Mary Bach, a woman from Murrysville, Pennsylvania has won her fourth lawsuit against Wal-Mart after being over-charged for a dress. Bach, nicknamed the ‘scanner-lady’ has gained a certain level of fame recently, as a champion of consumers for filing numerous small-claims suits against retailers for what she calls: “electronic shopper-lifting.” She has sued Kmart and Eckard after being over-charged for products. Wal-Mart plead no-contest, having violated a consumer-protection law and had to pay Bach $164 including court fees. “Bach said it is not about the money” says WPXI-TV (Pa.), who also quoted her as saying:
“Here you have retailers who can reach into your wallet by overcharging you multiple times and they then shrug their shoulders and say, ‘oops it’s a mistake.’”
The Associated Press said that Bach was a key player in passing a law which requires the state to conduct inspections of price-scanners.
Wal-Mart is accustomed to being sued over pricing issues. Just over a year ago, we posted a story from the Manitowoc Herald Times Reporter about how Wal-Mart was fined almost $90,000 from the Wisconsin State Legislature for over-charging for bulk food items.
Woman Sues Wal-Mart Over Price Problems [WPXI-TV (Pa.)]:
DELMONT, Pa.—A woman won a lawsuit against Wal-Mart after she claimed she was overcharged for purchases at the chain’s store in Delmont.
Wal-Mart pleaded no contest and will play Mary Bach $164, including $64 in court fees.
In an earlier version of this story, Channel 11 posted only a portion of Wal-Mart’s response to the litigation. The following is Wal-Mart’s response in its entirety:
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Luke West | Permalink
According to The Christian Science Monitor: “In Britain, carbon footprinting – used initially to broadly measure environmental impact across a company’s entire operations – is morphing into an eco-labeling tool.” This after a British group reported that 80% of a product’s carbon footprint is laid before the consumer actually drives out and buys or uses it.
Unfortunately, carbon-labeling appears to be a tool Wal-Mart believes the American consumer isn’t ready for.
As for carbon-labeling, Wal-Mart’s senior vice president of sustainability, Matt Kistler, says that he doubted existing methodologies and the Wal-Mart customer’s ability to relate carbon with consumer merchandise. “I’m not sure the consumer will ever make a purchase based on the carbon footprint,” he says, “especially the mass consumer.”
Possible. But I think Mr. Kistler underestimates the public’s knowledge on the issue. Sure, many consumers may not know what exactly a carbon-footprint is, but the majority have probably at least heard the term and know it relates in some way to the environment. Carbon-labeling may not affect the buying habits of the majority, yet even if a small percentage of Wal-Mart shoppers were to see the labels and be moved to research the issue further, that can’t be a bad thing, right?
Those making efforts to examine their carbon footprints often do so without transparency – essential to generating both customer support and supply-chain innovation.
At Wal-Mart, consumer transparency is largely tied in to its corporate press releases, a growing assortment of eco-labeled products, and in-store awareness campaigns. A more robust effort is the company’s “Love, Earth” jewelry, which enables customers to use the Internet to map where the jewelry’s gold and silver were mined and manufactured, including information on how the mines manage cyanide and waste dumps.
Are you ready to go on a carbon diet? [The Christian Science Monitor]
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Corey Himrod | Permalink
Check out this week’s issue of the Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials – a compilation of Wal-Mart news from across the country and beyond.
This week’s issue begins on Wal-Mart and the economy, and whether Wal-Mart sales statistics can be used as a new barometer for the U.S. economy. You’ll also find stories on changes in shopper behavior, now that consumers are faced with less disposable income. And, you’ll find stories on Wal-Mart’s slowed growth, and the switch to smaller store formats by retailers across the country.
In addition to the economy, you’ll find stories related to next week’s election. Barack Obama highlighted the story of a 72-year-old man forced to go back to work for Wal-Mart in his half-hour special this past Wednesday night. Meanwhile, according to Reuters Wal-Mart vows to remain non-partisan in the 2008 election season, while the Financial Times reports on the candidates attempting to woo the so-called “Wal-Mart Moms.” Plus, there are suspicions that Wal-Mart is behind a new grassroots group recently set up to fight the Employee Free Choice Act, as reported in The National Journal.
