Wal-Mart: Abusing Its Power for 40 Years
By Megan Barnett Oct 09, 2009 12:00 am
You don’t have to be a bully to be a good capitalist.
I live 8.2 miles from the nearest Wal-Mart (WMT), and sometimes that feels too close.
I'm grateful that the distance makes it easy to avoid, however. That's because I'm one of those believers that Wal-Mart has done more bad than good for this country since it was established more than 40 years ago. See also Wal-Mart to Kill Two Cultures With One Stone.
Now, just for the record, I'm not some union-loving, left-wing, tree-hugger who doesn't believe in capitalism. I'm not being financed by any anti-Wal-Mart website or union group and I haven't read any of the countless books on Wal-Mart, such as The Bully of Bentonville, The Wal-Mart Effect, or The United States of Wal-Mart. I haven't even seen the movie Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price.
I've just observed the rise of the world's biggest retailer and watched what it's done to competitors, suppliers, taxpayers, and employees along the way. It's been an ugly show.
The criticisms against Wal-Mart are well documented. The company employs 2.1 million people, many of whom subsist on near-poverty wages. About half of its US employees have company-sponsored health insurance; the rest have to fend for themselves or depend on the government for health care. Wal-Mart has been accused of predatory pricing by its competitors. Suppliers claim that its persistent demand for lower prices have led to bankruptcies, closed plants, and lost jobs. It imports so much product from China it's been blamed for the growing US trade deficit there. It's been accused of sexual discrimination, gender discrimination, child-labor violations, anti-Semitism, employing undocumented immigrants, denying overtime wages, dodging taxes, excessive pollution, and general thuggishness.
Of course, any company Wal-Mart's size is going to be scrutinized heavily. It's easy to attack the strongest, and not all allegations made against it will be true. And it's hard to deny the fact that Wal-Mart does provide a valuable service to our battered consumer economy: People need cheap stuff like never before.
But a company with the kind of influence Wal-Mart has over consumers, manufacturers, government, and international relations needs to conduct itself at a higher standard than Wal-Mart does. In recent years, it has teamed up with Democratic lobbyists and public-relations specialists to help it improve its image after years of lawsuits and bad press on its treatment of its workers. See The Bad Boys of Business: Wal-Mart.
It’s troubling that Wal-Mart has to go to such lengths to shine its image instead of simply avoiding the practices that tarnished it in the first place. In a desperate attempt to keep its costs down, Wal-Mart -- which clocked in as the fourteenth most profitable company in the world last year as measured by Fortune -- has established corporate policy that calls for stepping on virtually everyone it’s involved with.
No positions in stocks mentioned.
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Copyright 2009 Minyanville Media, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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2009-10-09 07:52:58
Megan Barnett on Walmart
I wish Megan Barnett would take the time to really get to know Walmart. If she (in my opinion a 30 year old liberal) she would know the real Walmart. Take a look at some of the people Walmart employs that probably would not be employed by many other companies. Plus, look at the people who work for Walmart who have advanced into management (a big percent) Kevin Turner started as a cashier and went on to be head of Sam's Club and was hired away by Microsoft with an $8million signing bonus. Megan evidently relies on the campaign the union has run against Walmart for years and knows NOTHING of how the company operates. She should come to Bentonville and go on a tour to get the real message of Walmart. I think Megan is too young to have all her brains yet. Everyone who works for Walmart could have health insurance, but some choose to be on their parents' insurance and others choose to be on a spouse's plan and some just would rather be on medicaid because it is free. Megan, you should get out more often and see how the real world works.
Betty Brown
Betty Brown
Betty Brown
Betty Brown
2009-10-09 08:13:08
Boo-hoo, so somone else hates Wal-Mart
There are a million reasons to hate Wal-Mart, but sadly those complaints can be made at any uber-competitor. This is really a problem with capitalism. When we decided to go with Nafta/free trade we decided to let our workers compete with $2 a day workers in other country's, which all that Wal-Mart is doing is hastening the process where our workers will need to make $6 a day to compete. Moreover, as Americans we don't stand for anything that we can get our arms around. We used to make good cars, then we made ok cars, and now we'll get others to make our cars. All of which can be said to countless number of industries, such that we are turning to a socialist or communistic political model as a response. For example, we will bring socialized medicine (social) but everyone will be taxed for this (communism). As a nation of consumers, we can't continue to consume the feed-corn and eventually we will have to produce something that the world needs. We will need leadership that will provide incentives for these producers to exist. But there's the rub: wage deflationary pressures will continue and we will continue to elect socialist/communists to protect the effect of those downward wage pressure on the displaced underpaid worker. So I agree that while one can argue that any large corporation is evil (an many are), the problem is that Acorn is not traded publically, nor do they have a good dividend other than for Obama and their managers/trustees.
