Wal-Mart - For Better or Worse

Read them if you want.

“I know they’re predators.” He pauses for emphasis. “I want ‘em.”

Ten Steps to Turn Around Wal-Mart

What are your economic values?

Everyone deserves a basic standard of living. I would question the morality of anyone who didn't agree with that statement, but believe it or not, there are those who do not believe it.

The degree of inequality should be constrained. This is a bit harder to defend, but if you don't want riots in your country one could argue that you should take care of the least of your citizens.

Most improvements in technological and material prosperity are a good thing. Who would really want to go back to living in the 1930's?

We should value the preservation of non-market institutions. This is a bit harder to defend based on your definition of non-market institutions. Also, libertarians will take issue with interfering with the so called "free market". But, one example; many SL residents believe that removing homes, businesses and the beach from River St. was a huge mistake.

Now look at Wal-Mart.

Basic standard of living. Wal-Mart, the wealthiest company in the world, has low wages and benefits. Not only that, it pulls down wages and benefits of other companies. Wal-Mart's low prices are dependent on low prices and low benefits.

Inequality. Wal-Mart has placed 1.3 million persons in the USA into low paying, low benefit jobs. Recent census reports show more people in poverty and decreases in real income.

Improvements in technological and material prosperity. Wal-Mart takes business from existing firms by offering the same merchandise cheaper. Good competitive capitalism. Wal-Mart arguably lets you buy more with your money, but wouldn't a 1.50/hr wage increase provide the same savings and allow one to shop places other than Wal-Mart if they so wished? I guess the question here might be, should Wal-Mart spend $3 billion of it's $11 billion in profits to increase employee wages. Or maybe raise your prices by 1-2% and do the same thing. Or a combination of the two.

Non-Market institutions. Maybe you can argue that a Wal-Mart located in SL will not effect us socially somehow. How likely is it that a woman will be trampled by a crowd trying to grab $29 DVD players or that there will be an increase in crime. If there was a Wal-Mart will people be calling TOTT 30 years from now asking "What were those people thinking"?

Shopping at Wal-Mart is a no brainer for the 'consumer' in most of us. But what about the 'worker' or 'citizen' part of us?

NOTE: I stole most of this material from Bob Brownstein HERE.

Is There Enough Blame Left Over to Share With Wal-Mart?

Wal-Mart has supposedly "given up" on Saranac Lake and as a result the blame game has been going on for weeks on TOTT and in letters and guest columns in the ADE. So who actually is to blame for Wal-Mart "giving up" on us?

The largest share of the blame has been cast upon the three Democrat village board members. The three new board members soundly defeated the Republican competition who campaigned on getting Wal-Mart to build as soon as possible. They are directly responsible for not allowing the rezoning of the village sandpit area. But to adequately prepare a SEQR they need answers to real questions about the effects of the rezoning.

There is no blame being cast on the SL residents who overwhelmingly voted for the three Democrats. Afterall, the Democrats lied to them about supporting Wal-Mart.

Next to be blamed is SAGA and it's rich, non-native members. But SAGA said it would not oppose Wal-Mart if the company built a reasonably sized store in the downtown area.

The Save Saranac Lake Coalition gets blamed as they are very upfront about being opposed to Wal-Mart. This is another small group that consists of rich, non-native residents of the area. It must be a very powerful group of people to back down the largest company in the universe.

Then there is CARD, a mysterious local group made up of the vast majority of area residents. These are salt of the earth, born and brought up in SL, 5th and 6th generation natives that have been caretakers of the Adirondacks for generations. They certainly don't share in any blame. Afterall, they supported anthing Wal-Mart told them to support. I wonder if any CARD member wanted Wal-Mart so badly that they suggested to Wal-Mart that they might want to consider compromise?

But what about Wal-Mart? The largest, wealthiest company in the entire universe (as far as we know). Wal-Mart doesn't compromise, they don't want community input (unless it favors them), they always win and no one on earth can tell them what to do. They are the experts afterall. They have obviously decided that they are incapable of profitably operating a 68,000 sq ft store which likely would have been supported by a majority of local residents.

