When Discussing Capitalism with people, they bring up walmart as a flaw

[Mini-Me]

What? They don't?

Last time I went there was no valet parking, no luxury items, and there were 5 people waiting in line at each register.

VALET PARKING?!? Wow, I'd love to see what store you shop at! I'd also argue that big screen TV's are luxury items.
I'm not really arguing with anything here, I'm just thinking...valet parking. Damn, that would be a seriously high class retail store right there.

 

[noxagol]

You know, I don't get where people get this idea that Walmart doesn't pay its employees well. I work there, have for three years now, pushing carts. I make $9.25 and hour, $10.25 and hour on Sundays. I have a week of paid vacation each year, plus a week of paid sick leave, plus a week of personal time, plus health insurance (HSA with Accident, Catastrophic, Accidental Death and Dismemberment of $200k, plus company paid life insurance that pays out my yearly salary for free plus travel insurance which covers me if I get in an accident while traveling doing company stuff like going to another store or something all of which costs me 20 bucks a paycheck) and all I do is push carts. AND I have the lowest pay grade in the entire company. We get two fifteen minute breaks and an hour lunch on all shifts longer than 6 hours. I also get a $450 bonus every three months

 

[danberkeley]

You know, I don't get where people get this idea that Walmart doesn't pay its employees well. I work there, have for three years now, pushing carts. I make $9.25 and hour, $10.25 and hour on Sundays. I have a week of paid vacation each year, plus a week of paid sick leave, plus a week of personal time, plus health insurance (HSA with Accident, Catastrophic, Accidental Death and Dismemberment of $200k, plus company paid life insurance that pays out my yearly salary for free plus travel insurance which covers me if I get in an accident while traveling doing company stuff like going to another store or something all of which costs me 20 bucks a paycheck) and all I do is push carts. AND I have the lowest pay grade in the entire company. We get two fifteen minute breaks and an hour lunch on all shifts longer than 6 hours. I also get a $450 bonus every three months

nice!

 

[Josh_LA]

There are two flaws in the Wal-Mart arugment

1. Wal Mart takes a lot more advantages of a pro-socialist and anti-competition environment then it does in a free market , capitalist envrionment.

2. Wal Mart has done more good than harm in most places I've heard of, people are angry they put Mom & Pop shops out of business, as if Wal-Mart forced people to save money and people who saved money didn't waste it elsewhere.

Also,
3. When people are stupid, it doesn't matter what system you have, they will be slaves.

 

[micahnelson]

VALET PARKING?!? Wow, I'd love to see what store you shop at! I'd also argue that big screen TV's are luxury items.
I'm not really arguing with anything here, I'm just thinking...valet parking. Damn, that would be a seriously high class retail store right there.

Hey, I don't shop there, but Ive seen them.

Im just saying Walmart is aimed to lower middle class and poor. I didn't realize that concept was - worthy

 

[Mini-Me]

Hey, I don't shop there, but Ive seen them.

Im just saying Walmart is aimed to lower middle class and poor. I didn't realize that concept was - worthy

I can see valet parking for nice restaurants, hotels, etc., but retail shops? Man, anyone who takes advantage of that must either live in a city where parking is truly a pain or be completely unconcerned about thrift.

I do know what you mean though, and Wal-Mart is obviously not intending to be some fashionable place for the rich to shop just to set themselves apart. Still, I think that Wal-Mart is aimed more towards the convenience shopper of any class (the person that decides to go out and pick up a video game at 3 in the morning, for example ), rather than any class in particular. You may not see David Rockefeller strolling in to buy himself antique furniture made of hand-crafted ivory while the valet guy takes his limo off his chauffeur's hands and the butler in the bathroom wipes his crusty old ass for him, but it's still the kind of place where people all the way from the poor to the upper middle class will stop in for regular purchases.

 

[Ben2008]

Wal-Mart's success was because of one person, Sam Walton. This was because his relentless competitive drive to become more and more efficient, doing whatever takes to drive down prices.

Maybe part of that is paying low wages, but because of the lower prices that resulted, more can be purchased per dollar than could be before.

 

[jclay2]

Watch the Penn and Teller on Walmart. It is hilarious!

 

[RSLudlum]

Wal-Mart's success was because of one person, Sam Walton. This was because his relentless competitive drive to become more and more efficient, doing whatever takes to drive down prices.

Maybe part of that is paying low wages, but because of the lower prices that resulted, more can be purchased per dollar than could be before.

A good historical example that runs parallel with this is James Hill and the Great Northern Railroad. If you don't know about him I'd suggest you do some reading up on how competitive he was, how he loathed gov't regulation/subsidies, and how his enterprise helped the local communities/economies that grew up along the railroad. All privately funded without gov't money! He put many of the gov't funded/supported railroads to shame.