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Wal-Mart's Terrible Nintendo Wii Knock-Offs
MaryAlan writes "Wal-Mart is now selling an electronic LCD game in the kid's section that resembles a Wiimote so closely that even Wal-Mart employees can't tell them apart in a picture. But the games — made by ToyQuest out of L.A. — are complete and utter crap, to the point of being unplayable. Their only redeeming feature is that they look like the Nintendo Wii, which means Wal-Mart is relying on brand confusion to sell any of these things to unsuspecting customers. There is a gallery of photos online, so you can take a look at side-by-side pictures with a true Wiimote, down to the fake speaker on the front. "
Unless the promotional materials (such as the packaging of the toy) refer to it as a device for your Wii, how is selling this unethical? The photo gallery (not article, as there was none) only showed pictures of the toy out of the box. There was no mention of a deceptive box, only a statement that, "hey look, this toy is designed to look like a wiimote. And the toy sucks."
Is it also unethical to sell squirt guns on the basis that they are (or were, anyways) designed to look like guns, except instead of using gun powder to propel bullets, they shoot water? If you look at the box before you buy something, you can save yourself some embarrassment when you have to return it later.
Damn those cheap foreign knock-offs of quality American designs! Oh wait...
Who cares if some fool is so easily taken by this product. If someone could be so stupid to plunk down their hard-earned cash without understanding what they are paying for in the first place then they should suffer the consequnces. Promoting nannyism to prevent dumb behavior will solve nothing. Idiocy has to hurt or people will never stop being idiots.
Why bother.
I would imagine that most people who buy this don't honestly think this is a nintendo wii. They think it looks a lot like one, and for kids toys so often that's "enough". The logic is twisted, but if you're a parent who can barely afford the $15 for this toy and your child wants a wii, well, it's a delusion that gets bought into. You can't afford the real thing. You can afford a cheap knock off, and "it's kind of the same thing, right?"
No. It isn't. That doesn't really enter the equasion.
www.voiceofthehive.com - Beekeeping and Honeybees for those who don't.
Yea it gets you points to bash Walmart on Slashdot.
So why is everybody posting how bad Walmart is for selling this.
ToyQuest out of L.A is the manufacture. So where is the venom for them? Is this a Walmart exclusive? Has anyone checked to see if Sears, Target or those stupid little carts in the middle of every mall is selling them?
I am not a huge Walmart fan but this is so slanted that it is just silly.
Sorry folks it looks sort of like a Wiimote and costs all of $10. I don't think this is anymore of a ripe off than the toy cellphones that look like a Razer.
Good grief.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
Far more likely than your utter slam of everyone else in the US (which tells us nothing more than that you think you're better than everyone else) is what the GP said - they're relying on brand confusion and poverty to sell something that looks like a Wii to people who can't afford the real thing and whose kids want a game system. Have you ever been that kid? Ever wondered why Christmas was a big deal in everyone else's house but not yours?
I have, and looking back with a kid of my own, I feel worse for my parents for picking up the knockoff than for myself for getting it. I can't imagine how they felt when they realized it wasn't worth fifty cents and broke the first time I used it. Blame Walmart for targeting desperate parents who want to do something really good for their kids but end up getting cheap crap instead of what they thought they were getting. We can't all be as wonderfully gifted as you, and an eighty hour workweek at a demanding physical job can wreak havoc on a mom who's out doing her last minute shopping.
Think of self-important, critical dickheads like you and realize that while your witty repartee might amuse you for a moment, it doesn't do a goddamn thing to help. Realize that if everyone you meet is "retarded," it may not be them. It may be you.
"Those who believe in telekinetics, raise my hand" - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Union made products cost more because their workers are treated better and are given benefits that places like wal-mart and target avoid. The price difference between Fred Meyer and a Super Wal-mart aren't worth the actual costs to the workers.
Even though there's no Walmart around here (for about 10,000k or so), there are certainly stores that sell crap.
What should annoy everyone is that valuable raw materials are being used to make this crap (often unusable) that shouldn't be made in the first place.
Simple example: I can buy a chinese dustpan on a stick and brush for $2.00. It can't be used though as the pan's edge has been warped during manufacture and it would be pointless trying to use it. There's about 10 of them, lined up, ready for sale.
