The Wal-Mart Health Care Crisis: New Study Declares Wal-Mart in Critical Condition

Wal-Mart is no different than any other competitive company today. They are trying to hold down health care costs. Is that such a bad thing? At least Wal-Mart offers health insurance. Let’s review the companies that really dump their health care costs on taxpayers:

Airline employees and retirees have lost health and pension benefits through bankruptcy. Taxpayers will pick up the tab for pensions and also pay for health care for former union members who are now unemployed and/or without coverage.

Union steelworkers have suffered job losses totaling several hundred thousand. They have lost health care and pensions. Taxpayers are paying for these pensions as well as the health care costs.

Auto workers will soon lose thousands of jobs, all pensions and retiree health care. Workers at Delphi Corp. will lose the same in coming weeks. Taxpayers will fork over BILLIONS of dollars so that UAW members can continue to get health care and reduced pensions.

Why are you not attacking the companies and unions who are really sticking it to the taxpayer? If you belong to a union and you accuse Wal-Mart of freeloading you really need to take an honest look in the mirror.

Wal-Mart has done more than any other company to improve US productivity over the last 15 years. More than half of all US productivity gains over that period can be directly attributed to Wal-Mart. And that is growth based on productivity per man hour, not wages, so Wal-Mart’s retail wage level cannot explain away such growth. You people need to study economics and you will then realize that Wal-Mart takes more than 100,000 new people per year off unemployment or welfare, thereby decreasing reliance on tax dollars and contributing to domestic income growth. Wal-Mart keeps prices low for low-income people, keeps people employed, contributes TENS OF BILLIONS per year in tax revenues and at least $26 billion in consumer savings to our economy, not to mention the 100,000 + new jobs created each year and the 1.5 million currently employed.

An independent study of grocery prices in the Charleston WV area showed that Wal-Mart’s grocery prices were 16%-26% lower, depending on the competition.

You cannot argue against this logic with emotion. Emotion does not stand up in the face of logic. Just like liberals.

Wal Mart Watch reminds me of the ‘04 election… Stand against everything, but offer no alternatives. G.W. is a moron, but was still elected because the left offers nothing in return. At least Wal Mart does SOMETHING every day (maybe it’s sinister, evil, hateful, whatever, but it’s still SOMETHING). If you don’t like Wal Mart, don’t shop there, AND offer alternatives. The constant negative drubbing of corporations is just so uncreative, unproductive, and boring.

Wal Mart will make a fortune today… I suggest Wal Mart Watch peeps try to do the same.

Jimmy.

Jim

They ARE making a fortune today. Every time a UFCW employee punches the clock at Kroger, Safeway, Albertson’s and other companies, the UFCW earns money. The UFCW doesn’t have to work for anything; it feeds off of workers. The workers do the work, the union takes a piece. Not unlike a body broker (employment agency) or the mafia (which goes hand in hand with unions).

Yeah I just watched Tracy Sefl of WalMartWatch repeat her boring and tired walmart-smear talking points on CNBC and with all due respect it’s getting really old.  Walmart watch is the activist group of “no”.  No constructive ideas.  No real solutions.  No respect for the facts.  No ethics.  no truth.  No brain power.  And most importantly, No desire to see their union dues taken away by competition from walmart.  They want everyone regardless of marketable skills or lack there of to be paid like a rocket scientist, which severely drives up cost of living FOR EVERYONE.  It just isn’t realistic.  Come on and get over it; the talking points sounded good for about a week and now I just laugh when I see walmartwatch reps repeat them like they are Bible verses that they memorized.  “WalMartWatch 3:16- WalMart pays slave labor"-disproven.  WalMartWatch 8:29- WalMart discriminates.” Disproven.  WalMartWatch 1:1- WalMart provides no benefits and imports 70% of its merchandise from China.” Disproven.  All of the talking points have been handily disproven.  Im sick and tired of the smear campaign against a company that is the only reliable source of fairly priced and affordable goods and services for many low income families nationwide and a provider of hundreds of thousands of jobs to willing associates who FILLED OUT THE APPLICATION AND MADE THE CHOICE to work there.  Who does wmwatch think they are helping with all this?  Sales at walmart will go up the more free air time you give them.  People see through this and can easily spot that this is a special interest group uninterested in facts but only in the success of their own self-interested goals.

Funny that you said that Jim, because I wrote the same exact thing without even reading your post.  It is becoming way too evident that they are just trying to further their own self-interested agenda.  They have no real solutions.  They want to unionize walmart or drive it out of business.

get a real job wrote:

“ Yeah I just watched Tracy Sefl of WalMartWatch repeat her boring and tired walmart-smear talking points on CNBC “

How about the guy that suggested stacking the stores instead of sprawling them and putting them in areas of low income groups?  Do consumers really want stacked stores and have to go up, down, up, down to get the things they are looking for?  In the big cities, they have to do this, lack of space, I myself prefer a parking lot to a parking garage and a convenient store to a confusing store. And, do shoppers really want to go to the gettos or high crime areas to shop?  I don’t think so.

A lesson in economics would include the fact that hiring people and paying them at a level at or slightly above poverty levels creates a larger welfare dependency. A paycheck that does not allow the employee to afford the very same health insurance that the compnay offers is a perverse logic and merely a PR tactic. Independent economic studies, that Wal-Mart participated in, indicated that lower prices at the store also negatively impacted local economies.  A free market economy requires competing legally. Wal-Mart as a large corporation is subject to greater criticism and analysis. It is not a matter of one store behaving the way Wal-Mart does it is more a matter of when consumers are going to wake up, become organized in some cohesive manner (not simply unions) and take a hard look at the data from an economic, rational position. A quote from Sam Walton involved his statement that he wanted to be so competitive that Wal-MArt would end up competing with itself. Politically and economically that is fascism.

