BS: Bloody WalMart

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: SharonA
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 03:27 PM

Clinton: LOL! Honestly, I don't know if the chinese-restaurant story is true, but that was the story going 'round at the time! I was just glad that I always ordered the shrimp & veggies platter from that place.

BTW, the family-owned meat-packing plant in that town in which I used to live is one of the ones that had to be closed down and cleaned because of a listeria contamination earlier this year. I'm afraid that the "Mom-and-Pop" label does not always indicate superior quality!

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 03:17 PM

Well, if they call it food, then why not eh...

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: NicoleC
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 03:16 PM

Clinton, in some places cats are raised for meat just like chickens or cows. I kid you not. I used to live in Koreatown, and yes, those ARE dead cats hanging in the window...

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: NicoleC
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 03:14 PM

Sharon (did I call you Sorcha?), I'm glad you have a choice. Lots of folks just don't any more; it's getting harder and harder.

We have this huge swap meet locally, and it's spawned a local trend of having these little light-wieght stand-up carts that fold up and you leave them in the back of your car. Very handy for big shopping at the farmer's market, especially if you want melons or winter squash! But these little guys are everywhere now, and very popular with the aging crowd and mom's with toddlers who want to keep a hand free to hang on to their kid.

If you are in rural or semi-rural country, I highly recommend checking out Community Supported Agriculture. Small farmer's benefit from a steady source of income and don't have to compete through distribution with the mega-farms in Chile and Mexico, and you get incredibly fresh produce -- usually picked that morning. Most grocery store produce is at least a week old. Some farms deliver; other's have various local drop-off points, and their customers get to have a say in what crops they plant.

So Cal gets blamed for being la-la land, but this kind of stuff really goes on in No Cal. We even have a local small dairy that has decided to give up selling to the big milk brands, and has gone back to home delivery of morning-fresh milk!

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 03:12 PM

An aside... sorry...

But Sharon...

"The chinese restaurant was closed because they were serving cat meat"

I gotta call "Bollocks!"

You mean to tell me that the folks runing the restaurant found it easier to creep around the neighbourhood at night with flashlighs, trank guns and baseball bats chasing cats than to go to the butcher and buy meat?

I somehow doubt it very much...

Back to yer petty Walmart bashing folks...

:-)

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Amos
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 02:56 PM

SOrry, Giok, I have been advised that my exuberance was being over-wrought!! Guess some folks don't like waking up from a deep sleep. But thank you for carrying on the GREAT TRADITION.

I didn't know Dick was flooded!!


A

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: SharonA
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 02:41 PM

Heh heh! You have a point, Nicole! I'm certainly guilty of going to WM and coming out with more stuff than was on my list. But one of my reasons for going there (or to K-Mart or, when it was open, to Ames or Bradlee's or Jamesway) is that I make that shopping circle with a cart instead of a car.

I did live in a small town for 13 years that had everything within easy walking distance of my apartment: a post office, a Mom-and-Pop market, a Mom-and-Pop 5&10, a Mom-and-Pop discount movie theater, a Mom-and-Pop pharmacy that rented videos, a Mom-and-Pop chinese restaurant, a Mom-and-Pop pizzeria, a Mom-and-Pop family restaurant, a train station, a bus stop in front of the apartment building, and more. And my workplace was only 7 blocks away! Still had to drive to buy clothes and gas and farmers' market veggies, but that was about it.

The Mom-and-Pop market and 5&10 closed because of the deaths of one Mom and one Pops and the retirement of the surviving spouses. The chinese restaurant was closed because they were serving cat meat, and the family restaurant had a fire. The post office closed as part of government cutbacks. The Philly transit authority stopped sending commuter trains to that station because of their own economic woes (they kept the bus line, though). The movie theater and pizzeria are still there, and the pharmacy is still a pharmacy though it sold out to the Eckerd's chain. The workplace is still there, too... but they laid me off, I had to look elsewhere for work, and when I found it I moved elsewhere 6 years ago to (a) be closer to the new workplace and (b) get away from the respiratory irritants where I was living (the pollution from the street, the residue and fumes in the air from surrounding farms with farmers' markets, and the mold and cigarette smoke in the apartment building)!

