CELEBRATING A FIVE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY…
Jonathan and I write about Walmart week in and week out, but one of the phenomenon that I’ve noticed over the years (yes years) that we’ve been doing this is how often I find posts about Walmart in blogs that have nothing to do with the Bentonvile Behemoth.
Take It’s Twinsanity! for instance:
Last week my nephew told me about his Wal-Mart woes when he tried to buy a set of speakers. He spent 30 minutes trying to find someone to help him. It reminded me that it’s now been 5 years since I stopped shopping there myself.
Fortunately, I have found other options rather than support Wal-Mart. I’ve never lived in a town that didn’t have either a Target, a PX (Army department store) or something similar. I’m happy to support the mom & pop shops whenever possible. I like to patronize family-owned businesses as much as I can. We are not rich (not even close- google the salary for military) but I get better quality products elsewhere so it’s worth it to me.
Heather is not a socialist or even an anti-big box fanatic (note, she does shop at Target) but there’s something about that Walmart experience that just sets her off.
Don’t get me wrong, I am on a first-name basis with the cashiers at my local Target. I know Target is a big business. I’m not anti-big business and I’m a capitalist at heart. But I think Wal-Mart has unethical business practices and so I made the decision to spend my money elsewhere. I’m sure that Wal-Mart doesn’t miss me but I feel like I’m doing the right thing. Just like the Nestle boycott. I hate to give money to a corporation that doesn’t pay fair wages and discriminates against their employees.
Besides, I never enjoyed shopping at Wal-Mart. The stores were always dirty and the customers and employees were generally rude.
Granted, it’s been five years since Heather strolled by a Walmart greeter, but some tastes just stick with you.
A couple of things I would like to point out:
1. Walmart and Target are damn near identical in business models. If you find Walmart’s business model unethical then the only thing you are doing here is exchanging the support of one evil for another.
2. I never understood why you would boycott a company because you felt that their wages and benefits were unfair. It’s simply illogical. A company’s first reaction to a loss of revenue is to control costs. This is easiest to do on the labor line. So, in effect, your protest over employee treatment may end up actually lessening compensation for workers, or, worse yet, costing them their jobs.
Shalom Someone,
First, I won’t disagree with you that the business models of Walmart and Target are similar, but that does not explain why people feel so very different about the two companies. Clearly those who like Target and dislike Walmart perceive differences that extend beyond the business model. I think that difference, whatever they perceive it to be, is critical.
Second, you don’t see the possibility for a moral component in buying decisions? Would you have no problem buying a Volkswagen knowing that it was made by slave laborers?
B’shalom,
Jeff
1. In many cases, the difference is ignorance.
2. The point was that it’s just plain stupid to say that a group of people are being mistreated and then take actions that will end up increasing the perceived injustice.
The first above statement is right. The CEO at Walmart is from Target.
Go to target and try to find more than one or two people in any one department. You never can. And that’s exactly what they’re trying to do with Walmart.
You’re right, some one in the usa, about business.
The point though we are trying to drive home is that it’s NOT about business or making money (greed). This is about customer service, treatment of the employee, and the way they make themselves look.
I work at a Walmart here in Houston and i get damn sick and tired of being pulled from my area (photolab) to zone housewares or toys or halloween. I also get damn sick of being told to do so when i’m the only one watching the area while they pull some one from shoes to my lab.
I get so many complaints from customers about no one ever being where they need them (like paints or stationary, etc).
Would you rather have some one who knows what they’re talking about in an area like hardware, paint or would you rather some shmuck like me wing it and have to call and wait 15 minutes for a manager show up to do it himself?
People who work at Walmart should be treated like people, not sheep.
Shalom Cody,
First, thank you for stopping in, for reading and, most importantly, for taking the time to enter the dialogue. We build our community through our conversations.
Second, human dignity is a difficult concept for people who lose sight of what they are doing when the dollars blind them. Charles Dickens was not wrong.
B’shalom,
Jeff
[...] Last week I wrote about the preponderance non-Walmart-related blogs finding fault with the Bentonvile Behemoth. Yesterday I found one more, but it made me think that my sampling is probably skewed because of my prejudice. So I’m making an offer. [...]