Spin, spin, spin, brothers.

“unions, blah blah blah.”

“Wal-Mart Watch doesn’t offer solutions.”

You know, this stuff sounds an awful lot like it came out of Wal-Mart’s PR department., which really isn’t surprising since the company’s operations are so centralized. 

Amatures. Can’t you guys learn to fake it a little better?

“PR Newswire

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Nov. 14 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/—More than 100 million Americans shop at Wal-Mart every week, and they’re tuning out groups like Wal-Mart Watch, Wake-Up Wal-Mart and their union benefactors. Working families haven’t heard a single idea from these groups—no solutions, no vision, just criticism. “

Alternatives are everywhere.

(Ooh. I know...How ‘bout NOT screwing over the country and the people who work, shop, and breathe in it?)

Like it or not, Wal-Mart Watch and the company’s other critics have forced Wal-Mart to at the very least take note:

Lee Scott asked for a hike in the fed. minimum wage

The heat from the sex discrim. lawsuit forced Wal-Mart to alter their promotion and compenation policies.

Bad press probably had something to do with their steps towards becoming more eco-friendly.

...Now ‘scuse me while I go back to my real job.

P.S. Nick, John Opie, Delphi Corp’s board chair, also sits on Wal-Mart’s board...on the governance committee. Kind of makes you wonder about the overall competence pool, doesn’t it?

xoxo,
Della

BTW, that’s Wal-Mart’s press release I’m quoting above, in case that wasn’t clear.

My opinion on their health plan is that WM has always intended to do the least possible that it can do and try to make as much hay out of it as possible. The memo that showed up here a couple weeks ago seems to bear that out.

As for other pension plans--airlines etc.--a lot of the problem is that companies have been allowed to underfund or put off funding their own programs. These in turn become promises that are not kept and in the case of the airline industry are their own obligations that they are trying to dump on the public. It would be nice someday if some of these charachters who make those kinds of decisions found themselves behind bars in a regular not a country club type of prison.

By the way on C-span today I saw Senators Grassley and Lott and Baucus and Kennedy and they have a bill pretty much concerning the same subject. Whether it will pass is another question. Whether it will have teeth we might not know for a few years.

I agree with Nick.

I hear the irritating “Walmart Watch is coming to town” song on the radio and turn it off everytime it come on. 

“Part-Time Workers are Excluded from Wal-Mart’s Health Program.”....  I can remember working part time at McDonald’s when I was a in college.  They didn’t offer health insurance to part-timers.  That’s the way life is.  Get a full time job. 

“Wal-Mart’s New HSA Program Is Unaffordable to Its Employees.”....  I am a computer programmer.  My company’s health insurance program premium is almost $7000 a year for my family and I.  What am I doing about it?  I am looking for another job that pays better benefits or pays a better salary.  Don’t expect someone else to pay your benefits for you.  Its up to YOU to provide for yourself and your family.  My heart goes out to people that pay so much for insurance but WalMart isn’t the only place that charges high premiums.  Don’t rely on WalMart Watch to help you, you’ll get nowhere.

ALL associates, full time and part time are eligible for Health Insurance coverage at Wal-Mart .  NO associate is denied the opportunity to have coverage.  There are waiting periods for new hires, but part timers are NOT EXCLUDED.  Nor does their coverage cost any different.  The only difference is the waiting period, 6 mos for full time, 2 years for part time.  And, Part timers can only cover themselves, not a family.  A waiting period makes sense to me.  If we made it available right away, a person could just get a job long enough to rack up some medical claims then quit.

Della:  I was out of work for 6 weeks for a surgery, and I took 2 weeks sick pay, then my short term disablity kicked in.  They paid 60% of my normal pay.  All disablity is NON TAXABLE, so it was pretty much exactly what I was used to getting in my paycheck.  I also have STD+ coverage that paid all my insurance premiums while I was out.  That benefit costs me $1.50 a month.

Unionizing Wal*Mart employees will not put WM out of business. It may actually help WM in the long run. Employees that are treated with dignity will want to work for a company. I agree that benifits need to be earned through a willingnes to work.

What it would do is make WM more accountable for the reported abuses mentioned numerous times in posts, see that employees get a fair shake, as well as look to the leadership when there are problems. That’s what Stewards are for when there is a need to file a legitimate grievance.

Unions area as good as the members within. My sister was injured badly at the Reno WM store 2 years ago when she tripped over a pallet on wheels in one of the women’s departments because the person operating the pallet was not paying attention to what he was doing. My sister filed a Workman’s comp report. She fought with WM for 2 years to be assisited with her Medical bills she was promised afer working for WM for 10 years full-time and the Knee Replacement she needed to have. They did not want to have to pay for that.

Had my sister had Union Representation, her problems would not have gone on for 2 years. WM had fired my sister several months after the accident because she could not do her job effectively. She worked with crutches and was limited in what she could do. She was also denied her breaks to rest her knee as ordered in her Medical Report that Managemewnt demanded she have on file. They had argued that because she had been terminated, they were not liable. They were indeed!!!

Though I realize that this is an isolated incident, it does happen at other locations within the company.

I want to point out that my last statement is based on abuses that have been reported in the papers.

A recent report said wal-mart saves the average household over $2.300.00 each year.

If someone working for wal-mart also shops at wal-mart and saves that much money, also gets a 10% discount on general mds, do the math--- with all that savings an associate can pay for health insurance with that savings.

As for myself i save when i shop, and with my bonus that i have earned over the five years that i have been employed by wal-mart is more than aneough to pay for my health coverage and std that i have, FACT IS i am more than TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS AHEAD.

Also i receive sick hours that build up and profit sharing all paid by the company.

The more bad junk i hear about wal-mart on tv and this site, the more i realize what a good job i actully have, after all i have been working for 45 years, only 5 for wal-mart.

