Jib-Jab! Big Box Mart.

[knitwits1975]

I believe this is a must see for all of us here. This is funny but perhaps all too real for some of us. Probably also hits home for those who replied to thread #3592. This video made it's debut on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno last week. Click on the Big Box Mart logo to play the video. Be patient for the 30 second Capital One advertisement. I won't ruin it for those of you who haven't yet seen it by telling you more about it. I'll talk more about in a later reply. Please share your thoughts.

JibJab

jibjab.com

 

[hoover1060]

wow...

Kinda scary, and yes I can see how it could and IS happening...

The building I work in is right next to a "Big Box mart" Whenever we have a bad day at work, my co workers all threaten the boss that we're going over there to work...

 

[hooverwheelaway]

I agree...

It's all too true. Just look at Hoover in North Canton, OH... all of those people that have had to essentially start over as their jobs were pulled out from underneath them (among other cities where the same thing has happened, and keeps happening).

Sort of a parallel subject--My boss handed me a copy of this editorial last week... since it's public domain, I felt compelled to post a link to it. I think it's an exceptionally written piece and really says a lot about Wal Mart.

Fred

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/oct2005/tc2005107_6620.htm

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Misc thoughts

I belong to a political website where we discuss many matters.

Whenever the Walmart/Big Box topic comes up, I find that I am usually in a party of one, and the "pack mentality" prevails and I get jumped on.

I get alot of this:

The people at Walmart don't have to work there. If they don't like it there, work elsewhere.

Walmart gives opportunities to unskilled people.

Walmart is great for the economy, it lets people with less money get more.

Walmart is great because it does not support unions, which are driving our country into the ground.

Walmart functions within the law. If you can't take the competition, you should not be in business.

I always get variations like the above. Then there will be some a-hole on there that will say "I love Walmart. I even get my eyewear there, it is cheap and it's fine quality. Everything they do is great. They are getting into groceries and I will get my groceries there too. Why pay extra for union supermarkets. I heard they are getting into banking. I am going to move my accounts there as soon as they do!"

I don't know what it is, but when people gush about how great WalMart is, I want to throttle them. But I have seen people like in the Jib Jab ad. Carts full of crap they don't really need, and will all break shortly. But it's cheap, so what the heck.

Every one of us here, who are a pretty enlightened bunch, have seen what the big box mentality has gotten us. You get low prices, but you LOSE CHOICE. You lose service. When I mention this to the other folks, they laugh and say, there are still those stores. And they should diversify and provide something that WalMart doesn't. That is called finding your niche. I had one idiot claim that I am so stupid to "waste my money" on full service stores. He claimed that he bet he had alot more money than I did. I let him continue with his personal fantasies.

Usually I shut them up when I point out that many times other stores have found their "niche", to then have that niche incorporated into WalMart, and again the little guy loses. It's kind of like creating a new operating system in the shadow of Microsoft. Good luck.

Do I want protectionism? No. More government controls, no. I don't know where the answer is. But the problem, like most problems, is multi faceted. It is not just the greedy corporations. It's US.

We LET it happen. Every time our new Rival ice cream maker breaks and we just throw it out and go get a new one, we let it happen. Every time we give up seeking out the small stores to patronize and just make it easy on ourselves and go to a big box store, we let it happen. Every time we do all our Christmas shopping at one big box store for convenience, we let it happen.

And our expectations on low prices, what the hell is up with that. People think a multi-speed bike is $70. I bought my 10 speed bike in 1972 for $70! Bikes aren't $70, they should be $200. We just think they should be cheap, because all the bike makers have turned to China where they can pay people $1 an hour. My conservative friends (and I am conservative, but here we part ways)just think this is fine. They think this is an even playing field, because, hey, that was more than the people in China were getting before we set up factories there! To me, I want someone to tell me how we didn't just simply move slave labor to another country. For all those who decried slavery and indentured servitude and child labor and sweatshops in the US past, where are all these people now? Oh, they happily shop at WalMart.

I explain that when manufacturing is done here, all the peripheral business from raw materials to coffee shops to insurance companies to contractors that support those businesses benefit. And they pay the jobs that are NOT minimum wages. And the people that work there acquire what I call "transportable skills"--things such as management, human resources, accounting--that can be used in other jobs in a person's career. You know, something besides retail. When I mention these things, I am usually chastised about not understanding business, being a union sympathizer, being against free choice in the market place. You see, Conservatives are the absolute worst at allowing alternative viewpoints within the Party. It doesn't matter that I have worked full time since 1977 when I was 16 (ok so it wasn't legal) put myself through college, and have owned a consulting company for years. I just don't understand how business works, see.