Now I have to either walk too far to get into the current town with what Mom-and-Pop shops it has (not nearly as diverse!), or else drive. Sometimes I do drive into town and walk to some of the shops (notably the two thrift stores) and carry stuff back to the car, but it really is more convenient (and easier on my arthritic body!) to wheel one cart up to my car than to carry bags for blocks. Also, because of my respiratory problems, it's better for me to shop in one air-conditioned environment than to walk in and out of stores where the outside temperature and humidity are vastly different from the inside, and where I have to breathe auto exhaust fumes from the street. So there ya go, that's why I prefer the superstores and supermarkets (in addition to the discount pricing and the sales)!

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 02:29 PM

Amos, that's two posts, and you never mentioned the wonderfull Mudcat CD from Camsco. Next time you post, don't forget to mention the magnificent Mudcat CD from Camsco. OK.
Giok
PS Don't forget to mention the orgasmic Mudflap CD from Camsco.
PPS Do you know that Dick's flooded?

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Amos
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 02:05 PM

Saint Peter, doncha call me --- 'cuz I can't go!

I oweeeeee mah soul to that company store!

Being independent of mind is always a harder row to hoe, but it certainly has benefits, like steering clear of this sort of mass hypnogoguery!!


A

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: NicoleC
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 01:58 PM

Yeah, Amos, I know what you mean. Seems like folks can't walk out of a Wal-Mart or Target or Costco or other monolithic store with less than $100 spent. Of which, they really only needed the toilet paper that they originally came in for.

Wal-Mart *IS* merchandising king. They make you walk past aisles and aisles of "hey, it's only $4.88!" to get to the batteries you need to make your gizmo you just bought in electronics to work. 5 or 6 "hey, it's only $4.88!" items later, you've busted your budget on more stuff you don't need.

Fact is, we live in a society where buying things and eating things are the Prozac of the masses. It's starts when you are a baby -- baby cries so you give it something sweet -- continues when you are a toddler -- toddler is tired and fussy in the store, let's buy him a TOY -- is rampant by the time you get to high school and your social position is based on your wardrobe and car -- and by the time you have your own disposable income, you're hooked. Is it any wonder we live in a land full of overflowing garages, credit card debt and obese people frantically trying to lose weight while burdened by the habit of compulsory and habitual eating?

I may hate Wal-Mart, but it's just a symptom. You can't really blame Sam Walton for being a success by pandering to the desires of the masses to aquire more STUFF, even if it isn't worth having. I think Woolworth's started the trend, although it might actually be Sears, the original mass-market merchandiser.

I watched Wal-Mart devastate my grandparent's very small, mountain town. At first they were excited about having a big store locally, instead of having to drive 40 miles into the city. But this town, never wealthy, is even poorer than ever. The main drag is shut down, all the shops have closed, and now everyone HAS to shop and work at Wal-Mart. Even the grocery store is gone. Meanwhile, the $ spent at Wal-Mart leave their small town and fill corporate coffers, and the schools and churches are dependant on the charity of the big store because the local citizens can't afford to support their fund-raising efforts anymore.

It's an old coal-mining town. You'd have think they'd learned their lesson about the company store the first time around.

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Amos
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 01:30 PM

Nicole,

{psychobabble on}

I think it is a psychological gimmick -- being surrounded by mountains of glitzy shiny stuff and loud noises and crowds makes some people feel like they are actually having stuff. People who are slightly less numbed out and less meat-headed can have stuff just by walking down the street, psychologically speaking -- in other words they can enjoy the experience by direct appercetion rather than through the intermediary of lugging all that glitzy mass and big boxes around. THe more numb you get, the more force and mass it takes to convince you you are experiencing anything. My own belief is that the same is true of other things like information -- you get numb enough, all you can garner information from is loud advertising. Those who are a little more alive can get it from other sources up to and including the environment itself by direct perception.

