3 reasons to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart
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Is changing your shopping habits really worth it?
Most of us don't have much time to breath let alone go out of our way to shop somewhere other than Wal-Mart. With so many locations popping up all over the place and their competitive prices often people simply can not afford to go anywhere else.
At what real price are we paying for convince and low prices? Many people have heard the negatives of Wal-Mart shopping but still refuse to change.
I am fortunate enough to live in an area where I can go to a nice Wal-mart alternative store which has a workers union and buys from local farmers. This store is about 2 more miles away than Wal-Mart but in busy traffic that can convert to a 10-20min extra drive. This store offers electronics, jewellery, clothing, and groceries. There is a Kroger around the corner but it lacks in non-grocery products.
When I decided that the negatives of shopping at Wal-Mart out weighed the positives, I found it really hard to switch my thinking. After a while though it became second nature.
Unbalance of Exports and Imports from China
Reason #1 to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart
The first reason I do not shop at Wal-Mart is because of their direct impact on manufactures switching to outsourced labor. Many people do not realize how Wal-Mart manages to keep prices so low, so I will attempt to explain.....
Wal-Mart is a huge corporation. They control a great deal of the grocery/department store business. If a company is trying to sell a product and they are not in Wal-Mart stores, chances are they aren't doing so hot, This gives Wal-Mart HUGE buying power. If suppliers do not want to give Wal-Mart the best price than Wal-Mart simply will not give them business. This can kill a company. If a company can not make a product and still profit at the price Wal-Mart is willing to buy at they must seek ways to cut corners. This means they turn to cutting labor costs. Many businesses have been forced to use labor in china because it turns out pennies on the dollar. Products made by Wal-Mart are also made overseas.
So why should you care where your product is being made if you can get it for super cheap? The answer lies in our own economic development as a country. Currently our country is jobless but yet we are still consuming products from overseas. How can this be? If we have no money why are we still importing things?
Consider the endless cycle of outsourcing. If we continue to out source there wont be any jobs in the U.S.. No one will have any money to buy products in the U.S. anymore because no one will have a job.
If you have any sort of soul at all you should be thinking about the conditions these poor workers overseas are forced to endure. It is true that we are bringing them many needed jobs but really what we have done is taken a group of starving people and hired them as extremely cheap slaves. Unfortunately some of those slaves are children.
Check out what other people are saying about Wal-Mart
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Reason #2 to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart is killing our local and small businesses.Remember when your mother went shopping and she would go to the hardware store, grocery store, and butcher shop in one day? Imagine all the people employed in those stores. Specialized help that had know how about the business because they are making livable wages and able to maintain the job for years... gaining EXPERIENCE.
When Wal-Mart moves in, active towns turn into ghost towns. Most often Wal-Mart choose to move in just on the out skirts of a town so they can avoid paying taxes and essentially sucking money out of the community. This means that not only local stores which compete with Wal-Mart inventory but other stores go out of business as well. When people start re routing their shopping trips to a just out of town location they never drive through and see other businesses which they may have stopped at in the downtown area.
Many communities are promised all sorts of perks when a Wal-Mart store moves in. I haven't heard one positive story about a community getting a new Wal-Mart after the first year.
Reason #3 to avoid shopping at Wal-Mart
Fair wage for a fair job. I've already clued you in Wal-Mart's use of cheap labor but what about those workers in the U.S.? Wal-Mart has long been accused of using government programs as their health care plan. In fact Wal-Mart had a lawsuit against them for this very reason.
Just recently woman employes of Wal-Mart have filled claims of sexual harassment. While I haven't kept up to date with these charges, the fact that they have been brought up and by so many women should set off alarm bells!
Why is the largest, most profitable company in the U.S. paying their workers the least amount of money? Why must a company suck all the money up to the top? WHY IS WAL-MART RECEIVING GOVERNMENT SUBSIDIES???
Simply put: If you are shopping at Wal-Mart you are effectively lowering your own wages.