Big Box stores don't believe in free choice. They believe in THEIR choice. They don't give a rat's behind for anything but their organization. Hey, greed is not always bad, and believe me, I am not aligning myself with the PC, anti-corporation, all business is evil crowd. They're both wrong.

But nothing changes until we change. When you buy a product that is not right, call up their customer service and demand them to make it right. Complain about their Chinese made garbage. Let them know what you think. Demand they fix it. Go to the stores when something is wrong and bitch about the quality. Over and over. It's what I am starting to do. You can do it without being over the top and yelling at a clerk that has no control over it. Get the manager involved. Show him how something is crappy when it is. Make him advise his buyer.

It's not something that is going to change by being depressed about it. Reject bad quality. And patronize the stores and websites that have products made in America. It's not always easy, but nothing worthwhile is.

As for me personally? I hate WalMart. I hate everything about it. I mean no offense to anyone who is a member here and works there or shops there. But it's my experience. I hate the lighting. I think it looks like a Taiwanese flea market. The clothes suck, the electronics are cheap. It seems the people shopping there are the same people you fine waiting in line at the DMV. Geez, that sounds elitist, but heck, it's true.

And you know what? I would like to meet that old guy that they have on those commercials as the "happy greeter". You know why? Because I don't think he's freaking happy. I would like to ask him:

"Hey, what are you so happy about? You're like 75, and you are on your feet all day greeting the schmucks wondering into your store. Don't give me that line that you don't need the money, or you are just doing something so you are not bored. I don't buy that. Not bored! Isn't reading Archie in the comics in a nice overstuffed chair more interesting than standing there on your aching feet all day? Man, why aren't you on the golf course! You're 75, I would hope that for working all your life you are able to do that. Don't sell me that you love working there. Your boss is half your age and he got his job by jamming his head into inappropriate places. Do you like the phony hoo rah they make you do at the beginning of the day like you are in pre-school? How's that for respect. Do you like the kids in the stereo section to refer to you as the "old guy", and shake their heads that they don't end up like you?" That's what I would like to say to that guy.

Man, if you really need the job, I am all for it. Just don't try to make me believe that it's the best thing since sliced bread.

OK ranting off for the night.

Whew.

 

[petek]

It's funny how you don't hear all this Wal-mart bashing to any great extent here in Canada which more than likely has to do with the fact that everyone is covered by basic Medicare and most mid to large companies offer their employee's extended coverage for free or share part of the cost in a group plan. Extended coverage covers things like a semi-private or private room and (ambulance fee's which some provinces cover, some don't), vision care and dental are not covered in Canada under Medicare unless for medical reasons so an affordable group plan is common. Any Walmart employees I've ever spoken with are satisfied. Where ever a Walmart has opened the whole area surrounding it seems to blossom, new stores move in, old malls get revamped and revitalized.
On the other hand it does bother me to see just about everything made in China, nothing much is made here anymore either, but then all the other stores are selling the very same things, not just WalMart. Costco here is packed, Best Buy and Future Shop all seem to be thriving as well as the multitude of Home Depots and clones not to mention the Linen & Things, BB&B's, Pier Ones and their clones, PetSmarts, PetLands,Petceteras everywhere. In the last 10 to 15 years these places have all exploded onto the landscape selling made in China and they're all surrounded by smaller adjunct businesses doing the same thing or specializing upscale or downscale, i.e. the dollar stores for the really crappy made in China.

 

[Brneyedgrl80]

I have to say that I absolutely abhor Walmart. I don't shop there even though I know I can get things cheaper there, for me it's the principle. I don't make a lot of money, but the money I do make I want it spent in the appropriate places in my opinion.

Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in the world with over $10 billion in profits. Yet, Wal-Mart lowers our wages, ships our jobs overseas, and shifts their health care costs onto American taxpayers.

In 2003, sales associates, the most common job in Wal-Mart, earned on average $8.23 an hour for annual wages of $13,861.The 2003 poverty line for a family of three was $15,260.