(/psychobabble}


Regards,


A

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: NicoleC
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 12:52 PM

LOL, Sorcha! Well, I fortunately get to avoid panty hose any more, but I always had excellent luck with Hanes Sheer Energy. If you get the Hanes catalog (or go online) you can buy "seconds" for half the price, which usually meant that one leg was 1/8" longer than the other. Big deal.

I guess the time issue depends on your situation. I do all my grocery shopping at the local coop. There's an amazing fish market that has local fresh fish on the way home. My coop has an excellent bulk foods section, where I buy all my staples, and local organic produce, but if I want a bigger selection, I go across the road from my office on my lunch break to hit the farmer's market. Once upon a time I used to "subscribe" to a farm for $50 a month -- once a week I picked up a box of seasonal produce, and I had to split the box with someone because I couldn't eat it all.

If I need clothes, I have a handful of local shops that I go to... I just make a shopping circle and I'm done. That happens once or twice a year. But there aren't any clothes I want at Wal-Mart anyway. The 5 and dime by my house sells underwear, socks and kitty litter, candles and knick-knacks for less than wal-Mart. I have an Ace franchise next to it if I need to fix something around the house. My pharmacy is near my office; another lunch break trip once a month. I don't have any local shops for books or music and the big chains don't carry much of a selection, so I buy from Amazon.

There's aren't big lines and cash registers at any of these places. As a matter of fact, I wish they had MORE customers.

That pretty much covers my shopping needs. What else do you really need? My car is a diesel so I hit the truck stop next to the freeway every two weeks. If I *must* go to the Maul, I just park at the light rail station near my house and take it to the mall downtown. No fuss, no parking spot woes, no driving around.

I honestly don't understand this culture of needing to go out and buy things every weekend. What does Wal-Mart have that's so special you would want to shop there all the time anyway?

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Big Tim
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 11:50 AM

How much to Walmart pay their staff? In the UK, Safeway pay minimum wage, £4.20, for the first three months, then £4.60.

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: chip a
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 11:29 AM

Clapping hands for Amos!
: ), Chip

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Amos
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 11:08 AM

Gee, CH!! Ya wake up, didja? SOrry to disturb your rest, there, mate!

Order yours yet? Feelin' guilty?


OK, OK, I promised allanc I'd give it as rest, and I will -- and in exchange he's gonna see if he can do something about "What Has WalMArt Ever Done For Us" threads which have added so MUCH redeeming value to the fairgrounds here. At least we have something real to offer in the Mudcat Sampler CDs.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: SharonA
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 11:03 AM

Nicole: Where on earth do you find pantyhose at any price that lasts for years? I can't find any that don't snag and/or run within the first couple of wearings no matter where I buy them.

For that matter, where do you find these items of superior quality at prices similar to WM's? I'd certainly rather have superior quality without paying more, so I'd love to know!

I'm a bit puzzled about your statement that shopping at WM takes too much time. Doesn't it take more time to drive to multiple Mom-and-Pop specialty stores and farmer's markets, find a parking space at each location, and go through the check-out procedure at multiple registers? Also, doesn't it cost more in gasoline and wear-and-tear on the car?

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: catspaw49
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 10:45 AM

Chip, my only response to your post, especially the last larger paragraph is...........BINGO!!! You got it!!! I dunno' either......I wonder if it isn't a case of us bringing on the Walmarts as opposed to Wal-Mart taking over........You hit it square in your post!

