TFT monitors

[Chris]

A common tactic for Wal-Mart is to open a store in a small town. The people living there don't necessarily know anything about Wal-Mart's business practices, but they see that the prices are lower than the local small businesses, so they shop there. Eventually Wal-Mart ends up putting the competing stores out of business and they can take a good percentage of the town's workforce because there are no longer enough non-Wal-Mart jobs in town. There's not that much that can be done about it, honestly. It's pretty despicable, and that company disgusts me. But I don't think it's fair to say things like "aren't there enough anti-Wal-Mart people?". You can't expect every consumer to be aware of what's going on behind the scenes.

Also, Wal-Mart is not unionized, so their employees don't have unions to demand the same rights that most other businesses have to provide. That's one way they keep their prices so low.

[Erkki]

We don't really have a chain like Wal-mart, but there's "Säästumarket" (direct transl. ~ savingsmarket) that just keeps popping up new stores everywhere. They have very low prices for most products, but that's only because they sell mostly crap and being a relatively small store don't have much of a selection.

[MrHoatzin]

Not that you have any way of declaring that all Wal-Mart employees are conformist and uninteresting...

Did you read the article I linked to?

[Erwin_Br]

But I don't think it's fair to say things like "aren't there enough anti-Wal-Mart people?". You can't expect every consumer to be aware of what's going on behind the scenes.

I doubt most people even care what's going on behind the scenes, as long as they can buy their stuff cheaper.

--Erwin

[manny_c44]

Its wierd how this cheap-product consumerist frenzy arose, people are looking to replace rather than repair, and for no good reason. They're ending up with more of a bad product rather than one 'something' that lasts, it's in everything from construction to shoes....and I don't really get it.

Anyway, this bit from the article was interesting. Does anyone have any idea how it compares to other companies?

For a two-hundred-employee Wal-Mart store, the government is spending $108,000 a year for children's health care; $125,000 a year in tax credits and deductions for low-income families; and $42,000 a year in housing assistance. The report estimates that a two-hundred-employee Wal-Mart store costs federal taxpayers $420,000 a year, or about $2,103 per Wal-Mart employee.