who are these people that shop at walmart?

[nighttrain20]

More infor for the "jack pine ass holes" that shop @ Wal Mart.
or think there good for America.

HOW GLAMOROUS IS CHILD LABOR ?

Thursday, March 1, 2007
Posted by Jim Hightower
Listen to this Commentary
Darlings! You'll be ever so pleased to learn that a new, high-fashion super store has opened in America. It's called Wal-Mart. Yes, the stodgy old downscale store has gone upscale, offering hip new clothing lines like Metro 7!
If you think anything has really changed, however, you might check the labels on these new glam goods to see if any are made in Bangladesh. If so, they might have come from a factory there by the name of Harvest Rich, which produces clothing for Wal-Mart and others.
There's nothing at all hip about Harvest Rich – it's a sweatshop that uses child labor. In a new investigative report, the National Labor Committee, a diligent watchdog group, has documented conditions in Harvest Rich that are grotesque, even by sweatshop standards. Approximately 200 children between 11 and 14 years old work in this factory, sewing garments under contract to the Wal-Marts.
The children are forced to work 12-14 hours a day, with some shifts going 20-hours. In all of September, these child laborers got just one day off. For the grueling long shifts, they are allowed only about four hours of sleep on the factory floor before being awakened and put back on the machines, sometimes collapsing from exhaustion. Their wages are as low as six cents an hour. They are routinely slapped or beaten if they don't meet their production goals, make mistakes, or even take too long in the bathroom.
Wal-Mart washes its hands of this by asserting that it has a "code of conduct" for its contractors, supposedly enforced by apparel industry monitors. Yet, Harvest Rich, which is certified by this group, shows yet again that corporate self-monitoring is an abysmal failure even at stopping the most disgusting practices.
This is Jim Hightower saying... To see the report and join the effort to move children from sweatshops into schools, call the National Labor Committee: 212-242-3002.
Sources:
"Wal-Mart makes alterations to fashion marketing strategy," Austin American-Statesman, October 31, 2006.
"Child labor is back: Children again sewing clothing for Wal-Mart, Hanes, & other European companies," Nation Labor Committee Press Release, October 24, 2006.

 

[honzie]

Wow - all the WalMart haters here! I don't know about you, but when I'm in the mood for a 16 day-old hot dog, a box of stale popcorn and a chance to check out all the Plus-size soccer moms in their bizzare leotards, it's WalMart for me Jack!!!

 

[FairWarning]

I stopped in one today just for kicks. The Wal-Mart greeter didn't greet me. I should sue for a free Slush Puppie or something.

 

[nighttrain20]

Get ready for another touchie-feelie Wal-Mart ad to saturate the airwaves soon.

Whenever this retailing behemoth gets caught in one of its many abusive practices, it races to cover-up the damage with a PR blitz. This time, though, Wal-Mart's image has not merely hit a pot hole on the road of greed, but a sink hole – and it's going to take more than ads for them to get out of it.

A federal appeals court has ruled that a sex-descrimination suit filed back in 2001 by six women is entitled to class-action status, bringing some two million more former and current employees into the case. So Wal-Mart, the nations largest employer, now has the distinction of facing the largest sex-descrimination suit in U.S. history. As the court put it: "Expert opinions, factual evidence, statistical evidence, and anecdotal evidence present significant proof of a corporate policy of discrimination [against] female employees nationwide." The facts are damning. For example, 65 percent of Wal-Mart's employees are women, but only 16 percent of its store managers are.

Bizarrely, the corporation tried to lay the blame for holding back women on individual store managers, claiming that Wal-Mart did not operate as a centralized unit. Now, that's a scream, since this giant constantly brags that it's central computers keep track of every penny that comes in and goes out of its global empire, as well as tracking the performance of every employee. Workers can't take a piss without headquarters knowing how long it took!

Of course, rather than do right by the women it has routinely wronged, Wal-Mart will continue to unleash its bevy of lawyers to drag out the case, hoping women will be discouraged and quit. But I don't think these ladies are quitters. It's already been six years – and justice is drawing closer.

This is Jim Hightower saying... To keep informed, go to www.walmartwatch.com.

