Matt Bailey I feel that walmart is a superstore that is trying to make it so that they are the store that you go to for everything. It looks like they are trying to put many of the other specialty stores out of business. For example, they tried to eliminate book stores by lowering their prices so much that they actually were almost losing money. Walmart has such low prices that many stores just cant compete with it. I feel that walmart is a very store but i dont think there is one needed in every town because there are a lot of small businesses that also do a very good job. So, when walmarts come into towns they create a lot of jobs and also make people lose jobs too. That shows you that walmart isnt all up side, there is also some downside to it aswell. That is how i feel about walmart.
I think that Walmart is just a large monopoly that is slowly putting other businesses out of business. No small shop can keep up with Walmarts prices, and they are slowly going under. When Walmart moves into every town, then no town can ever support small business. I think that it can be a useful store, but kept in proper prospective, only needing one every few towns. I also think that they should treat their employees much better, due to the fact that they hire so many for their huge businesses. If a company needs so much help within their stores, then they should also have the means to support them well.
After watching this video, my thoughts of walmart changed a pretty good amount. I've always thought of it as a low priced store that a lot of people turn too to go shopping and save money. In this video i was extremely surprised at how people react to this store and portray themselves as almost a cult. It is as if they dedicate their lives to it, and were therefore trying to get walmart's in towns where the communities didn't feel it was necessary. Even though a couple towns ended up not getting one, it didn't matter because there are so many in america and the fact that their prices are so low its hard for other store to try and compete. In the video, it showed a woman who moved states just to work at a walmart which pays about 9 dollars an hour. This confused me very much. It ended up she lasted about 3 months before moving back to her home town which i wasn't surprised about. This video opened my eyes to the things and people involving walmart that i never knew and it was actually frightening to watch.
I am opposed to the growth and development of several new Wal-Marts that are being built all across the nation. The spread of this major company is not only hurting the economy but all small business owners in home towns all over the U.S. and now even other places such as China. Wal-Mart has been known to be serious competition and poses as a threat to local supermarkets and small businesses. The company is slowly but surely taking over entire areas by building stores within only a couple of miles within each other. Especially within a few miles of other places selling goods that they sell but for cheaper. Therefore, Wal-mart has slowly but surely driven any surrounding competition out of business, or at least to being in a tough uphill battle against one another. It will be hard for businesses surrounding the new Wal-Marts set in place to compete with the lower prices that they offer to customers. This is currently happening in Wallingford where a Wal-Mart superstore (selling groceries) was placed down the road from a Shaw’s and Stop and Shop. These two local grocery stores that were in place before the Wal-Mart are now suffering due to the placement of Wal-Mart. Small businesses in towns such as Wallingford are not given the chance to prosper and grow with the addition of huge companies.
Emma Velcofsky After seeing the video on Walmart it made me question American a lot. These people that are running these large retail stores clearly love their job, but take the love to a whole new level. Walmart works as its own colt. I find it so very strange that they find it needed to cheer, before a day of work. Even their stockholders meeting is a little over the top. Ben Stiller must be in serious need of money if he feels he needs to host a Walmart meeting. Walmart is just a large monopoly that is slowly putting other businesses out of business. No small shop can keep up with Walmarts prices, and they are slowly going under. When Walmart moves into every town, then no town can ever support small business. I have never been in a Walmart and now that I have seen this i do not ever plan on going in one. It seems once you start you get a little too hooked. A woman moved from her home town to make $9.00 an hour at Walmart, and lasted 3 mouths. Also when that one woman opened her own Walmart and was so proud she cried, it must have been very emotional. I'm glad to see some people have a life goal of having their own Walmart.
I don't feel like walmart needs to expand anymore than it already has. It has become too large of a corporation that has begun to outsource too much of its labor in order to keep their prices low. They would rather treat their employees poorly and raise unemployment rates in this country by continuing to move their jobs overseas as opposed to raising their prices slightly. Walmart is trying to regain their image by going green. This has done a lot to boost PR for Walmart but they still need to not outsource labor to sweatshops in China for cheaper wages and cheaper products. This also would allow smaller stores who can't compete with walmarts prices to stay in business because they will be able to have atleast comparable rates to walmarts. I feel walmart is just creating turmoil in the job industry by creating as well as destroying jobs. So I think walmart should stop trying to expand and think more about other ways to save money besides outsourcing labor.
After watching the video, my view on Walmart changed a lot. I thought it was very strange how Walmart treats their employees, especially with the cheers. Their employees should be treated better. If this company has so much money, it needs to be able to take care of the workers. But more importantly, I had no idea what a problem Walmart is becoming. There are so many Walmarts that other businesses can't compete. Their prices are just too low. And even though it opens up more jobs, people also lose them. There's definitely no need for so many of one store. Other businesses should at least have the chance to be as successful.
Before this video i never realized how massive walmart is. Although a lot of people are opposed to walmart, the fact of the matter is, it's all competition. And clearly walmart is winning. I like the fact that walmart provides so many jobs and i think it helps a lot of people out. Although i do think they could afford to pay their employees more money, there will always be people willing to work for the little amounts they are giving out because in this economy, thats the best they can get anyways. I find their cheer to be super annoying though. And i do feel bad for the stores that lose business once a walmart comes into town. I dont find a walmart in every town very necessary, but people clearly like them if theyre able to open so many. As you can see i am on the fence with walmart!
Todd Heritage After watching the video on Walmart, I was very surprised at many different things. Walmart is a store that relies on pep talks before the work day and chants that are known around the country and even the world by every Walmart store and their employees and workers. After watching the video I felt as though Walmart was just a large monopoly that is slowly putting other small businesses out of the picture and out of business. It is nearly impossible for small businesses to keep up with the low prices, wide variety, and selections that Walmart offers in their stores. Walmarts are moving into towns and states all across the country and it is very interesting how in different places, Walmarts may be either loved… or hated. Many believe that they are destroying towns and communities because of their low prices and selections, but others believe that they offer a great deal of jobs that may be greatly needed in towns where jobs are being depleted. I also thought it was very interesting how Walmart owners think of themselves as a “Family”. When talking to employees they say that they are no such thing and that they are not given a great say in certain things like their wages most importantly, and with things dealing with healthcare where about half of the employees can afford it, but due to low wages many cannot (people who have kids and a family of their own)! I believe that Walmart is a very useful and helpful store with a great deal of low prices and variety for all your needs, but I feel as though they must not be put in too many towns across the country and need to be spread out more. I also feel as though they should treat their employees better giving them better wages and more affordable healthcare (seeing how the average person only works there for three years). If a store like Walmart needs so many employees… they should be able to be supported.
After watching the video on Walmart I realized that it’s not just a money saving store, it is actually something much larger and more powerful. The video showed me that Walmart is huge part of the economy. Not only does it save everyday shoppers a lot of money but it also provides a lot of jobs. Thousands of people apply at the new Walmarts in hopes of getting hired. They may provide jobs and save money but they also do damage to many smaller businesses. Walmarts often run small local businesses out of businesses, causing them to close. This causes a lot of people to not want Walmart’s in their town. But the people of Walmart show how much they love and care for it. Starting their days off with cheers and songs is one way they show their appreciation. Other people move to different states just to get a job there. Walmart is a great business but I would never want one in Cheshire.
I believe that the Wal-Mart executives are very wise when it comes to maximizing their profits. From a business perspective, the idea of Wal-Mart is seems like an outstanding company. However, I do not believe that Wal-Mart is conducting business in an ethical manner. They are smart to take advantage of their vastly greater buying power to acquire cheaper goods, but it seems like they are on their way to becoming a monopoly. Traditionally, companies like Wal-Mart, are hoping to drive away any major competition. They can do this buy offering rock bottom prices for a period of time, when the local small businesses can’t keep up they go out of business. Once the competition is out of the way, nothing is stopping Wal-Mart from jacking up their prices. So while their prices may be great today, they could be much higher in the near future. This is why people should not all shop at the same stores, the entire basis of capitalism revolves around competition and if Wal-Mart destroys all competition things could get much worse for you and me.
I feel that although Walmart has it's low prices, it has a negative effect on our economy and local communities. As we saw in the video when a Walmart moves into a community or plans to move into a community it hurts it in many ways. Firstly it divides the community that was once into two sides, Pro-Walmart or Anti-Walmrat. Due to walmart's extremely low prices, it puts many local business out because they can not compete with those prices. This causes several people to be out of a job.These local business tend to put part of the money they make back into their community, Walmart does not do this. They send it to their headquarters and that town will never see it. Also due to Walmarts low prices, it means that someone over seas is working long hard hours for cheap pay to make it. Although some people see Walmart as a plus because it can supply jobs for many people, there pay checks aren't great enough to support a family. Walmart treats their employees poorly by making their health care very hard to afford and the wages very low.
Healthcare had just passed this weekend and I know people have been protesting “big government” and expansion of health care reform because it could create a government owned monopoly down the road. Perhaps their fear of an Orwellian dystopia is valid, a government owned monopoly is terrible and will kill off incentives to lower prices. But to me, there is only one thing scarier than government owned monopoly, and that is corporate owned monopoly. Walmart, a corporate giant which we have been learning about for the past few weeks, is a disgrace to the American capitalist system and is going to destroy the entire fabric of this nation. Don’t get me wrong. I could care less how they treat their self loathed and very replaceable employees or even their environmental concerns. Those problems could easily be fixed without much pain to Walmart’s bottom line. Some of it can even improve the bottom line. This is not the problem with walmart. One must consider what Walmart truly is. They are not a friendly superstore down your neighborhood, and what they do is not only morally wrong, but bad for society and capitalism. Walmart is a MONOPOLY and monopolies are BAD. The basics of walmart essentially is that they are so large and operate at such at economy of scale that they are able to put any competitor out of business. The problem with this, the problem with entirely free market lasseiz faire capitalism is that eventually one company will win. One company will be able to outcompete all of the competition, earn a market share beyond belief, create a barrier of entry that will be impossible to beat, and kill off entrepreneurship. And this is exactly the reason why Walmart is going to destroy America. Take this example, Walmart moves into a local town with a variety of stores which provides it with goods and services. It is without question that these small businesses will be hurt, and walmart will argue that it is for the benefit of the people. This is the opposite of the truth. For the small decrease in your grocery prices, you pay the price of jobs, variety, and innovation. Walmart has no desire to innovate further because their competition can easily be beaten. What is their incentive to innovate something they have or tailor their products to a specific niche of consumers. Walmart will keep everything constant in the region and the consumer loses in that they have to settle for inferior products because superior products made for their taste cannot operate any further. Your local deli is able to sell you high quality meat, specific localities just for your niche and create jobs for the community. However, when Walmart comes in, all of those things are destroyed and Walmart cannot entirely replace those jobs or those foods. Entrepreneurship, arguably the biggest creator of jobs in this country and the reason as to why America is so successful will also be hurt. There is no reason for me to open up a new Thai restaurant in an area with Walmart even if I am an expert at it because their subway and deli can drive me out of business. I have no desire to create those jobs and make that new restaurant and thus, the consumer loses.
Also, consider this, if Walmart does outcompete everyone, drives literally everyone of its competitor out of business so much that suppliers have to operate at minimal profits to even survive. An ultimate corporate utopia. Walmart can even buy out its suppliers and create a horizontal and vertical monopoly. What will be their desire to keep prices low? There is no one left to compete against them. Is the America you want one that which one company sells the products to everyone and there is no more desire to create new jobs or innovate its products because their profit margins is immense.
This all comes down to the road in which America is coming to. Do we want to be an anti-intellectual society where we’re proud that we’re lowering our standard of living to buy cheap crap and working for minimum wage is acceptable? Americans themselves need to go through a paradigm shift in which hard work and becoming the best version of themselves is the norm, not the exception. It is a sad day in my life to see that the land of opportunity has become the land of failure on the personal and societal level.
I have mixed feelings on Walmart. Generally I am not opposed to big business such as Walmart. The United States has been dominated by big businesses throughout much of its history. Businesses have begun to create monopolys, however eventually competition for them arises. For example, Ford dominated the auto industry in the United States for several decades in the early 20th century. Today, Ford has extremely strong competition and is no longer one of the best auto industries in the country. Though Walmart seems to have a ridiculous amount of power over retail today, I imagine that stores such as Target will soon even out the playing field.
I also feel that Walmart is not the "evil" corporation that everyone makes them out to be. People who are greeters or work the cash registers can not expect to make much more than minimum wage. Their job requires virtually no education and those people can not be paid more than someone who has a high school or college degree. It does concern me that a Walmart moving into a town will probably cause severe damage to any small business in the area. Eventually I think the failure of these small locally run businesses will decrease the wealth of the town.
