Walmart and my town...

[Bird]

Al, that's a bit odd, because I have the same situation. When I'm looking for anything in the hardware line, I start with a locally owned store. They're more likely to have what I need and be able to answer any questions I have than the big chains.

Bird

 

[JerryG]

I have read this same stuff several times and at several different places. Wal-Mart has worked its was up just as any other company hopes to do. The only thing different is that they have done better than most. I remember when there was only 3 or 4 Wal-Marts open. They started out selling anything they could get cheap. I mean real cheap, It was from Taiwan. At that time Taiwan, meant the bottom of the barrel. Over the years Wal-Mart has added one name brand after another to their stores. Now most WM's have just as many name brands as any other store. And yes they also have a large number of their own products.
Some of the grocery items are stocked by outside vendors. These items include name brand bread, name brand ice cream, name brand sodas; some of the specialty items like some spices and a few others. But by far and large the vast majority of all the products are stocked by Wal-Mart employees. I would guess that the employees stock in excess of 95% of the products sold. You may see more vendors at your local store during the day, but go in during the night and you will see how puts up the most product.
Wal-Mart does have the lowest prices ALWAYS. I can say this because it is their policy to meet any local price on the same product. If their price is higher, just tell them and they will give you the better price.
Unions, Wal-Mart doesn’t want them and I can’t see why any consumer would. At one time they were needed, now they are like a lead weight around the neck of American business. Look at GM. Why is it nearly impossible for them to build any new plants? Ask your local Wal-Mart associates if they want a union in their store. If a company is managed correctly, the employees don’t need a Union.
Did they put some out of business in my town? Yes, they did. When they came to town, some folded and some learned to adapt to the different business climate. Now the ones that folded have been replaced with stronger more responsive stores. You can’t tell that any closed by looking at my town now. The same goes for several other small towns around here.
What have they done that the local Mom and Pop store wouldn't do, if they had the chance to?????

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Do any of y'all remember when Walmart sold Kubota lawn mowers? Kubota thought it would be a wonderful move until they realized all the set up problems that were occuring and the bad reputation this line was getting as a result. Yes, Walmart could undercut the dealer in price but not in service and the treatment of customers. There is still a good portion of the population who are willing to pay a little more in return for service and knowledge. There are many small businesses that are not only surviving, but excelling in the face of competition. Just my opinion...
Doug

 

[scruffy]

Kubota is a good example of the Brand Name problems created by WalFart. Another is ... say Elgin watches for example, WalFart buys them in quantity at less than half of what a chain jewelry store can purchase them from the manufacturer...end result, the jewelry stores discontinue stocking them. Time and again, the brand name manufacturer selling in large quantity to WalFart ultimately hurts their own business, and starts reducing the quality to still make a profit.

 

[DrDan]

I see too much stuff from Malaysia (another terrorist nation) in there for my liking. I prefer to pay more and support the local guy who supports me. That's just me though - I know there will always be those who don't care who made the items they buy or where the profit from the sale goes - cheap is cheap unless it goes to countries that hate our guts.

JMHO

DrDan

 

[ejb]

I with you Jerry, Walmart is only doing what almost any other retail operation would do if they had the chance...they have a sucessful business model and it works.

In my area, a few stores closed down after walmart came in, but these stores were destined for bankrupty before walmart came in; walmart just made it more obvious. Dirty stores, rude staff, poor selection and high prices...I say good riddance to stores like that. Walmart has been a welcome addition to my area. (welcomed by consumers, not necessarily by other stores).

As far as tax base is concerned, I guess I can't say for sure how it works in other states, since laws vary, but it is pretty much a urban myth that walmarts cost more than they bring in in taxes. You know, one of those supposed "facts" that get repeated enough times without any proof that people actually start to beleive it.

Around here, the absolute worst burden that can happen to a town is an increase in residential dwellings beleive it or not. I forget the exact stats, but it was something like the average house has 1.2 kids, each kid costs on average of around $8000 to put in public school and the average tax bill on a house was around $1800.

So the average house that was built in our town (and surrounding areas) actually had a net negative effect of about $10000 per year...not a good situation.

On the other hand, when a business moves in, they pay huge amounts of tax money (personal property tax as it is called here) and don't put a single kid in school. Yes, some of that money is used for infrastructure improvements, but it is a net positive for the town; not a net negative. Most towns near us pay close to 75% of total tax revenue to the schools. ANy money that comes in that doesn't cause the student population to increase is positive for the books.

Now is it possible that in other towns the math hasn't worked out as favorably..probably. Tax laws and infrastructure changes required are going to vary greatly by town/state. But blanket statements that all walmarts have a negative tax effect on the host town are purposefully misleading at best.

