Yes I do shop at Wal-Mart

[fargon]

My wife and I do shop at wal mart. Its not because we are unfeeling conservitives, and bush lovers. It is because the low prices are very helpful to us. I am a disabled Vet. and my Wife has a good full time job. But we cannot afford to spend the money at the specility stores charge. Just a thought iff you hate wal mart that much, just dont go there.
Thank You Terry L. Bell
PS: We are Conservitives, and we do like Presedent Bush

[Bullitt]

and i shop at walmart cause i'm a poor college student.. i dont see it as any worse than driving my car.. i know i'm expelling pollutants into our air, but driving is the best option for me.

Shop the sales at other stores. They're cheaper than Walmart. Mostly. And the quality is better.

[Happy Monkey]

Is there an easy way to tell what Wal-Mart's loss leaders are, so you can buy only those? That way, you can get the cheap prices, and hurt Wal-Mart at the same time!

[Trilby]

Yes about the loss leaders. They're right up front by the Entrance. At least they are at the WalMart in my town.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by fargon

Just a thought iff you hate wal mart that much, just dont go there.

Gosh, why didn't I think of that?
Your right, just a thought....and not followed by any other thoughts.
If I am personally offended by a business it certainly wouldn't make sense to patronize that business. Walmart is a special case, however. They have never done anything directly to me, probably because I don't go there.
What offends me about Walmart is what they are doing to the country, the states and communities, they purport to serve.
You're fortunate your wife doesn't have to work there....yet.
If you are unaware of the damage Walmart is doing you can Google them and read for days about the evil empire.

[Happy Monkey]

Actually, on further reflection, even if you just buy the loss leaders you are still helping Wal-Mart by helping them drive out the stores that are trying to sell the same products for profit.

[Undertoad]

The other stores are gone anyway, and often they sucked harder than Walmart does. The best way is to shop at Costco where they avoid unions the right way: by paying their employees better than almost any other retailers, including great health coverage.

[richlevy]

What I resent is the givebacks and incentives that local politcians give to Wal-Mart. For a supposedly free market economy, these stores seem to negotiate some sweetheart deals.

If it makes economic sense to open a Wal-Mart somewhere, just do it. Be prepared to pay the taxes it will take to support the fire department as well as the police department that will have to respond to two or three calls every day for traffic, shoplifting, vandalism, etc.

It's not because I hate Wal-Mart, but because I don't want my elected official to be dumb enough to sign me up for a bad deal by giving tax breaks that would not have been given to the ten smaller stores that could have gone into the same space in exchange for low-paying jobs which might not be even filled by local taxpayers and increased traffic and demand on fire and police.

[wolf]

I've gone over to the dark side. Their crafts section is much better than the Joann's Fabrics and Crafts which is closer to my home (for major brand yarns and stuff. Specialty (i.e., expensive, imported real wool yarn) is really only available through tiny little specialty shops that are few and far between and I do still go to.

Where I live, a place called Hobby Lobby is located next door to the Walmart. Their selection of craft items is better, and again, I watch for the sales when their prices drop below those of Walmart. Real wool is very expensive. I will sometimes buy it down on the res where its much cheaper than anywhere else. The Navajo make some fantastic wool yarn! Only a 2,000 mile drive for you, Wolf, and worth every foot of it!

[Badgerino]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Gosh, why didn't I think of that?
Your right, just a thought....and not followed by any other thoughts.
If I am personally offended by a business it certainly wouldn't make sense to patronize that business. Walmart is a special case, however. They have never done anything directly to me, probably because I don't go there.
What offends me about Walmart is what they are doing to the country, the states and communities, they purport to serve.
You're fortunate your wife doesn't have to work there....yet.
If you are unaware of the damage Walmart is doing you can Google them and read for days about the evil empire.

Well said. I like to call Walmart "Chinamart", because that is where they are intent on sending our jobs. I wonder, are those low prices really worth the cost to this country? I suppose a job lost does not matter to a Walmart shopper unless it is their own. What about all of those Walmart employees who cannot afford the health insurance offered and then get if from the state? It is nice of the state to help subsidize one of poor Walmart's benefits. Walmart--there is a steel claw underneath that velvet glove. I have not been to a Walmart in 2 years now and there are 2 Walmart supercenters in my town. I buy American whenever possible. I am a Liberal and I do not support the current poser in the White House and his calling himself a Republican would have Ike rolling over in his grave.

[tw]

Originally Posted by Badgerino

I buy American whenever possible.

"Buy American" only puts American jobs at risk - protects the only reason why those jobs are at risk. History of business repeatedly demonstrates that American jobs are saved when Americans buy the best - use free market principles.

Benchmark examples are 1979 Chrysler and 1981 Ford. Both companies were as anti-American as could be. Both companies, once dominated by innovators, had been subverted by the dark side. Top management could not even drive cars.

In Chrysler, we stopped buying their inferior products. In 1979, the only reasons of long term job losses in Chrysler were removed when Townsend and Ricardo were replaced by someone who had a driver's license; someone who had worked in design - Lee Iacocoa. Because the enemy of Chrysler was voted out - because so many Americans instead bought foreign products - then the most innovative people in the world were permitted to fix the products. Chrysler became so productive with the elimination of top management that Chrysler repaid all their loans in only four years.

BTW, it is a lie that the government rescued Chrysler.

Exact same story happened in Ford when the anti-American Henry Ford was removed by patriots who 'bought the best' - practiced free market principles. Again, once the enemy of America was removed, then Don Petersen asked the product people to design the best they could do. No longer were Henry Ford's bean counters permitted to design the product.

The 1965 Mustang was designed by product people. Then every Ford was designed by bean counters until .... you tell me. What car saved Ford Motor Company?

