Wal-mart

[rayman]

I try to buy stuff that is produced as locally as possible, but it is often hard. Many times I think stores can get foreign made stuff cheaper and price seems to take priority over quality. Used to love Walmart because they seemed to always have just what I wanted at a cheap price. Over time I noticed that things tore up quickly or did not perform. In other words, "you get what you pay for".

I think that a lot of factory jobs have moved to China, or where ever, because it can be hard to put together a good labor force around here. Kids fresh out of school don't hardly know how to tie their own shoe laces but they think they are supposed to start out making as much as the boss and not have to do anything productive either. Just look at the recent strike the fast food people put on to get $15 per hour to flip burgers. People should get a fair wage, but come on. Factory managers either automate or go somewhere that people will work for cheap. Just saying.

[Oppie]

Another reason to avoid Walmart, prefer the family owned hardware store at the bottom of my hill, if they don't have it, they'll get it. Half of my neighbor's work there....

My local hardware store tries to sell American as much as they can which is very difficult. They stand behind everything they sell no question, yes their prices are higher than the major hardware stores but they sell a higher quality product most of the time. They have a sawmill, kiln dryer, build an deliver rafter's, What's not to like, if only they'd add a sporting goods... They are on they're third generation family running the place. It makes a difference.
Most of the time I drive my Polaris 6x6 down to pickup stuff, they know me, they know my kids, by name

[Peacemaker]

We have been put into a tough position with no way out.
Don't blame Walmart or any other business for selling what they do.
These decisions were made at top government levels in our countries.
Lobbyists worked very hard and I'm sure greased some palms to change trade laws to the benefit of off shore commerce.
Business is only doing what is now legal!!

yes....and lobbyists are always working hard on trade issues. Protectionism is a very complex issue, and I personally would prefer that the US take a free trade stance not a protectionist stance. The US can't compete for many manufacturing jobs because we have too high a standard of living. Workers want/need to get paid more than their counterparts in China and India (and formerly in Japan and Korea, but their standards of living have gotten high, too). European-style taxation is not the answer, IMO.

Unions work hard to get their members high salaries and nice bennies. There is a cost to that.

If some terrorists don't nuke us all to oblivion first, eventually, once the chinese standard of living gets too high, it would be nice if countries in Africa or the Middle East could be governed by leaders who create environments that would be conducive to making them the next source of cheap goods. If people are working, they are too busy to get brainwashed and angry about the world leaving them behind.

OK...not wanting to get too political here. If you don't like chinese products, then don't buy them. But if you refuse to buy chinese products, then you'd better be willing to pay through the nose for custom made stuff....or go without. Lemme know how the TV and electronics shopping goes.

I personally have no issue with Walmart. I prefer to "buy American" in many cases, but won't kill myself to do it. I still buy "American" cars, but I despise what the UAW has done to the Big 3, I recognize that MANY components in big 3 products come from Asia, some cars are assembled in Mexico or Canada, and I also recognize that many Hondas, Toyotas, BMW's, etc are made here in the US of A by happy non-union workers.

I had a point to make...but I forgot what it was.....

[sumner4991]

So, Wes . . .you have money in an off shore account . . .and blaming Walmart for not considering it legal tender.

Problem isn't Walmart nor off shore accounts . . .it's these fraud artists that use off shore accounts to rip people off.

Should be easy enough to find another place to cash the check. I can't see blaming Walmart for protecting themselves against fraud . . .not saying your check is a fraud buddy.

[Peacemaker]

uh oh I just now remembered that this thread was started re: a union check. I was not meaning to offend anyone with my comments re: unions...just voicing my opinion on the effects of labor costs on product costs.

Especially not meaning to offend a fellow Westmoreland County hunter........

[Ont_Excal]

uh oh I just now remembered that this thread was started re: a union check. I was not meaning to offend anyone with my comments re: unions...just voicing my opinion on the effects of labor costs on product costs.

Especially not meaning to offend a fellow Westmoreland County hunter........

Lowering wages is just a race to the bottom.
Not many items get a reduced price just because of lower wages.
In my manufacturing job the cost of wages was less than 4 % even with all the excessive overtime and management still came after us.
When enough of us can't afford to keep the economy afloat, then these off shore jobs lost will come back, just too late for me.

[Kegbelly]

You're so right Ont-Excal. It's a circular effect. The middle class guy that had his job offshored, or was forced to take deep cuts to compete with the other companies who offshored their operations, well now he's forced to work for less, so he has less disposable income to spend. Multiply that by the millions and millions of good paying jobs the US (and I assume Canada too) has sent overseas in the last 20 years and replaced with low paying jobs (or no jobs at all) and you got a real problem. Companies can get by with it for a while and make a handsome profit in the short run, but eventually it comes full circle when so many have lost good jobs, now the whole economy and standard of living is dragged down a notch or two, and the very companies that sent their stuff overseas now wonder why sales and profits are falling. Kind of like biting the hand that feeds ya on a grand scale. It's a self-feeding cycle. But as always JMHO.

[Ont_Excal]

Toyota and Honda are building and expanding plant here already.
I suspect they like to be ahead of curve.

BTW:
People may not like them but Toyota vehicles have more north American parts than the any other manufacturer.

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[cevans]

I know Wallmart does things their way,,but if you get hired by them,,you can work your way up the ladder really easy. I have a relation,,a married couple that run their shifts at a Walmart Distribution Center that are pulling down alittle over 200k together. A daughter-in-law,,running 5 depts. in a local Walmart that is making about 60k after being there alittle over a year. A sister-in -law retired from GM that is making about 30k after 3-4 yrs of working there part time..and she don't wan't any more hours than they give her part time. The wife just got hired 3 weeks ago,,she is pretty sharp and been in retail all her life,,and she already got a promotion and pay raise and 2 letters of commendation, and they are training her to run all the cashiers with a buck pay raise in 3 months or less. Easy to get out of the minumim wage of what you start out at at Walmart,,and they started my wife at 9.85/per hour 3 weeks ago,,not minimum wage. They also pay their employees couple times a year a profit sharing check after they have been there a year. Wife will qualify for their insurance program after 6 months and it includes eye and dental and a inexpensive price which is way better insurance and way cheaper than Obama Care.

How about all the long shoremen that are working for Walmart that unload everything off ships if their products come from overseas? Walmart does try and sell American made products when they can get them. How about all the truckers that deliever products? How about the farmers that sell their produce to Walmart to resale? I could go on and on as huge as Walmart is and how it overall affects the entire countries economy. I really think its a dead horse to beat trying to take on Walmart and complain about it but each to their own opinion.