Thanks to WMwatch and others my eyes have been opened.

The last time I knew, everyone has the opportunity for health benefits. This is a free country, correct?

Most Mom and Pop shops also do not offer health insurance. I don’t blame them. It is a free country, correct?

No one will argue with a lot of the facts that Walmart Watch brings up. People should be paid more. No one wants jobs to be taken away from the USA (except other countries). Everyone should have the best health care available.  People should not be discriminated against. All of these things I believe everyone will agree with (to some extent).

The fundamental difference is how these goals are achieved. One option is to have a Socialistic government. The other is to have a Capitalistic government. If you believe that Walmart is a bad thing, you must believe in a Socialistic Government.

A company that can provide a service at a cheaper price, employ millions, and turn a profit to expand sounds like what the USA was made for. Reminds me of Ford. Henry Ford saw a vision to employ and pay employees enough to buy his cars. Why bite the hand that feeds you (the hand and the mouth seem to be interchangeable.)? Then enter people that seem to need to tell the workers what they should demand (UAW in this example). The more things you do to take away freedoms, the worse off the country is. I am also talking about the freedoms of Walmart, Ford, IBM, any large company. To be a successful company, they must be a good company. They must employ and pay people enough to feed back to their company. They must also provide good working conditions for their workers. That is how they become successful.

Unfortunately success is often seen as evil. Just because you do not have what it takes to do something good (Start a company that is able to give back to the community), doesn’t mean you should complain about someone that does.

As for your arguments about how Walmart is a cheater, steals jobs from us workers, avoids paying for health care, and doesn’t want to pay workers, and discriminates, save it. The numbers are just not there. There are there things that Walmart can improve on… I’m sure. You should see some of the dysfunctional things that have gone on in my office. And there are only 30 employees at this location.

I do find it funny that the main people that visit this website are pro Walmart. It just goes to show, most people believe in freedom. Not just freedom to voice your opinions but freedom to do business.

Keep up the good work Walmart Watch.

ok wait a sec, i gotta make a point here, walmartwatch (among other idiots) say that walmart fails to provide health care to 60% or 70% of their associates, thats a bunch of bull.  while it may true in the technical sense, it is a dirty lie.  What %of those percents are women who are married and their husband works also and are both on the husbands employer’s health plan? what % of those percents are high school or college students who work for walmart and are still under their parents health plan?  You walmart watch people must be the absolute stupidist people in the world.  the fact is that Walmart provides a second income to a lot of households, and a lot of cheap products for people on fixed incomes.  gimme a break, i’m sick of all you freakin liberals giving statistics that are a bunch of garbage but are quite good at convincing citizens of your agenda.  HEY WALMART WATCH.COM, IF YOU DONT LIKE WHAT WALMART DOES, THEN DONT WORK OR SHOP THERE, and quit whining and embrace the real America, an America that takes matters into its own hands, works hard, and does not rely on the government if something doesnt happen to meet your own personal standards.

So far so good.  Am I still able to post.  We will see.

This blog starts out “As one of the more than 1,100 events of “Higher Expectations Week,” on Wednesday morning experts, small business owners, legislators, and local citizens will convene at the Wisconsin state capitol for a town hall discussion on Wal-Mart and health care.”

I didn’t see union officials mentioned.  Are we to believe that there were none present, not even Andy Sterne?

I would like to thank Wal-Mart Watch for providing a platform for people to voice their opinion. I’m an MBA student at Aurora University and in the process of researching the Wal-Mart organization. My objective paper will contain both sides of this subject. And again, thanks for your viewpoints. Please keep in mind that we all should use “Emotional Intelligence” when stating opinions.

Quote of the day

“The Wal-Mart Watch Group declared this week it’s time for everyone to hold the company accountable for their poor business practices...Rep. Terese Berceau says, ‘When we’ve got a company that made $10 billion dollars last year they sure could be helping out by paying for health insurance cost for their employees.’

What the good representative fails to recognize is that they are helping out.  More than almost every mom and pop store in fact.

It’s not poor business practice to provide consumer goods to everyday working Americans who can’t afford to be gouged by greedy companies.  Remember, WM sells goods at a razor thin profit margin of only 3.6 per cent.  WalMart makes it’s $10 billion profit because it has yearly sales of over 300 billion dollars. 

Exxon Mobile made 25 billion dollars on only 300 billion dollars in sales last year.  That is a profit margin of almost 10 per cent.  WalMart only makes a little more than 3 per cent.  That’s pretty low.  If I spend one hundred dollars at WalMart, they make 3 dollars and sixty cents.  How can that be bad business?  Walmart may not be the best place to work (I would rather make 200,000 a year broadcasting NFL games) but the fact is that not every one in America has the skill set and the ability to do exactly what they dream of doing.  Considering Walmart is a job that in most areas requires absolutely no special skills or abilities, walmart compensates it’s employees well.  Think about the mom and pop’s.  Walmart’s compensation package is much better than a vast majority of the mom and pop establishments nationwide.  Walmart is the best possible employer for many associates nationwide. 

How many unskilled labor jobs do you know that give 2 weeks paid vacation after 2 years?

Numbers??  See the documentary!!  I did this evening and I am more determined to join the cause to get Lee Scott to back up his words.

Where I saw the film, 69 people had signed up. Close to 175 filled the small library auditorium. People were sitting on the floor. The facts are posted as are the numbers.

“Unionizing Wal*Mart employees will not put WM out of business. It may actually help WM in the long run. Employees that are treated with dignity will want to work for a company. I agree that benifits need to be earned through a willingnes to work.”