Is there any blame left over for Wal-Mart?

Greensboro, NC Wal-Mart - One Stop Shopping

A nice new store (sent by the power of prayer), what does it have besides groceries and 36 departments of general merchandise?

bakery
delicatessen
tire and lube
portrait studio
one hour photo
beer and wine sales
McDonald's
vision center
pharmacy
SmartStyle hair salon
nail salon
bank
gas station
wireless phone sales

On top of all that, it's open 24 hrs, 7 days a week. Not much reason or need to shop anywhere else, unless you want to visit the other two Wal-Marts in Greensboro.

SAGA , Wikipedia and Lying Libelous Liars

Wal-Mart supporters are so in love with Wal-Mart that they resort to publishing libelous statements about SAGA on Wikipedia.

SAGA was firmly anti-Wal-Mart, opposing the mega-retailer because of the havoc the organization thought it would wreak on local business. The local businesses were weak, ineffective, and generally ignored the needs of the local resident, preferring instead to cater to wishes of a small group of affluent summer visitors.

And this:

The community, due to the criminal meddling of SAGA, now lacks any kind of retail resources, no clean grocery store:

How can you be anything other than speechless about this?

This is actually a standard Wal-Mart supporter ploy. Wal-Mart supporters have been been waging a war on a fair point of view on the Wikipedia Wal-Mart entry. One place you can read more about it is here or google Wal-Mart + Wikipedia + war.

UPDATE: The Wikipedia entry for Sound Adirondack Growth has been edited to reflect the true purpose of the organization and its stance on Wal-Mart. We'll see how long it lasts.

Proclamation - Community Store Will Fail

Well you community store supporters should just pack up your bags and go...ummm home. The community store will fail - so says letter to the editor writer Ed Trathen.

One reason it will fail is because shares in the corporation will be available to all residents of New York State and not just SL area residents. It's too bad the Community Store organizers have to follow the law (unlike some major corporations).

Another reason the Community Store will fail is because they link to news stories about Wal-Mart on their website. There should be more news about the community store. Well, there are 3 links to news stories about the community store and I'm guessing there will be more stories when there is something new to be reported.

The Community Store may succeed or may fail, but I doubt it will be because of what is or isn't posted on their website.

PS: Note to Mr. Andersen. Yeah, Yeah, the town is slowly dying. People have been saying that ever since the discovery of streptomycin put the sanitarium out of business. Personally, I thought the town started dying when the Altamont Dairy Bar ceased to exist.

"Waging a Living" on PBS Tonight

Tonight at 10 PM on channel 18 (PBS). P.O.V. is presenting a documentary that follows the lives of 4 people who are trying to support families on wages of $8-11 an hour. More about the program here.

Roger Weisberg's alarming and heart-wrenching new documentary, "Waging a Living," puts a human face on the growing economic squeeze that is forcing millions of workers into the ranks of the poor. Shot in the Northeast and California, the film profiles four very different Americans who work full-time but still can't make ends meet. Despite their hard work and determination, these four find themselves, as one of them observes, "hustling backwards."

Is It Just About Wal-Mart? Yes and No.

More comments about Wal-Mart and a possible employment future from Ezra Klein (thanks again Jonathan).

Again, this isn't about Wal-Mart. Rather, it's about every company that competes with them, and every producer who sells through them. In the first case, Wal-Mart is driving down worker salaries and benefits by so resolutely grinding their own associates into the dirt. So rather than watching the service economy mature into a middle class conveyor as the manufacturing industry did, it's moving in the opposite direction -- and given the decline of manufacturing and the softness of worker salaries, what choice have workers than to accept their lot? Something is better than nothing, but something remains inadequate.

So as Wal-Mart chases manufacturing jobs out of the country we have service jobs as replacement jobs. Service jobs that are being defined by Wal-Mart wages and benefits. On the other hand, maybe some people think a package of underwear for $2.93 is worth it. Read the entire article.