After having viewed the video on Walmart, I came away very surprised at many of its practices and concerned for what the future holds if Walmart is able to continue its ways. First of all I was surprised at the scale on which Walmart operates. I knew, from having seen several first hand scattered about the state in Wallingford, Cromwell, and Southington to name a few, that there was quite a few Walmarts out there. But my presumptions on the number of them were way off. I thought there were maybe a few hundred stores nation wide. But I was clearly mistaken. The video showed through a graphic that there are over three thousand stores in America alone. Three thousand stores! Think about that, that is an average of over 60 Walmarts per state (this number is not correct just a figure to show the ridiculousness). Not to mention the fact that there is almost that many stores scattered across the globe in China, England, Chile and other nations. It is this scale which allows them to operate in the manner which the do. Buy up large quantities of merchandise at cheap prices and mark it up to below their competitions price so that they not only drive their competitors out of business, but still make huge revenues in the process. These practices are what many people are in debate about as they do both good and bad. On the bad end of the spectrum they drive many small businesses out of business. Small businesses are not able to keep up with their low prices and great diversity in the items sold in Walmarts and so they are forced to close up shop. However, with the bad comes the good. Each Walmart provides many jobs for the people in the surrounding community. Only time will tell what will become of Walmart. Personally, after seeing the video, I could not help but relate Walmart I was viewing to the fictitious Buy N Large corporation in the Disney movie Wall-E. A corporation modeled after Walmart, which in the future has basically taken over all functions of the world’s economy. And, by the way things are looking right now, that could very well be a possibility in the future. One day we may be driving around in Walmart cars on our way to have dinner at a Walmart.
Wal-Mart has its place in the economy of many nations. As the most successful and powerful “big box mart” if offers a verity of products for prices cheaper then anywhere else. This is good, especially for families of lower income levels. What’s the price to pay for these low prices though? Is Healthcare, wages, fair treatment to employees and factory workers a fair price to pay? To me the answer is no. To Wal-Mart these things come second to bring in max profits. I believe the workers should be allowed to join a union if Wal-Mart won’t supply them with these essential things all works want and need. Is Wal-Mart a bad store? No, in fact it’s far from it. They provide people of lower income levels goods they need for a cheaper price witch can be a big help especially today. Am I a fan of Wal-Mart and their business strategies? No, I think Wal-Mart is ran very poorly, employees should come first not opening a store every 2 miles from one another. Wal-Marts force many smaller companies and stores out of business and this is extremely unnecessary. In a way Wal-Mart is a modern day monopoly, they have an extreme amount of power over every thing around them. Over all I am not a fan of Wal-Mart, of their “low prices”, or of their cult like attitude and chants.
After watching the video about Walmart, my views of this massive superstore changed a lot. I always thought that Walmart was the best store that you can go to because of its low prices but I never truly realized the down effects that the stores bring when they new ones in different areas. I realized that even though 1 Walmart may open up 400 jobs, it stated that many people either quit their jobs after a few years or get fired. I feel that Walmart’s motive is to open a superstore in any area that they can and try to wipe out local stores as shown in the video with the lady who owned her clothing store. Personally I think that Walmart is a great store, but know I have realized after watching this video that it can also bring down effects to your town and city as well as cheap prices.
The Walmart corporation is nothing more than an over-publicized retail store with an outside view appealing to the public, yet possessing a diminishing infrastructure. Walmart's CEO states that he feels the whole corporation is a family comprised of thousands of associates, caring and looking out for one another. If you ask the associates themselves, no matter what part of the country or for that matter, world you look at; you will always find unhappy Walmart associates. The people working at Walmart take pride in their jobs, jobs that provide little pay and barely keeping them over the poverty line. Walmart, being a multi-billion dollar company should be able to raise the wages of their associates, and provide healthcare to their employees that they portray to be "family". In my opinion, Walmart is a sell-out retail store that has nothing but their own personal gains in mind, masking that to the public. Yes, their low prices and wide variety of retail attract many people and their locations are convenient and accessible to most. But i feel that the "mom and pop" stores that used to provide for our country are what this country needs to remain to depend on. Small Businesses are going under, and with less large retail stores, like Walmart who are only being detrimental to our country's people and economy in the long run, should have a limited presence. This would open up the market to small specialty businesses, creating a positive future the economy and our country's citizens.
Ryan Hobson I think that Walmart is good for consumers, because of low prices. Unfortunetly, it is not good news for owners of small businesses. Walmart can offer the same or comparable product for the lowest price. Especially during rough economic times, people are going to want to save the most amount of money. This means that customers once loyal to smaller "old style" business owned by Mr. and Mrs. Jones will not be able to compete with the low prices of a multi-billion dollar company and will eventually go out of business. Now the owners and employees of that smaller store have no job, and it just adds to the unemployment crisis. Walmart will add jobs to a community but it could not employ all of the people who lost their jobs after Walmart caused their business to fail. Walmart has alot to offer as far as low prices, and I do shop their occasionally when I need something cheap, they basically have everything. I do think that this big business is jeopardizing small family owned businesses. I can not decide where I stand in this debate. To me, the disadvantages and advantages of Walmart are just about equal.
I have to say that I am against the expansion of Walmart. When these new superstores are built, many small businesses are forced to close, because Walmart is able to price their products so low. Personally I like the idea of small business, and don’t like to see people driven out of business because they have Walmart to compete with. Also, despite Walmart’s massive success, a great deal of Walmart employees earn below the federal poverty line; their wages are lower than the average retail wage. It’s obvious that Walmart can afford wage increases, and I don’t understand why they haven’t done it. It seems to me that Walmart couldn’t care less about its workers and the fact that these workers have families to support. On the issue of health care, Walmart fails to cover nearly 700,000 employees, and the health care plan is simply too costly. There have also been reports of discrimination toward employees at Walmart, specifically ones involving women who have been denied promotions just because of their gender. When all of this is taken into consideration, it really does not seem that Walmart cares about its employees or the communities it impacts.
I feel that Walmart is a good investments to make in many towns. I feel that it can open up more jobs which will help the unemployment issue. Also, Walmart is very good for people who need cheaper prices in order to receive the supplies they need to have a better conditioned lifestyle. I also feel that many businesses will still be able to survive if a walmart is placed near their store. Walmart will not take away from more personal businesses such as hair salons, and I feel that smaller clothing stores will be able to remain open. I personally do not shop at Walmart even if the clothes are cheaper. Many people may do the same thing. Smaller stores will still keep the clients that can afford their goods. The people who can not afford the smaller stores products will not cause any business loss if they chose to go to Walmart, because they still were not a major client to the small store. I feel that Walmart is a convenient shopping store that can hire those in need as well as young adults who need to worry about paying for college. Businesses can still keep their clients while Walmart will cater to those who need cheaper products.
I personally love Walmart. It truly is a super-center where you can get almost anything.I find that really convenient. But as always, with the good there's always is not so good.Walmart defiantly can take over the places people shop and take over the world. But there's only so man places a Walmart can be placed and there eventually will be a limit on it's growth. Think about it, Walmart can grow and keep growing until there's one in a 5 mile radius of anywhere, but how many people would be able to shop there? with every new Walmart opening there's almost always a store closing and several suffering. What could happen eventually is Walmart taking over all businesses, puting millions out of work, which means millions people can't aord things they used to, which in turn would make buisness for walmart suffer. And that can end up as an econmic crisis for the WORLD. It's good to have a Walmart where everyone can reach it. (off topic: While I was in China this summer, there was a Walmart that had just opened in the city I was staying). But too many could lead to the end of the World. I hope that the people o Walmart would think about the businesses they are taking away before increasing their already big industry.
As a consumer I enjoy Wal-Mart’s low prices, but looking at the bigger picture I don’t think Wal-Mart is a good thing. They have become a cult like corporation. They kill small businesses, and provide minimum benefits for its workers even though they have the money to do more for their employees. I think if they keep going on the track they are on now they will completely kill all the competition and will be the only supermarket out there, therefore I am against Wal-Mart and their unmarked van agendas.
I believe that Walmart's business practices, while legal (for the moment in terms of monopolistic behavior) are not going to be the successful practices of a twenty-first century company. While the twentieth century was dominated by corporations looking at their bottom line and focused on squeezing the most out of every dollar and every work-hour, the paradigm in business is changing as consumers become more educated about the products and services that they purchase. This has lead to a new way of thinking, the triple bottom line, focusing not only on the economic ramifications of business decisions, but on the social and environmental aspects as well. As more businesses promote sustainability and better working conditions, it may be consumer pressure that forces companies like Walmart to change their policies. I believe it is in the best interest of government not to place strict regulations on commercial activities, but to provide the common man with information so that he can make his own decision. In a modern world where information about sweatshop labor, pollution, and social injustice can find its way around the globe minutes after a news story breaks, it will be up to companies to protect their own reputations and consumer bases by promoting sustainability and good relations with both customers and employees as well as looking after their economic bottom line.
I usually enjoy walmart. The prices are cheap and affordable. But when you see this video i feel it changes your mind. Walmart seems like a company that is just trying to over take the smaller companies. While they do employ alot of people it seems those people do not stay with them for long, a year probably at most. What are the people after supposed to do? Walmart is shutting down other businesses so it seems like they are kind of forcing people to stay with them.
Nick Sasso After watching the video on Walmart, I feel that wall is a superstore that is just not fit for America's economy. I am opposed to Walmarts being built across America. Wallmart causes major problems with the small business. Walmart eliminates all small businesses because its almost impossible for a small business to generate a solid revenue while competing with Walmart's extremely low prices. I feel that Walmarts should have only one store per county of a state. This way, there can be small business surviving and generating a high revenue while Walmart creates revenue of their own. Walmarts should be located in the bigger citys rather then the small town so the wall mart can leave the small business alone. After watching the video I have also noticed that Walmart treats their employees very poorly. Workers at Walmart, work as much as 18 hours per day with very small pay. I feel that a major company such as Walmart should treat there workers with less hours and more money, instead of the current hours and salary. That is how I feel about Walmart, and what should be done.
After watching this video, my thoughts of walmart changed a pretty good amount. I've always thought of it as a low priced store that a lot of people turn too to go shopping and save money. In this video i was extremely surprised at how people react to this store. Their prices are so low its hard for other stores to try and compete. In the video, it showed a woman who moved states just to work at a walmart which pays about 9 dollars an hour. This didn't make any sense to me at all. It ended up she lasted about 3 months before moving back to her home town which i wasn't surprised about. This video opened my eyes to the things and people involving walmart that i never knew.
I think that Walmart is a store that has some merits, like having affordable prices and one stop shopping, but is growing way too fast to even be remotely controlled by legislation. Poor business practices have shoved it into the spotlight, and only after its flaws were exposed did Walmart begin to reform them. Also, paying their employees "above minimum wage" but far below anything a person could support a family with has to stop. They made over forty billion (that's BILLION, as in twelve zeroes) in profits last year. Adding one to two dollars to someones wage really would not impact your cash flow that much. As for the factory conditions, the initiative for cutting the companies that mistreat their workers could work, but does not really do too much. I mean, how does Walmart really know what goes on in every factory that the corporation uses in the world? They don't. While Walmart is trying, it really isn't trying hard enough.
After seeing the video on Wal mart my views of the company changed a bit but, some aspects did not change. Walmart is a huge corporation and all the businesses in the United States are in competition to win the customers and Walmart is right now in the lead. What I did find disturbing was how the employees acted. Doing chants and basically acting like they owe their lives to the company was a little over the top and I could never see myself doing that. Also, I did not like how they go around in an unmarked vehicle looking for new towns they could bring big business to. Having a wal mart in one town and then putting another one 2 miles down the road is a little excessive. But, even with seeing this video I still plan to shop at Walmart. Especially in today's economy people are in a crunch and sometimes you need to go to the big retail stores to save money and make ends meet.
After watching the video, I was able to gain a better understanding of where Wal-Mart stands in our society. In the video, wal-mart is portrayed as this superstore giant that is on the verge of becoming a large monopoly. I think this is a very bad thing since small businesses and competitors will no longer able to keep up with the low prices that wal-mart offers. If wal-mart continues to expand at its current rate, many people will lose their jobs and be forced to find new ones that have some relation to wal-mart.
One thing I believe wal-mart is doing a good job with is trying to take care of its workers. The man who went to china to observe the wal-mart seemed genuinely interested in the "walmart family" of China and seemed concerned when the anonymous workers told him of their ridiculous overtime.
I believe that walmart is a bad thing. Walmart is a huge store that has alot of things everyone needs in life. But when you brig a walmart into a little town that causes alot of problems for alot of people. For example small towns have little stores that have been doing well but then when a huge walmart comes alot of those small town stores close and its not fair to the owners that worked very hard on their store. Walmart does give people jobs but you also have to fight to get health insurance. I believe that when anyone walmart they should always get health insurance. Also the amount each employee gets. The workers at walmart always quites after 3 months because wlamsrt doesnt pay as much to pay for their family of 3 or 4 etc. The people that are trying to make a walmart in samll towns should think about poeple that have stores that need their jobs. Even when walmart wasnt built their the town was fine.
