WalMart, The High Cost Of Low Price

[MrsSpringsteen]

Has anyone seen this movie? It is by the director of Outfoxed. You can find out more about it on their web site. I got an e-mail about it a couple of weeks ago but I couldn't make the screening. Too bad they aren't playing it in mainstream theaters



http://www.walmartmovie.com/about.php

"WAL-MART: THE HIGH COST OF LOW PRICE is a feature length documentary that uncovers a retail giant's assault on families and American values.

The film dives into the deeply personal stories and everyday lives of families and communities struggling to fight a goliath. A working mother is forced to turn to public assistance to provide healthcare for her two small children. A Missouri family loses its business after Wal-Mart is given over $2 million to open its doors down the road. A mayor struggles to equip his first responders after Wal-Mart pulls out and relocates just outside the city limits. A community in California unites, takes on the giant, and wins!

Producer/Director Robert Greenwald and Brave New Films take you on an extraordinary journey that will change the way you think, feel -- and shop.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/huffpost/20...66DiCge6sgF;_ylu=X3oDMTA3MXN1bHE0BHNlYwN0bWE-



Sen. Edward M. Kennedy - Ten Commandments for Wal-Mart


"Wal-Mart sells itself as the all-American company, but it violates American family values every single day. Wal-Mart refuses to sell magazines, books, or CDs that it believes will offend the values of average Americans. But what Wal-Mart's leaders can't seem to grasp is that average Americans are offended by its shameful tactics to boost profits at the expense of the families of hard-working men and women.

Last week I was happy to join Robert Greenwald to discuss his new documentary, "Wal-Mart: the High Cost of Low Price". I applaud his efforts and the brave workers in the film who tell their stories. And I applaud the community groups and religious leaders who are promoting awareness of Wal-Mart's abuses by showing this important film in neighborhoods and houses of worship throughout the country.

This is not just a Congressional fight. The American people are also demanding accountability. Wal-Mart has forced employees to work overtime without pay. They have hired professional union busters to keep employees from having a voice at work. They have refused to provide affordable health care, while instructing workers to apply for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program. They have refused to promote women and people of color. They have violated child labor laws by requiring kids to use dangerous equipment. And they have used predatory pricing practices to put small companies out of business.

Surely, the largest company in the world, which made more than $10 billion in profits last year, can do better by its workers, better by our communities, and better for the American taxpayer."

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

http://www.thenewstribune.com/soundlife/story/5349781p-4842929c.html

"Of all the damning claims of corporate callousness shown in director Robert Greenwald’s scathing new documentary, “Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price,” perhaps the most chilling is a “game” that a former employee says company executives used to play.

The suits would drive through the main drag of a downtown before the opening of a new Wal-Mart and predict how many months it would take before mom-and-pop stores would shutter their doors.

“We’d say, ‘Six months, three months, six months,’” Weldon Nicholson, a manager for 17 years, says in the documentary, which was released on DVD last week and is showing in screenings around the country. (Showings are scheduled for Monday in Yelm and Nov. 30 in University Place. Visit www.walmartmovie.com more information and other locations.)

Then, Greenwald punctuates the ex-employee’s point by playing Bruce Springsteen’s mournful version of “This Land Is Your Land” over a series of shots of deserted downtowns.

“If you look at (Nicholson’s) face and his body language and hear him talk onscreen, you’ll see that this is a man whose soul has been affected by his time at Wal-Mart,” Greenwald, 61, says in a recent phone interview from his Los Angeles office. “He doesn’t want others to fall into the trap. That’s what this film is all about.”

 

[nbcrusader]

Ah, the new domestic enemy: Walmart

And the "assult on families and American values" - what a load of BS.

This union sponsored movie is just another effort to perpetuate the mythology of the evil Walmart - and released in time to hurt holiday sales

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

Well these are the fact citations from the movie's web site.

http://www.walmartmovie.com/facts.php

I refuse to shop at Wal Mart, I've heard and read enough about them ( facts, not mythology) to make up my own mind.

Like Michael Moore and Morgan Spurlock, Greenwald deals in documentary as agitprop. Unlike Moore and Spurlock, he substitutes earnestness for outrageous humor. His previous release, “Outfoxed,” lifted the veil on the supposed “fair and balanced” claim of Fox News. His new documentary on Wal-Mart culls all of the previous reports of Wal-Mart’s practices – many detailed in lawsuits – and adds a bevy of interviews with former employees and small-business owners forced out by what he claims is corporate hegemony.