That’s what Kathy said.  Kathy, this is discount retail.  It isn’t auto manufacturing.  The key to Walmart’s success, and as a result, the financial windfall to this country, is efficiency.  Sam Walton preached it and made that company live it.  You can’t argue with a straight face that somehow unions are going to increase efficiency at any company, anywhere.  If Walmart’s employees were unionized, the higher costs of goods associated with that unionization would be passed directly on to consumers.  Walmart’s model of low prices would be subject to attack by competitors, who, unfettered by union costs, could undercut its prices in the marketplace.  This is why Walmart can beat unionized grocery stores.  Coincidentally, it is exactly why SEIU and the UFCW are attacking the company.

Steve

I personally don’t care whether Walmart is unionized or not.  I just believe it should be because the Walmart employees want to be unionized rather than being blackmailed into joining.

I have repeatedly asked that walmart watch provide information on what the union would do for Walmart employees.  How much would they get paid after their union dues are substracted?  How much would their benefits increase?  What would be their obligations to the union, i.e. attending mettings etc?

David

Wal-Mart has been in business for 43 years. In that time, they have opened thousands of stores throughout the US and employed millions of people. In all that time, only 1 union election was ever won and that was a 7-2 vote by a group of militant meat room workers in Texas. What was the result? Wal-Mart shut down all their meat rooms in the US, switching to pre-packaged meat in most of their stores. Thousands of people lost their jobs. Is this what a union brings? Job loss? What’s the point of being in a union if you don’t have a job?

Wal-Mart Watch and the UFCW know that they can never hope to unionize Wal-Mart so they’ve switched to bullying tactics. They make up things and spread the most ridiculous lies. They know their dues are in danger and they’ve gone from the offensive (trying to unionize Wal-Mart) to the defensive (trying to protect their current dues). The UFCW is desperate and it is grasping at straws.

I think we need to ask the question: who does more for society and for our economy? Wal-Mart saves consumers more than $26 billion per year, in addition to paying billions in taxes, donating billions to charity, employing 1.5 million people in low-skilled jobs and increasing the efficiency and profitability of their vendors, including Proctor & Gamble, 3M, Johnson & Johnson, Unilever, Pepsico and Coca-Cola.

Wal-Mart Watch, on the other hand, was funded by $25 million from the UFCW. That is more than most startup companies ever get in investment capital! This $25 million came out of the paychecks of low skilled grocery workers at Kroger, Safeway and Albertson’s. The UFCW earned $0 and it contributes $0 to our economy. Wal-Mart Watch earns $0 and contributes $0 to our economy. The UFCW DOES have more than 200 employees earning more than $100,000 per year just in base salary (plus expenses, cars and benefits). How many unionized grocery workers earn anywhere near that? I would venture to say that the highest paid union grocery workers in America earn less than $40,000 per year.

So there you have it. Wal-Mart contributes BILLIONS to our economy. The UFCW and Wal-Mart Watch? They TAKE millions from our economy.

Perhaps we should start a Wal-Mart Watch Watch.

So Nick, what about John Opie?

Kim, thanks for the info.

Nick wrote:

“ They make up things and spread the most ridiculous lies.”

I would like to address one of those lies.  It has been pointed out that Wal-Mart drives other business out of business.

I have lived in NW Arkansas for 15 1/2 years now.  NW Arkansas is the birthplace of Wal-Mart.  It has the largest concentration of stores in the country ( 8 Supercenters, 4 Neighborhood Markets and 1 Sam’s Club, with another to be built next year ).  Let’s look at the business climate here and see if Wal-Mart has put everyone out of business, okay?

Here is a partial list of businesses in the area (20 mile radius of my home, which covers what they call NW Arkansas).  Many of these businesses have multiple locations and are expanding, not closing.

Aldis, Harps Foods, Price Cutter Foods, Marvin’s IGA, Lowes, Home Depot, K-Mart, Target, Kohls, Walgreens, Freds, USA Drug, J.C. Penny, Sears, Linens-n-Things, Belks, Bed Bath and Beyond, Toys R Us, Dillards, Circuit City, Best Buy, Hastings, Daltons, Office Max, Office Depot, Goody’s, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, Family Dollar, Big Lots, and a multitude of smaller businesses.  Plus, the Banking, Food Service, industry, etc. is expanding as well.

Also, the population in NW Arkansas, has almost tripiled in those 15 1/2 years, with an unemployment rate about 3 to 4%, well under the national average.  So, I would like to ask, where is the business and job LOSS?

Same story here Robert in Springdale.  My town, Parker, where WalMart built a supercenter about 6 years ago, was economically underdeveloped before walmart came.  After walmart built, our local economy took off and thousands of jobs were created.  Here are just a few of the businesses that are now within a 2 mile radius of walmart: lowes, Home depot, hobby lobby, linens n things, famous, texas roadhouse, starbucks, michael’s, gart’s, kohl’s, roaman’s, a hot tub store, a meat cutter store, several king soopers stores, a safeway, an albertsons, a target, a soon to be Super target, about 50 restaurants ranging from fast food to fine dinging, several financial planning businesses, several banks, several small accounting firms.

These are a few businesses within a two mile radius.  And remember, this area was very small and underdevlopped just 6 years ago before walmart came.  Now this local economy is flourishing and the locals here have more choices than ever before, and we don’t have to drive 20 miles just to have those choices.  Not to mention that our local mainstreet is still hustling and bustling.  In fact, they have built 2 more add-on multi-story commercial buildings on our mainstreet since walmart came.

Nick--what does it say to employees of WM when those 9 militant meat room workers of yours (your example that is)
having a vote results in thousands of other meat room workers being fired? A bit of overreaction? Oh well---you know there’s a message sent in such an overreaction--one that is heard loud and clear or seen upfront and personal and it’s ‘vote all you want but keep in mind it’s not a union you’re voting for but whether or not you’ll still have your job’. So then it becomes at least for some not whether I want a union or not it’s I’m afraid of what will happen. In actuality there was another vote I believe in Gatineau Quebec that also did not go the way of Bentonville HQ that resulted in that store being closed. You make these votes sound like they’re fair and square when it’s obvious that that is exactly what they’re not. You can chortle if you want that WM employees are dead set against unions but why all the need for these kinds of intimidation?

