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And guess what, there isn't a damned thing you can do about it.

O RLY?

Perhaps you missed the minor detail that the current President of the United States is actually BLACK?

Which does WHAT exactly to show that most of the wealth in this country is lily white hands or that racism is alive and well in this country?

Do us all a favor and do something about your ignorance before posting next time: http://walmartwatch.com/

Do us all a favor and take your own advice. Watch the Penn & Teller 'Bullshit!' episode about Wal-Mart, where they thoroughly demolish the anti-Wal-Mart arguments.

Do us all a favor and do something about your ignorance before posting next time: http://walmartwatch.com/

then the QC went to hell in a hand basket, now they are partnering with the single most malefic retail entity on the planet.

So the next commercial should say "Dude! Why the hell get a Dell?"

The problem is that it isnt store managemnet that is the issue. Its head office. As far as it goes, you can google walmart and look past the first few entries, and look a little fuiuther, and start to see how many issues people are having with the store. http://www.walmartworkerscanada.com/ http://walmartwatch.com/ http://www.aflcio.org/corporatewatch/walmart/ http://www.1worldcommunication.org/Walmart.htm (boycot walmart in bangledesh) http://www.labourstart.org/wal-mart/ http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php (facts in the movie) i could go on

for me to continue to despise Wal-Mart.

Granted, when it comes to social programs, I am against hospitals turning away people without the proven ability to pay, which does make me a little bit of a bleeding heart, I guess, but there's really nothing else in my post which could identify me, based on my opinion about this issue, as anything but a small "c" conservative.

Of course, I don't particualry identify as one, because that would make many people group me in with retards like you. According to this site , Wal-Mart only has about 47% health care coverage among its workers, vs. 67% as the national average, and 80% of those who are in retail unions.

You may want to read this pdf on outsourcing to a communist country.

I didn't, in my original post, get into the harmfulness of Wal-Mart sucking money from local economies and reinvesting it in China, but you can (I'd hope) be able to figure out that our for yourself.

And nothing in your personal attack addresses the base point of my post: You cannot judge Wal-Mart soley by the prices on the goods. You have to look at the actual societal cost to shopping there.

Also, check out this links.

Hel-Mart

Sprawl Busters

PBS Store Wars- Facts About Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart Blows.com

Wal-Mart Litigation Project

Wal-Mart Movie

Wal-Mart Sucks.org

Wal-Mart Watch

Wal-Mart vs Women

Let's use Google's super secret business strategy formula.

A = Google's "Do no evil" Philosophy
B = Wal-Mart

A + B = Evil

Nope, not gonna do it.

Your Wal-Mart *savings* fail to account for the costs: http://walmartwatch.com/home/pages/issues

Check out Wal-Mart Watch.

Wal-Mart prides itself on keeping many people firmly in the category of "employed at all", as well as in the category of "Providing less expensive goods for the poor." We just had a walmart super center open up here. The groceries at Wal-Mart are cheaper than the groceries at the other grocery stores in town - and not 5% cheaper, often 20% cheaper. That means the working poor just had their food bills go down 20%.

If someone is making minimum wage working at Wal-Mart, it's because they never developed any job skills worth more than the minimum wage

That's not Wal-Mart's problem. Wal-Mart shouldn't have to pay more money for employees than the employees are worth (as dictated by supply of labor with the requisite skill set)

and more importantly, I shouldn't have to pay more for groceries because people feel like they're entitled to more of my money 'just because', as it's ultimately me, the consumer, who pays for higher labor costs.

I earned good grades in high school, went to collee, and now have a real job. Some of my classmates screwed around in high school, didn't go to college, and now work at Wal-Mart. We live in a society where you have the freedom of choice. Consequences are the price you pay for choice.

I foresee some corrupt corporation, government, or other power-mad organization creating the slave-race they've always dreamed of -- one that will be too ignorant to rise up and seek freedom and will instead fall down and worship them as gods. Of course they'd probably have to first kill off the existing homo-sapien "peons" that could object to this -- but we've already solved that problem. Only the "god-class" humans -- a rich and powerful elite that would monopolize technology -- could be allowed to exist in this scenario... hmmmm.

Myth: 70 percent of the merchandise sold at our stores comes from China.

Fact: The special interest group who makes this claim doesn't tell you where it got that statistic. In actuality, Wal-Mart's business with U.S. suppliers remains strong and healthy. In 2004, Wal-Mart spent more than $137 billion for U.S. products and services sold at our stores. A single company with sales of that magnitude would rank #5 on the Fortune 500. You can count on this fact, too: The products and services from US suppliers sold at Wal-Mart stores provide good jobs to more than 3.5 million employees at 68,000 suppliers in states across America.

...that they haven't tried to take down other sites yet.

Take this one: http://walmartwatch.com/
They have way more publicity and even had an ad in the New York Times.

The industry will fight vociferously to protect them.