2009-10-09 09:46:32
"It's troubling that Wal-Mart has to go to such lengths to shine its image instead of simply avoiding the practices that tarnished it in the first place."
So they would be different from Wall Street, GE, GM, the pharmaceutical industry, the tobacco industry, ConAgra, Tyson, Exxon, McDonald's, etc., etc, in what way? It's the nature of big business not to change. Wal-Mart is a little more extreme in the way it squeezes the last dime out of everyone it touches, but fundamentally it is no different from other large corporations.
So they would be different from Wall Street, GE, GM, the pharmaceutical industry, the tobacco industry, ConAgra, Tyson, Exxon, McDonald's, etc., etc, in what way? It's the nature of big business not to change. Wal-Mart is a little more extreme in the way it squeezes the last dime out of everyone it touches, but fundamentally it is no different from other large corporations.
2009-10-09 09:57:29
How sad that we live in a time where the fact that someone with little to knowledge apparently about the company that she is writing about, is free to insult them with such free will and no consequences for her actions....The fact that you obviously do not like Walmart dies not change the fact that they have help 2.1 million families a week with paychecks,hundreds of thousands vendors are working because Walmart buys their product to sell in their stores. What are you doing to help America Miss Barnett ? Just because you dont like them doesnt mean your accusations are correct, I wish we still had unbiased people in the journalism field,they were worth following and reading.
2009-10-09 11:00:27
How sad commenters don't understand economics
And worse, posters are probably in the upper echelons of the educated in America.
There's a major issue with externalities related to Wal-Mart's activities. And only the most obtuse seem to put a $0 value on them.
From an HR policy perspective, I can guarantee their actions are not viewed very favorably from within the HR profession. And in no way are "all" HR policy makers driven by compassion alone, these are people who focus on the bottom line, but do so with apparently more perspective than Wal-Mart.
2009-10-09 11:21:16
Megan Barnett on Walmart
are you able to read with understanding? Could you please make a point or an argument without personally attacking the author?
2009-10-09 11:37:42
This is Megan Barnett's Attorney/Image Consultant
As Megan's underpaid attorney and unpaid image consultant, it is incumbent upon me to say to the seething crowd of gnashers, with all the sincerity and maturity I can muster: "Meggers is rubber and you are glue, whatever you say bounces off her and sticks to you."
-Uncle Grapes, Esq.
p.s.
Of course I shop at wal mart regularly, but only to see the latest mullet styles.
-Uncle Grapes, Esq.
p.s.
Of course I shop at wal mart regularly, but only to see the latest mullet styles.
2009-10-09 12:23:34
Is this Daily Kos now?
This post is simply stunning on two fronts. First, the author brings up all the old, politically motivated hits on WMT that most investors have heard for the better part of the last 10 years or so, and second it's all so easy to disprove.
Nobody has to shop at WMT. Nobody has to work there. As I drive the streets of my town, we still have hardware stores, record stores, grocery stores, clothing stores etc. We have everything we had before WMT came, though the inefficient are gone and those that survive are better at what they do. That's called capitalism, sweetie and that's how it works. The strong survive. The weak perish.
Your contention that TGT is somehow a white knight is equally absurd. The only difference between TGT and WMT in the image consultant category is that TGT hired theirs up front whereas WMT focused on business, never dreaming that mean-spirited infants would attack them for outperforming at every level. Visit one of the many TGT employment blogs or message boards and you'll find that not only to TGT employees face the same challenges as WMT employees but their management actually applies a tighter muzzle to them.
Minyanville used to be relevant. If the new standard is to raid high school journalism classes to rehash 10 year old fantasies about the evil empire, count me out. Geez.
Nobody has to shop at WMT. Nobody has to work there. As I drive the streets of my town, we still have hardware stores, record stores, grocery stores, clothing stores etc. We have everything we had before WMT came, though the inefficient are gone and those that survive are better at what they do. That's called capitalism, sweetie and that's how it works. The strong survive. The weak perish.