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: chip a
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 10:39 AM

Spaw,
Don't try telling me the easter bunny isn't real. I've met your kind before. Next thing, it's santy and I know damn well santy's real cause I pay for his presents every year!
And yes, I know products made in the same factory are marketed under different brand names. Sorefingers' post seemed to suggest that Walmart is selling cheap counterfeits made elsewhere and calling them Levis. A very different thing.
NicoleC,
You're right about the quality/cost issue but poor folks can't always come up with the bucks to buy a superior, longer lasting product. So you buy three cheap shirts in three years rather than one good one that lasts three years.......or single wides, or old used cars etc. I call it the poor man's installment program!
Wallmart is not the problem. The problem is the spread of the few huge outfits (like wallmart) squeezing out all the smaller outfits at all levels of business. Weather it's gasoline, modular housing, wallmart or groceries, it's the same thing. The bigger you get the better the giverment likes you and the more favorable treatment you'll have from them come tax time. Or antitrust time. For me, the problem with all this is the consolidation of too much power in too few hands. And in the end, too few choices for the rest of us.
Answers? Hell, I don't know......I guess I'll just ride this train till it wrecks then see what's next!
: ),
Chip

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Marion
Date: 05 Dec 02 - 01:55 AM

Sed said: What would really help me better appreciate WalMart would be if they allowed streetsingers to perform and sell their recordings and broadsides outside their zillions of stores...

I've busked in front of a Walmart, Sed, and I lasted an hour till someone cared enough to kick me out. Made good money too. In fact, the first few months I was playing fiddle I would always go over to the Walmart next door after closing to practice (to spare the people in my apartment building, and because Walmart had good lighting and rain shelter and tables in front).

Once when I was in the US I was amused to see a sign on front of a Walmart saying, "For gun returns please go directly to the service counter". I guess that's a big problem in the States, eh? Someone comes in looking angry and waving a gun and you can't tell if they're there for a massacre or if they're just dissatisfied with the merchandise?

Marion

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 11:57 PM

Hey Amos... how about you SHUT UP ABOUT THE STUPID FECKIN MUDCAT CDS!?!?!?!?!?! Anybody who cares has already heard ya...

As far as Mom & Pop stores go... they're the last of the breed, the ones you see now... soon they will be just a memory... it's called "Survival Of The Fittest"... and it bothers me not at all...

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: curmudgeon
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 08:40 PM

I guess that living in the sticks does have its advantages.
I get strings and picks from Gary's Guitars.
I get my oil changed at Price's Sunnyside Garage. he always checks the fluids and tire pressure - no charge. I also get all of my repairs done there.
I get parts from Robbins.
I get gasoline at Lee Circle Market or Islington Street Getty.\
Plumbing and electrical supplies, and hardware in general from Gooch's Log Home Hardware.
Lumber comes from Fernald's Saw Mill.
Groceries come from Market Basket, a MA-NH chain.
Meat from Lee Circle Grocery.
Fish from Lo' s Oriental Market
I did buy a cofee maker from K-Mart.

I realise that urban folk do not always have the choice of vendors, nor do most suburbans, but rather than squander too much time in one of these HUGE stuporstores, take a closer look at your community. You might be pleasantly surprised -- Tom

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 08:24 PM

I applaud Nicoles brilliant analysis. On the other hand the MUDCAT CDs will give you MUCH more enjoyment than any other CD you could buy!!

What ARE you waiting for???


A

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: NicoleC
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 08:03 PM

I gotta be honest folks, I have never found a single thing at Wal-Mart that I couldn't get elsewhere of a superior quality for a similar price. I pinch pennies so hard they scream -- if you want to find quality service and competitive prices, you need to think beyond mini-mauls and big Mauls.

Unless you don't think the hours you spend wandering around Wal-Mart looking for the accessory which they deliberately "merchandise" on the opposite end of the store counts. Time is my most precious commodity of all. Every hour I don't spend dodging screaming kids and have my ankles whcked by a shopping cart is an hour I can spend reading, playing or listening to music, or spending with my friends and family.

I don't really see the consolidation of all spending at giant monolithic corporate big boxes as "progress." It becomes about the lowest common denominator and lowest price, and selection or quality becomes irrelevant. I don't WANT sheets that last year in which they rub you raw. I don't want panty hose that are guarenteed to run the minute you put them on, when I can spend twice as much and have them last for years. I defy you to find more than one species of eggplant at a Super Wal-Mart at the peak of summer, when 10 or 15 varieties are ripe and waiting for half the price at a farmer's market or local produce stand.

