Wal-Mart’s Latest Import?  Slave Labor.

can you say institutionalized slavery

Remember that the WalMart/Bentonville slobs wanted to pay their Mexican labor force in WalMart scrip. Payment that you could only spend at WalMart.

WalMart- If only the Bushco Dept. of Labor allowed us to import $.40/hr Chinese labor into the United States to operate all our stores here. Bush is a true believer in WalMart economic psychopathy against the American work force. His last minute sense of ‘responsibility’ to help the U.S. automotive sector must clash disturbingly with what remains of his quisling WalMart dead head conscience.

I am not justifying this in any way but I have to make an observation.  Wal-Mart is the most unorganized, sloppy, poorly run, backwards, inconsistent company that I have ever worked for.  I have worked grocery, retail, and an office job and it is ridiculous.  With as much centralization that takes place with this company you would think that there would be some kind of organization but that isn’t the case.  Most of the managers are completely incompetent and no one knows what’s going on.  Basically what I’m trying to say is that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing so who even knows what’s going on in the store.  This might not be the fault of the store or anyone in it - it just might be a case of the sloppy, crappy way that the company is run.

Oh, yeah, I’ve worked fast-food as well and that was run more profesionally than Wal-Mart.  Me and my buddies at work actually laugh and make fun of how ridiculous and inconsistent it is.  No one knows what’s going on or who’s supposed to be there, everything is backwards, the shelves are empty, people that didn’t do anything are blamed for things they didn’t do, etc., so I can see how this could happen.  We’re told one night “No pallets on the floor” then the next night we’re told “You can bring pallets out to the floor.”.  “No freight should be on rocket carts (carts that have freight on them) in the back room.” then the next night we’re told “Only put backstock on rocket carts and DON’T put it on pallets.”, etc, etc, etc.  It’s almost like some form of mind-control.  What if I told you “All three’s are orange and never green.” and then the next day I said “All three’s are green and NEVER orange.” and then the next day I changed it.

We get lectured and told “There is NO overtime.  Punch out and leave on time, there is only fourty hours or you will be “coached”.  Then, we’re told “You don’t just leave when it’s time to leave.  You finish what you’re doing and THEN you punch out, you don’t just leave (and then we have to cut our hours which is illegal and against labor laws).  Basically it’s a case of “damned if you do, damned if you don’t”.  What do you want us to do?  If we have tons of Ramen noodles in the back we’ll get ten million Ramen noodles when meanwhile the product that NEEDS to get ordered that’s empty on the shelf for a week won’t.  It’s amazing.

The way you describe life at Walmart Generic you would think it’s just a “bumbling” company. 

But last year they had 400 BILLION in sales and 13+ BILLION in profits all the while running one of the most effecient supply chains to thousands of stores all over the world.

Maybe it’s just your store or your perception of the store.  I can think of alot of jobs I have had where the employees “know better” than the management.  In some cases it’s true.  In SOME cases.

Slave labor? Absolutely!! If you can FORCE you employees to work off the clock doesn’t that mean more profits and money in your pocket?
Wal-Mart gets the award for never missing a SLEEZY, DIRTY TRICK. And they get another award from me for sucking the life out of communities.

JOe,

“I can think of alot of jobs I have had where the employees “know better” than the management.”

Funny thing is, if those people who “know better”, get into management, most of the time, they end up doing exactly what the previous management did or they make things alot worse!!  I would bet, that almost all of the managers that Generic is complaining about, were once the ‘associates’ who “knew better” in the past!!

Generic,

You finish what you’re doing and THEN you punch out, you don’t just leave (and then we have to cut our hours which is illegal and against labor laws).”

I think, if you check, you will find that it is not illegal to work a person 9 hours one day and cut their hours to 7 hours the next day and pay no overtime!!  As long as a company doesn’t work you over 40 hours a week, they do not have to pay overtime!!  The law says 40 hours a week, not 8 hours a day!!  Technically, a company could work an employee:

Monday - 8 hours
Tuesday - 6 hours
Wednesday - 0 hours
Thursday - 10 hours
Friday - 4 hours
Saturday - 12 hours

Total 40 hours

And not pay any overtime, legally!!

