Walmart and my town...

shade2u2 · Oct 26, 2001

MChalkley,
Maybe it becomes an "inventory variance" - a shortage. It must have never been shipped or firms like ours in transportation would probably end up with a freight claim... We turn it into our insurance & Joe Public pays for it through higher rates... lol

Hillbilly · Oct 26, 2001

Dr,I have thick skin.
You know what is worse than having a sister in a whorehouse?A brother that plays for Ohio State!!!!!!!!
LOL

PitbullMidwest · Oct 26, 2001

Despite my personnal hatred of WalMart, they have been VERY good to our local area economy. How? One of their largest Midwest distribution warehouses is 30 miles up the road. It runs 3 shifts year round, pays above average wages, has expanded twice and is starting the 3rd by adding another 100,00 square feet. This employs iron workers, electricians, pipefitters (all union jobs by the way) and so on and so on.

While I try to avoid WalMart like anthrax, and can't understand the "We're fixin to go to Walmart, ya'll want to go?" mentality of some Arkansas friends, I can testify that WalMart has been very, very good to our local economy. Which I guess is the other side of this coin

DrDan · Oct 26, 2001

Hillbilly,

Dang you know what I miss most about West By God? Picken up girls at them family reunions.

Dr Dan

Wingnut · Oct 26, 2001

I hate to do it ... but I have to sit on the other side of the fence from Dan and Richard ... which I seldom do.
By the way ... they recently build a WallyWorld in our city ... they already had one in the Bay City ... 15 miles away ... and built another in Saginaw ... also about 15 miles away. They seem to have a fair amount of traffic but have had no effect at all on their competitor ... a local superchain called Meijers. WallyWorld doesn't stock groceries here and is only open until 10 PM (same as ailing old junky K-Mart) ... while Meijers is open 24/7
Yeah ... they're big enough to whistle the tune and have the suppliers dance. Suppliers don't mind ... economies of scale. Those of us working for large companies are all in the same boat ... our customers want the prices kept down so we all look for ways to improve .. which frequently means looking at outsourcing.
Is a company janitor worth $15/hr (union scale) any better than a contract emplyee making $7/hr? Likely not .... and becuase of union muscle ... probably worse ... the contractor is interested in keeping their job and so performs at the necessary level.
WallyWorld beats on poor suppliers? Yeah right. One of the topics I know a little bit about ... bar coding and scanning and related topics. Pre-Wally ... the quality of UPC codes was abysmal .... thanks to ole Sam and his policies (one bad scan ... small fine .... second bad scan ... $5k fine .... third bad scan .... bye bye contract) we now have readable UPC codes that are being enforced by everyone.
Sam has contributed mightily to the effectiveness of just-in-time policies .... and that "don't get paid until it';s sold" makes the suppliers ensure they're making what is selling ...., instead of making what they feel like. Shut down the info pipeline that feeds real time usage data to the supplier and see how quick the phone circuits max out .... they get better data than they ever had before.
Yeah .... it ain't all roses .... but, hey ... y'all remember I was in Canada when Wally came courting Woolco. Woolco (formerly woothworths ... the 5-and-dime guys) was dying the death of a thousand cuts from Zellers (Hudsons Bay cheapo arm), K-Mart (started life as Kresges or Kreskes ... another 5-and-dime) and local shops. Wally actually bought their boxes instead of using the US model and building them.
They were an immediate success in Alberta ... because they actually had stock of whatever was on the sale flyer (unlike their competition). I'm not aware of any Alberta businesses that can lay their demise at the door of Sam ... if they died after Wooley begat Wally ... they must have already been terminally ill.
Heck shop wherever you like ... this is still (terrorists attempts didn't change that) a free country .... and you can either buy American products at WallyWorld ... or buy non-American .... just like every other store out there.
Buy local? Sure .... are there any local clothing stores that buy their materials from a local seamstress (who gets her materials from the local sheep farmer and cotton farmer)??? Come on guys .... we're living in a global economy ... and if you want them folks "over there" to buy our stuff ... we might need to buy some of "their" stuff so they have money.
Oh ... and one final word .... my wife's handicapped son is working for WallyWorld in Nacogdoches. WM is probably the biggest employer of handicapped people in the world ... and even though he doesn't make $100/hr for working in the garden center .... he's employed ... instead of being on welfare ...
Dan .... are all the tools that you use in the clinic ... all the meds ... and supplies ... all purchased locally ... and made locally? Shouldn't the people that visit your clinic be able to expect that you'll support the local businesses if they support you? (this isn't a sling at you ... at all .... just a rhetorical question). Yes ... we need to protect what we have .... but onl;y if it's worth protecting and keeping current. I like my computer and am not interested in buying an abacus!

(ok ... now back to my studies .... maybe I'll find time to stick my nose in here more often after I'm finished with these Six Sigma courses that are necessary because I would like to keep working until I retire)

too bad that common sense ain't

Hillbilly · Oct 26, 2001

You better be careful what you say about those family reunions,you probably have a lot of kin running around in Marietta,you are a part of Appalachia too. You are not too far from the bridge to Gods country.
We might be kissin cousins (not)

shade2u2 · Oct 26, 2001

Wingnut,
You bring up very good points & yes Walmart probably did lay the path of process improvement especially in supply chain management & companies will likely have to follow or get lost. The goal is supposedly that for when I buy a tube of toothpaste, the automatic chain reaction flows back to trigger the retail supplier then clear back through the manufacturer to trigger the raw material suppliers. This is a challenge for some organizations...

Also, I have heard that Walmart is still managed by the qualities & character that Sam Walton instilled. He was supposedly a devout christian & ran the company with such principles. This day & age it is hard to identify organizations with real integrity - especially from way out here beyond left field...

As stated by others, they do have a corner on the retail market. Market share growth is a primary goal of all companies, but there could be a point where it becomes unfair to the market. Ma-Bell, Microsoft, Walmart -> to good or unfair players?

Oscar · Oct 26, 2001

Wingnut,

Oh No, Not the the S word!! Didn't think I would see that on this forum. I just completed Black Belt certification so I can sympathize with you.

Craig

scruffy · Oct 26, 2001

Can't say I agree with Wal-Fart developing the supplier stocking the items bit, they may have refined it some, but I remember (30/40 years ago) the little country stores in my area being stocked (of items they delivered) by the delivery driver, who rotated their brand stock, and pulled outdated items from the shelves.