Wal-Mart

[Ronn! Blankenship]

At 11:27 PM Wednesday 2/13/2008, Nick Arnett wrote:
>We talked a while ago about Wal-Mart's virtues and lack thereof.  I recently
>became acquainted with the father of one of the LA Times reports who wrote a
>four-part series about Wal-Mart a few years ago, which won a Pulitzer Prize.
>
>Part one is here:
>http://www.latimes.com/news/custom/showcase/la-fi-walmart23nov23,1,1712351.story?ctrack=3&cset=true
>
>I was surprised when my new friend told me that apparently Wal-Mart liked
>the series.  This, despite that fact that I think the stories essentially
>say that if all you care about is low prices, then Wal-mart is great.  If
>they liked the story, they apparently truly believe that nothing is more
>important than having the lowest prices.  To me, that's just plain greed,
>amoral greed.  Some things really are more important than driving prices as
>low as possible.  Otherwise, we'd still have legalized slavery in the modern
>world, to offer the extreme example.
>
>It seems to me that when an organization becomes that big, it becomes easy
>for top management to abuse people at the far end of the supply chain, if
>only because they are so easy to ignore.  Perhaps our systems need to take
>into account the fact that the personal experience of people isn't
>transmitted nearly as easily as their economic value.
>
>And no to those who may demand I come up with a better system before
>criticizing this one, I don't have something better to offer, other than
>encouraging more of this kind of reporting, which helps show the real cost
>of those low, low prices.
>
>Confession:  I take our daughter to Wal-Mart (her choice, not mine) and pay
>for her insulin.  She can't get insurance and they do have the lowest
>price.  But at least insulin isn't being produced in sweat shops, as far as
>I know.  And I'm tempted by all the cheap stuff they sell, but I resist.
>
>Nick


So you are saying that the minor accident I got into Tuesday night 
turning into the Wal-Mart parking lot was a sign that I shouldn't be 
going to shop there?

(Personally I thought the rain and being in a hurry to finish the 
night's errands were probably more significant contributing factors.)

Wal-Maru


-- Ronn!  :)