Walmart Good Or Bad
Wal-Mart:
An All-American Success Story or a Greedy Blood-Sucking Corporation?
By: Kaitlin Horch
Advanced Placement Language and Composition
Mrs. Koch
11 February 2013
The date, July 2nd, 1962: the hot Arkansas sun pours over the crowd of people gathering around the grand opening of a new store on 719 West Walnut Street; the proprietor, a middle-aged forty-four year old man swallows the fear and anticipation welling up in his throat; questions plague his mind: will we make it; will I succeed for my family; what have I done? Flash forward fifty years and Sam Walton’s hometown “ma and pa shop” grew into a commandeering-capital corporation with a surplus of over ten thousand stores globally: I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Arkansas …show more content…
anymore. We can all agree Wal-Mart is a successful business; however, let’s assess the validity and honesty of this company we look up to as the “American Dream.” Wal-Mart cheats its way around laws, lacking benefits, unions, and a moral compass. Just eight years after its 1962 opening in Rogers, Arkansas, Wal-Mart asexually reproduced to amass to thirty-eight stores and over $44.2 million in sales (which equates to $259.7 million factoring in the inflation of current times). Five years later, the store total more than tripled and Walton rolls in the dough, with an equivalent of $1.4 billion in sales. Nowadays, each of the five members of the Walton family values in at approximately $25 billion, making the whole family worth over $125 billion. But, how? How can one person alone be worth billions of dollars? Perhaps it is due to the fact that Wal-Mart fails to provide health care and effective benefits to its employees. Starting in 2012, Wal-Mart decreased health care coverage, but increased costs as much as 63% for non-smokers and families and up to 162% for smokers and their families. According to makingchangewalmart.org, “For employees earning $8.81/hour working an average of 34 hours per week, some of Wal-Mart’s 2012 healthcare plans would cost between 77% and 104% of the employee’s annual gross income.” (“Healthcare”) In simpler terms, people need to pay more money than they make per year for health insurance, that is, if they decide to go with the Wal-Mart health care program; however, many employees decide to use state-sponsored, more affordable health care to cover themselves and their families. During a “NOW with Bill Meyers” interview (found on makingchangewalmart.org/), an employee of Wal-Mart admits “personnel has a list of the state agencies so that we could have some place to send these associates [in search of healthcare].” Wal-Mart relies on taxes paid by the citizens of the United States to provide healthcare for the majority of its employees, using countless tax dollars that could be used to do any of the following (and more): a. decrease the debt ceiling; b. invest the money into public education for the bettering of the children and future leaders; c. construct public needs such as highway repairs, power lines, windmills, or even parks. When we pay the IRA, we pay for a working mother to take her children to the doctor because her employer won’t provide her with sufficient or affordable insurance. Welcome to America: greedy corporations, exploitation, gold (not iron)-scented blood, and desire. The passion that fuels us to make the most we can make, even at the expense of others; capitalism. The founding fathers (and even before that, European explorers), founded America based on exploitation and a social hierarchy (previously based on race and gender, currently based on race, gender, and income). The corporate Mongol receives state subsidies left and right, as if we are begging the biggest corporation in America to exploit our friends, family, and neighbors. Wal-Mart paralyzes employees and sticks them into a vat of quicksand: if they are not paid enough to live, but they need a job because homelessness is worse than living below the poverty line; if they don’t work unpaid overtime, they are fired and left without money to provide for their families. But, we need them to be exploited. We need them to be living on scraps and morsels and paycheck to paycheck. That’s how we succeed. We are the number one nation in the world due to our constant oppression and exploitation of the little guys. They don’t fight back, and if they do, they don’t have enough numbers to significantly make an impact (due to the fact that Wal-Mart Corporation fails to provide and/or allow for a union), therefore making every worker replaceable and seemingly worthless in that anyone can be hired to do their job. This ‘replaceable’ factor explains why we are succeeding: it’s how Henry Ford managed his employees, using an assembly line and making each worker do an unskilled task; it’s Taylorism; it’s success. Wal-Mart refuses to let its workers participate in or form a union, thereby having no standard minimum wages or right to petition for fewer hours, better management or anything else that could be controversial in the work sphere. However, unions can be viewed in a darker light, as they protect inefficient workers from being fired. So, it can be argued that Wal-Mart’s lack of a union is beneficial to procure the best, most efficient workers, and if they are bad, they are replaceable (as previously mentioned). Frank points out that only two Wal-Marts in their history have been unionized and one of which closed its doors (both located outside of the United States). Wal-Mart’s allergy to unions is perhaps even beneficial because it keeps costs low for the business, and transferring those savings to the consumer.