Generic,

These are just a few of the labor lawsuit examples against WalMart as found on this site alone by typing in ‘lawsuits’ in the search box above.

Wal-Mart Hired Illegal Immigrants to Work Off-the Clock. Wal-Mart paid $11 million to settle a federal investigation called “Operation Rollback,” which found hundreds of illegal immigrants working off-the-clock cleaning stores. In 2003, federal agents raided 61 Wal-Mart stores and arrested 250 illegal immigrants. [Washington Post, 3/19/05; Los Angeles Times, 10/24/03]

Wal-Mart Repeatedly Fined for Violating Family Leave Laws. Wal-Mart has received numerous fines for violating the Family and Medical Leave Act in locations all over the country - firing workers while on federally protected medical leave. In addition, in 2005, Wal-Mart was fined $188,000 by the California Fair Employment and Housing Commission for violating California state law when it refused to reinstate a woman after she completed her maternity leave. [U.S. Department of Labor, via Freedom of Information Act; California Department of Fair Employment and Housing, case no. E 200203 M-0774-00-pe, C 03-04-026; Sacramento Bee, 6/14/05]

Wal-Mart’s Own Audit Found Work Breaks Not Provided. In 2000, an internal Wal-Mart audit found that of 128 stores, 127 of them were “not in compliance” with company policies providing for work breaks. [Indiana Lawyer, 5/7/03]

Wal-Mart Repeatedly Found Guilty for Forcing Its Employees to Work Off-the-Clock. In 2000, Wal-Mart paid $50 million to settle a lawsuit that involved 69,000 workers in Colorado who had allegedly been forced to work off-the-clock. In 2002, a federal grand jury in Oregon found Wal-Mart employees were forced to work off-the-clock and awarded back pay to 83 workers. In December 2005, Wal-Mart was ordered to pay $172 million to 116,000 current and former California workers for violating a 2001 state law that requires employers to give 30-minute, unpaid lunch breaks to employees who work at least six hours.

Nationally, Wal-Mart has 53 class action lawsuits alleging wage and hour violations. [New York Times, 11/19/04; Associated Press, 2/17/04; Associated Press, 9/19/05; Associated Press, 12/22/05]

No doubt the State of Michigan is having to prepare lawsuits against WalMart over labor practices there.

WalMart- All aboard the low wage low benefits express!

Joe, that has nothing to do with what I’m talking about.  There are other reasons for Wal-Mart’s success and if they would just try to be a little more organized and aware of what’s going on then they would make even MORE money.  They are in the process of doing this with some new system (copied from Target but not as efficient) but it’s still ridiculous.  It isn’t just my store it’s just how things are run in general.  When you don’t pay attention to details and just think “We’re invinceable so we don’t have to pay attention to details” then you get problems like this.

RDS, managers are usually not chosen to be managers based on their strengths or abilities, they are chosen because they kiss the most butt and snitch on their coworkers the most.  There are exceptions to this of course, a lot of managers are good, hard-working and highly competent but it’s usually cronyism - period.  When it comes to some things I DO know better than some managers (by the way, I was told by an old boss that I should go into the management program but I would rather die than do this for a lot of reasons).  I certainly would not make the same decisions that some of them make.  Also, the law is tricky concerning overtime and there are federal labor laws and state labor laws and I am not expert on this so maybe I am wrong (it still doesn’t make it right, though).  In any event, you can’t tell people one thing one night and then the complete opposite the next night.

Generic,

“RDS, managers are usually not chosen to be managers based on their strengths or abilities, they are chosen because they kiss the most butt and snitch on their coworkers the most.”

You are correct, but that doesn’t just happen at Wal-Mart, it happens all over!!  Another reason, sometimes used, is if you have two employees and one gives 100% everyday, while the other gives only 80% on most days, you don’t really want to give up the 100% person, so you promote the 80% person!!

