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Give them this link: https://hiringcenter.walmartst...

Walmart is in Alaska.

http://walmartstores.com/pressroom/statebystate/State.aspx?st=AK

In fact, there's 4 times as many Walmart owned stores as there are military bases in Alaska.

Here's the benefits page (you can go to Walmart.com and click on Careers, store, and Benefits)

http://walmartstores.com/Careers/7750.aspx

It's a lot better than I expected. And Billy Mays was a spokesperson for a large business which has incredible markups and added shipping fees, so you can cut out the middleman and give twice the profit to a different company.

Or you could get them for $9 at Walmart.

"In addition to the 500 green jobs the project installations will create or support in California and Arizona, these Walmart projects are also supporting green jobs at facilities in Ohio and California, where the majority of the thin film is manufactured." from the walmart press release http://walmartstores.com/pressroom/news/10303.aspx

2) Be real poor. This will usually qualify you for Medicaid--which sucks, but is also better than nothing.

I have a relative on Medicaid that received better pre-natal care than a coworker with group health insurance from a fortune 500 company. She received more frequent doctor visits, with a 3d ultrasound that private insurance won't pay for.

5) Get a job with benefits. This means a full-time job (working as a cashier at Walmart won't cut it).

Actually, Walmart cashiers do get access to group health insurance. I have another relative that works as one. There are some criteria that have to be met though. (IIRC must work for the company longer than 6 months, and work more than 30 hours per week)

It's the people working for much smaller companies that can't get health insurance, because the company doesn't have enough employees to be considered a "group".

Walmart made a splash a few month back with their new post paid family mobile plan. They touted their service as riding on T-Mobile's gear. I wonder if AT&T will want to keep this in place. If they do, how will it affect the WMart plans?

I have been on an el cheapo plan or quite a while. Will AT&T eventually jack my rates? Time will tell I suppose. I, for one, will be keeping an eye on how this develops over time. It may be time to jump to a regional carrier like Cellular South.

Ya, screw billions on the war on drugs (yet another waste of putting pot smokers in jail), and focus on screwing Americans for billions.

The EPA states CFL's average 4 milligrams of mercury.

In 2007, Walmart sold 350,000,000 CFL bulbs.

That's 1.54 tons of mercury that cannot be sequestered at common points such as power generation facilities.

The EPA considers anything over 0.002 milligrams per liter of water to be hazardous. If use the EPA guideline + 50%, 0.003mg, you're looking at 117,429,899,000 gallons of water contaminated to lethal levels, just from what Walmart sold. (assuming no conversion errors)

That's about 117.429 billion gallons more than I'm comfortable with. Even still, I wouldn't want to live anywhere close to a place that has 899 thousand gallons of mercury contaminated water.

The proponents of CFL's are obviously the companies selling the bulbs. Who has more to gain from outlawing incandescent bulbs, and forcing the market to buy more expensive bulbs? The manufacturers, distributors and vendors. Also, who can hire lobbyists to push for the change of laws in Washington? Oh, the same people who want to make a freaking fortune on selling you new "green" lightbulbs.

The average consumer does not know that they *MUST* send CFLs off for proper disposal. When it stops working, they toss it in the trash, and put a new one in.

One argument for CFLs is that they use less power. Sure. Great. I'm good with that one. I like saving money as much as anyone else.

Another is that by using CFLs, coal fired power plants release less mercury. Well.. umm.. Power plants run on peak demand. Your house full of CFLs or incandescent bulbs account for less than your refrigerator and air conditioner/heater/heat pump. You could save as much or more by putting a strip of tape along leaky windows in your house that let the cold breeze in all winter. That's the cheap fix. The expensive fix is to replace the windows with good energy efficient windows. We won't go there right now.

The end argument is always mercury. Coal power plants put off mercury. In 2006, there were 1,493 coal power plants in the US. In 2009, there were 129,969,653 "housing units" (houses, apartments, condos, etc) in the US. Tell me, which is easier to manage to sequester mercury, modify about 1,500 power plants, or ensure about 130,000,000 households won't accidentally break or throw away CFL's?

