Wal-Mart: Love em, Hate em, Deal with em
Having just dropped by Wal-Mart to pick up some milk, my potassium banannas, and coffee (coffee bein the reason i went since i exhausted my supplies of it this mornin), i began to hear this ringin in my ears. Now, of course that was rather annoyin b/c well, isn't shoppin bad enough. Of course, what they were ringin about is the recent complainin i've heard against Wal-Mart circulating from the blog circuit, people i know, and people i just happen to run into.
Now, first, what do they usually have to say when complainin about Wal-Mart. Well, obviously, some people just hate havin to wait in line to checkout and obviously Wal-mart decided they didn't really like that 3 people or less rule or they open another checkout line. Also, i've noticed when i want the express checkout, they usually don't have a line open or they are lined up 5 or 6 people deep as they were today so i just checked out in a regular line which i'm pretty sure took less than 5 minutes. Hey, a 10 or 15 minute wait in line for one stop shoppin for grocery, wal-mart, garden, electronics, etc. is perfectly fine with me even if others complain about it.
Complaint # 2: Wal-mart has extremely poor customer service and in this case, people are usually correct unless you luck up and run into a great worker with one of them smiley faces and happy attitudes like you see on the commercials. FYI: Commercials are made to fantasize so if thats what u are lookin for, try Tinker Bell or Cinderella at Disney World and even then you will find yourself waitin. Of course, there is another fact to mention: most of the stuff you shop at Wal-mart for you should be able to pretty easily find and learn about on your own, especially the grocery section in the Supercenters. Read the signs, use a little common sense, and you should be able to find the kind of product u are lookin for. Now, admittedly, some things like hardwares, electronics, maybe lawn mowers and certainly paints might require a little bit of customer service and it would be nice if a clerk there knew a little about each of the more complicated items and could offer you a suggestion. But then again, this is Wal-Mart, home of low prices. Hence, you don't get low prices by havin to have extra sales clerks teach ya about the benefits of lawn mowers and such. Sorry, since you chose to shop at Wal-Mart over radio shack or even Lowe's or Home Depot or Hibbetts or Sports Specialty, you might have to take the time to do your own research through readin the packagin, askin a friend, or checkin the web. If you want a bit more knowledge on paints and drills, swing on over to Sherwin Williams or the Home Depot. Now, I would like to say the stockers/clerks could be a bit easier to flag down in case you are having trouble findin a rarely shopped for item in a store of 125,000 different items.
Complaint # 3: Wal-Mart pays horrible wages. Well, they aren't the best in the world but minimum wage was sat at $5.15 per hour and labor does happen to be a very high cost of doin business. Now, come to think of it, Walgreen's doesn't offer much more above minimum wage to their sales clerks, photo techs, and cosmeticians but they do offer a mini bonus section for sales of special items of the week or month or index prints or picture cd's with your photos. In fact, most of your mom and pop stores are likely to stay at or below $7 an hour. Now, some say Wal-Mart runs their employees 40 hours 5 weeks and then the 6th week cuts them to 28 hours to keep them from becoming full time and havin to pay medical benefits. Now, that of course is pretty slimy, but still well within the parameters of the law (ya know, a style of corporate welfare Republicans practice strongly in). Urge for the changing of the law and Wal-mart i'm sure will change there policy when and if such law passes. Now, also, i might add that just b/c Wal-mart cuts each worker every 6 weeks down to 28 hours, they still likely have to have people part-time to fill those shifts. Hence, that would be a benefit for students although Wal-mart's flexibility with students' schedules might be pretty lacking compared to that of a mom and pop store or even Walgreen's. Now part of that has to do with the size of the stores. Walgreens stores employ anywhere from 15 for smaller 8 to 10 stores to say 50 for larger, never close, 24hours stores while many mom and pop stores are likely to employ anywhere from say 4 to 15 at most. Also, back to the part-time workers at Wal-mart to make up the need of the 28 hour cut weeks. Again, you have to have people to take their place to continue runnin at the same size and with unemployment hibernating around 5% on average, this does open up jobs to those who would be happy to have any kind.