In the two-hour film, Greenwald interviews workers who tell about how they cannot live on the average annual income of $14,000, how the company’s health insurance is so costly that most employees file for public assistance, how Wal-Mart crushes any union activities, how it discriminates based on race and gender, how it uses cheap foreign labor with awful working conditions, how it coerces employees into working unpaid overtime, how communities have banded together to try to stop Wal-Mart from opening new franchises.

 

[hiphop]

hehe Walmart and the music industry

the new Madonna album Confesions on a Dance Floor

Walmart buys a million from record company for a reduced price of $7,25 to $7,50 per CD

charges the small shops $9,72 retail price (wholesale)
while buying directly from the record company its $11,52 (wholesale)

the suggested retail list price according to amazon is $18,98 but currently special for $10,99

go figure.

 

[nbcrusader]

I refuse to shop at Wal Mart, I've heard and read enough about them ( facts, not mythology) to make up my own mind.

Selective presentation of facts can make Walmart look like either a paradise or a hell. Unions have been working hard over the years to press the "hell" case.

 

[MrsSpringsteen]

my instinct tells me it's paradise for the Walton family, hell or something like it for others

btw the DVD is available on the movie's web site for only 12.95-I'd rather give my money to them than to Wal Mart any day of the week..

 

[indra]

I hate Walmart.

They are lousy stores to shop in, often have shoddy merchandise, and rarely have the items they advertise actually in stock.

I haven't shopped there in years. If only Walmart has something I want...well, I don't need it that bad.

Plus I don't like their "family friendly" ideas as they do not reflect my idea of what is family friendly.

 

[Irvine511]

i'm most offended by the parking lots the size of Connecticut.

but i suppose all that space is needed for the fat people who need fat SUVs to get fat, over processed, corn syrup filled, partially hydrogenated food products in bulk.

it is for the children, after all.

 

[VertigoGal]

We shop at Wal-Mart...it tends to be much cheaper than the other two options around here (both chains, so I hardly feel like I'm putting Mom & Pop out of business).

 

[aislinn]

We shop at Wal-Mart...it tends to be much cheaper than the other two options around here (both chains, so I hardly feel like I'm putting Mom & Pop out of business).

Same here.

When you're a broke college student and a box of cereal that costs $5 at the local grocery store is only $2.98 at Walmart, where are you going to buy your cereal?

I'm all for supporting unions and the workers--I've worked enough customer service/retail in my lifetime to know what they're going through--but it all boils down to those low prices. People are going to shop where their money stretches the most, and it happens to be Walmart. I don't like it either, but that's life.

 

[anitram]

I hate Walmart. Hideous store, ugly things inside, full of people with their obnoxious, screaming children running around like it's a theme park, the nasty McDonald's smack in the middle, it's just gross.

 

[Irvine511]

Same here.

When you're a broke college student and a box of cereal that costs $5 at the local grocery store is only $2.98 at Walmart, where are you going to buy your cereal?

I'm all for supporting unions and the workers--I've worked enough customer service/retail in my lifetime to know what they're going through--but it all boils down to those low prices. People are going to shop where their money stretches the most, and it happens to be Walmart. I don't like it either, but that's life.

i totally understand this. it's folly to not go where the lower prices are (though i do go out of my way to support my local merchants, but that's easy because i live in an urban neighborhood with a traditional High Street that's all small businesses within a pleasurable walking distance).

so, this begs a question: is it in society's best interests to level the playing field; i.e., to prevent a company from becoming so big and powerful that they can buy everything at such bulk prices, resulting in lower cost to the consumer, and essentially destroying the competition? should the government prevent a company from being able to do this?

i think that one of the major ironies of late capitalism is that we actually have less choice. or false choice. if WalMart can put everyone else out of business, then they can control what we buy. how many Starbucks do we need? how many Wal-Marts do we need? what happens to the kid who can't get a Sheryl Crowe album because she bashes WalMart in her lyrics if WalMart is the only retail outlet available for her to purchase music? also, does Wal-Mart's ubiquity and penchant for censorship -- they refused to carry the Daily Show's book because it had mock naked pictures of the Supreme Court -- present a violation of the first Amendment *if* we have no options but to buy at WalMart?

also, is there something aesthetically and culturally advantageous to preserving a merchant class? one of the great joys i have is going into independent bookstores where the clerks actually know a great deal about books, and they can order you anything you could possibly want. is this kind of experience that's nearly impossible at Borders or Barns & Noble worth protecting? and if so, how? aesthetically speaking, i abhor how simply ugly strip mall America looks. it's grotesque ... all neon and boxes and SUV filled and traffic congested. why does such a beautiful country care so little about it's built environment?

just thougths.