If only the citizenry of the US would fight as hard for our REAL property rights! Over the last several years, eminent domain has been used by many municipalities to force people off of the property they OWN so that developers like Wal-Mart can build stores. Some examples:

Alameda Square in Denver Colorado: The City of Denver is considering condemning the shopping center so that Wal-Mart can build a super center. story

Alabaster, Alabama: Colonial Properties Trust wants to build a shopping center anchored by a Wal-Mart in the town of 24,000. The local government is all for it because they're "not receiving enough in tax revenue to support the town." Trouble is, there are a few property owners that don't want to sell. Answer, local government is resorting to eminent domain. They're citing the increase in tax revenue as the "public good" that justifies condemnation of the property. story

Ardmore, Pennsylvania. A local government plan to "revitalize" the town of Ardmore has officials seeking to use eminent domain to oust property owners and demolish several historic buildings. story

New London, Conneticut. (This is the Supreme Court case that's being heard and was referenced in the posted article). The town is attempting to use eminent domain to forcibly evict seven property owners and sieze their property so that a private company can develop more tax-profitable properties on the land. story

Lakewood, Ohio. Scenic Park, a middle class neighborhood, was seized under eminent domain. The homes were deemed "blighted" because they didn't conform to certain criteria. They didn't have three bedrooms, two baths, an attached garage or central air. Incidentally, the mayor's house, in another neighborhood, doesn't fit these criteria, either. The homes were razed in order to put in a mall and high-end condos. story

Ogden, Utah. The Mayor and City Council want to demolish 34 homes and 6 businesses in order to erect a Wal-Mart (there's that Wal-Mart again) Super Center.

Clemson, SC (right up I-26 from me). Pickens County Council voted to invoke eminent domain to condemn a tract of land zoned residential for the purpose of building a Wal-Mart. story

Between the years 1998-2002, TEN THOUSAND properties were seized via eminent domain in order for the municipalities to sell to private developers!!! The right to own land and property is directly tied to all our other rights. Now, I'm not a big, Anti-Corporation type of guy as I recognize that corporations are not vast, faceless entities, but are made up of individuals that work, eat, sleep, and all that. I have BECOME extremely anti-Wal-Mart, though, in part due to this eminent domain thing and also because of their recent trouble with the labor laws. I don't begrudge Wal-Mart's right to exist, but they've demonstrated time and time again that they are willing to tight rope the law and even break it if necessary in order to continue growing. They're like a virus that must be stopped. I'm on a personal boycott of Wal-Mart. If something isn't done about governments seizing property rightfully owned by law-abiding individuals, a huge pillar of our democratic republic is going to be severely compromised. This is no joke, people. This poses one of the most severe threats to our country.

If you want to keep abreast of the situation, here are a couple of good links. And I especially want to thank Neal Boortz (national talk radio guy, Libertarian). Were it not for him, FAR fewer pe

They are. Kinda. Ok, well they've done some pretty sleazy things but have you SEEN what kinds of horrible things are considered common business practice in 2005? I wasn't surprised to see the suit being filed by a diehard mac reseller. I'm sure for those guys getting burned by Apple ends up being more emotional because of zealotry that tends to follow the company. I'd say bitterness filed this lawsuit more than the quest for money.

Perhaps Walmart will use it's bribery tactics and lawyers to get the DMCA overturned.

WalmartWatch

Now, I suppose that some of these sites are either flying under the corporate radar or are operating under some sort of trademark/copyright exception but I really don't know.

In this particular case, I have to question UC's wisdom in going after this site. I don't see any indication in the "nastygram" (classy nomenclature) that there was offensive material of some sort and I don't expect the students running the site were making a ton of cash on it. It seems like much ado about nothing...unless UC thinks that any student using those initials dilutes their "brand." Does that mean, too, that if University of Chicago puts a U in front of the C on their football team's helmets, they're going to get sued?

Riiight... I'll just be headin' out to WalMart right away...

I did a quick Google on Walmart.

Found this in the first 10 search results:
Wal-mart Watch

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I also suspect that Walmart's license negotiations with Microsoft may be more difficult in the future....

Not that Wal-Mart is any sort of "Mecca High-Technologique", but Microsoft needs Wal-Mart a LOT more than Wal-Mart needs Microsoft. Why?

Check this out.

Yup, that's right. Wal-Mart is FIRST in the world with annual revenues of $219 billion. Microsoft was 175th with revenues of $25 billion.

Ladies and germs, that's an order of magnitude difference in revenue.

Also, notice that the difference between Wal-Mart and #2 (Exxon-Mobil) is $28 billion, which is also > MS revenue. The truth is that Microsoft is "big", but Wal-Mart redfines "biggest". In the accompanying Fortune article, they point out that $220 bil is more than any company ever made in a year. Ever.

This is important because among the long list of gripes people levy against Wal-Mart is their notoriously cutthroat approach to strong-arming manfacturers and distibutors. They dictate what, how, when, where and how much. Unless you own your own country where you can lock them out, you pretty much do what they want or give up the opportunity to have your products sold off their shelves.

Think about it this way. If MS sold eveything they made direct thru Wal-Mart, they would only provide about 10% of Wal-Mart's revenue, and that's at high margins Wal-Mart wouldn't be willing to pay.

WM: "You want to charge us *how much* for WinXP Home Edition? BWA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA! That's, like, a 90% markup over your per-unit costs! You'll take $10 a copy and like it or go elsewhere and take your stupid X-boxen with you.

