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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago[Thread Closed/Bumped NC-OT]
Posted: 2/19/2008 1:41:15 AM | Please read and decide for yourself, Walmart/Sams or SUM WHERE ELSE:
This is on MSN WEBPAGE 19, FEB. 2008
Extra10/8/2007 12:01 AM ET
The end of the Wal-Mart era
Its influence on the economy is profound and lasting. But for the first time, the world's biggest retailer is having a tough time providing what consumers want.
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E-mail to a friendTools IndexPrint-friendly versionSite MapDiscuss in a Message BoardArticle IndexBy The Wall Street Journal
The Wal-Mart era, the retailer's time of overwhelming business and social influence in America, is drawing to a close.
Using a combination of low prices and relentless expansion, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, news, msgs) emerged from rural Arkansas in the 1970s to reshape the world's largest economy. Its co-founder, Sam Walton, taught Americans to demand ever-lower prices and instructed businesses on running a lean company. His company helped boost America's overall productivity, lowered the inflation rate and strengthened the buying power for millions of people.
Over time, it also accelerated the drive to manufacture products in Asia, drove countless small shops out of business and sped the decline of Main Street. Those changes are permanent.
Talk back: Is Wal-Mart past its prime?
Today, though, Wal-Mart's influence over the retail universe is slipping. In fact, the industry's titan is scrambling to keep up with swifter rivals that are redefining the business all around it. It can still disrupt prices, as it did last year by cutting some generic prescriptions in the United States to $4. But success is no longer guaranteed.
Convenience, selection and quality
Rival retailers lured Americans away from Wal-Mart's low-price promise by offering greater convenience, more selection, higher quality or better service. Amid the country's growing affluence, Wal-Mart has struggled to overhaul its down-market, politically incorrect image while other discounters pitched themselves as more upscale and more palatable alternatives.
The Internet has changed shoppers' preferences and eroded the commanding influence Wal-Mart had over its suppliers. As a result, American shoppers are increasingly looking for qualities that Wal-Mart has trouble providing.
"For the first time in a long time, quality has a chance to gain on price," says Lee Peterson, a vice president at WD Partners, an Ohio brand-consulting firm.
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Wal-Mart era: Not all bad for small business
Costco: The 'anti-Wal-Mart'
You got the big break. Now what?
The 'Wal-Mart effect' strikes again
Wal-Mart expands $4 prescription drug offerings
Now, the big-name brands that fueled Wal-Mart's climb to the top are forging exclusive distribution deals with other retailers or working to reduce their reliance on its stores.
PepsiCo (PEP, news, msgs), which favored mass-market campaigns a decade ago, recently skipped Wal-Mart when launching a new energy drink in favor of Whole Foods Market (WFMI, news, msgs). Consumer-products giant Procter & Gamble (PG, news, msgs) gets 15% of its revenue from Wal-Mart, down 3 percentage points from 2003. Wal-Mart's effort to expand internationally has had mixed success in affluent markets. Last year it exited South Korea and Germany after failing to adapt to local tastes and achieve economies of scale. In Japan, the company's low-price, high-volume approach has struggled in a country where low prices often equate to low quality.
Wal-Mart remains an enormous force in retailing, of course. Its worldwide sales are almost three times those of France's Carrefour, the world's second-largest publicly traded retailer. Wal-Mart's U.S. revenue is four and a half times that of discount-store rival Target (TGT, news, msgs) and four times that of the second-largest U.S. food retailer, Kroger (KR, news, msgs). Wal-Mart's clothing and shoe sales last year alone exceeded the total revenue of Macy's (M, news, msgs), the parent of Macy's and Bloomingdale's department stores.
Video on MSN Money
Has Wal-Mart peaked?
Journalists from BusinessWeek, MarketWatch and BrandWeek discuss the notion that Wal-Mart's dominance is on the wane.The company's unquenchable thirst for scale has been the secret to its market-changing power. "What we are is a supercenter with one-stop shopping," said Wal-Mart Vice Chairman John Menzer at an investors conference last month.
The company expects each year to build an additional 170 to 190 of the 18,000-square-meter supercenters that are its hallmark and convert 500 smaller discount stores to the bigger format over the next five years.
"We would love to wave a magic wand and (make) every one of our discount stores a supercenter," Menzer.
YEAH: I'm sure they would.