Imagine a severely obese businessman in a top hat and tails strolling down the street. He comes across a starving beggar and snatches a scrap of bread out of the beggar’s hands, proceeding to devour it while looking very pleased with himself. Suddenly the businessman undergoes full-body cell division and there is two of him. One continues wandering the street looking for other beggars to take food from and the other gets into his stretch hummer. The engine, (which is actually an army of tiny residents of various third-world countries in a tiny sweatshop pulling levers,) activates and the stretch hummer turns invisible and is replaced by a hologram of a prius. The businessman hums happily to himself while his disguised hummer trundles off to another city where he is greeted with a fanfare of trumpets and adoring crowds. There he continues to galumph about in search of more beggars to rob. The above is an obvious allegory for Wal-Mart. The symbolism should be obvious so I won’t bother explaining it. On to the real assignment. Wal-Mart’s executives are fabulously rich and yet insist on taking customers from small businesses that cannot survive without them. “BUT IT’S OKAY, WE MAKE JOBS SO THEY CAN COME WORK FOR US!!!” Yes, Wal-Mart creates jobs but they are very menial and unpleasant jobs. From the protests and the high turnover rate, it is obvious that the average Wal-Mart employee is not satisfied with his/her job. The executives bs their way through avoiding improving working conditions or allowing the creation of unions. I find their excuses pathetic and disgusting. I am being hypocritical. I have set foot in Wal-Mart and have purchased things there. However, I did not enjoy the experience. Overall the quality of their goods is very low and believe it or not there are some places with better prices. (Specifically, Gamestop has better prices on video games. Yeah, they’re a chain store too, but not a destructive big box store and there was never such a thing as a small business video game store anyway.) Wal-Mart is not a good thing, for businesses, or (in my opinion) for customers. I will not get into the harsh conditions in Wal-Mart-affiliated factories. This is because Wal-Mart would be unique among the large corporations of the world if it did not make use of sweatshops. Also, I find the Wal-Mart “culture” repellant.
When they make a new walmart in little towns they are effecting other peoples stores that help them live. When Walmarts are built people dont want it they argue because its bad for the owners of stores that need the money to pay for thier families and bills. Walmart does help people get everything they need to help themseleves and families. When people apply to walmart and start working thier half of the employees do quit after 3-4 months of working their because walmart doesnt help alot when you have a family. I also believe that if a walmart does come that they should allow health care to everyone.
I thought the video on Wal-Mart was very interesting and to be honest it was quite entertaining. It’s amazing to see how one multinational corporation affects the lives of millions of people in both good and bad ways. For example, one lady worked at Wal-Mart since she was 18 years old and now she is the manager of one. It’s nice to see that some people are rewarded for their hard work and dedication. Unfortunately this is not the case with everyone that works at Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart claims to have made strides in its healthcare programs however not all of its employees can afford it and in tough times like these a good solid healthcare program is crucial for everyone to have. For instance, one man could not afford the healthcare provided by Wal-Mart when he really needs it so he can get medical coverage for his family which includes a premature born daughter. Also, if he were to buy Wal-Mart’s healthcare insurance he would have to pay a lot of his paycheck in order to receive its benefits when in fact he can not afford the healthcare insurance because then he couldn’t pay his bills or buy groceries. I also thought it was shocking to hear that Wal-Marts received billions in profits last year however its employees get paid the bare minimum and earn below the poverty level.
I feel that walmart is a superchain of stores that will eventually like to have one store on every corner. Don't get me wrong I love to shop there, but the idea of having one in every town is just ridiculous. Like the video said walmart has been forcing small businesses to close because they can't keep up with walmart's low prices. I think walmart should post a couple of stores for a couple of counties so the smaller stores have a chance.
Walmart never phased me until i saw this movie. I realize that walmart is a gigantice store that could really help our country in alot of ways. They could provide jobs infulence going green and d alot more. They make something around 4 billion dollars in profits a year and have thousands and thousands of stores. I think they are doing more damage to the United States then good. They put smaller local bussinesses out of bussiness like its there job. This is causing alot of people to lose there jobs. They are slowly replacing department stores and grocery stores because they have the one stop shopping all in one place. People are getting way to lazy they just want to go to one palce and get all of there neccesities. This makes it tough for other bussinesses to sell there product becaue they are unable to purchase the bulk amount of products like walmart does so there prices arent nearly as low as walmart. In the end I believe Walmaart is not helping the economy at all and they could if they wanted to.
I believe Walmart is a great store for the people. I think it is a large store that tries to have as many different kinds of items as possible. Is is very diverse, and that's why I think people like it so much. It is a store that also creates a good amount of jobs for people, which is great especially in this economy. The negative I feel about Walmart is that we can't have too many of them, especially in small towns were people run smaller stores. Eventually everybody will start going to Walmart and the smaller stores will have to close. That's why I feel location is key for Walmart. They can't just put a store in wherever they feel like it. I think they have to get the peoples opinion on the matter and see what they feel is the right choice in whether they should build one or not. I also feel like Walmart is not paying there employees enough money. You could obviously see from the film that the people working there are not satisfied with there wages. I believe, if there is all this hype about Walmart, they should be able to pay there employees a reasonable wage. The manager said in the film that there is no way he could raise wages of his employees. To me, he seemed like he was lying. Maybe he was telling the truth, but the way he said "no", seemed a little corrupt to me. Overall, I think Walmart is a great store, with a lot to offer. I just don't think we need a ton of them, especially in small towns. I also think they need to help there employees more. And if they follow those conditions, I'm all for it. I'd even like to shop at Walmart myself.
I believe that walmart does more harm then good. It is expanding rapidly, and is eventually going to take over the business world. Smaller businesses simply cannot compete with walmart's cheap prices, and they are being forced to go out of business. Also, working conditions in the many factories where the merchandise is made are terrible. Workers report being overworked and underpaid, and walmart isn't doing enough to stop this. While walmart does offer cheap prices for the customer, it is coming at the cost of a healthy work environment for the workers overseas.
I absolutely love Walmart and feel that it should not face any obstacles when it is trying to build more stores in America. They are the largest retailer company in the world, and they provide a large amount of the jobs in America today. They also sell items at very low prices, and help Americans save more money. They also make enormous profits. Instead of impeding on their progress, it would be better to allow them to grow as large as they would like, and then tax them on their profits, also known as, I believe, a capital gains tax. They also donate large amounts of money for research and donate money to the community on a magnitude that has not been met by smaller, local businesses. Walmart is also great because it has virtually every product desired by the American people within its stores. Walmart should be free to prosper as much as they wish, then they should have enormous taxes levied upon them that are large enough to halt any further expansion but are low enough to not cause them to incur a loss. That money could then be given back to the American people in the form of universal health care.
I believe that Walmart started out with good intentions, but overtime Walmart quickly turned into something else. While trying to keep prices low, Walmart must keep low wages for its employees. Walmart is such a huge corporation that's GDP last year was in the hundred billions. They are able to throw huge shareholder conventions with famous celebrities, yet the company is unable to raise the wages of their many employees. They use their money to continually expand their retail empire and overtake areas that were once held by small businesses. The only people profiting from Walmart's huge gains are the corporate giants, not the average worker. While many people view Walmart as a place where you can buy items really cheap, it is really just a huge monopoly thats taking a lot of other retailers out of business.
I love going to Wal-Mart, me and my dad go every weekend to do the family shopping. The prices are cheap and affordable; witch is convenient for my family because when it comes to feeding the five of us, it becomes costly. However after watching the video, I realize even though it might be helpful to not only my family and others, Wal-Mart seems like a company that is subconsciously trying to over take over the smaller companies. They do employ a high percentage of people, in the video it said that those employees did not stay with the company for long, many of them quit after a year. Theses people left because they did not enjoy their jobs, and even because the low wages could not support their families, or their own lives. With the situation of Wal-Mart slowly shutting down other businesses (smaller ones) it seems to me like they are kind of forcing people to stay with them, because if they don’t then they will be looking for jobs that will soon be out of business, causing controversy.
I think that Walmart is a retail store that is attempting to make it so that they are the store that you go to for everything. It looks as if they want to put many of the other small specialty stores out of business. For example, they tried to get rid of book stores by reducing their prices so much to the point when they were almost losing money. Walmart has such low prices that many stores are unable to compete with it and therefore fail to remain in business.
I feel that walmart is a very inexpensive and convenient store but there is no need for one in every town because there are a lot of small businesses that also do a very good job. So, when Walmart arrives in towns this creates a lot of jobs and also makes people lose their jobs too. This goes to show that Walmart is not all up side, there is also downside to it as well. This is what I feel about Walmart.
Although Walmart might seem like the bad guys at times I feel they have helped our economy. Without Walmart we wouldn’t have all the jobs that there are today. Walmart has employed a lot of people and without them around the unemployment rate would be way up. Even during the bad economy Walmart’s have been successful because they have opened up more jobs along with keeping prices low so that shoppers could still afford the items. Besides all the direct workers at Walmart there are a lot of behind the scences people that are employed. The factories wouldn’t be as successful if it wasn’t for Walmart buying everything along with truck drivers and other aspects of the company. Walmart has just about every job you can imagine because it is such a large company so there are job openings in every field. Also you might start off low on the totem pole but as the years go on you can work your way up in the company. Walmart has many job opportunities for people and there is hope for everyone to be successful. As much as people hate Walmart for destroying small businesses they have helped communities. Maybe a law can be set in place to protect small businesses like for example a law on prices so that everything is around equal. This would help small businesses because they wouldn’t lose all customers to the low costs of Walmart. Some actions could be set in place to make sure Walmart doesn’t become a complete power house but for the most part I feel Walmart has helped us out and without them things would be different in the world.
I feel the video on Walmart was suprising. Walmart is a store that relies on pep talks before the work day and chants that are known around the country and even the world by every Walmart store and their employees and workers. I think that this big business is jeopardizing small family owned businesses. I can not decide where I stand in this debate; i feel the disadvantages and advantages of Walmart are just about equal.
After viewing this video, my perspective on the retail giant "Walmart" completely changed. I knew that they were a large superstore, but exactly just "how large" and how much of a money-maker the chain actually is, was just simply staggering. Last year, Walmart surpassed the $400 billion dollar mark for sales and they made $13.5 billion in profit. For this reason, their economic impact is so great that they are quickly rising to the top of the GLOBAL economy. This, however, can be a problem. As great as the store is and as convenient as it is, it quickly destroys small, family owned businesses just as soon as it comes into towns. Because Walmart buys its products in such large bulk from the supplier, it therefore has availability to offer the products for such low prices. The typical Mom & Pop stores thus cannot compete with these giants. Therefore, following the entrance of a Walmart in a small town, the small businesses eventually have no choice but to close. For the preceding reasons, I believe that Walmart has both various pro's and con's that come with the company and to where-ever it may go next.
I think that Wal-Mart is trying to "take over" all other small businesses. They are such a big store with low prices that no other businesses can keep up with them. Wal-Mart is a very good store becauase you can get all of your shopping done in just one stop, but i feel that it is unecessary to have them within such close distance of each other. While Wal-Mart is providing jobs, at the same time they are causing others to lose theirs. A woman moved her family to Tennesse to work at Wal-Mart and make $9.00 and hour to quit and move back in 3 months time. Also, Wal-Mart takes things a bit over the top. They feel that it is needed to cheer before a days work and at their stockholders meetings. They are just bringing other businesses down to try and be the best around.
Dear Reader: Please read the following response in the voice of a redneck.
The other day I runned out of bleach trying to make the inside of ma car shiny, and guess who were there to re-supply me. Wal-mart. I ain’t never seen no store that din’t have all them fixin’s I’s need before. I’s can pick up my beer and bbq sauce over in that there food section, den I can gets all the clothes I’s need in the middle, there, mostly just white shirts and jeans. Den I’s can gets some bb’s for my son’s air rifle. I throw’s it all in the back of my pickup and I’m is off to my home, happy as a lamb. Wal-mart is also kinds enough to give my brother a job greetin’ people and given them’s some stickers. He’s was always a little bit slow, sumthin’ ‘bout an extra chromonome or something, I dun know. Wal-mart also gives my cousin some work, shes been real lazy and all after our fourth kid. I’s in love with ma Wal-mart, I’s not be livin’ like I is now were it now here.
jochai mor What are your thoughts on the Walmart debate? after watching many videos on walmart, i feel that it is a superstor that is trying to make it so that they are the one store to shop at. they try to incorporate any types of things that they think people will need in there daily lives making it easier by making one big store instead of many little ones. yes this is a great thing for some but not so great for others. yes i like the cheep things that they have there but we must look at it in a other perspective. all of the small baseness that sell the same things as wallmart does but for more are loosing there jobs because you cant compete with cost. after watching the video we saw that a lot of people were very angry with the wages that wallmart was giving there employments. what gets me angry is that they say that they cant do any thing about it even though they make more that 3 billion in profit. that just shows that they are very greedy and that gets me mad to see that some guy doesn't like to give a little bit of money even though they make more than billions of dollars.
I feel like Wal-mart portrays itself as this "great family" and boasts about all the "good" it does for the surrounding communities, when that's really not the case at all. I do agree that its nice to go into Wal-mart and buy stuff at a lower price that other places, but I don't think that it should be at the cost of paying its workers low wages, and buying materials from factories in China that don't have proper or even humane working conditions. Wal-mart also makes a yearly profit of over 400 BILLION dollars, so clearly there is some cushion there in order to make some improvements. But instead, they have their workers chant the praise of Wal-mart every single day, yet that same night they send their workers home to face their families with a small check, which in most cases the workers said isn't enough to pay the bills never mind cover the health insurance from their own employer Wal-mart. However, those same workers say that if they made just 1 or 2 more dollars an hour, that they would feel that was a sufficient amount of pay for the work they do, but apparently that's too much to take out of their 400 BILLION dollar profits. And when you ask the CEO of the company of why they don't want to allow a union, they say that its because "We don't want to destroy the direct connection between the company and its associates, We like our family of millions." Which personally I think is absolutely ridiculous considering that now, without a union, the leaders of the company are not willing to consider raising the pay of their associates. Therefore, I think that Wal-mart can help some people save money on groceries and such, but it comes at a much bigger toll to a lot more people, and when you weight the pros and cons, Wal-mart defiantly does more harm than good.
