Originally Posted By: mrsilv04
IndyIan said:
HOW BIG IS WAL-MART?
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What about OCI's?
Originally Posted By: kingrob
When it's an emergency and you need a pack of diapers at 2:00 am and the only thing open in town is Wal-Mart, then I would say you had no choice.
Aint that the truth! I try to shop locally in our small town (5,300-ish pop), but our local marts are not open past 10. Sometimes we have to make the 40 mile trip to Wally's to grab what we *need*.
When it's an emergency and you need a pack of diapers at 2:00 am and the only thing open in town is Wal-Mart, then I would say you had no choice.
Aint that the truth! I try to shop locally in our small town (5,300-ish pop), but our local marts are not open past 10. Sometimes we have to make the 40 mile trip to Wally's to grab what we *need*.
Originally Posted By: kingrob
Quote:
I give plenty to my country already. I'm not going to lose any sleep over shopping at Walmart.
Yeah, but if you have a choice of giving to the U.S. or China, you'd rather give to China? I'm not the most patriotic dude around but I can't think of too many people that consciously give to Communist China over the U.S...
You can call it semantics if you want, but I'm not "giving" my money to anyone. I am trading my hard earned dollars for a good or service. In this case I am giving my money to an American company with American workers who acts as an intermediary between the buyer (me) and the seller (whoever), or simply the middle man if you will. Do some of the products I buy involve China? I'm sure they do. Do I really care? No I don't. Because those same dollars also involve Americans and jobs. And in the process, I save money for both me and my family.
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I give plenty to my country already. I'm not going to lose any sleep over shopping at Walmart.
Yeah, but if you have a choice of giving to the U.S. or China, you'd rather give to China? I'm not the most patriotic dude around but I can't think of too many people that consciously give to Communist China over the U.S...
You can call it semantics if you want, but I'm not "giving" my money to anyone. I am trading my hard earned dollars for a good or service. In this case I am giving my money to an American company with American workers who acts as an intermediary between the buyer (me) and the seller (whoever), or simply the middle man if you will. Do some of the products I buy involve China? I'm sure they do. Do I really care? No I don't. Because those same dollars also involve Americans and jobs. And in the process, I save money for both me and my family.
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Originally Posted By: SinisterK9
In this case I am giving my money to an American company with American workers
Workers? I'd say employees. Cheap begets cheap.
In this case I am giving my money to an American company with American workers
Workers? I'd say employees. Cheap begets cheap.
Originally Posted By: Win
Originally Posted By: mpvue
so, you are saying this is a GOOD thing? why would enlarging urban areas be a good thing? how many factories up north were closed to move them down there? the south has grown due to tax breaks and lack of unions. but the effects are abandoned towns and factories somewhere else. those companies didn't CREATE jobs, they just took them from somewhere else. the south grows while the north flounders.
And instead of looking to the South, and learning from its success, the urban (not rural) north and northeast just keeps on voting for more of the same old high taxes and unions that have put them in the death spiral and will surely lead to more abandoned towns and factories.
Amazing.
+1 And WM has shown a 10% profit increase while almost everyone else is showing significant losses. They will soon be hated and the target of Big G because of this "inequity".
Originally Posted By: mpvue
so, you are saying this is a GOOD thing? why would enlarging urban areas be a good thing? how many factories up north were closed to move them down there? the south has grown due to tax breaks and lack of unions. but the effects are abandoned towns and factories somewhere else. those companies didn't CREATE jobs, they just took them from somewhere else. the south grows while the north flounders.
And instead of looking to the South, and learning from its success, the urban (not rural) north and northeast just keeps on voting for more of the same old high taxes and unions that have put them in the death spiral and will surely lead to more abandoned towns and factories.
Amazing.
+1 And WM has shown a 10% profit increase while almost everyone else is showing significant losses. They will soon be hated and the target of Big G because of this "inequity".
Originally Posted By: oilyriser
They seem to know how not to waste money. I've never seen fancy stuff like this at a Wal Mart:
$23 million paint job
That's over $1,400 a square foot.
Bureaucracy at it's finest!
Quote:
The dispute reached Spain's parliament last week, with Popular Party lawmaker Gonzalo Robles asking: "How many thousands of children could have been looked after" with the money spent on the artwork? The ruling Socialists accused him of twisting the facts.
They seem to know how not to waste money. I've never seen fancy stuff like this at a Wal Mart:
$23 million paint job
That's over $1,400 a square foot.
Bureaucracy at it's finest!
Quote:
The dispute reached Spain's parliament last week, with Popular Party lawmaker Gonzalo Robles asking: "How many thousands of children could have been looked after" with the money spent on the artwork? The ruling Socialists accused him of twisting the facts.
Originally Posted By: greenaccord02
Little rant here about China stuff at WM:
The reason they're supplied from China is because we don't have the manufacturing capacity to keep thousands of huge stores stocked with all that trash. Not that we couldn't, but an american that stands in an assembly line and screws together parts all day wants $23/hr +benefits wheras the Chinese person knows better than to feel so foolishly entitled. People that used to live in prosperous areas now live in ghost towns with no employment. Who's to blame? It's easy to point the finger at the white collar folks or the people that didn't have the luxury of having extra money to spend on expensive American goods. Unions drove out businesses, government expanded to take it's place, taxes rose, now those same entitled workers want a handout. Some states are at the very brink of socialism. All the while, those hillbillies in the south prosper just the way Americans always have. With honest work for an honest wage. Surely this is not due to right to work laws...
I buy American when the price is right for the quality, but I'd rather buy Chinese than support union labor.
I have to disagree that unions are the problem, its that China basically treats their people as disposable production units.
How can we compete with $5/day labour with no rights to safe decent working conditions? Also they are trashing their environment to ensure they have low production costs. Something like a dozen coal miners get killed per day for example.
I guess I see it like this; By buying cheap chinese stuff you are supporting chinese communism at the expense of the people in china and people here. The Waltons are getting rich and so is the communist party, everyone else isn't really benefitting at all. You get a short term savings with some not so good long term consequences.
I can see though during a 2am diaper shortage, it isn't the time to get picky about where you are going to shop
Ian
Little rant here about China stuff at WM:
The reason they're supplied from China is because we don't have the manufacturing capacity to keep thousands of huge stores stocked with all that trash. Not that we couldn't, but an american that stands in an assembly line and screws together parts all day wants $23/hr +benefits wheras the Chinese person knows better than to feel so foolishly entitled. People that used to live in prosperous areas now live in ghost towns with no employment. Who's to blame? It's easy to point the finger at the white collar folks or the people that didn't have the luxury of having extra money to spend on expensive American goods. Unions drove out businesses, government expanded to take it's place, taxes rose, now those same entitled workers want a handout. Some states are at the very brink of socialism. All the while, those hillbillies in the south prosper just the way Americans always have. With honest work for an honest wage. Surely this is not due to right to work laws...
I buy American when the price is right for the quality, but I'd rather buy Chinese than support union labor.
I have to disagree that unions are the problem, its that China basically treats their people as disposable production units.
How can we compete with $5/day labour with no rights to safe decent working conditions? Also they are trashing their environment to ensure they have low production costs. Something like a dozen coal miners get killed per day for example.
I guess I see it like this; By buying cheap chinese stuff you are supporting chinese communism at the expense of the people in china and people here. The Waltons are getting rich and so is the communist party, everyone else isn't really benefitting at all. You get a short term savings with some not so good long term consequences.
I can see though during a 2am diaper shortage, it isn't the time to get picky about where you are going to shop
Ian
Originally Posted By: moribundman
Originally Posted By: SinisterK9
In this case I am giving my money to an American company with American workers
Workers? I'd say employees. Cheap begets cheap.
Workers: Factory workers, fork lift drivers, sales associates, managers, greeters, buggy go getters, shelf stockers, janitors, cashiers, 18 wheeler truck drivers and so on and so forth.
However, feel free to call it what you wish.
When you have a minimum wage skill, you can expect a minimum wage job. However through on the job training/experience/school or whatever you can make yourself more marketable and progress to a different job through the ranks, or merely use your job as a springboard to pay for school etc.
This is America. Make things happen for yourself, there is plenty of opportunity.
Originally Posted By: SinisterK9
In this case I am giving my money to an American company with American workers
Workers? I'd say employees. Cheap begets cheap.
Workers: Factory workers, fork lift drivers, sales associates, managers, greeters, buggy go getters, shelf stockers, janitors, cashiers, 18 wheeler truck drivers and so on and so forth.
However, feel free to call it what you wish.
When you have a minimum wage skill, you can expect a minimum wage job. However through on the job training/experience/school or whatever you can make yourself more marketable and progress to a different job through the ranks, or merely use your job as a springboard to pay for school etc.
This is America. Make things happen for yourself, there is plenty of opportunity.
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Quote:
This is America. Make things happen for yourself, there is plenty of opportunity.
For now.
This is America. Make things happen for yourself, there is plenty of opportunity.
For now.
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Originally Posted By: SinisterK9
Originally Posted By: moribundman
Originally Posted By: SinisterK9
In this case I am giving my money to an American company with American workers
Workers? I'd say employees. Cheap begets cheap.
Workers: Factory workers, fork lift drivers, sales associates, managers, greeters, buggy go getters, shelf stockers, janitors, cashiers, 18 wheeler truck drivers and so on and so forth.
However, feel free to call it what you wish.
When you have a minimum wage skill, you can expect a minimum wage job. However through on the job training/experience/school or whatever you can make yourself more marketable and progress to a different job through the ranks, or merely use your job as a springboard to pay for school etc.
This is America. Make things happen for yourself, there is plenty of opportunity.
You missed my point.
Originally Posted By: moribundman
Originally Posted By: SinisterK9
In this case I am giving my money to an American company with American workers
Workers? I'd say employees. Cheap begets cheap.
Workers: Factory workers, fork lift drivers, sales associates, managers, greeters, buggy go getters, shelf stockers, janitors, cashiers, 18 wheeler truck drivers and so on and so forth.
