"How big is Wal-Mart?", you ask?
Danalana wrote: 1. At Wal-Mart, Americans spend $36,000,000 every hour of every day.
2. This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!
3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March
17th) than Target sells all year.
4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco
+ K-Mart combined.
5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private
employer. And most can't speak English.
6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World.
7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years.
8. During this same period, 31 Supermarket chains sought bankruptcy
(including Winn-Dixie).
9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.
10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores of which 1,906 are Super Centers;
this is 1,000 more than it had 5 years ago.
11. This year, 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur
at a Wal-Mart store (Earth's population is approximately (6.5 billion.)
12. 90% of all people live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart
13. Let Wal-Mart bail out Wall Street.
moped replied: 
The stats are insane on Wal-Mart!
Kentuckychick replied: I read this a while back... and I gotta say I'm pretty impressed. To be doing that well in this kind of economy... the guys at the top must know what they're doing.
Kudos to them.
I hear they treat their employees pretty decently too. At least here. 
Danalana replied: Yep! I worked with Wal-Mart/Sam's for 7 years...a lot of it in Personnel. They were very good to me!
PrairieMom replied: I'm just gonna jump in here and say I hate Walmart. I do what ever I can to avoid shopping there, (not that I wont, but it is VERY rarely, and I do what every I can to avoid it. I just really HATE shopping there. )
http://winningargument.blogspot.com/2004/0...or-america.html
here is what it says:
Friday, June 04, 2004
Wal-Mart is bad for America
Why you're right:
1. Wal-Mart destroys more jobs than it creates. A new Wal-Mart destroys jobs by putting local merchants out of business. The jobs Wal-Mart creates are fewer, lower-paying and mostly part-time. (Good Jobs First)
2. Wal-Mart burdens public health care programs. Most jobs at Wal-Mart have little or no health benefits. Wal-Mart encourages its workers to seek public assistance for their health care. In Georgia, 10,000 children of Wal-Mart employees were enrolled in the public health insurance program. (NOW with Bill Moyers, AFL-CIO)
3. Wal-Mart exploits workers. The average hourly worker makes just $18,000 dollars a year. Meanwhile, in 2002, the corporation raked in $6.6 billion in profits. Wal-Mart has known for years that many of its stores violate child labor laws and state regulations requiring work breaks - but has done little, if anything, to stop it. (Mother Jones, New York Times)
4. Wal-Mart degrades the environment. The federal government charged Wal-Mart with violating the Clean Water Act in 17 locations across the country. Run-off from Wal-Mart construction sites polluted drinking water, streams and lakes. To settle the charges Wal-Mart agreed to pay a $1 million dollar fine. (EPA)
Why They're Wrong:
Proponents of Wal-Mart tout their low prices - and the positive impact they have on the purchasing power of consumers. But Wal-Mart is able to provide low prices because they are heavily subsidized by taxpayers. In addition to relying on public health care for their employees, Wal-Mart has benefited from over $1 billion in economic development subsidies. (Good Jobs First)
CantWait replied:  That's crazy.
PrairieMom replied:
here is some more:
http://theburnman.com/2008/11/21/walmart-b...omen-worthless/
In 2003, Dr. Richard Drogin, professor emeritus at California State University-Hayward, conducted a study on wages for female employees at Wal-Mart and found that:
* female hourly workers earn up to 37 cents less per hour than their male counterparts;
* female full-time employees working at least 45 weeks earn on average nearly $5,000 less than male employees in yearly salary;
* women make up 72 percent of Wal-Mart’s total workforce, but only 33 percent of its managers;
* and women make up 92 percent of Wal-Mart’s cashiers, but only 14 percent of Wal-Mart store managers.
http://theburnman.com/2008/11/22/walmart-b...inamerica-1985/
The truth of that matter is that most of the products sold in Walmart stores are made predominantly in China, not the United States. 70-80% of Walmarts products are manufactured by companies in China, many of which have substandard working conditions. In fact, CNN recently reported on Walmart’s use of sweat shops to manufacture Christmas ornaments for the upcoming holiday season:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WutW8usfTTg[/youtube]
China isn’t the only place Walmart purchases its goods from, however. Business Week reported in October that Walmart was purchasing school uniforms from sweat shops in Bangladesh under the Faded Glory brand name. Workers were forced to work 19 hours per day, and were forced to stand for hours at a time if they arrived to work late.
http://theburnman.com/2008/11/24/walmart-c...bor-violations/
An internal audit now under court seal warned top executives at Wal-Mart Stores three years ago that employee records at 128 stores pointed to extensive violations of child-labor laws and state regulations requiring time for breaks and meals.
