Why Is Wal-Mart evil, again? I remember part of it.

[Syrinx]

A. Sub-par pay, and next to no benefits.

B. Sinocentric sweatshop/prison labor.

C. History of devastating small businesses from coast to coast.

Anyone want to elaborate, or expand the list?

[TOhioLiberal]

1. Don't forget...

D. Forcing their employees to work 'off the clock'

Plus IIRC, Walmart has the dubious distinction of having the most lawsuits against them (labor related).

Regards,
Trekkerlass

[maggrwaggr]

2. I met a guy over the weekend who told me

that when you apply for a job at WalMart they hand you an application for food stamps and MediCal (here in California) because they know you can't make enough working there to live.

[Philostopher]

3. Some stores hire illegal immigrant labor

As a subcontract for cleaning crews and pay them less than federal minimum wage.

[gmoney]

4. that's not enough?

How about --

- union-busting tactics that would make Montgomery Burns blush

- corporate welfare in the form of abatements and infrastructure paid by the local citizens, but then all profits go to Arkansas

- censorship of books, magazines, movies and music due to their huge market share? (Not just controlling availability, but actually dictating allowable content)

- part of driving local companies out of business is that their workers end up taking jobs at Wal-Mart for a fraction of the pay

- discrimination against women (possibly the largest class-action suit ever is pending against them) and minorities

- contributing to urban sprawl and unnecessary land development

- monopolistic business practices forcing manufacturers to reduce quality of ALL goods to meet Wal-Mart price points, and driving many manufacturing jobs overseas

- monopolistic business practices trying to eliminate any competitors from the market through questionable policies and practices

- centralization of power is NEVER a good thing... in one or two generations, Wal-Mart could own virtually ALL retail outlets in the US, which means they set the price you pay for everything, and control what you are able to purchase

There's virtually nothing GOOD to be said about them, except that you might save a few bucks shopping there.

"What does it profit a man if he gain a cheap DVD player, but loses his soul?"

Just occurred to me: check out http://www.walmartsucks.com/

[Syrinx]

10. wow thanks!

I knew I hated them, but now I realize how much!

[Ellen Forradalom]

5. Don't hire union contractors to build their stores

For a while there was a huge billboard next to the Green Bay Wal-Mart from the carpenters' union urging people not to shop there.

[gmoney]

8. Oh yeah...thanks for reminding me.

I almost forgot... they don't even use local workers to BUILD the damn things. Just these migrant labor crews, probably paid squat, too.

[Hogarth]

6. I hardly ever use the term "evil" ...

...what with it's religious connotations, and all that, but I do think that their practice of hiring the elderly to be greeters so that the corporation can take out life insurance policies on them is really bad form. That WalMart should profit as beneficiary from the deaths of its older employees, to me, seems almost criminal.

Otherwise, I agree with the three reasons posed.

[Syrinx]

11. do they really do that?

Hire the elderly and bet on them dying? If true, that's really low.

[gmoney]

13. It's called "Dead Peasants Insurance"

Discussed in Michael Moore's "Dude, Where's my Country?" on page 145-147.

Moore says that Wal-Mart claims to have stopped this practice, and some laws have passed laws against it, but LOTS of companies do this and have been doing it for 20 years.

One example Moore cites is a $21,000 a year office worker who contracts Lou Gehrig's Disease, and the company collected $180,000 when she died. Company did not pay a dime to the family for funeral or anything, and even denied an insurance claim of $5000 to buy her a motorized wheelchair while she was sick.

[thebigidea]

7. pre-emptive strike

"I can't believe the elitism of some posters here who would spit on the swing voters who have to shop at Wal-Mart for reasons I can't be expected to delineate, as I just want to fire off a robotic response in order to feel smug. I think it's shameful that you're not supporting the troops, supporting Wal-Mart, praising Ronald Reagan, etc. etc. etc."

that about covers it. Please continue.

[A HERETIC I AM]

9. A new super Wal-mart will be the "Key to center"

http://www.dailynews.com/Stories/0,1413,200%257E20943%257E1807090,00.html?search=filter
snip
PALMDALE -- A shopping center that will be anchored by a super Wal-Mart store will add more than 357,000 square feet of retail space to the 10th Street West corridor and add 714 jobs, according to a draft environmental impact report prepared by the city of Palmdale. here is the "Will create new jobs" ruse" It is bullshit

snip

The project's developer, Stan Rothbart, is the same developer who established the Palmdale Promenade shopping center on Avenue P, about a mile from the super Wal-Mart site. The Palmdale Promenade includes a Wal-Mart store, which city officials said they expect will be closed when the new store opens.

"We're encouraging them to back-fill that space directly and urgently," Ledford said. this part is laughable. The closed store will sit idle for years most likely. There is a story at www.walmartwatch.com that tells how the local taxpayers were paying to have a closed Wal-Mart taken down. THEY SUCK THEY SUCK THEY SUCK!!! The WORST example of capitalism this country has ever known.

Ledford said he expects the Avenue P Wal-Mart will end up being used by multiple tenants rather than by one big-box tenant. More Bullshit! it wont happen. There is a deserted K-Mart 4 miles away and plenty of other vacant retail space in the area

This is happening where i live. This is the first announcement i have heard. No public discussion to speak of. The local merchants should be up in arms about this but they arent.

[K8-EEE]

12. Those Awful "We Aren't Evil" Commercials

You know when they produce all those propaganda commercials about how fabulous it is working at Wallmart, that it SUCKS! Who are they trying to kid?

The worst is the Hallmark suburban family with a kid who needed some expensive treatment and had to go to the Mayo Clinic etc...well the guy must have been upper management, because 70% of the employees are not covered at all. But they don't make a commercial about when THEIR kids get sick!

[BringEmOn]

14. The Walton family says "goodnight"

[DeepModem Mom]

15. LA Times has done ten recent stories on Wal-Mart...

and yesterday provided a page with links to them all:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-walmart-sg.storygallery