Movie: Wal-Mart: The high cost of low prices

[notstock71]

Has anyone else seen this movie? I saw it the other night. It goes into some very specific details on how much damage Wal-Mart is doing on the economy. It goes from the low wages for employees and Wal-Marts encouragement of the employees to go on state aid to the sweat shops they buy goods from. I was in shock about the violent crimes at their stores and them acknowledging the problem but not wanting to spend money to prevent it. Their CEO made 27 million in 2005. Wal-Mart set up an employee assistance fund for when bad things happen to an employee such as a house fire. Employees (already strapped for income) donated 5 million to it, the company gave $6000. There is a big part on the effects on small towns, running the mom and pop stores out of business. Other topics are abusing tax incentives, fines for multiple counts of water pollution and their efforts to identify and fire the employees who want to unionize. I could go on all day about this movie but I HIGHLY recommend watching it, I just ordered it from Amazon, $12.97.

[Ponch ®]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vioWgolslm0

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vz3_YSiAu8s

EDIT: Find part 3 on your own as it's ?not work safe". - Troy

[chargerboy69]

I could go on all day about this movie but I HIGHLY recommend watching it, I just ordered it from Amazon, $12.97.

What? Walmart did not have it in stock?

I have learned long ago that topics like this will get locked. So I will be good, and not say anything to start the locking process. Even though I feel like taking your statement above and tear it apart line by line.

Watch the link Ponch posted above. This is the side you have not seen.

[notstock71]

Just to clarify this, I am not bashing Wal-Mart. I saw the clips posted. I just said it was interesting to watch, it makes you think. You could make this same movie about any corporation. I'm not out to start an argument so please don't take my post above as anything more than what it says.

[RD]

very interesting...  penn and teller are funnier than shiet

[my73charger]

In before the...   

[Charger_Fan]

Does the movie show clips of Hillary when she was on their board of investors?

There, in befo' da  

[Ponch ®]

EDIT: Find part 3 on your own as it's ?not work safe". - Troy

My bad, Chief. 

[dkn1997]

EDIT: Find part 3 on your own as it's ?not work safe". - Troy

My bad, Chief. 

I would not want to watch that with kids around either.  a ton of curses.  it could prompt a lot of questions by a 7 year old who's in the room doing homework, don't ask me how I know. lol

[AKcharger]

Walmart is the destroyer of worlds...Hitler would be proud!

[moparjohn]

I don't shop there, there a lot more to life than the lowest price and the bottom line. And besides NO ONE should make 27 mill a year, NO ONE!!

[Shakey]

I don't shop there, there a lot more to life than the lowest price and the bottom line. And besides NO ONE should make 27 mill a year, NO ONE!!

And besides NO ONE should make 27 mill a year, NO ONE!!

Why not?

Whew - I'm sure glad I got to post before th locks were put on this one - it's off the hook!   

[hemihead]

I don't see any difference between Walmart and any other corporation or business in America . Look inside yourselves and you see the same thing ... GREED . Everybody wants to rake in all the profit and pay the laborer minimum wage, no benefits , and work them to death . Some people have to work so much that they have no life . So Walmart isn't the only one guilty .

[leeandgrant]

4all of you that do not shop at the economy destroying Wal-mart, thank you for being part of America that has a backbone. The only way to send Wal-mart a message is to simply not shop at their stores. Remember this also includes Sam's Club. For those of you that make the argument that Wal-mart is the only place that has what I need. First of all, IS IT A NEED OR A WANT.  Secondly, Wal-mart is not the only place that has what you want. Check other stores, shop on-line or simply try to live without it. 

I have heard comments saying that it is just another corporation running wild with corporate greed. Yes, it is true about the corporate greed. But you and I as Americans need to band together and let them that we are getting sick of it. CEO makes $27,000,000 but does everything he can to avoid offering health insurance to their employees. Make them or persuade them that their only option is to apply for state fund health care. And we all know how that is funded.....

Another thing, Sam Walton founded the company on low prices and giving small AMERICAN BUSINESS a place to sell their product. I think Mr. Walton is rolling over in his grave seeing what his heirs are doing. You look at product labels and find the country where the product was made. I would almost guess that less than 20% say MADE IN THE USA. Now you point back to corporate greed, for other companies to compete with Wal marts prices other retailers must also buy foreign made products to compete. More US jobs lost. A condensed story I read about a nasty thing Wal-mart did. A paper converting company was bidding on a run of those plain school folders that you buy your kids for school for 19 cents that have no graphics just one monotone color. They did all they could to get the lowest bid in. They did. Wal-mart granted them the contract. This company put off all other work to run this huge batch. They completed the work and shipped out the product. Wal-mart refused the whole order. Why? The tint of the color was just a skosh off. Instead of working it out and reducing the price or just flat out accepting the order,(like a bunch of elementary kids are going to give a S@%T that the tint is off!!!!!) they almost sent a company out of business.

SO, I will stop ranting , but if we as Americans keep laying over to corporate America we will all be working for minimum wage and have no health care and working until we are dead.  PLEASE STOP HAVING THE ATTITUDE THERE IS NOTHING WE CAN DO


OH, IN B4 THE 

[hemihead]

Don't buy at Walmart but run to the Rice dealer and buy the newest Jap car on the market . Makes sense to me .
And lots of CEO's make $27 mil or more a year and offer no benefits or wouldn't if they could get away with it . So why not boycott all those companies also ? The only people that lose by boycotting a product is the Blue collar worker .You know they always cut from the bottom first .  So let's all be Americans with backbone  and put more ( poor ) people out of work .
Would you accept  , if say , your Charger paint or interior color was " a skosh " off ?
If we want to improve anything , we can all stop being so greedy . Someday we will wonder why or kids or grandkids are pushing brooms with a college degree. That will be because everyone wants to keep everything for themselves.

