# So Wal-Mart sucks? I pit you if you think this. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 30, 2004, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301 "2004-11-30T08:00:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![jlzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jlzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlzania)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/61 "2004-11-30T16:28:34Z")
It was **Front Line** , I believe, that did a piece on Wal-mart recently. A former Wal-mart manager ( of 17 years) was interviewed and asked about Wal-mart’s claim to always offer the very lowest prices. He stated that yes, Wal-Mart will indeed offer _one_ item in any given category that is extremely low cost. However, that item is usually such an unmitigated piece of poorly made crap that shoppers seldom purchase it. Instead, they chose a another item from the same category that is normally as much if not more expensive than can be found in other stores. In fact he snickered at Wal-mart’s claim that it always offers the very best deals in town. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/62 "2004-11-30T16:43:01Z")
> [@MrFantsyPants](#): > > So are you saying, that since anyone has that ability to quit there job at anytime, then there can be no merit to complaints of worker exploitation? Complain all you want, you’re not being forced to work there. > [@](#): > > And since battered wives can leave their husbands at any time, they should just shut the fuck up too? No, they should leave, just like I advocate if you feel you are being treated poorly by your employer. > [@](#): > > Please take your two brain cells, and rub them together elsewhere, you dumbass. Nice personal insult. Not sure what that has to do with anything. > [@woodstockbirdybird](#): > > Yeah - love it or leave it, motherfuckers! You should be grateful just to have your shitty, menial jobs - surely only selfish assholes ever complain about work, right? I didn’t say they should be grateful. The point is, nobody forced them to take the job and nobody is forcing them to stay. Lots of people don’t like their job, that’s why they call it work. Just don’t act like you’re trapped. > [@](#): > > Maybe I’m naive, but I find it truly bizarre that anyone, regardless of political affiliation, could be an apologist for Wal-Mart. Let me amend that to read: an apologist for Wal-Mart’s draconian business practices. Who’s apologizing? If Wal-Mart lost all their employees due to poor wages and business practices, they’d probably change their ways. Continuing to work for them only reinforces their position. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/63 "2004-11-30T16:44:49Z")
> [@essvee](#): > > And bruce\_daddy, this isn’t a kneejerk righty-lefty issue. Engage brain before fingers, please. Where did I mention politics? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/64 "2004-11-30T16:47:28Z")
> [@jlzania](#): > > It was **Front Line** , I believe, that did a piece on Wal-mart recently. > A former Wal-mart manager ( of 17 years) was interviewed and asked about Wal-mart’s claim to always offer the very lowest prices. > > He stated that yes, Wal-Mart will indeed offer _one_ item in any given category that is extremely low cost. > However, that item is usually such an unmitigated piece of poorly made crap that shoppers seldom purchase it. > Instead, they chose a another item from the same category that is normally as much if not more expensive than can be found in other stores. > In fact he snickered at Wal-mart’s claim that it always offers the very best deals in town. You are absolutely right about this too. Upon occasion, my dad talks about how they’ll take a price they always have, yet advertise it as some sort of discount they’re now offering. Or shop the clearance isles and you’ll sometime find items marked a certain way that if you look under that tag, you’ll find the former one cheaper. But they’ll typically have bulk items listed more inexpensively as other places and stuff you could buy at a $1 Only store for less. So, you just gotta be careful and kinda research your options all the way around. It’s sometimes more beneficial to make one trip, others to wait and lastly, to find out the real deal behind some promotions. Makes sense. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/65 "2004-11-30T16:49:04Z")
> [@Bruce\_Daddy](#): > > I didn’t say they should be grateful. The point is, nobody forced them to take the job and nobody is forcing them to stay. Lots of people don’t like their job, that’s why they call it work. Just don’t act like you’re trapped. Absolutely. They should quit and go take one of the many better-paying jobs going at local businesses instead. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/66 "2004-11-30T17:12:46Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Absolutely. They should quit and go take one of the many better-paying jobs going at local businesses instead. Exactly. ---