Also: Find out whether a Wal-Mart case in Montana could lead to changes in that state’s campaign finance law.
And finally, check out our “Stateside” and “Wal-Mart International” sections to find out what’s going on with Wal-Mart around the country and across the globe. A California ballot measure could lead to increased demand for more humane animal products, while citizens in Virginia continue to fight Wal-Mart’s attempt to build near an historic Civil War battlefield.
Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials [October 31, 2008]
Posted by Corey Himrod | Permalink
The biggest oil company in the world and the biggest retailer in the world are loving life as the economy sinks.
Wal-Mart stock has risen 20% since the start of the fiscal year. Exxon Mobile just posted the largest quarterly earnings in American history- to the tune of 14.83 billion dollars. The recession has done wonders for both companies; the volatile price of oil, puts Exxon Mobile in the position to capitalize on futures from supply-wary market analysts, while Wal-Mart continues to post double-digit profits because of the high number of price-conscious consumers who are forced to trade down - even if it’s against their will.
Many more-upscale retailers, such as Target, are not doing quite as well during the recession. BusinessWeek reports that looking at the most recent quarter over the past year, Wal-Mart’s same store sales are up 5% while Target’s are down 0.4% and K-Mart’s are down 5.6%.
But these days are numbered. Wal-Mart knows that the recession won’t last forever. This week, they unveiled plans to focus more on renovating existing stores next year than opening new stores. Wal-Mart realizes that when the economy turns up again, many of its new customers will want to shop elsewhere - and they’re trying to stop it. The question is: will it work?
Wal-Mart Wins Big During Downturn [BusinessWeek]
These are heady times for Wal-Mart (WMT). The Bentonville (Ark.) retailer has been enjoying double-digit profit growth and strong sales as bargain hunters crowd its aisles. Its stock is up about 20% since the start of the year. And shoppers like Sal Garcia of Downey, Calif., are joining the growing ranks of loyal customers. “Look,” says Garcia, 52, putting the last of 10 shopping bags into the trunk of his Lexus, “all that for $54!”
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Luke West | Permalink
Thanks to reader Jason for sending us along these pics.
A Wal-Mart in Southern California is selling $1.00 face paint - “No Smear Makeup Crayons” - for kids’ Halloween costumes. And they’re not even trying to hide it - the front of the package states that the product that is a “choking hazard”, and CONTAINS LEAD! which is “known to the state of California to cause birth defects.”
Let’s see how fast we can get these pulled from shelves.
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
Well, my faithful blog readers, after two years of working on Wal-Mart issues and more than a year as the main editor of this blog, our Friday Blog Round-Up today will be my last post. I hope you all continue reading, commenting and working to challenge Wal-Mart’s business practices. Enjoy the writing of my Wal-Mart Watch colleagues and try to keep the infighting to a minimum. As for now - on to the week’s blogs!
BLOGGERS WEIGH IN ON “EMPLOYEES SPEAK OUT”
Real Voices, Some More Wild Stuff [Working Life]
Wal-Mart Watch has set up a website where you can actually hear and read about the actual workers who have to put up with the oppressive behavior of The Beast. This is part of the picture: the Great Robbery that we have all endured for a number of decades--wages not going up (even though productivity goes up), no health care, no pensions--plays out, day-to-day, in those aisles at Wal-Mart.
The voice of the workers (Part 1) [Writing on the Wal]
What you get there is a look behind Walmart’s PR curtain to see what employees are really thinking, but too afraid to tell their supervisors since they don’t have a union to protect them. Indeed, let’s start this series there, in the category that Wal-Mart Watch calls corporate culture.