The two questions to which I wasn't able to find answers while typing this are: what are the top ten US Computer System Retailers (# of units/year) and is Wal-Mart one of them?

Anyone know?

Has everyone seen this?

PS. To would be Walmart-Sympathizing-Moderators: I think most would agree the *type* of entity WalMart is COMPLETELY relevant to this discussion

Walmart and its misdeeds is a favourite topic of mine, and I believe most /. geeks (with conscience) will find shopping there morally reprehensible -- in-spite of its "support" of GNU/Linux here.

Also, ive got maxed karma, anyone modding me down will waste their points -- ill repost at 2 again. Just because you cannot compute morallity with regards to $$$ dosnt mean everyone else is incapable of complete analysis.

The nerd market is hardly worth targeting.

To be more particular, the GNU/Linux loving, computer game playing, male 15-35, politically aware /. reader, who would spend $300 to own a piece of irony?

Let me break it to you gently -- go down to the local Mall, or maybe WalMart -- THESE are the people MS wants to buy Xbox -- too stupid to know better...

Geeks(very loosly defined as a type or 'group') does not a target market make...

for those of you who dont know walmart..

Walmar Watch
Reclaim Democracy
..a bunch more links...

I dont shop @ Walmart. You shouldnt either.

Wal-Mart is one of the worst companies ever. Do not buy anything there.

They also don't sell backhoes.. The gas station does not sell bicycles. So what. If you want birth control, go to a drug store. The inventory choice might not be driven by any factor other than keeping a low profile so even church people will shop there. It might not be a political statement.

However, it is political. WalMart is overwhelmingly run by southern conservative christian white men, to the extent that they have been investigated repeatedly for racism in hiring and promotions (numerous lawsuits pending). WalMart is the nearest drugstore for something like 30-40% of Americans, and the only accessible drugstore for a sizeable fraction of that, because all the others have been driven out of business.

WalMart has been fined several times because executives made a policy of looking the other way in the face of sexual harrassment complaints. Also, of the roughly 34% of WalMart employees who have health insurance (most employees are classified as part-time, i.e. less than 39 hours a week, and thus would have to pay WalMart to be included in the health plan; very few WalMart workers can afford this, as a majority of them already qualify for food stampes and other public assistance), none are offered coverage for contraceptives in any form. WalMart has also been fined for lying to judges and destroying evidence related to victims of assaults that occur on its premises, because its executives don't want to get involved. The vast majority of such victims are women.

Taken together, one should start to suspect a pattern larger than not feeling like selling certain drugs. See this page for a useful selection of links on this and other issues.

Judging from their size and crazy profitability, I'd guess that no, there's likely someone else out there not boycotting WalMart. Too bad, really, because it is really a poster child for much of what is wrong with corporate America. I.e. make as much money as possible, with no regard for the costs to society, except when executives feel like using the vast power of a megacorporation to further their personal agendas.

Consider: WalMarts destroy local business via predatory pricing, aggressive marketing, and outright intimidation. Best estimate, for every two jobs created by a WalMart, three jobs in the larger community dissapear. These jobs are regularly worse than average, too: less than 35% of WalMart employees have health insurance, a majority the jobs WalMart creates in communities are part-time, with variable hours and no benefits or opportunity for promotion, and as a result, a significant fraction (a majority in some areas) of WalMart employees live below the poverty line. WalMart justifies these facts by claiming that it primarily creates retail jobs appropriate for working part-time after school or in conjunction with a "real" job. This, when it is single largest employer in many communities.

Nationwide, a majority of WalMart employees qualify for food stamps.

WalMart is also guilty of enforcing cultural homogeneity. Because it is such a large buyer, many publishers in a variety of media -- especially music and magazines -- have begun self-censorship out of fear that WalMart executives will yank a given product from their shelves. The article linked from this story discusses WalMart's increadible influence in the IT market; their influence in a dozen other industries is even larger. People yell about Nike and The Gap because they are brand-image based empires, but most of the output of Mexican, Pacific, and domestic sweatshops ends up on WalMart's shelves, and WalMart is big enough that they don't have to care if people hate them for this.

The WalMart model is a major contributor to urban sprawl and the degradation of community-oriented life. By destroying the local business base, and by locating stores on huge plots of land on the peripheries of towns and cities, it contributes to the flight to the suburbs, thereby increasing dependence on automobile transportation and the assorted problems that leads to.

Enough ranting for now, but maybe you understand why some people aren't too fond of this company. I can't possibly include a reasonably comprehensive set of links here, since people despite WalMart for so many reasons, but a really good links page can be found at Wal-Mart Watch.

Wal-Mart is perhaps worse to more people than Microsoft. You may not see it, since most of you live in a ksh shell. ( or you probably don't care, since your lives are ransacked with consumerism, Wal Mart has what you want, and you can't stop.)

Try here for more information.

• American labor laws
  
• Bunch of other notes
  
• Catholic-Labor Network
  
• Another article...
  
• A CNN article (there, proof from "mass media" good enough for you?
  
• Uh, just do a search on google... there's too much proof!