I don’t shop at Wal-Mart.
Beyond their anti-union philosophy, I find going in to a Wal-Mart depressing. The stores are invariably a mess, the workers are unhappy, & getting a bargain shouldn’t come with a horrendous shopping experience. So, whenever a negative story appears about the mega-chain, I’m never surprised.
Explosive report from the New York Times:
The former executive gave names, dates and bribe amounts. He knew so much, he explained, because for years he had been the lawyer in charge of obtaining construction permits for Wal-Mart de Mexico.
Wal-Mart dispatched investigators to Mexico City, and within days they unearthed evidence of widespread bribery. They found a paper trail of hundreds of suspect payments totaling more than $24 million. They also found documents showing that Wal-Mart de Mexico’s top executives not only knew about the payments, but had taken steps to conceal them from Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. In a confidential report to his superiors, Wal-Mart’s lead investigator, a former F.B.I. special agent, summed up their initial findings this way: “There is reasonable suspicion to believe that Mexican and USA laws have been violated.”
The lead investigator recommended that Wal-Mart expand the investigation.
Instead, an examination by The New York Times found, Wal-Mart’s leaders shut it down. [...]
This post has been updated.
Taylor, why do you even shop there? Wal-Mart is a despicable company. You should vote with your dollars. My god, what if you go there on a bad hair day and end up on that awful People of Wal-Mart site? Just sayin’.
Decatur is a pretty little town just east of Atlanta, and Wal-Mart is trying to move right in. Many residents are fighting it. It would decimate the idyllic little main street.
Rick, did you read the very first sentence of Taylor’s post: “I don’t shop at Wal-Mart.”
Neither do I.
Taylor is providing commentary on this story. Your first statement, “Taylor, why do you even shop there?” makes it sound as if you either need another cup of coffee or you must be on drugs.
Yeah, I have since had another cup of coffee. I missed the first sentence and read this: I find going in to a Wal-Mart depressing.
Apologies.
Apologies accepted. At least we can all agree that Wal-Mart is depressing…lol!
They are trying to cram one down the throat of my community and we are fighting it. Wal-Mart destroys local economies.
C A P I T A L I S M!
America’s latest form of what we use to call “Imperialism,” a system that always has and always will be an economic failure…a failure because it only provides wealth for a small minority…the rich and powerful, “corporaticians” and the oligarchy whom they serve…a fluke of the American Dream! The cost to sustain these types of capitalistic institutions cost the community more than the acceptance of a low paying job, for the most part it forces the very competitive freedom of other businesses to participate in the market!!! Capitalism does not work! And we cannot afford to keep supporting it.
I believe the ultimate challenge that we face as a nation of middle class and poor working citizens is how can we convince ourselves and others who live comfortably from these systems to change the very systems that gives us that “comfort”, knowing full well that “legal” criminal and immoral acts are being commited by them, not only to us the American citizens but also to the citizens of other countries?
What is our defense for those of us who do not believe in capitalism such as myself?
I don’t know, honestly…we’ve never done it quite like this before…or have we?
I do know one thing the “voting” booths that use to work, guess what…..? They don’t work anymore. American capitalism “HAS TO DIE”, it just has to!!!!!!!!!!!!!
When doing grocery shopping, I split between Food Lion, Piggly Wiggly (gotta love THE PIG), and Wal-Mart. Because my wife and I have a very strict budget, there are deals at one store that another doesn’t have. Occasionally we shop at Wal-Mart for clothing for our three children because of price. Four layoffs from Fortune 500 companies got me spooked. And we’re micro-managing every dollar. So yes, Wal-Mart is part of the equation for me and millions of others.
That being said, I don’t like the way Wal-Mart does business. And I wish I could just cut them out. But I can’t at this time and won’t. Luckily the two Wal-Marts in my area look and smell pretty good. When I spoke to the store manager of one, I see why. That woman is a CLEAN FREAK! LOL! But it’s tough. You may not want to but to not would hurt you. Been through enough hurt as of late. Trying to keep it minimal.
Made me flash back to an article I read a couple years ago. Emphasis mine.
I never hardly shop at Walmart at all, the one Walmart near me is in a plaza where a bunch of other fast food and other stores are located and the traffic is horrible. So I avoid it as much as possible. I remember when I was young, there were many mom and pop shops and going to McCorys and other department stores downtown while I shopped at Hills and Ames at a small local shopping plaza near me. The mall took alot of the stores out of the downtown area when it was built and Walmart finished off my other stores. Now I shop at K-Mart, Family Dollar, Dollar General, Krogers “Even though I hate it” because there are not many grocery stores like there used to be, Krogers ran them out. I also shop at Walgreens. Walmart moves into small rural towns and cities also and run the mom and pop stores out. I also go to my local hardware store instead of going to Home Depot and Lowes, the people are so friendly at my local hardware store and its family owned, so I try to go to many places instead of just a few to help everyone out.