Victims of Walmart

[Rick Waldroup]

it is a bit like Tesco and the others, but Walmart has a history of exploiting employees way more than other chains.

Exactly. Unless I absolutely have to, I never shop at a Walmart because of this and several other issues. But mostly because of the labor issues.

A friend of my daughter applied at the local Walmart and the orientation they put the new employees through is really wild. They spend a lot of time showing the new employees anti-labor union videos and discussing the evilness of labor unions. Yet Walmart has no problem at all paying it's workers almost slave wages and keeping their working hours low so that it is almost impossible to get any type of benefits from the company such as health insurance and so on.

Just a few years ago, I cannot remember which state it was in, but the workers actually united and were about to unionize when Walmart simply shut the doors on a very profitable store and fired all of the workers.

That is the Walmart way. Destroy local home-grown businesses and tap into a desperate labor pool that will take any job at any wage.

 

[abraxas]

Great shot, love the colors.

I didn't even know there was a thing called Walmart until they started building them around here. Kinda like, one day Sam Walton was all of a sudden the/one of the richest men in the world. Anyway, I detest the place. But that was awhile back now. I'm wondering, was this a recent closure, because it looks like the place might have been going down for the count anyhow.

 

[SCguy]

not sure the position but is the walmart anywhere around that old buiding. it would be a great shot to get that building in the same photo as the walmart.

The nearest Walmart is about 20 min. away. The old building appears to be an old shop or storehouse of some sort. Not really sure. I might ask around about that. I'm sure this building wasn't closed by Walmart, but the message of the photo is what most family run stores of the present will look like in 20-40 years thanks to Walmart.

RD

 

[nealjpage]

it is a bit like Tesco and the others, but Walmart has a history of exploiting employees way more than other chains.

Additionally, they're well-known amongst vendors for their predatory practices. Most food manufacters work on very thin margins--Wal-mart, with their incredible size and sales potential can basically dictate to the producers what the price of the product will be. If they can't meet the price, Wal-mart won't buy. In order to sell to Wal-mart, then, many producers will cut costs in any way they can, such as using inferior materials or moving jobs off-shore where labor's cheaper.

Nothing comes at a cheap price. There are hidden costs to Wal-mart's business model that they don't want you to know. I shall now descend from my soapbox.

Nice picture. I enjoy shots like this one.

 

[MX962]

it's a big store chain in the united states where you can get pretty much anything for the home for a lot less than safeway or albertsons or anywhere else. people go there there because it is well managed. by keeping prices low they help their customers in troubled times like these.

i wish they sold gasoline.

They do its called "MIRA STAR"

 

[petey]

As a mom of 2 in diapers, I love walmart. We wouldnt be able to afford a lot of the stuff we do without walmart. We dont use credit cards, so I have to be able pay for everything with cash, and thats they only way I can do it....shopping at Walmart!

Our house is pretty much run the same. We would not have made it through all the diaper changing years paying the higher prices by the smaller stores. They beat both the military commissary and Costco in pricing and selection.

There isnt anything wrong with a company doing what they need to do to achieve their goal...and thats to make money. I do shop at a local grocery store that is around here, but they are on average, their prices are 20% higher....so I only do when they have a sale or I cant make it to walmart.

To compete with Walmart this would require a certain economy of scale. But there are always exceptions. Noone ever said it would be easy on smaller retailers and not all of them give up.

 

[MX962]

I'm waiting for them to fold up ,Buy one cheep and convert it into a 10,000 sq ft photo studio

 

[Rick Waldroup]

Also, Walmart is the biggest seller of CD's in the country. A few years ago, as they do with certain books now, Walmart announced they would no longer carry CD's they found objectionable, by certain artists, and in particular, rap artists.

This is a very sly form of censorship as some recordning artists felt intimidated to clean up the music to make sure that Walmart would carry their CD's. However, this may not be such an issue now with the way CD sales have tanked and more and more bands are seeking other ways of getting their music out to the public.

The current business model of Walmart is not what Sam Walton envisioned all those years ago....

 

[Sun Devil Rob]

We must adapt and overcome the evil that is Walmart. Think of all the blacksmiths that were put out of work because of Henry Ford. It is a good picture.

 

[Rick Waldroup]

We must adapt and overcome the evil that is Walmart. Think of all the blacksmiths that were put out of work because of Henry Ford. It is a good picture.

Now, that is funny.....

 

[shorty6049]

that place looks like i wouldnt shop there even if there WASN'T a walmart....

 

[nealjpage]

One nit: the colors of the building are pretty vibrant, yet the sky is pretty bland. You should use a polarizing filter and it might bring out the color of the sky a bit more.

 

[SCguy]

Neal, I shoot with a Fuji S700. Where would I go to get a decent filter. The only ones I have seen are the Optekas with mixed reviews.

One other thing I don't like about Walmart is that they will work with suppliers and cheapen a brand name by making cut-rate products with the same looks as the normal market items JUST for Walmart. I ran into this when I bought a Cobra CB from WM (impulse buy). It looked the same as the regular one, but had a different model number, and many of the people I talked to said that it is a FAR inferior product. I then found out that I could have bought the real one for about $20 more at the local RadioShack. (Actually cheaper, since my neighbor is the manager there and I get the Preferred Customer Price)

RD

 

[kundalini]

I think Walmart is an energy vampire. Everytime I walked into one I felt a part of my soul being taken away from me.

I have not entered a Walmart in over five years. Something is not right with them.


BTW, nice photo.

 

[Roger]

as a photo it's quite good, I love the old corrugated iron and the colours, agree with neal about the bland sky. However as much as I dislike chain stores like Walmart and agree with the assessments of their evilness, if you hadn't added the dialogue I wouldn't have made the connection. As a result most of the comments are about the 'issue' rather than the photo, I think there are ways of displaying these issues photographically, just not in this case.