Specifically, Wal-Mart benefits consumers and communities in that it provides everyday goods at relatively inexpensive costs.
Their prices are so cheap that some, including W. Michael Cox, a chief economist, venture to say "Wal-Mart is the greatest thing that ever happened to low-income Americans." Wal-Mart dedicates itself to providing the lowest possible cost to consumers globally. A 2002 survey done by the New England Consultant Group (Maich) proves that the average American family saves $600 annually by shopping at Wal-Mart. With these low prices, Americans can afford to pay for everyday expenses and costs, such as healthcare, which, ironically, Wal-Mart fails to provide for the majority of its employees. According to Wal-Mart, “full time” means a minimum of thirty-four hours a week, not the traditional and widely accepted forty hour workweek, therefore causing their employees to remain below or near the poverty line due to insufficient wages and exceedingly expensive insurance costs.
Another characteristic of Wal-Mart’s explosively recognizable personality is the detrimental damage it does to small, hometown communities. Local businesses, smaller chains of grocery stores, and family owned enterprises all fall at the deadly hands of Wal-Mart. We can see the damage in our towns: downtown Dubuque: main street littered with Wal-Mart bags fluttering over the doorsteps of closed stores. Does Wal-Mart really save us money or do they just eliminate our businesses, our livelihoods? …show more content…
Does Lady Justice tilt her scale to one direction or are the consequences equivalent to the benefits?
Let’s look at the environment.
Ever since the late nineteenth century factories, big businesses, crowded spaces, and technological advancements cause degradation to our mother earth and shove carbon dioxide down tree-hugger’s throats. However, in recent years, according to Humes, Wal-Mart has truly taken steps to help the environment (“Green”). They currently use streamlined trucks for transportation, energy-efficient lighting and refrigeration, not to mention the $3.4 billion they saved by reducing packaging and recycling, most notably their efforts on laundry detergent, reducing bottle size to save plastic and water; perhaps the Waltons do earn their money honestly. Humes notes, “[Wal-Mart] has shown its suppliers... how to lower their carbon emissions and energy bills by 20% to 60%.” Another benefit of Wal-Mart is the fact that it donates its readily-expiring, “but still healthful foods” to nearby food banks. Suddenly, Wal-Mart doesn’t seem that bad.
Furthermore, according to Maich, the development of a new Wal-Mart generally causes an economic increase for the town and surrounding area. “Just 16 per cent of respondents said they had been hurt by competition from big-box retailers like Wal-Mart” when Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce surveyed local business owners in 2004. So, perhaps the proposed idea about Wal-Mart destroying local businesses is a rare occurrence, somewhat of a
myth.
Wal-Mart: the corporal giant, the symbol of capitalism, greed, and exploitation. The easiest way to describe it: Wal-Mart is beneficial to consumers in that it provides low prices and often brings business to the area. However, it is detrimental to its employee’s lives and lacks care for their well-being. Personally, I’d rather be shopping in the 107,000 square foot building, blinded by the energy-efficient artificial lighting than stocking the shelves and sporting the swank sapphire vests, and struggling to maintain a life above the poverty line. Wal-Mart offers benefits for everyone… except its employees.