In other words, some factory in China is pumping out this useless product, some importer/wholesaler is paying for the transport and a distributor sends them out and consumers are supposed to buy it (I don't think the store sold any).
That translates into throwing away oil.
What is needed in situations like this is some kind of authority with enough clout to stop or even prevent material wastage on products that just can't be used.
There should be a form of quality control in the design and manufacture that is definitely missing in certain parts of the world.
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
Keep that in mind next time you go to the pharmacist. Or have your brake lines replaced. Or buy meat.
After all, I am strangely colored.
Except that isn't actually true. It really depends on more than just unionization. Companies like Costco which pay workers far more than Sam's club don't necessarily end up paying more for workers than those that lowball the wages. I believe that after 5 years on the cash register, an employee at costco is making like 40k a year, while at Sam's club its closer to 15k(or whatever it is that minimum wage comes out to).
What people forget about is that training, lack of company pride and absenteeism are very much a cost of doing business. Shafting an employee by paying minimum wage and no benefits at all, isn't something that is forgotten. Employers that do that kind of thing, especially if they employ people for long terms, can pretty much count on the employees not caring about doing a good job and not being particularly interested in showing up.
By contrast companies that take better care of their employees frequently have reduced turn over and increased productivity which can in many cases more than compensate for a higher rate of pay.
In Walmart's case, the suits that run it are just cheap bastards with little interest in sound business principles. And yes, I do know what I'm saying on this. Walmart's profits were always based upon being able to undercut the competition through and economy of scale, with that disappearing and the rivals largely caught up the regressive employment policies are going to put them in a world of hurt. Not to even mention the municipalities that want to stop subsidizing their benefits or the fact that they are selling products that are less and less difficult to find at affordable prices elsewhere.
As a result of the generally bad attitude that the execs have towards their employees, the employee cost per square foot of retail space is much higher than it is for costco.
buying from a union shop makes it just about impossible for you to be supporting illegal immigrants working in this country for illegally low wages without paying taxes
If buying from a union shop was a guarantee that you weren't supporting illegal labor, I'd be a lot more inclined to buy union. But it isn't, and in fact quite a few of the unions are involved in legalization schemes because they think all the illegal workers will increase their political clout, if they can get them unionized.
In effect, the union organizations are selling out their rank-and-file (who are the ones who really get hit by the wage depression as a result of all the illegal workers) in order to bring in lots of new members and make themselves more powerful. I've seen this to most obvious effect in the unions that have gotten involved in the service industries, but it's pretty widespread if you look for it. Very few of the unions seemed to be putting up much of a fight when push came to shove earlier this year on the immigration issue.
At least the corporations generally are upfront about screwing you; the union leaders seem to enjoy pretending that they're on the side of legitimate workers while doing the same thing.
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
Obey the law? It's a sad commentary on corporate culture that that should have to be specified in a mission statement.
Technically, murder-suicide does not violate the golden rule.
1.they pay above minimum wage - sure it's not huge but what do you expect to be paid for stacking boxes?
A living wage you stupid arrogant fuck. The fact that you and I were privileged with a higher education, or the fact that we were born smarter doesn't mean that the mere peasants should all live in poverty.
I have a good job programming computers. That doesn't mean I have any place disrespecting someone else's work. If there is a job that needs to get done, someone deserves to be paid a living wage to do it. If a company cant afford to pay a living wage to do it, it shouldn't get done. Belonging to a society which marginalizes and preys upon it's uneducated and stupid, is disgraceful. And that is exactly what you are doing with "what do you expect to be paid for {insert job here}".
I expect someone to be paid a living wage. A wage that will let them:
1. Pay for housing
2. Buy food
3. Get healthcare
4. Get heat
5. Support a child
6. Have enough time to spend with that child
$20k/year doesn't even buy rent and health insurance. For one person. Let alone someone trying to support a family.
Anyone who treats other people, who talks about other people who are doing useful work, that is necessary, like they are somehow not worthy of those simple things is either not thinking about what they are saying, or to me, mostly a vile person.
I expect a living wage. So should you. Shame on you or anyone modding you up with your hateful rhetoric.