Wal-Mart Revises Charitable Donations for Optimal P.R. Impact
Wal-Mart’s charitable donations are a cheap way to get some positive publicity for a company that’s increasingly viewed as damaging to communities and local economies. It’s true that many boy scout troops and community centers have benefited from Wal-Mart’s charitable donations over the years. But the economic damage of Wal-Mart’s business practices far outweighs any check the company will ever write. Perhaps Wal-Mart is now facing a reputation crisis: the company announced today that it will be making fewer, but larger donations at the state level in hopes of attracting more publicity.
Bentonville : Wal-Mart revising donations [Arkansas Democrat Gazette]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is refocusing its charity to give it more punch.
America’s No. 1 corporate donor, Wal-Mart traditionally hands out thousands of small checks to Scout troops, food pantries and other local causes in Wal-Mart towns from coast to coast.
While store managers will still sprinkle those $ 500 checks around their communities, the Wal-Mart Foundation in Bentonville is now steering some dollars to state-level funding pools set up to make larger donations.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, March 19 | 9 comments | Permalink
Friday Blog Round-Up: Future Will Judge Edition
LEE SCOTT: IT’S REALLY NOT EASY BEING GREEN
Lee Scott held court in California this week at the ECO:nomics conference in Santa Barbara. The big news from the week’s session: Scott’s admission that Wal-Mart’s really not all that green. And it doesn’t plan to GET green any time soon.
Wal-Mart’s Lee Scott: “We are not green.” [Treehugger]
I have been impressed by Lee Scott and his attempts to green Wal-Mart; never more than I was by his statement at the ECO:nomics conference that “We are not green.” The impetus is to save money, not please environmentalists. “It really is about how you take cost out, which is waste.” He looks tired and much older in this video, it must be a struggle.
WSJ’s ECO:nomics Highlights [Earth2Tech]
Avoiding all pretensions, Walmart’s Scott cut to the chase saying simply “We are not green.” The retail giant isn’t rushing to be greener for the environment’s sake. And as for when Walmart will achieve its stated goal of having zero waste and using 100 percent renewable energy, Scott said “I have no idea.”
Wal-Mart Stores not Green [Green Girls Global]
High-five Wal-Mart, finally a company that owns up to it’s greed! May all the other corporate giants follow your example and practice greed with a little integrity as well. Then we could stop calling shenanigans on all these “green” PR ploys.
After the judge, more on Lee Scott’s environmental comments, Wal-Mart’s greeters and the role of religion in Wal-Mart’s expansion efforts.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, March 14 | 0 comments | Permalink
Castro-Wright Named to MetLife Board
Executive Vice President of Wal-Mart’s U.S. Stores, Eduardo Castro-Wright has now also been named to the board of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company. Wal-Mart has consistently come under fire for its life insurance policies, namely a “dead peasant” policy where the company stands to profit when low-level employees die. Since Castro-Wright surely can’t be taking this new position for the employees’ benefit, what could he possibly be doing with his time on the MetLife board?
MetLife names 2 to board [Associated Press via Boston Globe]
Insurer MetLife Inc. on Wednesday said it named the CEO of Wal-Mart Stores USA and the CEO of Tupelo Capital Management to its board of directors, effective Monday.
more stories like thisEduardo Castro-Wright, 53, is the president and chief executive of the U.S. division of Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer.
Earlier:
Wal-Mart’s ‘Dead Peasant’ Insurance Suit Gets New Life [Find Law, 6/13/2006]
“Dead Peasants” at Wal-Mart [Daily Kos, 4/4/2005]
The Trouble with Wal-Mart: An interview with Liza Featherstone [Stay Free]
Anyway, this woman’s husband was working 80 hours a week. I think he had a weak heart. One day, he was exhausted from working because he was understaffed, but he had to help a customer carry a TV to her car, and when he did, he had a heart attack and dropped dead. So, this is already a really sad story, but then his wife found out that Wal-Mart had an insurance claim on him. They were actually collecting money from his death.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, February 28 | 7 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart’s Stellar Customer Service in Action
A piece in the New York Times last year discussed marketing to Muslims and the challenges the demographic faces in the marketplace. Despite the article’s statement that Muslims are a potentially lucrative - and untapped - market, Wal-Mart seems to have done little to incorporate them into customer service training. The company moved to do “sensitivity training” for employees only after a cashier insulted a Muslim customer. Wal-Mart was ranked lowest this year in a customer satisfaction index from the University of Michigan.
Wal-Mart Apologizes to Muslim Woman [Associated Press]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. apologized to a Muslim woman who said she was mocked because of her face veil.
“Please don’t stick me up,” a cashier told the shopper on Feb. 2, according to The Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Wal-Mart apologized Monday in a letter signed by Rolando Rodriquez, a vice president and regional general manager. It was released Tuesday by the council’s Nevada chapter.
