Wal Mart: Greed or Enterprise? -

[Pikonic]

There's been a lot to talk about with Chris and Wal Mart, that got me thinking,

What do people here think about Wal Mart. I've seen the High Cost for Low Prices documentary and it did anger me a little. The debate is, is Wal Mart really evil or just a business plan that worked?
I personally shop local when I can, but I see Wal Marts appeal. I think the biggest employer in the world with billions should give full timers benefits, but I understand that the shelve stockers and greeters (some who wouldn't have a job without Wal Mart) have no high paying education or skill and 15/hr is a little high for the work they do. (Fight for 15 is kinda a big deal right now).
Wal Marts always been a tricky debate for me and I'm really in the gray. Thoughts?

 

[Lady Houligan]

As a former employee, I'd have to say I cannot and have not supported them since I left the company. You're a piece of meat in a blue shirt and brown pants there, as far as everyone else is concerned, from management down to the customers. The rallies are nothing but empty praise before we're told to get back out on the floor. I was cussed out by a manager for leaving the floor to go to the bathroom, even though there was another person in my department to cover me and it was almost closing time. And God forbid you have a complaint about another employee, especially if the other employee can turn on the crocodile tears. Maybe when I get back from Chili's I'll tell the story of my own personal version of CWC from the electronics department.

 

[Pikonic]

As a former employee, I'd have to say I cannot and have not supported them since I left the company. You're a piece of meat in a blue shirt and brown pants there, as far as everyone else is concerned, from management down to the customers. The rallies are nothing but empty praise before we're told to get back out on the floor. I was cussed out by a manager for leaving the floor to go to the bathroom, even though there was another person in my department to cover me and it was almost closing time. And God forbid you have a complaint about another employee, especially if the other employee can turn on the crocodile tears. Maybe when I get back from Chili's I'll tell the story of my own personal version of CWC from the electronics department.

I talked to a former employee of my local Wal-Mart. She told me fire drills involved workers linking hands in front of the stores entrances to keep people from entering, with no concern about the workers themselves. I found that hard to believe though.

 

[Grand Number of Pounds]

I was a business major in college, but I really don't want to debate business ethics right now. I'm not really sure what my political stance is, so like Chris, I identify as a moderate

If you want to make $15/hr, then you need to be making your company about $60/hr on average, so unless the Fight for Fifteen can find a way that the employees will be making their employer $60/hr, they aren't getting it.

That said, Walmart has done unethical and illegal things in the past, like hiring illegal immigrants and paying them below minimum wage to clean their stores.

I know some people who work at Walmart and they seem fine with working for them, and a few have worked their way through college working for them.

That said, there are good and bad things about Walmart, just like everything else in life. Who knows, I might be working in a Walmart pharmacy next year as a technician, so I'm not going to badmouth them.

 

[Pikonic]

I was a business major in college, but I really don't want to debate business ethics right now. I'm not really sure what my political stance is, so like Chris, I identify as a moderate

If you want to make $15/hr, then you need to be making your company about $60/hr on average, so unless the Fight for Fifteen can find a way that the employees will be making their employer $60/hr, they aren't getting it.

That said, Walmart has done unethical and illegal things in the past, like hiring illegal immigrants and paying them below minimum wage to clean their stores.

I know some people who work at Walmart and they seem fine with working for them, and a few have worked their way through college working for them.

That said, there are good and bad things about Walmart, just like everything else in life. Who knows, I might be working in a Walmart pharmacy next year as a technician, so I'm not going to badmouth them.

Thanks man, I don't know a lot about fight for 15, that cleared it up a little for me.

 

[Grand Number of Pounds]

I don't know anything about Fight for Fifteen either, but the general rule I learned in school is that as an employee you need to make your employer at least four times your wages to justify your position.

 

[Lady Houligan]

As a former employee, I'd have to say I cannot and have not supported them since I left the company. You're a piece of meat in a blue shirt and brown pants there, as far as everyone else is concerned, from management down to the customers. The rallies are nothing but empty praise before we're told to get back out on the floor. I was cussed out by a manager for leaving the floor to go to the bathroom, even though there was another person in my department to cover me and it was almost closing time. And God forbid you have a complaint about another employee, especially if the other employee can turn on the crocodile tears. Maybe when I get back from Chili's I'll tell the story of my own personal version of CWC from the electronics department.

I talked to a former employee of my local Wal-Mart. She told me fire drills involved workers linking MANOS in front of the stores entrances to keep people from entering, with no concern about the workers themselves. I found that hard to believe though.

Oh no, that's completely true. It's also how they expect the employees to keep customers from entering the store early on Black Friday. And despite the number of injuries they have kept on doing it, to the best of my knowledge.

 

[DrChristianTroy]

I am of two minds. On the one hand their business practices are pretty awful and I try to shop local (or at least smaller, more independent chain) when I can. They treat their employees like cattle and are really shitty about it. That said if there's something I need and they're the closest place with the best deal? I'll throw my morals under the bus to save a couple bucks on toothpaste. I'm pretty awful.

EDIT- As for the title question, I don't think greed and enterprise are mutually exclusive. They are an enterprise completely founded on greed. I'm probably misusing enterprise but hopefully you get what I mean. They do what they do and are profitable. No matter how shitty it is.

 

[Pikonic]

I am of two minds. On the one hand their business practices are pretty awful and I try to shop local (or at least smaller, more independent chain) when I can. They treat their employees like cattle and are really shitty about it. That said if there's something I need and they're the closest place with the best deal? I'll throw my morals under the bus to save a couple bucks on toothpaste. I'm pretty awful.

EDIT- As for the title question, I don't think greed and enterprise are mutually exclusive. They are an enterprise completely founded on greed. I'm probably misusing enterprise but hopefully you get what I mean. They do what they do and are profitable. No matter how shitty it is.

Yeah. Sorry. I might have been watching The Men Who Built America when Rockefeller said the "I call it enterprise" line.

 

[KatsuKitty]

Consumers share every bit of the problems Walmart is perpetuating. They're wholly unable to pay the cost of better, safer, unionized, fair labor...so what's Walmart (and every other company that exploits labor) left to do?

If we were to move the production facilities of some company like Apple into the US, the price of every iPhone would go up, and every whiny entitled Hummer-driving American prince/ss would pitch a fit. We have no ethics of our own as customers, so that's what happens. You get what you demand.

 

[Pikonic]

Anyone here from the western US, I've heard about this Wynco Mart (I've been to one in AZ, they're not in the east) that scares Wal Mart a little?
Edit: Found sources
http://business.time.com/2013/08/07/mee ... nightmare/

 

[Fibonacci]

Anyone here from the western US, I've heard about this Wynco Mart (I've been to one in AZ, they're not in the east) that scares Wal Mart a little?

Do you mean WinCo? They're a grocery outlet like Food, Co., Food 4 Less and Food Maxx. I don't see how they could be scaring Walmart. These stores are responsible for chains like Albertson's going out of business simply because Albertson's refuses to lower their prices to compete. But Walmart, on the other hand, is willing to price match most groceries. So if you can find it lower anywhere else, Walmart will meet it.

 

[DrChristianTroy]

In AZ and have never heard of WinCo. Maybe they just aren't in my area.

 

[Fibonacci]

Never heard of Fight for Fifteen. Is that the group in California trying to get minimum wage increased? It ain't gonna happen, and it won't help anything. Everything else will just inflate to match that, so it'll be like you're making $8.25/hr anyways.

