The Wal-Mart You Don't Know

[OneBlueSky]

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

"A gallon-sized jar of whole pickles is something to behold. The jar is the size of a small aquarium. The fat green pickles, floating in swampy juice, look reptilian, their shapes exaggerated by the glass. It weighs 12 pounds, too big to carry with one hand. The gallon jar of pickles is a display of abundance and excess; it is entrancing, and also vaguely unsettling. This is the product that Wal-Mart fell in love with: Vlasic's gallon jar of pickles.

"Wal-Mart priced it at $2.97--a year's supply of pickles for less than $3! "They were using it as a 'statement' item," says Pat Hunn, who calls himself the "mad scientist" of Vlasic's gallon jar. "Wal-Mart was putting it before consumers, saying, This represents what Wal-Mart's about. You can buy a stinkin' gallon of pickles for $2.97. And it's the nation's number-one brand."

"Therein lies the basic conundrum of doing business with the world's largest retailer. By selling a gallon of kosher dills for less than most grocers sell a quart, Wal-Mart may have provided a ser-vice for its customers. But what did it do for Vlasic? The pickle maker had spent decades convincing customers that they should pay a premium for its brand. Now Wal-Mart was practically giving them away. And the fevered buying spree that resulted distorted every aspect of Vlasic's operations, from farm field to factory to financial statement.

"Indeed, as Vlasic discovered, the real story of Wal-Mart, the story that never gets told, is the story of the pressure the biggest retailer relentlessly applies to its suppliers in the name of bringing us "every day low prices." It's the story of what that pressure does to the companies Wal-Mart does business with, to U.S. manufacturing, and to the economy as a whole. That story can be found floating in a gallon jar of pickles at Wal-Mart."

- much, much more . . . and VERY interesting . . .

http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html

[Kenneth ken]

1. yes, VERY interesting indeed

there is certainly a vicious cycle in play from all persepectives. The continual pressure by Wal-Mart to push cost and price down puts pressure on consumers, who in their other role as workers, are being squeezed, and so need to find ways to economize, and are thereby more tempted by the prices Wal-Mart offers. So Wal-Mart can subsequently push their suppliers to reduce costs, and that hurts the workers at the supplier end.

It will eventually play itself out when Wal-Mart loses customers because it has destroyed them as workers. When people can't afford even Wal-Mart prices, what will Wal-Mart be able to do?

Thanks for posting this.

[Skidmore]

3. Sorta belies the whole concept of a free market..what we have in

todays society is in fact monopoly markets. The robber barons have learned to disguise their monopolies though.

[T Bone]

6. A single mother of two

working at Wal Mart full time, which is usually 38 hours a week for them, cannot purchase the basics at Wal Mart for that family on her WalMart salary.

[CityZen-X]

20. Not Pickles

If you think that those are pickles floating in the jar, think again. soylent Green is Bu$h*t!

[dmr]

2. Thanks for posting this, OneBlueSky

It is a VERY interesting article, and good to see one more side of the Walmart (evil) empire.

The manufacturers are in a catch-22 situation; damned if they do and damned if they don't. I knew Walmart was big, but had no idea the dominance they hold in sales - that just blows me away! I hope one day, we can hear what the manufacturers really think about doing business with this giant.

Here's a statement from the article similar to what my family and I were discussing just yesterday about the cost to our enviornment:

Wal-Mart has also lulled shoppers into ignoring the difference between the price of something and the cost. Its unending focus on price underscores something that Americans are only starting to realize about globalization: Ever-cheaper prices have consequences. Says Steve Dobbins, president of thread maker Carolina Mills: "We want clean air, clear water, good living conditions, the best health care in the world--yet we aren't willing to pay for anything manufactured under those restrictions."

[Dogmudgeon]

4. Me, too! Me, too!

Sorry, but this reeks of "me-too"-ism from the fashionable Capitalist Pig set. It's bad when Wal-Mart lowballs its employees, but it's rilly rilly rilly bad when its suppliers have to take a cut.

Where's the RIAA when you rilly rilly rilly need them?

--bkl
Respect the Pickle™
Don't Buy Discount Cucumbers

[DemDogs]

5. I NEVER shop at Wal-Marts anymore

Sam Walton believed in America and American business. He has to be rolling in his grave now.