 

[BVS]

Selective presentation of facts can make Walmart look like either a paradise or a hell. Unions have been working hard over the years to press the "hell" case.

I've worked with WalMart from 2 different industries, neither of them through a union, and I can tell you firsthand they are hell.

 

[VertigoGal]

those are good questions Irvine, and living in the heart of Suburbia I would definitely like to see something other than chains. The area I live in was a rural nothing only a few decades, and literally the entire place has sprung up in the past 10-15 years...EVERY store or restaurant is a chain. It seems like there's a new strip mall every other week.

maybe the way to end this trend is through choosing to shop elsewhere (although in my case the only choice is super worldwide chain vs pricey regional chain). but why should we pay twice as much for food each week which would put a huge burden on us and do virtually nothing to bring down big bad wal-mart? like aislinn said, it just comes down to who can provide the lowest prices and for a lot of people that's wal-mart.

 

[financeguy]

I would generally be pro-free market, but wise corporations realise that treating staff well is a good way of doing business, and I do believe in having legislative recourse available for staff that are unfairly treated.

 

[Irvine511]

maybe the way to end this trend is through choosing to shop elsewhere (although in my case the only choice is super worldwide chain vs pricey regional chain). but why should we pay twice as much for food each week which would put a huge burden on us and do virtually nothing to bring down big bad wal-mart? like aislinn said, it just comes down to who can provide the lowest prices and for a lot of people that's wal-mart.

i totally understand. the corporations have got us over a barrel.

it does strike me as odd that we give powers to corporations that we would never, ever dream of giving government. this is not to pit business vs government, or to say that government needs powers on part with the freedoms we give business. perhaps it means that it is in our best cultural/spiritual/whatever interests to reign some of these beasts in. i fear we define what is and what isn't a "successful" business in extremely narrow terms.

 

[melon]

Maybe we should assess a windfall profits tax on Wal-Mart. After all, someone needs to pay for all the food stamps and other government welfare its employees are on.

Melon

 

[aislinn]

Maybe we should assess a windfall profits tax on Wal-Mart. After all, someone needs to pay for all the food stamps and other government welfare its employees are on.

Melon

That would be great. It really ticks me off to know about all those Walmart employees that are receiving welfare.

 

[Abomb-baby]

What about all the poor and working poor who shop there because if they didn't they literally wouldn't be able to make ends meet from month to month. Why is it any different going there as opposed to going to a small independent record store that only pays minimum wage and doesn't have a union? Am I missing something here? Wal-Mart has created 1000's of jobs that would have otherwise NOT been created. Besides, Most retail Unions are fairly impotent. I mean, its not really hard to find someone to stock a shelf or ring a cash register. A strike threat is an empty threat...

 

[U2Scot]

so when exactly did Jesus align himself with the supply side economics movement anyway ?

 

[financeguy]

so when exactly did Jesus align himself with the supply side economics movement anyway ?

Did you never hear the phrase 'What would Supply Side Jesus do?'

 

[BVS]

Wal-Mart has created 1000's of jobs that would have otherwise NOT been created.

It also screws over that many people on a regular basis.

 

[melon]

Wal-Mart has created 1000's of jobs that would have otherwise NOT been created.

We could say the same about prostitution too; but that doesn't mean it's ethical. I'm surprised how Republicans defend Wal-Mart when your tax dollars are going towards providing food stamps and welfare to a good number of their employees, while the company is raking in $10 billion in profits.

But that goes to show that that comic I posted in the JFK conspiracy thread really holds a lot of truth.

Melon

 

[melon]

Did you never hear the phrase 'What would Supply Side Jesus do?'

I love a good excuse to crack these out.

Melon

 

[U2DMfan]

What about all the poor and working poor who shop there because if they didn't they literally wouldn't be able to make ends meet from month to month. Why is it any different going there as opposed to going to a small independent record store that only pays minimum wage and doesn't have a union? Am I missing something here? Wal-Mart has created 1000's of jobs that would have otherwise NOT been created. Besides, Most retail Unions are fairly impotent. I mean, its not really hard to find someone to stock a shelf or ring a cash register. A strike threat is an empty threat...

I agree with this. Some people just don't have the perspective.

Wal Mart has become the villain because of cheap prices that put smaller businesses under.

They can charge less, because they can buy more volume.