I don't think it's progress to use your market clout to muscle your vendors into having to lower their prices so far, they close down American factories and send the jobs overseas. Of course, if your local textile mill shuts down, you can always get a job working for less money at Wal-Mart. Good thing prices are cheap there; it's the only place you can afford to shop.

Money is kinda funny. I know folks that claim they are broke -- some that really ARE -- yet they spend hundreds every month on sodas, garbage "convenience" food and disposable products. They can't buy school books for their kids, but they have a 32" TV and cable. I spent $10 on fabric remnants and old table cloths at a local thrift store to make napkins and paper towels several years ago when I was really, REALLY broke (I was working part time for minimum wage and living in LA), and haven't spent a penny on paper napkins since. I know folks that spend more than that every month on paper towels.

Sorry, I don't think Wal-Mart and the kind of products they sell are "cheap." I think they are very, very expensive in the long run. If your cheap Wal-Mart shirt costs half the price and lasts half as long... the savings is...???

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Banjer
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 07:39 PM

Spaw, a word of advice my friend. Go to your local Dollar Store, if you have one. The sign on the window of a local one here says, "EVERYTHINGS a Dollar". Load up your shoppimg cart til it won't hold another thing and then go to the register and hand the lady a dollar. When she gives you a funny look point out that the sign says, Everythings a dollar and tell her "everything I want is in this cart! Can't hurt to try!!!

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 07:37 PM

Well, for that HALF-FULL feeling, folks, ya gotta hear them MUDCAT CDs. They brighten up your horizons in NO TIME!!


A

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: DougR
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 07:24 PM

It is nice to see some voices of reason in this thread for a change. Not everybody can afford to go to a Dillard's, L.L. Bean, or Neiman Marcus to shop. Mom and Pop everything began disappearing years ago as somebody already pointed out. Soon they will completely disappear. How many of you frequent a Mom and Pop video store? There used to be one on every street corner. Unless you live in a very small town, you probably don't have many of those around anymore do you? Why? They disappered because they could not compete when Blockbuster, Hollywood Video and other like giants moved in. That's just business.

People shop where they can buy what they want at the lowest price possible, and stores like WM are awfully hard to compete against because they have huge buying power at the wholesale level. Wal-Mart serves a useful function and several of you, including Spaw in his last post, have pointed that out.

Another business that was once operated almost totally by Mom and Pop operations that will soon be a thing of the past is Travel Agencies. The airlines have stopped (most of them) paying commissions to agents. Agents are then forced to charge the client a fee for selling them a ticket. A lot of people who have been use to getting the service of travel agents for free don't like that. So what do they do? They book on the Internet. You can book a trip around the world on the Internet. Want to blame the Internet for the disappearance of the Mom and Pop travel agencies? The airlines? That's just progress, my friends. Nothing ever stays the same in business.

Sometimes it appears to me that too many of us Mudcatters look at the glass and see that it is half empty instead of half full.

DougR

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 07:04 PM

So, Spaw, man, where ya gtonna buy your Mudcat CDs from? I believe I have an email around here with a vow of yours on it....

A

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: catspaw49
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 05:00 PM

I don't care a lot for them myself, but that's more on a basis Mick would address. Problem is folks, we be broke! So when we went to buy new bikes for our kids, they were by far the best price and brand. We couldn't have afforded a specialty shop........So let me ask you this........

Ever buy from Elderly or another on-line source for things that could be had locally?

Have you had your oil changed as a Fas-Lube joint instead of a private garage?

And if you need a part for your car, do you go to NAPA or a locally owned private store.....or do you go to Autoworks or Autozone?

Do you buy your gas from a full service station owned by a local dealer (yeah, they still exist) or do you buy price?

Did you get your new plumbing/electrical/flooring/etc. from locally owned stores or did you go to Lowes or Home Depot?