[ikojo]

27. Sam Walton just died in 1992 and by then

Wal-Mart was a presence in small town America. It was after his death that it began its expansionist agenda into suburban America. That being said, I don't see the current Wal-Mart as deviating from Sam Walton's plan. Just as Wal-Mart crushed small town American businesses, now it is out to crush locally owned businesses in the rest of the country.
I think Sam Walton would be mighty proud of what Wal-Mart has become.

[Trek234]

32. Oh please

Do you really believe that propaganda?

Do you believe the "we love the community" "we love our employees" signs in wal marts too?

[JNelson6563]

7. they do it all the time

After putting a few years in with the Sam's Club division of Wal-Mart, (I was in marketing of all things!) I know for a fact that they squeeze manufacturers as hard or harder than the employees.

It's easy to think, of cry me a river for the fat-cat manufacturers, but it hurts those workers too. And the smaller manufacturers really take a beating as do their people.

Funny to see banners in their store claiming they "saved" some US manufacturer of widgets. Saved 22 American jobs! (Or whatever their claim) What they don't tell you is they got the manufacturer to price the widgets so they barely make a profit resulting in pay cuts and reduced benefits for the little people.

Wal-Mart, making sure wages suck everywhere, not just in their own empire.

Julie

[baldguy]

8. If you like that -

Do a search for the term "RFID".

[Liberal Veteran]

9. The Waltons are so generous and humble....

...that 5 of them are in the list of the top 10 richest Americans.

You don't get those kinds of results across 5 individuals without screwing over anyone and everyone.

They make me damned sick.

I refuse to shop at their China Outlet Store. And anyone who tells me that they saw such and such at Wal-Mart for a price or bought something gets a sneer of derision from me when I tell them I don't shop at China's Outlet Store because shopping at Wal-Mart is spitting on the American worker.

And I don't really care who I piss off when I say that.

[Catshrink]

10. Would Vlasic go under if it didn't sell to Wal-Mart?

Just curious... they're still sold in grocery stores and is that enough to make it? What if manufacturers refused to sell to Wal-Mart or to be bullied. Yeah, I know it won't happen.

Robber barons -- that's an apt comparison. Wal-Mart is hijacking/has already hijacked the retail business.

[HFishbine]

11. No Sympathy

Companies that do business with Wal-Mart are motivated by their own greed. They get what they deserve. Would Vlasic wither on the vine (pun intended) if they did not distribute through Wal-Mart? Would anybody? If manufacturers and suppliers don't want to see thier prodcucts devalued, simply stay out of Wal-Mart.

[Gin]

13. I'm confused...Vlasik sells to walmart....walmart marks it up...how

does that hurt vlasik? ..the manufacturer gets the money for the bulk order. The store marks up the profit....so walmart must be paying pennies for the pickles.

[BeachBuckeye]

21. Typically,

Wal-Mart starts out paying a vendor a fair price for their goods. Then, after the vendor is totally committed to Wally because Wally is buying so much of their product a Wal-Mart buyer is sent to the vendor and he says, "look, we need you to sell us your goods for x amount of dollars" and the vendor says "but I can't do that because my profit margin will be so small. I have hired many new workers and expanded my production facility to accommodate the large amount of business you have been sending my way. I can't get rid of those extra employees and this new production facility now." Wally says: "sorry fella, its my way or the highway." Thats how its done. Wally has ruined many small manufacturers with this tactic. The business then moves to Mexico to stay alive and good ole Wally keeps on truckin'. I've been involved with them with my business a few years ago. They are morally bankrupt sleezebags.

[Octafish]

12. Dean was guv when Walmart opened up FOUR stores in VT

No wonder the guy wants his papers sealed for 20 years. That's a lot of local stores gone. And the jobs? Oh yeah. Walmart doesn't like unions, either.

[Ernesto]

18. What a dumb, cheap shot... Paleeeze

And Bill Clinton invented Walmart down in Arkansas.... Blah Blah Blah....

[HFishbine]

28. And Kerry's wife

owns $1M in Walmart stock. When are we going to learn how this sniping can just go on and on if someone is foolish enough to start it?

http://www.concordmonitor.com/stories/news/recent2003/kerry_walmart101603_2003.shtml

[bleedingheart]

14. Brilliant Article! And so very very true!

that is the hidden diseased underbelly of Wal-Mart. Their cheap prices don't just have a ripple effect in the retail market but they also force suppliers into a corner.

