Celerity

Sam Walton hasn't really owned Walmart since his 4th store. The chain is owned by NorInCo, the North Chinese military.

I avoid that place anyway.

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Dustin_m

I'd love to avoid that place also, but unfortunately their concept of undercutting and running the local stores out of business is very effective, leaving not much of a choice. I try to head to local places if possible, or at least to Target, but it's nearly impossible to cut out Walmart 100% and pay decent prices somewhere else.

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Celerity

Internet shopping is the wave of the future. I now view all stores as merely a place to go and finger all of the items, before going home and ordering them online.

Walmart didn't kill the little guy, the internet did. The little guy needs to stop worrying so much about a brickj and mortar presence and alittle more about efficient shipping and packing.

The company I work for now, is turned on to this way of thinking. Our retail front-end looks like an office. We do PC repair and have NO inventory. It's not worth it. Our competitors look more like "pc repair houses" because they have shelves loaded with shit that no one ever touches. They buy tech when it's high and continue trying to sell it to people as high.

This place is going to make it because when someone needs hardware, we quote them for a "here and now" price, with our fingers on the "Check out" button. Then we are open about the 3 day or so shipping times, and our customers couldn't be happier. This is how, I feel, auto mechanic shops should be run.

And I'm trying to start a shop that runs like that, so no more details for you !

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drbelanger73

South Park proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that Walmart is evil...

Seriously though,

Losing mental capacity like that is something that never heals for anybody. I recently buried my aunt who died of alzhiemers. It wasn't like I could have even said goodbye because she slipped away so gradually. In the end it wasn't even her that died. The only closure i could find was putting on my uniform and bearing her casket to the grave. In the end we all turned from the plot and walked away, it as all we could do.

Capitalism is not called humanism for a reason...

Jeef

When I got my settlement for my car accident, I had to pay my insurance company back for my surgery and some doctor visits. This was after the lawyer took his 33%. She did get fucked by the lawyers. She should have gotten atleast 600,000. I fail to see a couple hundred thousand in court fees. The lawyer should have also known how much she owed to the insurance company and sued accordingly. My lawyer knew what my expenses were before he even attempted to settle. If the lawyer cared that much he would have worked probono (sp).
I am surprised that they did not try to negotiate with the health care providers for a lower rate.

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eg6sir

exactly.. if i find something i want i'll check it out in person at the store or whatever.. then find the best deal online..

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George777

Even Walmart's internet sales are coming up. They even made their internet/website sales a separate entity--Much like they did their trucking company, their Distribution Centers, and their real estate division. They are very strategic in their purchases and business structure. They acquired McClanes (sp) back in the late 80's or early 90's, and sold it a few years ago. While they owned them, they owned a good chunk of the distribution of their products, while saving money by using their own trucking.

While they do offer good prices on somewhat quality products, their business practices on the individual store levels leaves something to desire. On paper, the company is great. On the individual treatment of associates and certain communities, they tend to lack. But like any business, they are out for the bottom line. If it does not get them good publicity or put money in their pockets, they are not interested.

In my opinion, they are getting a little big for their britches. It's only a matter of time before they start competing with themselves. But the consumers are all about the bottom line too--as long as they can maintain a standard of living by saving money where they can, Walmart will continue to flourish.

My .02.

93civicracer

Everyone either thinks walmart is the best store ever, or it's evil. The only things I buy there are video games and they're the same price as everywhere else, just that walmart's closer to me.

I don't care really about the small places being run out of business. What gets me is that every fucking thing here is made in some other country because we're all trying to modernize the whole damn world. I say let them do it on their own, because when they start modernizing, they start buying oil and raising gas prices. Not to mention, all those Chinese/Taiwan/Mexican motherfuckers running all the manufacturing facilities for our shit are just taking more AMERICAN jobs that should be ours. Or rather we gave it to them. Us and our fucking trying to change the world and everything, when our own economy is declining and we're like what, a trillion dollars in debt? And our unemployment rate is higher than it's been in how many years?