“I can assure you that the associate in question was disciplined in accordance with our employment policies as a result of the situation,” Rodriguez said without disclosing details.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, February 20 | 8 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart’s Poor Customer Service Damaging Company Growth
Wal-Mart’s 4Q sales report highlights many of the problems facing the company: market saturation in the U.S., continuing problems with apparel and home goods and a weak economy that has customers using holiday gift cards to buy food.
Add to that: poor customer service. Wal-Mart scored the lowest of any retailer on the American Customer Satisfaction Index from the University of Michigan, earning it the title of “Worst Customer Service in America.” This is the second time Wal-Mart has earned the title in the last three years. The retailer’s grocery department has been at the bottom of the list every year since ACSI started tracking in 2004.
In this interview on CNBC, Claes Fornell of University of Michigan’s Business School explains that Wal-Mart’s poor customer service record is only going to hurt the company, especially in a period when retailers are struggling to maintain their customer base.
As we mentioned earlier, Wal-Mart must improve the way it treats its employees if it intends to stay competitive. It’s the only sustainable way to improve customer satisfaction, and will undoubtedly earn more money than it costs.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, February 19 | 0 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Again Ranks Lowest in Customer Satisfaction Survey
For the second time in three years, Wal-Mart scored the lowest of any retailer on the American Customer Satisfaction Index from the University of Michigan. Wal-Mart’s customer service has been the subject of both outrage and ridicule, as the company has gained notoriety for its disgruntled employees. Wal-Mart’s personnel practices only compound problems with store format and product quality. Low wages, poor health care, erratic scheduling for store employees and years of union-busting have made Wal-Mart a leader in employee turnover and, now, poor customer service.
Wal-Mart Ranks Lowest Among Discounters in Survey [Bloomberg News]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. ranked lowest among U.S. discounters and department store chains in an annual survey of customer satisfaction as shoppers said they found less value in the world’s largest retailer’s prices.
Wal-Mart fell to 68 from 72 last year on a scale of 1 to 100, according to the University of Michigan’s American Customer Satisfaction Index, released today. Minneapolis-based Target Corp., the second-largest discounter, held steady at 77. The average score for department and discount stores was 73, the lowest since 2001.
Customers may be increasingly dissatisfied with the goods Wal-Mart is carrying, said Claes Fornell, the professor who led the study. Chief Executive Officer H. Lee Scott has turned the company’s focus back to groceries and household items after an ill-fated attempt to boost sales by luring fashion-conscious shoppers with silk camisoles and distressed jeans.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Tuesday, February 19 | 3 comments | Permalink
Wal-Mart Uses Local Funds to Build in Chesapeake, VA.
Wal-Mart drains money out of local communities in a number of ways: the company shuts down locally-owned businesses, asks for tax breaks, and has thousands of employees on state-sponsored health plans. This story from the Virginian-Pilot illustrates another way that Wal-Mart uses public funds for its private business. Chesapeake, Virginia, will be picking up the $4.3 million tab to build the road Wal-Mart needs to reach its new store. Patricia Willis, the only Chesapeake council member who disagreed with this decision, was voted down. To quote the story, “she felt uncomfortable with the city putting tax revenue toward something that should be the developer’s responsibility.”
Chesapeake to pay for roadwork tied to proposed Wal-Mart [The Virginian-Pilot]
The City Council voted 5-1 this week to pay up to $4.3 million in tax revenues for road improvements that will aid traffic in an Edinburgh development that also includes a proposed Wal-Mart and Cracker Barrel.
Even though parts of the project would cut through a private project called Edinburgh West, City Manager William Harrell said the road improvements were important to the city’s effort to address growth and traffic increases in southern Chesapeake.
“In my view, this is a proactive way of addressing what will be a major transportation hub,” Harrell said.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, February 14 | 20 comments | Permalink
This Valentines Day Tell Wal-Mart to Have a Heart
Valentine’s Day is meant to be a celebration of love, but for those producing the gifts we give on Valentine’s Day, the holiday has a whole different meaning. Human rights and environmental problems have long surrounded gold production. Wal-Mart, along with many other retailers, has pledged to only buy gold produced responsibly. SoJourners is now asking Wal-Mart to adopt the same standards for diamonds. Further discussion of the problems with dirty diamonds and how Wal-Mart can help correct the situation are below. Click here to sign the petition.
UPDATE: As of February 14, Sojourners reports more than 7,000 have signed this petition. Click here to become one of them.
With Valentine’s Day approaching, we’ve all seen the barrage of television ads enticing and imploring us to buy diamond jewelry for our loved ones. But did you know that the international diamond trade has supplied billions of dollars to rebel groups in Africa, fueling wars that have killed more than 4 million people?
This Valentine’s Day, tell Wal-Mart to make sure jewelry purchases aren’t destroying African lives.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, February 13 | 0 comments | Permalink
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