The audit of one week’s time-clock records for roughly 25,000 employees found 1,371 instances in which minors apparently worked too late at night, worked during school hours or worked too many hours in a day. It also found 60,767 apparent instances of workers not taking breaks, and 15,705 apparent instances of employees working through meal times.
If the same rate of violations were found throughout the Wal-Mart system, that would translate into tens of thousands of child-labor violations each week at Wal-Mart’s 3,500 stores and more than one million violations of company and state regulations on meals and breaks.
- In-House Audit Says Wal-Mart Violated Labor Laws, by Steven Greenhouse, NY Times - 1/13/2004
Danalana replied: Thanks, Tara! I wondered how long until we could have a debate!
TheOaf66 replied: while I agree that a corporate giant like that should pay better, give better benefits etc and it is a burden to local businesses. In terms of "MY" economic stability Wal-Mart is there. They are cheaper than other places in the area and in times like this when money is tight, I have to go where I spend the least and that is it.
I do feel bad for the people that get the shaft because of them but on a personal level they help me. In times like this I have to look out for my family and myself and don't have the luxury of shopping more expensive just to try and deal a blow against the force that is Wally World
And to be a real horses patoot, if people aren't happy about wages and benefits at Wally World then don't work there. I worked at one and it wasn't to bad in my eyes.
Boo&BugsMom replied:
Me too, Troy as well. I really had no complaints working there, it just wasn't what I wanted to do forever. Other than that, they worked around my availability (and mine was pretty slim), gave me off everytime I asked, paid decently (started at $9 an hour, which is good around here starting), and shared their profits with their employees! Who doesn't like profit sharing? 
Boo&BugsMom replied:
I would like to know how much truth is really in this. Even if it is, I think it's just natural that most retail workers are generally female.
And of course, there are going to be bad stores and good stores. I worked for 2 of them...out of those two I found nothing like the things mentioned.  Plus, most of the managers were female, TBH. I had few male managers. No matter what chain of stores you are talking about...I'm sure you can find bad in ALL of them.  And, you will never know the circumstances behind the so called evidence.
Jason's Papa replied: I'll stick w/ Target.
lisar replied: I have to agree with Tara here. My Grandmother worked for walmart for about 7 months and she says that is the worst place to work ever. No benefits making minimum wage and she never got her brakes like she was supposed to. They were horrible to her. While she worked there was when Papa was dying of cancer and she finally quit when they told her she wasn't allowed to take off for his funeral. Now she WILL NOT go to walmart. Target gets all her money. I also had a friend who worked in the warehouse here and he got tired of working 18hour shifts so he quit. Walmart here where I am is NOT a good place to work for. I know all of them are run differently depending on the managers so I am not saying that all of them are bad.
PrairieMom replied:
eeh... what can I say.  Don't think we will have to resort to bible verses for this one tho.  we gotta have at least one good fight going.
PrairieMom replied: ITA that there is good and bad everywhere, and ITA that you have to do what is best for you and your family, and like I said, I have shopped there, I used to be a VERY loyal customer, but it is no longer the store for me. I just feel dirty shopping there, like I am contributing to the problem.
Danalana replied:
Something was definitely wrong with that place. Not every store will be as good as others. Ours strived very hard to five breaks on time, but it works both ways. I would have to page people over and over to get them to come back from reaks and lunches. I've never heard of someone not being able to go to a funeral. It is company policy that you are granted berievement (I believe 3 days off) for a close family member...ESPECIALLY a spouse, child or parent. Something is fishy there. I mean, you fill out the time off and everything.
Danalana replied: Tara, just wait and let the store you're shopping at get really big, and then they will be evil too
moped replied: Ya know, I know the problems with Wal-Mart and until recently I have been a WalMart shopper. I don't go there anymore because I discovered that Superstore (Canadian) is a better option for me.
I ahve heard horrible things about Walmart and decided my $$ would be better spent elsewhere
Boo&BugsMom replied:
EEK!  If the ones I worked at were like that I probably wouldn't have good things to say about them either! Man!
When I was in school my grandmother died 3 times. Ok, it's not really funny and yes I was being a stupid teenager and making it up, but they did give me off for each of her 'funerals'.
Both stores I worked at were also like Dana mentioned about breaks. I always got mine. Sometimes they were a little later than they were suppose to be, but that is anywhere you work, not just Walmart.
If I had the same experiences your grandmother did, I'd probably form a picket line outside the store.
PrairieMom replied:
probably. I just prefer to spend my $ in a place that I feel better about ya know? If my feelings change, they won't get any more of my $.
Right now I buy my groceries at a locally owned store where the food is fresher, and they bag my groceries for me, and will even put them in my car for me. It rocks.
