Sep 20 2007
Walmart In Bed With China
YOU MUST WATCH the following short commercial now airing nationwide. This add is sponsored by wakeupwalmart.com. Please feel free to double click through to YouTube and repost on your sites and sent through email.
Side Note: Please if you have not already. Print out the Toys R Us letter, sign and send. I’m taking mr. linkey down because people have been sending the letter and not doing it
7 Responses to “Walmart In Bed With China”
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You know I can’t see Mr Linky that’s why I didn’t sign it… I know you probably took it down but before I couldn’t find it. Weird huh?
I realize WalMart is buying just as much stuff from China as every other retailer but that is because everything under the sun is made over there. But I cannot support the site that has posted this video. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union has been trying to destroy WalMart for years because they cannot convince the employees to vote them into power over the retailer. I’m of the opinion that unions are socialistic cancers and they are the reason America has lost practically all of it’s manufacturing. Their corruption and greed has brought us to where we are today with foreign made goods. In spite of these imports, WalMart has managed to provide lower prices on many items which is important. Not every family in America can afford to buy food and clothes at the high-end markets and department stores. I buy a quality yogurt at WalMart for 48 cents which sells at my local upper scale market for 75 cents and this is only one of many examples. Isn’t it interesting that this site doesn’t target any of the other retailers who sell mostly all China made goods? That’s because they don’t attack the stores they have managed to infiltrate (where the prices are higher in order to support the cost to the retailer of having to accommodate the union). I’ll continue to push for goods made anywhere other than China but I commend WalMart for being able to stave off the union.
Thanks ann very thought provoking. I did not know that stuff. I am not much of a union person myself and find it interesting how their history is also tied in with “the mob” etc. I thought this was just a site against walmart. In my previous career was about to do work with walmart…. through a merchandiser. It does seem that their procedure includes getting you on one super low price, and then once you have nixed the rest of your manufacturing because walmart takes all your time, they force you to lower price…. I do think that is a bad process. So basically you lose your old clientelle then have to bow to them. Having been in manufacturing, this is a horrible thing. There has to be something in between the unions and being a company like that. Their contract also stated that they could return anything they wanted. A small company like I worked for, with the volumn you have to make for Walmart, that could put you under.
And The fact that my friend bought shorts there for 2 dollars the other day does tell me THEY HAVE to be made in a sweat shop. While almost everyone does use china in some form, not every time is it sweat shop.
I do totally agree with you on unions not being helpful though and would actually love for you to write more about your theory on how unions began this outsourcing problem!!! That would make a great post to read.
I also agree that there are many that can not afford much more than walmart. But at the same time that is partly because of the culture we live in here. The cycles of poverty that have been getting worse generational… the lack of building for future, but rather accruing debt for the future…. I’m not saying at all you are in that situation. BUT when you compare us to other countries our poor even have it good. Many of us choose to live in houses and have multiple cars and more than a few outfits and that is why we need cheaper things, agree?
Anyway, again thank you for your well spoken opinion.
MZ, thanks for your comments as well. Another point I would make in support of Walmart is that they will hire physically and/or intellectually challenged people who would otherwise not have a job or would be limited to working in another environment. The only other retailer of which I am aware that does this is Albertson’s. (At least the one in my neighborhood does). I can also remember that Walmart supported American made longer than any other large retailer but eventually had to join their competitors in buying mostly foreign made. I understand the burdensome issues of a small manufacturer in today’s market but the reality is they can’t usually accommodate a mega retailer such as Target, WalMart, Sam’s, Costco, etc. As a consumer, I appreciate and really expect to be able to return anything I buy to the retailer where I bought it. I certainly don’t want to pay the packaging and shipping costs to send it to the manufacturer. This return policy is common among all retailers because the consumer expects it. Having operated a couple of very small businesses over the years, my husband and I realized quickly that the era of “mom & pop” operations in this country, for the most part, is over. The “good ol’ days” are just fond memories as we now live in a different era. Finally, America is facing the potential dilemma of losing its middle class. More people are moving into wealth and more are moving into poverty (for which there are many reasons, not all the fault of the person. Not everyone is capable of achieving financial security. Christ said, “The poor you will have with you always”.) But the poor survive more comfortably where there is a thriving middle class. Taking a look at the Western European, Central American, Southwest Asian countries that don’t have a middle class is a scarey glimpse into what can happen. When the industrial revolution moved out of America we lost a lot more than jobs and the result is becoming more apparent each day.
those are all really great points ann. I see in my local are that many are PURPOSEFULLY giving business to the ma and pap stores, but our suburb has been very deliberate in making it easier for them. I think it is important to support local food growers, local artesians, and local businesses now more than ever. But yes, if the middle class disappears (and yes there are many poor that are poor due to unforeseen circumstance- previously I was referring to generational welfare type issues). if middle class disappears we are probably in a lot of trouble….
Although Wal-Mart is an attractive target for people who want to “LiveChinaFree” be aware that Wal-Mart may become more responsive to negative pressure and begin a concerted plan to buy more American products. Wal-Mart employs a lot of Americans with good jobs; boycott those items which are unsafe and made with slave labor … from where-ever they are made.
LiveChinaFree
Kent Herrick
Yes, supporting local neighborhood farms and businesses is a great movement and I had hoped it would have grown even larger than is has and more quickly. While it is working well in some areas, it doesn’t exist in others. I do think, if it is possible, that WalMart will be one of the first retailers to respond to this issue. I am anxious to see what the coming holiday season will reveal. I can’t find anything indicating that return-to-school sales were affected but I’m still looking. In every store I entered, the shelves were wiped clean from pencils to backpacks and everything in between. Kent’s approach is the right one to take and let’s hope it will turn the manufacturer’s in another direction, bringing their plants back to America or at least to countries where there is freedom and dignity for it’s citizens.