Complaint # 4: Wal-mart builds on the edge of cities and hence creates urban sprawl destroyin the downtown atmosphere and "life" of the small town. Well, considerin Wal-mart is considered one of the world leaders in logistics, they probably know what they are doin. Its easier to get people and 18 wheelers in and out which is key to a successful Wal-mart. Also, the cost of land is cheaper on the edge of town than in the prime downtown area and walmart uses a good segment of land. By the way, be honest. Do you really want Wal-Mart sprawled across 2 or 3 blocks downtown diminishing the appeal of the court house, city hall, and main street or court square. Not me, I prefer my 18 wheelers on the edge of town as industrial complexes are also built on the edge of town.
Complaint # 5: Wal-Mart has so many lawsuits against it for unethical conduct, discrimination against women, hiring illegal aliens to work, etc. Now, those, if proven and some have been at differing scales, are obviously good reasons not to support Wal-mart and thus partake in a boycott of the world's leading retail giant.
Now, i could go on with this for a while, but I have other stuff callin me. So i leave you with this:
Do I shop at Wal-mart? Yes.
Do I agree with all their practices? No.
Is Wal-Mart convenient? Yes.
Does Wal-Mart destroy downtown? No. Free Market society forces downtown to improve or learn to deal with the Wal-Mart shift.
Is Wal-Mart relatively efficient? Yes.
Would I implement Wal-Mart's HR policies when i manage? Hell no.
Do i admire Wal-Mart? Yes, on the business and definitely logistics side, not HR.
Would I work at Wal-Mart? No. I'd go nuts workin there.
Thats about it. I stop now.
Now, first, what do they usually have to say when complainin about Wal-Mart. Well, obviously, some people just hate havin to wait in line to checkout and obviously Wal-mart decided they didn't really like that 3 people or less rule or they open another checkout line. Also, i've noticed when i want the express checkout, they usually don't have a line open or they are lined up 5 or 6 people deep as they were today so i just checked out in a regular line which i'm pretty sure took less than 5 minutes. Hey, a 10 or 15 minute wait in line for one stop shoppin for grocery, wal-mart, garden, electronics, etc. is perfectly fine with me even if others complain about it.
Complaint # 2: Wal-mart has extremely poor customer service and in this case, people are usually correct unless you luck up and run into a great worker with one of them smiley faces and happy attitudes like you see on the commercials. FYI: Commercials are made to fantasize so if thats what u are lookin for, try Tinker Bell or Cinderella at Disney World and even then you will find yourself waitin. Of course, there is another fact to mention: most of the stuff you shop at Wal-mart for you should be able to pretty easily find and learn about on your own, especially the grocery section in the Supercenters. Read the signs, use a little common sense, and you should be able to find the kind of product u are lookin for. Now, admittedly, some things like hardwares, electronics, maybe lawn mowers and certainly paints might require a little bit of customer service and it would be nice if a clerk there knew a little about each of the more complicated items and could offer you a suggestion. But then again, this is Wal-Mart, home of low prices. Hence, you don't get low prices by havin to have extra sales clerks teach ya about the benefits of lawn mowers and such. Sorry, since you chose to shop at Wal-Mart over radio shack or even Lowe's or Home Depot or Hibbetts or Sports Specialty, you might have to take the time to do your own research through readin the packagin, askin a friend, or checkin the web. If you want a bit more knowledge on paints and drills, swing on over to Sherwin Williams or the Home Depot. Now, I would like to say the stockers/clerks could be a bit easier to flag down in case you are having trouble findin a rarely shopped for item in a store of 125,000 different items.
Complaint # 3: Wal-Mart pays horrible wages. Well, they aren't the best in the world but minimum wage was sat at $5.15 per hour and labor does happen to be a very high cost of doin business. Now, come to think of it, Walgreen's doesn't offer much more above minimum wage to their sales clerks, photo techs, and cosmeticians but they do offer a mini bonus section for sales of special items of the week or month or index prints or picture cd's with your photos. In fact, most of your mom and pop stores are likely to stay at or below $7 an hour. Now, some say Wal-Mart runs their employees 40 hours 5 weeks and then the 6th week cuts them to 28 hours to keep them from becoming full time and havin to pay medical benefits. Now, that of course is pretty slimy, but still well within the parameters of the law (ya know, a style of corporate welfare Republicans practice strongly in). Urge for the changing of the law and Wal-mart i'm sure will change there policy when and if such law passes. Now, also, i might add that just b/c Wal-mart cuts each worker every 6 weeks down to 28 hours, they still likely have to have people part-time to fill those shifts. Hence, that would be a benefit for students although Wal-mart's flexibility with students' schedules might be pretty lacking compared to that of a mom and pop store or even Walgreen's. Now part of that has to do with the size of the stores. Walgreens stores employ anywhere from 15 for smaller 8 to 10 stores to say 50 for larger, never close, 24hours stores while many mom and pop stores are likely to employ anywhere from say 4 to 15 at most. Also, back to the part-time workers at Wal-mart to make up the need of the 28 hour cut weeks. Again, you have to have people to take their place to continue runnin at the same size and with unemployment hibernating around 5% on average, this does open up jobs to those who would be happy to have any kind.