After the jump, union-busting in Canada, bottle water, Nike’s suit against the Bentonville behemoth and Sarah Palin.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
Nike Inc., the world’s largest athletic shoemaker, has sued Wal-Mart for allegedly selling footwear that infringes one of its patented designs. Or so says the footwear giant, who filed a patent infringement suit against the retail giant on Monday in federal district court in Illinois.
The case revolves around two of Nike’s designs, both having been patented back in late 2004. As you can see by photos included in Nike’s complaint, Wal-Mart’s shoe looks like a pretty spot-on match, at least design-wise. Kudos to Wal-Mart’s apparel design team - if your own products aren’t selling, why not copy those that do? And who wouldn’t want a shoe with pogo springs right in the heel?! I couldn’t find the offending models online, although most of Wal-Mart’s own athletic shoes appear to retail for between $10-25...I would guess the original Nike version sells for just a little bit more. Several Nike models, in fact, use the copied design and generally retail for $90 and above. You can draw your own conclusions, though my guess is that these two shoes are similar on face value only - it wouldn’t surprise me if for $15, Wal-Mart’s springs were filled with marshmallow or tiny foam peanuts.
The retail mega-chain has faced a couple of infringement suits already this year - recently by Pepe Jeans, and prior to that by Adidas, which settled its case with Wal-Mart in September. You can read more about those two instances here, here, and here.
Read Nike’s complaint here.
Nike sues Wal-Mart, alleges patent infringement [Rueters]
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Posted by Corey Himrod | Permalink
Let’s say you’re a multi-national corporation worth billions upon billions of dollars. Your business is built on an empire of discount retail establishments, most of which are so large one could get lost inside. Your stores, in fact, contain more items than actually exist in reality, all of which (both the real and the theoretical) are priced at low, low prices and ready to move.
Now, sure, you have to deal with the problem of shrinkage. Not of the George Costanza variety, but the kind that entails product leaving your stores without an exchange of money taking place. Theft is a real problem, especially if the thefted item happens to cost a couple thousand dollars like, say, a laptop computer might. The solution, it turns out, is simple. Put out for sale empty boxes.
Most would think such a strategy couldn’t possibly exist, let alone have unintended positive consequences, but you’d be wrong. It seems three men in Chandler, Arizona, purchased a laptop from a local Wal-Mart. Apparently not realizing they had bought the lightest laptop this side of an Apple thinbook, the men left the store with what they would later claim was an empty box. Low and behold, Chandler police were called when the three men returned with an empty box, claiming a laptop was never in it. Long story short, when police arrived, one of the men made a run for it tossing away what turned out to be forged credit cards in the process. Wal-Mart’s shrinkage-protection scheme strikes again, only this time thwarting a Phoenix-wide credit card forgery ring instead of a simple shoplifter.
Store employees later discovered they had indeed sold an empty box to the three men.
Posted by Corey Himrod | Permalink
Just in time Three months before the holidays, Wal-Mart is challenging fellow toy retailers to try to match its prices on Christmas gifts. The retailer has a history of relentlessly undercutting its competitors, but rival retailers like Target and KB Toys aren’t taking Wal-Mart’s price cuts lying down. After announcing its price cuts last week, several other retailers countered with price cuts of their own. With any luck, the cuts will convince parents to spend big and spend soon on toys for Christmas.
The race to the bottom on toy prices shows how influential retailers can be in setting prices for the products sold in their stores. Wal-Mart might be losing money on its $10 Barbie dolls, but it’s dragging the entire toy industry down with it. One interesting quote, from an executive at Toys ‘R’ Us, highlighted how narrow-minded shoppers’ focus can be: “value is not just about cheapness,” he said, and he’s right. Wal-Mart’s toys might be cheap, but problems persist with almost every aspect of the manufacturing process. Are workers rights, American wages and children’s safety worth a $10 toy?
Wal-Mart Sparks War Among Big Toy Sellers [Wall Street Journal]
Retail price wars are starting early this year, and the latest weapon is the $10 toy—a signal that retailers are bracing for a rough-and-tumble Christmas shopping season.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
A story out today from Advertising Age has an in-depth break down of Wal-Mart’s current business and marketing strategy. Most retailers are scrambling to stay afloat as the economy declines, but in the last month Wal-Mart has seen rises in both its stock price and profits.
