Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price [Archive]

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cosmo105

11-20-2005, 01:42 PM

please, see this movie. (http://www.walmartmovie.com) i don't know if it's been posted about before.

it reinforces what we've known about the corporation for years. even if you don't see the movie - don't shop there.

Monkertrol

11-20-2005, 02:06 PM

psssst your link is broken

cosmo105

11-20-2005, 02:08 PM

whoopsie. it's fixed now. thanks.

roosta

11-20-2005, 02:14 PM

My mate who is doing marketing in college constantly talks about how evil and shit Wal-Mart are.

When he found out that Asda (owned by Wal-Mart) were coming to our town his head nearly blew off his shoulders. He detests them,

I must tell him bout this....

ScarySquirrel

11-20-2005, 02:20 PM

The DVD is cheaper if you buy it at Wal-Mart.

Monkertrol

11-20-2005, 02:20 PM

personally... im kind of split on the issue, I understand that the company is a horrible entity. but amongst that is myself, ive been a lowly associate at a sams club for five years now. well not really, but during the summers i still work there. i wish i could leave but there really arent any jobs that will pay me as good anywhere else in town. anyways this summer i think im staying in college so ill be quitting soon

ToucanSpam

11-20-2005, 02:27 PM

The DVD is cheaper if you buy it at Wal-Mart.
hahahaha

I'm there. That's where I get my Underoos.

DandyFop

11-20-2005, 02:37 PM

This is from the website:

Everyone has seen Wal-Mart's lavish television commercials, but have you ever wondered why Wal-Mart spends so much money trying to convince you it cares about your family, your community, and even its own employees? What is it hiding?

WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel... and shop.

--------------

Now, I have no doubt that Wal-Mart is evil along with many other companies, and I don't personally shop there. But I wish the site for this DVD was better. I mean, c'mon lavish commercials? takes you behind the glitz ?? What glitz?? It sounds more like they're talking about a Wayne Newton Vegas show....and I wish the first thing I saw on the site wasn't BUY THE DVD!!! I do agree with them but the site was kinda off-putting

and p.s. ah shit I missed the screenings in Salt Lake, they were all yesterday

fucktopgirl

11-20-2005, 02:39 PM

i dont like wal-mart ,i would boycott them but where i live,they are like the best deal around for a lot of thing.I dont have a lot of others choice.So i shop there from time to time!

DipDipDive

11-20-2005, 02:40 PM

I hate Wal-Mart passionately, but life would stop where I live without it and I really have no choice but to shop there. Sadly, such is the case in most small rural towns in America nowadays. :(

P.S.
SUCK MY ASS, WEST VIRGINIA!

Monkertrol

11-20-2005, 02:40 PM

targets gettin there... though i dont know that they are any better

zerohour

11-20-2005, 03:58 PM

Check out this essay on Wal-Mart, might open your eyes a bit on what they are really all about:

Wal-Mart: Who Pays For the Savings? (http://www.zerohour.com/essaywalmart.htm)

jackrock

11-20-2005, 04:07 PM

The DVD is cheaper if you buy it at Wal-Mart.
HAHHAA!

i never have liked wal-mart, not really sure why, it's hard to explain

Freebasser

11-20-2005, 04:14 PM

ASDA (a Walmart bitch) is only 5 minutes walk away.

Tesco is on the other side of the city.

I'll stick to ASDA.

tracky

11-20-2005, 04:18 PM

cosmo105

11-20-2005, 04:20 PM

not that those stores aren't bad, either, but wal-mart makes money off deliberately killing competition and cutting costs elsewhere (employee wages, health care, etc.) and making the government pick up the tab for it while destroying family businesses. they're huge. the walton family is worth literally billions.

for me the most striking figure was the amount that wal-mart employees donated out of their paychecks to their emergency employee relief fund (in case of natural disasters, etc.) in one year was in the millions. the waltons, in the same year, donated:

$6,000.

fucktopgirl

11-20-2005, 04:26 PM

any kind of big corporation suck !

yeahwho

11-20-2005, 04:29 PM

I do not shop at Wal-Mart EVER! I live within 3 miles of a 24 hour Wal-Mart, and I refuse to participate in that shit.