“There are exceptions to this of course, a lot of managers are good, hard-working and highly competent.....I was told by an old boss that I should go into the management program but I would rather die than do this for a lot of reasons.”

And, the reason there aren’t MORE hard-working, highly competent managers, is exactly for the reason you stated you won’t go into the management program, because they don’t want to have to follow the goofy one’s orders and it’s real hard to fight towards ‘real’ change!!  But, if you think that would ‘change’ with a union, think again, all you end up with, is instead of the company bosses making the rules, you have the union ‘bosses’ making the rules and they usually are designed to protect the incompetent, and the hard-workers get viewed as the butt-kissers!!  It looks ‘good’ at first, having a union, “Wow, better wages and benefits”, but slowly the company goes down the drain and the company ends up like the autoworkers, airlines, schools, and the government itself, on the brink of bankruptsy!!

Here is what GM is really about, investing in foreign auto manufacturing facilities for the cheapest labor to destroy good paying jobs in the United States.

Title: GM Opens Eighth China Plant, Won’t Add Further Capacity Soon (US Bailout Money Invested In China?)
Source: Bloomberg

GM Opens Eighth China Plant, Won’t Add Further Capacity Soon

By Tian Ying

Dec. 17 (Bloomberg)—General Motors Corp. opened its eighth vehicle plant in China and said it had no plans for adding further capacity amid slowing demand in Asia’s biggest auto market.

This ``has been a big year in terms of expansion’’ and it ``probably will keep us occupied for the foreseeable future,’’ Kevin Wale, GM China’s president, said by phone today. He spoke from the northeastern city of Shenyang after the opening of the carmaker’s new 2.67 billion yuan ($390 million) plant.

GM expects to boost China sales about 9 percent next year as it adds new models and an economic stimulus plan helps revive overall demand. Auto sales in China have declined in three of the past four months because of the global economic slowdown.

``That is a short-term downturn,’’ Wale said. We are ``building capacity for the long term and we are very comfortable with what we are doing.’’

GM, the biggest overseas automaker in China, is counting on emerging markets and U.S. aid to help it survive a plunge in North American sales. The Detroit-based automaker expects to sell as many as 1.2 million vehicles in China next year, Wale said on Dec. 5.

Shenyang Plant

The new factory in Shenyang will be able to make as many as 150,000 vehicles a year, using a two-shift system, the automaker said in an e-mailed statement. The plant is an equal venture between GM and SAIC Motor Corp., China’s biggest automaker.

GM’s total capacity in China is more than 1 million vehicles a year, spokesman Henry Wong said. The carmaker opened a new plant in Qingdao, eastern China, in March with a capacity of 300,000 vehicles a year.

GM has no plans to shed workers in China, Wale said. The automaker expects a ``single digit’’ increase in industrywide sales next year, helped by China’s $584 billion economic stimulus plan.

The ``strong stimulatory action’’ will ``start to kick in in the second half of next year,’’ Wale said.

The new Shenyang plant will begin full production of Chevrolet Cruze compacts in the second quarter of next year. GM plans to introduce 10 new models in China by 2011, according to Wale. The carmaker added a new Buick Regal on Dec. 1.

GM’s China-made vehicle sales rose 8.1 percent in the first 10 months to 861,458. Its U.S. sales fell 20 percent to 2.56 million. China’s industrywide auto sales jumped 11 percent to 7.83 million in the period, compared with a 15 percent drop in the U.S.

GM and Chrysler LLC are seeking $14 billion in emergency aid from the U.S. government to keep operating through the first quarter. President George W. Bush may decide on the bailout as soon as today, according to a government official who spoke yesterday on condition of anonymity.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tian Ying in Beijing on ytian@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: December 17, 2008 01:30 EST

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601080&sid=aWHbmXZFhiEs&refer=asia#

WalMart/George W. Bush- As long as you are screwing over America’s workforce GM. Keep up the good work to bust the UAW. I’ll front you some bucks but only if you indulge my anti-union low wage poverty program for America. Good job moving more jobs to China, you’re making me and WalMart proud...try and keep it quiet for another month or so, OK?

