Razor Blades and Wal Mart

[jinman]

All I wanted was my razor blades

David, I stopped by Sam's last night and bought my pack of disposable Gillette twin-blade razors. 52 razors in the pack (exactly enough for 1 yr at 1 razor per week). The cost was $21 + a few cents. We picked up about 10 other items and went to a checkout with no waiting. They were finishing up with the final customer and immediately turned to us and started checkout. I wanted to get a cup soda on the way out also. The clerk informed me that the store was closing in 5 minutes and they would turn the soda machine off, so I should go there and get my soda while she was checking out. All this with a smile at closing time. I had my razors and a soda to drink on my 60-mile drive to my house.

 

[radioman]

When the founder, Sam Walton, was alive, he strived to have Wal Mart be a very patriotic business selling mostly American made products and having signs hanging everywhere saying "American made".

He left each of his kids several BILLION dollars each and then it seemed like Wal Mart departed from the family views and went corporate concentrating only on profit and forsaking the founder's beliefs.

By pressuring their suppliers to sell them products at lower prices or else lose their contracts, they forced their suppliers to get their products manufactured overseas where labor was cheaper, closing down many American factories and putting many Americans out of work.

To compete with Wal Mart, other retailers had to follow Wal Marts example and more and more American factories shut down.

Now Americans are able to buy goods cheaper than in the past, but at what price? Many Americans have lost their jobs but many Chinese have gained jobs. Over time, as the Chinese economy builds, their labor costs will increase, increasing the price of our goods, but they will have the jobs instead of us leaving many Americans with less income and higher priced goods.

This trend appears to me to be irreversible and history tells us that America will inevitably follow the same path as the Roman Empire and other world dominators.

When I was working at walmart as a young gungho kid, I was working the night shift unloading trucks, Sam was still alive. Nearly 1 year later he passed away and I noticed within 3 months that walmart started to get small china stuff. I was like ????! another 3-6 months passed by, I noticed tons of china cheapos stuff showing up in trucks and the amount of nightly cleanups increased tenfold before stocking could begin. I was disgusted by the way things were run, I basically left work to go to college since I was trying to work full time and go to college full time for 3 months and it was overbearing.
Needless to say, I have noticed a big change at walmart and I felt it was the end of the largest American store when Sam passed away. You can't seem to instill these patriotic values in our kids now since everything is overseas. What we are supposed to do ?

 

[hunterridgefarm]

David, I stopped by Sam's last night and bought my pack of disposable Gillette twin-blade razors. 52 razors in the pack (exactly enough for 1 yr at 1 razor per week). The cost was $21 + a few cents. We picked up about 10 other items and went to a checkout with no waiting. They were finishing up with the final customer and immediately turned to us and started checkout. I wanted to get a cup soda on the way out also. The clerk informed me that the store was closing in 5 minutes and they would turn the soda machine off, so I should go there and get my soda while she was checking out. All this with a smile at closing time. I had my razors and a soda to drink on my 60-mile drive to my house.

Jim,
I told my wife I was going to switch to the Gillette disposables. She went the next day and bought my replacement blades; came home mad because she had to wait 15 minutes for someone to come unlock the blades.

Once I use these up I am still switching to the disposables...time to save some money...and time.

 

[Scooby074]

Bird, Not exactly the big 3.

The guys at the walmart lube shop were wanting around $13 CAD. This is still less than an equivalent mechanic at a dealership or independent garage would get. Were not talking $30 /hr here. If i was having my car serviced there i would rather get it done by a guy getting fair pay, rather than a teenager making McDonalds wages.

One of the major demands of the new store they closed was 30 more staff. Increase from 200 to 230. To me this is a good thing. Sometimes finding a staff member at wall mart is like playing where's Waldo. More staff would benefit the customer and reduce work on the employee.

Ive worked union. But im not blindly PRO union. I can see the abuses that have occurred in some industries. WalMart has gone around flaunting the laws, paying low wages, closing stores, and removing peoples freedom of association rights. And its time they were brought inline.

 

[2manyrocks]

Yes, I completely understand that all you're interested in is razor blades. I also understand that most people like being able to walk into their own superstore in their community and buy whatever they want without having to drive 60 miles and shop in 20 different stores.

I don't vouch for or endorse all of the content of the Harper's Review article.

In theory, a free market works according to the laws of supply and demand, but in reality, markets are never perfectly free. Then it becomes a political/governmental question whether to regulate certain behaviors that interfere with or distort the free market, and whether those regulations can be effective in restoring competition to the market.

