I was asked why I shop at Wal-Mart. I’ve heard claims that they are a corrupt corporation that mistreats their employees. Well, I just shop there…I don’t work there and unless they are involved in the slave trade, no one else has to work there either.
If employees don’t like the way they’re treated they need to quit. It’s difficult to run a corporation with no employees. Of course, Wally World will just send more jobs overseas. Maybe if we all agreed to work for $100 per week we could keep the jobs here in America.

For the record: The number of new employees Wal-Mart hires each year is 600,000. The company's turnover rate is 44 percent -- close to the retail industry average. See this. People are screaming about all the jobs Wal Mart has overseas...I'm not sure if their considering the number of Wal Mart stores there are abroad. They probably had a difficult time getting Americans to relocate just so they could gather carts from a parking lot in Singapore.

As for the bad neighbor charges against the stores…Wal-Mart doesn’t inadvertently build their stores on random lots. The community votes on whether or not to let them build (I’ve seen it happen more than once). If you don’t like it, try attending a city council meeting every once in awhile. I have no sympathy for those who decide to get involved with their community only after something pisses them off. I’m an advocate of a proactive public. If you do go vote on it and are outnumbered, suck it up like any other American that doesn't get enough votes for their cause...at least you get to vote.

There have been fraudulent tales of dangers in Mal Mart parking lots. Stories such as this are one of the reasons these stores wear the “bad neighbor” label. Who wants a gathering place for the criminally insane in their backyard?

Does Wal Mart attract criminals and seedy characters? I mean, your community was fine before they erected that building, right? Then suddenly, word got out that there was a new hang out for sleaze balls and they all took up residence in your neighborhood. Makes sense to me.

I’ve also heard the story about Wal Mart reselling toys collected for needy children, or about employees having to pay for the store’s flag. Rubbish. Click the links to see what I've found.

Why would someone start rumors like these? Does this company's reputation come from reputable sources or has someone launched a mass hysteria campaign?

I decided to look into it.

Wal Mart apparently has a management handbook that preaches the benefits of a union free workplace. Surely, that will upset someone. The United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW) have waged an all-out war against Wal Mart and are flooding the media with anti corporate propaganda. In fact, they have an entire section of their website dedicated to exposing the evils of Wal Mart. Looks like a pissing contest to me…and the consumers are the unsuspecting pawns in this power struggle.

Kmart has been suffering at the hands of Wal Mart’s “monopolizing of the industry” for years. If Wal Mart is so bad, why doesn’t everyone go over to the Big K? I’ll tell you why: The Big K sucks! They have little selection, and high prices. People shop where the convenience is.

If Wal Mart continues to terrorize the country, (one article I read called them “The beast”) I’m sure good stores like Target will eventually overtake them; unless, of course, Target takes an official anti-union stance.

One thing I’ve found to be true is that any time a company becomes large enough; it seems that subcultures, focused on their demise, start popping up.
It happened to Starbucks.

I love Starbucks but I didn’t want to support the mistreatment of South American and African coffee farmers so I researched the company as well as their critics. After educating myself on the subject, I still drink Starbucks’ coffee.

When we look at the groups that attack these companies, we find that most of them are embellishing extremists looking for a cause. Their articles resort to ad hominem attacks that attempt to rile public emotion. Sadly, they are very effective. The critics become the predators, exploiting any bad publicity they can find about the business.
Any multi-billion dollar corporation will have lawsuits and these fanatics spotlight the cases that the company loses to keep them looking ugly. It seem as if there’s an anti-Wal Mart buzz, which makes me skeptical about all the claims that this is such a horrible conglomerate. I’m willing to believe that there are some mismanaged stores…that’s bound to happen when you’re dealing with as many stores as this. I’m sure there are mistreated employees…with 1.2 million in the US and 330,000 internationally I think the few lawsuits they’ve had reflects a stellar record.

No one is immune to the prodding of negative media and the coercion of lobbyists.
Apparently, Congressman Bill Pascrell wrote a letter to Wal Mart asking them to raise wages and improve working conditions at their stores:

“The average Wal-Mart employee earns less than the poverty level for a family of four - only $15,000 per year for full-time work, and most are forced to work part-time.”

Didn’t these employees know what their wages would be before they were “forced” to work there? Maybe someone with a family of four should have spent more time in their youth working on an education and skill set. Why would a congressional representative write this letter? What business does our government have getting involved with wage policies of a private company? Why didn’t he write a letter to McDonalds? I’ll answer that: because he doesn’t have UFCW lobbyists screaming at him about McDonalds.
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What surprises me is that a well-educated elected official would use terminology such as “forced to work part time”.

Forced? Really? That’s some accusation; I hope he can back it up.

If I based my image of Wal Mart on the pictures painted by these stories and anti-Wal Mart websites I would view the company as a slave trading, concentration camp that is bent on the downfall of America. That leaves me with one question: Why hasn't Wal Mart been shut down by the Department of Homeland Security?

I’m pretty sure that This corporation realizes the collapse of America’s economy would mean the end of their business. Many companies have sent jobs overseas and we scream and cry about how unpatriotic that is when ultimately, it’s our own fault. We want high paying jobs and a low cost of living. We want higher wages and cheaper goods. Well guess what? Our economy can’t support our desired lifestyles.

All we are doing by boycotting big business is asking them to lower their profit margin to accommodate our desire to have more for less, and we call them greedy.

I’m not the type of person that reads an article or two and jumps on the bandwagon. I like to research the available information and draw my own conclusions.

What I do not agree with is Wal Mart’s trade in China. The U.S. trade deficit with China in 2003 was 120 billion dollars. The amount of Chinese products Wal-Mart estimates it imports each year is 15 billion dollars; others suggest the number may be higher.

I've also heard that the company holds mandatory meetings that their employees are required to attend after their shift ends and they are off the clock. If I were working for them and asked to do this I would go along with it until I found another job...and believe me...I would indeed be looking for another job.

Even with Wal Mart’s low wages (which are barely below the national retail average), their trade in China, and their anti-union posture, I think you will be hard pressed to convince their 100 million shoppers per week to go somewhere else.

If boycotts worked, we would no longer have tobacco producers in America. Consumers are addicted to shopping like smokers are to cigarettes. With all the lawsuits and hooplah raised about Phillip Morris and friends, they are still in business and doing fine. We couldn’t shut them down and they aren’t nearly as big as Wal Mart.

So, if I decide to boycott this company, I will only be inconveniencing myself while doing nothing, whatsoever, in the big scheme of corporate justice and the American public. So please don't look down on me because I shop at Wal Mart, eat the wrong brand of tuna, drink the wrong coffee, drive the wrong vehicle, etc. I'm just living my life at the lowest stress level possible while choosing battles I can win.

Remember, Wal Mart is as big as they are because of us. We've created a monster we can't destroy...in fact, we can't even hurt it.

Yup, that's the American way.