One Thing Wal-Mart Could Do

Our favorite Edelman PR Wal-Mart blogger and Better Paid Critic Mike Krempasky is in the Wal-Mart-osphere again via "the Bivings Report"

Mike wants to know what he can do to get "The Consumerist" to stop writing about his (Edelman's) companies (clients I presume).

I have one recommendation that he can convey to Wal-Mart, Inc. It won't cost Wal-Mart a single penny except for maybe a bit of time. Here it is:

Start respecting our communities!

You want to build a SuperCenter in a tiny Adirondack Park community? How about discussing your plans openly with the residents of the community rather than working to split the community apart? How about talking with the residents that have reasons to oppose building a Wal-Mart rather than just those that support it. Maybe you can change their minds. Maybe they will convince you to compromise. But no matter what it would at least show some respect for the entire community.

"FACTS" About Wal-Mart

Rick Gonyea (member of CARD of course) announced this morning on TOTT that area residents have the opportunity to hear the "real facts" about Wal-Mart. Where else to get reliable "facts" on Wal-Mart than from Lee Scott, CEO of Wal-Mart. You can tune in on channel 2 on Thursday to hear Lee Scott being interviewed by Charlie Rose.

Or, you can simply go HERE to listen and watch the interview on your computer. Beat the rush so to speak.

Watch the program and count the number of tough questions Mr. Rose asks Lee Scott. Hear the answers Lee Scott gives when asked about Wal-Mart labor violations. Wait....Rose doesn't ask that question.

Much has been made of Lee Scott's statement on the show about how business will solve the US healthcare problems and not government. Today, Lee Scott shows how his business is solving the healthcare crisis by shrinking health-care insurance options for new hires.

As of Jan. 1, the company will offer new hires only two health benefits packages in which the monthly premium can be as low as $11 but the deductible can reach $6,000, according to documents provided to The Washington Post by Wake-Up Wal-Mart, a union-backed group.

If you don't feel like watching the interview to get "facts" about Wal-Mart, just go to walmartfacts.com and you will get the same information.

Big Box Tool Kit

The Institute for Local Self-Reliance is sponsoring a website called bigboxtoolkit.com. The website provides step-by-step information to fight the creeping 'Boxisation' of the USA.

Behind the Counter

If you haven't added 'Behind the Counter' to your must read Wal-Mart websites, please do so now. This is a well-written, amusing blog that talks, mostly, about the customers that shop at Wal-Mart. That's because the blogger is a two year employee that works behind the service desk.

Todays entry is a bit different, a few excerpts:

It is my opinion, especially after working in the store for two years now, that Wal-Mart as a whole is a soulless evil entity. The long-term AND short-term goals of the company involve only the acquisition of cash ad infinitum. There is not one single goal of the company that is about anything other than making money, no matter how many sides of their mouth they talk out of.

For about six months, we actually had an associate whose only job on Saturdays was to buy the newspaper as soon as it was delivered to the newspaper box outside, go through the sale papers and then mark all of our comparable merchandise down to a few pennies below whatever Target, Kmart, Kroger, et al. was selling it for.

Well, that never did work. Because Wal-mart is unable or unwilling to hire enough help, the two girls on the modular team were put to work stocking. One told me that she never actually did any price changes before she quit two weeks later after nearly breaking her leg on a pallet of cosmetics.

So you see, the solution is there. Wal-Mart just won't utilize it - because it believes that it can have cake, ice cream and a soda - and get double helpings too. It is the same logic that has the fitting room attendant serving as the telephone operator. Fewer people doing more work.

But the post is actually about the technical aspects of how prices are actually changed in a Wal-Mart store. And, why sometimes the lower price does not show up at the cash register.

How Much is a Living Wage?

To answer the question go here to the 'Poverty in America' website' and click on the 'living wage' calculator. Using the calculator you can determine the living wage for a specific town, city, township, in any state in the USA. Here is the link to the calculation of the 'living wage' necessary if you live in Harrietstown township in Franklin County NY. The calculator will show you living expenses for the area, hourly wages needed to meet those expenses and wages paid for different trades and professions.