So lets look back to Washington. The owners of those coal power plants don't want to extra expenses of improving their facilities. Leave it to the consumer to do something about it. But the average consumer doesn't know that CFL's are dangerous. The bulb stops working, it goes straight in the trash. We have four standard fluorescent bulbs in our garage right now, because we have no idea where to properly dispose of them at. Trash collection picks up trash. They don't have a separate hazardous waste truck. The city doesn't have an answer other than "we don't care, throw them away". If someone like me can't find an answer of what to do with them, what is the average consumer to do? Oh ya, toss it in the trash, where it'll go to the landfill, and eventually rain water will wash the mercury into the groundwater.

Out of sight, out of mind. If it's at the landfill, it's no longer

Good luck with that.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/Help-Topics/In-Store-Return-Policy/pcmcat204400050028.c?id=pcmcat204400050028
"Opened computer software, movies, music and video games can be exchanged for the identical item but cannot be returned for a refund"

http://walmartstores.com/7658.aspx
"Prerecorded music, movies, and software products must be returned unopened."

http://www.borders.com/online/store/CustomerServiceView_returnspolicy
"Return new books, unopened CDs, DVDs, and electronics, including eReaders, in their original condition."

http://www.target.com/Refund-Policy-Returns-Refunds-Help/b?ie=UTF8&node=13685491
"Some items cannot be returned if opened and may only be exchangeable, including music, movies, video games, software and collectibles."

You were lying about Walmart: http://walmartstores.com/careers/7750.aspx

Global Walmart locations http://walmartstores.com/sites/sustainabilityreport/2009/images/content/b_globalReach.png

Dear Commodore-64 - Your new albuterol-HFA inhaler is available for $9 at Walmart, which is cheaper than any of my patients every found old CFC-propelled abuterol for ($12 at Costco).

Write them a letter telling them what you found. Try this link http://walmartstores.com/contactus/feedback.aspx to get to their headquarters, where something might get done about it. Include enough technical detail for them to replicate the problem, especially the model number or any other identifying information from the package.

If you want someone to care enough to write back, try to not sound accusatory or threaten to sue them. I'm sure they get enough of that on a daily basis.

I know exactly where Wal-Mart's home is:

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.
Bentonville, AR 72716-8611.
USA

So, I'm going to guess it's home country is the United States.

Walmart does not even have a official mission statement

Twenty seconds of Googling shows this claim to be false. From Wal-Mart's Global Ethics Office

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has always been a values-based, ethically led company. The values guiding our decisions and leadership are the 3 basic beliefs established by our founder, Sam Walton, in 1962:

1. Respect for the Individual
2. Service to the Customer
3. Strive for Excellence

Vision Statement The vision of the Global Ethics Office is to promote ownership of Wal-Mart's ethical culture to all stakeholders globally. The Global Ethics Office was established on June 1, 2004. On June 4, 2004 Wal-Mart released a revised Global Statement of Ethics to communicate our ethical standards to all Wal-Mart facilities and stakeholders. The Global Ethics Office provides guidance in making ethical decisions based on the Global Statement of Ethics and a process for anonymous reporting of suspected ethics violation by calling the Global Ethics Helpline.

Global Ethical Principles Wal-Mart's Guiding Ethical Principles were added to the revised Global Statement of Ethics on June 4, 2004. These principles are designed to assist our Associates and Suppliers with making the right decision and doing the right thing.

1. Follow the law at all times
2. Be honest and fair
3. Never manipulate, misrepresent, abuse or conceal information
4. Avoid conflicts of interest between work and personal affairs
5. Never discriminate against anyone
6. Never act unethically – even if someone else instructs you to do so
7. Never ask someone to act unethically
8. Seek assistance if you have questions about the Statement of Ethics or if you face an ethical dilemma
9. Cooperate with any investigation of a possible ethics violation
10. Report ethics violations or suspected violations

The source that you give for the rest of your alleged facts, LeoHat, is an Op-Ed piece written by "Leo Hindery Jr." titled "Wal-Mart's Giant Sucking Sound" which states "WAKE-UP CALL. Costco is a living example that a company can be extremely profitable and competitive and at the same time not destroy everything and everyone in its corporate path." Since you've just demonstrated an indifference to easily Googled facts, surely you don't expect me to accept your statements at face value just because you stated them more than two years ago in a different publication. You seem to be a prevaricating Costco shill.

