It is as American as apple pie, love it or hate it, it is very likely you have shopped there or do shop there. I am talking about Walmart, a powerhouse in the retail industry with the figures to match. Walmart is the world’s largest retailer with sales over 410 billion dollars annually. But like with every successful business, there will be those who oppose it, many of these people do not even know the origin of Walmart or the hard work of Sam Walton that made his business so successful. Sam Walton was born March 19, 1918 near Kingfisher, Oklahoma. Sam grew up during the depression and as he grew up he knew to get what he wanted he would have to work hard to get it. Sam came from a poor working class family and he worked growing up. He attended Hickman High school in Columbia, in high school was Senior class president he was not the brightest child in school but he worked hard and made the honor roll. He was also the quarter back of his high school football team that won the state championship in 1935. Knowing his family was not well off financially he stayed in school, once he graduated and attended the University of Missouri. “He could not really afford to attend school so he worked extra hard to get the money. Sam waited tables in exchange for meals, lifeguarded at the school pool, and also delivered newspapers. While he was not doing that he was either at his fraternity in which he was an officer, or at a student government meeting since he was a member of the student senate, or fulfilling his duties as an ROTC Officer, and then on Sundays he was President of a Sunday School Class in which many of his fellow classmates attended. While accomplishing all this he was also in the National Honor Society.”(Fitzgerald). Sam worked extremely hard to get through school and this left him with a strong appreciation of hard work. As mentioned he worked odd jobs and many times just working for meals. Sam was an innovator it was his idea to put checkout counters in the front of the stores instead of lying all around in random places now you see this at every store you go into today. He was all about serving the customer he carried a very wide selection of products and stayed open later than other stores even on holidays to serve the customer’s needs and to give them more for less. But what he has worked hard for, his success as becoming the world’s largest retailer, has been met by opposition.
This is a big problem to many people, they are petrified by Walmart and its cheap prices. They believe Walmart will destroy small businesses because they will not be able to compete with Walmart’s low prices and in turn will make the local “ma and pa” stores shut down. Not only will this destroy small businesses but this will also hurt the locals who work at these small businesses because Walmart will force them to close and they will lose their jobs. Many of Walmart’s critics believe that they sell low quality products contaminated with lead from china and that in the long run you are better off paying more for a product than buying a cheaper version at Walmart. Another negative view on Walmart is they buy products from foreign countries that make their products in sweat shops and with child labor. Many people believe Walmart puts a choke hold on manufacturers forcing them to produce cheaper goods and in turn making business lay off thousands of workers and close U.S. plants and having to start outsourcing jobs. Many who live in small towns believe that once Walmart comes in and dumps one of their stores that it will have an extremely negative effect by killing the small businesses that were already in their town and that many of the locals will lose their jobs and that Walmart will not support their town at all. Critics have all sorts of reasons on why Walmart has many negative impacts on small towns. The ones mentioned above will be discussed and analyzed to see if they carry any weight. First the most common belief of how Walmart has a negative effect on all nearby small businesses.
Many critics believe once Walmart sets up shop in a town all the businesses around it will suffer immediately. It is reasonable to believe this because if you just look at it from the surface; those businesses are now competing against the retail giant, and since Walmart is usually cheaper local businesses will lose business, and in turn, revenue. This would be extremely detrimental to the business. Another argument against Walmart is that it carries an extremely large selection of products, so now the shopper can get whatever he or she wants with just visiting one store. Do these arguments really hold weight?