Shoppers are trading down, and Wal-Mart is as low as they can go. A bad economy has always been good for Wal-Mart, and today’s recession-like atmosphere is no different. Wal-Mart’s execs claim the recent boost in sales is due to a “strategic three-year plan,” but most analysts agree: when the going gets tough, the tough go to Wal-Mart.
“But,” says one analyst quoted in the article, “there is a chink in the armor of Wal-Mart, which is these customers are not saying they necessarily feel loyalty.” Though more people are shopping at the low-price retailer, they’re not likely to stay. Wal-Mart’s only advantage is its prices: customer service, product quality and company ethics are all secondary objectives, and shoppers know that. Brand loyalty might not be a problem for Wal-Mart now, but once the economy improves the company could face the consequences for putting low prices above all else.
Wal-Mart Grinning Big Through the Tough Times [Advertising Age]
Looking for a silver lining in the economy? It’s shining brightly from Bentonville, Ark.
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Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
SANTA TO WORK LONGER HOURS WITHOUT OVERTIME THIS YEAR
Wal-Mart announced this week that it will start cutting toy prices almost three months before Christmas. To which Santa Claus replied, “Seriously?”
Wal-Mart starts the discounting early this year [BloggingStocks]
According to The Wall Street Journal, “Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. said it will cut prices on some of the most popular toys and speed up the opening of Christmas shops in its stores nationwide as it tries to lure budget-conscious shoppers and jump start its biggest selling season.”
Wal-Mart: Coal In The Retail Industry’s Stocking [24/7 Wall St.]
Wal-Mart’s action is a typical method for burying the competition. It can afford almost endless inventory build-ups for the busy shopping season. It can pull in the very modest amount that the consumer has to spend and leave other retailers with scraps off the table.
In which Walmart explains why we’re all doomed. [Writing on the Wal]
Obviously, I’m a masochist. I actually read Walmart’s press release on its early rollback of toy prices. While the Play-Doh Ice Cream Shop would be tempting if it weren’t Walmart we’re talking about here, I was much more struck by the survey results at the bottom of the document. Most notably:
Sixty-one percent of Americans do not plan on making cut-backs on how much they spend this Christmas season.
*Those who do plan on making cut-backs, plan on cutting back $50 or less.
Don’t you think that result seems just a tad self-interested? Why is that stat there if not to convince people to spend more whether they can afford to or not? I suspect Walmart has declared Christmas early because they’re afraid nobody will have any money left in December.
After the jump, Wal-Mart shuts down DRM music downloads, managers make up their own rules and 210,000 toasters get recalled.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
Wal-Mart stockpiles massive amounts of information about its customers. The retailer’s databases are enormous - bigger than the internet - and the information contained on its servers includes everything from which aisles shoppers choose to go down to the time of day chocolate milk sells quickest.
Now, the statistics firm ACNeilson (best known for its TV viewership ratings) is taking Wal-Mart’s data and helping the retailer understand its shoppers even better. At a recent conference of Wal-Mart suppliers, Neilson reps broke down how many cartons of eggs, car parts, and bags of dog food Wal-Mart customers buy each year. The study also revealed the average household incomes of Wal-Mart’s shoppers, the average number of trips each shopper makes and how much shoppers spent at the stores, on average. Ultimately, Wal-Mart hopes to use this information to customize store inventories and increase profits.
The study comes at a time when political analysts everywhere are desperately trying to understand Wal-Mart’s core demographic. “Wal-Mart Moms” may be the key to November’s election, some pundits say. Political alignment might not have been on Neilson’s questionnaire, but the study does provide some insight. According to Neilson, the average Wal-Mart shopper is a “pet-loving, pasta-eating, car-driving, gadget-obsessed dieter who either doesn’t care for cheese or buys it elsewhere.” (That part about the cheese may or may not impact the election directly.)