They can buy more volume because they have the money.

How did they make that money?

By starting like everyone of those poor 'mom and pop' chains that everybody feels so insufferably sorry for.

How did a farmer like Sam Walton become so bloody god damn rich?

First, he built stores, paid his employees better and had better benefits compartively. Then he started pricing low, making minimal profit initially. He made the big money when he expanded. Volume.

So he starts to make money, starts buying in volume, so he can sell cheaper. 1-not only is this a service to the less fortunate to be able to buy products that don't have fucking ridiculous profit margins (including some of those mom and pop stores) but 2-it's also a pure business strategy. So yeah he is a big bad capitalist, but he's also giving more back to the communties than Joe and Fred's Dsicount store on the corner because they can offer better product. Tell Joe and Fred to find another business, that's the way it works, fortunately or unfortunately. Joe and Fred are concerned about their own wallets and their 8 employees, why should I give a shit?

The difference between them and Sam Walton was pricing, always was and always will remain. Nobody can compete now with Wal Mart because they didn't grab that market share. Don't you see? He started off giving back to the people. Maybe we don't all admire everything that Wal Mart does, but why shoud I feel sorry for Joe BLow because he can't compete with Wal-Mart? You are not ENTITLED to run a successful business in this country.
Any company, Sears, Target who the hell ever could have done the same. They have been left in the dust because they wre more greedy, that is the truth. Wal Mart is a big bad evil empire because it was created by the needs of the marketplace, just like Microsoft, not by some dark hand of capitalism.

Consequently, all Wal Mart has done is create jobs, in a time when GM and other corporations are sending manufacturing jobs overseas. The service industry still is feasible because of places like Walmart.

It's like the moron geeks who bitch about Bill Gates and Microsoft, all he did was make something that everybody in the world wanted to own. You can't please everybody, especially those with no fucking perspective at all.

I find this thread at the same time that they announce the closing of GM plants across the country. In addition to thousands of other jobs that have vanished up into the stratosphere, where the big corporate fatcats are cashing their same checks, meanwhile giving the working class the middle finger. And yet people bitch about fucking Wal Mart. Maybe we should be bitching about how fucking congressmen across the board sold out our working class years ago, and now one of the few refuges for the blue collar worker is being lambasted. Makes sense.

Not only do these people who just got laid off need to find work, who knows they may end up working at Wal Mart for substantially less money, but it's about as secure as anything else short of a professional desk job.

I can tell you they will probably be shopping at Wal Mart, because there is nothing principled about taking a stand against the big bad evil Wal Mart when you struggle to feed your family and yourself.

 

[melon]

They can charge less, because they can buy more volume.

I understand this, but...

First, he built stores, paid his employees better and had better benefits compartively. Then he started pricing low, making minimal profit initially. He made the big money when he expanded. Volume.

...I don't understand that.

http://www.dsausa.org/lowwage/walmart/2004/walmart study.html

* Reliance by Wal-Mart workers on public assistance programs in California comes at a cost to the taxpayers of an estimated $86 million annually; this is comprised of $32 million in health related expenses and $54 million in other assistance.

* The families of Wal-Mart employees in California utilize an estimated 40 percent more in taxpayer-funded health care than the average for families of all large retail employees.

* The families of Wal-Mart employees use an estimated 38 percent more in other (non-health care) public assistance programs (such as food stamps, Earned Income Tax Credit, subsidized school lunches, and subsidized housing) than the average for families of all large retail employees.

* If other large California retailers adopted Wal-Mart’s wage and benefits standards, it would cost taxpayers an additional $410 million a year in public assistance to employees.

But I guess that explains Wal-Mart's windfall profits.

Melon

 

[VertigoGal]

I'm willing to bet the thousands of people getting laid off from the GM plant a few miles from here will be shopping at Wal-Mart for a while.

melon, would the Wal-Mart employees on food stamps and welfare magically have no need for social programs if they didn't even have the Wal-Mart job? (I mean, you could argue they'd be in a better position at some quaint Mom & Pop Shop if Wal-Mart never existed in the first place, but what's done is done and all that...)

 

[BVS]

Wal Mart has become the villain because of cheap prices that put smaller businesses under.

Not only that, but they also put their own clients out of business as well, by witholding fees so they gain that extra month or six of interest.

They can charge less, because they can buy more volume.

Common misconception. There are many products that they sell at price or less to suck consumers in, they will make money in returns and from the witholding of fees like stated above. I've seen many instances first hand. It's the people behind the big blue curtain that they fuck over.