It has been reported that Walmart's CEO is paid about $30 million a year. Wal-Mart CEO gets $29.7 million for 2007, up 27 percent - Boston.com

Think about what your local employees are paid and whether they can make ends meet on what they are paid. Think about what what local businessmen and women could have earned if they had been able to stay in business. Do an on line search and look at the compensation paid to the top execs in the chain stores.

Follow the money trail and draw your own conclusions.

 

[LMTC]

Bird, Not exactly the big 3.

The guys at the walmart lube shop were wanting around $13 CAD. This is still less than an equivalent mechanic at a dealership or independent garage would get. Were not talking $30 /hr here. If i was having my car serviced there i would rather get it done by a guy getting fair pay, rather than a teenager making McDonalds wages.

One of the major demands of the new store they closed was 30 more staff. Increase from 200 to 230. To me this is a good thing. Sometimes finding a staff member at wall mart is like playing where's Waldo. More staff would benefit the customer and reduce work on the employee.

Ive worked union. But im not blindly PRO union. I can see the abuses that have occurred in some industries. WalMart has gone around flaunting the laws, paying low wages, closing stores, and removing peoples freedom of association rights. And its time they were brought inline.

How do they remove freedom of association rights? Employers have the prerogative to set certain workplace rules. If one doesn't like those rules, don't work there. I don't work for walmart and they haven't had any impact on my freedom of association. All too often people want to work for an employer and set the terms of employment. Start your own company if you want to do that.

 

[Bird]

Well, I was in one Walmart yesterday and all the razor related stuff was still out where it's always been. But I was in another Walmart this morning and just out of curiosity, I checked and found their razor blades and disposable razors are still where they've always been, but the electric razors and accessories are not locked up in the jewelry department. I could understand why, but asked the lady anyway and, as expected, she said they were just having too many stolen.

 

[sal64]

i hate to go to walmart also every item is made in china or somwere else, but what can u do they have the lowest prices in this economy u have to save a buck.

 

[Scooby074]

How do they remove freedom of association rights? Employers have the prerogative to set certain workplace rules. If one doesn't like those rules, don't work there. I don't work for walmart and they haven't had any impact on my freedom of association. All too often people want to work for an employer and set the terms of employment. Start your own company if you want to do that.

How do they remove those rights? Easy... With the threat that if you go union we'll shut the store down.

In CANADA, you cannot discriminate against (ie:fire) someone or a group because they went union. As workers we have that right.

Walmart closed this store (and the lube shop at a different store) after they went union. Walmarts position was that the stores wernt profitable.

Due to the timing of the closures, it sure looks like they closed the stores to prevent the union.

Does this amount to a violation of those workers rights to be employed and be in a union? The quebec labour board says yes. Now its before the Supreme court.

This decision will be very important regarding workers rights in Canada, There's alot more at stake than oil changes at walmart.

 

[kenstrac]

My wife is a smart shopper and the food prices at walmart are across the board higher then 2 other chains that we have here.And as far as Sam's clubs go there prices are very high and figure in your membership fee it's even higher.
I went to buy 2 batteries for my Dodge Diesel Sam's wanted $137 each 3 year battery I went to Autozone and bought a 7yr battery for $99.Same with tires saved over $100 on 4 tires.
When Sam's first opened there prices were low and they had a good variety of merchandise now the store is full of empty shelves and garbage and the shelves aren't empty because of people buying there empty from not stocking. You could probably condense everything into 1/3 of floor space.
Also Walmart does not clean there parking lot very well they just keep piling snow up ,loss of about 50 parking places and poor visibility from cross traffic piles about 25 ft high as does Home Depot which is a poorly lit and dirty store.
Hd is another story they will put stuff on the clearance section old used Porter Cable set and I mean old ,abused ,looks like a contractor had it for 2 yrs for $5-10 less than a new one some of their specials that I looked at a week before sold for 9.99 ,was on special for $10.50 with a regular price of $15
rip off they must of got that idea from the Circuit City's liquidation co.
Now sears is yet another story was looking for a jointer at the time it sold for $379 was on sale for 15% off they ran out next load that came in was $579 same unit there prices on tools has skyrocketed That store is gone to **** .
Just about all of my business is done at Lowe's Good selection good pricing knolegable and friendly sales people well lit and clean.

 

[Bird]

My wife is a smart shopper and the food prices at walmart are across the board higher then 2 other chains that we have here.And as far as Sam's clubs go there prices are very high and figure in your membership fee it's even higher.