The data in the study doesn’t provide a complete picture of Wal-Mart’s shoppers - and it certainly doesn’t encompass all of the middle-aged women being wooed by politicians - but Wal-Mart is trying harder than ever to win over “the core female head of household” i.e., the “Wal-Mart Mom.” The retailer isn’t alone in catering to this powerful group not alone, and who knows - maybe quality dog food actually is the secret to winning the presidency in November.
Marketing firm looks at Wal-Mart shopper, trends [NW Arkansas Morning News]
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
Check out this week’s issue of the Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials – a compilation of Wal-Mart news from across the country and beyond.
This week’s issue begins with reports of price gouging on the part of Wal-Mart. What’s truly abhorrent about these reports, however, is that they are being made by the very people affected most by the recent cavalcade of hurricanes to batter the Gulf coast. The Arkansas News Bureau and The Consumerist have more on these stories.
You’ll also find major news on the legal front. The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed its second lawsuit against Wal-Mart in less than three weeks. The first involves the Americans with Disabilities Act in Illinois; the second involves age discrimination against a 67-year-old optician in Missouri. In addition to the EEOC lawsuits, Wal-Mart will now have to face another class action wage/hour lawsuit. Salvas v. Wal-Mart was originally certified as a class action back in 2004. Since then the case has gone back and forth through the Massachusetts court system, eventually being decertified and winding up in front of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on appeal. Well, the SJC released its opinion this week, ruling that the decertification was improper and that the lawsuit should be reinstated as a class action. A trial is possible, which could cost Wal-Mart hundreds of millions of dollars in unpaid wages and damages. The Boston Globe and Boston Herald have the story.
Also check out the Product and Food Safety Report, where you’ll find stories on BPA (and a class action lawsuit regarding the chemical that includes Wal-Mart), dangerous soccer goals and baby cribs sold at Wal-Mart, and a pet food recall involving Purina products sold at the retailer.
And finally, check out our “Stateside” and “Wal-Mart International” sections to find out what’s going on with Wal-Mart around the country and across the globe.
Wal-Mart Watch Weekly Update for Elected Officials [September 24, 2008]
Posted by Corey Himrod | Permalink
It’s been a big day for Wal-Mart photo centers. Early this morning, news broke that an employee at a Louisiana Walmart store stole compromising photos of Jamie Lynn Spears, with intent to sell the images to the media. Because Jamie Lynn is a minor, and because getting your personal photos copied and sold by your photo developer is creepy, Wal-Mart could potentially face penalties for the act.
But that’s not all. News ALSO comes today that the retailer has partnered with Jones Soda, maker of delicious and unusually-flavored colas, to let customers order custom-printed soda cans at Wal-Mart photo centers. Just when you thought you’d never find soda packaging that embodied your life outlook, Jones Soda has made it possible.
We really hope these two events aren’t somehow connected. It’s bad enough that stories about Jamie Lynn flooded our Google alerts this morning: it’d be even worse if we have to see her staring out at us from the soda case at the deli, too. And for those of you interested, you don’t have to go to a Wal-Mart to get your face on a Jones soda can: you can order a six-pack right on their website, and yes, we’re planning to get a case.
Jones Soda introduces myJones at Wal-Mart photo centers [Smart Briefs]
Celeb-a-razzi: Wal-Mart may be in trouble over Brit, Jamie Lynn photos [Detroit News]
Posted by Media Team | Permalink
This piece originally appeared on the Huffington Post
It is football season again and fans in communities across the country are turning out for high school games. They are probably wearing sweatshirts, t-shirts and other gear to cheer their local team. Unfortunately, if those fans bought their clothing from their local Walmart store, their team is not getting any financial support, and that means that the games may be numbered.
We recently received reports from all over the country about Walmart selling high school logo sportswear without the schools’ permission and without donating any of the profits. As a result, fundraising efforts are undercut and already thin school athletic budgets are stretched even further as local residents buy cheaper versions at Walmart.
