I love Wal-Mart, and I can't STAND unions...

One of my best friends is a regional VP with Wally World, up in Virginia.

Sure, when you start there it's hard work, long hours, and low pay- but the attirtion rate is so high, if you hang in there- you can grow quickly. I have another buddy that's a store MGR in Texas. They both make 6-figure incomes. The RVP's salary is 6-figures, but he gets a huge bonus at their Christmas meeting. The store MGR makes about 60,000, but his bonus (If they make margins) puts him in teh 6 figure range every year. He just bought his wife a new Infiniti G35 for Christmas... Cash.

Zero debt...

Bottom line, Wal-Mart is a juggernaut. They have the suppliers by the cajones, but the thing about them is they pass the savings on to the consumers; it's just that they sell so much they are getting stinky rich in the process; and the suppliers, though whinning, are too (Just not from Wal-Mart).

I believe my friend told me the CEO of Wal-Mart made $179,000,000 in 2002.

They seem to know what they're doing- and shutting down one store isn't gonna kill Wal-Mart. Shuttign down 100 stores won't hurt Wal-mart. They're opening stores in Mexico and China even as we speak.

If mad-cow disease can't kill McDonald's, then Unions will never hurt Wal-Mart.

God Bless 'em! (Now, lower your prices some Wal-Mart; all the dollar-stores are cheaper on brand-name products now)

 

Ill be glad when someone brings walmnart to their knees. I hope they all vote to unionize. They can close them all for all I care. Others will just step in and fill the void. Walmart has never been good to its employees or its suppliers. They have not paid workers for overtime hours worked and poor benifits. Many suppliers have shut down busniesses because they tried to meet Walmarts demands.

Good by wally world!!!!!!!!11

 

I have gone over this before but this seems like a good thread to get into a debate…

Wal-Mart has done NOTHING wrong and actually done as the majority of us have asked them to do, sale things as cheap as possible. The union has done NOTHING wrong and actually done what the majority of us would like to have happen which is BIGGER paychecks…

Sorry my friends this equation will NEVER work. You can not have employees, all of us because in one fashion or another we all have bosses, even private business owners have bosses, the customer.

Anyway, the equation of higher paychecks and rock bottom prices on goods is not possible. Not possible unless you send all the labor intense work overseas where they get paid next to nothing.

We, as a collective group of individuals have asked and BEGGED big business to send work overseas, the more the better is how we like it. We have done this by being cheap and wanting the cheapest possible product.

The union is not necessarily a bad thing because they try to get their employees the most amount of money and benefits as possible and the ONLY way to do that is to cut overhead in a business which means send as much work overseas were labor is cheap.

This is NOT about big business and it is NOT about unions, this is about the majority of us, the consumer who for the most part is unwilling to buy the Craftsman and other name brand products but more then glad to buy the cheap crap from China and replace it 5 – 10 times through out of life actually spending more money over time, to save a buck now.

Don’t blame Wal-Mart and don’t blame the unions because neither is at fault WE ARE AT FAULT and that is the cold hard truth many of us are unwilling to face up to…

 

Many suppliers lost their business because they wouldn't meet Wal-Mart's demands..

Our Econ Professor told us in a nut-shell how Wal-Mart does business. In summary, he said they purchase so much from a supplier (if it sells) that the supplier must ramp up to make enough product to meet Wal-Mart's need. Once the company is in over it's head, and expecting a ROI on all the equipment they purchased to sell their products, Wal-Mart offers to buy more and more, in return for lower prices. Soon, the seller is selling the product to Wal-Mart for little to no profit. When they fail to reduce prices further, or lower their cost of production (Layoffs) Wally World will threaten to pull out. If the supplier doesn't lower prices, Wal-Mart pulls out or buys less- and the company dies for being to far in the whole, making way more than they can sell; or having expensive machines sit idle because they have no one to sell to.

That's why Wal-Mart out sells K-Mart & Target because they get the stuff from the supplier so cheap, they can sell it to the consumer (And make a profit) cheaper than K-Mart & Target can even purchase it from the supplier. Quite naturally, they can't afford to sell it as cheap as Wal-mart can...

Difference being where Wal-Mart may want 3,000,000 rolls of Scott towels per week at $0.33 a roll. Target may only need 25,000 rolls and K-mart only needs 18,000 rolls at $0.75 a roll. A 6-pack at Wal-Mart could sell as low as $1.89 (lets call it $2.79- they make a profit too) but the same 6-pack at Target or K-Mart will cost you $4.50 ($4.99- K-Mart can't sell 'em at cost either; not and make a profit).

Wal-Mart passes the savings to the consumer though, and this is why they haven't been taken to court by any major chain; Mom & Pops only...

 

I am not buying that argument either. Wal-Mart has NOT forced a single supplier to do anything the supplier was not “freely” willing to do to begin with.

Personally, if there has been any businesses closed because they could not meet Wal-Marts demands then great, it means they were a poorly run business to begin with and would have went out of business regardless what Wal-mart may have demanded.

Every single business is free to run their business as they wish, they are free to charge any price they wish. I know of no laws that stipulate anything different. In other words Wal-Mart’s suppliers are free to tell Wal-Mart no at anytime and discontinue doing business with them.