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/19/2008 3:11:45 AM | | Sounds like a great place to start a *Union*. Oooops..........That's a dirty word for the suits at Wal-Mart. They would finally have to start paying a decent wage with actual benefits to the employees. I won't shop there unless I am in dire need of something late at night and all of the honest retailers are closed. | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/19/2008 3:57:55 AM | I have worked for Walmart part time for almost a year. I didnt no what to expect pay wise. I have another job that I work part time. Was falling behind in bills. Walmart was new to this area. I was suprised at the pay. I cannt complain. They expect work for the money...dont most companys. Benefits, I was suprised with that. They offer a lot for part time and full time. My other part time job didnt offer insurance until this year. I have worked 15 years at the other job. I had no retail experience. I was not a Walmart fan to be honest. In fact I would go out of my way not to shop at a Walmart. Amazing when you need honest income what you will try. I for one am glad i did.
Unions are not what they used to be. My husband work for a company that had a union. It was great. My son worked for another company that had a union...well it wasnt so hot. I think there was a time when unions were needed. Not sure now. I do know Walmart doesnt need a union. Just my own opinion. | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/19/2008 5:30:36 AM | | Unions are definately needed - even if all they do is guarantee job security. If an employee gets into an argument with a manager, the employee should not be fired. Europe has a lot of job security benefits - especially if the worker has worked with the same employer for over one year. Guilds in the medieval era were the unions of their time and modern unions allowed large companies to be built such as Disney, American automakers, railroads, etcetera. | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/19/2008 5:55:25 AM | | Usually don't shop at WalMart. About the total of my WalMart shopping the past 5 years has been running in at Xmas time to buy some cards and wrapping stuff (paper, tape, bows), just because I happened to be in that shopping center anyways (convenience, rather than driving down the street). I certainly wouldn't go out of my way to go to WalMart. | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/19/2008 11:31:25 AM | Walmart may have peaked, and is now in sustainment mode. If it weren't Sam Walton, and Walmart, it would be someone else, with a store of a different name. Life is an ever evolving chain of events.
As for Unions, they had their time as a force for the worker, and that time has passed. Every time a Union contract comes up for renewal, the Union is always asking for the same thing; MORE. Whatever how much more the Union gets in the new contract, is passed onto the consumer.
The automobile manufacturers in the US are a good example. General Motors was on the verge of bankruptcy, and the Union contract came up for negotiation. The Union wanted MORE, and there was no more MORE to be had.
I don't shop at Walmart very often, but, when I do, I tend to spend a fair chunk of change. Low prices equals lower quality of goods. You don't go shopping at Walmart and expect to get top quality goods, when you're paying discount prices. | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/19/2008 12:04:35 PM | There was a jump on the NYSE today when Walmart released it's latest numbers.
(At least that's what we're being told )
Maybe people are waking up to the fact that buying low quality products for a low price may save you money today, but in the long run you have to buy more of them... which ends up costing you more than paying a slightly higher price for good quality...
once....
Needless to say....I don't do Wallyworld. | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/19/2008 2:01:31 PM | Low prices...low quality. You get what you pay for. Now, Walmart is considering opening a series of clinics...get your health care form Walmart! What? Discount vasectomy? Sheesh.
Walmart accounts for 10% of the American market...a huge piece to have.
Walmart has also forced manufacturers to move their operations to China in order to produce all those low priced goods...which could have been made in North America, saving thousands of jobs. Smaller stores closing because of their huge bulk. More job losses. Employees not very happy with benefits and low pay.
But...as Ford said, "Pay them enough to be able to afford the product they are making!" Car makers do that. Walmart is doing it.
They never took into consideration the cost of housing, electricity, etc, etc. Do union members want "more"? Sure they do...the cost of living goes UP, not down...so they have to have more just to maintain the status quo. A "raise" means just that...a raise in your lifestyle, not enough more to just keep even! Not many people get an actual "raise", just enough, or more often, not enough, to barely cover the same expenses as last year. Cost of living goes up, say 4% in a year, and the employer offers 4-5 % over three years. Who takes the loss??
It is not a winning game at all. | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/19/2008 10:17:03 PM | I'm sure Wal-Mart will be around for years to come. It's all about a paradigm shift...they will recognize it and change accordingly...that's why they are and will continue to be the giant they are.
