Fight Back Against Walmart - When Does the Cost of Being Frugal Become Too High?

July 6th, 2008 • Related • Filed Under
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When I was growing up there were certain kids on the playground that ruled. They were the the bullies, the ones who either physically - for the boys- or verbally - for the girls - took control by plain force or other more devious means. Out of fear, I often joined in - because who would want to be on the bad side of one of those bullies?

Now, I’m grown up, and hey, guess what? Those bullies - also adults - are at it again. Only this time the playground is the consumer market.

What am I talking about?

Fortune Magazine recently published it’s American Fortune 500 list - the top U.S. corporations based on revenue - for 2008.

Number one on the list, Walmart.

The Global Fortune 500 list - the top worldwide companies based on revenue - for 2008 has not yet been released, but in 2007 numero uno was - guess who - Walmart.

How does this highly “successful” company repeatedly end up at the top of the heap? According to COOP America, NPR, and Mother Jones, among others, it’s because it doesn’t play fair.

 

Here’s a synopsis of COOP America’s Responsible Shopper profile:

Walmart’s COOP America Profile:

“• Wal-Mart operates over 6,500 discount stores throughout the United States, Canada, and Mexico and sells products ranging from groceries to clothing to automotive and electronic equipment.

• Due to low wages and negligible benefits, thousands of Wal-Mart employees are dependent on public assistance to meet their basic needs, and American taxpayers eventually subsidize Wal-Mart’s low prices.

• Wal-Mart hurts U.S. communities by undercutting local merchants and increasing urban sprawl, and its suppliers have been cited for labor and human rights violations.

• Wal-Mart has been repeatedly accused of union busting in the US and Canada, and of using a “Labor Relations Team” that stops Wal-Mart workers from unionizing.

• Wal-Mart’s overseas suppliers have been repeatedly accused of using sweatshop labor.

• A recent investigation by the AFL-CIO affiliated Solidarity Center found that Wal-Mart is sourcing shrimp from plants in Thailand and Bangladesh where workers as young as 8 years old are subject to sweatshop conditions.

• Shop with Go Green and pressure Wal-Mart to reduce its environmental impact and respect its workers.

– Profile Updated 06/12/2008″

For more details go to the Responsible Shopper Walmart entry.

 

If it were me, I’d be embarassed to be at the top of the Fortune 500 list.

Because the only way to get to the top of this list is by using unscrupulous business practices with the single ultimate goal of profit. How can a legitimate company possibly compete? And for that matter, why would they want to?

Walmart has no scruples when:

  • it comes to buying products from sweatshops exploiting children as young as eight years old.
  • the majority of people employed at Walmart right here in the USA are paid such low wages that they live below the poverty line.

Whether it’s individuals such as Hitler, or the more recent Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, or corporations run by individuals, such as Walmart, Target, and others, there will always be those few in our society that lack a conscience, that are willing to get ahead at the exploitation of those who play by the rules.

As a community, we need to step up to the plate. Unless it’s a matter of our own family’s survival, we need to work together to let these companies know that we do not support these types of business practices.

And the easiest way for us to send them the message is to not buy their products.

The cost is too great.

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There Are 8 Responses So Far. »

  1. Comment by no imagecole (Who am I?) on 7 July 2008:

    I can’t say for sure that Walmart does X or does not do Y but I know that, as a former employee, I was well above the poverty line - and I was only a cashier!

    coles last blog post..Hot Hot Heat!

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  2. Comment by no imageJenni (Who am I?) on 8 July 2008:

    China is a communist country, where woman are still forced to have abortions. People seem to forget about this, and not look where the stuff they buy are made. And in voting with our dollars, buying in certain stores, we, without thinking, decide what stores do well in our towns and cities. There use to be a time when it would make the news when people were using child labor and sweatshops, but it doesn’t seem like people care as much anymore. Neither does the press. Walmart is making a lot money for China, which is where all the money for the products go back to, not here. And the jobs are also leaving the country. We need to wake up to what all is happening to us as a country as a whole, and not thing only of our part of it.

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  3. Comment by no imageAndy (Who am I?) on 9 July 2008:

    “Because the only way to get to the top of this list is by using unscrupulous business practices with the single ultimate goal of profit.”

    Haha…that’s funny. Profits are what drive America and let you splash all these advertisements all over this site so you can turn your own “profit”

    Oh Andy, but at least I don’t have any workers that I’m going to exploit!!! I bet that would be your response.

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  4. Comment by no imagemikey777 (Who am I?) on 12 July 2008:

    I think it would be wonderful if everyone could stop shopping at Wal Mart. I really hate that place. We need to remember, though, that a lot of people these days really have no choice, due to the rising costs of…well everything.

    I don’t like anything Wal Mart stands for, nor the fact that a huge portion of their items are bought from China and other countries that promote terrible labor practices.

    It’s not always as easy as just making a decision not to shop at Wal Mart. I sure wish it was…

    mikey777s last blog post..Politicians Try To Get The Working Class Vote

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  5. Comment by no imageKristin (Who am I?) on 13 July 2008:

    I’m sure we can all agree putting up advertisments on a webpage is nowhere near equivalent to companies using child labour to cut down on costs.

    We all know profits drive America, but HOW Walmart goes about getting those ridiculous net earnings (child labour, sweat-shop environments, communist-like policies on unions, and minimal benefits to employees) is unacceptable.

    Yes- they have cheap crap for North American’s to buy. However we all know that none of us would even consider shopping there if American 8-year olds were making our shoes.

    I completely agree that some families make very little money and Walmart is the only place that seems affordable…but I wonder what the reaction would be if you told those parents to send their 8 year-old kids out to work to support the family income …?

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  6. Comment by no imagePenny Buchko (Who am I?) on 27 July 2008:

    Where would you suggest we buy instead? The places that charge more? They probably have most of the same business practices; they just charge us more so they can keep a larger profit. Small businesses are being driven out by larger shopping centers and malls, not just Wal-Mart. I did like it better before Sam Walton died, when Wal-Mart bought only American-made products whenever possible. But I don’t know of any place that does that anymore. My family survives financially by shopping garage sales, thrift stores, and Wal-Mart. We love Wal-Mart!

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  7. Comment by Trackbacks on 6 September 2008:

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