In larger cities with populations (100,000 or more) to support growing commerce, WM has no affect. There are instances where business does grow.

But when there are smaller populaces to support commerce on such a large scale where the Mom and Pop stores grew to be a town’s staple, a WM Superstore can turn things around downwards rather than upwards.  Rural areas are most affected. Minnesota has many Rural small towns with a uniqueness all of their own like Stillwater, Lanesboro, New Ulm, Cannon Falls, Pine Island, etc., that want to maintain that uniqueness. If a WM wants to come into these areas, the people are more than likely to fight it. Wetehr they were to win or lose the fight is another story unto itself.

Larry wrote:

“ Nick--what does it say to employees of WM when those 9 militant meat room workers of yours (your example that is)
having a vote results in thousands of other meat room workers being fired? A bit of overreaction? “

Maybe it wasn’t just an overreaction.  Maybe they found that the demands of the workers would have resulted in higher costs for meat products and buying pre-packaged meat offered a better value.  Our local Sam’s club and Wal-Mart still offers ‘in store’ meat room workers.  Thought they were all fired?

Kathy wrote:

“ But when there are smaller populaces to support commerce on such a large scale where the Mom and Pop stores grew to be a town’s staple, a WM Superstore can turn things around downwards rather than upwards. “

Can you tell me what the justification for Wal-Mart would be, to put up a supercenter in a town with the population of less than 5,000 people?  Can’t be profit, not enough shoppers for the investment.  Or, maybe you are just saying that Wal-Mart is in business to destroy other business, that is just rediculous.

Robert and Josh

I agree. I’ve seen the same thing. An area with little or no development springs up in the wake of a Wal-Mart opening. Look at Belle Vernon, PA, Washington, PA, St. Clairsville, OH, Cambridge, OH. Look at the soon-to-be development opening at Dallas Pike, WV and the soon-to be announced development in Weirton, WV. In ALL of the above examples, no business would agree to come in until Wal-Mart had signed on first.

Some of these areas had some retail. Others had none. In every case, however, Wal-Mart was followed by numerous businesses. Starbucks is even realizing that it is very profitable to open near Wal-Mart due to all the customers they bring in.

You can say that Wal-Mart destroys other businesses but the facts (ie. new stores, restaraunts, banks, hotels, specialty shops and big box retailers) tell the real story. If Wal-Mart is bad for business, why do so many businesses want to open near Wal-Mart?

Nick, you rogue, answer my John Opie question! Stop teasing me. Don’t make me come over there and unplug your Gameboy.

kathy sez: “If a WM wants to come into these areas, the people are more than likely to fight it.”

Are you willing to bet on it? Let’s see them open a walmart in New Ulm, Pine Island, Stillwater, or another one of these places. You win if it fails, or if most of the customers are not from the community in question. Let’s put the idea that these communities don’t want Wal-Marts to the test.

I’ve heard of Pine Island. It is the home of the famous Smiley-Bomber. Considering walmart’s logo, it is not straying to mention Pine Island’s most famous son.

Kathy, I really can detect that your intentions here are the best.  But with all due respect, again, you seem to be reciting union talking points.  You admit do you not that the average mom and pop establishment pays less and provides less in benefits to its employees, don’t you? 

So then, let’s call this argument what it really is: a battle to keep the"uniqueness" of small town America.  In every other aspect, walmart is better than mom and pop establishments.  They pay better, they give better benefits, they provide lower prices, they save consumers money, they stimulate economic growth by attracting new businesses into the community.  It seems that the only thing mom and pops beat wal-mart out on is the “small-town unique” vibe.

I for one will forego that small town vibe for all of the previously afforementioned benefits gained by having a wal-mart.

The meat room associates were NOT fired.  We still have associates in the meet dept. Certain positions were eliminated, the folks were given another position in the store.

Thanks for pointint that out Kim.  That makes a big difference.

I am quite aware that Mom and Pops are basically family owned businesses, just as the family farm is. Therefore benifits are not present. If the business is large enough where there are enough employees to consider, then benifits come more into the picture.  Some are able to afford basic health insurance, others are not.

Josh and Nick:

I guess, as Josh has mentioned, some people are just dead set against progress and want things to stay the same and never change.  Kathy sounds like one of these people.  I remember once about 25 years ago, a small town (Peshtigo, Wi. ) had Dairy Queen wanting to open a store in the town.  The locals fought it tooth and nail, claiming it would create a crime problem, would disturb citizens with the parking lot lights and traffic conjestion.  The town ended up with the DQ and things changed little.  Now 25 years later, the town remains mostly the same as it was back then.  And, the citizens still have to travel and spend their dollars at the Wal-Mart in Marinette, some 10 miles away, but, Peshtigo’s small town image remains intact.  It all amounts to “Not In My Back Yard”.

Peshtigo? The downtown of Peshtigo was pretty much destroyed during the year of 1871. There were many lost businesses. Wal-mart was surely to blame.

Kathy, you are sending me mixed signals.  You seem to be very nervous toward the idea of big corporations, you place a great deal of emphasis on keeping mom and pop shops in business, you think companies should be unionized, and you think companies should provide health care for their workers.  Some of these ideals are contradictory.

compensation and healthcare are very improtant to you, yet you would rather keep mom and pops over wal-mart because of the small-town vibe.  The problem is that mom and pops cannot afford to provide healthcare or decent compensation.  Wal-mart, on the other hand, does provide healthcare and better compensation than mom and pops.  See the conflict?

I think we all would rather live in a utopian world Kathy, but we have to be realistic here.  What are your priorities?  Because it seems to me that you have some conflicting wishes.  A world without walmart and other big corporations would mean you get your way with having only mom and pop shops, but then what about the lack of compensation and healthcare for the mom and pop shops employees?