Wal-Mart Leads the Race to the Bottem

I don't think the word monopsony is tossed around enough for people to really understand the implications. A monopsony as defined by the Economist is below:

Monopsony
A market dominated by a single buyer. A monopsonist has the MARKET POWER to set the PRICE of whatever it is buying (from raw materials to LABOUR). Under PERFECT COMPETITION, by contrast, no individual buyer is big enough to affect the market price of anything.

Many Wal-Mart supporters claim that the supremacy of Wal-Mart is what the so-called 'free market' is all about. It's all about competition. But how can the small business person compete when they have no power to dictate price to suppliers? Explain how this is fair competition? Monopsonies eventually lead to lower wages and benefits, outsourcing of jobs and outright failure of suppliers.

Barry C. Lynn, author of "The Case for Breaking Up Wal-Mart", gives two examples to explain the effects of a monopsony:

The effects of monopsony also can be difficult to pin down. But again we have easy illustrations ready to hand, in the surprising recent tribulations of two iconic American firms -- Coca-Cola and Kraft. Coca-Cola is the quintessential seller of a product based on a "secret formula." Recently, though, Wal-Mart decided that it did not approve of the artificial sweetener Coca-Cola planned to use in a new line of diet colas. In a response that would have been unthinkable just a few years ago, Coca-Cola yielded to the will of an outside firm and designed a second product to meet Wal-Mart's decree. Kraft, meanwhile, is a producer that only four years ago was celebrated by Forbes for "leading the charge" in a "brutal industry." Yet since 2004, Kraft has announced plans to shut thirty-nine plants, to let go 13,500 workers, and to eliminate a quarter of its products. Most reports blame soaring prices of energy and raw materials, but in a truly free market Kraft could have pushed at least some of these higher costs on to the consumer. This, however, is no longer possible. Even as costs rise, Wal-Mart and other discounters continue to demand that Kraft lower its prices further. Kraft has found itself with no other choice than to swallow the costs, and hence to tear itself to pieces. (My emphasis)

Monopsonies used to be illegal. The Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company (A&P) was a monopsony. It used it's in-house brands to force suppliers to do the companies bidding. Back then (1930's) the Federal government took a dim view of this practice. In fact, they created the Robinson-Patman law (known as the Anti-A&P Act) which ...forbade any person or firm engaged in interstate commerce to discriminate in price to different purchasers of the same commodity when the effect would be to lessen competition... President Reagan changed all that by gutting the enforcement of anti-trust laws.

Wal-Mart Prices - Are they the lowest?

From PBS interview with John Lehman [Jon Lehman worked for Wal-Mart for 17 years, managing six stores in four different states before he left the company in 2001 to work for a union trying to organize Wal-Mart employees]

What is the opening price point? Why is it so key to Wal-Mart's strategy?

OK, it's lawn-and-garden time. Your grass is getting high. Your lawn mower is broken from last year, or you need a new lawn mower. You're going to go to Wal-Mart. So you go to Wal-Mart, and you're looking for a lawn mower, and to your delight, you walk in, and you see this $99 lawn mower. You may not want a cheap, basic lawn mower, but you see that price point on an end cap or a big display stack base, and you say, "Wow, what a great price." And it draws you in. It lures you into the department, and you form the perception immediately that "Hey, Wal-Mart's got the lowest prices in town. Look at this item right here. How could they sell it for $99?" ...

But as you walk into the department and look for that $269 power-drive lawn mower that you really are after, they're not losing money on that item. And it may not be the lowest price in town. Wal-Mart used to advertise "Always the low price." They don't do that anymore.

So are you saying that the opening price is the lowest price and actually will beat the competition, but maybe other items in the same category aren't necessarily the lowest price?

Oh, absolutely not. It's just like fishing: You want to entice that fish to that lure. ... Once you walk past that opening price point, they've got you, because you've already formed the perception that everything in that department is the lowest price in town.

And maybe it's not.

No, it's not. No, I can tell you it's not. I can tell you from experience it's not. ...

