Is it time to re-think shopping at Wal-Mart?

[Floogeldy]

If I heard correctly on the radio, Wal-Mart is giving $12 million to the Clinton-Bush Katrina fund and has given $2 million to the Red Cross. In addition, the Wal-Mart family is contributing $5 million.

Personally, I can't justify going there because I'd have to walk 8 miles to get a fucking new pair of underwear.

However, in light of these circumstances, should I suck it up and shop there?

[Corgigal]

1. I will probably get flammed a bit

but once in awhile , instead of going to Target for average things I can just go over to Walmart instead. For me, they are across the street from each other.

Has Target given anything?

[magnolia]

14. I love Target...I think they are blue.

[mshasta]

27. Purple

[solinvictus]

36. Target..

they give several million dollars per week as a matter of normal business, not just when PR forces them to do so.

[Lorien]

2. Absolutely not

they are a dark red company-heavy contributers to the GOP. They only donated $1 million originally and gave more simply because of poor PR.

[SeattleGirl]

3. They also promised to place their displaced employees

at different Wal-Mart. Saw an interview with a young woman tonight who is already working in her new location.

[merwin]

5. If they want to move 2000 miles away from their home...

[expatriot]

13. at the expense of how many of her new co-workers' reduced hours? nt

[SeattleGirl]

65. Wasn't judging one way or the other

Just reporting something I saw on the news today. I hope people don't lose hours, and as to moving 2000 miles away, aren't lots of people moving as it is, because they have no where to go.

I don't shop Wal-Mart but am willing to give a place their due.

[mcctatas]

4. Why...

are they suddenly allowing unions, cancelling their plans to build new walmarts on ancient ruins, compensating all of their employees for unpaid overtime, etc. etc. etc? I applaud their charity but it probably cost less than their monthly PR budget.

[Liberal Veteran]

6. When they start paying their workers better and offer ALL employees...

...decent medical and dental coverage and stop some of their shadier practices such as cancelling people's vacations at the last minute and having them work back to back shifts with no regard for obligations outside of the store, I will consider doing business with them.

Until then, ain't gonna happen.

[MNDEM2004]

15. You hit the nail on the head!

They can look good in the short term...

[Donailin]

7. we may not have much choice for the bare necessities

heard tonight on aaron browne that the average consumer can expect to pay over one thousand dollars more in the next year for. . well the bare necessities like food and gas and heat for the home.

I don't have it. I don't fucking have it.

[coffeenap]

26. Shop in large quantities at Costco or something similiar. If you can't

do it alone, set up a shopping club--3 or 4 people can go in together on the giant packages of toilet paper, soap, etc. Or, start a co-op. There are ways to do it without Walmart. Packaging is a large cost. In fact, all producers and retailers are going to have to face the fact that their fancy packaging is going to have to go--think how much money we spend on things we throw away the minute we use something!What percentage of their cost, and therefore ours, could be cut?

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. No

If a convicted child molester lived in your neighborhood, would you suddenly invite him over for coffee if he rang a bell outside the post office during Christmas?

Fuck Wal-Mart, now and forever.

[expatriot]

9. they are desperate for positive PR... make them work harder for it!

when they let their employees unionize, then I will shop there.

[tuvor]

19. Retail unions??? We hardly even have any in BC!

Are there a lot in Arizona?

[coffeenap]

10. And, they are ultimately responsible for some of the worst working

conditions in the world--in China and other countries where the suffering of the people is invisible to us. The horrible poverty of the people of NOLA is beyond understanding, but what the people of Walmart's supplying countries have to undergo is virtual slavery! Please, thank them for their help, sincerely, then shop somewhere else. imho

[graywarrior]

11. They are aligned with Bush.

Whatever they do, I see ulterior motives.

[Mr_Spock]

12. I'll never go into another ChinaMart as long as I live

We won't be able to go there soon anyway when our economy collapses based in part on their business practices...

[lostinacause]

28. The economy is not going to collapse. It will readjust but it won't

collapse. The next 4 years or so will be critical to the overall relative standard of living that Americans are to expect.

[Mr_Spock]

50. OK, we'll have a stable third world economy

I'm not sure the semantics are going to matter in a few years.

[lostinacause]

66. I doubt it is going to be as bad as you think it is.

What America stands to loose the most is global power and I don't think that is the biggest priority of most people here. Perhaps the biggest economic advantage America workers have had in the past was working for firms whose location that was close to the market they were serving. That coupled with the necessity to have all operations in one area made it so that market manipulation and skill development was a very effective means of raining wages. Some of the phenomena we have been seeing recently have been caused by location not mattering as much and operations being easy to spread out because of low cost communication. Given the amount of raw materials America needs to import; protectionism will not allow Americans to have their current level of consumption. A race to the bottom as it is commonly referred to will not help either. The standard of living that Americans will face depends the ability of the American population to elect someone who will make the necessary changes to develop the economic institutions to allow America to remain competitive while having a high standard of living. I don't think either of the two "worst case scenarios" will lead to a third world standard of living.

