To Walmart or not to Walmart?
That is the question.
Just a little history…I had boycotted Walmart for a good 2- 3 years, due to the corporation’s VERY poor rating on the socially conscious scale. Walmart has been accused of holding their suppliers over a barrel- by offering to pull their accounts unless these suppliers agreed to sell their products for unfairly low prices. Then, there was the issue of some clothing lines being produced in sweat shops (remember the Kathie Lee Gifford fiasco?) And then there were the hiring practices- again in the media, due to the company’s apparently bad choices.
In my area, boycotting Walmart was easy to do. My old store was run down, unpleasant and unattractive. But now, we have the Super Center. Ahhhh, the Super Center. My mom and I decided to pop in one day, just to check it out. Couldn’t hurt, right? And what a mistake that was. Lots of products and brands, organic and eco-friendly choices, oh my. Even my mom, who is very P.C., was enticed by the sheer number of Lean Cuisine entrees. The choice to shop there or not is further complicated by the current state of our economy, and my family, like most, is just trying to make ends meet until things turn around.
So my question is, is it bad to shop at Walmart, given their dismal report card as a company or is it every family for themselves? Is it better to shop organic and green at Walmart, because you can afford it, than not at all? I heard on a Walmart commercial last week that the average family can save about $3100 per year if they shop there exclusively. I’d say that’s a pretty compelling reason to shop there. Or not? What do you think?
Comments
I will be facing that dilemma soon too, as they are putting in a super walmart in my town. I am going to try my best to just stay away, but it will be hard.
I personally think that the accounts that didn’t want to sell their products to Walmart at the price Walmart wanted, could have promoted their wares/goods/food stocks somewhere else. It’s not personal, it’s business. As far as unions coming in or not coming into a Walmart, that’s up to each locations group of people either voting in or out a union. People need to realize Unions charge monthly fees, Union demands also make the cost of the products sold go up not just for the workers at that store but for the whole community. You have to weigh the factors that after you join a Union and pay the monthly Union fees are you going to be coming out with more money in your pocket. Are you going to be happier at a job where your work load will likely increase as fewer workers are hired by the Walmarts now because they don’t want to have to pay higher benefit packages to the workers. Most of the workers at the Walmart in my community seem happy, but I say that is because they have a good manager. I’ve actually meet the manager a couple of times. I guess it’s on how you look at things whether you’ll want to shop at a Walmart in your area or not and how the manager there treats his staff/workers and those that shop his/her store.
In this economy I really watch the newspaper ads and the online ads and pair them up with coupons and see where I can get the best deal. Walmart is not always the cheapest when another store is running a special, doubles coupons up to 50 cents in value and may even be having a buy one get one free promotion. You really need to compare to get the best bang for your buck.
There are many good reasons to shop at walmart and then there are many bad reasons to shop there as well. If you are trying to save money always remember you can find a better deal in your own neighbor before you even get to the corner street to walmart. But if you are trying to buy fresh food,veg, etc.. There are small delis, fruit stores that specialize in selling these. Also you can use the farmers market on the weekend. If you are planning on buying for electronics, %75 of the time you can find it online cheaper, and if you search the right way, you can get a discount code for free shipping. But if you were to buy lets say kitchen cups.. go to a garage sale, you will save about 10-100 dollars in one day by utilizing your community instead of the bug issue of walmart.
Personally Ralphs, Frys (Kroger) has very good prices on most of the products comparably to Walmart. So i tend to shop there. Their clothing line is very cheap but i never try them for the obvious reasons you specify. Its not like they do not have any alternatives.
Not sure I understand the walmart hate. They have had a poor history but today they do a lot of good things, and they do it right. When they pick up an organic product order it’s a good thing – not only does it provide much money and distribution for hte organic company but it allows choice in consumers who will most likely opt for organic if they can get to it – which helps the food industry modify their products due to consuer demand.
Anyway, the short of it is don’t be so quick to judge. Walmart will give you the products you want and they have the power to make or break some of the individual companies to ensure correct practices and conciousness among production. If used correctly walmart has a lot of potential to change the way we eat.
Good points, AJ, thank you.
I also boycotted Wamart for a few years. It was the thing to do at the all-women’s, super left wing, down with the man (the man being walmart) college I attended.
Now i’m a graduate student in extreme debt. It was one thing to boycott the cheapest food around while my parents footed the bill…but now? It’s more difficult to resist. The food is the cheapest around.
I try not to buy much else there…
It really bothers the eco-friendly part of me that they only offer plastic bags, but that forces me to remember my reusable shopping bags.
Sarah,
Thanks for pointing out the plastic bag issue. That has bothered me, too. Bringing your own bags is certainly a better option!
I am not a fan of Walmart. They have simply run too many small shops out of business. They move into smaller towns and everyone gets drawn in by the low prices. Before you know it, nobody is shopping at the mom and pop stores. They are the prime example of the big evil corporation walking all over the little guys.
I understand the want to boycott such companies. it is hard to keep your morals out your everyday dealings even with things so simple such as grocery shopping. If you are struggling to make ends meet like most of us are. You do what you have to do. I go tot the dollar store before I go to wal-mart to save even more money. another thing to do is look out for sales or find a shopping buddy and split a costco or sams card and buy in bulk and split items when you can.
In all fairness to Walmart, they are trying. To quote their website ” As part of Walmart’s ongoing mission to be a more sustainable company, we recently announced a worldwide sustainability index initiative.” This index will appear on all the products sold by Walmart, giving us better choices on which products are more sustainable. The will also be requiring their vendor to ramp up their standards or risk losing their accounts. It is a big step in the right direction for Walmart.