As far as unions are concerned, they are crap!! It just doesn't make sense to pay some high school flunky $35/hr to put a screw in a fender and pick his nose with his other hand, while someone who has greater aspirations spends thousands of dollars and several years in an institution of higher learning to enhance their reasoning and logical thinking skills, not to mention being an expert in a particular field(s) is being paid about the same to do a job that requires so much more knowhow and has even less job security. It is just idiocy!!
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/20/2008 10:33:10 AM | Wal*Mart is on its way out
It's grown too big and it's alienated too many people.
Slowly, but surely, other smaller companies will eat away at its base and the giant will tumble.
Other than the fact that I can get a TV and a 12 gauge at 3:37am in the morning, I avoid Wal*Mart like the plague. | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/20/2008 8:40:41 PM | I avoid Walmart too because I've seen what it's done to independent businesses, small towns and how many people its put out of a job.
The misconception is that it offers lower prices. That's true for their markdown specials but not for all the regular priced items. They're no different than other retailers but while a consumer is there for the specials they will pick up their regular items because its easier and that's where Walmart gets you. | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/20/2008 10:00:40 PM | ^^^otherwise known as "lost leaders"....they'll take a hit in the hopes you'll buy other stuff at regular price....sometimes related...to minimize their "loss".
All stores do it.
With the local stores, I'll do both. ..
If I do go to the big box stores, all I buy are the lost leaders....
...because its easier and that's where Walmart gets you.
Walmart gets people because they take the short term thinking easist way out model...
Not much different than sub-prime mortages.... guaranteed to bite you in the ass...eventually... | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/21/2008 9:42:18 AM | MallWart has gone almost as far as it could go...probably why it wants to get into banking so bad.
Reminds ya of GM...they built cars, bought companies in aerospace et al, turned to making most of its coin via GMAC financing, got caught in the mortgage crisis, and now sell off what they have, and buy out employees. How long does that strategy last? | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/24/2008 9:46:16 AM | I too avoid Walmart, I've probably shopped there twice in my life. Aside from the fact that the stores don't have the merchandise I'm looking for, they are uninspiring places to be.
My biggest objection to their organization and indeed the big box conundrum is that many corporations seem to have superceded the citizens best interests, necessitating citizens fighting the harms caused by them. Big business has too much power, and small business doesn't have enough power. Small town atmosphere is obliterated once a Walmart comes on the scene......
Walmart is unfamiliar with scenarios where they must compete to acquire resources. When unemployment rates are low, they have enormous difficulty recruiting staff. And for the same reasons, most of their suppliers are not in the US or Canada. Over the past year and a half, though, Wal-Mart's growth formula has stopped working. In 2006 its U.S. division eked out its worst performance ever. And a significant percent of Wal-Mart's inspections of factories in China, Bangladesh and Nicaragua (where they have over 3,000 suppliers, many of whom are the world's biggest polluters) were announced in advance, giving factory operators the chance to hide/avoid/fix violations before inspectors arrive. Yet even among those pre-announced inspections, there were almost 10,000 violations of Wal-Mart's own policies serious enough to suspend the factory, or put it on notice. Huge FAILURE RATE there folks.
Time for Wal-Mart to read the writing on the WAL? | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/27/2008 1:56:08 PM | Don't dismiss Wal-Mart as the evil giant. What WM has done for US consumers is moderate pricing. Before WM "invaded" my old city, prices were high on groceries. Within 3 months of arriving, the existing grocers dropped their prices substantially. WM is relentless in pushing their suppliers to reduce costs and pass this savings along to WM, who in turn, passes it along to the average consumer. While there is certainly reduced quality in some lines, it's not true across the board. Many items you find at WM, you'll find in every other big box retailer across the US.
I personally despise perishable WM groceries. In an effort to increase velocity, they don't handle groceries as delicately as they should and their price driven supplier agreements yield lesser quality to start. It's rare to find strawberries I'm willing to feed my daughters and I refuse to buy meats there unless I'm totally strapped for time. They inject their steaks with a solution to "tenderize", but the offshoot is another day or two of shelf life. Give me a straight up, unadulterated steak any day of the week! Their steaks grill to an unappealing grey, instead of searing properly and don't have the right taste, no matter what I've tried.
WM is addressing the "unappealing" nature of their stores. New layouts and flooring plans are being rolled out, but it will take years to fully implement them. In the meantime, they really aren't doing as poorly as so many of you want them to.