The practice has likely been ongoing for years, but current economic problems and shrinking school budgets may be the catalyst for some schools to take a closer look at how Walmart’s effort puts a dent in their local programs.
It started on September 4, when KXLY-4 News out of Washington state reported that a local Wal-Mart was selling Cheney High School athletic gear without permission, and without donating any of the profits.
Several days later, the Kingsport Times-News reported that Science Hill High School in Johnson City, Tennessee has repeatedly complained to Walmart about the practice and the school attorney has sent cease-and-desist letters. Then, last Friday - the Cheney Free Press reported that a host of schools in the Washington state area have been complaining about the same problem.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by David Nassar, Executive Director | Permalink
News broke last week that Wal-Mart raised gasoline prices at its stores in Texas just before Hurricane Ike hit the area. Consumers in the area didn’t fail to notice, despite the coming storm. Texas state law protects against price gouging, especially during a disaster or emergency.
Now, news from Arkansas tells that the Attorney General there will subpoena “30 gasoline retailers” as part of an investigation into gas price hikes around the time of Hurricane Ike. Though the article doesn’t list the gas retailers in question, we assume it includes Wal-Mart, which has several dozen gas stations in the state. From the news brief on the Arkansas News Bureau’s website:
Arkansas law prohibits businesses from raising prices for motor fuel, food and certain other products by more than 10 percent within 30 days of a declaration of emergency. Violators can be fined up to $10,000 for each transaction in which a customer is overcharged. Fuel prices in Arkansas rose dramatically over a three-day period during the storm’s mainland trek.
Consumerist also brings news of price gouging, but in a different place and on different items. A company insider in Kentucky explains the price of pre-charged cell phone batteries shot up to $19 a piece - almost doubling in cost, in some cases - in the days preceding the hurricane. When power was knocked out to parts of the state, the store sold out of batteries despite the higher price. From Consumerist:
Now today all of our car chargers go up nearly 50%. In fact, every charger, car or wall, in our store is a flat $19.00, when car chargers were $10.00 and wall chargers were $15.00 yesterday. This is hardly a coincidence, and it’s so blatently obvious to our customers. I can’t believe Walmart would do something so totally against their own mantra of Save Money, Live Better. This is more like “Raise Prices, Screw Suffering Customers!”
Price gouging disaster victims is exploitative and potentially illegal - but also destroys the good publicity Wal-Mart frequently seeks after natural disasters. The company holds high profile donation events and invites professional photographers, but clearly isn’t committed to helping disaster victims when there’s no PR benefit for the company.
For those of you who have visited a Wal-Mart store before or after a disaster or emergency, have you noticed higher prices on essentials?
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
Several retailers including Wal-Mart have been named in a nationwide class action for their participation in selling polycarbonate plastic baby bottles and toddler training cups containing the controversial hormone BPA.
This whole BPA - or Bisphenol-A - controversy is not a good thing. BPA is a key compound used in polycarbonate plastics, which are clear and nearly shatter-proof (a good thing), and also possibly toxic and poisoning us and our children daily (apparently bad...very, very bad). These plastics are used to make a variety of common products including baby and water bottles, sports equipment, medical devices, lenses, CDs, and household electronics...a fact that, in the interest of full disclosure, actually made me check the bottom of my water bottle this morning to make sure I wasn’t slowly killing myself.
The lawsuit in question was filed in Georgia, and you can read the (very long) complaint here, in which defendants are accused of manufacturing and selling materials made with BPA despite knowledge of likely adverse affects. In addition to Wal-Mart, retailers such as CVS, Target, and Kroger have been named in the suit. Also named were manufacturers of the bottles themselves, including Evenflo, Gerber, and Playtex. The best part of this whole thing - not only have over a hundred studies been produced in the last decade warning of the adverse affects of BPA, but apparently in deeming the compound safe the FDA decided to rely on only two, both of which were produced by the American Plastics Council. So kudos to the FDA for that.