"Fault Lines" in Saranac Lake

Todays editorial in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise finally defines a problem that we have all been aware of, but have ignored, for decades. It's a problem that has been ignored for good reason. It's a political problem and may actually be unsolvable. Many of us realize that the Village of Saranac Lake is divided between two counties (Franklin and Essex) and three townships (Harrietstown, St. Armand and North Elba). But get this:

Worse still, the village is split between two U.S. congressional districts (McHuge and Sweeney), two state Assembly districts, two state Department of Transportation regions and two Blue Cross/Blue Shield health insurance companies.

The village of Saranac Lake is split so many ways it's not surprising consensus on many issues is hard to come by. Here is one obvious solution posed by the ADE:

Get Essex County and the towns of North Elba and St. Armand to pull back out of the village.

What are the chances of this happening? Who knows, but the ADE suggests:

Essex County, North Elba and St. Armand may not like losing all that sales and property tax revenue, but they could be convinced since, from a regional standpoint, redrawing the lines makes so much more sense than the current system. Plus, maybe they could get something in return. In the meantime, they’re really dealing Saranac Lake an injustice with its lack of Essex County representation and services. Getting them to pull out will take some wheeling and dealing, and perhaps some kicking and screaming, but it can be done.

Kicking and screaming, no doubt. What could they possibly get in return? Whether you are anti-Wal-Mart, pro-Wal-Mart or somewhere in between, it is definitely time to redraw the "Fault Lines".

Shopping at Wal-Mart - Is it good for our country?

Thanks to Jonathan at Writing on the Wal for putting me on to these comments by Ezra Kline.

What's worrisome about Wal-Mart is that, like GM and Ford once did, they are setting the norms for the coming (or current?) economy. One in every five retail sales is done at their cash registers; they're larger than the next five retailers combined. Indeed, for major producers, Wal-Mart is just about the only market that matters, which allows them to dictate the production methods, employee relations, and business strategies all the way up the food chain. In action and effect, Wal-Mart is an active monopsony -- a seller able to dictate the price to its producers. They've forced Coke to change their secret recipe, Kraft to lay off thousands of employees, and Vlasic to declare bankruptcy. And because Wal-Mart so obsessively pursues the lowest possible prices, they're not only depriving their own workers of generous benefits and compensation, they're making it literally impossible for their producers to do so, as Wal-Mart won't abide by the minor cost differences that on-shore production and respectable benefits demand.

Unfortunately, kinda like the Iraq War, the attitude seems to be "let the other guy worry about it."

A Memorable Line by Mark Morford

From an article in the San Francisco Chronicle last May.

Take Wal-Mart, the most famously offensive, town-destroying, junk-purveying, labor-abusing, sweatshop-supporting, American-job-killing, soul-numbing, hope-curdling retailer in the known universe, moving upward of $300 billion in cheap mass-produced slurm every year via more than 5,000 landscape-mauling eyesore stores stretching all the way from Texas to China and Argentina and South Korea and Mexico and your backyard.

And Another Thing.....Or Two

Wal-Mart is or is not interested in Saranc Lake? Why does Edelman PR continue to visit this website almost everyday if Wal-Mart is no longer interested in SL?

Any truth to the rumor that Wal-Mart has an option on land outside of SL?

CARD is being awfully quiet lately.

Paul Sands - Idiot in Charge of WPTZ

Here is what Paul has to say about Saranac Lake and Wal-Mart:

They'll huff and they'll puff, and they'll blow your house down.

They're the big, bad NIMBYS...the folks who always yell "Not in My Back Yard." And they've just blown Wal-Mart out of Saranac Lake.

They seem to think Wal-Mart's the big bad wolf.....but the truth is the NIMBYs are worse.


They destroy progress, they hurt the economy, they cost jobs, and they make it impossible for communities to grow.

Wal-Mart wanted to build in Saranac Lake. The company simply got tired of all the conditions, all the whining, and all the opposition from a small group of loud and short-sighted objectionists.

The giant retailer finally said "enough is enough," and walked away.