They beat analyst predictions on earnings per share and were one of the few retailers to have a positive holiday season. Why? Because Americans want more for their dollar and WM provides that. It's not a perception, it's a fact. I work for a WM supplier and can tell you that they consistently sell our products for less than other retailers. They meet with us regularly to work on strategies which increase profit for them and us, while maintaining that value to the consumer. This is why we work with them. Show me any company that will walk away from almost a billion dollars profit per year and I'll show you a comany that doesn't want to succeed.
How did WM get so big? They opened where nobody else wanted to open. Some of their biggest volume locations are still in the middle of nowhere. They brought to rural America the convenience of suburbia. There have also been studies of the "Wal-Mart effect" on Main Street America. Yes, small retail locations have suffered when trying to compete with WM on WM's terms, but there are many occassions when Mom and Pop simply let WM come in and found that niche WM can't and won't fill. Need service on that vacuum? Can't go to Big Blue for that, any more than you can ask for a certain cut of steak. This is where Main Street succeeds. I have particular tastes and WM can't fill them. I will and do drive out of my way to frequent smaller stores who will accommodate my tastes. I pay more, but I'm more than willing to do so. Main Street has actually fared worse in areas that don't have a WM within 50 miles.
Where I refuse to pay more is for canned green beans. That can of DelMonte beans is identical, regardless of what shelf it's occupying. Show me anywhere in America that sells infant formula for less than WM and I'll show you, well, nowhere. It's also not a "loss leader". WM doesn't do loss leaders. If they can't make the money they want to make, WM simply doesn't carry that item. This is why you don't see lots of products on WM's shelves. When you see a Rollback in a WM ad, it's because the supplier is giving a price concession.
I do have concerns about WM's high reliance on Chinese goods. With three young daughters, I check out the purchases we make for them very closely. Keep in mind those plants aren't just producing for WM, and WM is one of the few US retailers actually not turning a blind eye to what's going on in Asia. Don't kid yourself, Target, KMart, Sears and the rest of the crew have shelves loaded with Chinese goods. Why? Because they're dirt cheap and most people aren't willing to pay more than $20 for a toaster or coffee pot.
Unions? Don't get me started. My dad was a dyed in the wool union man his whole life and it got him nothing. His company's wages grew so high they couldn't compete with non-union shops. Net result for dad? Unemployment. I worked for a dairy years ago and when the employees tried to bring in a union, the owners spent so much fighting it that they eventually had to sell. Who did that benefit? I believe that unions began as an admirable effort, but have transformed into nothing more than massive conglomerates that exist to ensure they continue to exist. There is as much corruption and graft in unions as there was in the companies they originally struck against. There's irony for you... | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/27/2008 2:17:30 PM |
I worked for a dairy years ago and when the employees tried to bring in a union, the owners spent so much fighting it that they eventually had to sell.
uh huh. The company must not have been paying a fair wage with decent benefits in the first place if the employees wanted a union. Why would a company (such as wal*mart) fight having a union so much if they arent afraid of their unfair treatment of employees being exposed? Most of those employees are being paid practically nothing with such lousy insurance (if any) that they need to rely on public assistance, so then who pays? We do. While the fat cats keep getting richer who run these stores in the rural areas. | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/27/2008 2:34:18 PM | | Well..Unions are often good things for those who are contract workers and have no protection from big business who exploits and takes advantage of them....I work as an independent contractor as a mental health therapist but there isnt any union I can join ....There arent any jobs in my field which are salaried and provide paid sick leave.. .Managed care reimburses about 30% of what you the client is charged for a session..They are allowed to pay me like crap because there isnt any union there to say they cant...They also can require me to complete rediculous loads of paperwork during your sessions, which Im not reimbursed for, without me being able to change that as well as requiring conditions of treatment that compromise your confidentiality...A union would be watching out for that and protecting you the healthcare consumer at the same time | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/27/2008 6:29:15 PM | While I recognize that competition is beneficial to the marketplace, I decry that Canadian culture is being wiped off the map in favour of cheap stuff. If Walmart were so great, why are there so many movements by CONSUMERS to avoid it or ban it from communities outright? It stands to reason that if cheap crap were the bottom line, everyone would buy into the Walmart philosophy. Not everyone who is opposed to Walmart works in retail either.
Walmart has had many such stumbles along the way - it's certainly been hit in the wallet with a US$1-billion loss from selling its German stores. Wally Mart was not able to compete, even with the masses of cheap stuff, against the well-established, respected German mercantilers. Germans love quality and decry crap merchandise; a projection that should have been foreseen by those at Walmart with crystal balls.