They not only are a factor in the demise of local businesses, but their business practices stink of a pre-labor union society.

It may raise eyebrows of some people, but when I tell them I don't shop at any place that is owned by 5 of the 10 richest people in America and yet they can't provide more than a few pennies over minimum wage and crappy (and unaffordable for most "associates") health coverage, and makes their employees work off the clock and then puts out memos on hiring part timers so they don't have to give benefits, then the people I say that to nod their head most of the time. There is only so much one person can do, I ask you all to do the same, but only one in fifty will

And that doesn't mention the fact that their third world crap that people are buying is counterproductive because it is decimating our manufacturing base.

Why do you hate America, Wal-Mart?

zerohour

11-20-2005, 04:31 PM

It would be pretty funny to see this DVD end up on Wal-Mart shelves. I don't know what's so bad about wal-mart, though? We have all sorts of large department stores down here target, k-mart, big-w - they're all pretty much the same tho. What separates wal-mart from these other places?

Read the essay, that's only some of the stuff Wal-Mart does. All the other stores do similar things, but not as well and not as dishonestly as Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart: Who Pays For the Savings? (http://www.zerohour.com/essaywalmart.htm)

Also check out:
http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/

abcdefz

11-20-2005, 05:15 PM

yeahwho

11-20-2005, 05:44 PM

Vote with your pockets, folks. There's a reason why they're still standing.

Even after they've folded business, they're still standing. New Rules (http://www.newrules.org/retail/smabandon.html) link (cool site (y) )

"According to Sprawl-Busters, an organization that helps communities fight superstore sprawl, the United States is home to 380 empty Wal-Mart stores. Wal-Mart plans to "relocate" up to 110 more stores in the next year.

Most abandoned stores remain vacant for many years. An abandoned Wal-Mart in Bards town, Ky., sat empty for nearly a decade."

QueenAdrock

11-20-2005, 05:50 PM

I don't shop at Wal-Mart solely based on the people that also shop there. My friend and I visited at 10 PM on Saturday to grab some snacks and the place was packed with smelly people and screaming children. One little girl was screaming so hard she vomited in the shoe aisle. And you don't even want to get me started on the people staking out the 2-for-$5 DVD pile...let's just say they like looking at boobs a little too much. :shudder:

Target's a wee bit classier, so I shop there.

yeahwho

11-20-2005, 05:58 PM

One little girl was screaming so hard she vomited in the shoe aisle.
Market studies on returning customers shows that strategically placed "vomit puddles" in the same area of each store reaffirm in the shoppers mind, they are in the right place to save big money. :D

paul jones

11-20-2005, 05:58 PM

one of the main reason's I want to visit America properly is to walk into a K-Mart and buy some boxer shorts autistically

CrankItUp!

11-20-2005, 06:57 PM

Cheap bikes and the damage they do : http://www.shokbikes.org I love the "half-ass" assembled bicycles by Walmart. It equals the satisfaction of knowing that a child/adult will not suffer injury on one of my bicycles. (y)

Documad

11-20-2005, 08:31 PM

Target is better, 'cause it's from Minnesota. :)

Target has its flaws, but it has given back to the community since day one. They give to local schools and charities as well as to United Way. They offered me medical coverage at a part-time job when it was unheard of.

On the other hand, the stuff at Target isn't near as cheap as it used to back when Target stores were almost as ugly as Walmart.

They finally built a Walmart near me. It's green instead of blue. I guess that's what they do when they try to class it up to fit in with higher buck developments. It's still a Walmart. I drive further to Target.

DandyFop

11-21-2005, 03:41 AM

...it's cool to see that people proavtively don't shop there.