I’ve always maintained the logical conclusion of the devaluation of labor, aka the ‘race to the bottom’, is slavery. The problem is slaves don’t do much consuming.

What’s good for Wal-Mart is BAD for America!

RDS, I know that it happens everywhere but it’s REALLY apparent at Wal-Mart (as well as retail in general).  The reason that I wouldn’t go into the management program is in my opinion it’s not worth it.  You have to spend your whole life at the company, work crazy hours, do everything the regular associates do, do things that NO ONE wants to do, deal with the irritating public and be belittled on a daily basis while being told that nothing is ever good enough and that you should have done a better job (all while making not too much more than the average associate on the floor).  No thanks, I’m not volunteering for hell and getting paid peanuts to do it.  Maybe I would be a manager at Costco because at least the pay would make it worth it but not at Wal-Mart.  As far as unions go, you already know my opinion on them - they can be good or bad (but it’s still a right and choice).  Saying “unions ruin everything” is an absurd and simplistic argument.  If they are so bad then the remedy is simple - act right - period.  People form unions out of a feeling of being mistreated, cheated, screwed over, and not having any say over anything.  This requires a real commitment toward having the best working environment (REALISTICALLY) possible, and not rhetoric, propaganda, and empty gestures.

The “open-door policy” and the “grassroots meetings” are good ideas but they are meaningless if you can be retaliated against and whatever is supposed to be a confidential discussion with management is shared and discussed with other people and your personal business is being shared and laughed about with other people.  With unions a lot of times it isn’t always a case of “we want tons of money!”, a lot of times it’s just a case of “Don’t talk to me like that” or “Let’s try to have some fair rules that apply to everyone”, or “If I have a legitimate complaint then I should be able to voice my opinion.” If some power-tripping manager steps out of line then they need to be disciplined and prevented from doing so.

Generic,

“As far as unions go, you already know my opinion on them - they can be good or bad (but it’s still a right and choice).”

That is my opinion as well, as long as the employees have a ‘choice’ and it’s not thrust upon them!!

“Saying “unions ruin everything” is an absurd and simplistic argument.”

That’s not what I said, I said that they CAN cause ‘big’ problems ‘down the road’ if they get too ‘greedy’!!

“Would John Wayne Take Any Crap Off WalMart?”.................:Today, I once again made the intrepid journey to my least favorite place - Walmart, or housewife hell as I often call it. I endured the same old guttural search for a spot to park my car, taking care not to run over the weak and weary of the world and finally coming to rest alongside a rusty 1989 Ford pickup and one of those nameless hulking SUV’s.

The same greeter smiled unconvincingly at me and uttered: “Welcome to Walmart!” as I winced imagining what sinuous path had led this poor soul to this destiny. Right then, I decided to write this post - right there, right then - for all the victims of Walmart’s insidious machinations.

My greatest friend, confidant and companion has repeatedly asked me why I hate Walmart so much. My full answer is far too long to put to page, but basically Walmart represents the fall of western civilization to me. Some of you are already saying: “Oh no, Phil has lost it now.” but I intend to elaborate and direct your attention just a little toward what I think is evidence in support of this view.
Workers or Slaves

Walmart Wages - Walmart drives down retail wages $3 billion per year - in 2001 the average sales associate made just $13,861 or about $4,000 below the poverty level in the U.S.
Walmart Employee Health Care - 5 percent of associates and 22 percent of their children are insured under some public assistance program. Reportedly employees are encouraged to seek public assistance. In my state alone (Georgia) there are over 10,000 Walmart employee’s kids on state assistance.
Wailing of the Masses - Walmart currently faces lawsuits in 31 states over wage and hour abuses involving hundreds of thousands of workers - that is 100’s or thousands! If tens of thousands of them are legitimate - then their cry should really be heard late at night by us all.
Slaves and Beasts of Burden - Walmart is settling a Federal allegation for $11 million claiming they used illegal immigrants to clean their stores (I have actually seen this).
Women’s Rights Abuse - A class action lawsuit for discrimination against over 1.5 MILLION female employees.
Walmart Sweatshops- Chinese workers are paid as little as 28 cents per hour, work 7 days a week and are subjected to inhumane treatment. Sometimes these workers life in community houses essentially equipped with a bed and a communal lavatory.
Personal Observations - I My overall impression of the average worker I talk to or see is that each of them have a look about them that cries: “I don’t stand a chance.” This is perhaps the most damning aspect of what this company is doing - reducing human beings to hapless smurfs without hope.
Walmart - Community Savior?

