How do you feel about Wal-Mart?

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-04-2008
How do you feel about Wal-Mart?
383
Wed, 11-26-2008 - 6:23pm

I read this op/ed (it's tied in with the automotive industry issues) http://www.indystar.com/article/20081119/OPINION12/811190304/1301/ARCHIVE the other day and it got me thinking. I've always heard about the lousy way they treat their employees but...it's their prices that keep me going back. Since I've moved to the South it's been even worse. They have Super Wal-Marts here where there is a grocery store in the Wal-Mart.

Now, there was an article the other day in my local newspaper with the mayor asking people to do their Christmas shopping downtown and buy local to support our mom & pop stores. Now, I'd love to do that but I have three kids and you know where I'm going.

Part of me really doesn't like what Wal-Mart stands for but the other part of me feels like "why should I pay more when I know I can get it cheaper there?"

Any thoughts?

Pages

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-09-2008
Sun, 11-30-2008 - 9:06am
I haven't had that experience with Wal-mart clothes(I bought them for my daughter when she was younger). They are way thinner then Gymboree clothes, fade quicker, shrink more often, and are (IMO) made poorly. I look for clothes made in America but they are difficult, if not impossible, to find. I don't like Walmart at all and nothing will change my mind about that.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-13-2008
Sun, 11-30-2008 - 9:26am

Aside from everything else I have put forth already:


I see you and others rail on about socialism, but if Wal-Mart had their way, they would be the only store in town across the country - the only thing between socialism and that hypothetical result is that it isn't run by government, otherwise it is essentially the same.


You worry about big government, but apparently care not about just how big a private enterprise becomes. I agree that government power can get out of hand, but so too can private power.



Full length fiction: worlds undone

"You have no power over my body..." ~ Anne Hutchinson

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-20-2008
Sun, 11-30-2008 - 9:32am

My children are older - teens and young adults now - and Carters, a good quality clothing manufacturer - stopped being an option many, many years ago. You may find, as your children get older that the quality of clothing at Walmart declines. I agree that it is hard to find clothes made in American now, but that doesn't mean we have to settle for poor quality. Cheaper clothes are often of inferior quality - many times you can find clothes that have hardly been worn or still have the tags on in a consignment shop or even at Goodwill. Baring that Old Navy, The Gap, and American Eagle clothing seems to hold up much better as does LandsEnd clothing - which my children practically lived in when they were in elementary school.

Another example is the perennial issue of school back packs - I always bought them at LL Bean - expensive yes, but they used the same back pack all through elementary school, then I bought a new one for middle school and perhaps a new one again in high school just because they needed a bigger one. My daughter, now in 11th grade, has only had 3 backpacks for her school career - all from LL Bean - but my out of pocket cost for them is much less than if I had purchased the 'low price' options at Walmart.

.
.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Sun, 11-30-2008 - 9:53am

Now that I can agree with. I just have a hard time wanting to shell out $50 for a shirt for a 2 year old that will get worn one season, about 10 times, before she outgrows it. On the other hand I do agree that as they get older, they don't outgrow them as quick and will have no issues in spending something that will last more than one year for them. Not a problem with that! But for now, Walmart and Target works for me, especially the carter's and disney brands there, and even some of the cheaper brands because i don't get more than one season out of them anyway. Target clothes are not any better quality, imho, but again, they get us through the season inexpensively.

edited to add: I know some posters on here may not shop at walmart not because of the quality but for the ethics of those factory workers in vietnam, china, indonesia, etc, but all those more expensive clothes are made in the same places, under the same conditions (cheap labor, company making much more off of it than walmart because they sell it for more) How do they justify that?




Edited 11/30/2008 9:57 am ET by lighteningcrashes
iVillage Member
Registered: 11-20-2008
Sun, 11-30-2008 - 10:06am
To tell you the truth, when my children were younger I rarely bought new clothes - I almost always purchased their clothes at consignment shops. For one thing, my oldest wouldn't wear anything that had not been washed several times - and by time you wash it several times it resembles 'previously worn' clothing any way. That is where I learned the value of quality clothing. I could buy name brand - gymboree and baby gap and Oshkosh - clothes at consignment shops dirt cheap and they were almost always in much better shape than even Carters. Also, Carters makes two different qualities of clothing - did you know? So I could buy gently worn clothing and often times still be able to resell it when my children out grew it. The 'low cost' clothing rarely lasted that long. There was a period, during the middle school years, when my children didn't want me to buy clothing at consignment shops, but once I gave them the money and let them spend it themselves - keeping in mind that was all the clothing they got for the entire season - they quickly learned to find sales, buy one or two 'new' items and then supplement with consignment/thrift shop finds. Funny their friends always commented on how well dressed they were! I guarantee I spend about 1/4 to 1/2 as much on my childrens clothing as their friend's parents did.
.
.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Sun, 11-30-2008 - 10:12am

You make it sound so attractive.

Those shipping containers are a fun plaything for those that can afford them. And for the gutted middle now lower class, they're more like this: http://blog.danperelman.com/2008/10/at-home-in-shipping-container.html http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/shipping-container-homes-by-pfnc-global-communities-064351

The new trailer park - the shipping container home shanty towns of America. Coming soon to a place near you. Thank you Wal-Mart.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Sun, 11-30-2008 - 10:22am

">>> Huh? They run local stores out of business by undercutting them through underpaid labor and outsourced jobs to China.

Sounds kinda mean to the overpriced stores, but good for the community who, no doubt, appreciate the low prices."

It's not about the prices beau. You can get similar prices at a store much friendlier to its workers - Costco.

It's about the way Wal-Mart gets to the prices by trashing its workers and American manufacturing.

And yes, we used to make bicycles, radios and other things in this country. The factories are gone, gone to China. You can say it ain't so all day and all night. I wish your typing would make it true. But it won't. Continuing the Fox Republican Ostrich approach is a sure path to disaster.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Sun, 11-30-2008 - 10:24am
I wish Wal-Mart hadn't gutted American industry through its buying orgy in China. Then there would be better jobs, better quality products, and more people to buy them. But that kind of logic doesn't penetrate into the Fox Republican world, where there's a Wal-Mart super store and nothing else.
iVillage Member
Registered: 08-20-2008
Sun, 11-30-2008 - 10:30am

"I see you and others rail on about socialism, but if Wal-Mart had their way, they would be the only store in town across the country"

We could give the President of the United States a dual role as the CEO of Wal-Mart. And that way it would be easier for Wal-Mart workers to put its workers on Medicaid. Maybe we could make Rupert Murdoch the White House Press Secretary - it's time we dispense with all these intermediaries like Tony Snow types. In fact, why don't we just make Dick Cheney President for life, and that way we can secure poor Exxon and other oil companies with more fraudulent royalty payments (in return for sex trips for government officials - a nice perk).

iVillage Member
Registered: 11-20-2008
Sun, 11-30-2008 - 10:34am

You know I have been accused of being a little quirky at times. Not sure how to describe it, but the whole idea of building houses out of shipping containers sounds attractive to me. Some of the pictures I have seen look really interesting. Reminds me of the Sears homes of the early 1900's in a way. I like the pic you posted as well. I could see me living in a house like that once my children had all flown the coop - I can't see them wanting to live in that kind of house. I like quirky houses so it would suit me.

Unfortunately, the homes being built in California are not affordable - at least not by me. I think I have read an average of $150/sq ft. which would translate to $225,000 for a home the size of my townhome. But, since the resources have already been used to make the shipping container I think it is an eco-friendly alternative to disposing of them. I do wonder how to insulate them for a hot climate - wouldn't all that metal heat up in the summer?

.
.

Pages