It's all about the JOBS stupid - stop buying all the Walmart crab

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It's all about the JOBS stupid - stop buying all the Walmart crab

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Started 1 year ago by KingLincolnUrbanEnthusiast
Latest reply from gramarye

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0Angle
A brewery or my kitchen or my bicycle.
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Core_Models wrote >>

0Angle wrote >>
Last time I quoted Michael Pollan, I think I pissed off V&P, but M.P. said that Henry Ford (no saint) insisted on paying his employees enough to be able to afford his product. Wallmart pays their employees so little, that they have no choice, but to buy their products.

How much do you pay unskilled/uneducated labor in your operation?

I don't have an operation, but your point is valid and well taken. Back of house restaurant employees might be as underpaid as Wallmart employees, but probably not as underpaid as the people that make sneakers...

Get the Video Plugin

Posted 1 year ago #
Core_Models
Columbus
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KingLincolnUrbanEnthusiast wrote >>
And OBTW please stop buying your milk and bananas at WalMart or Walgreens - maybe Giant Eagle and Krogers will be the next company out of business and we can all enjoy $6.50/hour, no benefits, no holidays and Medicaid - these wages pay for a lot of medical and life comforts too - Clearly - this is a stepping stone on a career progression no where! (True)

You should do some homework.

Posted 1 year ago #
gramarye
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Did you ever think that maybe those small town shops went out of business because Wal-mart actually offers something better?

Were you also aware that small businesses often actually are better off being near Wal-Marts so that they can hope to attract some of the massive foot traffic a Wal-Mart brings in? Wal-Mart has even embraced this: many Wal-Marts now have spaces for half a dozen ancillary businesses within them. The one near me has two restaurants, a bank, and (I think) an optometrist that isn't affiliated with the company (not sure about that one) inside the building.

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/risky-business/2008/06/24/why-wal-mart-can-be-good-for-small-business

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/22/AR2008062201717.html

Local hardware and general merchandise places might have been driven out of business by Wal-Mart, but so what? Who really needs a small "general merchandise" store anymore when you can have a big one that sells a wider variety of general merchandise at a lower cost, to people who don't need highly personalized service?

However, the other things you mentioned--the small town bank and lumber yard? Wal-Mart may open its own in-house banking functions in the future but has not done so yet, and in fact has partnered with local banks and allowed them to open branches within Wal-Mart stores (there was a Charter One in the Wal-Mart I went to in Canton). Some Wal-Marts do have lumber yards but it's hardly the focus of their operations; Lowe's and Home Depot are more likely competitors than Wal-Mart for the small-town lumber yard.

Posted 1 year ago #
KingLincolnUrbanEnthusiast

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http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/and-now-we're-headed-for-the-greatest-depression-says-gerald-celente-535350.html;_ylt=ArlVfMoXokgAmAbefG_xaFlk7ot4;_ylu=X3oDMTE0dWRvNjZnBHBvcwM4MQRzZWMDYXJ0aWNsZUxpc3QEc2xrA3BsYXl2aWRlbw--?tickers=%5Edji,%5Egspc,tlt,tbt,edv,udn,tip

Yes you are right WalMart, Lowes, Home Depot and Target have all collectively and their proponents done more to economically strip mine the American middle class/society and export it to China, India than 2 world wars - it doesn't have to be this way - nor should it - I want paved streets not goat paths - I want a literate citizenry with a stake in the gov't, the local community, not a global mass of hungry people living on crumbs in Columbus, NY and LA or the masses working as home health aids and retail serfs in Walmart- where is the nation of entrepreneurs, merchants, farmers and shop keepers that made us great (I know where it is it is in CHINA and INDIA TODAY) not here - we need to bring it back to the USA - this is the solution PRIDE and JOBS

Posted 1 year ago #
gramarye
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You are all over the map. Wal-Mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, and Target are not doing anything to work against literacy or paved streets. We are spending more on schools than ever. Los Angeles is about to open the most expensive public school in history. The highway construction budget has hardly suffered in the recession, either.

Our citizenry already has a stake in the government; it's called the right to vote. The last time I checked, none of your Four Horsemen are trying to have that right repealed.

Where is the "nation of entrepreneurs, merchants, farmers and shop keepers?" Well, no one is stopping you from starting your own business (and in fact, you're really on the wrong forum to bemoan the lack of entrepreneurship in America, considering that this site is not only home to several local entrepreneurs but is also run by one). The farmers and shopkeepers image may be a little dated: mechanized agriculture long ago freed millions of Americans from the fields (which was a serfdom far worse than being a Wal-Mart greeter or stock clerk).

Posted 1 year ago #
Snarf
Dystopia
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TRUETH!!

(tuth)

TrutHE!!!!