I think that walmart is a positive and negative entity in America. Its positive in the fact of its low costs and mass job production. its negative pertaining to hurting small business, outsourcing, and giving workers bad benefits.
Realisticly walmart may have created more jobs than it has taken away. And the people who complain about benefits may be right, but if they didnt have a job that Walmart supplies, they would have bigger problems. Walmart is negative in the fact that is has nearly created a monoply. This means that it would have barely any or no competition.
After watching this video my views on Walmart have changed. I think they should treat there employers better then they do, considering they hire so many people.I also dont think Walmart needs to expand more companys than it already has.I didnt realize how Walmart affects the economy in a good way by supplying so many jobs to people, and has low prices which lets the average person save money. But even though Walmart supplys a great amount of jobs, it also puts smaller stores out of business. Therefore I think Walmart is good and bad for the economy.
The new age of Walmart just showed how althugh they didnt mean to they are putting other mom and pop stores out of business. They store has good low prices that allow for low income people the luxury of being able to buy the things they need. I think had i not known that they are also not paying their employees the way they should makes them look worse. if they have all that extra money they should pay the emploeeys first, the seem like phonies when they have all of the cheers that they do before everyday. To me that is just not right. i think that someone needs to get Walmart back to its roots. Brian O'Reilly
Although I have shopped at Walmart, after watching that video and seeing how the superstore puts all of the small businesses out of business and how they treat their costumers, really makes me not want to shop there. That store makes a ton of money and they can't even supply healthcare for the millions of people that they employ. Also they are eliminating all of the small stores by making their prices way low to the point where these stores cannot keep up. While Walmart is ecpanding it is taking down shops little by little sadly. And those are the shops that made out country the way it is today and made our country prosper. Overall, after watching that movie, i am not a fan of Walmart, because i believe it is putting other small businesses out of business and taking down stores one by one.
After seeing this video i was surprised by how many people dislike wal-mart and their business practices. Personally I believe that Wal-mart is an exteremly effiecent company that saves many American familys 1000's of dollars a year. Not only does Wal-mart save shoppers money they also provide jobs for over 1.4 million Americans. With the economy in the shape that it is in today it is incredible that when most companys are cutting employees, Wal-mart is still hiring, and also providing wages that are usually above the industry standard. Also even though Wal-mart sometimes runs small business out of town, they also bring a lot of people into town for non retail businesses such as restuaraunts, movies, and other businesses.
Simply put, Walmart is an overgrown retailer. The extent that this company goes to in order to increase their annual revenue is astonishing. Not only do they serve hundreds of thousands of customers daily, but Walmart brings enough money per year to run as its own country. Watching this film allowed us to see the brains and operations of a vastly increasing empire. What disgusts me the most, is the fact that they insist on building more stores. There are over 4,000 Walmart stores nationwide and the “big guys” over at Walmart feel the need for more. It honestly upsets me. Although I haven’t experienced the growth of Walmart on smaller stores firsthand, I am still aware of its effects. The largest argument against Walmart is the fact that it puts other businesses, for lack of a better phrase, out of business. How does one operate knowing that they are destroying someone’s life work of creating a business from the ground up? After all, that’s how Walmart started. Another concern of mine is the location that Walmart receives some of its products. I don’t know about anyone else, but with the troubled history of China and their products, eating fish from them is out of the question. And that’s exactly where it comes from, China, to the shelves at your local Walmart. Yummy!
Karen Novak i used to think that walmart was a good idea and that it was perfect for if you need a bunch of little things but after watching this video it changed my mind. I think that walmart is a place to go to shop for everything, and sometimes thats convenient but then i thought about it more and it's really taking away from the other stores around it. Because of walmarts cheep prices companys have to fight production cost to have their products sold in walmart. Walmart has some cheaper prices but not everything is as inexpensive as you think. Its nice to have the lowered prices but the employees are dealing with the minimum wage. Even though these walmarts are giving jobs to many people, the minimum is not enough to live off of in this economy. When other stores located near walmart they are struggling to keep up with the deals at walmart. Walmarts are nice but are not needed in every town, they take the business from other stores, and its not fair to those stores. I am opposed to the idea of more walmarts being built.
Actually I have very few problems with Wallmart. As a legitimate business it functions like every other business from the smallest to the largest. What seems to be the root of the issue lies not with Wallmart, but with the economics of scale. Because of the sheer size of Wallmart it can retail at prices smaller than any other retailer. Many would call this unfair, and would say that Wallmart is a scourge that destroys business. To me it does not make sense to complain about Wallmarts "stranglehold" on retail. Smart business men should be able to find ways around to remain in existence even in the presence of a Wallmart. It seems the secret is to differentiate product and offer specialty commodities the Wallmart cannot offer. Instead of blindly running a price war (which will never work based on the economics of scale) the retailer must find ways to drive shoppers away from Wallmart. As for the blatantly ludicrous statements that Wallmart supports sweatshops, they are mostly innocent of that claim. The Sweatshops themselves are concealing their identities to fool Wallmart. The fact that Wallmart has an investigation team should be enough to rebuke this claim. It is true that Wallmart wages are lower than what many need to pay for life insurance, but now with the Healthcare reform Wallmart will not have to worry about paying for healthcare and will put the surplus into the workers wallets, hopefully. I have no personal attachment, hold no stock in the company, or really care what happens to the corporation; i just want proper business models to be accepted and Wallmart is the perfect example of a genius business model.
As a consumer, I am all for Wal Mart. They are convenient for shoppers, have low prices, and provide numerous jobs. However, after watching the video I am no longer the avid supporter I was. I was surprised how on the outside Wal Mart puts on the idea that it is one big happy family and all of their employees stand together. When in reality they don’t take their employees needs into consideration. Being one of the biggest super marts and strongest grossing stores, they should be able to raise their wages by a dollar and provide healthcare. They are a monopoly and are eliminating small business everywhere. I feel that Wal Mart has expanded into communities enough. After seeing the video as a consumer I would want to support the smaller business affected by Wal Mart. It may be helping the consumers with their low prices but it is also harming them by eliminating the business the community gets. Overall, Wal Mart seems to be power hungry and has taken their business to another level where small business can’t compete.
There is something incredibly satisfying about finding a good bargain; about seeing something you need and knowing its purchase will do minimum damage to your wallet. Growing up, I never had an issue with Walmart. Their business strategists and leaders did a fine job in propagating their store. Their practices were legal. What was there to complain about, especially when their prices were so wonderful? Recently, however, I have grown skeptical. Walmart has created a reputation of suffocating the economies of local communities. Though the opening of a local Walmart will inevitably provide jobs, it will also undercut local businesses, simultaneously causing the loss of jobs. While local businesses put their profit back into their communities, Walmart sends their profits back to headquarters where the town or city will have little hope of ever seeing it again. These large branches hurt local economies and the culture of the communities. Taking a step back, one must also consider the reasons why Walmart is able to provide such low prices on their goods; cheap laborers and underinsured employees. Is a cheap bar of soap really worth the pain and suffering of these laborers?
I sympathize with those people who protest against walmart, however I personally believe that the Wal-mart superstores have a place in our economy. It is true that these one-stop stores may take business away from small companies and mom&pop stores, but wal-mart does many positive things for the people and place near where it is built. Not only does the superstore provide thousands of jobs for people in the area, it offers us, as consumers, lower prices on everyday needs. It saves shoppers time and gas, as well, since all items are in one store. It benefits other corporations in the areas in the sense that such a large store moving to town challenges mom&pop stores, and even bigger chains such as stop&shop, and pushes and motivates them to become better, and "greener." Stop and Shop has recently gone green, and sells canvas bags for shoppers to reuse if they so choose. It also allows customers to use a portable check-out that they can take around the store shopping with them. This is convenient and technologically advanced, and, most importantly, makes them stand out against Wal-mart. I believe mom&pop stores can still thrive in a town near a Wal-mart. As long as they carry unique items at a reasonable price, they should be able to get the business of shoppers. Finally, Wal-mart's influence on cities in other countries suprised me alot. I did not realize how many superstores were in countries such as Japan, China, and Chile. Also suprising was the differences in Wal-mart's in America and Wal-mart's in China. A Wal-Mart in China sells live sea food to its customers and sells about one $2,000 bottle of wine per week. These are two things you will never find in a Wal-Mart in the U.S.
Walmart puts many local stores out of business, but it supplies many jobs and offers low prices.
Not many stores offer what Walmart does, so I believe Walmart is a good thing for this country and other countries to have.
Walmart is also constantly changing to benefit its employees. Walmart gets a bad reputation for lots of labor at low pay rate, but with a force of employees about 2 million strong, its doing what it can to please everyone, slowly but surely.
After watching the video on Walmart, I have a much different perspective on the superstore. Though Walmart appears to be a great retail store with cheaper prices, many job offerings, and cheeers every morning, it has negative effects that hurt the rest of the economy. Walmart puts many local smaller stores out of business and and jeopordizes other speciality stores. Often times a Walmart store will be made in a town where it is unnecessary and will inturn make it more difficult for other smaller stores to compete. Though Walmart offers countless jobs, the superstore often pays their employees lower than the average retail wage. One would think that because Walmart is such a successful businees, they would be able to treat their employees better and provide higher salaries. This video truly provided an insight to Walmart and how it is effecting other businesses and employees.
After watching the video about Walmart, I still am very suspicious of the company and their practices. For example, the amount of jobs they create in America does not justify the amount of jobs they outsource to factories who create their products. If those jobs were kept here in America, the unemployment rate could drop greatly and in turn would boost the economy by increasing the consumer market. Also the outsourcing of jobs has allowed others to get hurt and mistreated such as the Chinese factory workers who are forced to work an excessive amount of overtime. The profit that Walmart makes does not justify the endangering of human lives.
What upsets me even more is the amount of money they spend on promoting their image, especially at the shareholders' meeting. This money could easily be used to, for example, help communities in need of funding which realistically would help their public image just as much.
~Chris Donnelly I thought that this video on Wal-mart was quite interesting And entertaining. I love the store myself because there is a whole range of items you can find for about the cheapest prices around all in the same place. I think that the reason Walmart has made so much money is because they take care of the customers so well. They have friendly greeters, low prices and always strive for a happy staff. In the video there was a man who unloaded goods off of the merchandise trucks and he earned around $11, but he felt he should earn $13. I don't agree with him on this because even if 11 dollars isn't alot, 13 is alot just to unload boxes. I also was confused as to why the workers would complain of their wages because i feel if they don't like them, then why did they apply at walmart? Also some of the protestors were argueing that because walmart made so much money in the past that they weren't seeing any of it. but i don't think they should recieve any more than their wages just because the company as a whole is sucessful.
Walmart is a big example of big business. All businesses operate on the principle of making money, and Walmart is no exception. The two biggest issues that Walmart faces today are its public image, and its workers. Incidentally, both of these issues tie directly into the profitability of said business.
In order for people to want to buy what you sell, they must believe in the seller, and what is being sold. This can range from knowing that seller has fair prices, to knowing that the product is high quality. By raising the opinion of the masses, by assuring them that the seller is indeed a 'good guy,' the masses are then more likely to buy the product.
Walmart pays its employees as low as it can, while still attracting them. This is because the business itself needs a lot of money to sustain itself, and so the top makes as much money as possible. Not different in any way from other businesses.
Every single business in the world operates the same as Walmart does, by trying to make the most amount of money possible. They do this by procuring their product for the least amount of money possible, by selling it as high as possible, and paying the work to move the product as low as possible.
In my opinion Walmart is just trying to become a legal monopoly, when they add in new locations they can easily wipe business from the small business owners which make up over 90% of the US's business. The thing is, no matter how bad it is in my mind, and how bad people say it is, I'm still going to shop there. It's cheaper, and I'm not mad rich with bills pouring from all directions, so I can't really afford to shop at higher priced places. Walmart should be paying employees livable wages, even though they have so many freaking employees its crazy. I can see teens working at Walmart to be getting maybe a little over minimum wage, but when you're paying desperate adults with familys to support $11 an hour, it's pretty hard to live off that. Walmart just has to man up, and the leaders of the company have to stop being selfish annoying corporate assholes, and learn that their employees are begging for stuff that they're just ignoring. It's not much of a 'family' if you're at the bottom, it's more like your older step brother who you hate putting you in a choke hold.
I personally believe that Wal-Mart is single-handedly destroying the middle class in America. By aggressively lowering their prices, they are putting smaller businesses that can't afford to compete out of business. Their wages are very low in proportion to their profit, and their healthcare very expensive. People need the jobs at Wal-Mart, so the company can get away with paying them very poorly. I honestly believe that superstores like Wal-Mart are damaging to America.
I feel that walmart is too big of a company and that it has overtaken much of the industry. Walmart is a monopoly and multiplies everywhere you go. With that being said, I feel that the managers and owners of the walmarts are very smart for opening multiple walmarts areas, this way, their company makes great profit and people are happy too. There are alot of employees at these places and they should definitely treat their employees equally and with equal respect so that it makes walmart a better place to shop and be a part of. walmart is a great place to shop, but i'm not sure this would be a place to go if your looking for max amount of help and to learn about something in depth.