[izzybeans]

16. I wonder where the advert budget is focused and if this money

is largely comprised of already calculated operating costs.

[Gemini Cat]

17. Sure, why not? (Right.)

I'll shop there as soon as they pay their workers real living wages, complete with health care. I'll shop there when walmart actually buys American products made by American workers.
Until then they can stick their piece of shit box store and all that it represents up their corporate ass.

I hate these fuckers.

[canichelouis]

18. No

[ksilvas]

20. Hell No!

A huge corporation taking
advantage of a catasatrophe for
a few gold stars, forget that.
How transparent can they be.
Marlboro did the same crap during hurricane "Hugo".

[SofaKingLiberal]

21. google Wal-Mart and slave labor. eom

[lostinacause]

45. Googling Wal-Mart and low cost labor provides much better

information.

[theHandpuppet]

22. NO!

The money they are donating is the money they have sucked from depriving their own workers. To them this is just a tax writeoff and some PR.

You want to know what real giving is? My neighbors, who have two kids and scrape by on $14,000 per year, had ten dollars left after paying their monthly bills and gave all ten to hurricane relief. THAT, my friends, is real giving.

[benburch]

23. Nope! Fuck Wal-Mart.

And that sort of money is small change to those assholes. The family alone could give a billion and not even fall out of the 100 richest people on the planet.

[Gemini Cat]

25. Exactly!

It's small change to these fuckers!!!
Fuck them and their so called charity that will eventually come out of their workers hide!

[TomInTib]

24. 12 & 5 for this bunch?

what a joke.

Shaq gave 5 mil fer chrissakes.

And I'm still not a Shaq fan.

[emdee]

29. I prefer Target and K-Mart....

I dread the day when all we have is Wal-Mart and shop there rarely. There are, however, occasions when I do - either out of necessity or convenience. Wal-Mart has lost over 90% of my business over the last two years, though. They get zero Christmas dollars from me.
emdee

[Blaq Dem]

30. That don't mean nothing...

Wal-Mart still don't like to pay living wages to it workers and they still discriminate.

[BrklynLiberal]

31. It is a huge tax write-off for them. Ask their employees if they think it

is so generous...the ones who qualify for food stamps due to the low wages that Wal-Mart pays them and have no health coverage from Wal-Mart.

[onehandle]

32. Peanuts.

They spend that much in advertising in less than a week.

It's PR. Fuck them.

[missouri dem 2]

33. No. Did you really need to ask?

[Obamarama]

34. I can't bring myself to drag my knuckles quite that low....

I'll remain Wal-Mart free, thank you very much! :-)

[Amused2Death]

35. being a minority...

i find that it smacks of liberal white elitism that wal-mart is boycotted by so-called populists. i shop there all the time. just my two cents.

[Maat]

37. I will NEVER again shop at Wal-Mart unless it is the most dire ..

of emergencies.

I was talking to the clerk at Wal-Mart. Basically, because of the Conservative Christian beliefs of the major-stockholders/family-owners, Wal-Mart does not stock the Morning-After Pill (it precludes implantation perhaps, and thus 'is abortion' per the nutwads).

They also carry Joyce Meyer's (Super-Fundie's) but refuse to carry Jon Stewart's book. So, they are censoring me.

And then there's their atrocious rape of American cities' coffers, through de facto subsidy after de facto subsidy, and their unconscionable labor practices.

They have QUITE A BIT to make up for.

[philosophie_en_rose]

38. I still won't.

Walmart still exploits its workers and sells products made by enslaved people.

But I do think that Walmart's efforts in Louisiana are admirable. It's proof that they can choose to change their employment practices.

I guess my loathing for Walmart has diminished, but I hope that they extend their generousity to the people that enable them to be so generous to Katrina survivors right now.

[CountAllVotes]

39. I saw a young black girl on CNN

and she was a hurricane survivor and she said that WalMart had promised her a job in any of the several stores not far from where she lives.

I thought to myself, gee, what a great offer alright there. No heath insurance, crap wages and they got you for life if you fall for it! Will she? My answer would be yes she will. Working for nothing like a slave with no medical insurance.

Is this really an "improvement" I ask? Is it? :think: about it!

I frankly HATE WalMart. They sicken me! So they gave a few bucks! They are a huge cancerous corporation that hates its people too as we see with the lawsuits and violations they have committed and I am sure there are plenty more all around the world.

So yeah, thanks a lot for keeping the crap going WalMart! We just love you!

It's either WalMart or McDonald's it seems to me. Take your pick you lucky SOB. :puke: WalMart! :puke:

[Cha]

40. wal mart should give a lot..it's

some of their donations..3 or 4 million last year to the bushwa(whose fault it was in the first place).


They have been lobbying to get the Estate tax repealed, too..I read on DU.

[never_get_over_it]

41. I can't even do the math

becasue the numbers are too big for me - but each one of those Waltons inherited 20 Billion - I think there were 5 of them so that is 100 Billion Dollars - so although it sounds like a lot 5 million is a very small % of 100 Billion - and they probably are worth a ton more since the inheritance

I will never shop there unless they make serious changes in how they do business which they will never do

But I was pleasantly surprised by their contribution - they also apparently sent three truck loads of water and FEMA turned them away.