So, are you going to tell who the other chains are that are cheaper? I don't own any Walmart stock, so if I find a better deal, I'll change.

Right now, we still have several Albertson's, although they've closed a lot of their stores, and the one closest to me is not only very high priced, but also very poor service. We have Kroger's, real nice stores, one new one, nice people, but prices are generally 30-35% higher than Walmart. We have one old Brookshire's; again nice people in an old store, but high prices. Then we have a Sack 'N Save; a really old, dirty looking place and even that is probably 5% to 10% higher than Walmart.

Is anyone familiar with Aldi Foods? Bring your own shopping bag, or pay for theirs. A quarter deposit on the shopping cart, refundable when you take the cart back in the store. Nothing I've read made it appear that they would be a good choice, but they claim to be expanding in the recession. According to the local newspaper, they are not just going to build a store in this area, but plan to build a big distribution warehouse in Denton.

 

[kenstrac]

So, are you going to tell who the other chains are that are cheaper? I don't own any Walmart stock, so if I find a better deal, I'll change.

Right now, we still have several Albertson's, although they've closed a lot of their stores, and the one closest to me is not only very high priced, but also very poor service. We have Kroger's, real nice stores, one new one, nice people, but prices are generally 30-35% higher than Walmart. We have one old Brookshire's; again nice people in an old store, but high prices. Then we have a Sack 'N Save; a really old, dirty looking place and even that is probably 5% to 10% higher than Walmart.

Is anyone familiar with Aldi Foods? Bring your own shopping bag, or pay for theirs. A quarter deposit on the shopping cart, refundable when you take the cart back in the store. Nothing I've read made it appear that they would be a good choice, but they claim to be expanding in the recession. According to the local newspaper, they are not just going to build a store in this area, but plan to build a big distribution warehouse in Denton.

Ok Bird I'll tell you as long you don't shop there the lines are long enough already Hannaford and Market Basket Market Baskets checkouts are always full no mater what time of the day you go and they don't have self checkouts.

 

[Bird]

Ok Bird I'll tell you as long you don't shop there the lines are long enough already Hannaford and Market Basket Market Baskets checkouts are always full no mater what time of the day you go and they don't have self checkouts.

Well, shucks, I guess I won't be able to shop at those since I don't think either of them has a store within 1500 miles of my home.

And besides, I don't want to shop where I have to stand in line to check out.

 

[dgl24087]

News about the evil uncaring Walmart: Wal-Mart awarding $2B to U.S. hourly employees, report says - USATODAY.com. I wonder how many other companies are awarding profit sharing and bonuses to their employees. Mine sure isn't!

 

[NuBota]

How do they remove those rights? Easy... With the threat that if you go union we'll shut the store down.

In CANADA, you cannot discriminate against (ie:fire) someone or a group because they went union. As workers we have that right.

Walmart closed this store (and the lube shop at a different store) after they went union. Walmarts position was that the stores wernt profitable.

Due to the timing of the closures, it sure looks like they closed the stores to prevent the union.

Does this amount to a violation of those workers rights to be employed and be in a union? The quebec labour board says yes. Now its before the Supreme court.

This decision will be very important regarding workers rights in Canada, There's alot more at stake than oil changes at walmart.

What workers rights are being violated besides the ability to unionize? What determines a fair wage. The Union or the market? Labor laws pretty much protect good workers from the abuses that caused unions to form in the first place. Why should a person that aspires to be nothing more than a Wal-Mart "greeter" make more than minimum wage? If people don't like the wage or job position then they need to develop an ambition to work their way up the ladder or go compete for a better paying job.

Key word is competition - both in the price of goods and in labor. Unions, by their very nature, stifle both. There are plenty of people in this world that pull themselves up by their bootstraps and drive themselves to achieve a better position by working up the chain in a company or starting their own business. It doesn't require any special intelligence or help to do either.

I flipped bugers in HS, at 18 worked myself to asst. mgr, at 19 was promoted to manager and bought a house. Made a meager $22K a year (in the mid '80s, salaried, working 60+ hrs a week).Got married, had three kids, all with a household income of less than $40K until the mid '90s. Decided this wasn't good enough, went in hock for a PC, learned it inside and out, took an entry level IT job and worked my butt off. Now I'm self employed and make good money. I know plenty of other stories just like this one.