$86 Million per year - The money Walmart cost taxpayers in California due to health and welfare assistance according to the UC Berkley Labor Center.
$4.7 Billion Dollars - The adjusted reduction in retail labor wages since the release of the film: The High Cost of Low Price.
$1.5 Billion Dollars- Estimated combined costs to provide ancillary support for Walmart employees including: housing, tax credits, title one expenses, free or reduced lunches, additional health care costs and low income energy assistance.
$1 Billion - Subsidies that Walmart stores received nation wide. Individual stores receive low cost financing and incentives for just locating stores in cities and towns.
$5.25 Million - Fines Walmart has paid for EPA violations in 12 states (or more).
$50,000 - Walmart’s average charitable output per store to communities. The public assistance cost of each store is nearly 10 times that amount. This is totally discounting the loss of local small business infrastructure, social, cultural and “real” community these stores effect.
.
2 to 1 - The number of local grocery stores that close each time a Walmart moves in.
Personal Observations - In every town I have lived in over the past 15 years literally dozens of vacant stores sit where once thriving specialty businesses once operated. In the town I live in now, no less than 15 stores are either closed or going out of business. Some of these stores are not even in direct competition with Walmart, but are dependent on traffic patterns.
Still more -The most damnable fallacy of “Walmart as champion of the community” is that the money spent there does not filter back into the community - a huge chunk of it goes to the Waltons and stockholders. Local businesses typically recirculate this revenue back through the local economy, but these monies now are diverted to this corporate cow’s blood sucking, idiot, money grubbing stockholders.  (Continued)

Quality Is Job One

Walmart had 10,000,000 items recalled for lead contamination in 2007 alone. Walmart’s products are far inferior to those we used to see on the shelves of local businesses. From steroid injected beef to frozen peaches and inferior electronics, the place is just riddled with either mediocre of sub-par seconds caused either intentionally or due to production/cost pressures.

Made in China is stamped on nearly every product on the shelves and has really come to mean “cheap” in it most derogatory connotation. Sure you can return anything and wait in line for half an hour, but how do you return a steak that tastes like shoe leather? The quality is simply not there, especially for anyone who really understands or has seen what quality is. The Web is strewn with complaints and horror stories about Walmart’s supposed quality.

Fabulous 5 of Forbes

The Walton’s, Alice, Jim, Helen, John T. and S. Robson have an estimated worth of around $100 billion dollars. They occupy the number 4 position (together) of the Forbes 400 richest people at around 18-19 billion dollars each - behind Bill Gates, Warren Buffett and Paul Allen of Microsoft fame. I can never say enough about how little I regard these people. I mentioned slavery early on in this article, not to inflame old scars but to point out what these people are actually doing.

How is a human being more enslaved, via shackles and the whip or thru economic necessity? There is no effective difference when the end result is no hope or one so dim that even that plantation slave could have sought escape more easily. I know people who work at Walmart, they live in abject poverty - unable to do much more than give their money back to their employer in the same way workers did the ‘company store” in the 19th century. Beyond the cold stoic cruelty of sweatshops, child labor, ruptured economies and robber baron business tactics - there is a sinister and evil inhumanity in any employer however large or small who could either witness or turn a blind eye to this human sacrilege.