[ima_sinnic]

53. 5 million is .005% of 100 billion

for someone making $50,000 per year, an equivalent donation would be $2.50

[ima_sinnic]

42. absolutely not -- they are worth BILLIONS

someone calculated on another thread that in proportion to the money they have, their contribution is equivalent to a donation of $7.75 by the average person.

Wal-Mart is a detestable scum-sucking greedy pig. Their "charity" doesn't impress me in the slightest.

[TomInTib]

43. Read Grisham instead...he gave 5 million. Don't think he has

Wal-Mart's billions.

[babylonsister]

47. Grisham-yeah! One man, a cool 5 mil. READ!

[turbo_satan]

44. I just heard they laid off all of their NO employees with three days' pay

You might want to re-re-think shopping there. Fuck 'em.

[Iris]

58. Nice guys, eh?

[understandinglife]

46. You couldn't get me to piss in their parking lot ...

Peace.

[Algorem]

48. $19 mil=pocket lint to them

[Carolab]

49. NO!!!! They are trying to "buy back" your patronage.

They are STILL selling cheap crap made in China and undermining our communities left and right. Don't cave for a few measly bucks. Do you even KNOW how much EACH of the Waltons is WORTH????

[blonndee]

51. No way! I posted this the other night and got sniped for it,

can't imagine why,

but I learned the other day from a HellMart employee that their budget FOR PLASTIC BAGS every year is $383 million!

This is chump change, and although I'm certainly glad to see the money will make a difference to people, that money comes from the blood, sweat, and tears of the workers it treats so horribly. It's the least (and I do mean the LEAST) HellMart could do.

[Spazito]

52. Nope, they are still paying their employees slave wages with NO

benefits, a big reason why they can afford to be so generous. Don't think you aren't going to help them recoup those generous donations, just watch the price hikes to come.

Walmart will continue to devastate communities by coming in with artificially low prices until they have forced all the local businesses that pay decent wages and then increase their prices.

This is not a bad corporation turned good, this is a bad corporation trying to con you into thinking they are now good.

[Brother Buzz]

54. And John Travolta flew five tons of supplies in to LA.

Should I become a Scientologist?

The enemy of my enemy is not necessarily my friend.

[bloom]

55. No

It doesn't change how they operate.

I'm not going to all of sudden shop at Republican businesses just because they do a little philanthropy on the side. That is nearly nothing for them.

[Bouncy Ball]

56. No,

they still destroy independent businesses and treat their employees like shit.

[PA Democrat]

57. What fucking hypocrite the Waltons are!

They donate to charities while the GOP is working diligently behind the scenes to push the elimination of the "death tax". The Waltons have greedily been pushing politicians to eliminate the estate tax and taxes on dividends for years.

They are disgusting pigs. They will save hundreds of millions in taxes if the Republican party pushes through their tax cut agenda.

Only a small number of people would benefit directly from a change. Of the 2.4 million adults who died in 2003, just 28,600 left estates that were liable for any tax, according to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center. In other words, the levy fell on the richest 1.2 percent of Americans with the highest taxable estates.

Still, thanks to lobbying by the heirs of Wal-Mart stores, Mars candies and Campbell soup, the tax is close to becoming extinct. For nearly two decades, clusters of extremely wealthy people have campaigned to get rid of the tax on inheritances. NFIB, a Republican stalwart, joined the effort in the mid-1990s, bringing with it numerous small-business and farm groups.

http://www.detnews.com/2005/politics/0508/13/polit-279311.htm

[azoth]

59. No! No! No! Wal*Mart is THE largest employer of

the "working poor" who are not *offered* health benefits and cannot afford to pay for them on their own.

Sure - they're giving stuff away. Sure - they're promising jobs.

BUT none of that offers a FUTURE. It just slaps a bandaid on a gaping, festering, putrefying nightmare...

It's a part of the machinery that created such a large class of "working poor" in places like New Orleans in the first place.

I vote no. Shop somewhere else.

[Amused2Death]

60. i applaud them.

[alittlelark]

62. Clap............... clap.................... clap................... echo,

echo, echo.

[azoth]

64. For? For being "smart" enough to donate, knowing that some

people will hop on the "let's rethink this Wal*Mart thing - maybe we can follow the whistling yellow happy face again"?

Or for some other reason?

[alittlelark]

61. That is less than an hours income at their stores.

It is embarassing for them to offer such a pittance.

[GoddessOfGuinness]

63. WalMart preys on those who've fallen on hard times...

They provide jobs for those who are desperate enough to receive substandard wages. They offer merchandise at prices that will eliminate the competition...mostly small, family-owned businesses.

[applegrove]

67. How much money have they made off of those stores in those areas.

Over the years. How much. You do the math and then you think about about what 14 Million means. Did they get that back in tax cuts this year? I really think so.

[yorkiemommie1]

68. this does not redeem them in my eyes

I feel bad enough shopping at Target .