Opinions on Wal-mart-Esq "big box" chains

Your preaching to the choir here. I hate Wal-mart. I haven't been in one for about 5 years. They have an immoral business model. They move into an area, squash local mom and pops, then charge whatever they want, pushing cheap imported crap. The stupid public eats it up, thinking they are getting bargains. So what if they have to buy that very same product again in less that a year. These people are so dumbed down, they don't remember anyway.

Then look how they treat their workers. They pay them shite. Locally, Wal-mart, upon hiring someone, will pass out forms to new workers, so that the worker can apply for publicly provided, (by me), healthcare.

But hey, maybe I tell ya how I really feel.

Supper is ready, more rants to come....

You are right of course... there are many small to mid-sized towns whose residents get more than they bargained for with Wal-Mart aka Wally World.

The problem is difficult to address though simply because of the enormous revenue increases these stores like Wal-Mart and Target bring to a towns coffers. It is really difficult to fight to keep them out when the Mayor and Council are all star struck by the amount of zeroes they see in the anticipated tax schedule.

I don't have any particular animus toward Wal-Mart; I shop there when convenient. What I hate is the loss of small, diverse shops of all kinds.

My particular beef is the loss of real hardware stores - you know, the kind that had walls and walls of shelves and drawers stretching maybe 12 feet up, with a rolling ladder. You went in and asked for a air filter element for a 1956 Gravelly tractor, model xxx and the clerk knew what you wanted, where it was, and then got it for you. The big boxes (well actually, our greed in chasing lowest price) killed those. We could have supported the local stores, but we didn't.

I suspect our focus on lowest price will now kill some of the big box stores as on-line "big cart" stores offer even lower prices and free shipping. Wonder where everybody will work?

Like everyone, I greatly miss the product diversity that you could find not only in mom & pop stores but also the smaller "middle-sized box" stores that have disappeared under the crushing wheels of progress. I'm no shopaholic, but it was sort of pleasant to releatively easily find a unique gift for someone that you couldn't just get anywhere. Now gifts are stacked up on heaping pallets in the middle of the asile and everybody has 10 of 'em already.

Years ago when I worked for an electronics manufacturer I was somewhat annoyed when Wal-Mart first started dictating that we must strip all but the most basic features from our products or they'd stop carrying them. It was all about selling as cheap as possible, you see. So rather than sell something "nice" they preferred to sell something that "would do". I see their point - I really do - but I still suspect that in the end it helped cheapen our brand in the eyes of consumers.

That company I worked for is (effectively) gone now. I'm not saying our dealings with Wal-Mart killed it -- but it sure didn't help.

I go to Wal-Fart only when I have no other choice. I'd rather drive 5 or 10 miles and know I'm getting quality. Mom and Pop stores have my business.