What are your thoughts???
Find a Conversation
What are your thoughts???
| Mon, 04-12-2010 - 9:46pm |
Interested to hear your opinions....
Sunday I went to a BBQ at a friends house (cooked outdoors but ate indoors)
| Mon, 04-12-2010 - 9:46pm |
Interested to hear your opinions....
Sunday I went to a BBQ at a friends house (cooked outdoors but ate indoors)
Pages
I guess you could have asked her if her clothing was made locally and bought at a small local store or if the food she was eating was all grown locally and not shipped from somewhere else... But, that's just me.
Wal-mart, it is pretty bad, most everything is made in China. BUT, so is clothing for MAJOR designers(as well as Thailand, Vietnam, etc) Made at a very low price in horrible conditions and then shipped to the US, Canada, the UK and sold for premium prices(making way more profit than Walmart)- think Macys items, Nike Reebok, Old Navy, GAP, Banana Republic, ALL shoes. Same with food, all the fancy food she may enjoy, probably farmed/produced in a very poor country where the people only make enough money to have a house
Terri
I think it must be lovely, absolutely lovely! indeed, to be able to AFFORD to sit around and pass judgment on less fortunate people.
Personally, my internal dialogue when interacting with judgmental people, is that they too one day will be judged - by God. And I'm not really overly religious.
I like Wal-Mart. For some things.
I do shop at my grocery stores specifically for produce & meat because it is more local. Our Wal-Marts here tend to ship in from the US and I'd rather buy BC produce, Alberta beef, etc at our local chain grocery store. But, the produce (I find) also lasts a lot longer because there is less field to shelf time at my grocery store, kwim? So if Wal-Mart's produce was of comparable quality AND a much lower price, I'd be tempted to shop there for that too.
If there was a Farmer's market nearby I'd probably shop there - if it didn't affect my bottom line.
But hey, the reality is - Wal-Mart is a reality, and I don't think it's going anywhere. You can either choose to take advantage of the low prices and convenient shopping or boycott it. If you can afford to boycott it, and shop at all the local, more expensive stores, than all the best to you.
But the majority of people I know (and they're not without social conscience either) enjoy the financial advantage of having a Wal-Mart nearby.
BTW, I think we ARE the working poor. So blah blah blah about what Wal-Mart is doing to for the working poor - what it's doing is helping MY bottom line! And I don't think that's a bad thing...
JMHO.
~ Mom to 5 ~
My FIL use to be in the small wholesale business.
Norma
"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus
She was trying to embarrass you. Don't let her.
The fact of the matter is Wal mart is great place to shop, and it does provide jobs for people. Have you ever looked around at how many people are working?
I own a small business and I know people don't stop here very much. I am here for things people forget when they are at the big stores. I am ok with that. I am not even trying to compete.
Everyone can do what they can do. I would not likely let someone influence my shopping patterns, I am the working poor. Even if I was not, it would probably be because I shopped at Walmart for the last 15 years and saved so much money.
I don't have time for people like that.
Norma
"Patience is the best remedy for every trouble"- Plautus
This is a terrific thread.
In my perfect world, there would be no need for a Walmart.
I don't buy groceries at Walmart, but I do retrieve my husband's blood pressure medicine from the chain's pharmacy.
Hi Duke,
I think what that lady said to you was pretty rude and uncalled for.
With that said I don't shop at Walmart b/c they don't pay a living wage and are not very socially or environmentally friendly. Where I live we are able to shop at Co-ops for food. I also shop at Target which isn't great either but probably a little better. Now that we are on a budget we have gotten a membership at Costco which I am told is better then Sams Club. (If anyone think this is untrue please tell me!). But I totally get that we are lucky in my city to have so many options at our co-ops. When we are in Costa Rica we do a lot of our shopping at a chain owned by Walmart due to convinence.
When people are really annoying I do the in one ear out the other ear trick :).
Liz
student loan paid off 2010
Bathroom remodel loan paid off 2013
Pending Car loan to be paid by the end of 2014!!!!!
first- i agree with the poster who said that if that guest was really concerned with walmarts effect on the local economy she would have found a quiet way to tell you (and only you) that she is concerned about walmarts effect on the economy and that some people aren't aware- she would urge you to check out their business practices and to consider them when making your shopping desination choices. the fact that she railed on and on in front of everyone is repugnant and insecure.
i think that walmart is the same and not really any worse than the best buys, old navys, kmarts, etc. coming from a city where the big boxes have been around a while, it's just the way it is. for me- wherever i can buy my toilet paper the cheapest is where i will buy toilet paper. i don't see any valor in paying more for the exact same product when i am on a budget. before i cared what toilet paper cost, i shopped wherever was the most convenient.
i do treat my food differently but that's because buying local generally means more fresh. and because i am in the middle of farm country, there are a lot of locally grown options available which creates enough competition within that system to keep the prices down. but when it's not growing season, i shop wherever has good prices and decent quality (whether it's walmart, target, or kroger, etc).
maybe someday i will be in a position to be more proactive about my choices of where to shop and less motivated by the bottom line. if that were the case i would certainly want to do research on all the options and make a decision based on data for all the choices. my guess is that all the options have their pros and cons and that the difference in our global market economy is negligible at best. i will say that given the option- target is my favorite. well lit, well staffed... and there's something about all the red...
hmm. very interesting topic. it's taken me a while to write this, trying to say what i want to say without it becoming a novel on how rude that woman was. i hope you can shrug that all off.
andi
I want to say a big thank you to all of you for your thoughtful responses...
I am not too worried about what that woman thinks of me but I was upset that I may have been contributing to others suffering...
I try very hard to be kind to my family, friends, neighbours and community and realize that with time I need to spread that out to the world at large...
I also realize I can't do it all and that for now if Febreeze or Dove or whatever is on sale at Walmart I will continue to buy it there...
I do mostly buy locally for fresh food and I do support artisans (used to anyways) as I love beautiful things...now that Im paying down debt no more artisan work
I also donate money to causes I believe in (Im a bit selfish with time and hopefully as I get older I will do more charitable work)
As you all know ...I love the arts and patronize these events as much as I can.
So all in all I feel that I'm not behaving too irresponsibly but can improve by furthering my knowledge and making more conscious choices...
Again thank you soooooooooooooooo much for your thoughts
Duke
PS Im not making a key lime for that woman ever tho even if it costs me some karma haha
Pages