74 comments:
Matt Bailey
I feel that walmart is a superstore that is trying to make it so that they are the store that you go to for everything. It looks like they are trying to put many of the other specialty stores out of business. For example, they tried to eliminate book stores by lowering their prices so much that they actually were almost losing money. Walmart has such low prices that many stores just cant compete with it.
I feel that walmart is a very store but i dont think there is one needed in every town because there are a lot of small businesses that also do a very good job. So, when walmarts come into towns they create a lot of jobs and also make people lose jobs too. That shows you that walmart isnt all up side, there is also some downside to it aswell. That is how i feel about walmart.
I think that Walmart is just a large monopoly that is slowly putting other businesses out of business. No small shop can keep up with Walmarts prices, and they are slowly going under. When Walmart moves into every town, then no town can ever support small business. I think that it can be a useful store, but kept in proper prospective, only needing one every few towns. I also think that they should treat their employees much better, due to the fact that they hire so many for their huge businesses. If a company needs so much help within their stores, then they should also have the means to support them well.
After watching this video, my thoughts of walmart changed a pretty good amount. I've always thought of it as a low priced store that a lot of people turn too to go shopping and save money. In this video i was extremely surprised at how people react to this store and portray themselves as almost a cult. It is as if they dedicate their lives to it, and were therefore trying to get walmart's in towns where the communities didn't feel it was necessary. Even though a couple towns ended up not getting one, it didn't matter because there are so many in america and the fact that their prices are so low its hard for other store to try and compete. In the video, it showed a woman who moved states just to work at a walmart which pays about 9 dollars an hour. This confused me very much. It ended up she lasted about 3 months before moving back to her home town which i wasn't surprised about. This video opened my eyes to the things and people involving walmart that i never knew and it was actually frightening to watch.
I am opposed to the growth and development of several new Wal-Marts that are being built all across the nation. The spread of this major company is not only hurting the economy but all small business owners in home towns all over the U.S. and now even other places such as China. Wal-Mart has been known to be serious competition and poses as a threat to local supermarkets and small businesses. The company is slowly but surely taking over entire areas by building stores within only a couple of miles within each other. Especially within a few miles of other places selling goods that they sell but for cheaper. Therefore, Wal-mart has slowly but surely driven any surrounding competition out of business, or at least to being in a tough uphill battle against one another. It will be hard for businesses surrounding the new Wal-Marts set in place to compete with the lower prices that they offer to customers. This is currently happening in Wallingford where a Wal-Mart superstore (selling groceries) was placed down the road from a Shaw’s and Stop and Shop. These two local grocery stores that were in place before the Wal-Mart are now suffering due to the placement of Wal-Mart. Small businesses in towns such as Wallingford are not given the chance to prosper and grow with the addition of huge companies.
Emma Velcofsky
After seeing the video on Walmart it made me question American a lot. These people that are running these large retail stores clearly love their job, but take the love to a whole new level. Walmart works as its own colt. I find it so very strange that they find it needed to cheer, before a day of work. Even their stockholders meeting is a little over the top. Ben Stiller must be in serious need of money if he feels he needs to host a Walmart meeting. Walmart is just a large monopoly that is slowly putting other businesses out of business. No small shop can keep up with Walmarts prices, and they are slowly going under. When Walmart moves into every town, then no town can ever support small business.
I have never been in a Walmart and now that I have seen this i do not ever plan on going in one. It seems once you start you get a little too hooked. A woman moved from her home town to make $9.00 an hour at Walmart, and lasted 3 mouths. Also when that one woman opened her own Walmart and was so proud she cried, it must have been very emotional. I'm glad to see some people have a life goal of having their own Walmart.
I don't feel like walmart needs to expand anymore than it already has. It has become too large of a corporation that has begun to outsource too much of its labor in order to keep their prices low. They would rather treat their employees poorly and raise unemployment rates in this country by continuing to move their jobs overseas as opposed to raising their prices slightly. Walmart is trying to regain their image by going green. This has done a lot to boost PR for Walmart but they still need to not outsource labor to sweatshops in China for cheaper wages and cheaper products. This also would allow smaller stores who can't compete with walmarts prices to stay in business because they will be able to have atleast comparable rates to walmarts. I feel walmart is just creating turmoil in the job industry by creating as well as destroying jobs. So I think walmart should stop trying to expand and think more about other ways to save money besides outsourcing labor.
After watching the video, my view on Walmart changed a lot. I thought it was very strange how Walmart treats their employees, especially with the cheers. Their employees should be treated better. If this company has so much money, it needs to be able to take care of the workers. But more importantly, I had no idea what a problem Walmart is becoming. There are so many Walmarts that other businesses can't compete. Their prices are just too low. And even though it opens up more jobs, people also lose them. There's definitely no need for so many of one store. Other businesses should at least have the chance to be as successful.
Before this video i never realized how massive walmart is. Although a lot of people are opposed to walmart, the fact of the matter is, it's all competition. And clearly walmart is winning. I like the fact that walmart provides so many jobs and i think it helps a lot of people out. Although i do think they could afford to pay their employees more money, there will always be people willing to work for the little amounts they are giving out because in this economy, thats the best they can get anyways. I find their cheer to be super annoying though. And i do feel bad for the stores that lose business once a walmart comes into town. I dont find a walmart in every town very necessary, but people clearly like them if theyre able to open so many. As you can see i am on the fence with walmart!
Todd Heritage
After watching the video on Walmart, I was very surprised at many different things. Walmart is a store that relies on pep talks before the work day and chants that are known around the country and even the world by every Walmart store and their employees and workers.
After watching the video I felt as though Walmart was just a large monopoly that is slowly putting other small businesses out of the picture and out of business. It is nearly impossible for small businesses to keep up with the low prices, wide variety, and selections that Walmart offers in their stores. Walmarts are moving into towns and states all across the country and it is very interesting how in different places, Walmarts may be either loved… or hated. Many believe that they are destroying towns and communities because of their low prices and selections, but others believe that they offer a great deal of jobs that may be greatly needed in towns where jobs are being depleted.
I also thought it was very interesting how Walmart owners think of themselves as a “Family”. When talking to employees they say that they are no such thing and that they are not given a great say in certain things like their wages most importantly, and with things dealing with healthcare where about half of the employees can afford it, but due to low wages many cannot (people who have kids and a family of their own)!
I believe that Walmart is a very useful and helpful store with a great deal of low prices and variety for all your needs, but I feel as though they must not be put in too many towns across the country and need to be spread out more. I also feel as though they should treat their employees better giving them better wages and more affordable healthcare (seeing how the average person only works there for three years). If a store like Walmart needs so many employees… they should be able to be supported.
After watching the video on Walmart I realized that it’s not just a money saving store, it is actually something much larger and more powerful. The video showed me that Walmart is huge part of the economy. Not only does it save everyday shoppers a lot of money but it also provides a lot of jobs. Thousands of people apply at the new Walmarts in hopes of getting hired. They may provide jobs and save money but they also do damage to many smaller businesses. Walmarts often run small local businesses out of businesses, causing them to close. This causes a lot of people to not want Walmart’s in their town. But the people of Walmart show how much they love and care for it. Starting their days off with cheers and songs is one way they show their appreciation. Other people move to different states just to get a job there. Walmart is a great business but I would never want one in Cheshire.
I believe that the Wal-Mart executives are very wise when it comes to maximizing their profits. From a business perspective, the idea of Wal-Mart is seems like an outstanding company. However, I do not believe that Wal-Mart is conducting business in an ethical manner. They are smart to take advantage of their vastly greater buying power to acquire cheaper goods, but it seems like they are on their way to becoming a monopoly. Traditionally, companies like Wal-Mart, are hoping to drive away any major competition. They can do this buy offering rock bottom prices for a period of time, when the local small businesses can’t keep up they go out of business. Once the competition is out of the way, nothing is stopping Wal-Mart from jacking up their prices. So while their prices may be great today, they could be much higher in the near future. This is why people should not all shop at the same stores, the entire basis of capitalism revolves around competition and if Wal-Mart destroys all competition things could get much worse for you and me.
I feel that although Walmart has it's low prices, it has a negative effect on our economy and local communities. As we saw in the video when a Walmart moves into a community or plans to move into a community it hurts it in many ways. Firstly it divides the community that was once into two sides, Pro-Walmart or Anti-Walmrat. Due to walmart's extremely low prices, it puts many local business out because they can not compete with those prices. This causes several people to be out of a job.These local business tend to put part of the money they make back into their community, Walmart does not do this. They send it to their headquarters and that town will never see it. Also due to Walmarts low prices, it means that someone over seas is working long hard hours for cheap pay to make it.
Although some people see Walmart as a plus because it can supply jobs for many people, there pay checks aren't great enough to support a family. Walmart treats their employees poorly by making their health care very hard to afford and the wages very low.
Healthcare had just passed this weekend and I know people have been protesting “big government” and expansion of health care reform because it could create a government owned monopoly down the road. Perhaps their fear of an Orwellian dystopia is valid, a government owned monopoly is terrible and will kill off incentives to lower prices. But to me, there is only one thing scarier than government owned monopoly, and that is corporate owned monopoly.
Walmart, a corporate giant which we have been learning about for the past few weeks, is a disgrace to the American capitalist system and is going to destroy the entire fabric of this nation. Don’t get me wrong. I could care less how they treat their self loathed and very replaceable employees or even their environmental concerns. Those problems could easily be fixed without much pain to Walmart’s bottom line. Some of it can even improve the bottom line.
This is not the problem with walmart.
One must consider what Walmart truly is. They are not a friendly superstore down your neighborhood, and what they do is not only morally wrong, but bad for society and capitalism. Walmart is a MONOPOLY and monopolies are BAD. The basics of walmart essentially is that they are so large and operate at such at economy of scale that they are able to put any competitor out of business. The problem with this, the problem with entirely free market lasseiz faire capitalism is that eventually one company will win. One company will be able to outcompete all of the competition, earn a market share beyond belief, create a barrier of entry that will be impossible to beat, and kill off entrepreneurship. And this is exactly the reason why Walmart is going to destroy America. Take this example, Walmart moves into a local town with a variety of stores which provides it with goods and services. It is without question that these small businesses will be hurt, and walmart will argue that it is for the benefit of the people. This is the opposite of the truth. For the small decrease in your grocery prices, you pay the price of jobs, variety, and innovation. Walmart has no desire to innovate further because their competition can easily be beaten. What is their incentive to innovate something they have or tailor their products to a specific niche of consumers. Walmart will keep everything constant in the region and the consumer loses in that they have to settle for inferior products because superior products made for their taste cannot operate any further. Your local deli is able to sell you high quality meat, specific localities just for your niche and create jobs for the community. However, when Walmart comes in, all of those things are destroyed and Walmart cannot entirely replace those jobs or those foods. Entrepreneurship, arguably the biggest creator of jobs in this country and the reason as to why America is so successful will also be hurt. There is no reason for me to open up a new Thai restaurant in an area with Walmart even if I am an expert at it because their subway and deli can drive me out of business. I have no desire to create those jobs and make that new restaurant and thus, the consumer loses.
Also, consider this, if Walmart does outcompete everyone, drives literally everyone of its competitor out of business so much that suppliers have to operate at minimal profits to even survive. An ultimate corporate utopia. Walmart can even buy out its suppliers and create a horizontal and vertical monopoly. What will be their desire to keep prices low? There is no one left to compete against them. Is the America you want one that which one company sells the products to everyone and there is no more desire to create new jobs or innovate its products because their profit margins is immense.
This all comes down to the road in which America is coming to. Do we want to be an anti-intellectual society where we’re proud that we’re lowering our standard of living to buy cheap crap and working for minimum wage is acceptable? Americans themselves need to go through a paradigm shift in which hard work and becoming the best version of themselves is the norm, not the exception. It is a sad day in my life to see that the land of opportunity has become the land of failure on the personal and societal level.
Ashwin Singhaviranon
Period 7 Civics
I have mixed feelings on Walmart. Generally I am not opposed to big business such as Walmart. The United States has been dominated by big businesses throughout much of its history. Businesses have begun to create monopolys, however eventually competition for them arises. For example, Ford dominated the auto industry in the United States for several decades in the early 20th century. Today, Ford has extremely strong competition and is no longer one of the best auto industries in the country. Though Walmart seems to have a ridiculous amount of power over retail today, I imagine that stores such as Target will soon even out the playing field.
I also feel that Walmart is not the "evil" corporation that everyone makes them out to be. People who are greeters or work the cash registers can not expect to make much more than minimum wage. Their job requires virtually no education and those people can not be paid more than someone who has a high school or college degree. It does concern me that a Walmart moving into a town will probably cause severe damage to any small business in the area. Eventually I think the failure of these small locally run businesses will decrease the wealth of the town.
After having viewed the video on Walmart, I came away very surprised at many of its practices and concerned for what the future holds if Walmart is able to continue its ways.
First of all I was surprised at the scale on which Walmart operates. I knew, from having seen several first hand scattered about the state in Wallingford, Cromwell, and Southington to name a few, that there was quite a few Walmarts out there. But my presumptions on the number of them were way off. I thought there were maybe a few hundred stores nation wide. But I was clearly mistaken. The video showed through a graphic that there are over three thousand stores in America alone. Three thousand stores! Think about that, that is an average of over 60 Walmarts per state (this number is not correct just a figure to show the ridiculousness). Not to mention the fact that there is almost that many stores scattered across the globe in China, England, Chile and other nations. It is this scale which allows them to operate in the manner which the do. Buy up large quantities of merchandise at cheap prices and mark it up to below their competitions price so that they not only drive their competitors out of business, but still make huge revenues in the process.
