What makes Walmart the only “bad guy”?
Author: justsimplyholly // Category: Holly, My opinion, ShoppingI’ve heard people say time and time again, on various websites, news paper articles and even on the news, that Walmart is basically the Anti Christ because of how few of their items sold have a “Made in the USA” tag on them or because they aren’t unionized. But let me share something with you that recently happened to me while shopping with my sister at our local JCPenney store.
As you may, or may not, know, I am currently taking college courses with my major being Marketing and Sales. The chapter we’re currently discussing has to do with global trading and importing/exporting. It also talks a lot about how many of the products sold by American merchants aren’t made in America and it prompted us to start paying attention to product labels in the stores we shop at.
So while I was shopping with my sister at JCPenney this past Saturday I started looking at the labels on the womens clothing. I spent around 25 minutes “label shopping” and was actually quite surprised at my findings! In that 25 +/- minutes I did not find a SINGLE label that said “Made in America”, not one! Why did I find this so surprising? Well, you never hear people protesting at the local JCPenney store, do you? Yet it’s obvious that the bulk of the merchandise they sell isn’t made in America and I’m also pretty sure that their employees are not unionized.
So tell me, what makes JCPenney so much better and/or different than Walmart? They’re a “big box” store, they sell merchandise that is made in countries like Malaysia, China, Japan and Indonesia and they’re non union.
My opinion? They’re no better, if anything, they’re worse! Why, you ask? That’s easy! JCPenney is worse because they put ridiculously high markups on merchandise that is of the same quality as the merchandise you can purchase at stores like Walmart. They also have stuck up sales people who have the “I’m better than you” attitude that drive off down to earth customers like myself. People like me, who struggle to make ends meet, who want to get the best value for our dollar rather then just having the most popular name on our clothing.
See, this is the way that I see it. I can take my shopping dollars and go to JCPenney where I’m going to be ignored or treated like crap by a sales person who thinks they’re better than me and buy a pair of jeans for around $30. Or, I can take my shopping dollars and go to a store like Walmart where I’ll also be ignored, but for that $30 I can buy myself a pair of jeans AND a new shirt! So you tell me, why is that so wrong? No matter which store you go to you’re going to get non American made products AND crappy service from a non union employee! Wouldn’t you rather get more for your dollar as well? Or would you just rather have the pretty designer name and/or tag instead?
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February 6th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
You only get jeans and a shirt for $30 at Wal*Mart? Hell, I can get a pair of jeans, two tops, and a pair of cheapy sneakers for that at Wal*Mart!! LOL!!
Wal*Mart is the supposed bad guy because they treat their employees like crap. And they make little Ma & Pa-type stores go out of business. And a bunch of other crap, too. But they’re cheap. And open 24 hours in my neck of the woods. There’s nothing more fun than going Wal*Mart-ing with the drunks at 3AM!
February 6th, 2008 at 3:05 pm
ROFL! Now I know why I like you so much! Before the kidlets came along hubby and I would do ALL our shopping at 3 AM! It wasn’t at Walmart, but it was at a store that was groceries, clothes, etc like the Super Walmarts of today are! We’d have a BLAST laughin our butts off!!
February 6th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I just watched the WalMart - The High Cost of Low Prices documentary over this past weekend, and it was very disturbing! (rent it!) The factories that WM owns in China where the workers LIVE and work are just HORRIBLE! Oh I was so sickened.
The lack of medical insurance for families of associates that work there. They are actually encouraged to go on welfare in the employee handbook! Single moms working 40 hours plus, and not getting paid ANY overtime!
Running generations of family operated stores into foreclosure and bankruptcy. Communities paying subsidiaries to get WM into their town, yet Jack that has owned the hardware store for 45 years can’t get a penny from the city for any type of improvements.
I will never walk into another WM in my life!
Sorry for the rant………..
February 6th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Hey Julie! Thanks for stopping by! While I won’t say that every part of the movie you watched is a lie, I will comment on the parts that I know about personally as a former Walmart employee.
Insurance is available and offered to every Walmart employee from the day the first start working, or at least it was for myself and my co-workers. The price was fairly reasonable as well. But my husband had insurance through his employer while I worked at Walmart, so I never had to use it.
As for the working overtime and not getting paid for it, I cannot comment about anyone other than myself. I actually would go into new where new stores were being built during their pre opening and help get the stores set up to open. Walmart would pay for my gas back and forth and my hotel room as well as a generous food allowance for each day that I was out of town. We worked an average of 12 hours a day and always had over time and I always was paid correctly for my overtime. While I won’t say that they are always honest and forthcoming when it comes to peoples pay, I don’t know of anyone that purposely wasn’t paid for their overtime.
I know that there are many people out there who feel the way that you do and I totally respect that. But the truth is that Walmart is not the only company who does the things that you mentioned in your comment. Yes, Walmart can be the cause for small locally owned businesses going out of business, but the same has held true if other “big box” type stores had moved in where Walmart did.
But my personal experiences as a former Walmart employee and current customer tell me that many of the things that are said about Walmart are grossly over exaggerated and are also done by other merchants, but the other merchants are able to fly under the radar simply because they are not Walmart.
And feel free to rant any time you want to! I don’t mind at all. I’m a full believer in everyone needs to have their own thoughts and opinions. If I don’t like what you write, I simply don’t have to read it!
February 8th, 2008 at 12:49 am
That’s because Wal-Mart is the bigger evil out of all the other chain stores like JCPenney. Wal-Mart will fight for every penny and the employees are mistreated like crazy.
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