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WalMart: the High Cost of Low Prices
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Has anybody seen this yet? I just saw it today... pretty astonishing.
Does anybody care to rebuke anything presented in this documentary? For those that haven't seen it, would you be interested in a summary of some of the points I found particularly interesting?
For example:
1% of the Walden family fortune goes back to a charity, or some good cause.
58% of the Bill Gates fortune goes back to charity.
The Walmart CEO rakes in over 27 million dollars a year, yet Walmart workers have to rely on the government for health care. Medicaid costs for Walmart employees exceeds millions of dollars each year.
There seems to be some *real* corruption within this company.
(Don't think this is a political subject worthy of being posted to the Political Lounge, no partisan politics or anything relating to government in this movie)
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Grizzled Veteran
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This is one of several reasons why I don't shop at Walmart.
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It all went donwhill fast when Roy died. http://web.emarketinginc.com/walmart...ane_olroy.html
This is one of the few areas I'll take your side besson3c.
Seriously, Wal*Mart has been a bad community member for a couple decades. I used to work for one for about a year and it was astoundingly amazing they stay in business. They would spend a fortune price shopping the area mom-n-pop stores and then undercutting them in pricing. Even to the point that they were taking a loss. Until that business went under and then the prices would jump right back up.
I was there when the store opened and they told the service desk people to take back ALL returns, even if the product wasn't even ever sold by a Wal-Mart. Then, they changed their policy to requiring a reciept after a couple years. I learned they did this policy at every new store.
They'll also do ANYTHING to keep any kind of a union out. they'll close a store if they have to. Somehow, Meijer can operate a store and make a good profit with a union, but Wal-Mart can't.
Avoid Wal-Mart like the plague.
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Baninated
Join Date: Apr 2001
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What does the Wal in Wal Mart mean?
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Clinically Insane
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Originally Posted by Railroader
They'll also do ANYTHING to keep any kind of a union out. they'll close a store if they have to. Somehow, Meijer can operate a store and make a good profit with a union, but Wal-Mart can't.
Yeah, this documentary talked about the unions at length. Apparently, the unions could do many things to improve the piss-poor working conditions at the Walmart, but Walmart is very aggressive about keeping them out, like you said.
According to this documentary, there is a LOT of crime that occurs in Walmart parking lots, but they do nothing about it. Apparently, some have security cameras in the parking lots, but they are only used for spying on union vehicles (whether this is true or not, I don't know). Under normal circumstances, these cameras aren't even monitored. They are monitored indoors. They care a great deal about what happens in the store, but once you leave the store, you are on your own. Some experimented with security guys in golf carts monitoring the parking lots, although even though they were effective, these same stores cut back by stopping this service.
As far as driving out small businesses, some dumb towns even *subsidize* Walmart store creation, but they also quickly realize the downsides of having a Walmart presence when small businesses are shut down, and Walmart gives nothing back to the community, and can actually cost the community and drain its resources. In one case, they even tainted the local water supply by keeping their pesticide and other bags of lawn chemicals in their parking lot for storage. These bags would rip open, and drain into the nearest sewer after a rainfall.
There were many astonishing and disgusting things revealed within this documentary. Even if half of them are true, it ought to be enough for any person with a heart and brain to want to stop shopping there.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Originally Posted by Cubeoid
What does the Wal in Wal Mart mean?
It's named after the founder, Sam Waldon (Walden ?!)...
He passed on the fortune to his family, who are among the richest people in the world.
(
Last edited by besson3c; Nov 14, 2005 at 03:11 AM.
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Moderator Emeritus
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Originally Posted by besson3c
It's named after the founder, Sam Waldon (Walden)...
Walton.
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I like chicken
I like liver
Meow Mix, Meow Mix
Please de-liv-er
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Baninated
Join Date: Apr 2001
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You said it Admiral Friendship!
