As many of my friends know I completely despise Wal-Mart. My hatred began when I was around 18 and I completely stopped shopping there during my freshman year of college.
I haven't spent one dollar at Wal-Mart in over 4 years (except for one emergency oil change before going on a trip). My life is completely normal as I shop for groceries at Kroger and local markets and get household goods at the drugstore or clothing shops. I would be completely happy if I never set foot in a Wal-Mart ever again.
Now comes the tougher part: backing up my hatred. There are numerous reasons Wal-Mart should be viewed suspiciously and even boycotted. The Wal-Mart corporation (and by extension Sam's Club, the Walton family, and board members) is an extremely predatory and profit-mongering operation that could stand a dose of perspective. Here is my personal list of reasons Wal-Mart should be boycotted:
1)
Anti-union - Wal-Mart is aggressively anti-union. For one of the largest single employers in the world, this is quite bizarre. But the reasoning is simple; the billion dollar profit margins rely on maintaining the status quo. Power rests with the higher-ups and not with the legions of employees who work long hours for meager pay. Anti-union videos are shown routinely. Those who seek to start unions are fired. Special union-busting laws have been enacted by Congress. Regardless of personal feelings about unions, it seems there should be some form of representation for the Wal-Mart employees.
2)
Wages - This is a huge issue. For the largest private employer in the world, wages are insubstantial at best. Some may argue that the jobs provided by Wal-Mart are not meant to be all-encompassing to support a family. Well whether or not they are
meant to be, they are. Did you know that Wal-Mart encourages employees to seek out government aid to supplement wages? That's YOUR pocket they are dipping into to help their own employees.
Number time. In 2003,
BusinessWeek reported that the average wage for a Wal-mart emplyoee was $8.23 an hour. The work week for a Wal-Mart employee is ~34 hours (to avoid paying out benefits for a 40 hr. week). This amounts to $13,861 a year... the poverty line that year was $14,630.
3)
Predatory Business Practices - Ever notice how when a new Wal-Mart opens up many local businesses are quickly shut down? This is unsurprising due to the huge advantage Wal-mart has in prices, variety, and convenience. This sounds pretty nice, right? For the consumer, yes it is, in the short-term. But then when small business owners are shut down, where do they turn?
To the local Wal-mart of course! This progressively turns small communities from hosting intimate, personalized small business into a town full of Wal-mart employees groveling for thin wages while the king-shit corporation sits on the throne masterminding it all.
I've even heard stories of Wal-mart sending employees out to buy up stock of high demand items (Shrek DVDs, Xmas toys, video games) from other stores in order to draw customers to their store. That's some real goddamn gestapo shit!
When small business is run out, the money that is spent no longer remains circulating in the small town. Nope, that money is funnelled straight into the bulging pockets of Wal-mart HQ, making the biggest corporation in the world (yes, even bigger than big oil) only more rich.
4)
Right-wing politics - It should come as no surprise that the largest private company in the world is also a fan of right wing politics that give tax breaks to the rich. They fund conservative interest groups, oppose abortion rights, and even campaign to block pharmacists from distributing emergency contraceptives and birth control. Remember that every dollar you spend there goes to fund right wing causes.
5)
Strong-arm manufacturers - Because of their priviledged position at the top of the retail pyramid, Wal-mart is afforded special consideration when dealing with their manufacturers. They wield unprecedented power when dealing with suppliers.
In a startling example, Wal-mart refused to increase the price of a 3-gallon jar of Vlasic pickles from $3.00 to $3.49 when the supplier was only making pennies per jar. Granted, Vlasic had signed a contract stating that the price per jar was $3, but they did not anticipate that the sales would top 240,000 3-gallon jars per week which led to massive underselling of their more profitable 8 & 16-oz. jars of sliced pickles. With stock plummeting, Vlasic asked Wal-mart for a helping hand and were flatly refused. In 2001 Vlasic filed for bankruptcy.
6)
Misc. - As previously stated, Wal-mart does not provide any benefits for the vast majority of its employees.
Look at the products you buy at Wal-mart. Where were they made? Probably China. For a company that claims to be so pro-America, they buy from China as much as humanly possible. This steals even more American jobs and sends our dollar overseas.
The massive buildings and resources these buildings consume make for a huge environmental footprint. Imagine how much energy it takes to heat/cool the huge warehouse-like buildings while people stream in and out through the wide-open doors.
Well, there it is.
That's my soapbox on Wal-mart. I could go on and on with these issues, but if you are really curious to learn more please do. There is a great documentary called "
Wal-mart: The High Cost of Low Prices" produced by Robert Greenwald that gives more info. Here are some useful links to give you more insight:
Wal-mart Watch
Criticism of Wal-martIf you are persuaded by this argument and are wondering what you can do to help, it's easy... just stop shopping there. And tell your friends. The best way we can make our displeasure known is to simply vote with our dollar.
Together we can topple the Goliath.
