Please do NOT Buy at Wal-Mart this season!

[Triana]

Dear friend/family member,

I am writing to ask you not to buy presents at Wal-Mart this holiday season.

Wal-Mart engages in some of the worst labor practices in the country:

Paying its employees substandard wages, forcing unpaid overtime on its workers and refusing to provide affordable health insurance.

Until Wal-Mart changes its ways, I won't shop at Wal-Mart and I hope you won't either. Please join me in telling Wal-Mart we won't shop at its stores until it treats its employees better.

It only took me a few seconds to sign the Wal-Mart Pledge and I'm hoping you'll sign it, too. Click here to sign the pledge:

http://www.workingforchange.com/activism/petition.cfm?itemid=16041

P.S. Please forward this message to anyone that you know who might be interested.

Happy Holidays

[Liberal Veteran]

1. I only shop at Wal-Mart during months that don't happen in

...Spring, Summer, Fall, or Winter season.

Will that do?

[Triana]

3. Heh...certainly

Sign the petition? These weasels need to be reigned in...

[el_gato]

4. I'll tell you what that will do

it'll help fuck over america that's what your shopping habits support

[Langis]

2. I never have

and I never will

[Quill Pen]

9. Neither have I...

...and on 'count of being laid off this year, I'm not spending a thin @#$% dime on anyone this holiday. And you know what? It's the best, most meaningful holiday I've ever had.

Proof that buying cheap schlocky slave-labor manufactured crap, and enjoying life to the fullest, have little if anything to do with one another.

Down with Wal-Mart! They're killing our communities, and forcing local, family-owned retailers out of business.

I learned something else about Wal-Mart recently, from a property manager I know: Wal-Mart buys up large commercial parcels in sprawling, suburban communities -- much larger parcels than it needs for its stores. Wal-Mart Corp. builds their megastore, then sells the other lots through their own realty company (catchily named Wal-Mart Realty). To prevent competition, however, the land sale has all sorts of restrictions and conditions, which basically prohibit any sort of retail development whatsoever. No restaurants or stores, for example, are permitted. Basically, anybody foolish enough to buy the parcels has to do whatever it is Wal-Mart tells them to do with the land, at their own expense.

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. Welcome to DU Quill Pen!

Good luck in your job search! :)

[Malva Zebrina]

5. We have put a limit on the amount of money to be spent for gifts

and it is only ten dollars!! imagine that? The whole hysterical buying spree that happens on this holiday is becoming obscene and distasteful.

No one in my family, will participate in the spending orgy, thankfully.

We have gone into the forest, clipped a lot of fir branches, made two very large wreaths to decorate the front door and the antique farm cart in front of the house--and that was a very satisfying thing to do. We do have commercial electric candles in each of the four windows of our 200 year old Maine , classic cape, house and it looks, indeed, very warm and inviting. Like a Christmas card.

[LisaM]

6. I've never set foot in a Wal-Mart

and probably never will. However, I was trying to think recently of strategies that would cost them money. For example, find something they lose money on, go in and buy only that. Or, go in and keep demanding things they don't have (best-selling books written by liberals, clothing made in the United States, etc.)

[Lefty48197]

7. Boycott Walmart?

What will all those 10 year old Chinese girls that make their products do for a living? And what will the illegal aliens that clean the Walmarts do?

[Quill Pen]

11. Snark?

If your post is just irony, I apologize. But if you were serious, read on.

Once upon a time, several years ago, you couldn't find organic produce, free-range meats and eggs, or products made with organics in your average supermarket. You had to go to a specialty outfit like a farmer's market, or Whole Foods, or Puget Consumers' Co-Op (Seattle area natural foods chain).

Now, you can find organic and free-range selections in supermarkets all over. Why? Because enough consumers demanded them, and that's the language that retailers understand: sales.

When enough consumers demand that the goods they buy are produced and sold under conditions that respect human rights, even dinosaurs like Wal-Mart will take the hint. And then, the 10-year-old Chinese girls will at least have the choice of working for the factory that still abuses them and sells their hideous little painted resin Precious Moments figurines to Wal-Mart, or working for the factory that doesn't abuse them, and sells their goods to the Wal-Mart competitor known for selling stuff made by workers treated with dignity.

And someday, if you'll allow me to mangle Dr. King, I have a dream: that this competitor will kick Wal-Mart's @$$, and Wal-Mart will have to treat its workers a whole lot better just to keep them from quitting and going to work for the other outfit.

As it is now, Wal-Mart benefits a great deal more from its retail hegemony than the Chinese girls and the undocumented aliens. So I don't feel bad about boycotting it, not one bit.

[geniph]

12. Quill Pen, are you a Washington state resident?

If so, :hi: neighbor! If not, well, welcome to DU, and thanks for your excellent post.

Wal-Mart is Corporate EVIL personified! Anything you can think of that a decent corporation shouldn't do - strong-arm their suppliers, mistreat their employees, union-bust, predatory store placement and pricing, buy from slave labor, etc., they're right in the thick of it.

And don't shop at Sam's Clubs either! They're just Wal-Mart for the upwardly mobile! Anywhere you can, shop at Costco instead - Costco pays its employees a living wage and treats its suppliers decently.

[Quill Pen]

15. Thanks for the welcome, geniph! See you 'round. nt

[Liberator_Rev]

8. Thanks for sharing this. I have to be desperate to shop there.

And I've got this page telling our friends about this scourge :
http://www.LiberalsLikeChrist.Org/about/Wal-Mart.html

[travisleit01]

13. I won't

And I convinced my Mom and a coworker not to buy anything at Wal*Mart either this season. I really didn't know how bad they were until I looked into it more, and I think a lot of people are the same way...

[Demonaut]

14. Why not?

when i can break heads and stomp senior citizens on my way to my 29 dollar dvd player, its more than just shopping.

[RebelOne]

16. I never shop there anyway.

I have one about a mile from my house. And the main reason I don't go there is that there is not enough parking. You usually have to park in Never Never Land far, far away from the store.

[Kerridwyn]

17. To go a little further...

For those who already don't shop at places like Wal-Mart, or want to take this a little further - how about an effort to make all our Christmas purchases as environmentally-friendly and labor-friendly as possible?

I know some people have managed to dump all the gift exchanging anyway, but for those of us who still partake in it, let's try to keep away from all the sweatshop users, and support the principles we believe in. (I'm thinking gourmet organic fair trade coffee for about 4 people I know!)

[reprehensor]

18. While you're at it...

Add the Home Depot to your do not shop list.

http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=1600

I read somewhere, but cannot find the source right now, that 100% of their political contributions go the GOP.

[Triana]

19. Home Depot and Lowes

are BOTH staunch Bu$hit supporters. Pick a smaller, local hardware store if you can and get ya home repair stuff there...I've shopped at both (not often but a few times) - but I won't now!

Same with Mal-Wort. They can kiss my a$$. I'll never, EVER buy anything from them again and have asked my friends and family to refrain from buying me anything from there. I'd rather pay slightly more and get it elsewhere, from outfits that treat their employees better than that. Or, simply do without, if I can. I'm afraid the ONLY thing corprat behemoths like Mal-Wort understand is MONEY. I'd like to contribute to the cause of making sure they get a lot LESS of it...

[ldoolin]

20. Just signed it

Thanks!

[Lefty48197]

21. Two weeks till Christmas

:kick: Keep up the boycott