District residents why are you so against Walmart?

[Anonymous]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/15/AR2010071506374.html?wprss=rss_metro

Lower prices, good shopping for people in a blighted neighborhood, more choice etc. I don't understand the aversion to Walmart around here.

[Anonymous]

Then maybe you should watch this: http://www.walmartmovie.com/

[Anonymous]

Let's be clear. The people who protest Walmart are well-off people who like to think for working class people, and shop owners who fear getting crushed by a company that can do better than they can.

Walmart is the logical outcome of a desire to provide products at lower prices. Sure, they can be criticized for some practices and they should be. But by and large, people are angry that Walmart puts price pressure on suppliers, something every retailer does, in order to provide goods at a low price.

And for working class people, Walmart is an important source of employment. Tens of thousands of people think so. There have been some labor problems, but that's going to happen in any company of this size.

So if you think that blocking them in order to help small shop owners make money off of higher prices, go for it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:... So if you think that blocking them in order to help small shop owners make money off of higher prices, go for it.

I (a new poster on this thread) fully understand that Walmart makes money because they have a business model that works. Those who shop there benefit by doing so, but for me (and many others) they are a threat to other things we like. So some will act, in ways political and economic, to encourage them, and some to discourage them. Democracy in action! It's the American way.

[Anonymous]

The truth is that Walmart, more than any other chain I know of, has a sound reputation for treating their employees like absolute shit, and that is why I have chosen to avoid the store. Until recently. Their sheet selection is truly excellent, so I succumed. I still feel a bit bad about it.

[Anonymous]

Walmart is the logical outcome of a desire to provide products at lower prices.

Walmart is the logistics subsidiary of the People's Republic of China.

[Anonymous]

I know plenty of working class people who think it's a disgrace that they can have a full-time job and still qualify for food stamps and Medicaid. They are rightly the working *poor* and in many places around the country, Walmart has shifted them downward.

The fact that there are no other options for employment in their areas doesn't make the people who work or shop there stupid.

[Anonymous]

Wal-Mart treats its employees like shit, and because they have run all competition out of town they are the only place where many people can work. I say this as someone who has seen what Wal-Mart has done to my small hometown. People need jobs, and Walm-Mart finds ways to underpay and to avoid giving employees benefits. Sure, they have cheap products, but that employee that is ringing you up will be buying her groceries with food stamps and going to the free clinic when she gets sick. Wal-Mart destroys communities and continues the cycle of poverty. Lower prices come at a cost, its just a cost that a lot of people don't want to recognize.

[Anonymous]

For those of you who do not like Walmart don't shop at Walmart. Bringing a Walmart into the District in a neighborhood without any retail is a boom to that particular area. Walmart would not be competing against smaller retailers, for there are no retailers in the proposed neighborhood. For those individuals like myself who will continue to patronize Walmart for its great sheet collection, we will spend our money in the District, instead of Maryland and Virginia.

As for the comment about subsidizing China, that individual should look at the lables of her clothes, children's toys, books and other housewares. Every other piece of merchandise is made in China or Vietnam.

[Anonymous]

The truth is that Walmart, more than any other chain I know of, has a sound reputation for treating their employees like absolute shit, and that is why I have chosen to avoid the store. Until recently. Their sheet selection is truly excellent, so I succumed. I still feel a bit bad about it.

Truly, LOL. I have the same cognitive dissonance.

I agree with every negative word that's been said on this thread, plus I have added insider knowledge about Wal-Mart's abysmal environmental record.

Yet, when it comes time every spring to purchase 300 lawn/garden things like planting stakes and sprinklers, you will find me at Wal-Mart. I hate myself.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For those of you who do not like Walmart don't shop at Walmart. Bringing a Walmart into the District in a neighborhood without any retail is a boom to that particular area. Walmart would not be competing against smaller retailers, for there are no retailers in the proposed neighborhood. For those individuals like myself who will continue to patronize Walmart for its great sheet collection, we will spend our money in the District, instead of Maryland and Virginia.

As for the comment about subsidizing China, that individual should look at the lables of her clothes, children's toys, books and other housewares. Every other piece of merchandise is made in China or Vietnam.

\

I don't live in DC but have to agree. There aren't many retailers period in certain parts of the city so I don't really see the reason not to have Walmart move in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wal-Mart treats its employees like shit, and because they have run all competition out of town they are the only place where many people can work. I say this as someone who has seen what Wal-Mart has done to my small hometown. People need jobs, and Walm-Mart finds ways to underpay and to avoid giving employees benefits. Sure, they have cheap products, but that employee that is ringing you up will be buying her groceries with food stamps and going to the free clinic when she gets sick. Wal-Mart destroys communities and continues the cycle of poverty. Lower prices come at a cost, its just a cost that a lot of people don't want to recognize.

This poster is right. And now I'm starting to feel terrible about my sheets. I love them, but it's a bit hard to sleep at night on them. Seriously. I'm a hypocrite. At the time I really needed new sheets and the prices for the quality looked really good, and I rationalized that I don't make much money either, and that I could niether save the world nor destroy it with my purchases. But it was a lie. Because, while that may be true of just my purchase, if everyone decided to shop elsewhere until such time as Walmart treated their employees with humanity, they'd have to shape up. Lots of change has to start at the grass roots level, and though I may be just one blade of grass . . .

[Anonymous]

Buy a shirt at Walmart and in a year when it wears out you go back to Walmart and buy another. Buy a short at Norstrom or LL Bean etc and it wears out in a year, you bring it back and get a new one.

Pretty simple to me.

Quality not quanity

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I agree with every negative word that's been said on this thread, plus I have added insider knowledge about Wal-Mart's abysmal environmental record.

Do you believe the company's latest greening campaign, building more energy efficient stores & the like? I've hoped that they might be turning a corner toward being more responsible, but from where I sit I can't tell.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Buy a shirt at Walmart and in a year when it wears out you go back to Walmart and buy another. Buy a short at Norstrom or LL Bean etc and it wears out in a year, you bring it back and get a new one.

Pretty simple to me.

Quality not quanity

I have shirts from L.L.Bean. They were made in China