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Banned
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Originally Posted by besson3c
According to this documentary, there is a LOT of crime that occurs in Walmart parking lots, but they do nothing about it. Apparently, some have security cameras in the parking lots, but they are only used for spying on union vehicles (whether this is true or not, I don't know). Under normal circumstances, these cameras aren't even monitored. They are monitored indoors. They care a great deal about what happens in the store, but once you leave the store, you are on your own. Some experimented with security guys in golf carts monitoring the parking lots, although even though they were effective, these same stores cut back by stopping this service.
One time, while I was working and the power went out, we were walking around with flashlights. I happened to shine my light up into one of the security camera globes and found out that about 9 out of 20 of those globes was empty. There were only 3 security cameras in the whole store. One was in the back in a stock area, and the other two were over cash registers watching cashiers. Seems the only security risk they were watching was the employees. We didn't have any cameras in the parking lot. The cameras were all recorded onto VHS tapes and they were only reviewed if money came missing from the registers. I asked one of the managers what the story was with the cameras and he said they moved them around periodically and that I just happened to notice them while they were covering registers. He lied. right before I quit I checked the cameras againa nd they were in the exact same spots. What they would do is if they thought a cashier was stealing they'd simply place that cashier on the registers that were covered by the cameras. It was quite the insult to be assigned to those registers.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Originally Posted by Cubeoid
You said it Admiral Friendship!
Don't mention it, that's what I'm here for, Lieutenant Buddy!
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Jul 2005
Location: Winnipeg, MB
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I don't shop at Walmart. Part of it is that I just realized that I enjoy paying a bit more to be treated with dignity. Also I don't like the idea of helping big corporations get even bigger. Last time I shopped at one would have been... last summer. Though I did get the new switchfoot album simply cause I was with my dad in there. Worst of all they're generally not much cheaper than other places. Clothes from there tend to be made of crappy fabric that feels uncomfortable, and will fall apart very soon. Also they look like crap a lot of the times. As well... I just hate the idea of helping that sort of place.
Then again I work at Best Buy. They treat their employees better sure. But at the same time... I think I just hate retail.
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Addicted to MacNN
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This is one of the reasons why Vancouver City refuses to let WalMart build a store. They feel WalMart is just bad news and want nothing to do with it.
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Blandine Bureau 1940 - 2011
Missed 2012 by 3 days, RIP Grandma :-(
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Mac Elite
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Originally Posted by besson3c
Don't mention it, that's what I'm here for, Lieutenant Buddy!
eewww get a room you two and give each other a proper salute.
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Baninated
Join Date: Apr 2001
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Hi Ratm,
I like you.
Cubeoid
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Addicted to MacNN
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Originally Posted by Cubeoid
Hi Ratm,
I like you.
Cubeoid
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Blandine Bureau 1940 - 2011
Missed 2012 by 3 days, RIP Grandma :-(
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Addicted to MacNN
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Interesting how Wal Mart is so terrible, but ASDA is probably one of the best (and cheapest) super markets in the UK.
(Wal Mart owns ASDA)
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Wal-Mart made the news here a couple of months ago because they tried to fire two employees who met on the job and got into a relationship.
Apparently, it's against Wal-Mart policy to have more than a workplace association with your colleagues.
The case went up through all German courts, and Wal-Mart lost each round with increasing press coverage.
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Mac Enthusiast
Join Date: Oct 2003
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Originally Posted by Peter
Interesting how Wal Mart is so terrible, but ASDA is probably one of the best (and cheapest) super markets in the UK.
(Wal Mart owns ASDA)
Their 'fresh' produce is rubbish. I think with ASDA you get what you pay for. I stopped shopping there a few years ago when I decided I didn't really want to support Wal Mart.
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12" Rev B PB
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Addicted to MacNN
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Originally Posted by Thorin
Their 'fresh' produce is rubbish. I think with ASDA you get what you pay for. I stopped shopping there a few years ago when I decided I didn't really want to support Wal Mart.
Perhaps.
They are however, awesome employers.
