Has anyone seen the documentary about Wal-Mart entitled "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price"? I just saw it last night and I was quite disturbed by what was presented, if in fact the documentary presents accurate facts and data. The movie concentrated more on American Wal-Mart, though; I think Wal-Mart in Canada is slightly different, especially since we have free health care, and so providing health insurance for employees is not a concern here.

Anyways, just curious if anyone has seen it, and if so, what did you think? If you haven't seen it, the main points touched upon were:

Wal-Mart's lack of good medical insurance for even their full-time employees;
The way they come into a town and destroy all the small businesses;
The sweatshops they operate in China and Bangladesh;
The sexism and racism in certain Wal-Marts;
The violent crime in Wal-Mart parking lots;
Their aggressive anti-union policies;
Their stance on environmental issues.

Watching it makes me want to stop shopping there, although their prices are very good on a budget!

valinors_sorrow

I stopped shopping at Walmart long before that documentary (I saw it maybe last year?) suggested the things I saw with my own eyes. Besides what is listed in that documentary, they are terrible to truckers and so trucker wives tend to not shop there. I have voted with my dollars for a long time now. I wish more Americans would do likewise.

I use Target instead; they seem to have a better fit to the community here, a better product line and the prices aren't that much higher. Or I purposefully seek out the mom-n-pop places... I live in a small enough town to still have some of those wonderful joints. Municipalty governments can be sooo incredibly short-sighted.

Have you seen Walmarts Superstores, ugh!! And their grocery store line? If not, its coming to a town near you...

Resistance is futile, you will be assimilated!!

orange

Thanks Val. We don't have Target stores in Canada... at least, I've never seen one, although I've seen the commercials for them on American TV. I'm actually not shopping at Wal-Mart as much either lately, since they moved out of the mall last year. They used to be in a convenient area of town, as part of a large mall. But then last year they moved and built a new bigger store (by themselves) on the edge of town. The mall they left has really suffered financially as a result. The new store has groceries as you mentioned, but it's inconvenient to get to... there's not even good bus service out there. I mostly go to the Real Canadian Superstore now for groceries, and Zellers Or Sears for other stuff. Unfortunately we don't really have a lot of mom and pop type stores here, at least not for essentials. I do like frequenting small businesses to buy books and other specialty items, though. And I love second hand stores for clothing!

J_9

Mom, you mention Target. Tell me if it is ture that they will not let the girl scouts sell cookies there, the Salvation Army collect money for the poor, as well as not supporting our country. I have heard these things and have seen it here in my town but am wondering if this is all just hype.

Does anyone have the facts on Target?

I shop at Wal-Mart only because I am on a nursing student's budget and because there is literally nothing else around me. We have Kroger and Wal-Mart and that is all within 50 miles.

In Michigan there is Meijer, I prefer to shop there, prices are better, stores are cleaner, but we don't have that here...yet. I can only hope.

orange

Yeah someone else on the site was talking about Target too Janine.... about them not allowing the Salvation Army drums. Since we don't have Target here in Canada I can't comment, but I've never heard of anyone turning down the SA here. It sounds kind of ridiculous.

Cost is kind of a quandary of mine, too... the prices at Wal-Mart are really great, and there's not a lot of alternatives. Although, as I say, I'm shopping more at Superstore now for the sake of convenience. Superstore is a big grocery store that has a lot of essentials... toiletries, clothes, baby stuff, electronics, etc, and the prices are good. Plus I like the fact that it's a Canadian company.

aqua@home

LOL Val. They are terrible to truckers. My husband hates that store. Where's the customer service?


Ugh...I don't like Zellers either. I think their stores are dirty, and the prices are just the same as The Bay or Sears without the quality. I prefer Sears, they have a great guarantee on kids clothes.

magprob

I have come to the conclusion that Walmart is getting bad press and slander due to the fact that they are pushing the green agenda. They are putting millions into Bio fuel and that just does not sit well with the rest of Corporate America Government. I will continue to shop at Walmart untill I am certain of the source of all this negative press. By the way, I see lots of truckers and their wives shopping there alonside the RVers that can stay in the Walmart parking lots for free. I do not want to judge anyone and hurt their business untill I know ecactly what is really up.

Here is all I can find on the good things Walmart does. Also, if you don't like working for Walmart, go to work for McDonalds!

__________________________________________________ _______________

In a company known more for driving bargains than driving hybrids, I’m frequently asked about the impetus behind the global environmental sustainability programme we launched full-steam at Wal-Mart last year. Like most good stories, this one has evolved over time, involving a bit of personal discovery, organisational enthusiasm and the constant unfurling of the vision before us.

We began talking about the environment among ourselves and with NGOs about 18 months ago. Truthfully, I didn’t see how much a retailer could do about the environment beyond recycling and thermostat control, and we had already been doing both. Moreover, Wal-Mart is already known for zealous efficiency: we waste very little in our quest to keep costs down for our customers.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for me to open my eyes to the enormous impact that our company can have on the environment. And it didn’t take much longer for my interest in the environment to grow into a full-blown passion. Environmental sustainability may well be the most important initiative we undertake at Wal-Mart this decade, maybe even this century. It will have huge impacts on the way things are made, farmed, packaged, transported, displayed and sold worldwide.

