Why I'm boycotting Wal-Mart

I'm boycotting Wal-Mart. Here's why:

Preven is a new oral contraceptive that has been approved by the FDA. It is a "morning after pill", meaning it will prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours after sex (although it is most effective if taken within the first 12 hours.)

Unlike RU-486 (the "abotion pill"), Preven does not enduce an abortion. Instead, it prevents the cell from ever attaching to the uterine wall. Most medical sources agree that a pregnancy begins when a zygote attaches to the uterine wall. Even the big right-to-life lobbying groups in Washigton define life this way.

However, lots of Christian groups don't understand how Preven works, and have been opposing Preven in any way they can. Due to this pressure, Wal-Mart has decided to not stock Preven in any of its pharmacies. This is the first time Wal-Mart has ever singled out a drug this way.

In many rural communities, there are few pharmacies available. Wal-Mart, however, is just about everywhere. If Wal-Mart were to sell Preven, many women could get access during the narrow window of time when the drug is effective. Women who do not get this pill on time will be much more likely to have unwanted pregnancies or unnecessary abortions later.

I feel Wal-Mart has made a bad decision. It will deny women's access to birth control, and it will increase the number of abortions. Because of this, I am boycotting Wal-Mart until the decision is reversed, and I urge any of you who feel the same to also shop elsewhere.

Thanks for listening,
Your Quadell

Have you/are you letting Wal-Mart know that you are boycotting them?

Otherwise, it would seem to not have much effect.

Jeffery

I agree with StrTrkr. You should write a letter to the Wal-Mart Corporation, telling them exactly why you will no longer be shopping in their stores. I don't know how much it will help, but it's a start.

Shadowfox

However, lots of Christian groups don't understand how Preven works, and have been opposing Preven in any way they can.

Not to start any kind of debate, flame war, etc., I just want to point out that a lot of groups do understand how it works, but they believe life begins the moment sperm meets egg.

(I don't share that point of view but I probably still won't boycott Wal-Mart because they're cheap and I'm broke :( )

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"I hope life isn't a big joke, because I don't get it," Jack Handy

I agree with Str Trkr (hmmm, star treker what an intresting name :) )

You have to let Wal-mart know
1)That you are boycotting them ( otherwise they will just think "hey I wonder where that strange quadell is") and
2) Why you're boycotting them so they can change it.

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no matter where you go...there you are

quote:
In many rural communities, there are few pharmacies available. Wal-Mart, however, is just about everywhere.
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The above is one reason I will not go to Wal-Mart. Fortunatly, I live in Los Angeles, where there are no Wal-Marts except in a few far flung suburbs. They know they can't compete in the city, so they purposely target rural communities and put the Mom and Pop places out of business. And then they impose their will on those communities.

I'm also disgusted with the censorship of music that goes on there. If the record companies had any balls, they would refuse to edit the music and sell by mail order in communities that can't buy CD's anywhere but Wal-Mart. I bought a 2CD live Metallica set at a used record store that turned out to be the Wal-Mart version. It is unlistenable. Instead of just deleting the offending words, they insert these annoying beeps. I can't believe the artists allow this to go on.

Yeah, I've done that.

E-mail can be sent to letters@wal-mart.com
Snail mail to David D. Glass, President, Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bentonville, AR 72716.

Your Quadell

P.S. I bet before he even gets the letter, Dave Glass is scratching his head, thinking "I wonder where my Quadell's been lately... we've been keeping all his favorite items in stock..."

;)

Quadell --
I feel yore pain. Wal-Mart sucks and I hate shopping there. Poor selection, poor service, predatory tactics, moralistic product censoring -- you just gotta love 'em.

What makes it worse is exactly what you cite -- in most rural communities, they're the only game in town. You go there or you go without. And if its after 5pm or on a weekend, Wally world's about the only thing OPEN in town.

To give you an idea of how pervasive this phenomenon is -- how completely the Son of Sam has penetrated the rural market, I'll bet I live less than 30 miles from Quadell. Yet, Wal-Mart has effectively isolated me in a one store town. If I don't want to drive 30 minutes to the city, I'm stuck with Sam's Choice.

I wish I could boycott Wal-Mart.

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President of the Vernon Dent fan club.

It's called free enterprise folks. You guys are jaded. God bless Wal-Mart. Don't like it, shop elsewhere. Boycott? Do those things ever REALLY work?

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Contestant #3

C3, boycotts usually do not work. However, they are effective in that the participants know they are not personally supporting the target's offensive behavior. Quadell may not change Wal-Mart, but he can be confident that his money isn't going to support a policy he finds abhorrent.

Also, I find it ironic to call what Wal-Mart does "free enterprise". Wal-Mart does business according to the 800 pound gorilla rule. They're very sucessful, and similar to Microsoft in that regard.

I'll be the first to admit that Wal-Mart is a very efficient marketing mechanism. Anyone who has followed their stock price can tell you their tactics have been very profitable. They also bring discount store shopping to many tiny markets which otherwise wouldn't have it.

I'm a believer in the invisible hand. People do vote with their feet. If Wal-Mart wasn't doing something right, they wouldn't be so ubiquitous. However, we had to give something up to get a Super Wal-Mart in every podunk town. Local, independant variety stores are virtually extinct.

Economically, it's probably better this way. But culturally and spiritually, I think we're losing something we can't replace -- a sense of local identity. I bothers me that the US (and the world, for that matter) is becoming one big homeogenous landscape of McDonalds, Wal-Marts and Gap stores.



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President of the Vernon Dent fan club.

Don't like it, shop elsewhere.Would if I could. Read my first post.

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President of the Vernon Dent fan club.

Is this thread enough of an outlet for your Walmart boycott?

I shop at Target often. But when they don't have ice cube trays and there's nobody to ask where the heck they are, I go to Walmart. So I just reduce my Walmart shopping to half of what it used to be. I have forgotten what exactly gave me the anti Walmart attitude. Let's face it, you can't avoid buying products that may be produced in third world countries under poor working conditions. We don't make much clothing in America.

That's me, half way measures.

The reason *I* choose not to shop at Wal-Mart is, (besides for the fact that Wal-Mart is tacky) because someone I know was kicked out of the store for their appearance, i.e., because they were carrying a biker helmet.
Bear in mind that this guy is a Harvard graduate and stuff, though Wal-Mart would have no way of knowing that...

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Love,
Pippy

And now, for something completely different.

I've boycotted WalMart for about 10 years now because of the way they have consistently killed the downtown areas of small town after small town across the land and run countless merchants out of business. They are evil.
Of course, the members of the Walton family consistently make up several of America's very richest people. My passing on buying a few lightbulbs or whatever; really, they couldn't possibly care less. But at least I can say with a haughty sniff that I wouldn't be caught dead in there.

I hate to defend Wal-Mart, my company's largest competitor, but I must respond.

Wal-Mart builds a store in a rural community. People choose to shop there because it's cheaper, better selection, whatever. In other words, Wal-Mart provides them what they want. Small town business folds. People now say "That damn Wal-Mart is running our downtown out of business!"
Note to local small businesses - if you want to stay, compete! Provide people what they want. Note to community - if you want your downtown small businesses, shop there! Stop going to Wal-Mart.

Pippy - do you think Wal-Mart is the first store to kick someone out for appearance?

On the music issue, I would hardly call it censorship for them to refuse to carry certain CD's. Should they be required to? Why not XXX videos, then? If some recording companies caved and provided "cleaner" versions of their works to Wal-Mart, your complaint should be with them for their lack of balls.

Quadell, I'm not familiar with the Preven issue, I'll have to look into it.

As far as small businesses competing - unfortunately Wal-Mart has the buying power to price their stuff much lower than local businesses can possibly hope to compete against. And if the locals can compete, Wal-Mart can underprice everything & absorb the loss.

Guys, you're confusing public vs private censorship. The first amendment only forbids censorship by the government; private parties are still free to censor if they choose. Any business is free to refuse to stock any product it doesn't want to sell. The proper behavior, as you've all discerned, is to shop elsewhere.

If Wal-Mart offends you with its tackiness (as it does me), shop at Target ! Much less aw-shucks tackiness, a good selection of semi-designer items, and still low prices.

I remember during a visit to Maui a few years ago; some locals told me they were ver happy that KMart was finally coming there. When I asked them why, the response was that the local merchants were just too damn expensive, and KMart would bring some much needed competition.

Wal-Mart has the right to sell, or refuse to sell, any legal product they want. Legally, they don't have to sell Preven, or Nirvana albums, or whatever. But there are consequences.

I vote with my feet. If enough people disapproved, and stopped going there because of it, they'd change their ways.

By the way, the bad publicity of a boycott may often be more effective than the boycott itself. I'd like to know how to raise a more effective stink. Either way, even if it's completely ineffective, I won't shop there. I don't need the stuff they sell that badly.

Your Qaudell

Well here is the "Official Wal-Mart Sucks Page"

www.walmartsucks.com <-----Great pic on main page.

It may not be what you have in mind, but the "42 Things To Do" is pretty funny.

If you go to Alta Vista and enter "Walmart" in the search, the list of related searches has a catagory for Wal-Mart Sucks. Maybe one can help out. "Strength In Unity!"

Well, apparently boycotts, and other forms of peaceful protest, do work or else Walmart wouldn't have caved to the Christian Coalition on Preven and whatever else it has refused to carry because of the threat of a boycott.

In my town, it's becoming a battle of the big corporate chains now. Walmart vs Biggs vs Meijers. Now, I've actually gotten to the point where I'll sometimes shop at Walmart to protest Meijer's because I think Meijer's is even worse than Walmart. Biggs is owned by a European company and often has protesters in from of it with signs promoting American-owned stores.

I also think that selling things at cost or below to attract people does put the mom-and-pop stores at an automatic disadvantage.

I bought a 2CD live Metallica set at a used record store...It is unlistenable.

Yeah. That's the general reaction to Metallica's "music" (censored or not)! <eg>



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StoryTyler
The fun starts here!

I am getting so sick and tired of hearing that the corporations that are destroying the country are what's good about the country! If the Japanese sell us silicon ships at below cost, we call this an unfair trade practice and impose sanctions. If Wal-Mart comes into your town and engages in the same practice we call it free enterprise.

There is no Invisible Hand. Capitalism only works when the public sector is ready and willing to oppose its excesses. At the turn of the century the government began to step in to prevent capitalists from creating monopolies that take away market forces. In the middle of the century labor unions forced capitalists to treat workers like human beings rather than slaves. The stability of our democracy is due to a metastable equilibrium maintained between market forces and government regulation.

Now we're at the end of the century an monopolies surround us. Not true? Look at the above posts -- Frank and RTA have effectively no choices as consumers.

What can we do within the parameters of our political system? We can't regulate corporate stores out of an area and we can't require people to shop at Mom'n'Pops. We can make it tougher for Corporations like Wal-Mart to negotiate favorable deals with the government. We can decide, as a society that the constitution applies to individuals, not corporations -- they do not have free speech rights and cannot contribute to political parties or campaigns. We can ban corporate lobbying in Washington. And we can boycott.

Frank and RTA and Gr8kat, just because you can't actually boycott WM doesn't mean you can't write 'em a letter telling them that you are. And send a copy to the newspaper. They do respond to some outside pressure, otherwise the Christian groups wouldn't have been able to get Preven banned.

Hell, it may be ultimately worse, but if Wal-Mart's your only choice buy your books and music at amazon.com. At least currently they are not banning artists.

Jrepka, did you just come from the Pit? If you want to argue about the Invisible Hand, go to the Great Debates, and I'll discuss it more with you there if you like. I believe the Invisible Hand works, and I'm being a part of it.

I'm just taking a moral stand against a specific company. I'm not setting myself up as the enemy of free enterprise.

Your Quadell

Although it is possible that Wal-Mart is refusing to stock Previn because of Mr. Walton's personal beliefs, it seems more likely that, as Quadrell said in initial post, it is due to the activism of Christian groups...threatening to boycott, I presume.

Given that boycotting works in one direction, boycotting from the other direction may at least neutralize them.

(I wrote my letter, btw; thanks for the email address)



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Designated Optional Signature at Bottom of Post

Anbody ever thought about the fact that many (not all!) of these little stores are run by merchants who aren't exactly the greatest of citizens. In the deep south, the small town merchants were often leaders in fighting integration. Check out who was behind the opening of segregation academies. Just like many of the big farmers, the small town merchants paid for their big houses and sending their kids to private schools and Ole Miss off the back of poor working people who could barely eke out a living. Those merchants made a good profit off people and they usually had credit customers they charged very high rates to. I'm not a radical but the more I read about how things operated in the past, the more disgust I feel for the so-called upright, decent citizens who participated fully in exploitation of people for their own excessive profits. So when Wal-mart comes in & these stores get closed I don't feel sorry for them at all. Now everybody has access to low cost goods and they have jobs available which may not be the best paying jobs--but they're better than what was available from the local merchants--and if fulltime, the jobs have benefits.

I agree with smilingjaws. If the superstores provide a better selection at lower prices, well YEAH I'm going to shop there. I don't agree with them censoring music, but just because I buy my Formula 409 at Walmart doesn't mean I have to buy my CD's there.

Have any of you ever lived in a town where there weren't a lot of chain stores? Try it, and right away you'll learn why they're successful. As I've mentioned before, I grew up in a small town, and my family still lives there. When they go out of town for a vacation, they head to Media Play, Home Depot, etc. because the stores in the town they live in just don't stock the selection they can get at the "big" stores. And if they do, they pay much more for it.

The town I live in now has a very quaint bookstore that's been here for years. There's also a Barnes and Noble. I read a lot, and I probably spend anywhere from $50-$200/month on books. I've given up going to the "quaint" bookstore because most of the times I go there looking for a particular book, they don't have it. And if they do, they charge more than Barnes and Noble. My favorite place to buy books is Amazon, because they ALWAYS have it, and it's ALWAYS cheaper, even with shipping and handling. 'course, there's always those crisis times where you need the book today, so I run to Barnes and Noble.

Superstores are not the evil giants that they seem. If they were that evil, they wouldn't be so successful.

O.K. I know this has nothing to do with the whole boycott Walmart thing but, Preven is not the only way to do the emergency contraception thing.
It can be done with regular birth control pills also. The exact same way Preven is used, within 72 hours. If that is your only reason to boycott, it's not necessary. Just because it doesn't carry one brand of emergency contraception, doesn't mean the exact same results can't be obtained from the Walmart pharmacy.
The difference is taking several birth control pills (any brand) as opposed to just one Preven.
My $0.02

Of course Wal-Mart sucks, but what are you gonna do? It's the best place to buy groceries, bar none. Cheap and convenient. As for running people out of business, that's capitalism. Wal-MArt doens't give a hoot if we boycott - try as we might, it won't put a dent in their bottom line.

What the hell, I'll add my 2¢

As someone said before, it is nearly impossible for smaller stores to compete in price with WalMart. When a chain store buys in that sort of volume, they can easily get a bottle of dishwashing soap for 32¢ that Bob's Dry Goods has to pay 55¢ for. Furthermore, WalMart has such buying power that they simply set their own price for buying goods. "We're willing to buy your dish soap for 32¢ a bottle, take it or leave it. If you don't want to sell it to us at 32¢ that's fine, we just won't stock it and see how much you sell at that smaller store we're running out of business." I say nearly impossible because in some areas, independants have have taken to forming co-ops in order to get volume discounts. Needless to say though, this takes a concerted effort by the entire community of retailers in a town.

On a slightly related note: at a recent seminar for landscape centers, the speaker said one of the first questions he asks people who want to start a store is "Do you have a WalMart or other large chain store in the area?" If the answer is no, then ironically he tells them not to bother. If the area doesn't have the economic strength that attracts the big guns, then your little store doesn't have a chance.

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"I guess it is possible for one person to make a difference, although most of the time they probably shouldn't."

Yep, Monty's right. Just wanted to second the motion.

Your Quadell

Wal-Mart is the end result of capitalism. The system is based on competition, and Wal-Mart has competed with everyone and won. They can't be matched. They're the Michael Jordan of retail.

For this reason, I think they should have to retire. The government should just declare them the winner and put them in the Hall of Fame. Then we start over.

Same goes for Microsoft, by the way.

Dr. J

PS: Isn't it illegal--or at least a violation of antitrust laws--to sell items below cost to attract people and drive down the competition? Isn't there a name for this practice?

It's called dumping, I think. And yes, I believe it is illegal. IMO, if Wal*Mart can offer better price and selection, then the small stores need to offer something that Wal*Mart can't. Perhaps better service due to a lower customer to employee ratio. Maybe they can offer a closer store to people's houses. I know that when I'm looking for something technical I always go to Radio Shack b/c even if they can't beat Wal*Mart's price I can talk to a saleperson, who knows about all the stuff they sell, for as long as it takes to figure out what I need. Also in the morning when I need OJ or milk I ride down to the corner store instead of going 15 minutes to the cheaper supermarket. I think that if a store cannot stand the competition from Wal*Mart than they were obviously lacking something they should have had and I don't feel very sorry that they went under.

Here's why I hate Wal-Mart:
They have this huge store--hundreds of square feet..but it still seems they need even more room. Every item of merchandise is crammed in there. The things on the shelves are all out of order --what do the employees do?
Plus the 2 in my town have filthy bathrooms.

And I hate the way they censor music, too.

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Gail
"Any major dude with half a heart surely will tell you, my friend--
Any minor world that breaks apart falls together again...."
-Steely Dan

The word we used in the music industry was "lowballing"

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Never regret what seemed like a good idea at the time.

Topolino says:
In my town, it's becoming a battle of the big corporate chains now. Walmart vs Biggs vs Meijers. Now, I've actually gotten to the point where I'll sometimes shop at Walmart to protest Meijer's because I think Meijer's is even worse than Walmart.
Topo, sorry you don't like Meijer's. Actually, they aren't even close to the size, corporately, of Wal-Mart. They are based out of Grand Rapids, MI and only have stores in Michigan and some in Indiana, Ohio, and I think your store in Louisville is the only one in Kentucky. Having lived away from Meijer's for 3-1/2 years and being forced to go to Super WalMart for the same effect, I'm more than happy to go back to Meijer's. I really do not like Wal-Mart, though I couldn't tell you exactly why. Bad memories? OTOH, I've had a lot of friends who've worked for Meijer's and HATED it. Can you say "slave labor"? Anyway, happy shopping. :)

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...it has never been my way to bother much about things which you can't cure.
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court-Mark Twain

If you folks really want to do something about the evils of Wal-Mart, here is a suggestion. In a rural Northeast Texas town, the members and leaders of the community got togeather and collectively decided to write the exec's at Wal-Mart and tell them basically, "Don't come to our town. We don't want you. We would like to preserve our Main Street and its 'small town' atmosphere and economics. If your looking to build in our area, don't look here." You'll never guess what...there is no Wal-Mart in that community or surrounding area. And the community itself is Very alive and well.
Now what to do when Wal-mart has already landed and you want to get rid of it...Something about Raid Bug Spray comes to mind. Maybe, Maybe not.

Nope, Bunnygirl, there is now a Meijer in Lexington, KY. It's been around for less than a year. I don't like it because it's way out on the edge of town, and because their prices aren't really that good when stuff isn't on sale. But if I'm out that way anyway, it's not so bad.

Top and DoctorJ, they've spread more than I'd thought! I wouldn't doubt they have a strong right-wing influence (eventhough I guess I've never heard anything around here about it); Grand Rapids is an extremely conservative Dutch Reformed city. Amway is headquartered in the same town if that says anything. Nice city, though.

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...it has never been my way to bother much about things which you can't cure.
- A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court-Mark Twain

Actually, they aren't even close to the size, corporately, of Wal-Mart. They are based out of Grand Rapids, MI and only have stores in Michigan and some in Indiana, Ohio, and I think your store in Louisville is the only one in Kentucky.

There are several of them in Louisville and I guess one in Lexington now. They're spreading :). Actually, tho, I was referring to their politics. I believe they're even more right-wing and swayed by the Christian Coalition than Wal-Mart is. That's what I've heard anyway-both from ex-employees of Meijer and elsewhere.

[matt_mcl]

There is a great big-butt Walmart in Baie d'Urfé, in the West Island suburban area of Montreal, which thank gods I don't live there.

Word to Canadians: Run for your life! They're taking over!

[Persephone]

I live in a largish city. We've got two WalMarts, four Meijer's, and I think four KMarts. We've also got the Sam's Club that comes along with WalMart, and a BigK, the new-style KMart. My city (Flint, MI) is also right between two of the hugest outlet shopping centers in the universe. We've got two Targets here too. I shop at Meijer's & Target. I've tried WalMart, but they just don't impress me at all. The Preven thing, though, got my attention. Quadell, you are not alone in your fight, believe me. A freind of mine, who is a WalMart junkie, told me that it seemed to her that there were less & less customers shopping at our WalMarts since this happened. Keep it up. It just might work.

[RFlowers]

This thread is absurd, but I'm posting anyway. Wal-Mart is tacky, refuses to carry certain items, and puts local merchants out of business. Assuming the last point is true, why don't the small, local merchants sell Preven and 2Live Crew CDs (or whatever, please don't bother flaming me for forgetting), and they'd have a hell of a little store, eh? Maybe some sex toys thrown in, and where's the competition from Wal-Mart?


Those who don't like Wal-Mart, don't shop there. It is tacky. Here in Hickville, it's open 24 hours, which makes it pretty hip.

[DSYoungEsq]

Amazing how a thread loses its raison d'etre at the very beginning, and gets hijacked into something totally different!

Quadell wanted to boycott Wal-Mart because they were refusing to stock a product (Preven) for reasons that didn't make logical sense, to wit: it doesn't cause an abortion (the fertilized egg hasn't attached to the wall of the uterus), so it isn't an abortion pill and shouldn't be treated as such. But, as was pointed out in only one response, most 'Christian' groups who are opposed to abortion are opposed because they believe that a soul is created at the moment the sperm manages to meld with the egg, creating a full complement of chromosomes and initating the cell-division process. IF that is your definition of the beginning of human life, then banning Preven makes logical sense.

As for the remainder of the responses...

Capitalism is simple. You buy what you want from who you want. You sell what you want to those willing to buy. First amendment isn't relevant (PLEASE read the Constitution). Boycotts sometimes work, sometimes don't. Wal-Mart isn't evil, but if you don't like their marketing tactics, don't shop there.

Now if we can apply capitalism to farm subsidies...

[DougC]

- - - I do not find anything objectionable about what Wal-Mart does. They strong-arm suppliers and often get favorable development financing packages to help build stores, but the suppliers put up with this willingly to get their products onto Wal-Mart's shelves and the civic financial assistance is handed to them by local politicians.
-
- For those of you that don't like Wal-Mart anyway, a friend of mine late this year will begin to receive a settlement from Wal-Mart for an injury on the job - $200,000 every two weeks for a year. (It may go higher than this amount, but it won't be lower.) When the injury occurred, they denied all coverage claiming the person responsible wasn't a store employee (which was incorrect) and terminated him (my friend) before the 1 year medical leave clause (anyone on medical leave for more than one year is automatically terminated; somebody screwed up and canned him early).
-
- I wasn't sure if I should put this in the "Do You Have A Lot Of Money" thread or here. - MC

[HubZilla]

Kmart is basically the same store as Wal-Mart, but has been around longer. Was there this much resistance to new Kmarts raping downtown and closing the mom & pops back then?

[Pickman's Model]

Well, I live in a moderately-sized town in northwest Michigan, and I can tell you, the local WalMart is often the only place you can find some items. The K-Mart we have is a joke---it doesn't stock anything, and the local non-chain stores are all geared towards the fudgies (that's North MichiganSpeak for tourists, BTW) and their prices are through the roof.

As for boycotts, sometimes I do, sometimes I don't; usually if I need something and the store's got it, I'll buy it because I need it, and to hell with their policies. They just broke ground a few days ago on a brand-new Meijer's up here, and we are overjoyed. At last there'll be some competition for the only two other grocery stores in town (not to mention bringing in 600 new jobs to the community). But Meijer's can be snooty too. I used to date a girl who worked for Meijer's, and we'd laugh about their goofy policies. "It's all the fault of poor old Fred (Meijer). Poor guy, I hear he actually has to drive last year's Cadillac now, gasp!!!"

Bunny: you wouldn't think that Grand Rapids is such a great place to visit in about six months; they're going to completely close the 131 S-curve for two years and attempt to straighten it out. Traffic is supposed to be re-routed throught downtown, off Ann, down Division, and back on at Burton. My God, I can't even imagine the unholy mess THAT'S going to cause! Remind me to avoid G.R. like the plague until 2004 or so; if I need to do city shopping, I'll go either to Muskegon or Traverse City.

[Sue Duhnym]

I've also been silently boycotting Walmart because they have current lawsuits against them for being unfriendly to breastfeeding mothers. The Preven issue just strengthened my resolve.

BTW...Three cheers for the straightening of the GR S-curve...that thing was almost impossible to navigate while drunk. Rahrahrah!

[1420Vel.GN]

I do not believe that anyone addressed the issue of special services/items (except for some pills&CD's). - When WallMart puts the "small guy" out of business, it is possible to lose a great resource. If one is in to, say bikes, WallMart may have a larger selection of kids bikes, but if one requried some special parts or advice =SOL. The person who started the bike shop in your town *was* probably an enthusiast and could be relied on for expert advice, but the expert's shop will not likely survive based on expert advice (probably free - and not available at WallMart, no$$$ in it) and a selection of extra ordinary parts. WallMart is lowering the standard. And censorship sucks - don't mater if is only done by a retailer

[Polycarp]

I grew up in a small city in Upstate New York. My home was 1/2 mile exactly from the spot where a young clerk named Frank decided to try what we'd now call remaindering some items that had not sold in his boss's store. The experiment worked well, and Frank went into business for himself as a low-price/(eventually) high-volume retailer. His last name was Woolworth.

In the early 1900's Woolworths drove a lot of small retailers out of business (including his erstwhile boss, whom he bought out and then made an officer of his own company). And there was a bunch of fuss then.

Sam Walton started out much the same way, in another small city, this time in Arkansas. And of the two men, Sam seems to have had a much better business philosophy, in terms of what he owed his clientele, his employees, and the communities where he did business.

In addition to which, I inadvertently learned how S. Robson, Sam's son, handled a major family crisis, and while I have no intention of bringing out his dirty laundry here, can I state that it was handled with a lot of human compassion and common sense, and that he used his money to intervene in behalf of a friend of his son's who was "burned" by the situation.

Good small retailers will survive by offering what WalMart doesn't and cannot: personalized service. I owned a bookstore that competed satisfactorily against WaldenBooks for some years by my knowing the taste of my clientele. People will also buy from local merchants who reinvest in the community (charitably or in desired additional business ventures) in preference to chains that do not. And if the local merchant refuses to (a) match mega-retailer prices, (b) offer personal service, or (c) reinvest in the community, he *deserves* to go under.

Note: I have no interest in the WalMart chain other than the remote possibility that one of my 401(K) retirement plan's mutual fund investments may possibly own a few shares of WalMart Stores - it does not to my knowledge do so, but I don't know all of what it has invested in. We are talking fractions of cents here, anyway.