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Baninated
Join Date: Jan 2005
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Originally Posted by analogika
Wal-Mart made the news here a couple of months ago because they tried to fire two employees who met on the job and got into a relationship.
Apparently, it's against Wal-Mart policy to have more than a workplace association with your colleagues.
The case went up through all German courts, and Wal-Mart lost each round with increasing press coverage.
...thats pretty much the rules at any business ive worked for.
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Junior Member
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Originally Posted by Peter
Perhaps.
They are however, awesome employers.
Fair enough, I only know one person who worked for them while she was at School/Uni. She did seem fairly happy there from what I recall.
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12" Rev B PB
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Feb 2005
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Originally Posted by meelk
...thats pretty much the rules at any business ive worked for.
Well, then every single business you've ever worked for would have violated German workplace laws.
BTW, the workplace is marriage marketplace #1 for women over thirty, here.
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Ham Sandwich
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People who still shop at Walmart need to be removed from the gene pool.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jul 2005
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Originally Posted by Peter
Interesting how Wal Mart is so terrible, but ASDA is probably one of the best (and cheapest) super markets in the UK.
(Wal Mart owns ASDA)
Heretic!
There will come a day when us Tesco shoppers will rise up and drive you Asda shoppers from our shores!
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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Mac Enthusiast
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Originally Posted by Doofy
Heretic!
There will come a day when us Tesco shoppers will rise up and drive you Asda shoppers from our shores!
They've built a humongous Tesco near me. By the time I've trekked across the open plains of electronic and home goods and reached the food I feel like a twitchy homicidal maniac. There's something about that shop that drives me slightly crazy, I HATE it.
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12" Rev B PB
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Mac Elite
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Originally Posted by besson3c
There were many astonishing and disgusting things revealed within this documentary. Even if half of them are true, it ought to be enough for any person with a heart and brain to want to stop shopping there.
This IS America...
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Clinically Insane
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Originally Posted by Thorin
They've built a humongous Tesco near me. By the time I've trekked across the open plains of electronic and home goods and reached the food I feel like a twitchy homicidal maniac.
That's Tesco's way of lowering your gym costs. They're thinking about your health, see.
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Been inclined to wander... off the beaten track.
That's where there's thunder... and the wind shouts back.
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Addicted to MacNN
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Originally Posted by Thorin
Fair enough, I only know one person who worked for them while she was at School/Uni. She did seem fairly happy there from what I recall.
I sometimes work there during University holidays - I used to work there, and now i can just ring them up and ask for some hours for a few weeks.
Really useful
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Addicted to MacNN
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wallyworld sucks - i don't shop there
i used to work there (for pepsi) and i always would see their employees at grocery stores or target checking out prices so they could lower theirs. they treat their vendors like ****
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"I'm for anything that gets you through the night, be it prayer, tranquilizers, or a bottle of Jack Daniel's."
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Originally Posted by meelk
...thats pretty much the rules at any business ive worked for.
You can't have a private relationship with a coworker? As far as I remember they were not ****ing at the workplace or something like that, they just had a private relationship. It's not the employer's business what you do in your free time.
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Clinically Insane
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Anybody work at Costco?
I understand that Costco is much better in how they treat their employees, the kind of benefits the offer, etc. Funny, since they are also smaller than Walmart in profits and power.
Walmart has no excuse, they are a bunch of greedy and corrupt bastards, me thinks.
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Posting Junkie
Join Date: Jun 2003
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I'm not a big supporter of unions, cuz some really do promote mediocrity, but I do feel that many are fairly reasonable. However, I do prefer workplaces without the added cost and time overhead of unions but which treat their employees well. Toyota here is an example.
Obviously Walmart isn't one of those workplaces, judging by all the info I've seen on the subject so far. The most glaring example in Canada recently is Walmart shutting down one of its stores simply to cut off any discussion there by the employees of establishing a union. Honda was put in the same situation here recently. They campaigned and stuff, but they let the vote go through... because they were confident their employees were loyal enough to them, based on their previous track record. Not surprisingly, the Honda employees voted down the union. Walmart would rather close its stores because it knows full well it treats its employees like crap. If I worked at Walmart, I'd most definitely want to be part of a union too.