Walmart does not even have a official mission statement

Twenty seconds of Googling shows this claim to be false. From Wal-Mart's Global Ethics Office

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. has always been a values-based, ethically led company. The values guiding our decisions and leadership are the 3 basic beliefs established by our founder, Sam Walton, in 1962:

1. Respect for the Individual
2. Service to the Customer
3. Strive for Excellence

Vision Statement The vision of the Global Ethics Office is to promote ownership of Wal-Mart's ethical culture to all stakeholders globally. The Global Ethics Office was established on June 1, 2004. On June 4, 2004 Wal-Mart released a revised Global Statement of Ethics to communicate our ethical standards to all Wal-Mart facilities and stakeholders. The Global Ethics Office provides guidance in making ethical decisions based on the Global Statement of Ethics and a process for anonymous reporting of suspected ethics violation by calling the Global Ethics Helpline.

Global Ethical Principles Wal-Mart's Guiding Ethical Principles were added to the revised Global Statement of Ethics on June 4, 2004. These principles are designed to assist our Associates and Suppliers with making the right decision and doing the right thing.

1. Follow the law at all times
2. Be honest and fair
3. Never manipulate, misrepresent, abuse or conceal information
4. Avoid conflicts of interest between work and personal affairs
5. Never discriminate against anyone
6. Never act unethically – even if someone else instructs you to do so
7. Never ask someone to act unethically
8. Seek assistance if you have questions about the Statement of Ethics or if you face an ethical dilemma
9. Cooperate with any investigation of a possible ethics violation
10. Report ethics violations or suspected violations

The source that you give for the rest of your alleged facts, LeoHat, is an Op-Ed piece written by "Leo Hindery Jr." titled "Wal-Mart's Giant Sucking Sound" which states "WAKE-UP CALL. Costco is a living example that a company can be extremely profitable and competitive and at the same time not destroy everything and everyone in its corporate path." Since you've just demonstrated an indifference to easily Googled facts, surely you don't expect me to accept your statements at face value just because you stated them more than two years ago in a different publication. You seem to be a prevaricating Costco shill.

Don't send it to customer no-service.
Send it to someone who can change it.

Stephen Quinn
Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Officer http://www.walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigate.do?catg=540

The vice president of marketing doesn't want to hear that they are getting bad press over a bad POS game rip off right before Christmas.

Yeah, it sure is.

For those of you who don't like long commutes and take the time to throw a pity party every time you encounter someone who doesn't have one, may I recommend a few career alternatives:

http://www.mcdonalds.com/usa/work.html
http://walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigat e.do?catg=638
http://www.subway.com/subwayroot/AboutSubway/Emplo yment/Local/index.aspx

See something for everyone.

Feel free to mod -1 "snarky"

Wal-Mart International:

Argentina
Brazil
Canada
China
Costa Rica
El Salvador
Germany
Guatemala
Honduras
Japan
Mexico
Nicaragua
Puerto Rico
United Kingdom

I want one... or four.

This link will help you get one, or four, of those.

But only if you don't smoke a bunch of weed before the interview, or get arrested for public intoxication, or trespassing, or missing your court date.

You might also want a shower, first impressions being so important and all.

Failing that, you could also try this place. You're definitely qualified, if they ask you if you can handle the greeters' job you can regale them with tales about how you attempted to valiantly save the library doors from being pulled on.

And if you fail that, maybe The third time will be the charm?

Employees eat free, you know.

They could say you could always work at Wal*Mart.

And I don't mean in the IT department...

Walmart stock chart

"Stop buying vehicles that are wasteful."

Something that could easily be accomplished. A Jetta TDI wagon rated at 36/47mpg has comparable cargo capacity (34 cu ft) to many midsize SUVs that are rated at 15/20mpg.

"Maybe investigate how to make 18-wheelers get 5mpg more than they do now."

Interestingly it is WalMart that is pushing the hardest for this.