[leeandgrant]

Hemihead,
I do boycott a lot of companies for practices that they continue to do that i feel do not benefit the American economy or the American worker.
Your comment about buying rice burners, have a yard full of dodges and one pos Pontiac.
Secondly, you did not get the point on the school folders.
Thirdly, I am a college graduate banging on rail cars because Wal- mart has sent many good paying jobs out of my area. Not complaing about my job either. I work for a company that still values its employees with a good wage, free healthcare, a pension, 401k and good vacation.
My point on boycotting Wal-mart is the simple fact that most of the merchandise contained in the walls of Wal-mart are made in China, Tialand, Malaysia, Mexico or any other developing country that has no safety guidelines or good working conditions and sends manufacturing jobs over seas. But there are some people that think Wal-mart is the next best thing since sliced bread.

[JoeyGowdy]

Yes, it shows up ever-so-often on the History Channel and the Documentary Channel 

[derailed]

Don't buy at Walmart but run to the Rice dealer and buy the newest Jap car on the market . .

Buy a Toyota at the rice dealer or a GM at the taco dealer, seems either way your gonna get heartburn. Either way I agree wal mart sucks.

[hemihead]

lee and grant
I understand how you feel but by boycotting one company doesn't change the facts. The only people it hurts is the blue collar guy making minimum wage. The people in that company that make $50 or $60k or more  a year sitting behind a desk buying this stuff from foreign countries will still have their nice job , homes , cars, toys ( Chargers ) , and families . You can buy all the new Dodges and Pontiacs you want but look at where most of the parts are bought from. Same places . So shouldn't we be boycotting the new Challenger also ? Most people here hate labor unions but at least with the labor unions America had a middle class .And that middle class bought alot of goods to keep the economy going .  But the white collar people wanted a bigger piece of the pie . I live near Pittsburgh and we had all the good paying jobs eliminated because greedy corporate owners wanted labor unions out and labor to work for 1950's wages . And that was in the early 80's BEFORE Walmart .What the answer is , I don't know . Maybe when this country fails and we are all ( including the rich ) are slave labor for the Chinese we will figure out that soetimes you don't have to have it all . This isn't all Walmart's fault . People need not look any further than themselves .

[Shakey]

Hemihead,
I do boycott a lot of companies for practices that they continue to do that i feel do not benefit the American economy or the American worker.
Your comment about buying rice burners, have a yard full of dodges and one pos Pontiac.
Secondly, you did not get the point on the school folders.
Thirdly, I am a college graduate banging on rail cars because Wal- mart has sent many good paying jobs out of my area. Not complaing about my job either. I work for a company that still values its employees with a good wage, free healthcare, a pension, 401k and good vacation.
My point on boycotting Wal-mart is the simple fact that most of the merchandise contained in the walls of Wal-mart are made in China, Tialand, Malaysia, Mexico or any other developing country that has no safety guidelines or good working conditions and sends manufacturing jobs over seas. But there are some people that think Wal-mart is the next best thing since sliced bread.

What kind of computer are you using to post on this site?  Do you know where it was made?   

Who says it's up to the employer to provide health care for his thousands of employees who are, at least from what I have seen, obese smokers who take their lunch break at the McDonalds within the store.   

Sounds like you should be after the Government to step in and set some ground rules.   

[hemihead]

 I guess you own your own business or are white collar . I guess everyone should be working 14 hour days , 7 days a week for 0.10 a day like in 1917 just so the employer can think he's a king . What ever happened to civic responsibility ? Or is it now a Business standard to take all they can get from a community and never give anything back ?
Do you really think all blue collar people are that way ? Have you seen the fat white collar slobs behind their desks at work with their guts so big they can't reach the phone to use it ?
As far as the Government is concerned , why not have them step in ? They tell me how to do everything else with my life . Why stop with big business ?

[Shakey]

I guess you own your own business or are white collar . I guess everyone should be working 14 hour days , 7 days a week for 0.10 a day like in 1917 just so the employer can think he's a king . What ever happened to civic responsibility ? Or is it now a Business standard to take all they can get from a community and never give anything back ?
Do you really think all blue collar people are that way ? Have you seen the fat white collar slobs behind their desks at work with their guts so big they can't reach the phone to use it ?
As far as the Government is concerned , why not have them step in ? They tell me how to do everything else with my life . Why stop with big business ?

I'm gonna guess you're referring to my post so I'll reply:

Your country, like mine, offers endless opportunities to each and every one of it's citizens. 

Some choose to go to school, get an education and decide on a career.  Once the career gets started, your success depends on your efforts.

Others choose to drop out of school, take any job they can get as long as it doesn't require any effort or thought and cruise through life hoping someone will look after them.  Human nature, the path of least resistance.

The choice is yours.

[hemihead]

Same old answers but no answer about the greed of some .

[Ponch ®]

Same old answers but no answer about the greed of some .

"Greed, for lack of a better word, is good. Greed is right; greed works. Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit. Greed, in all of its forms, greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge — has marked the upward surge of mankind and greed, you mark my words — will save...the malfunctioning corporation called the USA."

[Shakey]

Same old answers but no answer about the greed of some .

On the contrary, same old whining from the lazy folks who expect the ambitious to carry the dead weight.