Outline:
Thesis: Wal-Mart lacks benefits, unions, and a moral compass especially concerning their degradation to small towns. I. Wal-Mart lacks benefits for employees. a. Raised healthcare by 63% for non-smokers and 162% for smokers. b. Rely on state programs to finance employee’s healthcare. c. Plans cost 77%-104% of annual income II. Wal-Mart lacks unions. d. Don’t allow unions. e. Closed down one of two stores that did gain a union. III. Wal-Mart lacks a moral compass and caused degradation to small towns. f. Closes down local businesses.
Counter-Argument: Wal-Mart benefits consumers. I. Low prices. a. “Ad Match” guarantees. b. Sales II. Wal-Mart is environmentally friendly for a major corporation. c. Energy-efficient lighting d. Less packaging. e. Stream-lined trucks to save gas.
Works Cited
Feldstein, Mary Jo. "Low Prices--At What Cost?." St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO). 01 May 2005: A1+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 29 Jan 2013.
Fishman, Charles. The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World 's Most Powerful Company Really Works - and How It 's Transforming the American Economy. City of Westminster, England: Penguin, 2006. Print.
Frank, T.A. "Everyday Low Vices." Washington Monthly Vol. 38, No. 4. April 2006: 24-31. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 29 Jan 2013.
"Healthcare." Making Change at Wal-Mart: Our Community. Our Future. United Food and Commercials Workers Union, 3 Feb. 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.
Humes, Edwards. "Wal-Mart 's Green Hat." Los Angeles Times. 31 May 2011: A.13. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 29 Jan 2013.
"Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" Public Broadcasting Service. PBS, 16 Nov. 2004. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.
Maich, Steve. "Why Wal-Mart Is Good." Maclean 's (Toronto, Canada) Vol. 118, No. 30. 25 Jul 2005: 26-33. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 29 Jan 2013. Ortega, Bob. In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story of Sam Walton & How Wal-Mart Is Devouring America. New York: Crown Business, 1998. Print.
"Our Story." Walmart Corporate. Walmart Corporate, 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2013
An All-American Success Story or a Greedy Blood-Sucking Corporation?
By: Kaitlin Horch
Advanced Placement Language and Composition
Mrs. Koch
11 February 2013
The date, July 2nd, 1962: the hot Arkansas sun pours over the crowd of people gathering around the grand opening of a new store on 719 West Walnut Street; the proprietor, a middle-aged forty-four year old man swallows the fear and anticipation welling up in his throat; questions plague his mind: will we make it; will I succeed for my family; what have I done? Flash forward fifty years and Sam Walton’s hometown “ma and pa shop” grew into a commandeering-capital corporation with a surplus of over ten thousand stores globally: I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Arkansas …show more content…
anymore. We can all agree Wal-Mart is a successful business; however, let’s assess the validity and honesty of this company we look up to as the “American Dream.” Wal-Mart cheats its way around laws, lacking benefits, unions, and a moral compass. Just eight years after its 1962 opening in Rogers, Arkansas, Wal-Mart asexually reproduced to amass to thirty-eight stores and over $44.2 million in sales (which equates to $259.7 million factoring in the inflation of current times). Five years later, the store total more than tripled and Walton rolls in the dough, with an equivalent of $1.4 billion in sales. Nowadays, each of the five members of the Walton family values in at approximately $25 billion, making the whole family worth over $125 billion. But, how? How can one person alone be worth billions of dollars? Perhaps it is due to the fact that Wal-Mart fails to provide health care and effective benefits to its employees. Starting in 2012, Wal-Mart decreased health care coverage, but increased costs as much as 63% for non-smokers and families and up to 162% for smokers and their families. According to makingchangewalmart.org, “For employees earning $8.81/hour working an average of 34 hours per week, some of Wal-Mart’s 2012 healthcare plans would cost between 77% and 104% of the employee’s annual gross income.” (“Healthcare”) In simpler terms, people need to pay more money than they make per year for health insurance, that is, if they decide to go with the Wal-Mart health care program; however, many employees decide to use state-sponsored, more affordable health care to cover themselves and their families. During a “NOW with Bill Meyers” interview (found on makingchangewalmart.org/), an employee of Wal-Mart admits “personnel has a list of the state agencies so that we could have some place to send these associates [in search of healthcare].” Wal-Mart relies on taxes paid by the citizens of the United States to provide healthcare for the majority of its employees, using countless tax dollars that could be used to do any of the following (and more): a. decrease the debt ceiling; b. invest the money into public education for the bettering of the children and future leaders; c. construct public needs such as highway repairs, power lines, windmills, or even parks. When we pay the IRA, we pay for a working mother to take her children to the doctor because her employer won’t provide her with sufficient or affordable insurance. Welcome to America: greedy corporations, exploitation, gold (not iron)-scented blood, and desire. The passion that fuels us to make the most we can make, even at the expense of others; capitalism. The founding fathers (and even before that, European explorers), founded America based on exploitation and a social hierarchy (previously based on race and gender, currently based on race, gender, and income). The corporate Mongol receives state subsidies left and right, as if we are begging the biggest corporation in America to exploit our friends, family, and neighbors. Wal-Mart paralyzes employees and sticks them into a vat of quicksand: if they are not paid enough to live, but they need a job because homelessness is worse than living below the poverty line; if they don’t work unpaid overtime, they are fired and left without money to provide for their families. But, we need them to be exploited. We need them to be living on scraps and morsels and paycheck to paycheck. That’s how we succeed. We are the number one nation in the world due to our constant oppression and exploitation of the little guys. They don’t fight back, and if they do, they don’t have enough numbers to significantly make an impact (due to the fact that Wal-Mart Corporation fails to provide and/or allow for a union), therefore making every worker replaceable and seemingly worthless in that anyone can be hired to do their job. This ‘replaceable’ factor explains why we are succeeding: it’s how Henry Ford managed his employees, using an assembly line and making each worker do an unskilled task; it’s Taylorism; it’s success. Wal-Mart refuses to let its workers participate in or form a union, thereby having no standard minimum wages or right to petition for fewer hours, better management or anything else that could be controversial in the work sphere. However, unions can be viewed in a darker light, as they protect inefficient workers from being fired. So, it can be argued that Wal-Mart’s lack of a union is beneficial to procure the best, most efficient workers, and if they are bad, they are replaceable (as previously mentioned). Frank points out that only two Wal-Marts in their history have been unionized and one of which closed its doors (both located outside of the United States). Wal-Mart’s allergy to unions is perhaps even beneficial because it keeps costs low for the business, and transferring those savings to the consumer.
Specifically, Wal-Mart benefits consumers and communities in that it provides everyday goods at relatively inexpensive costs.
Their prices are so cheap that some, including W. Michael Cox, a chief economist, venture to say "Wal-Mart is the greatest thing that ever happened to low-income Americans." Wal-Mart dedicates itself to providing the lowest possible cost to consumers globally. A 2002 survey done by the New England Consultant Group (Maich) proves that the average American family saves $600 annually by shopping at Wal-Mart. With these low prices, Americans can afford to pay for everyday expenses and costs, such as healthcare, which, ironically, Wal-Mart fails to provide for the majority of its employees. According to Wal-Mart, “full time” means a minimum of thirty-four hours a week, not the traditional and widely accepted forty hour workweek, therefore causing their employees to remain below or near the poverty line due to insufficient wages and exceedingly expensive insurance costs.
Another characteristic of Wal-Mart’s explosively recognizable personality is the detrimental damage it does to small, hometown communities. Local businesses, smaller chains of grocery stores, and family owned enterprises all fall at the deadly hands of Wal-Mart. We can see the damage in our towns: downtown Dubuque: main street littered with Wal-Mart bags fluttering over the doorsteps of closed stores. Does Wal-Mart really save us money or do they just eliminate our businesses, our livelihoods? …show more content…
Does Lady Justice tilt her scale to one direction or are the consequences equivalent to the benefits?
Let’s look at the environment.