Have you ever thought of Walmart actually driving customers to businesses around them instead of hogging all of them? Well this is very real and very common. Take Washington, Utah for example. Not too long ago Walmart picked up a vacant lot and built a supercenter there; later businesses starting popping up all around it such as Home Depot, IHOP, El Pollo Loco, Jack in the box, McDonalds, Best buy, In and out burger, Kohls, and so many more; but yet they say Walmart kills business around it because they provide everything yet these businesses are thriving while having a Walmart in extremely close proximity to them! It is easy to tell why the local fast food chains are doing well and that is because after shopping people are tired and do not want to go home and cook, so grabbing lunch or dinner is a lot more reasonable option and that business that the fast food chain recieved is brought to you by good ole Walmart. What about the clothing? Walmart does provide a large selection of clothes yet Kohls is located directly across the street and they are doing just fine, hell there is a shoe carnival just next to the Kohls and they are competing with Walmart also because they also sell shoes. Kathryn Hawkins who wrote an article titled “Walmart Effect” stated “if you know that a superstore is coming to town soon, it could be a good time to look at diversifying your inventory and making sure you offer products that are a cut above the superstores’ offerings.”(Hawkins) This is how Kohls and Shoe Carnival stay afloat by offering higher end products that Walmart does not offer. Kohls carries higher end clothing and Walmart just cannot compete with Kohls in this aspect and many people prefer this clothing to that which is sold at Walmart. When it comes to shoes Shoe Carnival carries a wide selection of high end brands and knowledgeable employees who can help you pick the right shoe and Walmart just doesn’t hold a candle to them. Sure Walmart carries lots of shoes but not of the popular high name brand leaving lots of market for stores who sell the higher end stuff. Stores that specialize on clothing and shoes are not the only businesses thriving so are those that specialize in electronics such as Best buy. Best buy succeeds against Walmart because they have a wider selection of electronics and they offer customer services such as Geek Squad that Walmart does not have. Not only do they have better customer services but their employees are more knowledgeable and shoppers look for that. This benefits those businesses that diversify and show greater appreciation for their customers. Walmart has a broad selection not a diverse one just a broad, leaving lots of room for other stores to capitalize by carrying higher end products. Another very good point Kathryn brings up is “ the case that consumers are spending less money on basic staples like food, and as a result have more spare cash to buy high-end nonessentials.”(Hawkins) What does this mean for businesses? It means those businesses such as Best buy, shoe carnival will actually benefit because they will want to buy higher end products from other stores with the money that Walmart has saved them and in turn will give more revenue to those businesses. So not only is Walmart driving people to businesses located around it and in turn creating more jobs but it is also saving people money and they can spend it on higher end boutiques who carry more diverse products than Walmart. Walmart can help local businesses by driving in traffic and selling products for less and with the money customers save they can spend on higher end products from local stores that carry such products. Many argue Walmart saves its customers money by buying cheap products therefore just ripping off the customer. They also present the belief that Walmart buys it products from Chinese sweat shops and that Walmart directly supports child labor.
Walmart has long been accused from buying its products from sweatshop condition businesses in China. And in certain cases these accusation are correct. A report from SweatFree Communities, an anti-sweatshop activist group found that at JMS Garments Factory “workers at the factory work up to 19-hour shifts to finish Wal-Mart's orders under tight deadlines”(SweatFree). These are deplorable conditions that no one should be subject to. I believe that everyone or an extremely large part of society will agree that sweatshops should be stopped. The report also went on to say that these employees are subject to verbal and physical abuse. This in no way should be allowed in any workplace. Not only are they subject to physical and verbal abuse but also to horrible wages, some of the workers are reported to only bring in twenty dollars a month! The legal minimum wage in Bangladesh in twenty four dollars, but when people need to support their families they will work wherever to get by.
In a world of open commerce does Walmart really even have to care where it buys it products? Or what the conditions are of the people who make them? And should they care especially when the products are from another country? In reality the answer is no, that job should be left up to the country to enforce its labor laws, but instead of turning the other cheek Walmart takes initiative and does it for the good of man. Walmart cares where it gets products from and how the employees are being treated, Walmarts Chief executive, Lee Scott, had this to say at a conferencing addressed towards Walmarts suppliers”I firmly believe that a company that cheats on overtime and on the age of its labor, that dumps its scraps and chemicals in our rivers, that does not pay its taxes or honor its contracts, will ultimately cheat on the quality of its products,”(Spencer). Here he demonstrates how he feels about sweatshops and how those employers cheat and eventually that will have a snowball effect and make the products they produce in these sweatshops cheap and of horrible quality. Lee also said “cheating on the quality of products is the just the same as cheating on our customers. We will not tolerate that at Wal-Mart.”(Spencer). Lee obviously understands that if you buy products from oppressed workers the quality of the workmanship will suffer and eventually be passed down to the Walmart shopper that is why they take a strong stand against this so they do not end up selling low quality products at their stores. But what exactly is Walmart doing about the sweat shop crisis? Richard Spencer who wrote an article for The Telegraph discusses the certification system under which suppliers to Walmart must meet and comply with all local laws, social and environmental standards including emissions, and the treatment of waste and toxic chemicals. Failure to meet this requirement will lead to Walmart refusing to buy products from these companies (Spencer). Not only is this a great example on how strong Walmart feels against sweatshops but also on the environmental aspect by also requiring the companies who supply products to it to dispose of toxic chemicals and waste in an safe and effective way instead of just dumping it into rivers and letting it pollute. This example is great not only showing that Walmart takes a stand against sweatshops and child labor but that they choose and put so much work into not only bring you, the consumer, better products but providing a better way of life for those who work in those factories who are not as fortunate enough to have a government who enforces strict labor practices. Because of Walmart these people now have a better way of living. Not only do they have a better way of living but also jobs.