You have to pick what’s important to you because right now it just seems like you are looking for reasons to not like wal-mart and some of them are conflicting with each other and weakening your overall argument…

way to go wakeupwalmart and walmart watch,,,wowo...incredible grassroots effort...the effort to change walmart is incredible…

Billy

Della,

Here’s John Opie’s bio from Delphi’s website.  It is pretty impressive:

John D. Opie
Director (Lead Independent Director)

Age: 67

Director Since: 1999

Principal Occupation: Retired Vice Chairman of the Board and Executive Officer, General Electric Company

Recent Business Experience: Mr. Opie is the former Vice Chairman of the Board and Executive Officer for General Electric Company. He had been associated with General Electric Company since 1961 in numerous management positions, including Vice President of the Lexan and Specialty Plastics Divisions, President of the Distribution Equipment Business Division and President of General Electric Company’s Lighting Business from 1986 to 1995. He also is a Life Trustee of Michigan Tech. University.
Mr. Opie is Lead Independent Director of Delphi’s Board of Directors and is an ex officio member of the Audit Committee, the Compensation and Executive Development Committee and the Corporate Governance and Public Issues Committee of Delphi’s Board of Directors.

You seem to allege that he must not be a very good director because he is on the board of a company in bankruptcy.  That isn’t true at all.  Delphi has filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 11, which allows it to reorganize the business.  This reorg includes the ability to shed pension costs, medical costs and renegotiate labor contracts.  The filing simply reflects the pressures of global competition, bloated labor costs, and the enormous legacy costs of increasingly onerous retirement benefits.

You don’t get to be a Vice Chairman at GE unless you are unbelieveably talented.  Frankly, Walmart is lucky to attract that kind of talent to its board.

jc wrote:

“ Peshtigo? The downtown of Peshtigo was pretty much destroyed during the year of 1871. There were many lost businesses. Wal-mart was surely to blame. “

That’s right, Peshtigo was destroyed in a major fire at the same time as the Great Chicago Fire ( Mrs. O’Leary’s cow ).  Didn’t think many people would remember that.

In these blogs, seems many want to blame Wal-Mart for all the ills that exist, but, that is the way with negative thinkers.  Don’t do - just complain.  And, like Kathy, many want to have their cake and eat it too.  Problem is, sometimes you just have to do the best you can with what you have and work harder if you want more. 

Americans have been raised to believe in “Instant Gratification”, Buy now - Pay later.  Add to that peer pressure to have all the latest electronics, fashions, and other things that are really out of the budget and you get overspending.  Look around and see how many so-called poor people are walking around with cell phones.  Then, credit card companies are pushing people to charge more and more, putting them more and more in debt, check the slogan, “Bad credit, no credit, no problem”.  People are trying to live champagne lives on beer budgets and say they can’t make a “Living Wage”.  Their idea of a living wage is what that champagne life cost.  If you are a single mother with 4 children making a low wage, you have two choices, 1) Find a higher paying job, or 2) Tighten up your spending.  Now, I hear people saying, “They are living bare bones as it is”, but, I guarantee that close scrutity would prove that to be wrong, I’ve seen it happen.  A woman where I used to work said she was living paycheck to paycheck and couldn’t even save a ‘even one quarter’ a week, when I asked her how much she was putting away for her future.  Yet, she daily bought 3 bottles of soda from the vending machines at $1.00 each (I brought mine from home and paid $.50 each), she went out to eat almost every day (I brought my lunch), about once a month, she ordered pizza for the crew and paid for it herself and she took her family to ‘Monster Truck’ shows and Wrestling Matches about 4 times a year at about $120.00 a pop + refreshments.  And, who knows what else she did with her money.  Point is: Look at what you are spending money on and live within your means.  And, don’t complain unless you are sure you know what you are talking about.  Look in the mirror, the person you see, is the source of your problems, not Wal-Mart.

I think we should close all the Wal Marts and let the Mom and Pops start back up.  You know - the ones where there was no room for advancement (except for the owners sons and daughters), no health insurance what so ever (except for the owners sons and daughters), no paid holidays (except for the owners sons and daughters), no paid vacation (except for the owners sons and daughters).  Things were so much better then. 

And look how many people had to be employed then with no pesky 24 hours a day to staff-up for.  Far less people had to suffer the indignities of a job.

It is not so much as to what they and us as employees are spending on health insurance , but what about when a employee is TOLD by not only there store manager but co-managerell an asc. to do something that is unsafe and that employee is hurt in the process. Walmarts workmen comp doctor miss diagnose a injury having that employyee go back to regular duty with a broke bone not a sprain. Sends the info to the state dept and has the case closed. Over a year later the bone is still fracured and the employee has to pay ALL med costs ,lawyer and court costs to try to get it reopened. All those co-pays add up fast.Not to mention the time lost from work. So what is the employee to do #1 take care of her/his children and household excpences or spend lots of money with “the great” health insurance offered by wal-mart?And to be harrassed by anouther doctor from the beging of the injury becouse the bill still has not been paid by wal-mart / insurance claims as of todays date. Over a year after the injury.

The company i worked for closed and moved to to another town, i was 55 years old and had over 20 years in.

It’s very hard to get a job when you are that old, how ever wal-mart hired me and has treated me very well, i make more money now than in any time of my life.

My health insurance cost me only about 25% of my bonus this year. if wal-mart would have done what so many others did, i would be on welfare and would not have to go to work.

Darn, just think, if it were not for wal-mart more people could be on welfare and would not be bothered with going to work--more time to hunt and fish, etc.

Also i have a few thousand dollars in 401k and profit sharing, all paid by wal-mart. now when i retire i will have some taxes to pay on that free money, darn, wal-mart is really messing up my life--- i cant get welfare, oh well it’s tough but i will survive.  THINK-- THINK-- THINK, dont let someone else think for you.