The environmental advantages come straight from our size. As the world’s largest retailer, we’re in thousands of communities around the USA and 15 other countries. We buy products from more than 60,000 suppliers in 70 countries. We sell anywhere from 35,000 to 100,000 product lines in each of our 6,000-plus stores and clubs. We have 1.7
million associates serving more than 138 million customers every week.

Our size and scale means that even one small proenvironment change in our policies or our customers’ habits has exponential impacts all over the world. Consider this: by reducing the size of the cardboard packaging on just one line of our own-brand toys last summer, we saved more than 5,000 trees and 1,300 barrels of oil that would have gone into making the packaging. We also reduced the amount of fuel needed to transport those products to our stores. We use millions of kilos of plastics in shrink-wrap that, until recently, we threw away. Recycling all our plastics at all our US stores (which we’ll be doing this year) will keep this plastic out of landfills. Increasing the fuel efficiency of our 7,000-truck fleet will keep tonnes of greenhouse gases out of the air by saving millions of litres of fuel.

We’ve built environmental ‘laboratory’ stores in Texas and Colorado, using recycled asphalt, recycled oil for heating, wind and solar power, all innovations we will incorporate into future stores. We’ve committed to purchasing all our wildcaught fresh and frozen fish for the US market from Marine Stewardship Council-certified sources.

We’re buying seven million kilos of organic cotton from Turkey and India, and additional supplies from China, Texas and elsewhere. This policy will keep millions of kilos of chemicals out of the environment. What’s more, we will make these organic products more affordable for consumers all around the world, thanks to our large-volume buying and distribution efficiencies. This means that families on a budget will be able to dress their children in organic cotton, and feed them organic vegetables and formula – all at a Wal-Mart price.

These are just a few examples of what’s already under way. We are focused on three top-line goals: to be supplied with 100% renewable
energy, to create zero waste, and to sell products that sustain our resources and our environment. Those are ambitious goals, but we never think small at our company.

kp2171

capitalism good. in theory. much of the time. but...

while its impressive what they have done from a business model, im not a fan. they are top notch in streamlining, but their push for the lowest price strangles vendors and stymies product innovation outside of speeding up the supply chain.

as the number one retailer in the u.s. and mexico, and their growing international presence, they have real power over vendors and are becoming movers in the political arena...something they stayed out of until sam waltons death.

now they have a huge political action committee (as many interest groups do), pressured congress on free trade, successfully lobbied to get exceptions to the central american free trade act, and is now partnering with china heavily.

granted, the us hasnt been untouchable in the manufacturing arena since the 50's. since then taiwan, singapore, japan, and south korea all stepped up. when trade with china opened in the 90s WM was right there. they are the 5th leading trader with china... ahead of great britain and russia.

the problem isnt an international presence. it is the push for lower cost running manufacturing jobs overseas. in 95 they had 6% direct imports, in 2004 40%. wonder why they dropped the old "made in america" slogan?

unlike other companies like nike or gap they refuse to have their international sites independently audited. this leads to the opportunities for double book-keeping. a sad event when chinas workers are already in a bad place.

target gives three times amount to charity when you look at dollars given versus earned. WM says they give back through their low prices.

the genreal shift from a manufacturing driven economy to a consumer driven ecomony is a bad thing. its not WMs fault alone. but they are a huge player in the game. and anyone who absolutely loves them has never been a part of a manufacturing business or vendor. unless you simply like getting the life choked out of you until WM decides to move the business to bangledesh, where 50% of the pop is in poverty.

ok... enough ranting. i could go on and on.

Cassie

I cannot understand why Walmart has such a bad rap. ShopKo, Target, KMart are all basically the same. If I remember right Walmart was about the last big chain to start coming in some areas in the west. The mom and pop stores were already gone because of KMart. Walmart sells pretty much the same stuff as the other chain stores. Each store seems to have a brand they only sell. If you find it in all stores, Walmart is going to be cheaper. I am not aware of any of the other stores having insurance policies. Most of the places hire part time help so they do not qualify. They may say they offer insurance, but who actually qualifies for it. As far as sweat shops, the stuff comes from China and goes to all the businesses in corporate America. I am not aware of Walmart having their own name brand.
I agree with Magpro, I did see something about Walmart promoting ethenol gas, that is a big no no for corporate America. If I find someone who is going to stand up to the oil companies with alternative resources, I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Not that I agree with Walmart's policies, I just do not feel they are that much different than any other big corporation. The day of the mom and pop stores are gone, and I do miss them. They were so personable and I am glad I grew up in an era where everyone knew your name and when you were a kid and $1.00 short they would let you bring it in another day.

Cassie

You did your homework on this one. I am pleased to see this. Thank you