I get so tired of people complaining about the evils of WalMart (or whoever), as if the fault is entirely the company's.

If the company is immoral and dehumanizing, um... don't shop there. For anything. Don't give 'em your money.

It's like a heroin dealer with no users. What do they do? They go away or get in another line of work, or even change to become respectable, if only for economic survival rather than morality.

Vote with your pockets, folks. There's a reason why they're still standing.

This is something I talk about constantly. I am always thinking about how great this nation could be if people had the balls to make their lives the tiniest bit harder for the good of everyone. Taking the bus to work, shopping at local stores, etc. But when it comes down to it people just don't put the effort in (I am in no way excluding myself from this - I always think, man there must be a lot of other people like me, that think it and don't do it). Can you imagine if all the people who thought about this actually went through with it, what kind of difference that would make?

abcdefz

11-21-2005, 09:25 AM

This is something I talk about constantly. I am always thinking about how great this nation could be if people had the balls to make their lives the tiniest bit harder for the good of everyone. Taking the bus to work, shopping at local stores, etc. But when it comes down to it people just don't put the effort in (I am in no way excluding myself from this - I always think, man there must be a lot of other people like me, that think it and don't do it). Can you imagine if all the people who thought about this actually went through with it, what kind of difference that would make?

Yep, yep, and amen.

*same wavelength*

abcdefz

11-21-2005, 09:30 AM

Even after they've folded business, they're still standing. New Rules (http://www.newrules.org/retail/smabandon.html) link (cool site (y) )
[/I]

I guess there's no law against it yet; it's going to be up to communities to insist that land be reclaimed before Huckabees gets to move into their new store.

Qdrop

11-21-2005, 09:30 AM

Yeah, i've been bitchin about Walmart on the political section since i started coming here...

no one is more predatory then Walmart in the retail business:

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/view/

check that out ^^

jabumbo

11-21-2005, 09:34 AM

this movie was screened on campus a week ago and i had no idea. since i dont regularly read into the depths of the school newspaper or scan the student activities calendars that have tiny print, i didnt know.

its typical here for most people to find out about an event after it happens because they read an article about how such and such event was sparsly attended.

well if you fucking told people more than a day ahead of time people might actually come! it pisses me off that i miss so many good events because i neverknow about them until after they happen.

cj hood

11-21-2005, 09:36 AM

don't shop there.

float me some money and i wont....

like most people here.....i shop there cuz its cheap......and it gives me the chance to mingle with some of the scummiest people in my community...

jabumbo

11-21-2005, 09:39 AM

float me some money and i wont....

like most people here.....i shop there cuz its cheap......and it gives me the chance to mingle with some of the scummiest people in my community...

cheap prices for cheap products, mate

Qdrop

11-21-2005, 09:44 AM

the thing that people don't realize, is that Walmart is NOT always the cheapest...in fact, they often are NOT the cheapest as far as average price per product.

"... What is the opening price point? Why is it so key to Wal-Mart's strategy?

OK, it's lawn-and-garden time. Your grass is getting high. Your lawn mower is broken from last year, or you need a new lawn mower. You're going to go to Wal-Mart. So you go to Wal-Mart, and you're looking for a lawn mower, and to your delight, you walk in, and you see this $99 lawn mower. You may not want a cheap, basic lawn mower, but you see that price point on an end cap or a big display stack base, and you say, "Wow, what a great price." And it draws you in. It lures you into the department, and you form the perception immediately that "Hey, Wal-Mart's got the lowest prices in town. Look at this item right here. How could they sell it for $99?" ...

But as you walk into the department and look for that $269 power-drive lawn mower that you really are after, they're not losing money on that item. And it may not be the lowest price in town. Wal-Mart used to advertise "Always the low price." They don't do that anymore.

Because?

They got in trouble. Some of the other competitors sued them, tried to go after them and say, "You can't say 'Always the low price,' because you're not always the low price." They did a study -- a very critical study, very thorough study -- and found that Wal-Mart was not always the low price. And Target and Kmart got a little miffed, and some other competitors that [said], "How can Wal-Mart advertise this and it's not true?"