I dunno if it's just my Walmart or what, but I really like working there. And according to everyone I've spoken with, I have one of the shittiest jobs there being a cashier (everyone tells me they refuse to do it). All of my coworkers and managers are really friendly and helpful. I've never seen anyone get cussed out for making a mistake. There's little things that irk me, though. Like for instance, on my lunch, I went to the deli to get an entree with 2 sides for $4.88, and I asked the guy if I could get a sample of the hotwings (because the sign encourages you to ask for one) and he said that employees, even off the clock, can't be given samples - that's only for customers. So it's really just a neverending list of silly stuff like that more than a bunch of big things. Otherwise, I get 2 fifteen minute breaks and a one hour lunch, the managers cater in pizza every pay day (although I didn't get any today, the people from WIS who came in to do inventory ate it all) and I've never had a problem asking the CSM, CSS or facility manager any questions I might have. I won't say it's the greatest place on earth, but it's not the worst place to work.

 

[Hasharin]

Consumers share every bit of the problems Walmart is perpetuating. They're wholly unable to pay the cost of better, safer, unionized, fair labor...so what's Walmart (and every other company that exploits labor) left to do?

If we were to move the production facilities of some company like Apple into the US, the price of every iPhone would go up, and every whiny entitled Hummer-driving American prince/ss would pitch a fit. We have no ethics of our own as customers, so that's what happens. You get what you demand.

Tell that those working for minimum wage...

 

[Zim]

WalMart is an interesting case. On one hand a lot of people consider it an evil entity that is huge and treats people like crap. On the other hand it's also the embodiment of the american dream too. Like Mc Donalds, it basically went from being a one off, started by one guy with a dream and became wildly successful through work, determination, and I little luck.

I worked there about a year in the TLE (tire and lube express) and it wasn't too bad actually. We got paid more then the rest of the store because of our "technical skills" and other departments didn't borrow us for anything because we were too dirty most of the time. To us the worst part of the job was the customers. You would not believe the crap people would try to pull. The most prolific was the classic "order the most expensive service and then after it's done insist you ordered the cheapest" trick.

Also people would bring in total shit cars and try to claim we broke them and try to get walmart to pay for a new one. Worst car ever that came in there had one working light (total), no air filter, and unreal carb blow by. There was half an inch of gasoline in the air filter pan. We declined service on his car and he goes on a tirade saying he'll sue because nothing was wrong with his car when he brought it in and we broke everything. Good times.

 

[Oglooger]

The problems I see with Walmart is it's treatment of animals and the abundance of Fat people in scooters going there.
other than that, Walmart is the example of the american dream of having a successful buisness come true (or gone wrong, depending on your perspective on things).
though a fun fact;
While Walmart is associated with middle and lower classes, in Mexico, walmart is on par with those who are middle to upper class while the lower class tends to go to cheaper market stands or at most bodega ahorrera (mexican walmart rip off that had some women luchadora named "mama luch" as a mascot)

 

[Picklepower]

From the documentaries I've seen they seem pretty unethical in a lot of areas, but they are a successful business, I don't think everyone will collectively realize Wall-Mart is Da devil, and stop shopping there though, that will never happen. Me and my friends loiter there sometimes so I guess I'm not helping things but life is too short to feel guilty about things that aren't in my control. Some people might say us Americans are "evil, unethical consumers" because the rest of the world has no greed, and has the high ground, or some shit, whatever. I rarely ever buy stuff there though.

 

[Xarpho]

As a store, Walmart sucks, but a lot of their problems are misblamed. Unions aren't needed for better-treated employees, many supermarkets (H-E-B, Publix) can compete with Walmart on price and treat their non-union employees far better. They also don't kill small towns, as demographic patterns show that smaller towns in America have been stunted (at best) since World War II. "The High Cost of Low Prices" even outright lies about one of their "examples". A closure in Texas wasn't because they opened a Supercenter miles away, it was closed due to employee theft (the Supercenter cited actually replaced a store a mile and a half away).

 

[LazarusOwenhart]

Wal Mart is like any large soulless company. The reason individual workers aren't treated as important is because they are not. They are expendable and replaceable therefore their happiness is not considered at a corporate level. They have an aggressive business plan and shady practices which sucks but then so do most other large corporations. Fuck Amazon and Google have dodged billions of £ of UK tax using legal but amoral loopholes.