 

[shade2u2]

Here's another side of Walmart. Our firm contracts with a large Fortune 100 consumer goods company. Walmart is there largest customer - just like all other manufacturers in similar industries. Walmart essentially makes ALL the rules of doing business with them. Like mentioned earlier regarding suppliers providing people to stock Walmart's shelves, our supplier has to provide personel & compatible technology to manage the inventory & ordering or products in Walmart's system. Fulltime staff is supplied to monitor the national inventory of this companies products and the manufacturer/supplier is required to determine when Walmart needs their items, order it & deliver it to them. This is a cost of doing business with Walmart. Maybe some have heard of this new trend called "Supplier Managed Inventory". The next step is that Walmart does not take ownership of this product until it is sold in their store. When it is scanned at the checkout, Walmart owns it & will pay the supplier for it!

I've learned about this process because this "Walmart Way" has trickled down through the supplier chain, which affects our firm. Walmart seems to be helping transform other industries into "Walmarts". Talk about positive cash flow, how would like to be billed for your products only after you use them or sell them.

 

[MChalkley]

Hmmm, interesting concept. What happens when someone steals said product from WallyWorld?

MarkC

 

[cowboydoc]

Glad you brought this up Shade. This is my point exactly. Walmart is not playing by any set of rules they are making their own rules that hurts everyone but themselves. They are putting the cost of doing business to everyone so they can sell a product less. Everyone but them ends up making less. Their market share and stock prices go up while everyone elses goes down. Rising to the top and doing business is great. Rising to the top and becoming a monopoly and forcing others out of business is not right.

 

[shade2u2]

Regarding Walmart in our town of 13,000 - the whole county is only 45,000, Walmart opened here 2 days ago. It is 210,000 sq ft with the grocery, gas station, auto service, eye doctor, bakery, restaraunt, etc (from what I've heard). Some in the local governments & "commercial powers" (money people) have been trying for years to get Walmart here. Our Kmart that is across from Walmart, revamped into a "Super-Duper K" or something to prepare to compeat. I do hope that competition & better pricing does result, but the smaller retail chains on the other side of town will likely close. The Kroger store next door is not reacting & I hope that they don't just close up & not fight the battle.

The local downtown retailers are extremely concerned. A consultant was brought in from Northwestern University (I think) to give the local small businesses seminars regarding dealing with Walmart. This guy actually specializes in doing just this -> advising on the effects of Walmart on small town businesses. I'm sure that he stays very busy, which is what the local newspaper about him did state... I really can't imagine any of these old mainstreet businesses surviving - sadly.

As far as employment, I've heard that Walmart actually has a good compensation package for retail business. Their wages & insurance is significantly better than Kmart, whatever that means. This is a depressed area (low wages & high unemployment anyway), so maybe the increase of consumers coming in from 20-50 miles out would be a plus. Our almost exclusive service oriented economy doesn't lead to many solid "hard manufacturing" opportunities anymore.

 

[shade2u2]

MChalkley,
Maybe it becomes an "inventory variance" - a shortage. It must have never been shipped or firms like ours in transportation would probably end up with a freight claim... We turn it into our insurance & Joe Public pays for it through higher rates... lol

 

[Hillbilly]

Dr,I have thick skin.
You know what is worse than having a sister in a whorehouse?A brother that plays for Ohio State!!!!!!!!
LOL

 

[PitbullMidwest]

Despite my personnal hatred of WalMart, they have been VERY good to our local area economy. How? One of their largest Midwest distribution warehouses is 30 miles up the road. It runs 3 shifts year round, pays above average wages, has expanded twice and is starting the 3rd by adding another 100,00 square feet. This employs iron workers, electricians, pipefitters (all union jobs by the way) and so on and so on.

While I try to avoid WalMart like anthrax, and can't understand the "We're fixin to go to Walmart, ya'll want to go?" mentality of some Arkansas friends, I can testify that WalMart has been very, very good to our local economy. Which I guess is the other side of this coin

 

[DrDan]

Hillbilly,

Dang you know what I miss most about West By God? Picken up girls at them family reunions.