Your contention that TGT is somehow a white knight is equally absurd. The only difference between TGT and WMT in the image consultant category is that TGT hired theirs up front whereas WMT focused on business, never dreaming that mean-spirited infants would attack them for outperforming at every level. Visit one of the many TGT employment blogs or message boards and you'll find that not only to TGT employees face the same challenges as WMT employees but their management actually applies a tighter muzzle to them.
Minyanville used to be relevant. If the new standard is to raid high school journalism classes to rehash 10 year old fantasies about the evil empire, count me out. Geez.
2009-10-09 12:33:05
Megan Barnett on Walmart
You consider that an attack? Take a man pill, Sonny.
2009-10-09 12:55:08
another article designed to generate traffic
A few things:
1. Target also pays their "associates" poverty wages. $8-9/hour
2. Mom and pop stores replaced by Wal-Mart also paid poverty wages and did not provide good health insurance. ( true for most of retail )
3. Mom and pop stores also make these cost calculations ( fire older employee, hire cheaper college kid ) , get over it
4. This is all false indignation, the consumer prefers cheap goods all things being equal, provide cheap good or get out of the way
1. Target also pays their "associates" poverty wages. $8-9/hour
2. Mom and pop stores replaced by Wal-Mart also paid poverty wages and did not provide good health insurance. ( true for most of retail )
3. Mom and pop stores also make these cost calculations ( fire older employee, hire cheaper college kid ) , get over it
4. This is all false indignation, the consumer prefers cheap goods all things being equal, provide cheap good or get out of the way
2009-10-26 09:50:46
A necessary evil
Like it or not, there are a lot of items you have to go to Wal-Mart to get. I try not to buy things from China, but in my area, Wal-Mart is the only place to get a lot of things I use. Its just the way of things.
Wal-Mart pays normal retail wages and treats their people like normal retail employee's. You have to understand that these are unskilled laborers doing unskilled work for unskilled wages.
They have been under attack by the unionistas for years, with the unions not understanding that they have priced their members out of jobs with their greedy demands.
American auto companies pay more for health benefits than they do for steel to make the cars and then folks wonder why they are going under.
Unions are the enemy, not Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart pays normal retail wages and treats their people like normal retail employee's. You have to understand that these are unskilled laborers doing unskilled work for unskilled wages.
They have been under attack by the unionistas for years, with the unions not understanding that they have priced their members out of jobs with their greedy demands.
American auto companies pay more for health benefits than they do for steel to make the cars and then folks wonder why they are going under.
Unions are the enemy, not Wal-Mart
2009-10-26 12:51:30
After what Walmart did to an Arizona family who brought a camera card to a Peoria AZ walmart to develop pix of there daughters and an Employee turned them into the police....this caused a huge devastation to that family. The photos were of their small children having fun in a bathtub. As a mother and grandmother EVERYONE takes cute bathtub moments of our children to save precious moments that we have of our children growing up! We do not shop at Walmart any longer as well as many others who are angry over Walmarts actions against that family. More over, Walmart has raised their prices...Fry's has better quality and lower prices!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Screw Walmart!
2009-10-26 13:25:52
Rubbish
Is this really even an article written after proper and/or new research? This is gossip. This is pathetic. Why would minyanville want to publish something like this?
Walmart is the same phenomenon in retail that UPS is to logistics.... only that it is 100 times difficult to run as a business. If you so sympthize with minimum wage and healthcare ... then fight directly for it. Attacking a business that has created employment & lifestyle for so much of the unskilled labor and lifted living standard for so many americans is not exactly wise.
Walmart is the same phenomenon in retail that UPS is to logistics.... only that it is 100 times difficult to run as a business. If you so sympthize with minimum wage and healthcare ... then fight directly for it. Attacking a business that has created employment & lifestyle for so much of the unskilled labor and lifted living standard for so many americans is not exactly wise.
2009-10-27 03:04:36
It amazes me how little research is done for articles. Walmart is trying to find ways to keep health insurance cost low. You can get decent coverage for under $75 every two weeks and that is for the family plan including the spouse. They pay the going wage for their associates. My husband has worked for Walmart for over 13 years. I just got a job at Target and I will be only making $8 and hour and they never once asked if I wanted benifits.
As for Walmart getting it products thru sweatshops, the next time you take out the expensive outfit, look at the tags and see where it is made. A lot of retailers do not pay a decent wage to get their clothes made and charge more then Walmart.
As for Walmart getting it products thru sweatshops, the next time you take out the expensive outfit, look at the tags and see where it is made. A lot of retailers do not pay a decent wage to get their clothes made and charge more then Walmart.
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