Sources:
"Wal-Mart is handed a setback in sex bias suit," Austin American-Statesman, February 7, 2007.
"Court Approves Class-Action Lawsuit Against Wal-Mart," New York Times, February 7, 2007.
Nasser, David. Letter. February 7, 2007.
"Wal-Mart Sex Discrimination," CMH&T, February 7, 2007.
"Federal Judge Order Wal-Mart Store, The Nation's Private Employer, To Stand trial for Company-Wide Sex Discrimination," June 22, 2004.

 

[G.MONEY]

How come when the open a brand new Wal-mart, I mean you walk in there the first week it is open, The place is all ready Dirty and Stinky? Is that a feature that they add when the build it?........I was in one that had just opened about 2 weeks ago, and this place was filthy. It was like it had been open for 5 years and never seen a mop or Vaccum.

 

[Presto]

How come when the open a brand new Wal-mart, I mean you walk in there the first week it is open, The place is all ready Dirty and Stinky? Is that a feature that they add when the build it?........I was in one that had just opened about 2 weeks ago, and this place was filthy. It was like it had been open for 5 years and never seen a mop or Vaccum.

It's all part of making the customer feel at home. ope::banger::smoking::drink:

 

[SENDITIN]

The last time I was at Walmart, I thought I was in the middle of the Michael Jackson Thriller Video.

 

[G.MONEY]

The last time I was at Walmart, I thought I was in the middle of the Michael Jackson Thriller Video.

:lolBIG:

 

[nighttrain20]

What Were Wal-Mart Officials Thinking?
By Editorial Board, Denver Post
April 6th, 2007
We can't imagine what Wal-Mart executives were thinking when they authorized company security personnel to report on activist shareholders.

Once the maneuver was exposed, Wal-Mart was quick to apologize, a wise decision but one that doesn't begin to address the depth of the firm's questionable efforts to monitor its employees, critics, consultants and reporters covering the company.

The activities came to light after a veteran security staffer was fired for "unauthorized" recording of phone calls to and from a New York Times reporter and intercepting pager messages. In an interview after his dismissal, Bruce Gabbard gave The Wall Street Journal details of Wal-Mart's wide-ranging spy operations. Among other things, he revealed that last year the company dispatched a long-haired employee with a wireless microphone to infiltrate a group critical of Wal-Mart to see if the group would be disruptive.

The company also used high-tech monitoring systems devised by a defense contractor to keep track of the actions of anyone using its computer network. That included reading e-mail sent via private accounts and reviewing its vendors' Internet browsing activities.

Gabbard says Wal-Mart has mustered a roughly 20-person "Threat Research and Analysis Group" that works in what they called the "Bat Cave," a dimly lit facility at the company's Bentonville, Ark., offices. As the world's largest retailer, the company has many legitimate security concerns. A representative says the company is no longer running its monitoring operations in the "same manner," but that's hardly reassuring given what was revealed this week.

What Were Wal-Mart Officials Thinking?
By Editorial Board, Denver Post
April 6th, 2007
We can't imagine what Wal-Mart executives were thinking when they authorized company security personnel to report on activist shareholders.

Once the maneuver was exposed, Wal-Mart was quick to apologize, a wise decision but one that doesn't begin to address the depth of the firm's questionable efforts to monitor its employees, critics, consultants and reporters covering the company.

The activities came to light after a veteran security staffer was fired for "unauthorized" recording of phone calls to and from a New York Times reporter and intercepting pager messages. In an interview after his dismissal, Bruce Gabbard gave The Wall Street Journal details of Wal-Mart's wide-ranging spy operations. Among other things, he revealed that last year the company dispatched a long-haired employee with a wireless microphone to infiltrate a group critical of Wal-Mart to see if the group would be disruptive.

The company also used high-tech monitoring systems devised by a defense contractor to keep track of the actions of anyone using its computer network. That included reading e-mail sent via private accounts and reviewing its vendors' Internet browsing activities.

Gabbard says Wal-Mart has mustered a roughly 20-person "Threat Research and Analysis Group" that works in what they called the "Bat Cave," a dimly lit facility at the company's Bentonville, Ark., offices. As the world's largest retailer, the company has many legitimate security concerns. A representative says the company is no longer running its monitoring operations in the "same manner," but that's hardly reassuring given what was revealed this week.