Conclusion

In my trip today I had that same epiphany I have had many times as I looked about the store. Staring up at the heaping mounds of virtually worthless crap stacked metaphorically to heaven’s gate, I could not help but feel ashamed. A whole country, and now a world so enamored with saving (seemingly for no one really ever saves anything) a few pennies or dollars at a human cost that surely evokes tears from God almighty. You may ask: “Well, Phil why do you even go there then?”, and my answer would be: “because there is no place left in town to buy freaking dog food! “

These people are the neo-taskmasters of a whole race of enslaved laborers and the moneylenders to a new society of careless, selfish, self absorbed, stressed out idiots. Convenience and the worst kind of economic propaganda are the tools that are destroying America - and soon the whole world. Hell, price has never even really been a consideration to me - quality and beauty have always been my determining drives - and I am no rich man. Walmart and the Waltons represent a world none of us ever envisioned as children. This type of business is about squeezing the sweat out of all people in an effort to supply essentially garbage to a faceless group of rats, conditioned to believe that cheaper is better.

Hell people, weren’t we all told that nothing good comes cheap? In the America I grew up in John Wayne would have sashayed up to the Walton’s private bunker with his ivory handle Colt 45 and demanded: “All right you money grubbin Son’s of butches, come on out and don’t make me come in after-ya.”

Postscript for a lady: The reason I hate Walmart (or anything like it) is that is represents everything I have deplored in my life. Cruelty, greed, mediocrity, falseness, unsustainable growth, cowardice, deceit, excess, inhumanity and the pursuit by a few to take advantage of the many. They do not simply demean employees and the hapless but also diminish our power to reason what true value is.

If we cannot tell a fine watch or refined workmanship from hurried - dread production of necessity, then we have lost something irreplaceable. The Walmart mentality propagates the idea that more crap will make us happy. I can literally hold a scrap of cloth in this store and feel the anguish of the person who made it - this is a detestable gift sometimes, to be able to see the end of things.

Phil Butler Unplugged~~~~~~~~~~In holiday memoriam of the “Duke” and all workers who are “duking it out “in the workplace everyday!

This type of business (Wal-Mart) is about squeezing the sweat out of all people in an effort to supply essentially garbage to a faceless group of rats, conditioned to believe that cheaper is better.

Hey, RDS, I think Mr. Butler called you a rat!

Live Better In Cheap Underwear

Ken V,

“Hey, RDS, I think Mr. Butler called you a rat!”

SO!!  Who is Mr. Butler?  He sounds like a very bias, anti Wal-Mart, anti wealth person, not much different than some of the people on this site!!  I could care less what Mr. Butler calls me!!

“If we cannot tell a fine watch or refined workmanship from hurried - dread production of necessity, then we have lost something irreplaceable.”

As far as watches go, if I pay $6.95 for a watch at Wal-Mart and Mr. Butler pays $5,000.00 for a ‘fine’ Rolex watch, will he be able to tell the time any BETTER than me?  He may be able to BRAG about how much he paid for it, but, I will still be on time for any appointments, just like he will and still have $4,993.05 left in my pocket!!  So, who is the real ‘rat’ here?

And, guess what, my ‘cheap’ underwear will keep my butt covered, my ‘cheap’ toilet paper will clean my butt, and my ‘cheap’ paper toweling will clean up spills, just as well as your ‘expensive’ ones will, only at a ‘lower’ cost!!  And, if you don’t think so, you believe the ads too much!!

They do not simply demean employees and the hapless but also diminish our power to reason what true value is.

Yep, there’s no doubt about it, RDS, this guy is talkin’ to you! Your “power to reason what true value is” has been diminished.

There is scarcely anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse, and sell a little more cheaply. The person who buys on price alone is this man’s lawful prey. ~ John Ruskin

Ken V: How’s that bargain brand tissue work on the nose? To wit:

Wal-Mart’s $640 Million Sneeze

Wal-Mart will pay as much as $640 million to settle 63 lawsuits around the country alleging that the retailer had exploited its workers. The payout could add up to less than 0.1 percent of the company’s revenues this year..--12/23/08--Bloomberg News ~~~~~~NOTE: This is a great article. Says WalMart will pay many of its wage and hour suits because it doesn’t want Mike Duke to come on bord with old business draggin him down(LOL). Davis Nassar gives a different take, says ts evidence that WalMart is nervous about EFCA,and wants to clear the decks,so to speak, of wage disputes with employees.