Many haters of Walmart blame them for businesses exporting their labor. They believe Walmart puts a chokehold on businesses “Wal-Mart has the power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors.”(Fishman). Here what they are trying to say is that Walmart forces companies to build companies overseas so they can have cheap labor and start making more revenue instead of paying more to have people employed in the United States. They say Walmart demands low prices so they can sell the products for even cheaper at their stores. They also claim that “ To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas.”(Fishman) Here they make is sound like the companies Walmart buys from specifically outsources their labor to save money so they can stay afloat and that all business now outsource so they can compete with Walmart’s prices. They also claim that because of this outsourcing of jobs Americans are buying their way to the unemployment line, because now that companies are outsourcing their jobs Americans will have less jobs to keep in America and America needs jobs. But is Walmart really to blame for companies outsourcing their workforce and America losing jobs?
Walmart has been the prime target for being held liable for businesses outsourcing their work force so they can sell products for cheap. They say the prices Walmart demands from their suppliers are so low that they have to outsource their labor force so they will be able to keep up with the demands and make a profit. Not just that, but they blame them because now that the jobs are being outsourced less Americans will have jobs because they are now all overseas. The same article that was discussing how Walmart was liable for businesses outsourcing their products above also went on to say “ U.S. companies have been moving jobs offshore for decades, long before Wal-Mart was a retailing power.” (Fishman). Walmart cannot be blamed for businesses exporting their workforce. It is a common practice among businesses so they can increase their revenue. As stated above even they were aware that it has been around long before Walmart started getting all the negative press. It is not Walmart that is making these companies outsource their business because at the end of the day it is the choice of the manufacturer to sell its products at a price where they can make a profit and continue to produce their product in the United states. Businesses should just decline to sell to Walmart and find someone better to sell to, by expanding the businesses they sell to they will improve their business and be able to sell their products for more. The easy way out of explaining to America why your company is outsourcing their factories is by blaming Walmart while in reality it is just corporate greed. Most companies even if they were making good money by having all their factories in America would build factories overseas so they can get cheaper labor, it is a common practice and it has been happening long before Walmart was a powerhouse. So this idea of American companies exporting businesses and jobs is nothing new and has been in practice for quite a while now. So Walmart cannot be held completely liable for business outsourcing their factories or should they be responsible for job loss in America, if anything they should be supported! Walmart is the second largest employer in America only coming in second to the U.S. government. Business Insider reports that Walmart higher 1.4 million people in the united states! Those are a lot of jobs Walmart provides, and in total Walmart employs 1% of the U.S.’s 140 million workforce (Blodget). During this hard time and economic down turn it is good to know Walmart employs so many here in our own country. Currently there are 25 million unemployed or underemployed workers, but thanks to Walmart that number is not 26 million. Not only does Walmart provide jobs all across America but in small towns they can provide jobs for a community. Here in Hurricane the Lin’s market employs around 20, not a staggering number at all and in a not very small town those 20 jobs do not help keep the community employed. In comparison Walmart builds a store and hires 200 employees! That is ten times the work force that Lin’s employees and substantially helps keep the community with employment. Every business that was there before Walmart still stands. Walmart has helped the local community in more ways than people realize and in lots of ways that go under the radar.