 

[nighttrain20]

Keep shopping @ Wal Mart all you Jack Pine A** Holes

The 'Wal-Mart effect' strikes again

By slashing prices on flat-panel TVs, the retail giant has clobbered another sector -- this time, consumer-electronics stores.

Latest Market Update

April 25, 2007 -- 16:20 ET [BRIEFING.COM] Finally, the wait is over, as the attraction of a psychologically important number such as 13,000 on the Dow helped underpin a bullish bias right out of the gate and well into the close. All three major indices finished just off... More

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<CITE>By BusinessWeek</CITE>


Last "Black Friday," for its annual post-Thanksgiving sales blitz, Wal-Mart Stores (WMT, news, msgs) decided to slash the price of one of the hottest electronics items for the holidays, the 42-inch flat-panel TV, to $988. The world's largest retailer had staked similarly audacious positions before, in numerous product categories, as part of its quest to remain U.S. retailing's "low-price leader."
In turn, Wal-Mart's move caused a free fall in prices of flat-panel televisions at hundreds of retailers -- to the glee of many people who were able to afford their first big-screen plasma or liquid-crystal-display (LCD) model.
Now, it is becoming apparent that Wal-Mart's calculated decision to break the $1,000 barrier for flat-panel TVs triggered a disastrous financial meltdown among some consumer-electronics retailers over the past four months.

• Get free, real-time stock quotes on MSN Money

The fallout is evident: After closing 70 stores in February, Circuit City Stores (CC, news, msgs) on March 28 laid off 3,400 employees and put its 800 Canadian stores on the block. Tweeter Home Entertainment Group (TWTR, news, msgs), a high-end home entertainment store, is shuttering 49 of its 153 stores and dismissed 650 workers. CompUSA is closing 126 of its 229 stores, and regional retailer Rex Stores (RSC, news, msgs) is boarding up dozens of outlets, as well as selling 94 of its 211 stores.
"The tube business and big-screen business just dropped off a cliff," says Stuart Rose, chief executive officer of Rex Stores. "We expected a drop-off, but nowhere near the decline that we had."
Clearly, these retailers are taking such drastic measures because they don't see any respite in sight.
Since early February, when the companies first started closing stores and announcing layoffs, most of their stock prices also have been battered. Circuit City shares have fallen 24%, to $18.76, since the end of November, when the price war started. In the same period, Tweeter's shares declined 32%, to $1.72, near a 52-week low, and Best Buy's (BBY, news, msgs) stock is down 9%, to $48.73. Shares of Rex Stores have been flat, down 0.7%, to $16.98.
The carnage has one phrase written all over it: the "Wal-Mart effect." For many electronics competitors, the experience with flat panels has been a replay of what happened in other sectors over the past two decades as Wal-Mart's business stature grew dramatically.

 

[levistep]

Wow, Nighttrain, I'd laugh at how ridiculously stupid your anti-walmart sentiment is, but you think just like the average American. You are upset that Walmart is able to outcompete all the electronic stores and offer the best prices for HDTV? WTF is wrong with you, how could this possibly be a bad thing? Let them do the fighting and we'll take the best price. These consumer electronics stores are struggling because they suck. They need to pick up their feet or get out.

There were retards too back in 1908 that said that Ford's Model T was going to ruin the country by unemploying millions in the buggie and carriage business. How are these 2 scenarios any different? Ford offered a better product and destroyed the competition while Walmart offered a cheaper product to destroy the competition.

I never will understand why the average socialist is so stupid. Maybe they are sodium deficient or something and they can't create the correct synapses for intelligent thought.

 

[levistep]

I guess you guys in Michigan are upset you killed the auto industry, so now you are going after Walmart.

 

[arniesarmy]

yeah, I guess a place that provides plenty of jobs and good prices is a bad thing. Any Walmart haters ought to watch Penn and Teller's BULLSHIT show on Showtime on Walmart. It will explain the benefits of jobs and good prices.

 

[nighttrain20]

Wow, Nighttrain, I'd laugh at how ridiculously stupid your anti-walmart sentiment is, but you think just like the average American. You are upset that Walmart is able to outcompete all the electronic stores and offer the best prices for HDTV? WTF is wrong with you, how could this possibly be a bad thing? Let them do the fighting and we'll take the best price. These consumer electronics stores are struggling because they suck. They need to pick up their feet or get out.