However, feel free to call it what you wish.
When you have a minimum wage skill, you can expect a minimum wage job. However through on the job training/experience/school or whatever you can make yourself more marketable and progress to a different job through the ranks, or merely use your job as a springboard to pay for school etc.
This is America. Make things happen for yourself, there is plenty of opportunity.
You missed my point.
Originally Posted By: IndyIan
You get a short term savings with some not so good long term consequences.
If it puts union workers out of a job and makes them work for a living then it's excellent consequences. If all those unions were gone (and they soon will be with no work) a company could come in amongst the hungry, welfare ridden north and tell the people, "We have X work, we will pay Y amount of dollars. There are no benefits at entry level, we suggest you be responsible and save for yourself. Anyone talking about unionizing will be immeadiately fired and blacklisted." You would see the north build back up into a center of industry. And it wouldn't take many years. Until then, we'll just keep sending the alms from down here.
I'll concede that you're right about China to a certain extent. The world needs a place with practically slave labor to produce certain cheap plastic goods and china fills that niche. However, skilled workers are needed for many things, and if America would come to it's senses we could cash in on that kind of labor just as we did for almost a century before a bunch of uneducated trash started thinking they needed 60,000 a year and retirement to sweep a floor or turn a screwdriver.
You get a short term savings with some not so good long term consequences.
If it puts union workers out of a job and makes them work for a living then it's excellent consequences. If all those unions were gone (and they soon will be with no work) a company could come in amongst the hungry, welfare ridden north and tell the people, "We have X work, we will pay Y amount of dollars. There are no benefits at entry level, we suggest you be responsible and save for yourself. Anyone talking about unionizing will be immeadiately fired and blacklisted." You would see the north build back up into a center of industry. And it wouldn't take many years. Until then, we'll just keep sending the alms from down here.
I'll concede that you're right about China to a certain extent. The world needs a place with practically slave labor to produce certain cheap plastic goods and china fills that niche. However, skilled workers are needed for many things, and if America would come to it's senses we could cash in on that kind of labor just as we did for almost a century before a bunch of uneducated trash started thinking they needed 60,000 a year and retirement to sweep a floor or turn a screwdriver.
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Originally Posted By: Win
Originally Posted By: oilyriser
They seem to know how not to waste money. I've never seen fancy stuff like this at a Wal Mart:
$23 million paint job
That's over $1,400 a square foot.
No doubt. Wal Mart HQ is a pretty frugal looking place. If the rest of the nation's business ran as efficiently as WM, we would still be world leaders in all of the areas we are no longer world leaders.
Yeah ..but then who would the miserable people be? Everyone? Someone ..many someone's ..pay dearly for WM's policies and practices.
Originally Posted By: oilyriser
They seem to know how not to waste money. I've never seen fancy stuff like this at a Wal Mart:
$23 million paint job
That's over $1,400 a square foot.
No doubt. Wal Mart HQ is a pretty frugal looking place. If the rest of the nation's business ran as efficiently as WM, we would still be world leaders in all of the areas we are no longer world leaders.
Yeah ..but then who would the miserable people be? Everyone? Someone ..many someone's ..pay dearly for WM's policies and practices.
Yeah, Wal-Mart's the source of all social injustice in this world.
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Try talking to one of their suppliers. Where they order 150% of the next largest customer. Then reject the shipment for one reason or another and a smaller outfit is near bankrupt and has to renegotiate the deal to come out with avoided losses.
Not injustice, just brutal and cutthroat. About as hmmm.."good fellas" as you can get and still not be considered organized crime and brought up on RICO (?) charges.
Not injustice, just brutal and cutthroat. About as hmmm.."good fellas" as you can get and still not be considered organized crime and brought up on RICO (?) charges.
"Capitalism is the unequal distribution of wealth: Socialism is the equal distribution of poverty."
If Wal-Mart's suppliers don't like Wal-Mart as a customer, they should discontinue the relationship.
Snapper refuses to sell to WalMart simply because of the image it would give the company. WalMart came to them and they refused.
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Originally Posted By: GROUCHO MARX
If Wal-Mart's suppliers don't like Wal-Mart as a customer, they should discontinue the relationship.
Easier said than done, Groucho. You make it sound like "hey .then just quit
". Often times the supplier has upgraded their production JUST for WM and has TONS invested in the FIRST ORDER. Then WM rejects it for something like it being stacked on the skid wrong or whatever and sends it back and the small company is the OWNED by WM in terms of that order. Move on to the next sucker.
Don't assume that there's some innocuous "goodwill" relationship that fosters cooperation that turns slightly sour.
If Wal-Mart's suppliers don't like Wal-Mart as a customer, they should discontinue the relationship.
Easier said than done, Groucho. You make it sound like "hey .then just quit
Don't assume that there's some innocuous "goodwill" relationship that fosters cooperation that turns slightly sour.
Every major buyer operates this way. Have you checked out what we in Canada pay for genuine made in USA pharmaceuticals?
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