Here are the per hour 'living wages' necessary for Saranac Lake, NY:

One adult - $7.72
Two adults - $11.27
One adult, one child - $14.69
Two adults, one child - $16.72
Two adults, two children - $21.05

And, for Bentonville, Ak:

One adult - $6.72
Two adults - $9.45
One adult, one child - $11.76
Two adults, one child -$13.68
Two adults, two children - $16.90

Note: The above figures are in 2004 dollars. Also, the calculator gets the minimum wage for NYS wrong. It provides the Federal minimum hourly wage. The minimum hourly wage for NY is $6.75 and will increase to $7.15 in 2007. I doubt this affects the calculation of living wage.

Comments About Wal-Mart

Find a plethora of comments about Wal-Mart here.

Wal-Mart Store Managers Steal Minutes - Get Bonuses

The testimony of this person is certainly an eye opener.

``If we have a manager who is able to capture one minute a week, 52 minutes a year, from 300 associates in his or her store, he would add to his bonus something around $1,300," Landy told jurors in state court. ``If he was able to capture one hour a week, his bonus would be enhanced by $82,000 for the average manager."

At least someone at Wal-Mart is making a good salary. Too bad it's done by stealing unpaid time from employees.

Congratulations Chris Knight - WNBZ Radio

Do you agree with the letter below:

In an on-air speech Friday I heard Chris Knight talk about the changes that he was going to make on “Talk of the Town.” There were a lot of opinions about where the show was going, but what I found hysterical was relating “Talk of the Town” to the Jerry Springer show. I guess whoever made that comment never watched the Jerry Springer show because Chris Knight is not giving out “Chrissy Beads.”

I also find it amusing that now you can NOT mention local businesses by name. Hum, could it be that those businesses being mentioned are paid advertisers for the radio station?

For the people who complain about the same callers every day, why don’t you call then? Kudos to the people who call and give their comments and names. Keep up the good work.

Finally, Wal-Mart is a big issue!! And people are letting off steam and want it heard, even if it is every day. Maybe Chris Knight is anti-Wal-Mart?

To people of the Saranac Lake area, we need to stand up and be heard about Wal-Mart.

By the way, where are my “Chrissy Beads”?

Joy Gonyea

Vermontville

Personally, I think the "Talk of the Town Radio" show has actually been worth listening to the last couple of weeks. There are new voices on the show and they actually have opinions backed up with facts in many cases. The negativity on the show seems to be history. The rule of not complaining about local businesses by name has been re-emphesized. No where have I heard Mr. Knight say you can't talk about Wal-Mart or any other business. But how many times do we need to hear "go Wal-Mart"?

My Trip to Wal-Mart - Ticonderoga

Yes indeed, I went. The parking lot was less than 1/3 full. I went into the store to check things out and to buy a black belt. I found the belts, a very small, picked over selection of very cheap leather belts. I bought one for $11.95 that probably cost $2 to make. Luckly I won't be using it much because it probably wouldn't last more than a few months with daily use. My everyday $20 solidly made belt is on it's 5th year. While there I checked out a few other things. I noticed they had 1 gigabyte SanDisk microcruz memory sticks on sale for $44.95. Not bad. But I got mine for $34.00 online. A no name 20" color TV for $88.95. I bought an RCA 20" last year for $94.00 but I bought it at Sears in SL, gladly supporting a downtown business. I really don't see the appeal.

Downtown Ticonderoga isn't even close to being as busy or vibrant as downtown Saranac Lake. And yes, they have several unused storefronts.

Big Box Store Size Restrictions?

Will the Village of Saranac Lake, like the Town of N. Elba, ever institute big box store size restrictions? And, if they do, will this happen.

Citizens for Economic Opportunity, a group started by the conservative activist Dallas Erickson of Stevensville, collected $41,752.41 in its effort to defeat the resolution that would limit big-box stores to 60,000 square feet, documents show. Wal-Mart, which is seeking to build a supercenter in Hamilton, gave $41,000 of that amount in a check written in late May, just as the petition drive was getting under way.

Who's Incorrect - Or Do You Believe Your Own Eyes?

Depending on who you speak with, the village of Ticonderoga is either booming or dying. Which is it?