The lawsuit has been filed in the U.S District Court for the Northern District of Georgia. You can read the release on it below.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Corey Himrod | Permalink
Remember back in June, when the FDA warned consumers about eating certain kinds of tomatoes coming out of Mexico due to potential salmonella contamination? And then expanded that warning to include certain peppers as well? All vendors of these products, including Wal-Mart were to halt the sale of such items.
Cheryl Grubbs is filing suit against Wal-Mart Stores, Inc, alleging that her husband, Brian Grubbs came close to death after eating several jalapeno peppers that were purchased at a Wal-Mart and tainted with salmonella in an article published today in LawyersandSettlements.com.
[An earlier version of this blog post mentioned that the FDA recall in question occured on June 25, 2008. This was incorrect: we apologize for the mistake.]
Tomato-Pepper Salmonella: Why the Grubbs are Suing Wal-Mart
Dolores, CO: “Truckloads of contaminated jalapenos were turned back at the border before we bought them at Wal-Mart,” says Cheryl Grubbs, “so why did Wal-Mart still have them in their store?” Her husband, Brian Grubbs, almost died from the tomato/pepper salmonella outbreak, and Cheryl is furious because his illness could have been avoided.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Luke West | Permalink
The past couple weeks have seen plenty of stories describing ways in which Wal-Mart has mobilized to aid the Gulf Coast in preparation and relief efforts during hurricane season.
It seems, however, that even though the corporation was making efforts to lessen the blow of the storm, they still haven’t lost sight of the bottom-line. In a story posted yesterday in The Examiner, Wal-Mart was accused of price-gouging gasoline at one of their stations along an evacuation route in Southeast Texas. The Wal-Mart/Murphy USA located on U.S. 69 in Lumberton raised their price of gasoline a total of 12 cents in the day leading up to the evacuation for Hurricane Gustav, then another 10 cents when the evacuation was announced.
These prices were NOT consistent with other gas-stations in the area and following the storm, prices dropped again to reflect market prices. And despite a gas station manager claiming that prices went up because of a “gas price rise”, the cost of oil per barrel dropped over each of the three days.
Evacuation Gas Game [The Examiner (Texas)]:
In the days and hours leading to the potential call for a mandatory evacuation for Southeast Texas residents the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) blasted across its electronic billboard alert system that a hurricane was coming and residents needed to fill up their tanks with gasoline.
According to a local wholesale fuel provider, most everyone heeded TxDOT’s advice, but The Examiner also kept close watch on one gasoline retailer located along the main evacuation route from Southeast Texas.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Luke West | Permalink
Wal-Mart has built a reputation cold-hearted censorship - whether it’s record albums or movies, the retailer has massive control over the content of the media it sells.
Now it seems like the practice has spread to newspapers: employees at Wal-Mart’s British stores were ordered to remove competitors’ fliers from the daily papers, and cover up certain papers when competitors ran front page ads. Unlike in the U.S., Wal-Mart is only the second largest retailer in the U.K., and has been fiercely battling other retailers for months. The employees eventually pushed back against the practice, refusing to comply with such underhanded tactics. If only everyone along the Wal-Mart supply chain had such gumption.
Asda staff expose mangers’ dirty tricks to sabotage Tesco adverts [Sunday Mail (U.K.)]
ASDA staff were ordered to take Tesco flyers out of newspapers and dump them in bins as supermarket price wars turned nasty.
But staff blew the whistle as they felt too ashamed to carry out the sneaky tactics. Red-faced Asda bosses yesterday admitted thousands of leaflets were binned at an Edinburgh store.
Workers there claimed bosses even turned down their request to put the promos in a recycling bin.
A member of staff at the capital’s Chesser store said: “One of the people in the cigarette kiosk had to take all the inserts out and bin them. He was really hacked off about it.
“The guy asked the manager if they could at least take the leaflets to the recycling bin but were told not to.”
When Tesco took out a full frontpage advert on a local paper, staff were told to cover the issue up.
Read the rest of this story ...
Posted by Alex Goldschmidt | Permalink
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