I graduated with people that worked in a union supermarket stocking shelves - and they are still there 25 years later doing the exact same job making good money. Why in the world should they expect to be making a good wage with full benefits that enables them to afford a house, car, etc? Stocking shelves should be a part-time, entry level job either for supplemental income or a teenager at half the pay- not a career. Why should I as a consumer have to subsidise that labor expense because of someone who has no aspirations of anything more - and is protected in his job through just about any right to terminate short of him killing someone

Competiton has become a dirty word, whether in schools, the Lil' League field, etc. Only makes sense it would make it's way into the business world

Sorry for the rant - I say I am going to ignore these type of threads but always let myself get drawn in..... Need to seek help for that.......

 

[MossRoad]

Is anyone familiar with Aldi Foods?

Oh yeah. One time I grabbed a box of Apple Cinnamon Cheerios out of our pantry and poured it in the bowl. As it poured out I looked at it and yelled "What the he** is this???!!!" The Cheerios were tiny and pale. My wife's mom had talked her into doing some shopping at Aldi's and my wife bought their brand of apple cinnamon cheepios and stuck it in my real Cheerios box! She didn't think I'd notice.

They are competitively priced on name brand stuff, and their own brand stuff is a lot less in price, but I found it not so good.

Now, every so often, when we eat at my mother in law's house, she will ask me how I like something. Then I know she's feeding me Aldi stuff.

The last time was over the holidays where I did a blind taste test on Ritz brand crackers VS similar Aldi brand crackers. I said I liked them both. One was less buttery and the other was more crispy. I picked the buttery one as Ritz brand and was correct.

 

[Bird]

That's interesting, David. Of course, I haven't seen one of their stores yet, but our local newspaper has quoted them as saying their business picks up during recessions when people are trying to save money, then when times get better, the customers they gained during the recession stay with them.

It is interesting that during this recession, Aldi is coming to town AND a new Walmart and Sam's Club are being built.

 

[Bedlam]

Yea my wife got her bonus just under 50 dollars befor taxes.

 

[Scooby074]

NuBota, The employees right not to be discriminated against simply for being in a union is a very important right. As an American, you should understand the value of an individuals rights and freedoms.

If a person chooses to work at walmart (not my thing, but hey) its not for me or you to say. Thats their choice, and they should be paid a reasonable wage and appropriate benefits. Why shouldnt they have health care, or the chance at a full time position instead of being kept as a part timer, just a couple hours/week short of full time? Like i said, the guys in the garage were only asking for $13, which is less than a first year apprentice would get at a dealer or other garage for doing the same job.

You said that unions stifle competition, id argue that walmart does the same on a much larger scale. How many mom and pops were driven out of business? How many suppliers have been driven out because they wont play ball with walmart on THEIR price. Walmart is the one that set the prices to their suppliers, then they begin the never ending job of chipping away at whatever profit YOU were making, eventually you either go broke, reduce quality or offshore the manufacturing to meet walmarts idea of what YOUR cost should be.

Sure, the easy answer is to choose not to sell to them or work for walmart.

Unfortunately walmart is THE retailer. Most CEO's cant say no to them. And in these tough times, people dont necessarily have the luxury or skills to go on to a better job.

Heres a good article about the squeeze walmart puts on a supplier from a CEO's perspective http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/102/open_snapper.html Its a eye opener no matter what side of the discussion your on.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

So, are you going to tell who the other chains are that are cheaper? I don't own any Walmart stock, so if I find a better deal, I'll change.

Right now, we still have several Albertson's, although they've closed a lot of their stores, and the one closest to me is not only very high priced, but also very poor service. We have Kroger's, real nice stores, one new one, nice people, but prices are generally 30-35% higher than Walmart. We have one old Brookshire's; again nice people in an old store, but high prices. Then we have a Sack 'N Save; a really old, dirty looking place and even that is probably 5% to 10% higher than Walmart.

Is anyone familiar with Aldi Foods? Bring your own shopping bag, or pay for theirs. A quarter deposit on the shopping cart, refundable when you take the cart back in the store. Nothing I've read made it appear that they would be a good choice, but they claim to be expanding in the recession. According to the local newspaper, they are not just going to build a store in this area, but plan to build a big distribution warehouse in Denton.

Walmart grocery is the cheapest around me, but it's too big a pain to go there just for groceries, plus you have to park a half mile away.

Many years ago one of the early warehouse clubs (PACE, bought out by SAMS) tried the quarter deposit for shopping cart. The idea is to get your quarter back, you have to return it and connect it back in the cart corral instead of leaving it in the parking lot. It didn't last long, people got real good at popping the quarters out without returning the carts. When I was in germany you had to pay for grocery bags or you bring your own.