What do you think about Wal-Mart? Should it do what it does best by offering "always low prices, always"? What are the pros and cons of offering low prices to consumers, besides saving money?
Wal-Mart, eh? I had to write a paper on Wal-Mart. Well, all I know about Wal-Mart off the top of my head is that their ability to drive out other competing businesses is pretty amazing. They leave a huge impact on our society and for our economy. On a side note: yay for gas dipping under $2.
Well, I think they're being smart. Because the attractive thing of it is to make people come back, whether they lose money or not, they make more money just because people come back. Not to mention it's one of the known shopping places in Canada. They sell clothes, eletronics, their back to school sales are chaotic, they have like food there now, and tools, lawn chairs, blah blah blah. Then again, I don't think the prices from anywhere else will be off by so much cuz all other places buy the product for the same prices. So say if headphones were 15 bucks at "OMFG LAND" then wal-mart would only simply have to lower it to something like $14.50. Well maybe not that, but just an example I like wal-mart. There are a lot of other prices that does price matches though. So they lose just at much. I bought Raving Rabbids for the Wii for 10 bucks at Futureshop when it was 30 bucks before, jsut because Toys R Us sold it for 10 bucks on sale, they HAD to match it for us cuz their slogan was "lowest prices guaranteed". Big companies like Wal-Mart, I don't think they lose too much even if people DID do that {Don't think they do tho} :yup: Gas going down is actually a BAD thing for the economy by the way, to the poster above, in the long run, if our economy gets worse, then you won't be smiling over gas prices anymore
Have you considered the results of shopping at Walmart? the lower prices do impact foreign factories, workers and working conditions. Offering low prices from Walmart comes with the fact that workers get paid less, they have to work more hours, and the conditions they work in are harsh and dirty. i was inform of this when i read "The Wal-Mart Effect" by Charles Fisherman. I was changed by this book.
Well with the economy how it is in the US, many markets such as best buy are very close to bank rubcy. Therefore they lower there prices too. Walmart however is doing okay with the state of the economy. Really Walmart gives to many charities and hires people who are lesslikely to be hired other places for reasons like disabilities ect. I think Walmart is mostly a good solid company with not too many cons for having low prices. We save money, they have a good rep. It's all jolly XD
Well..yeah..we would have account for the workers if the topic said "is wal-mart good" but in general, what does poor working conditions have anything to do with Wal Mart in America since they're pretty much almost always in China or some place else. The thing is the people who usually work in those factories in China have no skills what so ever, and they are really poor, for them to be getting SOMETHING is better than NOTHING cuz they can't work at any place else cept factories. Without factories, they starve and die. It might as well be better for them this way. Low pay or not. I do agree they deserve more, so? Is something not always better than nothing?
I don't know. Sometimes I think the opposite. When gas is really expensive I don't buy it, I ride the bus or walk. But when it is cheap, like it has been lately, I buy it and drive. So when gas is cheap more is purchased maybe? Therefore, more money is made.
No MCheezie, the oil going down means that the people who work in the oil factories are LOSING money for every barrel of oil, and all the process it takes is a lot more than what the oil is being sold for. If the oil keeps decreasing, oil plants will soon have to lay off workers therefore, because they can't pay their workers off what they are losing. And in USA, Canada, and some other part of the world, they rely heavily on oil productions. We talked about this in social. It might be great for consumers, but it won't be great for any one when that DOES happen. Living in Alberta, a oil prosperous Province, even our government is saying Alberta might be going in a recession. The oil through Canada, almost most of it COMES from Alberta, so it's pretty bad they're saying that about us. Of course..us drivers..we take advantage of this. But looking into the depth of all this..it's pretty sad because it's not getting better and the economic recession is pretty much all over the news. Keynesian economics told us to save during good times, and spend during bad times. So I think when we're so close to a recession, we should probably be better of spending and some of the people are saying the government didn't save enough during the good times, to get us out of the bad. Totally off topic from the wal-mart thing..lol
You might as well be prepared for a recession or depression Moo. Our economy must hit rock bottom before we can bounce back, well that's how I see it. We do rely on oil entirely too much but there have been several advances in energy efficient vehicles, homes, etc. So in the future oil won't be an issue and our economy will flourish once again. Also, we're NOT going to run out of oil. I don't care what anyone says, it's not going to happen anytime soon.
Walmart is not always the cheapest! There are alot of pros and cons to walmart. They encompass the ideal of american capitalism, but they are the reason americans demand union order. Something wrong when you don't want to give employees decent wages or benefit of healthcare. The when i c union workers at plants like gm making 75 an hour for uh, doing less work than the guy who flipped my double cheese, i can't help but think that the picture is unfairly distorted. The real question we should be asking is union work verses capitalism. Which is best for america? and why is there not something in between?
Walmart tends to be a capitalistic company, it does not allow its workers to join any unions because most unions except for the Walmart union, i forgot what it is called, are against Walmart and its beliefs. i see unions as best for america because they look out for each other and are a good support group. as for the question of is there any inbetweens? i do not really know.
Walmart is Asda here well it's owned by the same company. If your getting a bargain someone somewhere is getting ripped off it's a simple fact. I suppose the factory workers for Burberry and the factory workers for Asda end up getting paid pretty much the same anyway though. I like going to the greengrocers for vegetables but everything else I buy from a supermarket, It's inevitable. It just reminds me of the South Park episode where they destroy Walmart and decide to shop in a local shop instead and a few months later they destroy the local shop because it just turns into another version of Walmart. Tesco is our Walmart in the past year 4 have sprung up in a square around house xD They are closing in on me!!! In regards to oil don't worry in the UK we are still paying extortionate prices xP
This topic actually made me fall over laughing because I just went shopping on black Friday & didn't even notice all the people protesting at the main entrance. I'm a big believer in consumer activism which is why I buy my coffee in the morning from a local coffee shop & not Starbucks or Sunoco, buy all my crafts such as handmade soaps and artwork local, and also regularly check local stores for well priced items, however, I live in a college town full of students with their parents checking accounts at hand and things tend to be rather expensive. Walmart is the reason I now own a second pair of jeans that I got for $5 and I intend on checking the local thrift stores for some other clothing as well. It's also one of the places that made it possible for my mother to afford all my school supplies in H.S. Personally, it drives me insane to go into the place because it's a behemoth of everything with too many people crammed in between but I do go to get some of the basic things I need such as dish soap and toilet paper every month.
Did you hear about the Wal-Mart clerk whom was trampled to death yesterday? I like Wal-Mart, but.. jeez.
I really think Walmart is bad.. Everything is so cheap people wont help build LOCAL businesses. All the money goes to bigger people and makes your community worth less. The store gets rid of other businesses that employ people for decent wages, and then they employ people for minimum wage. Sweat shops FTL!
Most of the businesses in the college town I live in, including the small ones, *all* pay minimum wages. They don't really seem to care about their employees and this includes some very upscale retail stores and restaurants. The point is Walmart is no better or worse than any other corporation right down to CVS or your local Ford Dealership. A lot of big corporations don't have as much control over their offshoot locations as well and it doesn't matter if a business if big or small when it comes to treating employees fairly, etc.
I think it's both good and bad. Good because I can go there for just about anything, but bad because it's harder for smaller businesses to succeed with it around.