I know this might sound dumb or a little extreme, but doesn't it seem like Wal-Mart is taking over the world? lol. I live in Daytona Beach, and within like a ten mile radius they plan on having a total of 4 Wal-Marts. It's ridiculous. Two are already built and they want to build two more, one of them where a horse stable is, the other where a school is. It's totally unnecessary to have that many Wal-Marts so close to each other. It's huge corporations like them that drive all the small, privately owned business to bankruptcy. I've tried to stop shopping there, but it doesn't seem to do much good. Every time I drive by, the parking lot is always packed. I wish something could be done to prevent conglomerants (sp?) from popping up every where like this. Although their prices may be cheap, I've heard bad things about the company. They treat the employees poorly and hire illegal immigrants and pay them far below minimum wage. It's awful that a company with such little respect for its workers continues to have such consumer success.
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Wal-Mart is evil. You might want to check out the movie "The High Price we Pay for Low Prices", it's a documentary on the different things about Wal-Mart.
::Why quote others when you know you want to say it yourself?::
Wal-mart is quickly gaining the power to take over the world. I am a total hypocrite because I do shop there, but it is scary. Wal-mart has but hundreds of family businesses under because of there inability to compete with the super giant.
I've never heard of that movie, but it sounds pretty interesting. Thanks for telling me about it. =]
Value supermarkets like Wal-Mart and Dollar General allow poor families to live. I know this because those places are where my family often shops. Is this something all of you dislike? Do you wish death upon my family?
Also, how would a business take over the world? It has no power to enslave you or take your property. Why is it that Wal-Mart that seems so dark and deadly when I'd say that, for example, public school and the FCC have taken over my world? The government has the power to enslave you, businesses do not.
Michael Allen Yarbrough
I don't see nearly as many Dollar Generals as I do Wal-Marts. If you're so poor (no offense because my family is pretty poor too) then why not shop at Save-A-Lot or another generic brand store like that? Their products are even cheaper than Wal-Mart's. I don't dislike Wal-mart as a store, but I dislike how they're trying to run all other stores out of business. It's totally unnecessary for them to have that many Wal-Marts in such a small vicinity. When I said Wal-Mart was taking over the world I didn't mean that literally, but to have that many stores would seem like they were trying to become the most powerful corporation EVER. Thanks for your comment though.
You should check out my blogs. I wrote a three part series on Wal-Mart. I am 8th in the state of Cali for an anti Wal-Mart speech. Friends dont let friends shop at Wal-Mart! Shop Costco or small businesses.
P.S. Sams Club is also Wal-Mart. So if your boycotting one, boycott the other....
Yeah, Wal-Mart is pretty much the worst ever. I don't shop at Sam's anyways because I don't have a card and I don't need all that bulk, but I've never heard of Costco. I don't think we have those near us.
Magelbagel,
we shop Wal-Mart, Dollar General, Aldi, Costco, and Sav-a-Lot. The first two came to mind first because that's where we go most often. Wal-Mart and DG are of much better quality, variety, and dependability than the others. (and cleanliness).
Also, no store has the power to get rid of other businesses. A store only has the power to do business better than another, which may lead to this. You seem to be saying that you think people should shop at places that service their needs worse than other stores. Is that what you mean?
Further, Wal-Mart really cannot gain any more power by getting bigger. They may only ever sell you things. Would they gain permission to secede from the union? to levitate? to murder?
hexhunterkid, I'm reading your post. So far, I've found a few points of interest. I hope to reply after doing some more reading.
It's clear that I seem to be really harping on Wal-Mart. This isn't exactly my intent, as if I have a WM fetish or something. The underlying principle that I support is laissez-faire capitalism, which has been the greatest and most productive boon to humanity, and which is viciously and tragically misunderstood and attacked, in a progression towards a blank world.
Michael Allen Yarbrough
I'm not saying that Wal-Mart is trying to do anything other than operate a business. But why do they feel its necessary to open so many stores so close together. It doesn't make sense. If they weren't trying to shut out the competition then they wouldn't put so many stores in such a small area. Opening that many stores in one spot almost forces people to go there. The first store that comes to mind when you need something is usually Wal-Mart. If that's what's close then that's where you'll go. If there's a Wal-Mart on every corner then wouldn't that be the obvious place to? Wal-Mart is not only involved in the retail industry, now they want to open banks as well. What they're doing isn't Laissez-faire, its monopoly.
Yes, convenience offends me, too...?
Anyways, Wal-Mart is not practicing monopolistic behavior. Really, people think of monopolies in a terrible way. If you were asked to define a monopoly, it might be a little difficult, and it's not unlikely you'd still end up incorrect.
I plan to post something to my blog about this, but for now, consider that the YKK zipper company makes nearly every zipper on the planet, because they are good at it--but no one screams at them for being a monopoly! However, we point fingers at Wal-Mart because other people have done so, and we love to hate businesses and conform to others' ideas, and because Wal-Mart is very visible (Cf. availability heuristic), and because most of us have a flawed concept of monopolistic behavior. More on this eventually. This week is bad for schoolwork and AP exams.
Michael Allen Yarbrough
I'm serious about YKK. check the zipper pulls on the jeans in your closet!
the documentary is actually called "wal-mart: the high cost of low price" it's cited in my blog