Wal-Mart

[johnnydr87]

I don't think Wal-Mart, especially Sam Walton, ever had any malicious intent toward the public or their employees. I think they are just dedicated to the ultra-efficient business model that made it the world's largest retailer (and second largest company).

[Aporkalypse]

Things are interesting at WM right now, so I thought I'd repost. I'm always interested to hear what others more in the know, such as Matt, think about all of this.

WM fired some execs, particularly in marketing and advertising and canned the company it hired to advertise. They recently promoted from within to fill most of these spots and hired new advertising firms, including one from Richmond to "run the point".

Rumors abound about the ousting of more executives, including possibly CEO Lee Scott.

WM issued a press release stating 47% of its employees used its health care plan, another 43% used spouse's health insurance, meaning 90% of employees are insured in total. WM Watch and other opponents decried this.

Polls in key states of Florida and Ohio showed that the majority of voters in those states considered WM a positive influence in their communities and only a handful had a negative opinion of Wal-Mart. This may curtail Democrats like Obama, Edwards, and Hillary Clinton from continuing to lambast WM at every opportunity on the campain trail. The exception to this poll was in union families.

Wal-Mart also has vocally SUPPORTED raising the national minimum wage.

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Interesting developments I thought might merit discussion. I'm actually pretty happy with those health insurance numbers. They also advocated raising the minimum wage, another labor-friendly move.

I wouldn't be surprised to see more shakeup at the top of the WM ranks. If Scott goes I would think we'd see the company go in a drastically new direction. I'm not sure if Scott will be canned but if he is it's obviously a mandate for change. I think it would do a lot to cure the impression investors are getting that WM will remain flat given the present strategy and probably would immediately boost its stagnant stock if a quality replacement was found.

The Florida and Ohio polls were a bit surprising to many people. Opposition to WM mostly seems to occur in ardently Democratic states like CA, NY, and IL. Perhaps the Democratic candidates will be a bit more cautious in their criticism because it might not fly in states up for grabs like Florida, Ohio, Missouri, and yes, Arkansas.

[Aporkalypse]

Interesting rumor floating around about Wal-Mart spinning off Sam's Club. Most people think it doesn't make sense - Sam's is actually pretty profitable compared to the rest of the company.

Still, this is something a lot of people thought might happen years ago.

[vbfl85]

Wal Mart has regained its spot at #1 on the 2007 Fortune 500 list, bumping Exxon Mobile. Wal Mart posted $351.1 billion in revenue while Exxon came in at $347.3 billion.

[Aporkalypse]

Helen Walton passed away tonight.

[cowbreath]

I guess this is as good of a place to put my gripes about Wal-mart. It seems like no one will read it either so good.

Being in NWA I had a Wal-mart job offer. After interning there I had to turn it down. It probably wasn't the right time of my life to commit so much time and energy to wal-mart, but I think there are some other serious factors about philosophical differences. I've been analyzing wal-mart in my mind for some time and can't come up with a concrete judgment about evidence of whether they're good or bad.

However, I do think they make their workers commit too much time to them. They had the best offer for me, but considering a 45 hour work week it doesn't average out too well for an entry-level job. Your family becomes wal-mart, and your real family becomes less focus. They're not concerned about you as much as their concerned about growing their business and bottom-line so that their stock value can increase. It is fun to commit yourself to something you believe in, and wal-mart would have provided much motivation for doing a really good job and giving you a feeling of global impact and worldwide charity (after all lowering the prices is good for the consumer). To not go too far into it, there is definitely plenty of motivation spiritually and for the common good that can be found at working hard for Wal-mart.

Wal-mart really isn't about bettering your life until 20 years down the road. Many people look at it as a way to retire early after working really hard for years. It's also a good first job out of college while you're not married. Some people with kids are kind of stuck there though because their kids wouldn't want to move. Families sort of have to buy in to the lifestyle too. I also didn't like not being able to check stuff on the internet (web-blocking) which were necessary for my family business during the day time. Phone reception could only be found outside. Crisis-mode would always supercede your duties at home. To be honest, in life I feel we have to be balanced with commitments and especially when we're married. If I spent all of my time video-editing at home the wife would not be too happy because I'm only thinking of what I want to do. In that respect we should reasonable expectations in life and not to be too consumed with only what we want to do. Wal-mart seems interested in doing everything right for the business right now and meeting the customer's needs. The business I work for just needs to be aware of my personal clients also that I have a responsibility to please.

In general, though, you could probably scrape by in wal-mart and do a good job when needed to. Wal-mart has advantages over the employee right now because of the multitudes willing to work for them. If that changes they will have to adjust.

