About three years ago, I stopped shopping at Walmart. How can you not shop at Walmart? people ask. It’s easier than you might think. If I need a tool or a light bulb, I go to Ace Hardware or Lowe's. If I need a toy or a towel rod, I go to Target. And I shop online more and more. I’m not saying Lowe’s and Target are perfect, but I have simply decided that I no longer want to give any of my money to Walmart. People often ask me why. My initial decision came after reading books like Fast Food Nation and watching documentaries like Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices. But if you don’t have time to read books or watch documentaries, here in summary form are the four biggest reasons why I shop elsewhere. Please note that some of the descriptions have been plagiarized from an article I recently read online that prompted me to compile this list.
1. Decline of the Labor Movement
Walmart is the largest private employer in the world with over 2 million employees. Walmart is notoriously anti-union, going to extreme measures to prevent its workers from organizing, such as managerial surveillance and pre-emptive closures of stores or departments who choose to unionize. In March 2005, Walmart executive Tom Coughlin admitted that he was paid by Walmart for an anti-union project involving cash bribes paid in exchange for a list of names of Walmart employees who had signed union cards.
As of October 2005, Walmart's health insurance covered 44% or approximately 572,000 of its 1.6 million U.S. workers. In comparison, Walmart rival and wholesaler Costco insures approximately 96% of its eligible workers. When asked why so many Walmart workers choose to enroll in state health care plans instead of Walmart's own plan, Walmart CEO Lee Scott acknowledged that some states' benefits are more generous than Walmart's own plan. Sam Walton once said, "I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. We're going to be successful, but the basis is a very low-wage, low-benefit model of employment." Those low wages essentially cause federal taxpayers to subsidize Walmart by paying for the healthcare of many of Walmart’s workers.
Walmart’s tenacious pursuit of lower prices for its customers has fostered a culture of neglect or even abuse of its workforce. There are dozens of lawsuits alleging that store managers routinely force hourly employees to work off-the-clock, deny overtime, and prohibit rest and lunch breaks. Walmart recently settled a federal investigation of its use of hundreds of illegal immigrants to clean its stores (you can imagine how they were treated), making a record-setting payment to the federal government.
2. Control over Suppliers
At the heart of Wal-Mart’s relationship with its suppliers is a Faustian bargain: Use our retail software program that tracks consumer behavior, and play by our rules and we will be your gateway to sales beyond your wildest dreams. Or refuse, and be shut out of America’s dominant retail chain. In this way, Wal-Mart gains command over its suppliers and effectively penetrates the suppliers’ executive decision-making.
If a vendor does not keep prices competitive with other suppliers, they risk having their brand removed from Walmart's shelves in favor of a lower-priced competitor. Critics argue that this pressures vendors to shift manufacturing jobs to China and other nations, where the cost of labor is less expensive. The growing US trade deficit with China is heavily influenced by Walmart imports, and Walmart is estimated to have moved over 1.5 million jobs that might otherwise be in America to China between 1989 and 2003.
3. Overconsumption
When stuff is so inexpensive, you don’t have to think that hard about whether to buy it. Walmart’s push for low prices inevitably leads to cheaper goods. Things become so cheap that it’s never worth repairing them. This leads to a culture of disposability as well as overconsumption.
4. The Retail Landscape
The massive selection of products that Americans have demanded requires bigger and bigger stores that can only be built on the outskirts of small towns or in the suburbs of large cities. Walmart wasn’t alone in promoting suburban sprawl, but it is a symbol of the big-box stores that have come to dominate the American landscape.
Hope this clears it up. I don’t think Walmart is evil. But I think their bottom line is profit rather than people (like most big retailers, to be fair). They’ve excelled at creating a “by any means necessary” corporate plan that I, as a consumer with free will, have decided I’m not going to be a part of. I encourage everyone to make informed choices with their money, even at the potential loss of convenience.