These practices are what many people are in debate about as they do both good and bad. On the bad end of the spectrum they drive many small businesses out of business. Small businesses are not able to keep up with their low prices and great diversity in the items sold in Walmarts and so they are forced to close up shop. However, with the bad comes the good. Each Walmart provides many jobs for the people in the surrounding community.
Only time will tell what will become of Walmart. Personally, after seeing the video, I could not help but relate Walmart I was viewing to the fictitious Buy N Large corporation in the Disney movie Wall-E. A corporation modeled after Walmart, which in the future has basically taken over all functions of the world’s economy. And, by the way things are looking right now, that could very well be a possibility in the future. One day we may be driving around in Walmart cars on our way to have dinner at a Walmart.
Gary Frappier
Wal-Mart
Wal-Mart has its place in the economy of many nations. As the most successful and powerful “big box mart” if offers a verity of products for prices cheaper then anywhere else. This is good, especially for families of lower income levels. What’s the price to pay for these low prices though? Is Healthcare, wages, fair treatment to employees and factory workers a fair price to pay? To me the answer is no. To Wal-Mart these things come second to bring in max profits. I believe the workers should be allowed to join a union if Wal-Mart won’t supply them with these essential things all works want and need. Is Wal-Mart a bad store? No, in fact it’s far from it. They provide people of lower income levels goods they need for a cheaper price witch can be a big help especially today. Am I a fan of Wal-Mart and their business strategies? No, I think Wal-Mart is ran very poorly, employees should come first not opening a store every 2 miles from one another. Wal-Marts force many smaller companies and stores out of business and this is extremely unnecessary. In a way Wal-Mart is a modern day monopoly, they have an extreme amount of power over every thing around them.
Over all I am not a fan of Wal-Mart, of their “low prices”, or of their cult like attitude and chants.
Dom Severino
After watching the video about Walmart, my views of this massive superstore changed a lot. I always thought that Walmart was the best store that you can go to because of its low prices but I never truly realized the down effects that the stores bring when they new ones in different areas. I realized that even though 1 Walmart may open up 400 jobs, it stated that many people either quit their jobs after a few years or get fired. I feel that Walmart’s motive is to open a superstore in any area that they can and try to wipe out local stores as shown in the video with the lady who owned her clothing store. Personally I think that Walmart is a great store, but know I have realized after watching this video that it can also bring down effects to your town and city as well as cheap prices.
The Walmart corporation is nothing more than an over-publicized retail store with an outside view appealing to the public, yet possessing a diminishing infrastructure. Walmart's CEO states that he feels the whole corporation is a family comprised of thousands of associates, caring and looking out for one another. If you ask the associates themselves, no matter what part of the country or for that matter, world you look at; you will always find unhappy Walmart associates. The people working at Walmart take pride in their jobs, jobs that provide little pay and barely keeping them over the poverty line. Walmart, being a multi-billion dollar company should be able to raise the wages of their associates, and provide healthcare to their employees that they portray to be "family". In my opinion, Walmart is a sell-out retail store that has nothing but their own personal gains in mind, masking that to the public. Yes, their low prices and wide variety of retail attract many people and their locations are convenient and accessible to most. But i feel that the "mom and pop" stores that used to provide for our country are what this country needs to remain to depend on. Small Businesses are going under, and with less large retail stores, like Walmart who are only being detrimental to our country's people and economy in the long run, should have a limited presence. This would open up the market to small specialty businesses, creating a positive future the economy and our country's citizens.
Ryan Hobson
I think that Walmart is good for consumers, because of low prices. Unfortunetly, it is not good news for owners of small businesses. Walmart can offer the same or comparable product for the lowest price. Especially during rough economic times, people are going to want to save the most amount of money. This means that customers once loyal to smaller "old style" business owned by Mr. and Mrs. Jones will not be able to compete with the low prices of a multi-billion dollar company and will eventually go out of business. Now the owners and employees of that smaller store have no job, and it just adds to the unemployment crisis. Walmart will add jobs to a community but it could not employ all of the people who lost their jobs after Walmart caused their business to fail. Walmart has alot to offer as far as low prices, and I do shop their occasionally when I need something cheap, they basically have everything. I do think that this big business is jeopardizing small family owned businesses. I can not decide where I stand in this debate. To me, the disadvantages and advantages of Walmart are just about equal.
I have to say that I am against the expansion of Walmart. When these new superstores are built, many small businesses are forced to close, because Walmart is able to price their products so low. Personally I like the idea of small business, and don’t like to see people driven out of business because they have Walmart to compete with. Also, despite Walmart’s massive success, a great deal of Walmart employees earn below the federal poverty line; their wages are lower than the average retail wage. It’s obvious that Walmart can afford wage increases, and I don’t understand why they haven’t done it. It seems to me that Walmart couldn’t care less about its workers and the fact that these workers have families to support.
On the issue of health care, Walmart fails to cover nearly 700,000 employees, and the health care plan is simply too costly. There have also been reports of discrimination toward employees at Walmart, specifically ones involving women who have been denied promotions just because of their gender. When all of this is taken into consideration, it really does not seem that Walmart cares about its employees or the communities it impacts.
I feel that Walmart is a good investments to make in many towns. I feel that it can open up more jobs which will help the unemployment issue. Also, Walmart is very good for people who need cheaper prices in order to receive the supplies they need to have a better conditioned lifestyle. I also feel that many businesses will still be able to survive if a walmart is placed near their store.
Walmart will not take away from more personal businesses such as hair salons, and I feel that smaller clothing stores will be able to remain open. I personally do not shop at Walmart even if the clothes are cheaper. Many people may do the same thing. Smaller stores will still keep the clients that can afford their goods. The people who can not afford the smaller stores products will not cause any business loss if they chose to go to Walmart, because they still were not a major client to the small store. I feel that Walmart is a convenient shopping store that can hire those in need as well as young adults who need to worry about paying for college. Businesses can still keep their clients while Walmart will cater to those who need cheaper products.
I personally love Walmart. It truly is a super-center where you can get almost anything.I find that really convenient. But as always, with the good there's always is not so good.Walmart defiantly can take over the places people shop and take over the world. But there's only so man places a Walmart can be placed and there eventually will be a limit on it's growth.
Think about it, Walmart can grow and keep growing until there's one in a 5 mile radius of anywhere, but how many people would be able to shop there? with every new Walmart opening there's almost always a store closing and several suffering. What could happen eventually is Walmart taking over all businesses, puting millions out of work, which means millions people can't aord things they used to, which in turn would make buisness for walmart suffer. And that can end up as an econmic crisis for the WORLD.
It's good to have a Walmart where everyone can reach it. (off topic: While I was in China this summer, there was a Walmart that had just opened in the city I was staying). But too many could lead to the end of the World. I hope that the people o Walmart would think about the businesses they are taking away before increasing their already big industry.
As a consumer I enjoy Wal-Mart’s low prices, but looking at the bigger picture I don’t think Wal-Mart is a good thing. They have become a cult like corporation. They kill small businesses, and provide minimum benefits for its workers even though they have the money to do more for their employees. I think if they keep going on the track they are on now they will completely kill all the competition and will be the only supermarket out there, therefore I am against Wal-Mart and their unmarked van agendas.
I believe that Walmart's business practices, while legal (for the moment in terms of monopolistic behavior) are not going to be the successful practices of a twenty-first century company. While the twentieth century was dominated by corporations looking at their bottom line and focused on squeezing the most out of every dollar and every work-hour, the paradigm in business is changing as consumers become more educated about the products and services that they purchase. This has lead to a new way of thinking, the triple bottom line, focusing not only on the economic ramifications of business decisions, but on the social and environmental aspects as well. As more businesses promote sustainability and better working conditions, it may be consumer pressure that forces companies like Walmart to change their policies. I believe it is in the best interest of government not to place strict regulations on commercial activities, but to provide the common man with information so that he can make his own decision. In a modern world where information about sweatshop labor, pollution, and social injustice can find its way around the globe minutes after a news story breaks, it will be up to companies to protect their own reputations and consumer bases by promoting sustainability and good relations with both customers and employees as well as looking after their economic bottom line.
I usually enjoy walmart. The prices are cheap and affordable. But when you see this video i feel it changes your mind. Walmart seems like a company that is just trying to over take the smaller companies. While they do employ alot of people it seems those people do not stay with them for long, a year probably at most. What are the people after supposed to do? Walmart is shutting down other businesses so it seems like they are kind of forcing people to stay with them.
Nick Sasso
After watching the video on Walmart, I feel that wall is a superstore that is just not fit for America's economy. I am opposed to Walmarts being built across America. Wallmart causes major problems with the small business. Walmart eliminates all small businesses because its almost impossible for a small business to generate a solid revenue while competing with Walmart's extremely low prices. I feel that Walmarts should have only one store per county of a state. This way, there can be small business surviving and generating a high revenue while Walmart creates revenue of their own. Walmarts should be located in the bigger citys rather then the small town so the wall mart can leave the small business alone. After watching the video I have also noticed that Walmart treats their employees very poorly. Workers at Walmart, work as much as 18 hours per day with very small pay. I feel that a major company such as Walmart should treat there workers with less hours and more money, instead of the current hours and salary. That is how I feel about Walmart, and what should be done.
After watching this video, my thoughts of walmart changed a pretty good amount. I've always thought of it as a low priced store that a lot of people turn too to go shopping and save money. In this video i was extremely surprised at how people react to this store. Their prices are so low its hard for other stores to try and compete. In the video, it showed a woman who moved states just to work at a walmart which pays about 9 dollars an hour. This didn't make any sense to me at all. It ended up she lasted about 3 months before moving back to her home town which i wasn't surprised about. This video opened my eyes to the things and people involving walmart that i never knew.
I think that Walmart is a store that has some merits, like having affordable prices and one stop shopping, but is growing way too fast to even be remotely controlled by legislation. Poor business practices have shoved it into the spotlight, and only after its flaws were exposed did Walmart begin to reform them. Also, paying their employees "above minimum wage" but far below anything a person could support a family with has to stop. They made over forty billion (that's BILLION, as in twelve zeroes) in profits last year. Adding one to two dollars to someones wage really would not impact your cash flow that much. As for the factory conditions, the initiative for cutting the companies that mistreat their workers could work, but does not really do too much. I mean, how does Walmart really know what goes on in every factory that the corporation uses in the world? They don't. While Walmart is trying, it really isn't trying hard enough.
After seeing the video on Wal mart my views of the company changed a bit but, some aspects did not change. Walmart is a huge corporation and all the businesses in the United States are in competition to win the customers and Walmart is right now in the lead. What I did find disturbing was how the employees acted. Doing chants and basically acting like they owe their lives to the company was a little over the top and I could never see myself doing that. Also, I did not like how they go around in an unmarked vehicle looking for new towns they could bring big business to. Having a wal mart in one town and then putting another one 2 miles down the road is a little excessive. But, even with seeing this video I still plan to shop at Walmart. Especially in today's economy people are in a crunch and sometimes you need to go to the big retail stores to save money and make ends meet.
After watching the video, I was able to gain a better understanding of where Wal-Mart stands in our society. In the video, wal-mart is portrayed as this superstore giant that is on the verge of becoming a large monopoly. I think this is a very bad thing since small businesses and competitors will no longer able to keep up with the low prices that wal-mart offers. If wal-mart continues to expand at its current rate, many people will lose their jobs and be forced to find new ones that have some relation to wal-mart.
One thing I believe wal-mart is doing a good job with is trying to take care of its workers. The man who went to china to observe the wal-mart seemed genuinely interested in the "walmart family" of China and seemed concerned when the anonymous workers told him of their ridiculous overtime.
I believe that walmart is a bad thing. Walmart is a huge store that has alot of things everyone needs in life. But when you brig a walmart into a little town that causes alot of problems for alot of people. For example small towns have little stores that have been doing well but then when a huge walmart comes alot of those small town stores close and its not fair to the owners that worked very hard on their store. Walmart does give people jobs but you also have to fight to get health insurance. I believe that when anyone walmart they should always get health insurance. Also the amount each employee gets. The workers at walmart always quites after 3 months because wlamsrt doesnt pay as much to pay for their family of 3 or 4 etc. The people that are trying to make a walmart in samll towns should think about poeple that have stores that need their jobs. Even when walmart wasnt built their the town was fine.
Imagine a severely obese businessman in a top hat and tails strolling down the street. He comes across a starving beggar and snatches a scrap of bread out of the beggar’s hands, proceeding to devour it while looking very pleased with himself. Suddenly the businessman undergoes full-body cell division and there is two of him. One continues wandering the street looking for other beggars to take food from and the other gets into his stretch hummer. The engine, (which is actually an army of tiny residents of various third-world countries in a tiny sweatshop pulling levers,) activates and the stretch hummer turns invisible and is replaced by a hologram of a prius. The businessman hums happily to himself while his disguised hummer trundles off to another city where he is greeted with a fanfare of trumpets and adoring crowds. There he continues to galumph about in search of more beggars to rob.
The above is an obvious allegory for Wal-Mart. The symbolism should be obvious so I won’t bother explaining it.