I have some friends who shop at Walmart, and I don't really say anything to them because its their right to shop where they want to, but I always think to myself "Do you really know how this is affecting my future and America's future everytime you shop there?"

It may not seem like a big deal. How does shopping at one store affect a nation? But when millions are people are shopping at that store it does make a difference.

 

[dalangdon]

Wal-Mart Fans

Is it just me, or does it seem like we have a lot of people in the country who will just blindly follow any perceived leader, corporate or otherwise? How did we become so gullible? My parent's generation would have never been so easily duped. Maybe it was because of their experiences in the war and depression.

Wal-Mart is a corporation. While corporations have foolishly been given the same "rights" as humans by the US Supreme Court, they are intrinsically amoral, and as history as proven (again and again and again) not to be trusted.

It's part of the dumbing down of the country: Don't question, don't make waves, don't think - just watch your TV and shop.

 

[jmirawm]

mom and pop stores.........

You do know, Walmart was started as a mom and pop store in Northwest Arkansas. Sam Walton was a hard working down to earth man. I would say that Wal Mart has good Karma. All his good deeds have came back to him. They continue to do good things for the communities in which they are located. <p> I would say that this is the ultimate mom and pop store dream come true. Hard working man all his life. Something about Northwest arkansas. Harps - Food Stores, Tyson - Chicken, Waltons - Walmart, <p> To me, The Wal Mart story is one of dreams coming true for a poor hard working family. What, now that they are successful, should they just quit >? <p> I work with people living below the poverty line everyday. They have a hard time making ends meet as it is. Wal mart is successful because they supply a service (low prices) that is in demand.<p> Here, read a little about this hard working man. And I never hear any Wal mart employees complaining about their jobs, I have yet to see a walmart employee post or say anything about their lousy benefits. The workers here always seem happy to be at work.

http://www.stfrancis.edu/ba/ghkickul/stuwebs/bbios/biograph/walton1.htm

 

[Bearpeter]

Walmart.... ASDA!!

They are one and the same here in the uk! All the advertising says it is the lowest priced supermarket in the uk for the 8th year running.
Sorry but i do not shop there.... Absolute crap!

The lime-green fleeces put me off before any of this political rant!

On a serious note. The Box mart ad does smell of the ASDA we Brits know (and some love).

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Try entering into Google

Walmart and lawsuit and see for yourself all the happy workers.

 

[jmirawm]

I googled it ...........

this was interesting: <p>Lawsuits a volume business at Wal-Mart

By Richard Willing, USA TODAY


By Matthew Minard, The Shreveport Times, for USA TODAY
The retailer has been sued over matters ranging from the security of parking lots to the actions of crowds of bargain-hunters.

Wal-Mart is a legend in American business, a 39-year-old retail dynamo that trails only ExxonMobil in annual revenue. But in America's courtrooms, Wal-Mart has another distinction: As the company's sales have soared, analysts say, it appears to have become the nation's most popular private-sector target for lawsuits.

By its own count, Wal-Mart was sued 4,851 times last year — or nearly once every two hours, every day of the year. Juries decide a case in which Wal-Mart is a defendant about six times every business day, usually in favor of the Bentonville, Ark., retail giant. Wal-Mart lawyers list about 9,400 open cases.

No one keeps a comprehensive list of all the nation's litigation, but legal analysts believe that Wal-Mart is sued more often than any American entity except the U.S. government, which the Justice Department estimates was sued more than 7,500 times last year. Dozens of lawyers across the United States now specialize in suing Wal-Mart; many share documents and other information via the Internet.

But the huge volume of Wal-Mart lawsuits is only half the story.

About Wal-Mart

Founded: 1962

Headquarters: Bentonville, Ark.

Employees: 1.2 million worldwide

2000 revenue: $191 billion

2000 net income: $6.3 billion

Shoppers per week: Nearly 100 million

Stores*
• Wal-Mart stores: 1,667
• Supercenters: 998
• Sam's Clubs: 486
• Neighborhood Markets: 23

International operations:* Argentina (11 stores); Brazil (21); Canada (177); China (14); Germany (93); Korea (7); Mexico (520); Puerto Rico (17); and the United Kingdom (246).