Ken V,

“Your “power to reason what true value is” has been diminished.”

No it hasn’t, as long as the product fits my ‘needs’, it is a ‘value’ to me!!  Value, is an abstract thing, a $5,000.00 Rolex watch might be a ‘good’ value to one person, but it is a ‘poor’ value to me, who only wants to ‘tell time’ with a watch, therefore, the $6.95 Wal-Mart watch is a ‘good’ value to me!!

A friend of mine buys his jeans (Levi’s), for $50.00 a pair, so he pays $100.00 for 2 pair!!  I buy my jeans (Wrangler’s) at $10.00 a pair, so I could get 5 pair for $50.00 (and SAVE $50.00 over what he pays)!! A pair of my jeans, lasts about 5 years, therefore, my 5 pair would last 25 years, so, his 2 pair would have to last 12.5 years each, just to match my jeans and I’d bet they don’t!!  And, if he ‘rips’ a pair of his, it costs him $50.00 to replace it, if I ‘rip’ a pair of mine, it only costs me $10.00 (saving me another $40.00)!!

So, which is the really, the ‘better’ value?

It’s like arguing with a wall. You can’t think of value in any terms other than price.

And your thinking that $10 jeans will last as long as $100 jeans only illustrates your diminished powers of reason.

There is more to life than “cheap underwear“. ~ The Peninsula Neighborhood Association

Ken V,

Value: 1. The desirability or worth of a thing; intrinsic worth or utility. 2. The rate at which a commodity is potentially exchangeable for others; a fair return in service, goods, etc.: worth in money; market price; also, the ratio of utility to price; a bargain. ~ Websters Dictionary

Notice the words; utility, worth in money, bargain and market PRICE!!

“And your thinking that $10 jeans will last as long as $100 jeans only illustrates your diminished powers of reason.”

To be a ‘value’, a $100.00 pair of jeans would have to last 50 years, to equal the ‘value’ of a pair of $10.00 jeans that lasts 5 years, otherwise, you are only paying for a ‘Name’ and a label sewn on the back!!  How are your ‘bell bottoms’ working out for you, fashion wise?  And, how many years do you get out of an ‘expensive’ pair of underwear?  How many years do you WANT to wear a pair of underwear?

I think it is YOU that has a diminished power of reason, from seeing all those ads, that say “Ours is better’!!  I think your sense of ‘value’, is how it makes you FEEL, not it’s intrinsic worth!!  Maybe that’s why you FEEL ‘expensive’ toilet paper is ‘better’ than a cheaper brand, both clean your butt and then get ‘flushed’ down the toilet!!  I don’t care how LONG a piece of toilet paper will last, once is ‘good enough’ for me, call me crazy, but that is how I FEEL!!

hey idiot posters on here all of your favorite places buy and import from the same china slaveshops that walmart does.where is you same argument about them importing and abusing slave labor?why are you folks so afraid to face the music on your favorite stores doing the same thing?why are you too lazy and afraid to hold them accountable?

<i>a fair return in service, goods, etc.: also, the ratio of utility to price;<i>

This is where the argument begins, right RDS? Who determines what is “fair”?

Live Better In Cheap Underwear

Ken V,

“This is where the argument begins, right RDS? Who determines what is “fair”?”

The CUSTOMER of course!!  It has to do with that ‘ratio of utility to price’, example: to a machanic, who uses it everyday, sees ‘value’ in buying a higher quality wrench at a higher price, but, to the average person, who uses a wrench, maybe three or four times a year, a wrench can be a ‘value’ at a lower quality at a lower price, the measure of ‘value’, is if it serves it’s purpose and fills a person’s NEEDS, at a reasonable price and reasonable quality for that price!!