So what you're saying is Wal-Mart, when it says, "Always low prices," it's not always the lowest price on every lawn mower or every microwave oven or every vacuum cleaner or every TV set.

Absolutely not.

So what does the opening price point mean?

The opening price point is ... to get you in. You look at that, and you think, "Wow, what a great price." ...

And usually, more times than not, those items are imports. They're not domestically made; they're from other countries.

Why?

Well, the price of labor is so cheap. In China, Malaysia, Bangladesh, you can make stuff for a fraction of the cost that you can domestically, so that price is the rock-bottom price.

So are you saying that the opening price is the lowest price and actually will beat the competition, but maybe other items in the same category aren't necessarily the lowest price?

Oh, absolutely not. It's just like fishing: You want to entice that fish to that lure. ... Once you walk past that opening price point, they've got you, because you've already formed the perception that everything in that department is the lowest price in town.

And maybe it's not.

No, it's not. No, I can tell you it's not. I can tell you from experience it's not.

--interview with Jon Lehman, who worked for Wal-Mart for 17 years, managing six stores in four different states.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/interviews/lehman.html

mickill

11-21-2005, 10:07 AM

I don't hear tulla complaining.

Kid Presentable

11-21-2005, 10:25 AM

I might get a job at Wal-Mart.

zerohour

11-21-2005, 02:25 PM

the thing that people don't realize, is that Walmart is NOT always the cheapest...in fact, they often are NOT the cheapest as far as average price per product.

"... What is the opening price point? Why is it so key to Wal-Mart's strategy?

--interview with Jon Lehman, who worked for Wal-Mart for 17 years, managing six stores in four different states.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/interviews/lehman.html

The Frontline show is what inspired me to write my essay, it is really well done and very impartial (the Frontline show that is). I used it as one of my sources. Here are all the sources I used for my essay so people can check them out for themselves:

The essay:

Wal-Mart: Who Pays For the Savings? (http://www.zerohour.com/essaywalmart.htm) - By Ryan Lothian

The sources:

1 – “Is Wal-Mart Good For America?” Frontline. PBS. WGBH, Boston. Nov. 2004.

You can watch the entire Frontline special online here: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/walmart/view/

2 – Kaiser, Emily. “Dueling Wal-Mart documentaries coming to DVD.” Yahoo! News. 23 Oct. 2005. Yahoo! 10 Nov. 2005 <http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051026/film_nm/retail_walmart_dvd_dc>.

3 – “Wal-Mart.” Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. 15 Nov. 2005. Wikimedia Foundation. 7 Nov. 2005 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walmart>.

4 – Wal-Mart Fact Sheets. 2005. Wal-Mart. 10 Nov. 2005 <http://www.walmartfacts.com/doyouknow/>.

5 – Fishman, Charles. “The Wal-Mart You Don’t Know.” Fast Company. Dec. 2003. Mansueto Ventures LLC. 10 Nov 2005 <http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html>.

6 – “The Real Facts About Wal-Mart.” Wake-Up Wal-Mart.com. 2005. United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. 10 Nov. 2005 <http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/>.

7 – AFP. “U.S. trade deficit with China to top $200 billion: Portman.” Yahoo! News. 14 Nov. 2005. Yahoo! 14 Nov. 2005 <http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20051114/ts_alt_afp/chinaustradeportman_051114100653>.

8 – Bivens, Josh. “Shifting blame for manufacturing job loss.” Economic Policy Institute. 8 Apr. 2004. Economic Policy Institute. 13 Nov. 2005 <http://www.epinet.org/content.cfm/briefingpapers_bp149>.

tulla

11-21-2005, 02:40 PM

i adore walmart because our management team sucks ass.

Slick Joe

11-21-2005, 05:24 PM

I bought Licensed To Ill at Walmart. :confused: