I don’t accept it. I don’t shop there, don’t work there, and encourage anyone who likes full-time jobs and benefits to not shop there, either. Unless the free market only works when people don’t complain about things they don’t like…?
Uh, the employees have to pay for their medical benefits, they aren’t given to workers. It would have cost me, a healthy single young person, nearly a quarter of my monthly paycheck to buy medical benefits. And the medical plan does not cover medications, dental visits (dental plan was an added fee), vision (again, added fee), mental health treatment, and “non-essential” operations or hospitalizations (what’s essential? It’s up to Walmart). It’s a really bare-bones plan. Oh, and they don’t cover same-sex partners either.
Signed, a former Walmart worker
**Please explain the market forces that would keep Walmart from selling crappy socks **
There is nothing that would ever keep Wal-Mart from selling worthless crap. There are a lot of gullible bargain-hunters in the world.
Ralph124c summed it up precisely:
Yes, you have to pay some for your medical plan, but the company picks up a good part of the tab. If it didn’t, it wouldn’t be a benefit and employees would just get their own medical insurance outside the company.
OK, I am convinced. After reading the testimonials, I think I understand now.
Like many of y’all have reasoned, the reason that Walmart can sell crappy socks and get away with it is because there is enough people who like buying low cost crappy things (along with the people who can only afford low cost, low quality things- but that I already knew). There is no need to keep Walmart from selling the stuff, there are people who actually want to buy it and Walmart is actually fulfilling an economic need. There are enough consumers that are satisfied with the low cost, low quality products that there is no need for the market to crack back on the purveyor of crappy products. It does not seem like it would be true but it is. Pretty simple and right under my nose the whole time (I must drive by at least 4 dollar stores when driving across my city, nomatter what highway I take).
Unfortunately, I am not one of those consumers. I am angry that the drill bits in the ultra cool carrying case only lasted one project. I am angry that the patio umbrella sunshade that I bought is so thin that it does not shade me from the sun. I am angry that the socks I bought only lasted a month. All these caught me by suprise and I did not recieve the value that I thought I was going to get from them. I guess I am the type of consumer who needs to stick to trusted name brands, I really hate going to the store over and over again. It is worth it to me to pay more up front and be satisfied for a longer time. That is my marketplace choice.
I am trying hard to think of times in which I was a happy consumer despite a crappy product. I could only think of one instance when I went on a fishing trip during a vacation and I bought a pair of ugly low quality $3.99 water shoes that fell apart after the vacation was over. I was actually OK with it- disposable fishing shoes are a great idea!