**Author:** ![MinniePurl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/cab0a1/32.png) [@MinniePurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinniePurl)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/67 "2004-11-30T17:21:24Z")
> [@Bruce\_Daddy](#): > > Exactly. Yeah, except the local business were driven out of business by Wal-Mart. But if people just WORKED THEIR ASSES OFF, they could get jobs at businesses that no longer exist, right? If they can’t, they are just LAZY SLACKERS! Are you seriously this clueless? ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/68 "2004-11-30T17:23:35Z")
Well then they should simply start up their own businesses to compete with Wal Mart. Or invent something cool, like White Out or Post Its, and get rich. Their options are limitless! ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/69 "2004-11-30T17:23:41Z")
> [@Bruce\_Daddy](#): > > Exactly. The same local businesses Wal-Mart just ran out of town? There are people that would work for 1/2 of what WM currently pays. People leave, they’ll refill their ranks and continue without blinking. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/70 "2004-11-30T17:26:46Z")
What kind of bizarro local economy do you people live in where Wal-Mart, the Evil Empire, has rid the community of all other business and poses such a monopoly that they are the sole employer within a 30 mile radius? ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/71 "2004-11-30T17:34:03Z")
> [@Bruce\_Daddy](#): > > What kind of bizarro local economy do you people live in where Wal-Mart, the Evil Empire, has rid the community of all other business and poses such a monopoly that they are the sole employer within a 30 mile radius? Not _all_ jobs. I would assume the WM workers would be doing something similar, but not for such a fucked up company. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/72 "2004-11-30T17:34:10Z")
> [@Hentor the Barbarian](#): > > Well then they should simply start up their own businesses to compete with Wal Mart. Or invent something cool, like White Out or Post Its, and get rich. Their options are limitless! America! What a country! \ ---
**Author:** ![Unregistered\_Bull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3da27b/32.png) [@Unregistered\_Bull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unregistered_Bull)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/73 "2004-11-30T17:45:10Z")
> [@essvee](#): > > And bruce\_daddy, this isn’t a kneejerk righty-lefty issue. Engage brain before fingers, please. Rightwingnuts have nonsensical complaints about Wal-Mart too. Oddly enough, some of the same ones that the leftwingnuts here do to, they just throw in some stuff about communist China. Some people just like to whine. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/74 "2004-11-30T17:46:34Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > Not _all_ jobs. > > I would assume the WM workers would be doing something similar, but not for such a fucked up company. Like Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Office Depot\*, Staples, Best Buy, Circuit City, K-Mart, Toys R US\*, Publix, Bi-Lo, Ingles, Burlington Coat Factory, etc? Does it have to be a big company? How about one of the trillion stores in the mall? Or the corner pub? Or the hair salon across the street? Vet’s office 50 yds down the road? I can look out my window and see 20 potential places of employment. If I walked a block that would increase to 50. Give me any medium sized city in America and I can find 50 available low skill “Non Wal-Mart” jobs from my desk right here. \*have worked at these myself at one point in my life. Toys R Us rocked. ---
**Author:** ![Bruce\_Daddy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/85f322/32.png) [@Bruce\_Daddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bruce_Daddy)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/75 "2004-11-30T17:48:15Z")
> [@Machetero](#): > > Rightwingnuts have nonsensical complaints about Wal-Mart too. Oddly enough, some of the same ones that the leftwingnuts here do to, they just throw in some stuff about communist China. Some people just like to whine. Which is a good opportunity to ask again where I brought politics into the thread. ---
**Author:** ![kimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f0a364/32.png) [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/76 "2004-11-30T17:49:59Z")
I hate Walmart because they screwed me out of $50 when I was very poor. :mad: :mad: Two years ago, I ordered a game online as a Christmas present for my siblings and it never came. I emailed and called them and they finally said they would refund my money. Guess what? They never did. I emailed, called, wrote the CEO, but I never got anything out of it. I will never shop there again for the rest of my life. Fuck Walmart. **duffer** and **Bruce\_Daddy** , suck my cock bitches. ---
