I found that smaller discount stores who keep their advertising costs to a minimum fared much better with the life expectancy of the products mentioned above.

Oh yeah? And what do those "smaller discount stores" pay their employees? I can tell you, because I used to work for one of them. They pay just exactly the same as Walmart.

Just how many stores do you think you shop in that pay their employees significantly more than minimum wage? The answer is precious few. And that is also true of most of the other businesses you frequent on a regular basis, including gas stations, restaurants, hotels, and any number of other service sector businesses.

If you want to criticize people for working for minimum wage, maybe you ought to put your money where your mouth is and not give your money to any businesses that pay minimum wage.