Re: Say NO NO NO to Wal-Mart!!!

I work for a company that inventories Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart (along
with a large chunk of all other stores)  The business practices that
Wal-Mart is frequently villified for are no different than what is done at
LKMart or Target.  Except that Target is pretty good at them, KMart sucks
at them, and is slowly going out of business in consequence, and Wal-Mart
is expert at them.  Much of the secret of the success of Wal-Mart and
Target is inventory control and excellent organization.  KMart has serious
problems in these areas, and has not managed to provide their customers
with the cleanliness, prices, or quality they expect at Wal-Mart or Target. 
So KMart won't be around in 10 years.
As for Wal-Mart's benefits, pay, etc, I know people who have other full-time
jobs, who hold on to part-time jobs at Wal-Mart specifically for the
benefits--and the managers of the meat departments at the 2 Wal-Marts whose
meat departments I inventoried last night are professional gentlemen, who
care about doing their jobs well, and seem to be making reasonable wages
for this area (outside of St. Louis)

kavking wrote:

> "George" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
> news:<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>...
>> "Don K" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
>> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> > "Dennis P. Harris" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
>> > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>> > >
>> > > there is no need to shop ANYTHING at walmart.  why support evil?
>> >
>> > Do you mean that evil store that opened up its profit-sharing
>> > program to all its employees in the 70's?
>> 
>> 
>> They were probably thinking about the evil store that drove almost all
>> manufacturing (and related support companies/jobs) out of the US. I was
>> in a client's office and had time to read a detailed piece about walmarts
>> purchasing practices. You are a manufacturer and sell to them. Lets say
>> you negotiated a one year firm price. The year is up and you advise them
>> that due to higher wage, supply and energy cost that you need to get 4%
>> more. They tell you that now you are 14% away from what they want to pay
>> because they expect you to lower your price 10% year no matter what.
>> 
>> You consider that they are the now the biggest corporation in the world
>> and who else you can sell to. You comply and meet their price reduction
>> demand. So initially you find more efficient ways to make this all work
>> (more automation, better process control etc). Next year comes and you
>> need to drop your price 10%.because if you don't the world's biggest
>> corporation will go somewhere else. You now start lowering wages,
>> dropping benefits, hiring illegals and whatever else is necessary to keep
>> going. Eventually you close your facilities and go offshore in order to
>> stay in business.
> 
> According to Fortune magazine, most manufacturers that do buisness
> with Wal-Mart will actually do better, not worse by cutting the
> inefficiencies and costs, and lowering prices to the consumer.  It
> says that Wal-Mart will even help these buisnesses figure out how to
> be more profitable, and still maintain their people and their
> productivity.
>> 
>> 
>> >
>> > The Biography Channel just did a bit on Sam Walton.
>> > The ordinary worker they showed that got a $750,000 check when
>> > he retired didn't think WalMart was evil.
>> 
>> From what I understand that level of profit sharing only applies to a
>> very few original workers and is often cited to make them sound warm &
>> fuzzy. I understand that current employees get a very, very small
>> fraction of that amount.
> 
> Actually the profit sharing program in the company hasn't changed at
> all.  The people who were in Sam Walton's first stores have larger
> profit sharing checks because they have been with the company longer,
> not because they made a larger percentage in profit sharing.
> 
> k