""We saw consumers who used to buy the spears and the chips in supermarkets buying the Wal-Mart gallons. They'd eat a quarter of a jar and throw the thing away when they got moldy. A family can't eat them fast enough." "
I think that's the most damning part of the whole thing. Who, in their right mind, thinks: Hey! A gallon of pickles! I eat a great many pickles every week. This would be a fantastic purchase!
WalMart is an evil evil place, and I refuse to buy anything from them. Bentonville Arkansas contains the gateway to Hell. I want to print up Union fliers and scatter them all around the area WalMarts. word is, if upper management gets wind of talk of a union, they send out their unionbusting force to squash it out. circulate enough fliers, and they'll be chasing wild geese all over.
Jim Hightower's book _Thieves in High Places_ has a chapter devoted to WalMart.
Mmm. Perfect. I now know what I'm gonna to to all 500 wal-marts within a 20 minute drive of my house. Wonderful. Maybe if we all do this, they'll run out of money shortly after our sun runs out of hydrogen in another 4 billion years.
...and I must say that Hightower is my favorite Texan evar.
step one of training is a "unions have no place here" video. a sufficiently powerful union would eat this company alive (specifically, the profit margin), and Corporate knows it.
and as for the free market defense, that only works if one naievely assumes that the market is made of a multitude of suppliers and consumers. it breaks down with low numbers, into a more... coercive business environment.
but really, it's not like stores come with an FTC-endorsed warning label printed on the building or anything. so people see low prices and buy. there is no thought for ramifications. hell, when do people *ever* think like that?
NOW also has a bunch of flyer templates etc. about how Wal-mart is evil to women. They've also declared them a "merchant of shame (http://www.now.org/issues/wfw/wal-mart.html)"
Oh, and why would you want to give money to the richest people in the world anyway? Three of the Waltons are in the top 10 richest ppl list I saw a while back...
Lis was telling me that Wal-Mart has a department to help its employees get food stamps.
Let's think about this, shall we? Can we say "universalized business costs"? You know, when a corportation makes the society as a whole pay parts of its operating expenses?
I imagine it's enough to keep me from buying at WalMart. The fact there isn't one close enough to me to be convenient helps also. But how do you convince people that paying the lowest price ins't a good thing? Especially people with less money to spend? And this time of year when they're buying gifts for people and need to conserve in a struggling economy?
My idealism is overrun by my realism. But I think I can stay outside of WalMart for a while.
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(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-18 01:59 pm (UTC)[waits for some feeb to use the "well, nobody's holding a gun to their heads... this is the free market." defense]
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-18 02:08 pm (UTC)"
I think that's the most damning part of the whole thing. Who, in their right mind, thinks: Hey! A gallon of pickles! I eat a great many pickles every week. This would be a fantastic purchase!
yeesh!
Tom
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-18 02:11 pm (UTC)Bentonville Arkansas contains the gateway to Hell.
I want to print up Union fliers and scatter them all around the
area WalMarts. word is, if upper management gets wind of talk of a union, they send out their unionbusting force to squash it out.
circulate enough fliers, and they'll be chasing wild geese all over.
Jim Hightower's book _Thieves in High Places_ has a chapter devoted to WalMart.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-18 03:04 pm (UTC)...and I must say that Hightower is my favorite Texan evar.
a walmartian speaks thusly:
Date: 2003-11-18 04:11 pm (UTC)and as for the free market defense, that only works if one naievely assumes that the market is made of a multitude of suppliers and consumers. it breaks down with low numbers, into a more... coercive business environment.
but really, it's not like stores come with an FTC-endorsed warning label printed on the building or anything. so people see low prices and buy. there is no thought for ramifications. hell, when do people *ever* think like that?
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-19 04:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-19 04:12 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-19 12:12 am (UTC)Let's think about this, shall we? Can we say "universalized business costs"? You know, when a corportation makes the society as a whole pay parts of its operating expenses?
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-19 06:35 am (UTC)My idealism is overrun by my realism. But I think I can stay outside of WalMart for a while.
(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-19 04:08 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2003-11-19 07:03 am (UTC)