Taurus - first car designed by product people in 22 years because we patriotic Americans bought using the free market. We voted out the enemy of Ford - Henry Ford - because he could destroy all Ford employee jobs.

You have seen another example of how communism - buy our product only because Americans make it - only destroyed productive American jobs. The mental midget president protected crappy American industries - steel manufacturers - with illegal tariffs of up to 400%. Therefore, one of Americans most productive industries - steel reprocessors - lost an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 jobs. This because a raw material used for exportable products now cost so much more.

The mental midget president saved the jobs of top management in companies such as Bethlehem Steel and US Steel at the expense of productive American workers. This also demonstrates why "Buy American" is so anti- American; a classic example of a communist mentality.

Patriots believe in the free market. It is the only force that eliminates the only source of American job losses - MBA educated and therefore anti-American top management. People who don't come from where the work gets done and therefore only stifle innovation.

I have little respect for the little shop keeper who will not innovate. Who is happy to keep doing what they always did rather than do what Sam Walton and others did - innovate. Where a big American manufacturer featherbedded their executives, then along come Wal-Mart who takes their hide to the rack. Good. In forcing large manufacturers to innovate - by firing MBA managers - Wal-Mart has contributed to the growth of this American economy. American jobs are lost where that industry hires MBAs instead of people who come from where the work gets done.

Everyone I know who work for Sears is an MBA. And so you can see why Sears is eaten every day by Wal-Mart and Target. Sears is a classic example of a company who ... well I talk to full time employees in a local Sears Hardware store. Their own managers don't even know how to use tools. Is it no wonder they don't carry metric sizes for dies that are sized even most common in automobiles. They only carry dies that are too big - 6mm and above. Sears management so bad that they don't even know why those metric sizes do not sell. So instead, they eliminate metric sizes on some assumption that nobody wants metric tools.

Just another example of American job losses what will continue until Sears is driven to bankruptcy so that their top managers are replaced.

What saved Macy's? Same story. But you already know the bottom line. They eliminated a management problem when Americans bought elsewhere.

Patriots believe in the free market - buy the best. Only those who destroy America - who are so easily subverted by the propaganda - blindly buy American.

All you're giving us is your opinion, TW. So Ford came up with the Taurus. BFD. They still make the Explorer, one of the worst cars I have ever owned when it came to frequency of repairs.

A country needs to retain its own steel making capacity for the sake of national defense, if nothing else.

The products sold at Wally world are far from the best, but they ARE cheap. Go take a tour of your local Walmart and inspect the labels. Damn near everything the store carries is made in China. Is it because the Chinese make the best products? Not hardly. However, China's banking and economic system is still fundamentally Communist. The Chinese government in effect subsidizes Chinese business. The standard of living in China is also below that of the US. Workers there will accept far lower wages because they do not aspire to own their own homes or put their kids through a good college.

Communism has quite literally destroyed American jobs, and it doesn't take an MBA to understand this. I am a global manufacturer of widgets. I can base my widget plant in one of two countries. Country A doesn't give sweetheart deal loans to me for plant construction and modernization. The people of country A demand a higher wage because they aspire to a 4 bedroom house in the suburbs and a better life for their kids. Plus country A demands that I compete for workers by providing a company health plan and retirement benefits. Country B will make me start up loans at half the interest rates banks in country A charge. The people of country B are happy to have 3 hots and a cot and a chance to buy a bicycle. The government in country B takes care of health insurance and retirement to an extent never dreamed of in country A. Workers in country B don't choose employers on the basis of their health plan. Its all the same to them.

Three guesses where I'm going to locate my widget plant and the first two don't count. Oh, yeah, and guess what? Country B has any number of de facto restrictions against imported goods. Country A believes in the "free market." Now just from this last fact alone, where is any smart executive, be he an MBA or a Mutha Fuckah going to base his operations?

The crap at Wally World is just that - crap. It falls apart. Its poorly made. But it IS cheap and it it's the only thing available. I defy ANYONE in this country to go on a strict "buy American" regime. You'll save a ton of money and do without becaue it just ain't made here anymore. Not for rubies or pennies. Not badly made or well made. Where-ever it was made, and however it was made, it wasn't made in the US.

I worked for Sears in their electronics department going on almost 10 years ago. Sears then had a great line of products. It STILL does. If your local Sears doesn't carry the right sized tools in its Craftsman line, its either because you had an incompetant salesperson tell you lies or a local manager who has his head up his ass. Ten years ago Sears trained its sales associates rigorously on its product lines. If you worked in Craftsman or electronics or any other department in Sears, you knew your product and you knew your customers. Sears carried a line of merchandize that was generally several notches above what Wally World carried, and if you went in and talked to a sales associate, we could generally work it so that you paid the equivalent price or less for a superior product.

Now Sears has decided to imitate Wal Mart and has pretty much given up on customer service. They pay sales associates minimum wage and don't train them on product lines. Thus, your local Sears associate gives you gross mis-information as to what tools Sears carries. Sears' great mistake has been to become MORE like Walmart - not less.

[Ernestine]

I fought Wal-Mart as hard as I could while our town still had options. Now that almost all the other stores have closed, I either shop there or drive 20 miles for milk.

And unto the second generation -- my son works there. He says (read Wal-mart says) that the average family saves an annual $3200 (or possibly $2300, my brain has a transposition problem) by buying groceries there instead of at one of the other big supermarkets like Krogers. I believe it. I see a big difference in the cost of a month's food.

Loss leaders? I've heard that almost all of their food is "loss leader". The idea is to get you inside to buy the other things, particularly women's clothing which has a huge mark-up from cost. So I buy groceries there and get my T-shirts at the Fashion Bug next door. Please don't tell me it's the same company.