From a letter to the editor in todays ADE:

But as I said, a town with nothing but bars would be pretty pathetic. As it happened, I drove through such a town yesterday. My spouse and I actually kept count as we drove through the town’s main street. Sixteen boarded-up stores in a stretch about as long as our downtown Main Street. Four bars. One tattoo parlor. One tanning salon. OK, there was an Aubuchon, and it seemed to be open. And a Rite-Aid on the edge of town, at least for now. And one of the bars served food, so make it three bars and a restaurant. No apparent tourist stores, even though the town has a major tourist attraction. To be fair, we didn’t check the side streets. Maybe they are full of bustling businesses.

The town is, of course, Ticonderoga. A town with a Wal-Mart! I suggest you folks who are certain that Saranac Lake is dying pay a goodwill call on Ticonderoga and report back on what we’re missing. Then report back in a letter or guest column in the Enterprise. Take some video and put it on Channel 2 to show us what a real “live” village is like. Maybe the rest of us will then come to our senses about what we’re missing.

From the Ticonderoga Chamber of Commerce website:

Ticonderoga has been experiencing a resurgence of business growth with expansions of existing companies and new business openings. International Paper Company, Interlakes Health Facility, TOP’s Market, have all completed multi-million dollar expansion and Fort Ticonderoga’s growth is a works in progress. Hugely successful Wal-Mart continues to draw volumes of customers and attract new chain store/big-box interest in Ticonderoga. Approximately 30 additional retail/service businesses have opened in the last3 years; 1/3 of which are chain stores.

As it happens, I asked the Ticonderoga Chamber of Commerce for the list of the 30 stores that opened in the last 3 years. I'm still waiting for an answer.

Big Box Construction

www.bidclerk.com is a useful site to see what construction projects are being proposed for a specific area. Using advanced search you can type in a zip code and a radius in miles to see what contracts are being let. For example, if you type in 12983 and a radius of 50 miles you get THIS. You can see the Malone Wal-Mart and the Potsdam Wal-Mart projects. You can even see maps and aerial photos of the building site. I assume this means the Ticonderoga Wal-Mart is going to be remodeled.

Bidclerk.com was recently showing bids for a Wal-Mart in Damariscotta, Maine, which turned out to be inaccurate and have been removed.

A solicitation for construction bids on a Wal-Mart supercenter in Damariscotta posted online Aug. 7 has raised some eyebrows, but is totally inaccurate, according to a spokesman for Wal-Mart.

Labor Day Post

Whether you are pro- or anti- Union, read this article in the New York Times Magazine about Andy Stern, the S.E.I.U. and union in-fighting.

The implications of Stern's crusade stretch well beyond the narrow world of organized labor and into the heart of the nation's politics. The stale and paralyzed political dialogue in Washington right now is a direct result of the deterioration of industrial America, followed by the rise of the Wal-Mart economy.

[Snip]

Even if big labor eventually does come to be made up of bigger unions, Stern sees a larger challenge: can you build a multinational labor movement to counter the leverage of multinational giants whose tentacles reach across oceans and continents? The emblem of this new kind of behemoth, of course, is Wal-Mart, the nation's largest employer. Wal-Mart has, in a sense, turned the American retail model inside out. It used to be that a manufacturer made, say, a clock radio, determined its price and the wages of the employees who made it and then sold the radio to a retail outlet at a profit. Wal-Mart's power is such that the process now works in reverse: in practice, Wal-Mart sets the price for that clock radio, and the manufacturer, very likely located overseas, figures out how low wages will have to be in order to make it profitable to produce it. In this way, Wal-Mart not only resists unions in its stores with unwavering ferocity but also drives down the wages of its manufacturers -- all in the service of bringing consumers the lowest possible price.

''What was good for G.M. ended up being good for the country,'' Stern says. ''What's good for Wal-Mart ends up being good for five families'' -- the heirs to the Walton fortune. Stern's reform plan for the A.F.L.-C.I.O. includes a $25 million fund to organize Wal-Mart's workers. But as a retail outlet, Wal-Mart doesn't really fall within the S.E.I.U.'s purview. What Stern says he is deeply worried about is what he sees as the next generation of Wal-Marts, which are on his turf: French, British and Scandinavian companies whose entry into the American market threatens to drive down wages in service industries, which are often less visible than retail. ''While we were invading Iraq, the Europeans invaded us,'' Stern says. Most of these companies have no objection to unionizing in Europe, where organized labor is the norm. But when they come to the United States, they immediately follow the Wal-Mart model, undercutting their competitors by shutting out unions and squeezing paychecks.

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."