[pretzel4gore]

15. in a rightwing world, the nickles of the poor are like manhole covers

while the billions of the rich are like nickles

[the_real_38]

16. The Death Star...

... of capitalism. Good article.

[BuckeFushe]

17. WAL-FART, making the world a painful place to shop

[wabeewoman]

19. Wal-Mart wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest

prices to its customers. Uhh huh. And george bush is really a smart empathetic man...

[Wapsie B]

22. So.....

does this story go on forever? Does Wally World continue this modus operandi for all of time? Do they somehow manage to buck the normal life cycle of a corporation?

[Beaker]

23. I've NEVER been to a WalMart, BUT there is one thing I do know-

even though my monthly SS check is just over $1000, there isn't a single item in Walmart's inventory that I cannot live without. DINO's who shop there for any reason disgust me no end. Nothing like feeding the beast that's consuming your way of life.

[tom_paine]

24. I know all I need to know about Wal-Mart

Destroying Anerica one underpaid citizen at a time...

I haven't shopped there in at least 8 years, maybe more (I can't remember because it didn't start out as some big statement, but rather a vague sense of disquiet about how they bribed and shoehorned their way into a Montana town where I lived).

[jbm]

25. I've got a Wal-Mart dilemma going on..

In the great grand scheme of things this is pretty trivial,but maybe someone here will have a suggestion I can live with. I've easily avoided entering a Wal-Mart store for about two years now(and a wonderful two years it has been!) but last month my aunt gave me a $50.00 Wal-Mart gift card for my birthday. What do I do with the damn thing?


Wal-Mart has already gotten their money so if I don't use it...they get $50.00 free and clear. I pondered giving it to some organization or something,and then I thought about going in and trying to find the items that I figured were the least profitable for them to sell..OR buying the lowest priced generic brands,cause there seems to be some kind of 'consumer report' that is used to interpret the economy,and part of the info comes from monitering what quality of product the consumer is purchasing. I've also considered buying $50.00 worth of Heinz ketchup in honor of Chris Heinze and John Kerry. The longer I wait,the longer they've got that $50.00. Any ideas?

[Lars39]

26. Use it to buy food items to give to a food bank.

Or just give the card to the food bank. Or to a someone you know who could really use the help. :shrug:

[Beaker]

29. Someone gave me a $15 one last christmas.

I sold it to my aunt who still shops there.
But I like the food bank idea...you can apparently get A LOT of pickles for that $50.00

[Skittles]

30. you......SOLD it to your aunt?

are you.....15?

[Myra]

33. That is a dilemma. How about this?

Most stores will accept gift certificates for
a purchase, then give the change back in cash,
not another certificate. You might ask their
policy just to be sure. But I'll bet if you
buy something tiny you'll get the remainder back
in greenback.

And maybe the couple of dollars you spend (like
someone else here suggested) can be on cardboard
or paper to put up a sign helpfully pointing out
that Wal-Mart is a union busting sweatshop.

[Aidoneus]

31. the way I figure it,

WalMart can charge such prices because they pay their workers in chickenfeed and spam (if they could get away with it, that wouldn't be hyperbole), and expect all of their suppliers to inch towards that also. Perhaps Vlasic has had to cut worker wages to cover the costs of WalMart's reverse gouging, perhaps that was the whole point. They're setting the trend for the new neolib (old capitalist) model to take over the whole length of the food chain (so to speak).

A bloody gallon of pickels wouldn't fit in my refridgerator anyway, perhaps they've got a deal worked out under the table with Maytag also, who are busy coming up with their "Will Fit A Gallon Jar Of Pickels" model for the next season.

[Nikia]

34. My company is a relatively new Walmart supplier

Luckily, we have several different brands so people will not confuse our Walmart brand, the name of which they gave us to put on the packages, with our"premium product". We already run on a relatively tight profit margin. Our price was good enough for Walmart and they didn't ask for much as far as quality. In fact, there is at least one other supplier selling under the same Walmart brand that makes an inferior product that our owner complained about. There would be worse turn over than there already is if wages were cut. We have an expensive new builing. What happens is we look for ways to cut costs. Since we had a decent product, we are attempting to make the cheapest (and therefore low quality) product legally possible. We are having trouble having enough orders as it is. We needed the account. Hopefully, we won't be held hostage by them. I feel sorry for the National brand companies that have to find ways to make cheaper less quality products when they had previously marketed their product as a quality product that people were willing to pay a little bit more for.