In contribution to the world wal-mart has done good things and bad things. In always lowering prices and costs, I think they've lowered the quality and value of their products to a point that it is a humongous waste for our environment. However, the industries supporting wal-mart products have provided jobs and opportunities overseas to many people. Wal-mart seems to be better than most corps at regulating working conditions in other countries.

Overall the wal-mart way of reckless capitalism is coming to an end. Global and environmental issues will continue to press the retailer. Treating employees better is going to happen right now due to public image. It can't sustain its growth figures, so now it will have to learn to sustain itself as a corporation as many other corporations have had to do when they've reached their peak of growth. If they can intertwine themselves into the fabric of our economy and not lose or gain ground I think they'll do good.

[Mith242]

That's some interesting views. I do like the fact that you weren't like some who see only the bad and think Wal-mart is the 'Evil Empire'. There's certainly some bad aspects to Wal-mart, I won't question that. I do find it ironic how Wal-mart seems to get blamed for everything even though many other retailers use a lot of the same tactics that they do. But somehow they seem 'okay' compared to Wal-mart. Perhaps I'm also just biased because I live in NWA.

[Jim856796]

I understand that in Camden, they are building a new WalMart Supercenter on the site of a 4-story Ramada Inn.

[Ozark]

So is Wal-Mart being such a popular store a pro or a con? I guess it could be both. I think Wal-Mart could solve those concerns by building a 2-sided building with parking and entrances on both the front and back of the building. Receiving could be on one side and the garden center on the other. It would also mean that instead of one streetside entrance it would take at least two or three entrances to accomodate the expanded parking lot. The parking lot itself wouldn't need to be any bigger, but it would mean less walking distance from the parking lot and a much easier time finding a parking space.

[Ozark]

I guess this is as good of a place to put my gripes about Wal-mart. It seems like no one will read it either so good.

Being in NWA I had a Wal-mart job offer. After interning there I had to turn it down. It probably wasn't the right time of my life to commit so much time and energy to wal-mart, but I think there are some other serious factors about philosophical differences. I've been analyzing wal-mart in my mind for some time and can't come up with a concrete judgment about evidence of whether they're good or bad.

However, I do think they make their workers commit too much time to them. They had the best offer for me, but considering a 45 hour work week it doesn't average out too well for an entry-level job. Your family becomes wal-mart, and your real family becomes less focus. They're not concerned about you as much as their concerned about growing their business and bottom-line so that their stock value can increase. It is fun to commit yourself to something you believe in, and wal-mart would have provided much motivation for doing a really good job and giving you a feeling of global impact and worldwide charity (after all lowering the prices is good for the consumer). To not go too far into it, there is definitely plenty of motivation spiritually and for the common good that can be found at working hard for Wal-mart.

Wal-mart really isn't about bettering your life until 20 years down the road. Many people look at it as a way to retire early after working really hard for years. It's also a good first job out of college while you're not married. Some people with kids are kind of stuck there though because their kids wouldn't want to move. Families sort of have to buy in to the lifestyle too. I also didn't like not being able to check stuff on the internet (web-blocking) which were necessary for my family business during the day time. Phone reception could only be found outside. Crisis-mode would always supercede your duties at home. To be honest, in life I feel we have to be balanced with commitments and especially when we're married. If I spent all of my time video-editing at home the wife would not be too happy because I'm only thinking of what I want to do. In that respect we should reasonable expectations in life and not to be too consumed with only what we want to do. Wal-mart seems interested in doing everything right for the business right now and meeting the customer's needs. The business I work for just needs to be aware of my personal clients also that I have a responsibility to please.

In general, though, you could probably scrape by in wal-mart and do a good job when needed to. Wal-mart has advantages over the employee right now because of the multitudes willing to work for them. If that changes they will have to adjust.

In contribution to the world wal-mart has done good things and bad things. In always lowering prices and costs, I think they've lowered the quality and value of their products to a point that it is a humongous waste for our environment. However, the industries supporting wal-mart products have provided jobs and opportunities overseas to many people. Wal-mart seems to be better than most corps at regulating working conditions in other countries.

Overall the wal-mart way of reckless capitalism is coming to an end. Global and environmental issues will continue to press the retailer. Treating employees better is going to happen right now due to public image. It can't sustain its growth figures, so now it will have to learn to sustain itself as a corporation as many other corporations have had to do when they've reached their peak of growth. If they can intertwine themselves into the fabric of our economy and not lose or gain ground I think they'll do good.

[Mith242]

Oh, HI everyone. I think this is my first post. It has taken me awhile to get caught up on some of the threads here. This thread is a really good read.