The list could go on and on. Wal-Mart was a different place when Sam was alive, but that's another debate entirely. But as to products being fake or whatever........If you believe that many things don't come from exactly the same factories, you probably still believe in the Easter Bunny. See all that windshield washer solvent at lots of different prices? Do you know how many companies actually make the stuff? Don't guess higher than four.

I buy a lot from Mom&Pop ops when I can, buy all my gas at the local station with local ownership.......We try to support local businesses, but within 10 miles of the closest Wal-Mart you can find Target, K-Mart, Meier, and many others including the big hardware joints. If you can afford not to patronize them, don't. We just can't afford not to..........

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 04:42 PM

My agenda? SHOP CAMSCO!!! You'll never find MUDCAT CDs at Wal Mart!! We're holding the line on this one!!!!


A

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: John MacKenzie
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 04:32 PM

Well I'm glad I started this one, even if it only give Amos a chance to push his agenda ;¬]>*BG*
Giok

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: wysiwyg
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 03:47 PM

Here in buck-hunting territory, a girl occasionally needs a little help competing with the buddies at the hunting camp when Buck Day rolls around. Or have you not heard Debby McClatchy's song on the topic? I think it would be a riot.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: SharonA
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 03:46 PM

Hmmm... should've said Wal-Mart helps keep me from being laid off from my job. It helps me stay employed at my job. There, that sounds clearer.

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: SharonA
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 03:42 PM

Cluin: Oooh! I'll have to check my local Wal-Marts and see if they have one in stock! hee hee hee

Seriously, it'll match the camouflage-green fuzzy blanket that I already have on my bed. Come to think of it, I bought that at Wal-Mart, too... Really! I did!

Yeah, I have to go along with those who are pointing out that WM is not the only demon in town. Mom-and-Pop stores have struggled to compete with big chain stores for as long as there have been big chain stores. Farmers' markets and neighborhood grocers have been struggling to compete with supermarkets for as long as there have been supermarkets. WM just happens to be the latest in a long line... and they do have lower prices than their competition carrying the same quality merchandise. Note, for example, the post above that mentioned that the Ames chain couldn't compete (and, around here, the local Jamesway and Bradlee stores couldn't compete with Ames before that, and so on...).

Besides, Wal-Mart seems to treat its employees better than the other discount chain stores do, and they seem to have a policy of keeping their stores cleaner and maintaining a more customer-friendly atmosphere overall. Yes, there are some employees who can't put a round peg in a round hole, but that's true all over (including at the Mom-and-Pop stores!).

Comparing Wal-mart to a high-end specialty business like L.L. Bean or a dime-store business like Woolworth's or a general store of yesteryear is, IMO, comparing apples and oranges. These four are different types of businesses with different target customers and different marketing strategies. As others have said, if one does not prefer to frequent the discount-superstore type of business, one need not shop at Wal-Mart.

Personally, I can't complain too much about Wal-Mart; it helps keep the company I work for in business, so it indirectly helps me from being laid off from my job!

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Cluin
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 03:29 PM

"By god, Earline. Yew shure are lookin' sexy tonaght in thet thar thang. Let's go do it in the tree stand!... Grab them pork rinds too."

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: chip a
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 03:23 PM

So was it the size or the camo you didn't like? Just who is it you're maligning here anyway? Our noble military or our weight challenged sisters?
: )
Chip

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Cluin
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 03:16 PM

Oh, eat my farts.

I don't shop there but I got dragged in there last month by someone who does. And I saw something verrrrrrrrrry scary:

An extra-large teddy (as in sexy lingerie) in (no kidding) camoflage-pattern green.

*shudder*

I'm still having nightmares.

