Wal-Mart Re-Uses Flawed Reporting Methods
In a report released today (PDF), Wal-Mart claimed that it saves families $2,500 a year. Citing generic drugs and in-store banking centers, the new report sings the “low prices” gospel, but it fails to take into account the hidden costs of having a Wal-Mart in town: higher taxes, lower average wages, and fewer local businesses.
In June of 2006, the Economic Policy Institute issued a report attacking the flawed methodology Global Insight used to calculate customers’ supposed savings. It is the very same methodology Global Insight used again in this year’s study. The “research” glosses over a whole host of problems the company creates, not to mention the fact that Global Insight - far from independent - was comissioned by Wal-Mart to conduct this study. Legitimate, independent reports not commissioned by Wal-Mart show that when the company comes to town, poverty levels go up, wages go down and small businesses go away.
From the report:
- A widely quoted figure from a study by the consulting firm Global Insight (GI) indicates that Wal-Mart’s expansion has resulted in $263 billion in savings to U.S. consumers. We find this to be implausible. The statistical analysis generating this highly influential result fails the most rudimentary sensitivity checks.
- A robust set of research findings shows that Wal-Mart’s entry into local labor markets reduces the pay of workers in competing stores. This effect is greatest in the South, where Wal-Mart expansion has been greatest.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Wednesday, September 12 | 31 comments | Permalink
Atlantic Beach, FL. Wal-Mart To Replace Trees with Supercenter
Wal-Mart road plans spark new controversy [Florida Times-Union]
Wal-Mart’s plan to remove part of the median along Atlantic Boulevard has some city officials worried the retailer will stymie an ongoing effort to keep some aesthetic assets along the roadway.
A 117,000-square-foot Wal-Mart is planned for the 600 block of Atlantic Boulevard on the Neptune Beach side of the roadway. Construction is scheduled to begin next year. But a Wal-Mart engineering firm is indicating the traffic pattern for Atlantic Boulevard may be changed.
“Our plan is to relocate four of the palm [trees] within the median, if possible, to accommodate an extension of the westbound left turn lane at the Seminole Road signal,” stated Wade Olszewski, an engineer with CPH Engineering of Jacksonville, the firm hired by Wal-Mart. In a Tuesday e-mail to Atlantic Beach Public Works Director Rick Carper, Olszewski acknowledged the plan still has to be reviewed by the Florida Department of Transportation.
The thought of tampering with the median and removing any of the palm trees has Atlantic Beach city officials gearing up for a fight.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Monday, September 10 | 0 comments | Permalink
Kentucky Site Fight: Wal-Mart Gives Up
Wal-Mart scraps Florence plan [Cincinnati Post]
Fort Mitchell attorney Jeff Shipp doesn’t know if he’s seen the last of the Wal-Mart Corp.’s attempts to build a super store in Florence.
But he’s sure that if there is a next time, the group he represented in the fight against the plan, Boone County Citizens for Responsible Growth, will be ready.
“That same core group of 50 to 75 people we worked with will be prepared to look at these things with a jaded eye and a magnifying glass,” he said.
On Wednesday, just hours before the Boone County Planning Commission was to consider the project, Wal-Mart withdrew its application for a zone change on the property it had targeted at the intersection of U.S. 42 and Weaver Road.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Friday, September 07 | 0 comments | Permalink
A Victory Against Wal-Mart in Kentucky
For the past few months, Wal-Mart has been trying desperately to open a new supercenter in Florence, Kentucky. Like dozens of proposed Wal-Mart locations across the country, Florence residents weren’t happy. Their primary concerns were traffic ("This thing’s being shoehorned into a residential area,” said one resident) and impact on local business ("A dollar spent at Wal-Mart leaves the area. A dollar spent at a local business stays in the local area...Wal-Mart is the antithesis of local,” said another resident). Worst of all, Florence already has a Wal-Mart - less than three miles from where the proposed store would be built. Google Maps has the driving distance between the two at a whopping 6 minutes. You can read all about the proposal and the community reaction in this Cincinnati Enquirer article.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, September 06 | 1 comments | Permalink
Environmental Victory: Wal-Mart Stops Selling Cypress Much
Objections to Wal-Mart’s selling of Louisiana cypress mulch surfaced several months ago, when the Gulf Restoration Network raised concerns that the endangered cypress trees were being ravaged. The trees play a huge role in the health of the Lousiana wetlands, which in turn help prevent flooding. Wal-Mart’s recent decision to stop selling the mulch is a victory for these local environmental activists.