Complaint # 4: Wal-mart builds on the edge of cities and hence creates urban sprawl destroyin the downtown atmosphere and "life" of the small town. Well, considerin Wal-mart is considered one of the world leaders in logistics, they probably know what they are doin. Its easier to get people and 18 wheelers in and out which is key to a successful Wal-mart. Also, the cost of land is cheaper on the edge of town than in the prime downtown area and walmart uses a good segment of land. By the way, be honest. Do you really want Wal-Mart sprawled across 2 or 3 blocks downtown diminishing the appeal of the court house, city hall, and main street or court square. Not me, I prefer my 18 wheelers on the edge of town as industrial complexes are also built on the edge of town.
Complaint # 5: Wal-Mart has so many lawsuits against it for unethical conduct, discrimination against women, hiring illegal aliens to work, etc. Now, those, if proven and some have been at differing scales, are obviously good reasons not to support Wal-mart and thus partake in a boycott of the world's leading retail giant.
Now, i could go on with this for a while, but I have other stuff callin me. So i leave you with this:
Do I shop at Wal-mart? Yes.
Do I agree with all their practices? No.
Is Wal-Mart convenient? Yes.
Does Wal-Mart destroy downtown? No. Free Market society forces downtown to improve or learn to deal with the Wal-Mart shift.
Is Wal-Mart relatively efficient? Yes.
Would I implement Wal-Mart's HR policies when i manage? Hell no.
Do i admire Wal-Mart? Yes, on the business and definitely logistics side, not HR.
Would I work at Wal-Mart? No. I'd go nuts workin there.
Thats about it. I stop now.
posted by mrholmes | 1:41 PM
1 Comments:
And last year Walmart Donated 78% to Republican Candidates. It is the number 1 retailer in the US, Canada, and Mexico. It's prices on groceries are actually higher than other grocery chains in Starkville. Very few of its products are made in America. They also censor their music. So a cd you buy at Walmart may not be the same as a CD you buy elsewhere.
Since when is your life so busy that you need to be able to buy clothes, electronics, groceries, butt cream, kids birthday presents, fertilizer, condoms, office supplies, furniture, tires, athletic supplies, garden gnomes, glasses, have your hair done, and buy home decorating supplies all in one store? If this is your case. If you REALLY need this kind of one stop shopping, you need to reevaluate your priorities and your schedule.
First: You rarely 'desperately need' anything at 3 a.m. in the morning. The only thing that you might desperately need at 3 a.m. in the morning is medical stuff if your kid is sick. Although most people keep a medicine cabinet at the house, so this is an unlikely situation.
Second: What are you doing with your time that is so important that you can't use those additional 15 minutes you spend in line to go to another store (because Starkville is just SO big and has SO many traffic problems). Your a college student, and you don't have a job. I'd be interested in seeing your defense for this one, especially since I've already pointed out that the most common reason people go to Walmart (groceries) is actually more expensive. This also challenges your idea and the walmart mantra of walmart having 'low prices'. Also, are the prices really lower if an item you buy is made poorly and therefore will not last as long? No. You end up buying more stuff to replace the stuff that no longer is good.
Fourth: So what are you buying at Walmart?
I'd love to see this one answered. I'm sure that all the time when you are going to walmart you are buying tires, groceries, and furniture all at the same time.
Fifth: Walmart is a social experience? If going to Walmart is your idea of a social outing, then you need to find yourself a better life.
Sixth: Walmart would cause there to be lots of 18 wheelers downtown if they were located downtown? I've got news for you buddy. Go down town during the day and it's not uncommon seeing a SYSCO or other food company 18 wheeler delivering. You obviously don't understand what sprawl is either. Walmarts are placed in a manner that the only way to get there is in a car. That's why they have huge asphalt parking lots. Those parking lots by the way are incredibly bad for the environment.
Just some things to consider.
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