Wal-mart: The Cost Of Cheap Goods

[Lil Red]

Click here for the full article

Interesting points of the article:

The behemoth Wal-Mart dwarfs all other retailers. With $245 billion in sales in 2002 and a global workforce of 1.4 million workers, Wal-Mart boasts being the world’s largest company. Every week 138 million people shop its 4,750 stores. Last year, 82 percent of American households bought at least one item from the company.

In 2001, according to court documents, company sales clerks averaged $8.23 an hour but earned only $13,861 a year, because Wal-Mart defines full time as 28 hours a week. The federal poverty line for a family of three at the time was $14,630.

Women comprise 72 percent of Wal-Mart’s sales force, but only 33 percent of its management. Conversely, competitors boast female management rates of more than 50 percent. The company now faces nearly 40 lawsuits charging sex-discrimination and forcing employees to work overtime without pay.

Wal-Mart stands virulently opposed to unions. It maintains an anti-union response team of nearly 70 people ready to visit stores where organizing activity begins. The meat-cutters in Jacksonville, Texas, voted for the union in February 2000 and within 11 days Wal-Mart closed its meat-cutting departments introducing prepackaged meats from outside its stores. Not one Wal-Mart store is unionized.

Workers at a factory in China’s Guangdong Province making toys for Wal-Mart work 13- to 16-hour days, seven days a week, earning 13 cents an hour.

Despite these considerations Wal-Mart enthusiasts praise the company for introducing large numbers of low income people to middle-class consumption. Yet, cheap goods cost somebody —whether the single parent sales clerk, or the truck driver denied a union, or the Chinese worker laboring in a sweatshop.

[cmotherofpirl]

I also know that the head of the store gets a huge bonus at the end of the year, none of which trickles down to anybody else.

[Lil Red]

Click here for an interesting Anti-Walmart website

[Lil Red]

Myth: Wal-Mart creates "hundreds" of new jobs for communities.

Fact: Studies show that for every two jobs created by a Wal-Mart store, the community loses three. Jobs that are retained by a community are merely shifted from local businesses to the giant retailer. In a 1994 report, the Congressional Research Service warned Congress that communities need to evaluate the significance of any job gains at big-box stores against any loss of jobs due to reduced business at competing retailers. The report also pointed out that these so-called new jobs "provide significantly lower wages then jobs in many industries, and are often only part-time positions, seasonal opportunities, or subject to extensive turnover." The Real Story is that when Wal-Mart moves into the neighborhood, it devours local businesses and lowers community living standards.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Myth: Wal-Mart has "always low prices, always."

Fact: The local newspaper in Carroll County, Arkansas conducted a test of Wal-Mart's low price claim. Surveying a list of 19 common household items at six Wal-Mart stores over a one month period, the newspaper staff found that Wal-Mart was cheapest on only two of the items . The lowest register receipt for all 19 items was $12.91. The highest total for all items came from Wal-Mart at $15.86. The Real Story is the high cost of Wal-Mart's prices: lower wages, more imports, lost U.S. jobs, lower community living standards.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Myth: Wal-Mart's presence in a community generates tax revenues.

Fact: Studies conducted by small towns on the impact of proposed Wal-Mart stores have shown that tax revenue reductions are more likely to occur after a Wal-Mart moves into an area.

A Maryland study showed that in the years following the arrival of Wal-Mart, "town tax receipts from personal property and ordinary business corporation taxes grew but at a declining rate." The study said that "the expected growth in income taxes may have been offset by low-wage jobs offered by the large retailer and by the loss of employment in competing businesses. . . ."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Myth: Wal-Mart's workers receive good health benefits.

Fact: Wal-Mart's Health Coverage Leaves Most Workers Uncovered.

Huge employee premium payments and big deductibles keep participation in Wal-Mart's health plan to 38% of employees. That's 6 out of every 10 employees--more than 425,000 Wal-Mart employees, most of them women, who have no company provided health coverage. Nationally, more than 60% of workers are covered by company paid health plans. There's more: Wal-Mart workers pay insurance premiums that cover close to half of Wal-Mart's health plan expenses. The national average shows that employee premiums cover just over 25% of health plan expenses incurred by companies nationwide. The Real Story is that Wal-Mart freely acknowledges shifting its health care costs to taxpayers and responsible employers. A company spokesperson said, "[Wal-Mart employees] who choose not to participate in [Wal-Mart's health plan] usually get their health-care benefits from a spouse or the state or federal government." Wal-Mart is the biggest beneficiary of its health plan because the company shifts $1 billion in health care costs to the government and responsible employers.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Myth: Wal-Mart "Buys American" and Wal-Mart "Brings it Home to the USA."

Fact: Two 1998 studies that surveyed clothing on Wal-Mart store racks and shelves found 80% and sometimes more thatn 90% of the apparel items were produced overseas, many in countries where sweatshops and child labor are prevelant.

"The truth is," says the National Labor Committee, "Wal-Mart has moved far more production offshore than the industry average." There's more: Commenting on Wal-Mart's "Buy Mexican" program, an expert on economic nationalism said Wal-Mart is ". . .shamelessly manipulating nationalist sentiments in both countries. . . . For all its public nationalism, Wal-mart is reinvesting its all-American dollars overseas."

[foundsheep]

The city I live in has resisted and looks like won walmart not building a superstore here. We still have 3 regular walmarts though. This information is saddening because I now feel like Ive given my money to the school bully.Is Target an alternative?

[Lil Red]

well, i don't know about alternatives.

[cmotherofpirl]

Walmart is also not worker friendly. THey demand you are available 24/7 which is not feasible if you have little kids.

[thicke]

I served as a medic in the Mississippi National Guard in the late 80's and early 90's. Being a medic, I usually traveled to small towns all over northwest Mississippi. One thing I noticed is that whenever a new super WalMart opened, all the mom and pop shops went out business. It was really sad to see the loss of jobs and community those closings brought to each of those towns. The jobs lost were always greater than the jobs gained.

Edited February 2, 2004 by thicke

[cmotherofpirl]

Absolutely Walmart drives out the competition. And when the competition is gone, the prices go up.

[Paladin D]

http://walmart-blows.com/

Contains some foul language, but it has a lot of recent news reports.

[nikkan_hanil]

That's sad. There is a Super Wal Mart across my street. *Looks out window that is 1 ft. away from his right* Poor Chinese people... :cry:

[Brother Adam]

Yes we know, Wal-Mart is the largest corperation in the world, and has a greater export from China than any other country combined. They tell vendors what they will pay for the product and routinely put vendors and compatition out of business.

Wal-Mart is scary. I think they should be made illegal in this country, at least to have more than one in a 200 mile radius of each other Or only be allowed in cities with over a pop. of 100,000.

Wal-Mart has been hated for a long time. our family does not shop there.

[Norseman82]

One of my co-workers calls it "Sprawl-Mart" because he feels it contributes to suburban sprawl.

[Paladin D]

Is it a sin to shop at Wal-Mart? We live out in the country (not much to do), and the nearest store that is similar to Wal-Mart (such as Target, Best Buy, Comp USA, Sears, etc) is an hour drive away.

Plus, we only have two super markets in town, Winn Dixie and Farmer's Goods (they aren't that great, compared to a Food Lion, Kroger, Shop Rite, Super G, etc), and sometimes our Wal-Mart carries products that they don't carry. Our options are extremely limited... :(

[PatrickRitaMichael]

I don't know. But the purchases you make could possibly be exploiting people in other countries... Maybe you should look into online shopping? :)