Wal-Mart will not sell La. cypress mulch [Associated Press via BusinessWeek]
Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, will stop selling cypress mulch from Louisiana, where environmentalists say the logging of the tree threatens this coast’s eroding wetlands and puts the state at greater risk from hurricanes.
Wal-Mart will refuse to buy cypress mulch harvested, bagged or manufactured in Louisiana “in order to extend the life-span of the coastal wetland forests,” Tara Raddohl, a spokeswoman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc., said Wednesday.
Wal-Mart’s decision was lauded by the Save Our Cypress coalition, an environmental group that has urged retailers to drop Louisiana cypress mulch.
The campaign is targeting The Home Depot Inc. and Lowe’s Companies Inc. Officials of both companies have said they do not use the mulch from coastal Louisiana, but environmentalists say they have traced it going into bags sold by company suppliers. Save Our Cypress is asking both companies to take a stance like Wal-Mart’s.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, September 06 | 3 comments | Permalink
KENTUCKY SITE FIGHT - Victory!
Wal-Mart withdraws application [The Cincinnati Enquirer]
Wal-Mart has withdrawn its application to build a Supercenter at the intersection of U.S. 42 and Weaver Road.
Wal-Mart representatives sent Boone County Planning Commission a letter late Wednesday afternoon asking to pull the application.
Planning Commission was set to vote on a zone change for the store at 7 p.m. tonight.
Wal-Mart spokesman Jason Wetzel said the store needs more time to work out the details of building dual left turn lanes on U.S. 42. He did not know how long it would be until Wal-Mart resubmits its application.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, September 06 | 0 comments | Permalink
New Report Calls Wal-Mart Environmental Initiatives “Smoke and Mirrors”
A new report jointing published by 23 organizations across the country calls on Wal-Mart to reframe its sustainability efforts so that workers, the environment and communities are all respected. The report examines several specific areas where Wal-Mart falls short of its claim of environmental-friendliness. Areas of focus include Wal-Mart’s organics, seafood, wood sourcing, product packaging, dangerous toys, contributions to global warming, energy use, and waste quantities. The report goes on to incorporate workers’ rights and community impact analyses, retaining a wholistic view of Wal-Mart’s business model overall. From the introduction:
Nearly two years ago, Wal-Mart CEO H. Lee Scott announced a bold initiative to turn the world’s largest company green. A long-anticipated fi rst progress report on these sustainability goals is expected to be released soon. In advance of the company’s report, 23 environmental, farm, labor, and other civil society groups have offered their own critiques of Wal-Mart’s approach to
sustainability.Some of these critiques focus on specific Wal-Mart commitments and offer recommendations for change. Others argue that even if Wal-Mart achieved all of its stated goals, the company’s
business model makes it inherently unsustainable. All of them remind us of what’s at stake by demonstrating Wal-Mart’s huge and often devastating impacts on real people and places in the
United States and around the world.
Click here to download the full report from the Big Box Collaborative.
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, September 06 | 2 comments | Permalink
GEORGIA SITE FIGHT: LONE RESIDENT OPPOSES BIG-BOX MORATORIUm
A NEW TWIST IN BIG-BOX BATTLE [The Atlanta Journal-Constitution]
Landowner plans to sue Duluth over moratorium on big-store constructionA landowner who wants to sell 27 acres to Wal-Mart says he plans to file a $25 million lawsuit against Duluth after the city imposed a six-month moratorium on big-box developments.
Former Gov. Roy Barnes represents the landowner, Jack Bandy, whose 27-acre parcel on Peachtree Industrial Boulevard in Gwinnett County is where Wal-Mart wants to build a 176,305-square-foot Supercenter.
Barnes said in a letter the city received Friday that the city acted improperly by imposing the moratorium.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt on Thursday, September 06 | 0 comments | Permalink
View Wal-Mart Watch's videos on YouTube