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nootrac22

what's the point, it's not like most people could afford the same level of coverage purchasing their own coverage, especially when working at walmart. walmart = not enough money to live on, too much money for welfare = rock and a hard place.

drbelanger73

What you have to understand is this, we need foreigners to make our goods so that americans can afford to buy them, that is how the game works. If we had to pay americans the minimum wage to produce our goods then the cost would come out on the other end. At that point you would have the entire middle class disappear instantly as they could no longer afford the basic items that we take for granted. We would go straight to the rich and the poor and the whole smoke and mirror show would be shown for what it is. This is also why the nation can't function without all the illegals that work here.

The guy in India that made your stuff probably can't afford to purchase the shoes that he just made. I can't imagine what people get paid to produce the goods that they can afford.

Dustin_m

Some good points in there that make sense.

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Jeef

Why don't you care about small business? I would rather go to a local hardware store than Home Depot. The guys at the hardware store are willing to help you, know where everything is, and are most of the time knowledgeable. Try going to HD, trying to find someone who even wants to talk to you, finding someone who knows what they are talking about (I know there are people who do, but trying to find them can be a bitch). The hardware store might be a buck or two more but it saves time not only because its ten minutes closer. I also save a gallon of gas. Most of the time the small business is more specialized, has better quality, and the customer service is much better. It provides more jobs. If there were no local guys then we would all be working for the big corps making minimum wage and getting no benefits.
IF you don't care about small business remember when you want to go out to eat. If the small guys are gone you are stuck with fast food and chain restaurants. While most chains are decent, I would rather get a steak at at a mom and pop place than Chili's.

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get_nick

I dont' know if you come from a small town, but i grew up in a town of less than 2,000 people. now that i got out to the real world and realized how they are hosing us.

having a higher overhead means they are required to have a higher profit margin. higher profit margins require a higher cost of goods to the consumer.

it's not just hardware stores. pharmacies, hardware, food. it's all more expensive. now some people are willing to bite the bullet and support the little guy, but i'm not.

my mother bought a mountain bike local last week and paid something like $700 plus they charged her shipping. if she would have went to portland, she could have bought it for $550. She realizes that she got screwed.

I would rather go buy my stuff at wal-mart and pay pennies above cost than pay 20% more at the local pharmacy or rite-aid.

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Dustin_m

Werd. Small businesses are the only place you can really find knowledgeable people. Usually at the box stores you have some dickhead high school kid who gets paid min wage to find any way possible to kill his time on the clock and keep from helping people. That's exactly what I see every time I walk into home depot or best buy.

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93civicracer

Well, if you don't know what you're buying then why are you buying it? I'd save money and just go to Walmart. They've got the cheapest groceries, toys, furniture, just that you gotta watch what you buy make sure it ain't made in China.

I always try my very best to avoid products made in other countries because I believe they should be made here, it's just a damn way for our fucking corporations and businesses to keep their manufacturing costs down because of the greedy ass people they are in America. They'd never be happy making even a penny less on their product even tho they'd make PLENTY of money making it in America as well as provide the right people with jobs instead of a damn foreigner.

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GSRCRXsi

93, you are ranting about buying shit from other countries, and wanting the cheapest prices. thats like fat people complaining they are fat and being too lazy to work out. it makes no sense

things are cheap for us to buy here in the US because its made overseas where it can be manufactured cheaper. if everything was made here in the US, it would be too expensive for you to afford. then youd be bitching why things are so expensive.

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get_nick

it's the same thing as having the mexicans pick tomatos and lettuce. if you want to give those jobs to white people, welcome to a $10 box of strawberries and $15 salad.

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GSRCRXsi

ever see the movie, "a day without a mexican"? yea lol.

yes, some may be here illegally, yes it may such having to call tech support and barely being able to understand them, but its our way of life. business is all about making something cheap to make good profit. if businesses were as self-righteous as 93 is, and decided to manufacture everything in the US, would the business eat the higher manufacturing cost and cut their profits? fuck no. they would pass the cost onto you, the consumer, to keep their profits the same. im just saying have a little more respect for the kids in sweatshops in china, they are the reason you can afford your sneakers, food, etc.