I get so sick of this “victim” society we have here in America. Wal-Mart’s vendors are NOT victims, they were morons who could NOT successfully run a business to begin with…

 

You know 01 I usually agree with you on stuff, but Wally world has put many companies very near to bankruptcy. Why don't they stop doing business with Wally you say? Because in an effort to conform to Wally's demands (yes they do demand so many items & at what price they will pay) they end up buring other bridges so now they are almost completely dependent on Wally's purchases.

Its not really a choice between Wally World or the unions. There is a third choice: shop somewhere else! I don't shop there if I can help it. I shopped there once in the last 6 months because we got gift cards from relatives for there. I spent the amount on the gift cards & nothing more.

Would you believe that Sam's Club pays there employees better (& w/ some benefits) that Wally World? Funny since they are owned by the same company.

 

As usual, 01 XLT Sport makes good sense.

I shop at Trader Joe's because the grocery strike last year turned me off to the chain grocery stores.

People need to put their money where their mouths are. If you lament the demise of "Store X" then KEEP SHOPPING THERE. And tell your friends...

If you don't like "Store Z" then STOP SHOPPING THERE. And tell you friends...

One thing I've learned, it's that quality never goes out of style. You buy the best thing you can afford, and you only have to buy it once. You buy cheap crap, and you are replacing it many times.

Here's my one problem with many of the Union's demands, both in this case and with the SoCal grocery strike:
Unions/workers want to make a career out of scanning groceries, keeping products on shelves, and they want a middle-class income.

I've got new for you: these are ENTRY LEVEL jobs. These are jobs that you take while in school or are trying to better yourself. You want a career, then work your **** off like the rest of us. Or rise up to a management position. Choose a profession that makes money. Go to school if need be. Learn a skill.

It makes no sense to takea job delivering pizzas, stick with it for 15 years, then demand middle-class wages. It's like the people who move next door to an airport, then sue because it's too loud. You know what you are getting yourself into. Don't change the rules after the fact.

Sorry, but scanning groceries is not a skill. Which is why the SoCal skilled-labor unions didn't vocally support the grocer's strike. OK so I got a little off-topic...sorry

 

But Sam's Club pays low wages compared to Costco. Costco manages to have low prices AND they treat their workers well.

I choose not to shop at Sam's Club either...

 

Ok, I can buy that but it sounds like this is a practice that has been going on for a very long time, some 20 years or more by the sound of it.

Therefore, I would agree that Wal-Mart’s suppliers in the beginning may have got screwed by not paying attention and watching out for their own company’s financial health.

What I mean by that is for most, if not all, company’s to remain financially healthy they have to be diversified in some manner. If a company is only ramping up, or ramping up a huge section of their capital for one customer (Wal-Mart) it does not make for good sound business practice.

It’s just like successful long term financial investors who never invest all or huge chunks of their money in one particular business/stock.

So I still stand by what I stated about Wal-Mart’s suppliers in past 15 years or so since they ALL knew exactly what Wal-Mart’s practices were. If they didn’t know they deserve to be out of business for not doing their economical homework...

 

I have found that as well. I was just pointing out that the parent company treats their employees different depending on which subsidiary they work for.

 

I don't think the practices have gone to such an extent as they have in say the last 5 years. Think about it Wally World has gotten massive in the last 5 or so years. As they got bigger they got more demanding. So for a supplier to agree to their terms in the beginning might not have been such a bad deal but each year they demand more product & at a lower price. I have had 3 business classes in the last year & each one has used Wally's practices as an example of different things. I can think of only 1 company who has told Wally to **** off (HUffy I think, I know it was a bike company).

 

That's EXACTLY why I don't shop at Walmart. I pay higher prices elsewhere.

 

I agree with 01 XLT Sport.

I want to thank all of you who have stopped shopping at Wal-Mart. I was getting tired of them being sold out completely on items that I want, and now I have a better chance of them having it when I need it now.

By the way, I hope you will all stop shopping at Bass Pro Shops, Cabelas, and Sam's Club too. After all, they're probably killing the mom and pop shops too.

Here's some other union crap to consider. They kill mom and pop shops too.

Case in point.

I work at a power plant. We replace large scale equipment from time to time. Last year, we replaced our exhaust stacks, which was a multi-million dollar job. The crew that won the bid was union. When they got out here, in rural eastern Colorado, they looked to hire extra manpower. They were looking for welders especially.

When they couldn't find a union welder around here, they instead pulled men off another job in another state. They refused to hire any of the mom and pop welding shops in town. Their reason was because scabs are not allowed to touch their welding equipment. This robbed our local welders of 9 weeks of solid work.

Our other plants, which are union also, won't even take bids on large scale work from non-union companies as far as I know. How is that any different from what you claim Wal-Mart is doing?

Thankfully, this plant is not union, nor will it ever be while the current crew is still here.

I was a Teamster once. Please, forgive me for I knew not what I was doing back then.

 

Yep I'm with Urban.

I pay extra for Dewalt, Craftsman.

I pay more to shop at Target.

When I shop at Home Depot....it may sound crazy but I bought a putty knife for $20 instead of the $10 because it was made in America. Would the $10 do the same thing probably...but if I can keep my dollar on these shores I'll do it every chance I get.

 

I will agree with buying American whenever possible.