This morning I watched a bit of Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices.
It is another of the offerings in the "Wal-Mart is Evil" genre.
I hate the WM just as much as the next person, if nothing else for those migraine-inducing lights and the miserable shopping experience. The documentary profiles many former WM employees who speak at length about the unaffordable health plan. One woman's comments struck me like a bolt of lightning. She was a single mom with a couple of adorable little boys, plagued with a low-paying job and plenty of expensive expenses like daycare. She was not able to maintain the premiums for the WM health plan and reluctantly, gratefully, and heavily relied on public programs like WIC.
She also spoke about having her paycheck deposited, clocking out, and then doing the family shopping before leaving work. Therein lies the dichotomy...this lady was a victim of Wal-Mart's notoriously low wages, and yet she was also a beneficiary of the low prices.
There are millions in this country who are similarly situated...feeling angry at Wal-Mart's alleged injustices and yet thankful for the availability of cheap toys and socks and tools.
Many advocate raising the minimum wage to a more "reasonable" living wage. I'm sure nearly all who earn such a paltry amount would be delighted to have a larger paycheck. The darker underside to this argument is that those very employees would no longer have such low prices available to them. Can you think of a for-profit entity that will sacrifice revenue for the common good of society? Corporations are not compassionate. If their costs increase, so will the price of goods sold.
I recognize the circuitous nature of this discussion. It begs the question, Is there even an answer at all?
8 comments:
Sigh. I wish there were an answer to all of this mess. Isn't there always a rub, though? No perfect solution?
I totally agree about the minimum wage issue. That's why I always vote against any increase to it. The people who make minumum wage do not benefit at all from increases because everything they buy suddenly costs more. And those of us who don't make minimum wage, actually take a hit because we did not get the raise that they did, but the stuff we buy costs us more, too.
Oh Lord, WM is e.v.i.l. But, really, what corporation isn't? They are only in it for the profit as all businesses are. Since the low cost places DO serve the population that needs low prices, the best thing is to support local mom and pops if you can afford to.
That might only make sense in my head.
I agree with you. I don't know what the answer is.
Part of the evil of Walmart is not just how they treat their employees, but how they treat the companies whose goods they sell. They basically force companies who make reputable products to make a crappy product line for Walmart (say, like Goodyear Tires for example). Then some unsuspecting customer goes to Walmart and thinks they're getting a GREAT deal on tires, and buying a good name brand. Then the tires are AWFUL and fall apart much sooner than if they had bought regular-priced Goodyear tires at Sears. It's really shameful that this happens, but the companies really can't say no to Walmart because of the volume of business they do through Walmart. The customer is who pays the price.
Fortunately I can afford to not shop at Walmart - and I have lots of other options because of where I live. Walmart came into my hometown (of 5000 people) and basically decimated the town. All the little mom and pop shops around the town square basically dried up because they could not compete with Walmart. I wish little towns would make Walmart open a store on the town square instead of 2-3 miles outside the town. That way the town would still benefit from the community feel of a small town, instead of everyone passing each other in their cars as they drive to Walmart.
Sorry for the looong comment!
I just try not to shop there! I try to support mom and pops as much as I can.
I agree, no perfect solution. I hate to send work out of the country because Americans can't/won't pay the high price of American wages...but then it helps the economic situation in other countries...while industry withers here...and so on and so forth.
So true.
I try not to go there, but the damn things do what they do best...suck people in on the convenience factor. It's the one stop shop and in today's busy carousel of schedules, they make it too easy.
(you have me thinking)....
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