Boo&BugsMom replied: For the record, I do really like a lot that Target has to offer. I like their clothes, their dollar items, their Archer Farms food, and other things. However, when it comes to some items...especially toys, they are so much more expensive than other retailers. I almost NEVER buy anything from Target during Christmas unless I can't find it somewhere else (like the dollar items).
My2Beauties replied: I absolutely detest that place. I would rather shop at Target or Meijer's any day! Meijer's is awesome BTW some of you may not have them in your area. All of their produce, meat, dairy etc...is shipped from LOCAL farmers, so they support the local economy (plus produce lasts longer once you get it home), and their dairy (not sure about their meat I need to check) is non-hormone and local. I love that about them. Wal-mart ships their crap from Mexico or some crazy place. I get produce there and 2 days later it's bad - never fails. Their clothes are cheap and fall apart and/or shrink horribly too (kid's clothes they don't have anything in my taste, maybe underthings sometimes lol). I've had many horrib le experiences there with staff. I've known people that have worked there and absolutely hated it and won't shop there now because of how they were treated as employees. They are evil corporate buttheads if you ask me. Greedy - greedy - greedy company! They don't get my $$$ anymore. Meijer's or Target does!!
Danalana replied: LeaAnn, I wish you were able to express your feelings better
And, i don't know where you people live, but the employees at ours are very nice. Of course, a lot of them are older and still have manners...
My2Beauties replied:
 I know...I'm awful! There are just certain topics that I'm passionate about and sadly....yes Wal-Mart is one of them!
Boo&BugsMom replied:
Since you mentioned this, many people who work at the one near us now were working there when I worked there....a whole 16-17 years ago. WOW, that makes me feel old. Actually one of them recognized me not long ago and I wanted to run and hide. I thought she was going to say "You were the one whose grandma died 3 times".
Mommy2Isabella replied: I absolutely DETEST Wal- Mart!!
WILL NOT SHOP THERE!!!
I will pay more elsewhere!!
The Wal-Marts where I live are NASTY, the employee's are RUDE!
gr33n3y3z replied: The way things are right now any job is good regurdless where it is
But I have to agree I will not shop there either bc I buy stuff american made and walmart has very little from the USA
Danalana replied:
I see you also have trouble expressing yourself...
DVFlyer replied: Society has asked for "Wal-Marts" whether they want to admit it or not. We've (me included) have wanted "better, faster, cheaper" for as long as I can remember. Wal-Mart is a direct result of this.
i.e. beware of what you wish for.
Also, for those who choose to shop at Target (or other alternative to Wal-Mart) because you don't like that Wal-Mart's products are not made in the USA, do you think that Target's etc products are "made in USA"?
gr33n3y3z replied:
Read lables and check the bottom of things it tells you where its from you have to choice to buy or not to buy no matter where you shop even in the food stores.
luvmykids replied: I have mixed feelings on WalMart....I gotta give it to Sam Walton, he definitely did something right. The people at our old Walmart (in NM) were fabulous, lots of elderly people and they seemed to LOVE their jobs and were great to talk to...I liked them so much I took some of them tins of cookies
I don't like what WalMart has done to mom and pop businesses, it makes me a little sad, but then again can't blame WalMart, it's really a choice the consumers made. I have heard mixed reviews from employees, I think it depends largely on the management at any given store.
redchief replied: Our Wal-Mart is only a couple of years old. It still feels dirty in there. I just don't like it.
lisar replied:
When I do have to go to walmart I drive 30minutes out of my way to go to a decent one atleast.
Kirstenmumof3 replied: Our Walmart was built 14 years ago, just after Emily was born. I remember it being very clean, the staff were polite and helpful. Prices are were very resonable. Before Walmart we had The Real Canadian Super Store, I have to say that this store used to be better as well. Over time, they decided to turn our small Walmart into a Super Centre. It is now very crowded, the shelves are overflowing with items, the isles are packed with displays, it's a very hard store to get around in. I also don't find that there prices are any better then anywhere other department store. My cousin worked his way up the Walmart ladder, starting as a phantom shopper (not sure of the exact term). He was one of those people that would dress in plan clothes looking for shoplifters. He was then promoted to working security, then head of security, then he was overseeing 3 stores in southern Ontario. He is now the co-manager of the Walmart store here. He is the kind of manager that will work with his employees, he works the cash when it gets really busy, he's out there talking to the customers, stocking shelves. I think this might just be what our Walmart needs.
I only shop there when I absolutely have too. But other than that I prefer to shop at Zellers, Sears and for groceries of course A&P/METRO where I work.
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