Went to Walmart the other night...

[M>B>]

You should see the movie about Wal-Mart, "The High Cost of Low Prices"...

http://dvd.netflix.com/Movie/Wal-Mart-Th...298817_0_0&strackid=4b217b9b75dd59ef_0_srl&trkid=222336

[RAMd®d]

When the alternative is going to WalMart I pay the higher price.

Agreed.


- This year, [almost] everyone in the world will make an average of 1.1 purchases at a Walmart.

Fixed that for you.

I have not, nor will I purchase from WalMart. Their business practices have pretty much been covered by previous posts.

I don't begrudge those who do, particularly those who can't afford to shop at other stores. But I won't.

My feeling is the ratio of people who feel they're too good to shop at WalMart to those who find WalMart's business practices despicable, evil, and unacceptble is very small.

I grew up with a mom and pop grocery store just down the street from me. Even at a young age, I could walk to the store with a list of stuff from Mom.

Then a SuperMarket (Lucky's) moved in, several blocks away. I hated carrying a bag, then bags of groceries all that way, and we still couldn't buy brand name, nationally advertised products. But we did get more for our money. A lot more.

It was years before I understood why the little market went out of business, but I missed them all the same. We knew them and they knew all of us. But I got to eat three times a day, and we sometimes had seconds at dinner.

As I said, I will never shop at WalMart but I won't begrudge those who do, especially if they need to.

[Bill in NC]

Bought my dishwasher there, but they had stopped selling TVs by that time.

Nice old guy ran it for 30 years, he died, son took it over, who then looted the business, including pocketing employee payroll taxes & health insurance premiums IIRC, and so ran business into ground within a couple of years.

$tevie wrote:
How many of you bought your last TV at a locally owned appliance store? Just asking.

[Black]

$tevie wrote:
Again, I am not defending Walmart.

But I think that most of you don't realize that A&P and Acme and Woolworth's did the exact same thing. And Rite-Aid and CVS. And Barnes & Noble and Best Buy. And Macy's and Gimble's.

The "Mom & Pop" stores used to be just "the stores" and all of these companies had a hand in destroying a lot of them.

I don't think you're quite grasping the targeted manner in which Wal-Mart has traditionally competed. They send scouts to the other stores to find out what people are buying and what things cost, and make a targeted effort to make sure those stores go out of business.
Do you really think all of these other companies did the same thing?

[rgG]

$tevie,
I didn't think your post, or anyone's was directed at me.
I, too, don't blame the people who shop at WalMart, as there are many people who have no choice, or just want to pay as little as possible. They may or may not realize the reasons the prices are sometimes lower.
I blame the people at WalMart corporate who decided, somewhere along the way, that the end always justifies the means. And, WalMart isn't the only business that has shady business practices, but they are so large that they affect so many people when they act with questionable ethics.

[$tevie]

Black wrote:
[quote=$tevie]
Again, I am not defending Walmart.

But I think that most of you don't realize that A&P and Acme and Woolworth's did the exact same thing. And Rite-Aid and CVS. And Barnes & Noble and Best Buy. And Macy's and Gimble's.

The "Mom & Pop" stores used to be just "the stores" and all of these companies had a hand in destroying a lot of them.

I don't think you're quite grasping the targeted manner in which Wal-Mart has traditionally competed. They send scouts to the other stores to find out what people are buying and what things cost, and make a targeted effort to make sure those stores go out of business.
Do you really think all of these other companies did the same thing?
Any chain with volume is going to be able to charge less than a local store, it takes virtually no effort on their part.

But as a matter of fact, A&P did exactly that in order to close down small groceries.

It is incredible that a group of people who spend as much time as this group seeking and posting low prices on almost anything can try to deny being a part of the stampede to low low prices. Not shopping at Walmart does not absolve you of this sin.

[Surfrider]

rgG

Lovable could have stopped dealing with Walmart at any time.

I have a small business, I have allowed one of my customers to become 50% of my business. If they wanted to start dictating to me new terms and prices, I'd have three choices. Agree, Negotiate and hope. Walk away.

Lovable allowed themselves to be put in that situation, just like I have.

I'm trying to spread my customer base so I'm not caught in that jam, Lovale should have done the same thing.

It's not easy, I'm 62 now and my steam for business is running out but I'm still trying to do better/smarter every day.

That said, I buy US every chance I get. It's not easy, almost every major surf clothing brand and tee shirt manufacturer is making things offshore (Mexico & Central America included) American Apparel is one of our few good choices.

[rgG]

Surfrider wrote:
rgG

Lovable could have stopped dealing with Walmart at any time.

I have a small business, I have allowed one of my customers to become 50% of my business. If they wanted to start dictating to me new terms and prices, I'd have three choices. Agree, Negotiate and hope. Walk away.

Lovable allowed themselves to be put in that situation, just like I have.

I'm trying to spread my customer base so I'm not caught in that jam, Lovale should have done the same thing.

It's not easy, I'm 62 now and my steam for business is running out but I'm still trying to do better/smarter every day.

That said, I buy US every chance I get. It's not easy, almost every major surf clothing brand and tee shirt manufacturer is making things offshore (Mexico & Central America included) American Apparel is one of our few good choices.

You clearly cannot know the whole situation, as you were not there, and my husband could not spell out the whole situation, for fear of being sued, but let me say that it is not as simplistic as you make it. If one of your customers gave you a multi-million dollar order, then basically reneged on it, after the goods were produced, how would you compensate? A customer that you had dealt with for decades, and in the past had been reputable and fair, but now was not. You could possibly have sued them, for breach of contract, but even if you had won, you would have been out business by that time, since they are that large and that powerful. With companies such as WalMart, vendors are almost forced to do business with them, because they control such a large share of certain markets. It is truly a damned if you do and damned if you don't scenario.