Wal-Mart Seeks to Double Truck Fuel Economy by 2015
"Wal-Mart has set a goal of doubling the fuel efficiency of its new heavy-duty trucks from 6.5 to 13 miles per gallon by 2015, thereby keeping some 26 billion pounds of carbon dioxide out of the air between now and 2020.

Beginning with the its 2007 model-year trucks, the company will begin introducing models with improved aerodynamics, transmission and tires, as well as an auxiliary power unit in every truck in its fleet.

Some of the changes include:

* Trailer Side Skirts. Wind skirts under the trailer significantly reduce wind resistance and reduces airflow around the trailer. This is a big fuel economy benefit.

* Super Single Tires. Wal-Mart combined the two wheels normally seen on a rear axle into a single wheel that is not quite as wide as the sum of two wheels. This gives a smoother ride and better fuel economy from the reduced surface area and improved tire wall stiffness.

* Aerodynamic tractor package. Making the tractor more aerodynamic radically reduces the fuel required to operate the truck, as approximately two-thirds of all gallons burnt today by trucks can be attributed to overcoming aerodynamic resistance.

* Tag Axle. Reduced weight means increased efficiency. This type of rear axle reduces the weight of one rear axle as it eliminates internal axle drive train.

* Auxiliary Power Unit. This APU eliminates the use of the tractor's main engine for keeping our drivers warm or cool at night. Instead, this very small diesel engine does the job at optimum efficiency. This saves a substantial amount of fuel.

The company has estimated it will save some $52 million per year in fuel costs."

More info: http://walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/navigat e.do?catg=447

http://www.walmartstores.com/GlobalWMStoresWeb/nav igate.do?catg=14
You don't need to live in the US to know about them, they have international stores and their mere existance affects more than just the US. Unfortunately they have grown so large that many products won't even make it to the market if they can't convice Wal-Mart to carry it.

>Checking with Columbia, I found http://www.columbia.com/investor/standards.cfm [columbia.com]. So, not only am I not buying those cheap Walmart socks, but I am also checking to make sure my sock manufacturer is not employing slave labor to the best of their ability.

I checked your link, it doesn't mean much. I deal with Walmart, and they have a very similar disclaimer (WARNING: PDF file).

I don't know specificaly about Columbia socks. But I work in the apparel industry and I can tell you that this sort of thing means nothing, other than that your socks were not produced by slaves (in the most literal sense possible) or by 3 year olds. Which is better than nothing, but it's no garuntee that Columbia is one iota better than WalMart on this.

Wal-mart exists outside of the US?

Of course! You thought that other countries could escape the power of Wal-Mart? Think again! They're putting Wal-Marts right next to pyramids, and you're lucky that they're not just buying the pyramids and demolishing them! Nothing can stop the almighty power of the lowest price! Nothing! HAHAHAHAHA!

702 S.W. 8th Street
Bentonville, AR 72716

Make sure to send a physical letter, and send it certified mail. Once it's through the door, and they know you know it, they have to deal with your problem.

Unless they just don't care. But then at least you'll know that too.

1. Pop quiz, hot shot: You've got two ten year olds that have a serious medical condition, say, a congenital heart defect or leukemia. Which do you think's going to get proper treatment, one that's amongst the 40-50 million Americans that don't have health insurance or one that's covered by a parent's comprehensive health plan?

Federal law might prohibit withholding vital services from anyone unable to pay but I bet it puts strict limits as to how much far those services go.

2. I'm not asking that Walmart give away "free" benefits, only that it provides proper health benefits to its staff so that they are healthy enough to do their jobs properly (and their families are healthy enough so that they don't have to quit their jobs to look after them).

As a poster higher up this thread pointed out, Walmart offers such horrible benefits, most employees use the benefit package of their significant other for health coverage. The fact that Walmart say different on their website doesn't change that fact. Did you expect them to do anything other than sing their own praises?

And, by the way, you seem to have changed your tune on Walmart's benefits package pretty quickly. A couple of posts ago your answer to someone who asked what Walmart employees who had inadequate health cover was "If anyone wants to live the lifestyle of a higher salary range then get some marketable skills", now you're telling us that they're adequately provided for?

