Walmart

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My issues with Walmart is that it is both the biggest employer of people on food stamps, and the company that raises the most revenue from SNAP benefit dollars. In a sense, SNAP benefits serve as a stimulus to Walmart so they don't need to pay their employees a living wage. On top of that, members of the founding family are among the seven richest people in the United states.

While other companies are just as bad in terms of their minimum wage workers, no other company operates on the sheer scale that Walmart does. I just think it's a symbol of what is wrong with this country right now.

I understand the allure of cheap prices. I'm a thrift shop shopper, I love flea markets, church sales, yard sales, you name it. At the same time, I refuse to shop at Walmart, and I am making a conscious effort NOT to purchase anything made in China, and to buy American as often as I can. The problem is that Walmart has pushed so many American businesses overseas that it's tough to find American-made goods at any affordable price.

The only way to kill off Walmart is to refuse to purchase the junk they sell. Look around your houses, people!! Do you need all the crap you have? Do you use half of it?

Buying Walmart and other discounters' crap is not helping OUR economy! It's fueling the economies of other nations, China in particular. Vote with your dollars and buy American!

Of course, I'm dreaming, dreaming.... Americans love those low, low prices, and turn a blind eye to the damage all that buying of junk is doing to our planet. Of course I'll keep doing what I do, but I don't see too many people willing to see beyond those low prices and take action to reverse the damage Walmart has done not just to our local businesses, but to our world.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Bummer. The brand just went belly up, huh, rather than move overseas and continue operation?

Regardless, yes, I like my cheap Tylenol, ziplock and cotton blend socks. I do not wish to overpay .30 more an item for these things so 1. "Your father" can maintain an executive salary of x+1 and (2) so that Kenny in Ohio can hang onto his job manufacturing socks. Kenny needs to retrain in IT or health care.

I'm a Christian, and what you wrote is completely contrary to my religion. I believe in helping others, even if there's a cost to me. If it were simple to retrain workers, and cheap, there wouldn't be loads of laid-off, unemployed, partly-employed, underemployed workers whose manufacturing jobs moved overseas.

The price of those cheap socks and other goods is too high for the environment and for the good of our social fabric in this country. Pay more for goods made by ompanies that treat their employees fairly and pay them well enough to live decently. Those crappy socks you love so much were made by workers who barely have enough to eat, have no decent housing, no access to health care, no health insurance, no future. I couldn't wear those things in good conscience.

Go PP! I'm not against free trade at all (I'm an economist). But I am against exploitation of Chinese workers who live in what are basically prison camps (I'm a Christian, too) so that 1st pp can pay 30 cents less for his socks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I went shopping at Walmart and they have all the same stuff you'll find at a Target, Harris Teeter or wherever. All the major brands: P&G, Johnson & Johnson etc. So why do DCUMers say that the store is full of crap? It's exactly the same stuff you buy at Giant on Conn. except you don't see pretentious people flaunting their dual degrees from HYP in poli sci/history.

Actually, many of the name-brand products you see at Wal-Mart are a lower quality than you see at other stores…the manufacturers produce a separate line for Wal-Mart to meet its price demands. They use more cardboard than plastic and more plastic than metal, thinner fabrics, single rows of stitching instead of double, glue instead of fasteners, etc. etc. Electronics have fewer features. Products have shorter warranties. And once manufacturers change what they do for Wal-Mart, they often start doing it for other stores, which is why the quality of so many consumer goods is shoddier today than it was 20 years ago.

Citation please.

NP but if you don't know that Walmart is widely known for having entirely separate lines of products created just for them, you've been living under a rock. In some instances, major manufacturers setup entire production facilities just to produce items for Walmart that don't adhere to their normal standards

This may be, but they also sell Stonyfield organic milk for 1 dollar less than giant. That is just one of many examples. I doubt that Stonyfield, Earth's Best, Horizon, driscoll berries, and i could go on and on, are setting up separate manufacturing facilities for the food they sell to Walmart. It is just cheaper there. But you keep telling yourself that you are getting higher quality because you buy those products elsewhere.

