Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ^^Goofy, I have studied all I need to about WalMart and how they operate. I'm glad they can save you 30% on your Coke, really. Who cares what they've done and continue to do to the American worker. And my WalMart comparison is simply this: they represent the lowest common denominator in the retail sector. So when Disney dumbs its product down for the same reason, I call it WalMarting ... but you can look at it as getting 30% more magic for a 60% premium.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<I have researched Walmart and I am aware of the charges. I just think it is naive to think they are the only ones.>> Agreed. But they are by far the biggest and the worst offender and because of their size, they wield tremendous influence both on the retail world and in political circles. They also, IMHO, take advantage of the poorest amongst us by keeping their workforce in the cycle of poverty and, by their predatory pricing, giving people fewer employment opps in small, rural towns. They are evil. Pure and simple. And they didn't start that way. Sam Walton, I believe, would be amazed and disgusted by the way his company operates today.
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 <<but you can look at it as getting 30% more magic for a 60% premium.>> DAMN TYPOS! That should read 30% LESS magic for a 60% premium!
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << They also, IMHO, take advantage of the poorest amongst us by keeping their workforce in the cycle of poverty and, by their predatory pricing, giving people fewer employment opps in small, rural towns. >> This is almost a cut and paste from the union backed WakeUpWalmart site. There's essentially no facts here. When you compare wages at Walmart to other big box retailers, i.e. Target, Walmart comes out on top. Walmart pays higher benefits, and they employ about 500 employees in a single supercenter. The comparisons really get ugly when you start looking at small business -- lower wages, nearly no benefits, and lower levels of steady employment. The Walmart shopping experience isn't all that exhilarating. Its no frills. But it isn't evil. And when you look at it from the perspective of the lowest income families in this country, Walmart has provided an outlet for consumers that enables them to purchase quality products at low prices that were unattainable 30 years ago.
Originally Posted By BeautysBeast Walmart has all that neat junk u can purchase buy the checkout counter.I cherish my Napolean Dynamite talking pen.
Originally Posted By davewasbaloo >>>You want to see disgusting gum? Try DLP. That place really doesn't care about cleaning up gum from the ground.<<< I think at DLP it is a guest behaviour problem. Every trip without fail I see cast members scrapping it up. It's the piggy europeans at DLP.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost You know the one thing that impressed me about Walmart in our area? They hire the "extremely handicapped". I'm sure that they do not pay over minimum wage but in the case I saw it was basically a charitable contribution because the person was so handicapped that he was wheelchair bound, had little muscle control and needed another person to actually do the greeting as people entered. I know that could be looked at as exploiting these people and I suppose by definition you could be correct. The handicapped do not see it that way. What they see is the opportunity to earn money and feel productive. Something that no other establishment offers them and no matter what others think this is a good thing for them. In my opinion, life cannot necessarily be defined. Life is a continuous grouping of grays. What some see as bad others see as a wonderful thing and vise versa. It all depends on where you are standing at that moment. Those of you that are fortunate enough to be able to have alternatives can see many faults. Those without those resources find it a godsend. Nothing is black and white.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <I don't understand what at Wal-Mart represents "low quality." <iy's the quality of the 'experience'that is lousy - and while they do carry name brands, they also carry a lot of low quality imported items as well. Also hose low prices you reference on Coke Prducts may exist while the have direct smaller competition nearby, they seemingly go away when they do not, r have a formidble competitor. Target will unesell WalMart by me, with a mch nicer customer experience...and neither sells Coke products for anywhere near what the local grocery chain (Jewel) Albertsons' does.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 <And they didn't start that way. Sam Walton, I believe, would be amazed and disgusted by the way his company operates today< I was once on a teleconference that included Sam Walton -he may be surprised by some things if he was still around, but the attitude the company has they got from him...
Originally Posted By Spirit of 74 ^^Interesting ... But I just want to repeat WalMart sucks. There is no other side. People are free to shop where they want. Sadly, most Americans (unlike Germans and Koreans, two huge markets where WalMart went down in flames) go for the lowest common denominator these days. Not me. I see the big picture. I haven't given up on my country ... yet.
Originally Posted By Goofyernmost Financially, many do not have any choice but to go to the lowest common denominator these days. Whatever that may be in their area.
Originally Posted By bayrr326 <<But I just want to repeat WalMart sucks. There is no other side. People are free to shop where they want. Sadly, most Americans (unlike Germans and Koreans, two huge markets where WalMart went down in flames) go for the lowest common denominator these days. Not me. I see the big picture. I haven't given up on my country ... yet.>> I am glad I am not the only one who sees that there is a "price" that we are paying for these so called low prices. I stopped shopping at Walmart over 3 years ago. They are shining example of this countries rush to the bottom. They are not the only problem when it comes to big box stores and chains in general but the are by far the biggest problem. They wrap themselves in the American flag but they are beholden to China. Yes, they do higher alot of handicapped people but so what unlike alot of other companies they do little to no community involvement unlike Target. And those so called low prices, well some things are low but esp. when it comes to groceries alot of the time their prices are the same or higher than you local grocery store.
Originally Posted By gusgoose I don't have much to add to the Wal-Mart debate, but I agree 100% that cleaning gum off the sidewalks, etc. should be one of Disney's top priorities. It may seem moot, but it reminds me of the Broken Windows theory (made famous in NYC in the 90s). Basically, if there's a broken window, fix it, or people will think it's o.k. to break windows and otherwise vandalize the building and other buildings in the area. If there's gum on the ground, it needs to be cleaned up immediately before people start to think it's o.k. to just drop their gum on the ground.
Originally Posted By gusgoose Yes, I believe they tried it with graffiti in LA at one point. It would be interesting to see the results in Disney World, which is such a self-contained social environment.
Originally Posted By Sport Goofy << If there's gum on the ground, it needs to be cleaned up immediately before people start to think it's o.k. to just drop their gum on the ground. >> Which might be the reason why Walt Disney chose not to sell the stuff in his park in the first place. There's only so much that gum scrapers can accomplish when a park is crawling with people.
Originally Posted By vbdad55 was the steam cleaning of the streets not done during the overnight hours ? Not that crowded then