On to the real assignment. Wal-Mart’s executives are fabulously rich and yet insist on taking customers from small businesses that cannot survive without them. “BUT IT’S OKAY, WE MAKE JOBS SO THEY CAN COME WORK FOR US!!!” Yes, Wal-Mart creates jobs but they are very menial and unpleasant jobs. From the protests and the high turnover rate, it is obvious that the average Wal-Mart employee is not satisfied with his/her job. The executives bs their way through avoiding improving working conditions or allowing the creation of unions. I find their excuses pathetic and disgusting.
I am being hypocritical. I have set foot in Wal-Mart and have purchased things there. However, I did not enjoy the experience. Overall the quality of their goods is very low and believe it or not there are some places with better prices. (Specifically, Gamestop has better prices on video games. Yeah, they’re a chain store too, but not a destructive big box store and there was never such a thing as a small business video game store anyway.) Wal-Mart is not a good thing, for businesses, or (in my opinion) for customers.
I will not get into the harsh conditions in Wal-Mart-affiliated factories. This is because Wal-Mart would be unique among the large corporations of the world if it did not make use of sweatshops.
Also, I find the Wal-Mart “culture” repellant.
When they make a new walmart in little towns they are effecting other peoples stores that help them live. When Walmarts are built people dont want it they argue because its bad for the owners of stores that need the money to pay for thier families and bills. Walmart does help people get everything they need to help themseleves and families. When people apply to walmart and start working thier half of the employees do quit after 3-4 months of working their because walmart doesnt help alot when you have a family. I also believe that if a walmart does come that they should allow health care to everyone.
I thought the video on Wal-Mart was very interesting and to be honest it was quite entertaining. It’s amazing to see how one multinational corporation affects the lives of millions of people in both good and bad ways. For example, one lady worked at Wal-Mart since she was 18 years old and now she is the manager of one. It’s nice to see that some people are rewarded for their hard work and dedication. Unfortunately this is not the case with everyone that works at Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart claims to have made strides in its healthcare programs however not all of its employees can afford it and in tough times like these a good solid healthcare program is crucial for everyone to have. For instance, one man could not afford the healthcare provided by Wal-Mart when he really needs it so he can get medical coverage for his family which includes a premature born daughter. Also, if he were to buy Wal-Mart’s healthcare insurance he would have to pay a lot of his paycheck in order to receive its benefits when in fact he can not afford the healthcare insurance because then he couldn’t pay his bills or buy groceries. I also thought it was shocking to hear that Wal-Marts received billions in profits last year however its employees get paid the bare minimum and earn below the poverty level.
I feel that walmart is a superchain of stores that will eventually like to have one store on every corner. Don't get me wrong I love to shop there, but the idea of having one in every town is just ridiculous. Like the video said walmart has been forcing small businesses to close because they can't keep up with walmart's low prices. I think walmart should post a couple of stores for a couple of counties so the smaller stores have a chance.
Walmart never phased me until i saw this movie. I realize that walmart is a gigantice store that could really help our country in alot of ways. They could provide jobs infulence going green and d alot more. They make something around 4 billion dollars in profits a year and have thousands and thousands of stores. I think they are doing more damage to the United States then good. They put smaller local bussinesses out of bussiness like its there job. This is causing alot of people to lose there jobs. They are slowly replacing department stores and grocery stores because they have the one stop shopping all in one place. People are getting way to lazy they just want to go to one palce and get all of there neccesities. This makes it tough for other bussinesses to sell there product becaue they are unable to purchase the bulk amount of products like walmart does so there prices arent nearly as low as walmart. In the end I believe Walmaart is not helping the economy at all and they could if they wanted to.
Nick Cesca
I believe Walmart is a great store for the people. I think it is a large store that tries to have as many different kinds of items as possible. Is is very diverse, and that's why I think people like it so much. It is a store that also creates a good amount of jobs for people, which is great especially in this economy.
The negative I feel about Walmart is that we can't have too many of them, especially in small towns were people run smaller stores. Eventually everybody will start going to Walmart and the smaller stores will have to close. That's why I feel location is key for Walmart. They can't just put a store in wherever they feel like it. I think they have to get the peoples opinion on the matter and see what they feel is the right choice in whether they should build one or not.
I also feel like Walmart is not paying there employees enough money. You could obviously see from the film that the people working there are not satisfied with there wages. I believe, if there is all this hype about Walmart, they should be able to pay there employees a reasonable wage. The manager said in the film that there is no way he could raise wages of his employees. To me, he seemed like he was lying. Maybe he was telling the truth, but the way he said "no", seemed a little corrupt to me.
Overall, I think Walmart is a great store, with a lot to offer. I just don't think we need a ton of them, especially in small towns. I also think they need to help there employees more. And if they follow those conditions, I'm all for it. I'd even like to shop at Walmart myself.
I believe that walmart does more harm then good. It is expanding rapidly, and is eventually going to take over the business world. Smaller businesses simply cannot compete with walmart's cheap prices, and they are being forced to go out of business.
Also, working conditions in the many factories where the merchandise is made are terrible. Workers report being overworked and underpaid, and walmart isn't doing enough to stop this. While walmart does offer cheap prices for the customer, it is coming at the cost of a healthy work environment for the workers overseas.
I absolutely love Walmart and feel that it should not face any obstacles when it is trying to build more stores in America. They are the largest retailer company in the world, and they provide a large amount of the jobs in America today. They also sell items at very low prices, and help Americans save more money. They also make enormous profits. Instead of impeding on their progress, it would be better to allow them to grow as large as they would like, and then tax them on their profits, also known as, I believe, a capital gains tax. They also donate large amounts of money for research and donate money to the community on a magnitude that has not been met by smaller, local businesses. Walmart is also great because it has virtually every product desired by the American people within its stores.
Walmart should be free to prosper as much as they wish, then they should have enormous taxes levied upon them that are large enough to halt any further expansion but are low enough to not cause them to incur a loss. That money could then be given back to the American people in the form of universal health care.
I believe that Walmart started out with good intentions, but overtime Walmart quickly turned into something else. While trying to keep prices low, Walmart must keep low wages for its employees. Walmart is such a huge corporation that's GDP last year was in the hundred billions. They are able to throw huge shareholder conventions with famous celebrities, yet the company is unable to raise the wages of their many employees. They use their money to continually expand their retail empire and overtake areas that were once held by small businesses. The only people profiting from Walmart's huge gains are the corporate giants, not the average worker. While many people view Walmart as a place where you can buy items really cheap, it is really just a huge monopoly thats taking a lot of other retailers out of business.
I love going to Wal-Mart, me and my dad go every weekend to do the family shopping. The prices are cheap and affordable; witch is convenient for my family because when it comes to feeding the five of us, it becomes costly. However after watching the video, I realize even though it might be helpful to not only my family and others, Wal-Mart seems like a company that is subconsciously trying to over take over the smaller companies. They do employ a high percentage of people, in the video it said that those employees did not stay with the company for long, many of them quit after a year. Theses people left because they did not enjoy their jobs, and even because the low wages could not support their families, or their own lives. With the situation of Wal-Mart slowly shutting down other businesses (smaller ones) it seems to me like they are kind of forcing people to stay with them, because if they don’t then they will be looking for jobs that will soon be out of business, causing controversy.
I think that Walmart is a retail store that is attempting to make it so that they are the store that you go to for everything. It looks as if they want to put many of the other small specialty stores out of business. For example, they tried to get rid of book stores by reducing their prices so much to the point when they were almost losing money. Walmart has such low prices that many stores are unable to compete with it and therefore fail to remain in business.
I feel that walmart is a very inexpensive and convenient store but there is no need for one in every town because there are a lot of small businesses that also do a very good job. So, when Walmart arrives in towns this creates a lot of jobs and also makes people lose their jobs too. This goes to show that Walmart is not all up side, there is also downside to it as well. This is what I feel about Walmart.
Although Walmart might seem like the bad guys at times I feel they have helped our economy. Without Walmart we wouldn’t have all the jobs that there are today. Walmart has employed a lot of people and without them around the unemployment rate would be way up. Even during the bad economy Walmart’s have been successful because they have opened up more jobs along with keeping prices low so that shoppers could still afford the items. Besides all the direct workers at Walmart there are a lot of behind the scences people that are employed. The factories wouldn’t be as successful if it wasn’t for Walmart buying everything along with truck drivers and other aspects of the company. Walmart has just about every job you can imagine because it is such a large company so there are job openings in every field. Also you might start off low on the totem pole but as the years go on you can work your way up in the company. Walmart has many job opportunities for people and there is hope for everyone to be successful. As much as people hate Walmart for destroying small businesses they have helped communities. Maybe a law can be set in place to protect small businesses like for example a law on prices so that everything is around equal. This would help small businesses because they wouldn’t lose all customers to the low costs of Walmart. Some actions could be set in place to make sure Walmart doesn’t become a complete power house but for the most part I feel Walmart has helped us out and without them things would be different in the world.
I feel the video on Walmart was suprising. Walmart is a store that relies on pep talks before the work day and chants that are known around the country and even the world by every Walmart store and their employees and workers.
I think that this big business is jeopardizing small family owned businesses. I can not decide where I stand in this debate; i feel the disadvantages and advantages of Walmart are just about equal.
After viewing this video, my perspective on the retail giant "Walmart" completely changed. I knew that they were a large superstore, but exactly just "how large" and how much of a money-maker the chain actually is, was just simply staggering. Last year, Walmart surpassed the $400 billion dollar mark for sales and they made $13.5 billion in profit. For this reason, their economic impact is so great that they are quickly rising to the top of the GLOBAL economy. This, however, can be a problem. As great as the store is and as convenient as it is, it quickly destroys small, family owned businesses just as soon as it comes into towns. Because Walmart buys its products in such large bulk from the supplier, it therefore has
availability to offer the products for such low prices. The typical Mom & Pop stores thus cannot compete with these giants. Therefore, following the entrance of a Walmart in a small town, the small businesses eventually have no choice but to close. For the preceding reasons, I believe that Walmart has both various pro's and con's that come with the company and to where-ever it may go next.
Amanda Thomas
I think that Wal-Mart is trying to "take over" all other small businesses. They are such a big store with low prices that no other businesses can keep up with them. Wal-Mart is a very good store becauase you can get all of your shopping done in just one stop, but i feel that it is unecessary to have them within such close distance of each other. While Wal-Mart is providing jobs, at the same time they are causing others to lose theirs. A woman moved her family to Tennesse to work at Wal-Mart and make $9.00 and hour to quit and move back in 3 months time.
Also, Wal-Mart takes things a bit over the top. They feel that it is needed to cheer before a days work and at their stockholders meetings. They are just bringing other businesses down to try and be the best around.
Dear Reader: Please read the following response in the voice of a redneck.
The other day I runned out of bleach trying to make the inside of ma car shiny, and guess who were there to re-supply me. Wal-mart. I ain’t never seen no store that din’t have all them fixin’s I’s need before. I’s can pick up my beer and bbq sauce over in that there food section, den I can gets all the clothes I’s need in the middle, there, mostly just white shirts and jeans. Den I’s can gets some bb’s for my son’s air rifle. I throw’s it all in the back of my pickup and I’m is off to my home, happy as a lamb. Wal-mart is also kinds enough to give my brother a job greetin’ people and given them’s some stickers. He’s was always a little bit slow, sumthin’ ‘bout an extra chromonome or something, I dun know. Wal-mart also gives my cousin some work, shes been real lazy and all after our fourth kid. I’s in love with ma Wal-mart, I’s not be livin’ like I is now were it now here.
jochai mor
What are your thoughts on the Walmart debate?
after watching many videos on walmart, i feel that it is a superstor that is trying to make it so that they are the one store to shop at. they try to incorporate any types of things that they think people will need in there daily lives making it easier by making one big store instead of many little ones. yes this is a great thing for some but not so great for others. yes i like the cheep things that they have there but we must look at it in a other perspective. all of the small baseness that sell the same things as wallmart does but for more are loosing there jobs because you cant compete with cost.
after watching the video we saw that a lot of people were very angry with the wages that wallmart was giving there employments. what gets me angry is that they say that they cant do any thing about it even though they make more that 3 billion in profit. that just shows that they are very greedy and that gets me mad to see that some guy doesn't like to give a little bit of money even though they make more than billions of dollars.
I feel like Wal-mart portrays itself as this "great family" and boasts about all the "good" it does for the surrounding communities, when that's really not the case at all. I do agree that its nice to go into Wal-mart and buy stuff at a lower price that other places, but I don't think that it should be at the cost of paying its workers low wages, and buying materials from factories in China that don't have proper or even humane working conditions. Wal-mart also makes a yearly profit of over 400 BILLION dollars, so clearly there is some cushion there in order to make some improvements. But instead, they have their workers chant the praise of Wal-mart every single day, yet that same night they send their workers home to face their families with a small check, which in most cases the workers said isn't enough to pay the bills never mind cover the health insurance from their own employer Wal-mart. However, those same workers say that if they made just 1 or 2 more dollars an hour, that they would feel that was a sufficient amount of pay for the work they do, but apparently that's too much to take out of their 400 BILLION dollar profits. And when you ask the CEO of the company of why they don't want to allow a union, they say that its because "We don't want to destroy the direct connection between the company and its associates, We like our family of millions." Which personally I think is absolutely ridiculous considering that now, without a union, the leaders of the company are not willing to consider raising the pay of their associates. Therefore, I think that Wal-mart can help some people save money on groceries and such, but it comes at a much bigger toll to a lot more people, and when you weight the pros and cons, Wal-mart defiantly does more harm than good.
