Reply #10: They have history of breaking labor/environmental laws

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Unfortunately they seem to always get off with a slap on the wrist in the form of easy settlements and small fines for their violations of labor laws and environmental protection regulations and city ordinances. The Justice Dept recently gave them a huge break in their child labor law violation settlement by instituting a two week notice procedure before investigations will start in the future when whistleblowers allege wrongdoing. There must be a lot of money greasing the wheels for them to get so many big breaks when they are caught in violations.

I don't shop there, I have spent time and money going to meetings and sending hundreds of letters to local politicians and city planners to prevent SuperWalmart from invading residential neighborhoods and I donated money to pay for attorneys to represent us in fighting the developers. However although we got a few mitigating concessions (some of which they already violated during construction), they won through their use of big money (funneled through developers) including large campaign donations to their hand picked candidates to run TV ads to get elected and payment of Walmart supporter 'plants' to speak in favor at City Council, etc.

But along with their steamrolling tactics and political maneuvering, Walmart has benefited tremendously from the need for jobs in many areas and from our consumer driven culture that values abundant cheap shopping as such a high priority over other considerations.