* As of July 31
Source: Wal-Mart Stores<p> If so many people are unhappy with their employer.....why work there ? GET A JOB you enjoy. People complain and sue to much in my opinion. Always complaining they want more, but not willing to do more to get, Unless it is suing someone to get it.

 

[jmirawm]

seeing the other side.....

I like this article. I see your point about box stores. I just dont get blaming Walmart. This is a very interesting read<P>excerpt: Faulting Wal-Mart for America's wage stagnation is also unfair. Retail is an industry not known for developing employee skills. No matter how much it needs workers, Wal-Mart won't offer defined benefit pension plans or health insurance coverage for retirees. And neither will virtually any retailer that relies largely on low-skilled, temporary workers.

Suppose Sam Walton had spent his life as a farmer, and Wal-Mart never existed. Would baggers at Winn-Dixie and shelf-stockers at Costco be making a living wage and have great benefits? Would Kmart have avoided bankruptcy? Would small grocery stores in small-town downtowns be thriving? The answer to all three questions is likely no. More likely is that other companies would have married discounting—which existed before Wal-Mart—to free trade, weakening unions, and better technology.

http://slate.msn.com/id/2089532/

 

[Kevinpreston3]

Right on....

There is little in the Slate article that you have that I disagree with. Notice the finger pointing at the consumer. You want the cheapest price? You want to buy things that are junk just because they are cheap? Well, you asked for it, you got it.

WalMart just exacerbates problems, they are not the genesis of them. But there is a "race to the bottom" truth to things. If we lose our manufacturing, and all that goes with it as I pointed out earlier, you suddenly find yourself with a poorer consumer who HAS to shop at WalMart and the other cheap Chinese-importers.

People's sensibilities have changed. Kids used to be satisfied with a handful of then $2.00 Hot Wheels. Now they can have 20 $.99 Hot Wheels (think about that) and they don't care about them. Heck, smash them to pieces, the track sets even suggest that. Why have one or two Barbie Dolls at say, $60 each, when you can have a bunch of the cheap ones from China for $9. Then big deal if you mash them to pieces.

Hand me down bike? Forget it. One good fall and they're not worth to fix. Fine stereo? Ha, get a $19 boom box or a cheesey MP3 player. Clothes? 7 washings. Shoes? 4 months. Toaster, who cares, they're just $9.

The buyers are the problem too. But not the only one. Here are some things that many people don't realize.

When big box stores or the mega-chains roll into town, guess what? They get the credit ratings that the small guy does not. They have the access to cash and cheap money that a smaller outfit does not. You want a lease? Why should a developer give you a 60x40 when he can lock up most of it with big chains? A WalMart can very easily, and has done so with great deals of documentation, move into a site, force the competition to close down, then when they don't get the money they want from a store, they shut down and leave town--leaving the consumer stuck.

Because of their size, these big box and mega chains present problems that we did not face before. Look around at the landscape folks. Every town in the US, and probably Canada as Pete described, is starting to look the same. The same big box and mega chains. The same food, stores, and goods. Going to a different town used to be refreshingly different. There was different styles. There was choice.

Rapidly, we lose choice. That is my big argument. I don't care that WalMart is successful. I care that we lose choice. Look what we have lamented here. Almost all the big, great department stores are gone. Local hardware stores are few and far between. Even diversity in discount stores is gone. And look what it has done with manufacturers. If you are a toy maker, and you don't get into WalMart, or Toys R Us, or Target, you're done. How can this be? What happened to Toy City? Toy departments in department stores? Small toy stores? All gone. Now repeat that for more and more choices to the American consumer.

The American consumer needs to ask themselves a question. When there is no more competition, will these wonderful low prices remain so low? Why should they, because WalMart and friends are altruistic? Take a look at their Chinese made American flags for sale and re-ask that question.

 

[drmitch]

Whew!

 

[Brneyedgrl80]

Sounds so familiar

Like Aldous Huxley familiar.

"Hand me down bike? Forget it. One good fall and they're not worth to fix. Fine stereo? Ha, get a $19 boom box or a cheesey MP3 player. Clothes? 7 washings. Shoes? 4 months. Toaster, who cares, they're just $9."

Very much like the disposable society in Brave New World, eh?

In Brave New World, happiness derives from consuming mass-produced goods. All the members of society in the book are trained to be good consumers to keep the economy strong. Why bother mending anything? Keeping anything old? They were a consumer society in that book, much like we appear to be.