Oh, and since when was adequate healthcare "lifestyle of a higher salary range"? And why do you keep on referring to healthcare plans and other remuneration as "handouts"? Do you refer to your own salary and benefits in the same way?

"Free" benefits? How are they "free"? Don't the employees fill vital roles for Walmart? No? Well then you try running a supermarket without hiring anyone to stack shelves or work the checkouts.

3. So Walmart pays taxes. Big deal. So do its employees. Ask its employees which they would prefer: Walmart to make a little less profit (and pay a little less tax) and give them better healthcare benefits; or keeping things as they are. I think I know which the employees would go for.

Walmart's latest annual report (warning: 7.3MB PDF file) isn't light reading but worth looking at.

The company has over a million employees in 2,510 stores. How much it spends in salaries isn't given as a seperate line item anywhere in the report, but they do make up part of the $41.043 billion that the company spent on "Operating, selling and general and administrative expenses", together with things like the cost of running and maintaining there locations. That figure rose 13 percent from the previous 2002 figure.

Those numbers might sound big until you consider Walmart's sales of $244.524 billion and a post-tax, post-everything bottom line profit of $8.039 billion, which were up 12 percent and 21 percent from the year before.

So, to recap, Walmart's sales rose by 12 percent, its operating costs were up by 13 percent but its profits even after taxes, etc were up by a massive 21 percent.

Tell me again how Walmart's employees, who you described as being "[paid] bananas because any monkey can be taught to beep bar codes over a scanner", are "asking for a handout" when they help generate such considerable, ever-growing profits?

more than 240-terabyte data warehouse

Actually, 'production' means more than manufacturing. The amount of production accomplished during some step in the economic chain from raw material to consumer is the "value added" - the difference in prices between the materials and the finished product.

Example: I am a widget maker. I buy widget parts from suppliers, and I pay workers to assemble those parts into widgets, which I then sell to distributors. If I pay 60 cents for the parts, and then sell the widgets for a dollar, then I have added 40 cents of value per widget. (Rationale: the parts came in valued on the open market at sixty cents; they left my facility valued at a dollar. The difference can be accounted for by the value I've added as a result of my operations.) The GDP therefore increases by 40 cents times the number of widgets I sell.

Wal-Mart does not manufacture anything, but they do add value: they perform the services of distribution, stocking, shelving, storage, and so forth. The total value Wal-Mart adds to the economy is its gross margin - the amount of its sales minus the amount of money it spent purchasing the goods it resold. For 2002, this figure was $54,687,000,000. (source: Wal-Mart 2003 annual report) For comparison, the 2002 US GDP was $9,439,900,000,000 (source: Bureau of Economic Analysis).

This means that Wal-Mart was responsible for 0.56% of the production in the American economy in 2002. The original poster's mistake was to use their net sales figure of $244,524,000,000. That number is indeed 2.6% of the US GDP - very close to the quoted figure. However, $191,838,000,000 of that is the cost of goods sold by Wal-Mart (the money they paid to purchase those goods), and represents production by other entities besides Wal-Mart.

whoa, wait a minute...

Obvious white trash jokes aside, don't knock Walmart.

In just 40 years, Walmart grew from a single store to the largest company in the *world*. They basically perfected just-in-time inventory, and are a role model for *any* modern retail corporation. Their IT department is absolutely incredible.

Just to indicate how much they are growing, they plan to open almost 300 stores *in the next fiscal YEAR*.

And while NASA obviously has some of the most intelligent people in the country working with them, and I'd never knock Rocket Scientists (my brother was one for Raytheon :-), I'm quite sure that NASA has it's fair share of white trash. It is a government agency...

Walmart corporate info

I've seen many comments saying "Don't buy from these companies" or the like. That's fine, but be sure to let them know why you aren't buying from them!

Here are some links to:
Walmart's comment page.

Best Buy's comment page or call them at 1-888-BESTBUY.

Target's comment page or call them at 1-800-440-0680.

Staple's comment page or call 1-800-3STAPLE.

Sam Walton died in Little Rock, AK, on 5 April 1992... his survivors, however, are still in charge of the chain.
The Wal-Mart Timeline can be found here.