decrease in security. A unionized janitor typically does not have my EMBA, but I can be fired on a whim of the bosses, sale of my company, shift in the economic sands, loss of profit to competitors, etc. A unionized janitor can have their job forever, barring acts of god. I might make more, but always without a safety net. And I have 6 years of higher education, $60k of student loan debt and far more time and effort invested into my career. But I agree with capitalism and the concept of getting ahead, so I chose education and business over janitorial work.
I have never worked as a cashier, but i know the most stressful jobs are those which involve a great deal of repetitiveness...production line workers, cashiers etc. They deserve as much respect and should have the same rights as anyone else.
Anyone who works gets my respect. And their job is no more stressful than is mine. If they don't like their station in life, our society gives them every avenue to improve it, same for me. That they choose to stay in their current station while I chose to improve mine is no fault of WalMart, The Man or any other spectre of the sensational. Americans of ability who remain in lower end jobs do so by choice. But anytime a cashier at WalMart wants to quit, they can see the doors from their register.
Furthermore, you are comparing walmart employees with the white collar sector who earn far more than the pittance earned by people forced to work at walmart.
And who "forced" them to work at WalMart? Did Sam W? Did Dubyah? Nope. They are their of their own volition, and can leave under same. I grew up poor, held all manner of odd job I hated and chose to pay my way (with time, effort and money) to educate myself, so that I did not have to do a job I disliked. Matter of fact, my mother is still happily wallowing in her misery and her passing will most likely result in me getting a bill for her 60+ years of accumulating debt. Nothing was ever handed to me and I had a pretty good set of premade obstacles to overcome. This is why I know that anyone can do anything in this country, if they are willing to put a nose to the grindstone. Taking WalMart to anti-trust court will not change that.

[xouper]

originalgagster: Should a person from a poor background who has not had the priviledge of a good education not be entitled to the same job security as someone with a professional background?Where does the U.S. Constitution guarantee anyone the right to "job security"?

That was a rhetorical question, designed simply to draw attention to the socialist nature of your objection.

And as a counter-point to your objection, I'm a professional software engineer, and I don't have any more job security than a Walmart cashier. The only "job security" is that I have a marketable skill.

[corplinx]

Originally posted by mjh36


2) They don't pay overtime. Boo hoo.

I worked for Walmart years ago when I was in school. They had something called a "timeclock". If the timeclock logged more than 40 hours for you, you were paid overtime. Its a computerized system.

The only people at walmart who don't get paid overtime are the salary people who are exempt.

[Solitaire]

Originally posted by Jocko
No, my problem with Walmart is the freakin' people.
If you've been there, you know who I'm talking about.
It starts in the parking lot.

Heh.
A couple just got to their car with their kids and just started loading
bags into it when an old guy following them to the spot in his brand
new big boat of a car starts honking. After a minute and they're still
loading he holds down the on horn constantly. After several minutes
they finish loading and move on. Yeash.

[EvilYeti]

Here's an idea folks, instead of stocking up on stale Ritz crackers and aerosol cheeze from Walmart, why not spend the same amount at your local deli or grocer? You will get less gross volume of food product, but it will be substantially higher quality. And since you are eating less you will save money in the long run by not needing gastric bypass or open heart surgery.

[Segnosaur]

Originally posted by EvilYeti
Here's an idea folks, instead of stocking up on stale Ritz crackers and aerosol cheeze from Walmart, why not spend the same amount at your local deli or grocer? You will get less gross volume of food product, but it will be substantially higher quality. And since you are eating less you will save money in the long run by not needing gastric bypass or open heart surgery.

Why do you assume that the crackers at Walmart will be any staler than at your local deli or grocer?

It depends on turnover; if it takes a year for your local grocer to sell out their stock of Ritz crackers, they will be just as stale (if not more so) than if you got them at Wal Mart.

And what makes you think you'll be eating less?

[aerocontrols]

Just want to chime in here in support of Wal-Mart.

Employer of my little brother and little sister as they work their way through college.

Employer of my former roomate as he worked his way through college.

All three seem to be (or have been, in the roomie's case) 'living' on their wages.

And they sell inexpensive stuff. Inexpensive food, inexpensive furniture, inexpensive clothes. My Dad's side of the family is not rich - he's a welder. I guess we're that 'trailer trash' that some in this thread turn their noses up at.

Screw you folks.

[The Central Scrutinizer]

Originally posted by mjh36

4) They have kids working during school hours. So what? I guarantee 99% of those kids are there under a false pretense to earn money rather than sit at school. Hell, I worked during school hours my junior and senior year and it was to buy a car. I lied and said I only had school 4 days per week. Plenty of kids do that. I doubt there is some evil manager who subjugates the little waifs into 16 hours at the machines, ala Oliver Twist.


The whiners who complain about this aren't actually complaining that underage kids are working. What they are complaining about is that someone is working, instead of sitting home waiting for their government handout.

[BJS]

Originally posted by EvilYeti
Here's an idea folks, instead of stocking up on stale Ritz crackers and aerosol cheeze from Walmart, why not spend the same amount at your local deli or grocer? You will get less gross volume of food product, but it will be substantially higher quality. And since you are eating less you will save money in the long run by not needing gastric bypass or open heart surgery.

The quality of Ritz crackers is higher at a local grocery store, than at Walmart??

Do you think your local deli or grocer is paying higher wages, giving cheaper health insurance than your nearest Walmart?