I try to avoid Walmart as much as possible. Mind you part of the reason isn't political. I just think the stores suck.
P.S. As much as some people at MacNN don't like Bill Gates, I applaud him for his philanthropy. Sure, he's got the money to give, but he gives a lot nonetheless, and his foundation does it in a very productive way.
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Last edited by Eug Wanker; Nov 14, 2005 at 12:47 PM.
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walmart sucks. I'm not surprised at all.
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Professional Poster
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Originally Posted by Salty
I don't shop at Walmart. Part of it is that I just realized that I enjoy paying a bit more to be treated with dignity. Also I don't like the idea of helping big corporations get even bigger. Last time I shopped at one would have been... last summer. Though I did get the new switchfoot album simply cause I was with my dad in there. Worst of all they're generally not much cheaper than other places. Clothes from there tend to be made of crappy fabric that feels uncomfortable, and will fall apart very soon. Also they look like crap a lot of the times. As well... I just hate the idea of helping that sort of place.
Then again I work at Best Buy. They treat their employees better sure. But at the same time... I think I just hate retail.
Is that why you pull scams?
http://forums.macnn.com/showthread.php?t=275176
(
Last edited by besson3c; Nov 14, 2005 at 02:22 PM.
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Baninated
Join Date: Oct 2002
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Originally Posted by rozwado1
This IS America...
The fact that you can make such a comment like this on the interweb is because of...
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Originally Posted by Kevin
The fact that you can make such a comment like this on the interweb is because of...
*barf*
Know when to play the Nationalism card, it's so overused these days it's becoming a completely empty cliche (which is very unfortunate).
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Addicted to MacNN
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Originally Posted by Kevin
The fact that you can make such a comment like this on the interweb is because of...
Tim Berners-Lee? CERN? NeXT?
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Professional Poster
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Baninated
Join Date: Oct 2002
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Originally Posted by besson3c
*barf*
Know when to play the Nationalism card, it's so overused these days it's becoming a completely empty cliche (which is very unfortunate).
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Originally Posted by Kevin
Wow... I like the new Kevin. The old Kevin would have started a 200 page argument with somebody (anybody) over this!
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Baninated
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: In yer threads
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I am trying.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Comon Walmart defenders... come out of the woodwork and show your faces Surely this argument can't be this one-sided?
Thousands of people shop at Walmart. Surely there are some Walmart shoppers here?
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Professional Poster
Join Date: Mar 2002
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Originally Posted by besson3c
Comon Walmart defenders... come out of the woodwork and show your faces Surely this argument can't be this one-sided?
Thousands of people shop at Walmart. Surely there are some Walmart shoppers here?
Well, I NEED to shop at Walmart, since I have no car and it's the only big store just around the corner. But I think in Germany Walmart practices are a bit different, since we have more regulation in the area of employees rights. Prices are ok. I only buy food there, though.
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Mac Elite
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Grizzled Veteran
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My wife and shop there for certain items. I don't have any guilt. If I buy cat litter that's $2-3 cheaper than somewhere else, good for them, I say.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Comon Walmart defenders... come out of the woodwork and show your faces Surely this argument can't be this one-sided?
Thousands of people shop at Walmart. Surely there are some Walmart shoppers here?
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Mar 2001
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Originally Posted by placebo1969
My wife and shop there for certain items. I don't have any guilt. If I buy cat litter that's $2-3 cheaper than somewhere else, good for them, I say.
Do you have no guilt because you are blissfully ignorant as to their corporate and workplace practices, or because you simply choose to turn a blind eye, or because you think they get a bad rap unfairly?
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Mac Elite
Join Date: Oct 2001
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I hate shopping at WalMart. It sucks teh coque
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