We don't blame Wal-Mart. But we are sorry to see Saranac Lake lose this opportunity. The Tri-Lakes region needs decent, affordable shopping. It needs jobs. It needs business development.

But, of course, the NIMBYs don't want any of that.

They'd rather blow it.

That's our opinion. What's yours?

Well Paul, allow me to respond:

1. It wasn't a small group that opposed Wal-Mart. Maybe your news team didn't cover the recent village elections. The guys that wanted Wal-Mart got soundly defeated.

2. So you think Wal-Mart is progress? Actually, I thought Upstate Biologicals was progress, but that's just me. I guess you think so little of small communities like Saranac Lake, that we just have to settle for Wal-Mart jobs.

3. Having a Wal-Mart is your standard for community growth? That is about the most stupid thing I have ever heard.

4. Please tell us more about Wal-Mart and their great jobs Paul. Tell us how they have created jobs, good jobs. Did you get that from Walmartfacts.com?

Go here to tell Paul your opinion I've already sent mine (I know it will be hard, but be nice).

Flash - Wal-Mart Has First Communist Party Branch

A staffer in the communications department of a Wal-Mart in Shenyang confirms that Wal-Mart has a Communist Youth League Branch at its Shenyang outlet.

It wasn't immediately clear whether the party branch had an office in the store.

Is Wal-Mart leading an effort to merge capitalism and communism into some new super-vile economic model? Imagine what the worst parts of capitalism and communism would look like. Or maybe Wal-Mart will teach the Chinese the Wal-Mart economic model. Question is, who will the Chinese exploit? Another question, if we get a Wal-Mart in Saranac Lake, will we have to start calling each other comrade?

Short article here at at the NYT, "Wal-Mart Opens Communist Branch in China". It's short because the only group more secretive than Wal-Mart is the Chinese communist government.

More (I really like the headlines)

Wal-Mart welcomes Chinese communists No. 1 retailer allows Communist Party to set up branch in China store.

Communists join Wal-Mart's ranks Retail giant Wal-Mart, regarded by many as an icon of global capitalism, has become host to a branch of the Chinese Communist Party, according to reports.

Community Store & Adirondack Daily Enterprise

An editorial in todays ADE is titled "Community Store May Well Succeed". Last week, in one of the preachy editorials attempting to describe what is wrong with Saranac Lake, the ADE wrote:

“If a 121,000-square-foot store was too big for you, is a 5,000-square-foot, community-owned, politically aligned store going to make up for the loss of the 40,000-square-foot Ames? Maybe for some, but not for most.”

It seems the ADE doesn't really know the committee that is organizing the Community Store because Ms. Gail Brill showed up to challenge the ADE editorial.

Later in the editorial the ADE writes:

Ms. Brill is a fighter, and we were impressed with how she stuck up for her cause when faced with our skepticism. She passionately wants to improve Saranac Lake’s shopping options — she’s also challenged Grand Union to improve its supermarkets — but she also wants to stick to what she says makes this village different.

The ADE editorial board then goes on to congratulate itself on coming up with the idea of a community store in 2004.

Many people have already said they’ll buy shares at $500 each, and we think this thing may very well succeed.

We hope it does; we’ve been promoting the idea in editorials since before there was a local effort. We urged people to consider Powell, Wyoming’s model in October 2004, and we reiterated it this June, just before an organizational meeting that drew more than 200 people

The ADE may have promoted the idea, but Ms. Brill is the inspirational leader who is helping to make it happen. Bravo for Ms. Gail Brill. SL could use more 'transplants' like her.

There is also an article in todays ADE concerning last evenings Community Store informational meeting. The Community Store committee consists of Ms. Gail Brill, Ms. Melinda Little, Ms. Gay Relyea and Ms. Wendy Foley.

I suggest we have 4 Winter Carnival Queens next February.

Wal-Mart Still Interested in Saranac Lake

Wal-Mart just cannot make up it's mind. Now, according to an article in todays ADE, Wal-Mart still wants to locate in SL.