[Anonymous]

I'm a Christian, and what you wrote is completely contrary to my religion. I believe in helping others, even if there's a cost to me. If it were simple to retrain workers, and cheap, there wouldn't be loads of laid-off, unemployed, partly-employed, underemployed workers whose manufacturing jobs moved overseas.

The price of those cheap socks and other goods is too high for the environment and for the good of our social fabric in this country. Pay more for goods made by ompanies that treat their employees fairly and pay them well enough to live decently. Those crappy socks you love so much were made by workers who barely have enough to eat, have no decent housing, no access to health care, no health insurance, no future. I couldn't wear those things in good conscience.


Go PP! I'm not against free trade at all (I'm an economist). But I am against exploitation of Chinese workers who live in what are basically prison camps (I'm a Christian, too) so that 1st pp can pay 30 cents less for his socks.

Np here....Then what should the Chinese workers do once they are "freed" from the prison camps by the closing down of their exploitative factories? I dont think training in IT of healthcare is an option for THEM.

[Anonymous]

I'm a Walmart fan, also have a Sams club membership. Their prices are better than Costco.

[Anonymous]

I shop at Walmart all the time. It is my favorite place to shop after Costco.

I do not have a problem with people boycotting and not shopping at Walmart. This is a free country after all.

[Anonymous]

It's because the people that work there give the worst ever customer service, the parking there is horrific and if you go there after five o' clock and on any given weekend, you need to keep your temper on check or you could get arrested for inciting a riot!

Plus, a lot of their generic things are pretty cheap.

In spite of all this, this is my favorite place to go.

I lovingly call it my second home.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's because the people that work there give the worst ever customer service, the parking there is horrific and if you go there after five o' clock and on any given weekend, you need to keep your temper on check or you could get arrested for inciting a riot!

Plus, a lot of their generic things are pretty cheap.

In spite of all this, this is my favorite place to go.

I lovingly call it my second home.

I trollingly call it my home away from under my bridge.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i was so excited to get the dc walmart down nearby union station. been going regularly since its december opening. in the past like three months though its turn into crap. i dare not seek assistance from an associate. once i left the customer service line and the associate knew i stepped away to get a larger size, she leaves, goes on break or whatever. the associate left is like oh she's gone.

Oh. Well that's the DC unskilled labor force for you. No work ethic and lazy. Try a rural walmat you all make fun of. People there know a hard days work and have self respect.

Facts bro, they hurt and make you feel uncomfortable. But that doesn't change a damn thing.

[Anonymous]

I don't shop at Walmart for many of the reasons people have mentioned. If I do go in there, I only use cash, so it doesn't impact my credit rating. Some credit card companies track where you shop, and I heard a trip to Walmart could signal a change in income, and a reduction in credit limits!

[Anonymous]

It's all about picking the right Walmart to go to. We go to Walmart at least once a month and other than the fact that the store is crowded, it's fine. The other people shopping around us don't matter one bit, some look trashy and others look like us. The Ga Ave store and the H St. store are perfect if you want to go shopping in the rain since there is a parking garage. My elderly mom loves the one on Ga.

At least at Walmart, I've never had my account hacked like I did at Target.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i was so excited to get the dc walmart down nearby union station. been going regularly since its december opening. in the past like three months though its turn into crap. i dare not seek assistance from an associate. once i left the customer service line and the associate knew i stepped away to get a larger size, she leaves, goes on break or whatever. the associate left is like oh she's gone.

Oh. Well that's the DC unskilled labor force for you. No work ethic and lazy. Try a rural walmat you all make fun of. People there know a hard days work and have self respect.

Facts bro, they hurt and make you feel uncomfortable. But that doesn't change a damn thing.

Not a Wal-Mart fan, but I'll give you that. Customer service in MD, DC and VA is appalling, no matter the price point of the store.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's because the people that work there give the worst ever customer service, the parking there is horrific and if you go there after five o' clock and on any given weekend, you need to keep your temper on check or you could get arrested for inciting a riot!

Plus, a lot of their generic things are pretty cheap.

In spite of all this, this is my favorite place to go.

I lovingly call it my second home.