3dzapper Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 If it is evil for a "good-ol-boy" from Arkansas to have a dream and a business plan, carry them through to be sucessful beyond his wildest dreams to become the richest man in the world is evil, then Sam Walton was evil. However, to provide people with bargain prices in a clean, wholesome, and inviting atmosphere is my idea of a good retailer. Although there is a store in my hometown,I will not be happy until a Super Wal-Mart is closer than 35 miles away from my home. (in densly packed RI that is a drive.) RI is dominated by foriegn owned Stop & Shop and their high prices v Wal-mart. The competition will be good for every consumer. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 It's not evil for anyonee to develop a great business model to its fullest. What's evil is locally predatory pricing and bullying your suppliers and local municipalities. I've heard from my customers that a WalMart location in a much more competitive area having significantly lower prices on the identical item compared to the item here in a smaller market. Now, this is not just competitive pricing. It's actually illegal under existing anti-trust legislation. So, if you live in a small market where there is little to no competition for the evil empire of WalMart, you can feel good about subsidizing the anti-competitive actions of a ruthless corporation as they sell pruducts at predory prices in an attempt to eliminate local competition. Also, take solace in the fact that as soon as local businesses (or smaller multi-national corporations like Target and Kmart) are driven from the local marketplace, those customers will also be paying higher prices. Also, pay close attention to the massive PR push they are mounting in an effort to counteract the negative feelings many communities are experiencing for the world's largest retailer. You wouldn't want to miss out on any brainwashin'. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 Another thought... Free markets work as long as we all play by the same rules. When corporations with deep pockets sell products below their fair market value, that's not really playing by the rules. It's called "dumping", and the FTC has recently imposed sanctions on many Asian manufacturers for this unfair practice (one had just entered into an agreement with RCA, natch). While seeming to benefit consumers, it is a short term benefit. The long term result of this practice (and the reason it takes place) is the elimination of competition, and higher prices for consumers. As far as I can recall from my American History classes (it's been a while) this sort of thing has been illegal for about a hundred years. Ask the people that used to work for Vlasic how WalMart's business practices have improved their lives. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html My feelings about WalMart have nothing to do with the people that inhabit this forum, or even the rank and file that work there. I wish them no ill will, I just wish they were associated with a more honorable business. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gullahisland Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 I just finished reading an article in "Business 2.0" regarding Best Buy's sales and marketing strategies, etc. In the article they discuss, at length, the threat of WalMart entering the high-end electronics market. The following is a quote from the article. VERY INTERESTING! In the Path of the Giant WalMart has brought its ususal price-crushing approach to electronics, and Best Buy is hearing the footsteps. How serious is WalMart about getting into Best Buy's business? Here's a clue: In most Walmart stores, the electronics department is twice as big as it was just a year ago. In 2003 WalMart begin expanding consumer electronics sales to extend its retail domination. It moved $15 BILLION of gear last year, placing it second in the race for market share. But its strategy is almost the reverse of Best Buy's: Walmart is using its classic approach of mercilessly cutting prices. Forget sales culture and customer service. WalMart has sold cheapo boom boxes and the like for years, but now it's moving up to higher-end gear -- it sells a 50" plasma TV for $5,498 -- and featuring big-name brands. Last June, Sony announced plans to sell TVs in WalMart for the first time, and question whether WalMart's often budget-minded clientele will pay five grand for a TV. But WalMart expects electronics to get ever better and cheaper, bringing even high-end items within reach of its customers. "That's a tremendous threat to Best Buy", says retail consultant Howard Davidowitz. When she heard that WalMart was selling flat-screen TVs at $1,200, Stacey Wilitz, an analysis with Fulcrum Global Partners, dispatched an associate to check it out. WalMart's blue-vested salesclerks were having a little trouble. "They kept calling the LCD sets LDCs," Widlitz says. But people were buying anyway. "WalMart isn't there yet," Widlitz says, "but it's coming." FAST From elsewhere in the article - here is the breakdown of Market Share in the consumer electronics biz. Best Buy = 17.9% Wal-Mart = 14.4% Circuit City = 9.0% Dell = 5.8% Target = 4.6% RadioShack = 4.3% Other = 44.0% Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted July 6, 2004 Share Posted July 6, 2004 Phuck em. I'll sell any forum member that 50" RCA DLP for $2900. Email me if you want one. Or two. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovedrummin Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 I work part-time (part of my retirement plan) at a Wally World in Maryland. We're just starting to get some HDTVs (including a couple of 30" widescreens). We'll be moving into a new Super Wal-Mart (about a mile or so up the road from our current location)next spring. Hopefully we'll get alot more variety in the bigger store. I can't wait to get my employee discount on one of those PLDs -- oops I mean DLP TVs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Adams Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 Thanks for the article bclarke. Very informative. Being in a manufacturing environment, I too have seen many manufacturing jobs at our company go overseas and south of the border. I routinely struggle with the issue of manufacturing jobs being loss in this country. Part of me wonders if it's just my age and way of thinking (i.e. resistance to change) or is it truly a bad thing. The USA's wealth and dominance came on the back of manufacturing and part of me says that's still our strong suite. But then my brain tells me that what we're seeing is just an evolutionary thing. I am glad that there are foreign companies like BMW, Mercedes Benz, JCB, Nissan, Honda, etc. that still believe in the American workforce and create jobs here. Granted, most of the profits go back to the motherland, but American workers are employed in skilled jobs. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 "I am glad that there are foreign companies like BMW, Mercedes Benz, JCB, Nissan, Honda, etc. that still believe in the American workforce and create jobs here. Granted, most of the profits go back to the motherland, but American workers are employed in skilled jobs" Tom, What do you think that the Japanese and the Germans, with their double digit unemployment rates, have to say about the "out-sourcing" of their good paying manufacturing jobs to the "cheap labor" market in the USA? Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cleve Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 ---------------- On 7/5/2004 12:34:15 AM kenratboy wrote: Well, while 'my' local Wal*Mart is surrounded by homes ranging from $250,000 - $10,000,000+, there is still a lot of 'wierd' people that come out and shop. Know one knows where they come from, but come they do, and they fill their carts with hundreds of dollars of supplies. Wierd stuff. Everyone is welcome at Wal*Mart, no matter how rich or poor you are ---------------- People get 'weird' over money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 bclarke421, I agree 100% with you on this one,Uol Mrt first destroys the smaller businesses around destroying countless better paid jobs to hire a few push all's who work for a few peanuts/day. But who am I to note the obvious They have all sorts of funny IMPORTANT sounding names for the people that work for them.Hiding the fact these people could not be paid any less unless the law allows them. BTW I do not shop at Uol Mrt, and I will NOT buy ANY electronics from them.That is sure Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm56 Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 Wal-Mart may not lead the pack in hourly wages, but I personally know of a number of humble stockers and checkers who are now enjoying early retirement in new homes, all paid for by Wal-Mart's generous employee stock ownership plan. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Griffinator Posted July 7, 2004 Share Posted July 7, 2004 ---------------- On 7/5/2004 8:44:38 AM bclarke421 wrote: ---------------- On 7/4/2004 12:32:23 AM jdm56 wrote: I'm not too good to buy from Wally-World.---------------- I am. ---------------- I'm too poor to NOT shop there, but I refuse to do so anyhow. Every dollar I spend at WalMart is one more vote to continue the RACE TO THE BOTTOM we are perpetuating by shopping price over quality. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tom Adams Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 Rick asked: "Tom, What do you think that the Japanese and the Germans, with their double digit unemployment rates, have to say about the "out-sourcing" of their good paying manufacturing jobs to the "cheap labor" market in the USA?" That's a good question Rick. I'm sure that if it's like here, they're just as unhappy. Maybe jobs worldwide are just obeying some form of conservation of energy law. Kinda like water seeking it's own level. I dunno. Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
3dzapper Posted July 9, 2004 Share Posted July 9, 2004 I can't exactly remember the source but I recall reading that the Nissan's number one plant for productivity in the world is Smyrna(SP?), Tennessee, USA. And elsewhere, that the US worker is the worlds most productive worker; dollars out/ hours worked. We just are no longer able to make cheap consumer goods, nor are the Japanese or Europeans. We leave it to the cheap unskilled labor markets to assemble that type of goods from our designs. Whether you shop at Wal-Mart, Bed Bath and Beyond or Macy's you are buying the same goods at different price levels. YMMV. Rick Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kenratboy Posted July 9, 2004 Author Share Posted July 9, 2004 ---------------- On 7/9/2004 5:12:07 PM 3dzapper wrote: Whether you shop at Wal-Mart, Bed Bath and Beyond or Macy's you are buying the same goods at different price levels. YMMV. Rick---------------- Good point! While the selling agent (Wal*Mart vs. Target or whatever) may be different, they are all getting their cloths from the same place. I just can't beliebe a $250 North Face parka HAS to be made in China or whatever, for those prices, I would LOVE to see it being made in the USA, or even Canadia. Even with 9/11 and uped security (if there really is any!!!), it appears it is getting easier by the day to outsource and get products to market. When I worked at Target, we got some $10 folding lawn chairs in - the boxes had funny labels - they were shipped by AIR FREIGHT from China!!! If they can economically ship CHEAP FOLDING CHAIRS by AIR FRIEGHT, anything goes. These things were big, heavy, and sold for like $10 - amazing they could ship them like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 Good responses, folks. I've been away a bit... My main point wasn't the issue of manufacturing location (though that is an issue I also feel strongly about), but the illegal and unethical business practices the Wal-Mart continues to employ. Thanks to our buying group that does $6 billion annually, we can somewhat compete with them. Anyone want that DLP? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdm56 Posted July 13, 2004 Share Posted July 13, 2004 I have in-laws who refuse to shop at Wal*Mart. Of course, they also refuse to eat fast food, so obviously they're full of --it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ben. Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 ---------------- On 7/13/2004 11:47:38 PM jdm56 wrote: I have in-laws who refuse to shop at Wal*Mart. Of course, they also refuse to eat fast food, so obviously they're full of --it! ---------------- Now, that's just common sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheEAR Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 ---------------- On 7/7/2004 9:22:36 PM jdm56 wrote: Wal-Mart may not lead the pack in hourly wages, but I personally know of a number of humble stockers and checkers who are now enjoying early retirement in new homes, all paid for by Wal-Mart's generous employee stock ownership plan. ---------------- LOL Not lead the pack,yes they lead the pack in tiny wages.That they do,but the point was not they pay this much,it was the fact Wol Mrt destroyes any kind of business around them slowly sinking most Americans and Canadians who were living from sales made by their small stores. Also what type of homes to these humble stockers enjoy? I would probably call this type of construction a poorly built wooden shack. I spit on these megacorporations who profit a few and sink the majority,and all they stand for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
IndyKlipschFan Posted July 14, 2004 Share Posted July 14, 2004 Bclarke421 Thanks to our buying group that does $6 billion annually, we can somewhat compete with them. Anyone want that DLP? please do not let this be AMWAY..Quixtar... Or any of the subsidiaries too..???? I have just heard it "worded" that way a lot of times. "Our buying group bypass the middle man gonna get rich blah blah blah" Proud Wal Mart stockholder since 1978! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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