On Tuesday, Wal-Mart spokesman Philip Serghini reiterated that the retailer has nothing planned for Tupper Lake, as some have suggested, and nothing on the table in Saranac Lake.

“I never heard any kind of proposals going (to Tupper Lake),” Serghini said. “We’re definitely interested in Saranac Lake. We just don’t have any potential properties right now.”

But if Wal-Mart does have interest in another property, it may not be until late in the process that the public knows, if it follows the same pattern as with the recent proposal in Saranac Lake.

Wal-Mart as an Employer

I came across this article by Selena Maranjian at the Motley Fool's Fool.com website. Marajian, like most investors, really admires Wal-Mart as an investment. The article was written in 2003 but it raises some important questions concerning Wal-Mart's treatment of it's employees. Here is her question.

But even if companies abide by the law, is there a point at which their actions are, simply, bad? By bad, I mean bad for society, bad for employees, unfair in the vague but grand scheme of things, and maybe even bad for business?

She goes on to point out that treating employees may not be the best thing for a company. You end up with:

Grouchy, resentful employees at best, and perhaps poor performance and even sabotage, at worst. From a company's point of view, unionization is probably the worst-case scenario here.

Negative media coverage, leading to a less lustrous reputation, an increase in customers' desire to shop elsewhere, and possibly even boycotts.

Society and government are drained, picking up the company's slack. If employees are uninsured or underinsured, then they put pressure on the health-care system. If they're having trouble making ends meet and living near or below the poverty line, they'll require more government services.

Many of us realize that those things are all currently happening due to Wal-Mart's poor treatment of its employees. She goes on to ask whether shareholders or employees should come first. Her answer is that both should be treated well and what's good for the employees will probably be good for the shareholders.

Right now, many communities fight to keep Wal-Marts away. Perhaps if the company were even more admired in America, if it were known not only for low prices and shareholder rewards but also for employing an enormous number of people and compensating them with somewhat generous pay and benefits, more communities would welcome it with open arms. Perhaps those better-paid employees would have more discretionary income to spend in their communities, boosting other businesses. Happy employees will take more genuine pride in their employer, and customers will see that. Satisfied employees generally don't need unions. They'll be less likely to sue, too, perhaps reducing the company's legal expenses.

She ends the article by saying:

I think that maybe Wal-Mart and even its shareholders could benefit if the company shares a little more of its wealth with employees.

Working Families for Wal-Mart - An Email

I am a paid-in-full member of Working Families for Wal-Mart. Today I got an email from them:

Dear friend,

As you may have heard, Ambassador Andrew Young resigned recently as Chairman of our national steering committee.

I am writing to let you know that Working Families for Wal-Mart continues to move forward.

As Ambassador Young said on Thursday, “I urge [our leaders and members] to continue to speak out and stay active. The good that Wal-Mart does for America's working families is worth fighting for.”

We’re committed to continuing that fight. We’re going to keep talking about how Wal-Mart makes a positive difference for working families. And we’re going to continue to stand up for Wal-Mart in the face of daily attacks from union-funded critics.

As my friend and fellow steering committee member, Courtney Lynch, said on Friday, “Our organization consists of over 140,000 members across the country. We have several local advisory boards made up of community leaders and activists committed to our cause. We all believe that Wal-Mart makes significant contributions to America’s working families. Our organization will continue to grow and make a difference in this national debate.”

Our aggressive efforts will continue next week as we launch a national opportunity for Working Families for Wal-Mart members like you and other Americans who support Wal-Mart to make their voices heard.

Working Families for Wal-Mart is only as effective as its members. And as a valued member, you can have an impact by speaking out and by talking to your friends, family and neighbors about how Wal-Mart makes a difference for working families.

Thanks in advance for your continued support.

Sincerely,

Catherine Smith
National Steering Committee Member

I can't wait to hear about their national opportunity for Working Families for Wal-Mart members like you and other Americans who support Wal-Mart to make their voices heard.

I wonder if they will allow the voices of those people who don't support Wal-Mart to be heard?