Walmart haters have often described Walmart as a parasite that moves into small towns, destroys small businesses, doesn’t interact with the community and takes all of the local communitie’s money. They believe that when a Walmart comes to town the community will spend their money then Walmart will take their hard earned money and move it out of state so that money will never find its way back to the community in turn just making a community financially unstable. They also believe Walmart doesn’t interact with the community or help out at all. Is Walmart that greedy and faceless? The answer is no. Walmart helps the local community in many ways that go unnoticed because they are not after fame they do what is right. One of the biggest arguments opponents have against Walmart is that they hurt a small town economy instead of helping it thrive. Walmart community a website run by walmart claims that Walmarts help small town communities by increasing local sales tax revenue(Walmart Community). This would be a big added bonus to having a Walmart in your town because it would bring in customers from other small towns who do not have one. Increasing local sales tax revenue will also help in the prevention of public services being cut such as police officers, firefighters and paramedics. Not only in turn will this help small towns keep public services but it will help those working in these sectors employed. Another benefit would be that now your local town won’t raise taxes to keep the local economy afloat, if taxes didn’t suck enough Walmart helps keep it down low. A real world example of this would be the case of the city of Hurricane. The economic recession seems to hit small towns especially hard, when I went to interview Rick Heyrend the store manager of the Hurricane Walmart he stated a very interesting fact “Hurricane kept its tax revenue because Walmart built in Hurricane during the tax recession while other local communities dropped 40%”(Heyrend) this is a statistic that Walmart haters should take into account because Walmart has many positive impacts on small towns such as Hurricane! This keeps the money in town more than before walmart built in Hurricane, for example before a Walmart was built in Hurricane the local community had to drive into Washington to get the large selection of items Walmart offers and in turn the money being spent at the Washinton location by the Hurricane residents was stimulating their economy. Now it is not residents from Hurricane traveling to other towns to buy groceries and home goods, now it is residents from surrounding towns coming in to spend their money in Hurricane’s Walmart stimulating their economy. But sure just because you help a towns tax revenue doesn’t necessarily make you a part of the community. “its good to care and give to the community, to be part of the community instead of dropping a building in town”(Heyrend) here again Rick explains how as Manager of the Hurricane Walmart he strives to be a positive part of the community by interacting with it donating time and money. Walmart donates more than just money they also donate time with a program called V.A.P. this is where Walmart associates donate their time to local events such as walks for cancer and many other events. Through these programs Walmart donates millions of hours a year on the state level not the national level but state. Not only does Walmart donate time but they also do inkind donations. Inkind donations are free products that are used to benefit people such as if students were having a bake sale to benefit a fellow classmate who had something bad happen to him or her, Walmart will donate cookies or cake to help with the bake sale. The Hurricane branch donates more than 10,000 dollars a year to the local community. During my interview I asked Rick why Walmart makes these donations he replied “its good for business to have a good face, that’s the shallow reason”(Heyrend) Walmart strives to do good and help local communities and become an integral part in communities.
In conclusion Walmart has had more than its fair share of negative press. Walmart has been pin pointed as the reason why “ma and pa” shops are being destroyed, while in actuality Walmart may improve their business. It has also been accused from buying its products from sweatshops and while it may have happened in the past Walmart is making sure that all of its suppliers are fallowing laws and regulations set by their country. Walmart has also been seen as the reason why businesses move their factories overseas while in actuality businesses have been doing it long before Walmart became a retail powerhouse. If that was not enough Walmart has often been blamed with taking money out of community, and in many cases it has been true money spent in a local business tends to stay local more than the money spent in Walmart; but what many people forget is that Walmart donates millions. The Hurricane Walmart donates around 10,000 dollars a year locally that is more than any other business donates in Hurricane.
When someone works hard they expect a big pay off, everyone does, if you commit yourself and dedicate yourself to something you expect to get something in return. Sam Walton worked hard to get Walmart where it is now people often forget that at one time Walmart was also a small business competing against other trying to find their spot in the world. The difference is that Sam invested serious time into finding out what his customers wanted and delivering low prices, through his hard work his business became as successful as it is. But now people want to bring down all that he worked for, is that what society has come to now and day? Wanting to destroy a business made by a man who worked extremely hard, everything he worked for many people now want to get rid of. In reality when you do research and open your mind it is easy to see that Walmart has many positive effects and is beneficial is many ways. Walmart has many pros and before casting a judgment, learn about the matter.
For works cited http://isaacuribe09.blogspot.com/2011/12/annotated-bibliography.html