If you want a job and are willing to work i hear wmt is looking for good people, why not let them mess up your life also.

Wal-mart is actully a good place to work, if you want to work.

Thanks to WMwatch for letting me put some true facts on this site.

Robert you know what you said reminded me of a study I read a few months back. It said the average family living in “poverty” has a computer, cable television, two cars, three televisions, a cell phone, and two full bathrooms. I wonder does my second computer and my extra cell phone put me in middle class or does it make me still living in poverty with a little extra?

I figured out two years ago if I was going to make ends meet I needed to stop buying now paying later. If I dont’ have the money I don’t buy it. I got rid of 6 credit cards and kept only one for emergancy purposes. Do we get everything we want? No but we do get everything we need and that is how our family of six lives on $10 an hour and a $650 dollar a month social security check.

Lori in Mississippi, excellent point.  If people trying to make a living today today on an income of $10 - $12 an hour gave up cable television, cell phones, internet access, fast food, etc., they would be amazed at how far their income goes.  Guess what folks, these are perks, not entitlements.  Try cooking and eating at home.  Take those leftovers for lunch.  Give up cable - that right there will save you $50 or more a month.  Give up the cell phone - there is another $50.  Two things you don’t need, you’ve saved $100 a month.  That’s $25 a week.  Pack your lunch for about a $1.00 a day - save at least 4.00 a day if you’re eating out.  Yhere is another $20 a week (assuming you work a 5 day week).  And guess what - this nothing different than the way most of your parents or grandparents lived in the 1970’s and before.

Another thought on how people want to live, i agree with robert in springdale.

Afew days ago i was shopping at a wal-mart in missouri, when i got in line behind a lady with two kids, a toddler and another about five or six years old, she herself was approx- thirty years old, she was dressed well and had a cell phone attached to her ear, she had a large cart of mds, food, also chips, sodas and a large amount of snack items.
She paid for her food mds with WIC, then she put a collection of cheap toys on the counter and got a carton of smokes for herself--paid over sixty dollars in cash for the toys and smokes.
When i was getting in my car she was putting her mds in a automobile worth at least $10.000 or more.

She could have used that cash to pay for her food.

People think our goverment should give them a good life, however as a working tax payer i dont like some things my money is spent on.

many people today can have a better life on welfare, food stamps,and goverment housing, they also have free medical and dental for their kids.

Not many companies can compete with what our goverment gives people for free--not even wal-mart.

Della,

What about John Opie?

The thing about WIC (Women & Infant Children) vouchers and what they buy… Vouchers specify what foods and amounts can be purchased. Dates on the vouchers must meet requirements. Users of WIC must show their voucher packets with their signature on it and sign voucher in front of cashier. Food Stores can be fined by the Govt. if rules are not followed.

The following items are allowed.

Eggs
Milk
Peanut Butter
8oz. packs of Cheese
Certain Approved Cereals
Baby Formula

Kathy, and what can you buy with food stamps?  Or, if you do as some people I have known, sell some of your food stamps for cash and get what you want with the cash.

Years ago, I heard a politician say, ‘Poor people deserve to live as well as anyone else’.  Do you believe this to be true?

Also, an analyst stated that it would be cheaper for the government to give houses to people on welfare, rather than pay out the rent subsidies for them.  I told my wife, if that came about, we could sell the house we were paying a mortgage on, quit our jobs and go on welfare and get a “Free” house.  Unfortunately, that never passed, so we had to pay for our house the ‘old fashioned’ way, darn.  But, now it’s paid for, so we don’t have to worry about it.

Also, you wouldn’t believe how many people I know who are poor, but, have 4 to 6 credit cards maxed out.  It will take them a lifetime to pay them off.  But, I forgot, they don’t have to worry, as soon as one of their Lottery Tickets hit, they will be millionaires.  No sweat!!!

Robert Springer writes:

“Kathy, and what can you buy with food stamps?  Or, if you do as some people I have known, sell some of your food stamps for cash and get what you want with the cash. “

Having worked in the Grocery Retail bsuiness for close to 10 years, I also cashiered and ran the Customer Service Desk.
Food Stamps buys necessary food items. Meats, Vegetables,
Produce, Can Goods, Coffee, Teas,Frozen Foods can be purchased with Food Stamps now EBT.

Foods like Candy, food stuffs from a Deli(Food Service), Baked Foods from a Bakery Department (Food Service) other than Bread, Snack foods such as Chips, Soda Pop are considered Taxable Foods because they are not exactly necessary. Non-food items must be paid seperately with cash or check.  If a Cash Register is programmed correctly when items are scanned, the difference between food adn taxable food is stated on the reciept.

The Federal Govt. did away with the paper Food Stamp profram by the mid 90’s and implemented the EBT system to better track accounts needed for food and non- food needs. The cash part of the program was to take care of the the taxable items purchased at Grocery stores. But unfortunately, people abused that privilidge and bought tobacco products instead. That left little for their other needs.

So sorry for the typos.

You are all missing the point.

They have us all tied up arguing the health care and mom and pop jobs and insurance issues, just like the political system does during election years, as the only other staple factor abortion being the missing issue.

But here is the big point that everyone is missing.  The evil that Wal-Mart does is by forcing manufacturers of the products out of business or to seek out of country productivity. Which they do by often holding up paying smaller companies or monopolizing the market by way of price fixing or selling bellow cost to drive all competition out of business and then weilding their power to dictate policy, as is evident by their CD art and lyric policy.

The reason for this is that Wal-Mart at hillbilly headquarters has found that they can dictate the price of what they will pay for the products to be made, giving the manufactuer a choice of either seeking a third world supplier and work force to make them off shores, or to go out of business.

