They might be able to show some polls but does anyone REALLY think those kinds of replies are remotely accurate? Just what kind of answer do you expect the majority of people in the U.S. to say about Wal-Mart? "I'm good. Far as I'm concerned we can shop another few years!". Americans probably say they are "tired of Wal-Mart" 30 minutes after the first Black Friday sales are open.
Walmart is a big time-saver. Your local grocery store might not have all the brands/items you need, but a Walmart pretty much has everything.
I'm sick of Walmart from more than just a consumer standpoint. I've had multiple people I know work there and they don't treat their employees right. The only positive stories were either A.) Getting out an never looking back or B.) Finding a loophole in their fucky system and suing the shit out of them. I'm about as tired of Goodwill as I am Walmart as well. ALMOST.
I try to avoid them and when I am in San Diego I pretty much do avoid them but out here in the ass crack of America there aren't many other places to shop. They don't even have a target much less a Trader Joe's or a Whole Paycheck. Even the small retail chains I like to shop at in SD don't exist here so I guess I should be thankful there is even a Walmart. I have to drive 20 miles just to find an In 'N Out.
I think I was in a Walmart in central Ohio once. It was across the highway from the hotel and the only thing besides a service station for miles.
We all know it's the sleaze of the sleaze at the top of that chain. That's why it's such a successful business. It's businesses like that which really give America it's name and that's really disappointing to me. But hey, that's how the world works, I guess. Right?
Just remember: every dollar you spend there increases the amount of money your government must tax and spend to keep Walmart's worker's alive and modestly productive. Walmart is, by any libertarian definition, a despicable leech of an organization that can only exist by stealing your tax dollars.
The latest info I was able to quickly find shows that Costco pays its full-time U.S. workers approx. $17 per hour whereas Wal-Mart pays approx. $10 per hour. In addition, over 80% of Costco workers have company-paid health insurance whereas less than half of Wal-Mart employees have coverage. This information is several years out of date but it probably still holds largely true. Funny how Costco still seems to turn a profit, has relatively low prices and better customer service. (Yes I'm aware you have to pay a membership fee for Costco but it's nominal at best.)
Summer of 2012 we were caravanning with friends down to Mt. Adams when I realized I only had hollowpoints. Considering that will just piss off a bear, I needed to grab some .45 ball. We were in Auburn (WA) and Wal-Mart was on the route and since we were with a group, I bit the bullet and ran in. It'd been about 5 years since I was in a Wal-Mart. I didn't think it possible but it was worse than I remembered. Empty shelves and discarded merchandise just lying on the floor. Also, in the South there aren't really options aside from Wal-Mart, so you get a decent demographic mix. Out here no one shops there that doesn't have to so.
Not with the way they pay their employees it doesn't. I try to stick with local thrift shops. All businesses have their downfalls but Goodwills is straight up the biggest "fuck you" to the mentally challenged community I have ever seen. Another classic lesson of "if it's too good to be true, then it probably is."
Wal-mart has repeatedly demonstrated that they don't give anything even remotely resembling a fuck. In most areas they have zero competition, and have become the Comcast of grocery and retail outlets. They don't give the slightest bit of a fuck if I shop there or not. Meijer's attitude would probably be best described as "we kind of give a little bit of a fuck, we guess. We don't really need your business, Kommander, but we do appreciate it, a little." They have pretty much the same stuff, at pretty much the same prices, so I'd rather shop there.
I only go into Wal Mart when I'm in the USA to people watch. That's the real America. Ass cracks, huge bellies and Spanish.
Walmart did finally announce that, next year, they would start making their minimum wage $10 but only because their worker turn over rate is the highest in the industry, towns refuse to zone for their stores because voters dislike their bottom feeding tactics, and because other retailers are paying their part time workers higher than Walmart pays their full time workers.
Why would a libertarian accept that the government must tax one person to keep another in some particular standard of living? You can't make a libertarian argument predicated on a non-libertarian premise. However, if you present me with a law that ends the welfare state for able-bodied people of working age in exchange for a higher minimum wage, I will certainly consider it. If someone wants to find a higher wage/better job than Wal*Mart, they are welcome to try. If they are employed at Wal*Mart, they have agreed to Wal*Mart's price for their labor. If that is inadequate to any particular lifestyle they desire, the onus is on the employee to find a better deal.
What if the employer has captured the market? Walmart enjoys a local monopoly in some communities, or at least has a large enough share of the labor market to dictate pricing. Under that circumstance, if the employer sets a wage that is inadequate to cover the cost of living, should the employee instead opt for no wage?
That is something libertarians have never had an answer for other than starving people should some how come up with the capital to open their own business. Something which is entirely unrealistic in such cases.
Who said open their own business? And just who exactly is "starving?" If there are 100 jobs in a town and 120 workers to fill them, 20 people need to change something. A job isn't some birthright. If you want one, you may have to, y'know, GO LOOK FOR ONE.
http://money.cnn.com/2015/03/05/inv...etailer/index.html?sr=cnnmoneybincostco030515 Costco was named America's best retailer.
But that's not the scenario I presented, so why answer a different question? Seems Dinner might be right.
DUDE! Hollow points on a bear? Even on a black bear, that's insane. Ball was the right choice. But even then, a .45 against a bear will make you "rethink" your strategy. I have been face-to-face with a normal sized black bear with a .357 and the very first thought that entered my young head was "holy shit. This gun is just not enough." Luckily I never had to shoot. Any handgun against any bear seems weak. Maybe that's a good thing.