Ever since the late nineteenth century factories, big businesses, crowded spaces, and technological advancements cause degradation to our mother earth and shove carbon dioxide down tree-hugger’s throats. However, in recent years, according to Humes, Wal-Mart has truly taken steps to help the environment (“Green”). They currently use streamlined trucks for transportation, energy-efficient lighting and refrigeration, not to mention the $3.4 billion they saved by reducing packaging and recycling, most notably their efforts on laundry detergent, reducing bottle size to save plastic and water; perhaps the Waltons do earn their money honestly. Humes notes, “[Wal-Mart] has shown its suppliers... how to lower their carbon emissions and energy bills by 20% to 60%.” Another benefit of Wal-Mart is the fact that it donates its readily-expiring, “but still healthful foods” to nearby food banks. Suddenly, Wal-Mart doesn’t seem that bad.
Furthermore, according to Maich, the development of a new Wal-Mart generally causes an economic increase for the town and surrounding area. “Just 16 per cent of respondents said they had been hurt by competition from big-box retailers like Wal-Mart” when Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce surveyed local business owners in 2004. So, perhaps the proposed idea about Wal-Mart destroying local businesses is a rare occurrence, somewhat of a
myth.
Wal-Mart: the corporal giant, the symbol of capitalism, greed, and exploitation. The easiest way to describe it: Wal-Mart is beneficial to consumers in that it provides low prices and often brings business to the area. However, it is detrimental to its employee’s lives and lacks care for their well-being. Personally, I’d rather be shopping in the 107,000 square foot building, blinded by the energy-efficient artificial lighting than stocking the shelves and sporting the swank sapphire vests, and struggling to maintain a life above the poverty line. Wal-Mart offers benefits for everyone… except its employees.
Outline:
Thesis: Wal-Mart lacks benefits, unions, and a moral compass especially concerning their degradation to small towns. I. Wal-Mart lacks benefits for employees. a. Raised healthcare by 63% for non-smokers and 162% for smokers. b. Rely on state programs to finance employee’s healthcare. c. Plans cost 77%-104% of annual income II. Wal-Mart lacks unions. d. Don’t allow unions. e. Closed down one of two stores that did gain a union. III. Wal-Mart lacks a moral compass and caused degradation to small towns. f. Closes down local businesses.
Counter-Argument: Wal-Mart benefits consumers. I. Low prices. a. “Ad Match” guarantees. b. Sales II. Wal-Mart is environmentally friendly for a major corporation. c. Energy-efficient lighting d. Less packaging. e. Stream-lined trucks to save gas.
Works Cited
Feldstein, Mary Jo. "Low Prices--At What Cost?." St. Louis Post-Dispatch (St. Louis, MO). 01 May 2005: A1+. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 29 Jan 2013.
Fishman, Charles. The Wal-Mart Effect: How the World 's Most Powerful Company Really Works - and How It 's Transforming the American Economy. City of Westminster, England: Penguin, 2006. Print.
Frank, T.A. "Everyday Low Vices." Washington Monthly Vol. 38, No. 4. April 2006: 24-31. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 29 Jan 2013.
"Healthcare." Making Change at Wal-Mart: Our Community. Our Future. United Food and Commercials Workers Union, 3 Feb. 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.
Humes, Edwards. "Wal-Mart 's Green Hat." Los Angeles Times. 31 May 2011: A.13. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 29 Jan 2013.
"Is Wal-Mart Good for America?" Public Broadcasting Service. PBS, 16 Nov. 2004. Web. 29 Jan. 2013.
Maich, Steve. "Why Wal-Mart Is Good." Maclean 's (Toronto, Canada) Vol. 118, No. 30. 25 Jul 2005: 26-33. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 29 Jan 2013. Ortega, Bob. In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story of Sam Walton & How Wal-Mart Is Devouring America. New York: Crown Business, 1998. Print.
"Our Story." Walmart Corporate. Walmart Corporate, 2012. Web. 29 Jan. 2013