Many are surprised that Walmart's operations have contributed to America's growing deficit. As I've mentioned in my earlier posting, one has to consider that very few of Walmart's products are made in the USA. In fact, Walmart imports more foreign-produced goods into the USA than any other single company. As the USA dollar weakens, more money flows out to pay for foreign products thus worsening the USA's trade imbalance.
I too, want more for my dollar, by I find that eBay satisfies that need. No doubt, I'm not avoiding the issue of cheap goods from China and elsewhere. And with eBay of course, I can avoid the dismal atmosphere of the local Wally Mart.
Happy shopping everyone........... | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/28/2008 7:19:22 AM | OP, I read that article about 2 months ago on AOL News. I can only hope/pray that Walmart is on their way out. Unfortunately, my hick town supports two of them. I attribute that to our uneducated local goverment. Many of the intelligent citizens protested the second Walmart and it fell on deaf ears. Walmart ( in my town ) has forced the other grocery retailers to inflate their prices to survive. If anything, I would support a Trader Joe's or Costco first ( both ). Of course, we all know about the relationship w/China and Walmart. There's no need to comment on whats already been written.
To address the subject on unions? I'm very versed on that topic. I worked for a union for many, many years. In the beginning it was about brotherhood/sisterhood and sticking together. Somewhere along the line our local union became strictly business - show me the money ( union dues ). There were constant disputes over pay scales, health benefits ( senior employees that profit more ) & etc;.. with the company. If, you had a problem w/managment, the union would gloss over the tension, instead of fighting for justice. I once said to a shop steward; give me my money back and I'll eliminate the middle man.
I'll never work for another union or consider working for Walmart - ever. | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/28/2008 8:44:28 AM | | I initially was happy with shopping at a Walmart but that perspective changed radically in the last year. The meats are processed and prepackaged, how long you want them there? Produce is so mishandled and rotting right in the display bins. Some leading prices are good but again you have got to know what you're buying and do some comparison. What you feel are deals you better check and compare, which most people don't do. In some markets Walmart is about the only major place to go unfortunately. They have driven the outsourcing to new heights screwing the American Consumer and Worker. Then claim their prices are lower and better yeah they have to be we frigging can't afford anything else DUH | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/28/2008 9:29:49 AM | My job is a union job. I am not pleased with how my union is run. It appears as though my union is too weak. I won't say they are doing the companies bidding, but they are on the edge. Walmart is just evil, but it's a good business model. That can't be argued.
The company I work for is steadily trying to adopt Walmart policies. It's pretty sad, because they don't realize we don't compete with them. As soon as we start selling electronics, clothes, furniture etc in real quantity? Then yeah, we'd be competing. Right now we're just a grocer.
I would go so far as to say Walmart = Latter day Mike Tyson. No substance, but everyone's afraid to compete and therefore doesn't.
It's the Wall Street Quarterly Report Syndrome. Nevermind how much money you could make the entire year, how much can we NOT SPEND this quarter? We have to do what Walmart does!
The focus on not spending money removes focus on making money. You have to be willing to spend money, smartly, in large amounts to make any. My company instigated a computer ordering system about 20 years ago. The idea being hourly department heads would spend less time ordering product. One of the regional managers didn't like it. He questioned whether or not it was ready for release. They told him he had no choice, he's region was going live and he had to deal with it. He continued to balk. He was fired over the disagreement.
He went on to join Target in a similar posistion and is partly responsible for their continued expansion. Meanwhile, the system they instigated 20 years ago still doesn't work. It's generally ignored and bypassed.
Walmart is one of the leaders of this rigid form of top down management, and it's finally starting to crack. I just hope the copycats don't follow suit. | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/28/2008 2:00:53 PM | | I havent shopped at a Walmart in over 10 years....I dont support exploitation of young workers overseas..Americans need to wake up here and get educated about what the "free market" does to poor people in other countries...Especially those in the South and Midwest, who shop Walmart the most and have the most stores | |
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| A friend told me about Walmart years ago......and I agreed. Please read all.
Posted: 2/28/2008 7:14:23 PM | | Ironically enough, although you denounce free market ecconmics, you are embracing it- through the free market, each individual is free to look at a business and decide if they wish to invest in it- if most people believe as you do, Walmart will fail and business's that follow your ideals will succeed. | |
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