The way to stop all of this nonsense is to reestablish tarriffs on incoming goods and to tax all corporations on sold goods whether made in our out of the country on a location by country point of purchase tax paid on daily sales.

NAFT and CAFTA should be dismantled, as they have failed to bring the life standards up in those countries that they claimed they would, and even scarier is that they made that tyrant Ross Perot correct about all that whooshing sound munbo jumbo. 

We need to put limits on the amount of money that can be utilized by lobby groups and a more stringent set of rules and accountability put into place regarding family members involment of decision makers in many of these large companies and their boards and people on the payroll that do not really work.

You want to talk about when America was great, well sorry to say it was in the industrial era when most people were manufacturing products auto, steel, air planes and yes there were unions. A person who worked a 40 hour a week job could afford a house , a car, health insurance and a few weeks vacation.

You are also right on the gas companies and many other industries, we need to find alternatives. I know they can make fules from soybeans and korn and from what I hear as of late out of Denver, is that Coors has some new form of beer hops combustable fuel. So yes we need to make changes across the board and lower the greed to a nore tolerable level.

As for Sam Walton , well he started Wal-Mart to be a store that highlighted American made products, as I do not think he would have ever forseen the money grubbing butchery that is now associated with his legecy, associated with taking advantage of the underpriviladged, all for the almighty dollar. That dollar that when you get right down to it means nothing as it is only paper and ink, as unlike the past there is no gold or silver backing its worth, just a bunch of manipulated ideas.

Shame on big buisness for killing the American Dream and even more shame on all of us as Americans for letting it happen just so we can save a few dollars. At this point we deserve the third world we are headed for and once we get to that point Wal-Mart can rule the world....too bad it won’t be worth shit at that point.

Steve wrote:

“ You want to talk about when America was great, well sorry to say it was in the industrial era when most people were manufacturing products auto, steel, air planes and yes there were unions. A person who worked a 40 hour a week job could afford a house , a car, health insurance and a few weeks vacation. “

I was born and raised during that period of time.  But, what you fail to mention, is that a new house cost $15,000.00 to build, that car was 10 years old, people were more health conscious, ate homecooked meals and went on cheap vacations or stayed at home, people didn’t go on cruises.  TV’s were cheap Black and White models, no one ever even considered paying $3000.00 for a TV.  You could buy a brand new car for less than $3000.00.  There were no DVD players, video games, etc. and people made their own clothes or bought them and wore them until they wore out or in the case of children, handed them down between children, there was no Designer products bought by average people, they were for the rich.  Minium wage was $1.25 an hour.  People also had gardens to raise part of their food supplies.  Sure, it was a better life, kids were satisfied with playing with a stick and hoop, or a ball.  They did not drain their families finances with $400.00 game systems, every toy under the sun and did not act like not having everything , was a major crisis.  People settled for free TV, even though it only had 3 channels, so there were no $75.00 a month cable bills.

I believe you forgot to mention all of this.

Steve

I am a huge fan or Wal-Mart and I have the utmost respect and admiration for Mr. Sam. He never said that Wal-Mart paid the most money or that Wal-Mart would never buy overseas. Let me give you some quotes (I’m doing this from memory so it may not be verbatim).

“I’m afraid that in the early days, we just didn’t pay our people very well. That was how it was in retail in those days. You paid as little as you could get away with. I used to fight hard to keep the wage cost down so that we could give customers low prices”

“Wal-Mart will try to buy American whenever we can. That doesn’t mean we will buy something at a high cost. We try to work with American manufacturers to get their costs under control so that we can buy from them. If we can get the price to within 10% of the foreign price, we will buy American. Over 10% and the item becomes too expensive. At that point, we have to look elsewhere to give the customer better value”

One of the things that Mr. Sam is not given enough credit for is how he changed the power structure in our consumer driven economy. At one time, manufacturers produced an item and told stores how much to buy and at what price. Then, the stores sold the customers whatever they had bought, regardless of customer needs or desires, and at a price guaranteed to bring a large profit to the store. Mr. Sam came along and put customers in charge of the equation. No longer could manufacturers just dump product on the market. No longer could stores just sell whatever they liked at any price. Now, consumers decided what the stores would sell and at what price, which pressured the manufactuers into becoming more efficient and more flexible. Now, manufacturers and stores have to respond to the CUSTOMER. The CUSTOMER controls the market. It is a situation many people would like to change but their days of gouging are over, thanks to Mr. Sam.

Companies like Proctor & Gamble, Unilever, Gillette, Coca Cola, Pepsico, Johnson & Johnson, GE and 3M have all benefitted from Wal-Mart’s demand for efficiency.

It is unfair how walmart is treating the employees with the benefits. All employees deserve health insurance and I believe something should be done.

Ihave been reading the different opinions regarding walmart and decided to add my opinion--Please wake up- America- really look at what is happening to our country. When walmart says one-stop shopping they mean it. If you all do not open your eyes and soon to what walmart is doing with the way they do business we will lose this country. They intend to run everyone who is in a business out. Yes I am one of the small business owners who has had to witness what they are doing. The tax money that should be staying in your community is going to Arkansas and to the family of Waltons. Then your taxes are raised to compensate for the difference and the families who are employed in walmart stores are taught to also get your tax money in the form of vision and wic programs. Then in the newpapers we read of all the money walmart gives to different clubs or groups=money they get from wholesalers. We as small business give to our communties but it is expected of us . I would love to give more but when people shop walmart instead of the towns business it doesn’t leave much to be shared. I not crying just confused as to how people can be so blind. Some people are afraid a small business might make some money(that we put back into the business as improvements) so they would rather go out of town and buy and watch the money go to the Walton family who have billions. Oh well I am just disappointed after reading the opinions from people across this country-I was hoping people were a little more caring in this country of our-I hope China doesn’t move in soon.