Boycott Wal-Mart (long, and hand written)
 

Here’s my long rambling story on why nobody should ever go to a Wal-Mart again. I’ve done a search, and we haven’t had a good Wal-Mart thread (apparently) If your gonna take the time to read this, go ahead and read the whole thing. Excuse the spelling of some things, and some grammar. Don’t nitpick me over the little stuff, it gets my point across just fine imho.


I'm 16, and live in Eau Claire. We're the last "big city" before you head up north... Nothing unordinary goes on here, just the average car crashes, fish boils, weddings, and whatnot. In my part of the city, north side, there’s a few stores that have been around, for ever. The people know what they’re talking about, and know exactly where it is...

Go to a NAPA, chat with a guy about your plans for your car/truck, and get your parts. They'll help you with your project, and can armchair engineer with you, and troubleshoot projects. They know their ****, and have a great machine shop if your modifying an engine, rebuilding, or whatnot... Helpful, and knowledgeable.

Go to a hardware store, say hardware Hank... There’s 2 aisles of nuts/bolts/nail, brackets, and other little stuff that you don’t think twice about unless you need it. They got a guy who knows everything about small engines, from lawn mowers to go carts. He’s done it, and has the time to sit and help you with it. Good stuff, who hasn’t ever wanted to build something cool? They’ve also got staff that know obscure facts, and parts. "if you don’t got a tubing bender, here’s a need little trick that works in a pinch"
Great stuff

Go to the bike shop, like "anybody’s bike shop" They’ll help you. They can get parts, and have a "junkyard" of old bikes that you can dig through. They let "kids" dig in it for free, to scavenge parts. Most of the time, the responsible ones pay for their stuff... The adults always do. They know what kind of a bike something is. They can tell you the difference between a cheap POS, and a great deal. Know their ****, and know it, because they’ve done it before.

Next stop Wal-Mart. You go in, and get welcomed. The guy looks like he’s sobering up, and has various holes in his ears. Ok, I'll get over that. I go there, and they got lots of low prices, and great deals. Country of origin on 90% of the stuff? China. It will break, its not quality, just cheap.
Need help? Yeah they’ll try to help you find parts, but they don’t know a damn thing, other then what they’re told by from their supervisors.
The stores huge, and if you need something obscure, they’ll keep searching for a grand total of 5 min, they say "we must not have it"
They’ve got a following like no other, because "the deals are SO good"...

At what cost? The hardware store by me, that I've gone to since I could ride a bike, is closing shop. The guys name is Rodger, and I got to talking about it with him. The thing isn’t that he cant compete... Want a hammer? $20 at HWH, <$10 at Wally world. Sure the head might explode, shall you strike metal with it, but that’s not the point... or is it?

The napes having a hard time selling oil, filters, and general maintance items because they’re cheaper at Wal-Mart. O yeah, they still get the specialty orders, but they’re loosing out on the low profit high volume items... The bread and butter of any parts place.

The bike shop? Less then 3 people in it whenever I’m there... They've gotta charge everybody for using the junkyard. They've got 3+ year old bikes on the racks, still new. Used to have fairly good turnover. Cant sell $4 tubes that you can get for $2 at Wally world


Why I hate Wal-Mart...

Its killing the small stores. Good guys who actually know their **** are being replaced by cleaned up snot nosed punks, who don’t know a damn thing. Sure, they might have something, but is it a just for Wal-Mart POS, or do they even know where it is?
Sure, it might be OK for now, but will it stay that way with Wal-Mart?
Google rubbermaid+walmart... 1000+ USA jobs gone, along with their quality. I'm sure there is a bunch of other sad stories.
Nestle, in my own town, which makes baby food, is being bullied into cost cutting their products (BABY FOOD). Less of a few ingredients, and lets not toss out that load of carrots that smells kinda funny. Save a few cents wholesale... At what cost? I mean, for Christ’s sake, that’s BABY FOOD. I cant imagine all of the other stories like this that are undoubtly happening behind closed doors.

But it’s cheaper, right?

Your turn
~Nate

I avoid places like Walmart....becasue the fat cats there think you and me Joe Taxpayer should be supporting the people they pay slave wages to, and go out of their way to avoid paying meaningful benifits to, while they line their own pockets with company paid Mercedes and BMW's and get exorbinate benifits themselves.

F*#K walmart!!
 

i hate that place.

Wal-Mart is no different than any of the "big box" retailers. Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Staples, etc.

All of them have put the "mom and pop" store out of business because of their buying power and the capability to price the items for less.

I'm not sure if you are aware of it, but this is the very definition of capitalism.

The successful and more efficient business prevails over the smaller less efficient business.

Now, if you don't wish to shop at the "big box" stores and use the smaller retailers for all the valid reasons mentioned, you have the perfect right to do this. If more folks felt like you do, then Wal-Mart and ilk would be driven out of business. But, clearly, they don't, because Wal-Mart and Home Depot thrive while every single plumbing and electrical supply house within 6 miles of the store has gone bust.

It's unfortunate, for sure, but the customers have spoken.

Would you prefer to regulate Wal-Mart and Home-Depot and require them to charge more money......or prevent them from doing business in your town?

........smacks of socialism to me.

I'm shocked...
 

Walmart is just good old American capitalism (globilization). In the future, we will be known by our employer's name suffixed onto our given name. Such as BHD Exon-Mobil. Kinda has a ring to it doesn't it?

Nope.......got it wrong.......it will be BHD-MCI.:D :D

All the buggy whip manufacturers complained when the automobile put them out of business.
Nate, it is sad, but it is the way it has always been.
The solution---you choose to not shop there. Other people make their own choices. The only problem I have is when you try to force your choice on me.
Your business is your business and my business is mine.

More people shop at Walmart because their reduced paychecks force them to. Their paychecks shrank because the good jobs they used to have were sent overseas. Their jobs were sent overseas because big retailers like Walmart strictly eyeball the bottom line. It's pure unbridled capitalism. But I think there are 2 kinds of capitalism: one that builds, and one that tears down. This is the latter.

Yeah, that speaks volumes

I think minimum mark up's setup in different industrys, so mabey if that works in thoose industrys (which I dont really know), it could work here?


Shrinking paychecks forcing people to go to walmart isnt right if walmart shrunk the paycheck... Monopoly?


Stores within 6 miles of walmart are all screwed, and its their goal to have one every friggin mile...



~Nate

Not sure about monopoly, but they are big enough to control the supply and demand sides of their business more than anyone else I know.

Yeah, and?
my local farm&fleet has some at $5 a quart, and I think the hardware store has a few old quarts at 6ish each

~Nate

There will come a day in this country when we no longer will the leaders in anything and we will be at the mercy of our foreign suppliers. We are at a crucial point in time now. I'm a student of history and I truly believe that if the direction of this country doesn't change REAL soon, we are going to end up like the Roman Empire. They also tried to rule the world and thought they were invincible.:eek:

Agreed. Unless we merge with or invade Canada and Latin America. Thats where the manufacturing bases are now.

I ALWAYS side with the little guy or the oppressed:D

........even if it costs you significantly more tax dollars??

........remember.........nothing is for free.......