**Author:** ![jlzania](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jlzania](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jlzania)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/77 "2004-11-30T18:01:45Z")
> [@Bruce\_Daddy](#): > > Like Home Depot, Lowes, Target, Office Depot\*, Staples, Best Buy, Circuit City, K-Mart, Toys R US\*, Publix, Bi-Lo, Ingles, Burlington Coat Factory, etc? Does it have to be a big company? How about one of the trillion stores in the mall? Or the corner pub? Or the hair salon across the street? Vet’s office 50 yds down the road? I can look out my window and see 20 potential places of employment. If I walked a block that would increase to 50. > > Give me any medium sized city in America and I can find 50 available low skill “Non Wal-Mart” jobs from my desk right here. > > \*have worked at these myself at one point in my life. Toys R Us rocked. A point to consider, **Bruce\_Daddy** : A friend of mine manages a grocery store for which he gets paid a very decent salary. However, the wages set for the general workers is kept low by the local Wally-Worlds. In order to remain competitive with their grocery department, his store significantly reduced the pay and benefits offered to cashiers and stockers. And when the butchers at Wally-World attempted to unionize their department, Wal-Mart closed it down. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/78 "2004-11-30T18:02:20Z")
> [@Bruce\_Daddy](#): > > \< snip \> > > Give me any medium sized city in America and I can find 50 available low skill “Non Wal-Mart” jobs from my desk right here. But what about “non medium sized” cities? Where my dad works, the population is only about 4,500. And there’s lots more in the area like that, with no competition. Yet there is a Wal\*Mart and almost all small businesses (except those with a _really_ good niche) close down soon enough. ☹ 'Cause they can’t hold their own in a market that favors bulk retail. Again, not that I don’t shop there out of necessity, but I certainly understand the many and varied complaints. I wish someday to be able to go somewhere else, but I don’t see that happening. So to the behemoth I must shop. SIGH. ---
**Author:** ![LavenderBlue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e95f7d/32.png) [@LavenderBlue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LavenderBlue)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/79 "2004-11-30T18:09:20Z")
> [@Ooner](#): > > Yeah, CEOs of multi-billion dollar giant multinational corporations should have a low salary cap. Say $25/hr or so, right? Because he isn’t much more important than the kid bagging groceries. > > You can accuse Walmart of underpaying employees all you want but the CEO’s salary has no bearing on whether they are an ethical company or not. The CEO’s important. But contrary to business propaganda he’s not more than 1500 times more important. The guy’s a CEO, not Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein. There are millions of people who could do his job just as well as he does. It’s disgusting for yet another company to argue they can’t afford to pay workers enough so they don’t go on welfare while simultaneously handing out more money than most people could spend in a lifetime to top managment. I’m so damn sick of coporate America attempting to divide this country into the rich and the poor. I happen to work part-time for a company that pulled a similar trick. On one of my projects we were told things were so bad they had no choice but to slash wages by $5 an hour. Meanwhile the New York Times reported that the goddamned CEO of the company took a bonus last year in the mid-six figures. Wal Mart is just another example of the arrogance and sheer evil of corporate America. When they get done turning this country into someplace with all the religiousity of Iran and the income inequality of Brazil I hope they’re happy. Because any middle class person with any brains will have moved to Canada. ---
**Author:** ![pokey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ebca7d/32.png) [@pokey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pokey)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2004, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301/80 "2004-11-30T18:12:14Z")
> [@flodnak](#): > > It would have been a lot more poignant if it was about a struggling school teacher who was able to buy, I dunno, _shoes_ for her kid or something The only reason I know what a racecar bed is is that I saw it on tv as a kid on Silver Spoons, a show about a MILLIONARE kid. At first I didn’t see the connection between hating Walmart and hating poor schoolteachers, but now I realize, I really might hate this poor school teacher wasting the fucking vitamin money on a $200 bed that the kid won’t even be able to use in 2 years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-wal-mart-sucks-i-pit-you-if-you-think-this/277301.md?page=5)