Dr Dan

 

[Wingnut]

I hate to do it ... but I have to sit on the other side of the fence from Dan and Richard ... which I seldom do.
By the way ... they recently build a WallyWorld in our city ... they already had one in the Bay City ... 15 miles away ... and built another in Saginaw ... also about 15 miles away. They seem to have a fair amount of traffic but have had no effect at all on their competitor ... a local superchain called Meijers. WallyWorld doesn't stock groceries here and is only open until 10 PM (same as ailing old junky K-Mart) ... while Meijers is open 24/7
Yeah ... they're big enough to whistle the tune and have the suppliers dance. Suppliers don't mind ... economies of scale. Those of us working for large companies are all in the same boat ... our customers want the prices kept down so we all look for ways to improve .. which frequently means looking at outsourcing.
Is a company janitor worth $15/hr (union scale) any better than a contract emplyee making $7/hr? Likely not .... and becuase of union muscle ... probably worse ... the contractor is interested in keeping their job and so performs at the necessary level.
WallyWorld beats on poor suppliers? Yeah right. One of the topics I know a little bit about ... bar coding and scanning and related topics. Pre-Wally ... the quality of UPC codes was abysmal .... thanks to ole Sam and his policies (one bad scan ... small fine .... second bad scan ... $5k fine .... third bad scan .... bye bye contract) we now have readable UPC codes that are being enforced by everyone.
Sam has contributed mightily to the effectiveness of just-in-time policies .... and that "don't get paid until it';s sold" makes the suppliers ensure they're making what is selling ...., instead of making what they feel like. Shut down the info pipeline that feeds real time usage data to the supplier and see how quick the phone circuits max out .... they get better data than they ever had before.
Yeah .... it ain't all roses .... but, hey ... y'all remember I was in Canada when Wally came courting Woolco. Woolco (formerly woothworths ... the 5-and-dime guys) was dying the death of a thousand cuts from Zellers (Hudsons Bay cheapo arm), K-Mart (started life as Kresges or Kreskes ... another 5-and-dime) and local shops. Wally actually bought their boxes instead of using the US model and building them.
They were an immediate success in Alberta ... because they actually had stock of whatever was on the sale flyer (unlike their competition). I'm not aware of any Alberta businesses that can lay their demise at the door of Sam ... if they died after Wooley begat Wally ... they must have already been terminally ill.
Heck shop wherever you like ... this is still (terrorists attempts didn't change that) a free country .... and you can either buy American products at WallyWorld ... or buy non-American .... just like every other store out there.
Buy local? Sure .... are there any local clothing stores that buy their materials from a local seamstress (who gets her materials from the local sheep farmer and cotton farmer)??? Come on guys .... we're living in a global economy ... and if you want them folks "over there" to buy our stuff ... we might need to buy some of "their" stuff so they have money.
Oh ... and one final word .... my wife's handicapped son is working for WallyWorld in Nacogdoches. WM is probably the biggest employer of handicapped people in the world ... and even though he doesn't make $100/hr for working in the garden center .... he's employed ... instead of being on welfare ...
Dan .... are all the tools that you use in the clinic ... all the meds ... and supplies ... all purchased locally ... and made locally? Shouldn't the people that visit your clinic be able to expect that you'll support the local businesses if they support you? (this isn't a sling at you ... at all .... just a rhetorical question). Yes ... we need to protect what we have .... but onl;y if it's worth protecting and keeping current. I like my computer and am not interested in buying an abacus!

(ok ... now back to my studies .... maybe I'll find time to stick my nose in here more often after I'm finished with these Six Sigma courses that are necessary because I would like to keep working until I retire)


too bad that common sense ain't

 

[Hillbilly]

You better be careful what you say about those family reunions,you probably have a lot of kin running around in Marietta,you are a part of Appalachia too. You are not too far from the bridge to Gods country.
We might be kissin cousins (not)

 

[shade2u2]

Wingnut,
You bring up very good points & yes Walmart probably did lay the path of process improvement especially in supply chain management & companies will likely have to follow or get lost. The goal is supposedly that for when I buy a tube of toothpaste, the automatic chain reaction flows back to trigger the retail supplier then clear back through the manufacturer to trigger the raw material suppliers. This is a challenge for some organizations...

Also, I have heard that Walmart is still managed by the qualities & character that Sam Walton instilled. He was supposedly a devout christian & ran the company with such principles. This day & age it is hard to identify organizations with real integrity - especially from way out here beyond left field...

As stated by others, they do have a corner on the retail market. Market share growth is a primary goal of all companies, but there could be a point where it becomes unfair to the market. Ma-Bell, Microsoft, Walmart -> to good or unfair players?

 

[Oscar]

Wingnut,

Oh No, Not the the S word!! Didn't think I would see that on this forum. I just completed Black Belt certification so I can sympathize with you.

Craig

 

[scruffy]

Can't say I agree with Wal-Fart developing the supplier stocking the items bit, they may have refined it some, but I remember (30/40 years ago) the little country stores in my area being stocked (of items they delivered) by the delivery driver, who rotated their brand stock, and pulled outdated items from the shelves.

 

[Hillbilly]

Dan,
I seen yus homepage on the internet,said you use to work in West Virginia.Wez maybe a little relation,reckon so????
Cuz