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: chip a
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 03:14 PM

"Boy am I tired of all this crap......"
Shut up and don't read it (?)
:)

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Blues=Life
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 03:08 PM

Boy, am I tired of all this crap, regarding a living wage at WalMart. Can any of you WalMart Bashers understand the concept of "entry level jobs?" Not everyone deserves to make $30K a year, especially teenagers on their first jobs! If you want to, you CAN advance at WalMart, and make a decent living. For example, my wife started working at WM 7 years ago as a part-time, third shift, pre-Christmas temp. She just wanted to earn some money so she could go back to school, finish her BA, and get a job. 7 years later, she still doesn't have a college degree, and is still working at WM. And I can hear you thinking, "See what evil old WalMart is doing! Taking away her chance at a good job and an education!" Um, that's fine, but instead of taking out loans for 2 1/2 years of higher education, and then hoping she could land a job, she has been moving up within WM, and is due to become a store manager sometime after Christmas this year. What other company doesn't give a damn if you have a college degree, but only cares if you can do the job, and will reward you for that ability? Also, she can take the training she has received and get a job with any other retail business. One small problem with that. None of the others pay as well. Plus, she really enjoys the work.
So although she hasn't paid for her college education, it looks like she'll be paying for our childrens'.
Yeah, so you hate WalMart. Shut up and don't shop there. No one is making you go.
Blues

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: GUEST,Kim C no cookie
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 01:12 PM

Mister brought up an interesting point last night. A lot of the things we buy, including but not limited to clothing and electronics (and cars too!) are manufactured in the same factories, but different labels get put on them. Jeans you might buy at Target or K-Mart or Wal-Mart or Penneys, maybe have all been made in the same place - but the ones with the designer label on them will have a bigger price.

Same with electronics - the "generic" brands come out of the same factories as name brands.

So really it's all the same stuff you can buy nearly anywhere.

Stepping into the role of Devil's Advocate.......I can only talk about Nashville, because I don't know about anywhere else... but I've lived here nearly 30 years, and there haven't been too many Mom-Pop shops here in that time. Like I said before, we still have lots of privately-owned shops of all kinds - except for books and records. The only Mom-Pop book and record shops are 2nd hand places. The old Mills Bookstore wasn't put out of business by Wal-Mart - they closed because of competition from chain bookstores, and from another locally-owned bookstore that happened to be bigger.

Another thing to consider is that maybe sometimes Mom & Pop are looking for a good reason to retire.

Like Amos said...... companies like Microsoft and Wal-Mart are huge because people buy their stuff.

Stepping down now. :-)

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: NicoleC
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 12:29 PM

Oh for heavens sake. Can we please stop posting that ridiculous link that supposedly goes to an online game but really tries to upload malicious code?

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 12:13 PM

SHow 'em what you REALLY care about!! Shop at CAMSCO MUSIC for those impeccable Mudcat Sampler CDs!!

(well, they're a little bit peccable, but who's counting? Spaw?)

A

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: GUEST,Ma'am
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 11:26 AM

So blame mall culture and superstores. Don't blame Walmart. It's a product of the culture, which is a product of the PEOPLE.

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Peg
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 11:21 AM

too right about L.L. Bean Kendall! An excellent company with impeccable customer service and fie products.

The people saying people with jobs at WalMart are lucky to have them are ignoring what has been said several times in this thread, which is that WalMart's crushing of locally-owned competitive stores (drugstores, fabric stores, hardware stores, discount clothing stores, housewares, you name it) has FORCED people to get jobs at WalMart because there is no longer anywhere else to work!

I go to WalMart about once a year; when camping in western NY; there is simply nowhere else to get stuff like tents and citronella oilin the middle of nowhere. This evil giant has destroyed smalltown America, in my opinion. My own hometown's downtown business district has been a ghost-town for years and I blame mall culture and superstores for that. Of course, consumers who do not make the connection between where and how they spend their money and their own local economy have allowed this to happen...and soon they won't have a choice.

Shop with Mom and Pop! Buy locally-grown and raised food! For pete's sake, support small business owners before this country's economy implodes even further!!!

Peg (who shops for food at the Farmer's Markets from May thru November)

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: chip a
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 11:03 AM

I don't like Walmart. See my previous posts. But......can anyone prove that they actually sell counterfeit Levi jeans? I doubt it. Do you think Levi's (another giant) would sit around letting that happen?
Cheap, shoddy shit for sure but counterfeits?
:), Chip

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Amos
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 10:57 AM

Well, Dick and I are in FIRM AGREEMENT that we will NEVER let Wal Mart take over distribution of the beautiful MUDCAT SAMPLER CDs!!