I think that walmart is a positive and negative entity in America. Its positive in the fact of its low costs and mass job production. its negative pertaining to hurting small business, outsourcing, and giving workers bad benefits.
Realisticly walmart may have created more jobs than it has taken away. And the people who complain about benefits may be right, but if they didnt have a job that Walmart supplies, they would have bigger problems. Walmart is negative in the fact that is has nearly created a monoply. This means that it would have barely any or no competition.
After watching this video my views on Walmart have changed. I think they should treat there employers better then they do, considering they hire so many people.I also dont think Walmart needs to expand more companys than it already has.I didnt realize how Walmart affects the economy in a good way by supplying so many jobs to people, and has low prices which lets the average person save money. But even though Walmart supplys a great amount of jobs, it also puts smaller stores out of business. Therefore I think Walmart is good and bad for the economy.
The new age of Walmart just showed how althugh they didnt mean to they are putting other mom and pop stores out of business. They store has good low prices that allow for low income people the luxury of being able to buy the things they need. I think had i not known that they are also not paying their employees the way they should makes them look worse. if they have all that extra money they should pay the emploeeys first, the seem like phonies when they have all of the cheers that they do before everyday. To me that is just not right. i think that someone needs to get Walmart back to its roots.
Brian O'Reilly
Although I have shopped at Walmart, after watching that video and seeing how the superstore puts all of the small businesses out of business and how they treat their costumers, really makes me not want to shop there. That store makes a ton of money and they can't even supply healthcare for the millions of people that they employ.
Also they are eliminating all of the small stores by making their prices way low to the point where these stores cannot keep up. While Walmart is ecpanding it is taking down shops little by little sadly. And those are the shops that made out country the way it is today and made our country prosper.
Overall, after watching that movie, i am not a fan of Walmart, because i believe it is putting other small businesses out of business and taking down stores one by one.
After seeing this video i was surprised by how many people dislike wal-mart and their business practices. Personally I believe that Wal-mart is an exteremly effiecent company that saves many American familys 1000's of dollars a year. Not only does Wal-mart save shoppers money they also provide jobs for over 1.4 million Americans. With the economy in the shape that it is in today it is incredible that when most companys are cutting employees, Wal-mart is still hiring, and also providing wages that are usually above the industry standard. Also even though Wal-mart sometimes runs small business out of town, they also bring a lot of people into town for non retail businesses such as restuaraunts, movies, and other businesses.
Simply put, Walmart is an overgrown retailer. The extent that this company goes to in order to increase their annual revenue is astonishing. Not only do they serve hundreds of thousands of customers daily, but Walmart brings enough money per year to run as its own country.
Watching this film allowed us to see the brains and operations of a vastly increasing empire. What disgusts me the most, is the fact that they insist on building more stores. There are over 4,000 Walmart stores nationwide and the “big guys” over at Walmart feel the need for more. It honestly upsets me. Although I haven’t experienced the growth of Walmart on smaller stores firsthand, I am still aware of its effects. The largest argument against Walmart is the fact that it puts other businesses, for lack of a better phrase, out of business. How does one operate knowing that they are destroying someone’s life work of creating a business from the ground up? After all, that’s how Walmart started.
Another concern of mine is the location that Walmart receives some of its products. I don’t know about anyone else, but with the troubled history of China and their products, eating fish from them is out of the question. And that’s exactly where it comes from, China, to the shelves at your local Walmart. Yummy!
Karen Novak
i used to think that walmart was a good idea and that it was perfect for if you need a bunch of little things but after watching this video it changed my mind. I think that walmart is a place to go to shop for everything, and sometimes thats convenient but then i thought about it more and it's really taking away from the other stores around it. Because of walmarts cheep prices companys have to fight production cost to have their products sold in walmart. Walmart has some cheaper prices but not everything is as inexpensive as you think. Its nice to have the lowered prices but the employees are dealing with the minimum wage. Even though these walmarts are giving jobs to many people, the minimum is not enough to live off of in this economy. When other stores located near walmart they are struggling to keep up with the deals at walmart. Walmarts are nice but are not needed in every town, they take the business from other stores, and its not fair to those stores. I am opposed to the idea of more walmarts being built.
Actually I have very few problems with Wallmart. As a legitimate business it functions like every other business from the smallest to the largest. What seems to be the root of the issue lies not with Wallmart, but with the economics of scale. Because of the sheer size of Wallmart it can retail at prices smaller than any other retailer. Many would call this unfair, and would say that Wallmart is a scourge that destroys business. To me it does not make sense to complain about Wallmarts "stranglehold" on retail. Smart business men should be able to find ways around to remain in existence even in the presence of a Wallmart. It seems the secret is to differentiate product and offer specialty commodities the Wallmart cannot offer. Instead of blindly running a price war (which will never work based on the economics of scale) the retailer must find ways to drive shoppers away from Wallmart.
As for the blatantly ludicrous statements that Wallmart supports sweatshops, they are mostly innocent of that claim. The Sweatshops themselves are concealing their identities to fool Wallmart. The fact that Wallmart has an investigation team should be enough to rebuke this claim. It is true that Wallmart wages are lower than what many need to pay for life insurance, but now with the Healthcare reform Wallmart will not have to worry about paying for healthcare and will put the surplus into the workers wallets, hopefully. I have no personal attachment, hold no stock in the company, or really care what happens to the corporation; i just want proper business models to be accepted and Wallmart is the perfect example of a genius business model.
As a consumer, I am all for Wal Mart. They are convenient for shoppers, have low prices, and provide numerous jobs. However, after watching the video I am no longer the avid supporter I was. I was surprised how on the outside Wal Mart puts on the idea that it is one big happy family and all of their employees stand together. When in reality they don’t take their employees needs into consideration. Being one of the biggest super marts and strongest grossing stores, they should be able to raise their wages by a dollar and provide healthcare. They are a monopoly and are eliminating small business everywhere. I feel that Wal Mart has expanded into communities enough. After seeing the video as a consumer I would want to support the smaller business affected by Wal Mart. It may be helping the consumers with their low prices but it is also harming them by eliminating the business the community gets. Overall, Wal Mart seems to be power hungry and has taken their business to another level where small business can’t compete.
There is something incredibly satisfying about finding a good bargain; about seeing something you need and knowing its purchase will do minimum damage to your wallet. Growing up, I never had an issue with Walmart. Their business strategists and leaders did a fine job in propagating their store. Their practices were legal. What was there to complain about, especially when their prices were so wonderful?
Recently, however, I have grown skeptical. Walmart has created a reputation of suffocating the economies of local communities. Though the opening of a local Walmart will inevitably provide jobs, it will also undercut local businesses, simultaneously causing the loss of jobs. While local businesses put their profit back into their communities, Walmart sends their profits back to headquarters where the town or city will have little hope of ever seeing it again. These large branches hurt local economies and the culture of the communities. Taking a step back, one must also consider the reasons why Walmart is able to provide such low prices on their goods; cheap laborers and underinsured employees. Is a cheap bar of soap really worth the pain and suffering of these laborers?
I sympathize with those people who protest against walmart, however I personally believe that the Wal-mart superstores have a place in our economy. It is true that these one-stop stores may take business away from small companies and mom&pop stores, but wal-mart does many positive things for the people and place near where it is built. Not only does the superstore provide thousands of jobs for people in the area, it offers us, as consumers, lower prices on everyday needs. It saves shoppers time and gas, as well, since all items are in one store. It benefits other corporations in the areas in the sense that such a large store moving to town challenges mom&pop stores, and even bigger chains such as stop&shop, and pushes and motivates them to become better, and "greener." Stop and Shop has recently gone green, and sells canvas bags for shoppers to reuse if they so choose. It also allows customers to use a portable check-out that they can take around the store shopping with them. This is convenient and technologically advanced, and, most importantly, makes them stand out against Wal-mart. I believe mom&pop stores can still thrive in a town near a Wal-mart. As long as they carry unique items at a reasonable price, they should be able to get the business of shoppers. Finally, Wal-mart's influence on cities in other countries suprised me alot. I did not realize how many superstores were in countries such as Japan, China, and Chile. Also suprising was the differences in Wal-mart's in America and Wal-mart's in China. A Wal-Mart in China sells live sea food to its customers and sells about one $2,000 bottle of wine per week. These are two things you will never find in a Wal-Mart in the U.S.
Walmart puts many local stores out of business, but it supplies many jobs and offers low prices.
Not many stores offer what Walmart does, so I believe Walmart is a good thing for this country and other countries to have.
Walmart is also constantly changing to benefit its employees. Walmart gets a bad reputation for lots of labor at low pay rate, but with a force of employees about 2 million strong, its doing what it can to please everyone, slowly but surely.
After watching the video on Walmart, I have a much different perspective on the superstore. Though Walmart appears to be a great retail store with cheaper prices, many job offerings, and cheeers every morning, it has negative effects that hurt the rest of the economy. Walmart puts many local smaller stores out of business and and jeopordizes other speciality stores. Often times a Walmart store will be made in a town where it is unnecessary and will inturn make it more difficult for other smaller stores to compete. Though Walmart offers countless jobs, the superstore often pays their employees lower than the average retail wage. One would think that because Walmart is such a successful businees, they would be able to treat their employees better and provide higher salaries. This video truly provided an insight to Walmart and how it is effecting other businesses and employees.
After watching the video about Walmart, I still am very suspicious of the company and their practices. For example, the amount of jobs they create in America does not justify the amount of jobs they outsource to factories who create their products. If those jobs were kept here in America, the unemployment rate could drop greatly and in turn would boost the economy by increasing the consumer market. Also the outsourcing of jobs has allowed others to get hurt and mistreated such as the Chinese factory workers who are forced to work an excessive amount of overtime. The profit that Walmart makes does not justify the endangering of human lives.
What upsets me even more is the amount of money they spend on promoting their image, especially at the shareholders' meeting. This money could easily be used to, for example, help communities in need of funding which realistically would help their public image just as much.
~Chris Donnelly
I thought that this video on Wal-mart was quite interesting And entertaining. I love the store myself because there is a whole range of items you can find for about the cheapest prices around all in the same place. I think that the reason Walmart has made so much money is because they take care of the customers so well. They have friendly greeters, low prices and always strive for a happy staff. In the video there was a man who unloaded goods off of the merchandise trucks and he earned around $11, but he felt he should earn $13. I don't agree with him on this because even if 11 dollars isn't alot, 13 is alot just to unload boxes.
I also was confused as to why the workers would complain of their wages because i feel if they don't like them, then why did they apply at walmart? Also some of the protestors were argueing that because walmart made so much money in the past that they weren't seeing any of it. but i don't think they should recieve any more than their wages just because the company as a whole is sucessful.
Walmart is a big example of big business. All businesses operate on the principle of making money, and Walmart is no exception. The two biggest issues that Walmart faces today are its public image, and its workers. Incidentally, both of these issues tie directly into the profitability of said business.
In order for people to want to buy what you sell, they must believe in the seller, and what is being sold. This can range from knowing that seller has fair prices, to knowing that the product is high quality. By raising the opinion of the masses, by assuring them that the seller is indeed a 'good guy,'
the masses are then more likely to buy the product.
Walmart pays its employees as low as it can, while still attracting them. This is because the business itself needs a lot of money to sustain itself, and so the top makes as much money as possible. Not different in any way from other businesses.
Every single business in the world operates the same as Walmart does, by trying to make the most amount of money possible. They do this by procuring their product for the least amount of money possible, by selling it as high as possible, and paying the work to move the product as low as possible.
In my opinion Walmart is just trying to become a legal monopoly, when they add in new locations they can easily wipe business from the small business owners which make up over 90% of the US's business. The thing is, no matter how bad it is in my mind, and how bad people say it is, I'm still going to shop there. It's cheaper, and I'm not mad rich with bills pouring from all directions, so I can't really afford to shop at higher priced places. Walmart should be paying employees livable wages, even though they have so many freaking employees its crazy. I can see teens working at Walmart to be getting maybe a little over minimum wage, but when you're paying desperate adults with familys to support $11 an hour, it's pretty hard to live off that. Walmart just has to man up, and the leaders of the company have to stop being selfish annoying corporate assholes, and learn that their employees are begging for stuff that they're just ignoring. It's not much of a 'family' if you're at the bottom, it's more like your older step brother who you hate putting you in a choke hold.
I personally believe that Wal-Mart is single-handedly destroying the middle class in America. By aggressively lowering their prices, they are putting smaller businesses that can't afford to compete out of business. Their wages are very low in proportion to their profit, and their healthcare very expensive. People need the jobs at Wal-Mart, so the company can get away with paying them very poorly. I honestly believe that superstores like Wal-Mart are damaging to America.
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I feel that walmart is too big of a company and that it has overtaken much of the industry. Walmart is a monopoly and multiplies everywhere you go. With that being said, I feel that the managers and owners of the walmarts are very smart for opening multiple walmarts areas, this way, their company makes great profit and people are happy too. There are alot of employees at these places and they should definitely treat their employees equally and with equal respect so that it makes walmart a better place to shop and be a part of. walmart is a great place to shop, but i'm not sure this would be a place to go if your looking for max amount of help and to learn about something in depth.
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