Crab

Posted 1 year ago #
rus

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http://www.walmart.com/ip/Brass-Baron-Crab-Fountain/11167045

Posted 1 year ago #
Tenzo
Chicago Lakeshore
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Can retitle this thread to;

"Walmart has crabs!"

Because thats the only part that makes sense.

Posted 1 year ago #
myliftkk
Columbus, OH
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If I were to buy crab, I would only buy American crab like this San Fran crab:

Posted 1 year ago #
johnwirtz
Evanston, IL
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I didn't realize WalMart had crab. BRB, gotta' go check it out in person.

Posted 1 year ago #
Twixlen
Westgate, Columbus
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rus wrote >>

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Brass-Baron-Crab-Fountain/11167045

Oooh! I want that! Except I want the crab to be 5 ft tall and to wave his pincher via a motion detector. AND squirt water.

Posted 1 year ago #
rus

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Twixlen wrote >>

rus wrote >>

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Brass-Baron-Crab-Fountain/11167045

Oooh! I want that! Except I want the crab to be 5 ft tall and to wave his pincher via a motion detector. AND squirt water.

Nice... although I'd switch "squirt water" for "flamethrower".

'Cause a 5 foot tall crab with motion activated pincers needs a flamethrower. To make BBQ. Or something.

Posted 1 year ago #
Tigertree
771 N. High St.
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You sound really passionate about how a business should be run, maybe you should start one.

Posted 1 year ago #
Roland
Clintonville
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Someone could make a killing selling over-sized crab security fountains.

Posted 1 year ago #
gramarye
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The best kind would be one that looks like an ordinary fountain most of the time, but then switches to being a flamethrower when needed (or when annoying salesmen or religious proselytizers come to call). If they could make them so that they also began to walk, I'd skip Wal-Mart and go straight to buying them in bulk at Sam's Club. Because no welcome is warmer than one involving a legion of firebreathing crab gargoyles.

Posted 1 year ago #
Twixlen
Westgate, Columbus
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gramarye wrote >>
The best kind would be one that looks like an ordinary fountain most of the time, but then switches to being a flamethrower when needed (or when annoying salesmen or religious proselytizers come to call). If they could make them so that they also began to walk, I'd skip Wal-Mart and go straight to buying them in bulk at Sam's Club. Because no welcome is warmer than one involving a legion of firebreathing crab gargoyles.

I would like one REALLY BIG crab, in full fountain disguise, then a legion of small ones that could scuttle out from the shrubbery, pinching at the heels of invaders.

I love the idea of flame throwing, but likely I'd burn my own house down. I'm going to need a pepper spray model.

Posted 1 year ago #
JonMyers
HCMC ✈
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Posted 1 year ago #
manticore33
Delaware, OH
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I see a lot of opportunities for small business in the wake of larger retail outfits. Those type of "mass stores" typically leave gaps in the market that smaller boutique business can service and fill at a premium. If anything, access to so many products have driven consumers to demand and want more quality products.

I remember 15 years ago the the Short North or Clintonville were not the happening places they are today. In that same time frame Wal-Mart started building inside of the outer belt, Polaris Fashion Place opened, yet in the wake of everything the Short North and Clintonville continued to develop and grow. Quite a few of the great dine original restaurants launched during the last 10 years as well (in spite of large tracts of commercial restaurants being developed).

Slow food, foodies, CSA, resurgences of farmer's markets, local shopping, handmade craft stores, green movement, and etc are a direct result of a rebellion against mass market consumerism. We demand more unique and customized products than ever. All of that customization brings room for opportunity for businesses of all sizes.

Posted 1 year ago #
gramarye
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manticore33 wrote >> Slow food, foodies, CSA, resurgences of farmer's markets, local shopping, handmade craft stores, green movement, and etc are a direct result of a rebellion against mass market consumerism. We demand more unique and customized products than ever. All of that customization brings room for opportunity for businesses of all sizes.

Wal-Mart is more aware of that than its reputation in some quarters would lead you to believe. See also here.

Wal-Mart is obviously constrained somewhat by its business model, so it will have trouble competing with a true local farmer's market. However, if you're like that writer for the Atlantic and haven't been inside a Wal-Mart in 10 years, you'd probably be surprised at the changes in the produce section. The produce section at Aldi, by contrast, is pretty weak--a small selection of forlorn produce that doesn't keep long. There are local farms that produce in sufficient volume to be able to supply a Supercenter or two, and Wal-Mart's business model now does allow for that kind of local sourcing.

Posted 1 year ago #
manticore33
Delaware, OH
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Gramarye: I have noticed the improved quality in big box retailers over the recent years as consumers demand it. Wal-Mart has revamped their clothing lines, expanded into one-stop super centers, and improved other areas of the business. Surprisingly, there are a ton of premium products on Wal-Mart's website that you can site to store for local pick up (which actually is probably more green by using their own distribution network opposed to one-off deliveries by FedEx/UPS).

Posted 1 year ago #