Some things are just too true, too good, too pure, too beautiful to be handed over to the commercial pimpers.

The MUDCAT SAMPLER CDs qualify on all those counts.


A

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: GUEST,Ma'am
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 10:55 AM

Oh, for heaven's sake. I swear, people will complain about anything. Show me some hard data that Walmart's employees aren't treated well instead of just hearsay. People need those jobs, and many are glad to get them.

And Walmart has plenty of competition. Where I live it has to compete with the likes of Meijer, KMart, several grocery store chains, department stores, etc. You're telling me the rest of the chains are going to shut down because of WalMart? Give me a break. Walmart fills a niche and that's all it does.

As far as shoddy merchandise, I've paid much more for items of the same quality. It's a toss-up as far as I'm concerned.

Let's move on to the evil that is JCPenney, now, shall we?

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: JedMarum
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 10:51 AM

What?? A Walmart thread and no post from Big Mick???

Does the court order extend to public posting, Mick??

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: GUEST,sorefingers
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 10:24 AM

Naw, you may get two day old doughnuts for half price, 1 Dollar a dozen, but did you know the local Doughnut Shop sells them fresh for 90 cents a dozen? Taking it easy on the MaulFarters here since their regular price for a 90 cent box of Doughnuts is 2 dollars and fifty cents. BTW The last time I saw their crummy doughnuts was at a function for seniors where we played. Made me near puke when I noticed the date on the box. Nuff said about WartMaul's slimey have a good day bullcrap.

They con you with a shoddy fake Sony and then kick your ass with a Pirated DVD, yeah you got a bargain! Think of it this way you can buy jeans with a Levis label there, that look feel and smell like the real thing, but don't wash them! When they do rip, and you have to take an hour of your time plus the expense of going to the store to exchange the defective goods, put it down to bad product. Same thing with the lemon Sony or the locking DVD disk.

Whatever you put it down to, WartMaul conned you a second time. You have now spent nearly twice as much as you would have done if you shopped in the local store - even with their inflated prices - and you still don't have Levis. May I tell you a little secret? Ok then here goes ' the pair they exchange are also fake'.

Talk about being ripped off!


Travelling to and from stores with defective goods is not my idea of saving or getting deals, more like getting screwed.

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: GUEST,Managing director of Wallmart
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 04:47 AM

I think Wallmart is a wonderful caring organisation that offers a delightful breath of fresh air shopping experience..I am pleased to tell you we have now bought the British ASDA foodstore chain so we can spread our wonderful crushing influence even further....and we operate an equal opportunities policy to all whinging pseudo leftwing whetback folkies so please feel free to shop at my stores we are here to serve you whether you like it or not..

Gobshite Grumble

MD of ASDA the company that likes to make world domination its byword...

Subject: RE: BS: Bloody WalMart
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 04 Dec 02 - 01:22 AM

Well, I was at Walmart tonight...

Hadda return something that broke after 3 weeks of use (Sony product, it's defect had nothing to do with Walmart) and while I was there found the 2nd Season of The Simpsons on DVD for 38 bucks... (45 anywhere else...)

Sure I mighta waited in line for a few minutes... and then had to wait while the chick in the Electronics department waited on others before she could get my new PlayStation2 controller out of the locked cabinet... but so what... patience... good grace... it got me far... And that wait gave me time to FIND the 2nd Season Simpsons...

The customer service counter isn't supposed to ring up new purchases... But I get the idea that because I was gratious and patient with the chick from the Electronis department, and joked around a bit with her about how busy she was when she DID get to help me... when she lead me back to the Service Desk with my stuff, she told the girl there, "Let this dude pay for the DVDs here too..." (Her words, not mine!)

So... well... I donno... maybe ya get what ya put into it eh?