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totalburnout

...good God are there so many holes and things wrong with some of these arguments that its irritating to read.

It really is baffling to me how little most people understand general principles of the market. Jobs weren't outsourced in an attempt to bolster foreign relations and give foreigners jobs. Jobs are outsourced because due to lower standards of living, in foreign countries, wages are significantly reduced. This allows corporations to cut costs and increase profit margins or decrease overall price. Most of these outsourced jobs are in manufacturing industries that Americans deem beneath themselves and that foreigners job at the prospect of greater lives. How many Americans do you see that want to grow up and pick produce or other crops out in the fields? I know my parents and the parents of my friends, certainly did not raise their children to grow up and enter these lines of work. Fact is most of the outsourced work, save for the tech. outsourcing that happened in the 2000's, is grunt work that most Americans turned their noses up at or demanded higher wages. Funny enough, garbage men make decent livings here in the states because few people will accept those jobs. Look at plumbers and other "crappy" (pun intended) service industries that can charge absorbent fees to clean your pipes, detail your car, or clean your house.

You should be thanking foreigners that they jumped at the chance for these jobs because as soon as their standards of livings increase and higher wages are demanded, the increased cost will be passed onto the consumer. This is, of course, until manufacturers find another area of the world to produce their goods. China was the source of cheap labor but now when wages are under that of what the Chinese demand, work is passed off to Taiwan or India.

Basically the posts that started the debates on this page, were posted by someone that had absolutely zero understand of how the world actually works. There's plenty of reasons to dislike the Chinese or other foreign countries. However, as a capitalistic society, the fact that the Chinese are a plentiful source of cheap labor is not one of the reasons you should dislike the Chinese or other foreign nations.

Jobs went there because the consumer benefited and Americans were unwilling to perform those jobs. Californians pay the illegal Mexicans to pick the crops, because no 20-something American wants to bust their back, out in the fields all day.

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***My post was intended to go under 93's and I didn't intend to type a book, but I got on the phone with the girlfriend and I couldn't help but rant at the ludicrousness of some of what is being said here.

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drbelanger73

I think my comment about the middle class illusion is dead on myself.

Celerity

Just as people like B seem to feel that it's unthinkable that THEY should have to do grunt work, ushers in the concept of lesser labor for lesser tasks.

It's something that we're all a part of. But I can tell you this now, recession or no recession argument, there is a changing landscape of economy in the US, and it's not going to go away. It's not going back to the 80s any quicker than it's going back to the 20s (A time that makes any time we have read about seem depressing). This is the new face of the economy, and it's going to involve work in ways that we never saw before.

It's going to make our disposable society (the REAL cause of lower cost / lower quality labor) go away and be substituted for the attitudes of our younger grandparents (OR maybe your great-grandparents, you children) Where they took care of their few things because there was NO replacement for it. They wouldn't ever think of throwing away things like shoes, knives, tools, boxes, dishes - all of these things were pretty hard to come by.

And when we're paying $20 for a lemon, I'm sure kids will eat their fuckin dinner.

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Dustin_m

Did you really think about how stupid that comment was before you typed it? Aahhh , wait, aren't you like 17 or something? That would explain the fact that you make it seem like you know everything in the fucking world, because you do, because you are a teenager.

So you are really saying that every time you have walked into a store, you knew exactly what product you wanted and why? Are you also saying that you have never wondered if someone more knowledgeable than you might be able to suggest a better product for you?

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Dustin_m

werd. I agree with that 100%. Honestly, even though money sucks right now, I am a little satisfied inside that this is happening. The American way for the past few decades is embarrassing. We are so fucking wasteful and greedy.

My gf actually did a report on GMO food, genetically modified foods, for school a few months ago. In her research she learned some interesting stuff. I can't remember the exact statistic, but one thing I found disturbing is that the U.S. has/produces enough excess food to make a huge impact on, if not totally eradicate, many of the famines that are happening in other parts of the world. In the end, the reason we do nothing is $$, of course. I could go into more detail, but this would turn into a novel.

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