There were retards too back in 1908 that said that Ford's Model T was going to ruin the country by unemploying millions in the buggie and carriage business. How are these 2 scenarios any different? Ford offered a better product and destroyed the competition while Walmart offered a cheaper product to destroy the competition.

I never will understand why the average socialist is so stupid. Maybe they are sodium deficient or something and they can't create the correct synapses for intelligent thought.

Levistep....you "ARE" the ultimate definition of the typical Wal-Mart Jack Pine A** Hole shopper!! Where the hell does that nonsense thinking come from?

You think its good to put other electronic stores out of business?

I know you know already that no one can buy in mass like Wal-Mart, so I guess it's not good enough for the majority of the products all ready sold there to be imported from country's that pay there employees less than .50 an hour. Now they will go after the other retailers, may be they will put the pinch on the industry in which you make your living!!!! I'm assuming you make more than .50 an hour?Pretty soon we will all be working for Wal-MArt in your perfect world. You are a sick man.

And as for your Ford senerio...wake up man and think before you speak, maybe read a book or two on the subject. When Ford mass produced there vehicle's it put millions to work ......HERE IN AMERICA!!!!!! NOT IN OTHER COUNTRYS. And you have the gaul to ask "How are the 2 senerios different!!!!

How is Wal-mart helping this country? All the crap in your other posts sound like a college professor pumped you full of "Economics 101 bullsh*t".

And you are right about "Ford offered a better product and destroyed the competition" But in doing that it created more competition HERE IN AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!NOT IN OTHER COUNTRIES!!!!!!!!!And certianly not .50 cent an hour jobs!!

If your thinking is America's future.......God save us all!!!!!!!!

 

[FairWarning]

I guess you guys in Michigan are upset you killed the auto industry, so now you are going after Walmart.

Please explain, I'm dying to hear this.

Actually I think its a great idea that the unions control the state government and now the state is bankrupt. Oh, and the jobs went to southern Indiana. Way to go unions.

 

[Doug]

Did they sell the TV's below their cost, to unfairly compete with the others ?

 

[FairWarning]

Did they sell the TV's below their cost, to unfairly compete with the others ?

In highly competitive markets, I would say yes. The $998 flat screen probably wasn't a nationwide promotion, even though they demanded that price from the vendor. In less competitive markets, the price may have been $1098.

 

[Doug]

Is it legal to sell below cost, I guess it must be ? Certainly stores sell Christmas trees ( artificial) for like $5 in Jan, and lose on them.

Is WM trying to drive out all competition so they can then increase prices ?

Even if they do practice predatory pricing, it will work, people will buy where the price is lowest.

I have to check Walmart for anything they sell first because nobody else exists anymore.

A toilet part that I needed was $8 at WM ( they were out of stock) the local hardware store charged $15 for it.

They won't be around much longer. They get less business, raise profit margins... that drives you to WM even more.

I don't like WM, but I'm not going to pay double for stuff,either.

 

[FairWarning]

Is it legal to sell below cost, I guess it must be ? Certainly stores sell Christmas trees ( artificial) for like $5 in Jan, and lose on them.

Is WM trying to drive out all competition so they can then increase prices ?

Even if they do practice predatory pricing, it will work, people will buy where the price is lowest.

I have to check Walmart for anything they sell first because nobody else exists anymore.

A toilet part that I needed was $8 at WM ( they were out of stock) the local hardware store charged $15 for it.

They won't be around much longer. They get less business, raise profit margins... that drives you to WM even more.

I don't like WM, but I'm not going to pay double for stuff,either.

Predatory pricing is a big part of their strategy. Nothing illegal about it, but the profit margin for that part is smaller than you think too. The independent cannot buy at the same price that Wal-Mart does either.

 

[levistep]

Predatory pricing is a big part of their strategy. Nothing illegal about it, but the profit margin for that part is smaller than you think too. The independent cannot buy at the same price that Wal-Mart does either.

Predatory pricing is considered illegal, even though it doesn't exist substantially in the real world.