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Fiddleman - I originally wanted to do 10 reasons and yes that would have probably been number 4! Traffic and the lack of cashiers... line at customer service.... so on and so on...
It's just hard for people to change. It seems simple but you really have to commit to it even just cut back to a once a week trip.
Consider also how many more items you buy when you are are there just because you are there and they are there lol! I guarantee your monthly wal-mart trips turn out more expensive than going to grocery only store.
A judge overturned the wage deal so that is off the table, Walmart outsources to save you and millions money, Stores like Walmart have helped the overall economy over the years! Instead of punishing wally world why not ask yourself WHY they outsource? ..........maybe to avoid thug unions, burdensome regulation, highest corporate taxes in the world? Some times you liberals want solutions but never think of the causes! Vote for a conservative and maybe all you want changed will come to pass!
Actually a judge didn't overturn the wage deal. Walmart decided to settle. I'm not sure how you missed that. Read a Newspaper once in a while.
Walmart is notorious for under staffing their stores. Anyone who shops there knows that. How is that helping the economy? They have the money to hire but they don't. They are drawing money out of our country. How can you even rationalize importing more then exporting?
Why are they outsourcing? Who cares? They aren't unionized. While I do agree that union corruption across the US has spread, nether the employees nor management have anything bad to say about our other grocery store unions here in MI.
Maybe you should explain your union theory to the 12 year old girl sewing your socks for pennies a day.
Tango:
I see you've gotten a visit from one the HP's resident 'Tea Twits'. Consider it a compliment, means you've hit a nerve.
But may I post this to my FB, I have a few folks who may like to see it.
Absolutely! Thank you for the support! Already working on building this hub :)
Up and useful - I can send you 50 more reasons to avoid WM if you need em. I will never spend another nickle in that store.
Thanks for the awesome hub - I gave it a up & awesome
Good job
At first I thought you were going to promote the use of labor unions, which I am against, but you did not—though you did allude to a preference for shopping at a store which is unionized. In any event, I do shop Walmart. I do so for the prices, mainly, but more and more I am determined to support smaller, local businesses whenever I can, AND when I AM shopping at a Walmart I am making a more conentrated effort to look for Made in the USA products and am willing to pay a premium for them when I find them.
But all your points are well taken here. I think its vitally important that we support ALL businesses, and send clear messages with our spent dollars where we want them to go, and to whom. You are absolutely right when you say people should be paid a fair wage, and I think when you work the for the largest company in the world, which Walmart happens to be, things like pension plans, strong 401ks, and stellar health benefits should all be in the equation. You CAN do this, and SHOULD do this without unions in the picture, but that argument is for another day. In the interim its about you and I. The consumers. The people. It's OUR decisions which drive the markets, which drives the prices, AND which drives the wages. Putting pressure on the big boxes and chains by supporting smaller business gives them some much needed competition, and that competition drives a lot of things, including higher wages ultimately.
Great hub.
This is a very informative hub. I hear about these issues a lot when people discuss Walmart. However, for some shoppers, it's financially difficult to shop anywhere else besides Walmart.
Pudding:
Espeically Wal-Mart employees. It's a vicious cycle. ..
Pudding- I make about 12-16k a year take home. I save more money by being a smart shopper, clipping coupons, and reading advertisements than walmart's "everyday low prices." if you want to talk electronics.... Every appliance (food processor, portable heater, microwave, and a fan) have failed with in a year of purchase. Explain how that saves me money?!? Many people have claimed walmart purchases products with known issues in bulk and sells them for cheap. I don't know if that's true or not but the evidence points to that.
To those people who think they are saving by going to walmart think again. you are supporting unlivable wages which just might be why you are struggling with money as well.
I've always made minimum wage or slightly higher. I used to think I couldn't afford to shop anywhere else but why would I shop somewhere they don't pay their employees a livable wage when I'm pissed I'm not getting paid one.
