OT Do you care were the products you buy are made

[rextorres]

Wal-mart is a particularly bad and unpatriotic (for people who care about such things) company and I don't even step foot in one. They are driving down the wages of the average worker:

by forcing manufacturers to ship out jobs overseas so that their prices are low enough so that wal-mart will buy from them

AND

by causing competitors to lower prices and ultimately lower wages to compete with them.

It's ironic (if I may use that word) that the people whose job they are costing are the very same they expect to come in and shop in their store.

It's a downward spiral.

[narf poit chez BOOM]

Baron Munch, that's very valuable information. and i'm now boycotting walmart.

[Fyron]

I was already not shopping at Walmart just cause they have low-quality crap and are rather crowded (with ailses very narrow and such), dirty stores with products all mixed up and all over the place. And they really are not that cheaper than most places, with few exceptions.

[Loser]

Originally posted by Imperator Fyron:
dirty stores

This was the part that got me. I used to work at Target where I was, among many other things, a 'cart attendant'. In this role I pretty much took care of everything that went wrong but did not require a certified professional (and occasionally things that should have).

Dammit our store was clean.

And while the 'Target brand' stuff like Utility and whatnot was a hell of a lot less durable than Levi's, it never felt as low-grade as what I could find at Wal-Mart.

Though they do have good produce.

[Kamog]

I hardly ever go to Wal-Mart because there isn't one near me. But the few times I've been to one, I thought the store was pretty good. I didn't know about this!

They come into a community and sell their goods at below cost until they drive local businesses under. Once they have captured the market the prices go up.

[Growltigger]

Originally posted by Loser:
Few things are as entertaining and without risk as flirting with married (or otherwise firmly attached) women.

I totally agree with you loser, but the problem happens when what you thought was a firmly attached woman decides that she rather likes you after all so much that she would risk all and/or ditch her partner!!

Trying to disengage from one of those positions is one of the hardest things I know

[narf poit chez BOOM]

doesn't sound risk-free.

[Growltigger]

You are all missing one other rather nasty side effect of Walmart's low prices for goods.

Sure they pay their staff peanuts. Sure they take the cheapest option at all times, but what do the cheap prices mean?

It means they stiff their suppliers, and use their buying power to force down the prices the farmers and manufacturers can charge for their goods, reducing in turn their profit element, and reducing the amount of cash they have to support their businesses, and in turn pay their workers.

My advice? go for quality, not cheapness of goods - a farmer near me was a major supplier to Tesco and Asda (owned by Walmart in the UK). HE got so fed up with being told what he would charge that he withdrew from his supply arrangements, and decided to open hs own shop and concentrate on low-volume high quality produce, all organic. Now? Sainsburys ARE BEGGING HIM to supply products, and he can take them to the neogitating table! bloody good effort for him

[Loser]

Originally posted by Growltigger:

quote:

---

Originally posted by Loser:
Few things are as entertaining and without risk as flirting with married (or otherwise firmly attached) women.

I totally agree with you loser, but the problem happens when what you thought was a firmly attached woman decides that she rather likes you after all so much that she would risk all and/or ditch her partner!!

Trying to disengage from one of those positions is one of the hardest things I know

---

I've only gotten in a situation that might have been close to this once. I leaned on an odd bit of reputation that I may not deserve (that I am a control freak and have compulsion to rationalize romantic situations) and worked into a joke that I would not have anything to do with an S.O. of a friend for four months after the breakup. In the joke I also pointed out that this pretty much takes care of the issue permanently, as no girl seeing a friend of mine is going to go without a man for four months.

Really, it was all in fun, I think...

[DavidG]

Is there such a thing as a large chain of department stores that doesn't use practices similar to those of Walmart?

I know there is a small local store in my town that is very particalar about where there clothes come from but I have a bit of a problem paying $180 for a shirt that I can get at a department store of abut $30. I'd really like to buy stuff from stores like this but the price difference is so extreme.