How much do you have to save to be willing to trade fingers, arms, and even lives of children overseas for?
TeaPartyCrasher - exactly! Average walmart employee makes around 12k a year.... I don't blame them for shopping at their own store especially if they get an employee discount!
I had this debate with a co-worker recently and she flat out refused to believe she could shop anywhere else. She has three children and I asked her what she would think about her kids getting jobs. She explained they were much too young.... Her oldest is 10 .... I then asked her how she justifys buying toys for her kids made by kids. She had no answer but decided to take a look at the sales paper I brought her from a local store.
Springboard - you bring up some great points! Thank you for the support instead of focusing on the union debte. I'll try to explain why I try to shop @ places with a union though.
I agree that any successful bussiness should be able to give their employees a livable wage and a decent benefit package without a union. The problem is that the way corporate law is written. In a corporation the laws focus around protecting and increasing share holders profit. It's never about the employees or even the customers. We can see the effect this has taken on our products ever say or hear someone say "they just don't make them like they used to"? The reason is because they don't.... Cheap labor and cheap materials means larger profits.... And if it brakes you have to buy another and the company still wins.
Union coruption is inevitable. People are greedy and they will find any way to make or steal a buck. However before unions, working conditions in the US were comparable if not worse than china's are now.
All in all we haven't found a good way to balnce the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer.
I'll make a hub on this soon I hope you will join the debate there too!
Tango, well said, and all true, but the key here is about profits. That's what these companies are in it for. Profits. And that's why I think you and I have a larger role in the bigger picture than we think we do, and we point the finger too much at the companies for doing what they are supposed to do...
That is, react to supply and demand.
It's why I put so much emphasis on buy American, and voting with our wallets. Because ultimately that's what sends the message to the people who make the decisions which affects our lives...including our bosses. If Americans are engaged and take the time to send clear messages about what they want which SUPPORTS higher wages, and SUPPORTS American quality, and SUPPORTS American made, then companies will do what they always have done. That is, go after what's profitable. What we're telling companies right now is that we don't care where something is made, we don't care that it's cheap, we don't care that we don't get paid enough etcetera. Until that ends and people start to understand the consequence of not giving a damn, we're going to be stuck right where we are. Why are unions bad for companies, bad for workers, and bad for the country? Because unions aren't about productivity and efficiency, and ultimately they encourage companies to cut and run. Market forces can and will demand higher wages and better benefits, but it starts with US bringing the cards back to our table so that we can be in the game and influence the outcomes. It's our leg up. It starts with us. We decide, we rule the day, and the companies are simply reacting to what we are telling them we want. If we're not happy with the way things are, the only way out of that is to tell them something else.
That, of course, requires action. And there are simply still too many Americans who are not willing to take the time to be proactive. It's one of the failings of the "me, me" society we live in. Interestingly, and as you pointed out, that is ultimately shooting ourselves in our own foot.
SpringBoard:
You sound like you've swallowed a bit of the anti-union rhetoric that companies like Wal-Mart spew.
If you haven't noticed, much of the cheap products come from places where labor is cheap and exploitable, and there are few unions or ways for workers to fight back.
To me, the action Americans need to take is to turn their backs on Wal-Mart and turn towards American and UNION made goods. Check out my hub '(Re)Organized Labor'
To Springboard and my pal Tea....
These large companies are setting the standard for the country. If their lowest employees aren't being paid enough to live on, how does that influence other companies?
Springboard, I am one of those few who can honestly say I struggle not to shop at walmart because the difference in prices on some of the non/grocery products are cheaper. I make a few dollars more than the average walmart employee and yet my bills still do not work on paper. So those few dollars in savings is huge for me!
This is the catch 22 of walmart and the excuse a lot of people will use for continuing to shop there. Walmart literally has a strangle hold on an income class.
Before I committed to no longer shop at walmart I bought a comforter. I decided to buy the Better Homes brand since I was starting to have my suspicions about walmart. It was $20 more than the walmart brand. When I got home I read the tag and it actually was a product made by walmart and endorsed by Better Homes and of cores... made in china. I had been successfully duked into thinking I was buying a good quality Better Homes product.
I want to address this issue about unions a bit more because I think this is one area where the lefts and the rights could actually work out a deal.
Why do we need unions?
Remember the coal mines before unions? Enough said.
Are unions corrupt? Yes. Every time you give the opportunity for one person to have power over another you will get corruption.
As a representative of the left I'd consider stopping unions from contributing money to political campaigns if the right would agree not to do the same with religious organizations. I'd agree to do away with unions completely if the following demands were met:
-An actual livable wage for the lowest employee based on a real housing cost.
-Affordable health care coverage.
-Some paid time off once in a while!
-Maybe a 401k ... I dunno is that asking too much?lol.
-Continuation of programs like O.C.E.A. to regulate factory and working conditions.
Great conversation guys!
This big box has tried to corner the market on low price. There are some with lower prices simply because of lack of advertising. I went comparison shopping for some kitchen essentials and was shocked to find that KMart offered the best price. Perhaps it was the oldest on the shelf and no one was shopping there? But then yesterday, perhaps because of my heightened consciousness, I saw a KMart sponsored link on the Internet.
I like WalMart but agree with they are so big they can afford to have stellar practices and yet they do not. I foresee stiff competition from Target and KMart IF the Internet advertising is a prelude to the future.
Internet marketing is dollar for dollar, the very best. It affords the marketer a targeted market. Through cookies and through key words, you can effectively find those who are searching for your products.
Cookies offer a convenience for the search engines to actually shop for us. Yes, they do invade our privacy. The search engine know my latest shopping habits-from fast growing trees to boots to jewelry-it all pops up magically (via SEO and cookies of course!) for my shopping convenience.
shop @ k-mart
To Tango and Tea, yes...great conversation. Though I am still unconvinced that unions are the answer, nor is shutting down the Walmarts of the world. Again, it's about consumer choice, consumer decision, and consumer activism. One person CAN make a difference. There are plenty of places I don't patronize for a variety of reasons, and while my decision to do that has not shut them down, it still comforts me personally to know that they aren't getting my money, period. One example is Citgo. I simply will not buy gas there because I do not support Hugo Chavez. It's my choice, it's my money, and they simply won't get mine. Again, it's not, I'm sure, hurting their bottom line. If it isn't, it's for the same reason I stated in my earlier comment. That is, not enough people are active when they shop, nor do most people think about what they are buying, or how their dollars might be spent (or not spent in the case of low wages) AFTER the purchase is made and the profits pocketed. I'm not going to blame businesses for doing what they are supposed to do. I'm going to blame consumers who don't want to take the time to understand their surroundings, and how things they do affect things around them. There ARE choices. There are also excuses. In a way we are all a little bit guilty of the excuses.
A while back I wrote a hub, "One Way to Better Pay," wherein I talked about wages in particular, and how WE work to getting them improved through our activity in the markets. Free markets MUST operate freely. In the end this is 100% to our advantage. The MARKETS, not unions should dictate what happens, where things are made, and at what prices things are sold, and at what wages workers earn for the work they do. WE control the market. WE make the market. And ultimately any good business who wants to BE in the business will either have to listen to what the markets are telling them or go out of business. If we only complain about what's wrong, and forget our part in the system, then we get what we get. It's that simple.
Again, great discussion. Glad I found my way back to it.
Okay, no one really cares about the ethics of walmart. people know this stuff. you are going to have to go deeper than that, like why shopping at walmart is annoying for instance: understaffing resulting in delays just to check out, overcrowding, kids running amok with idiotic parents that refuse to say "be careful". and so on.
Fiddleman Level 5 Commenter 10 months ago
Some great reasons not to shop at WallyWorld and the traffic ism murder, at least here in our town.