US Presidential Contenders

[Rusty Edge]

WalMart? Yeah, I've got issues with WalMart myself.

*Locking illeagal alien cleaning crews in the store at night.

*Here (before Obamacare ) wages were low enough that WalMArt workers got their health insurance through Medicaid.

* In the county where I first lived, WalMart came in. They engaged in predatory pricing, selling below their cost, or so my cousin once removed told me. He was a CPA who worked for them for a time. That's a good deal for the consumers, right? It put the locally owned department stores and some of the groceries and strip mall specialty stores out of business.  Thing is, I don't know that WalMart is still selling below cost, now that they have a monopoly. Nobody has deep enough pockets to start a new local department store to keep them honest.

Now another store might come in if the market were large enough, but until there's room for both WalMart and say Target, for example, who wants to come in, spend the capital, and have to compete with WalMart  going predatory again?  The rural people are sort of hostages. They can shop at WalMart, or drive to another county.

WalMart has an evil streak.

Becoming self-reliant is never easy, but it usually has merit.

[Dio]

WalMart? Yeah, I've got issues with WalMart myself.

*Locking illeagal alien cleaning crews in the store at night.

*Here (before Obamacare ) wages were low enough that WalMArt workers got their health insurance through Medicaid.

* In the county where I first lived, WalMart came in. They engaged in predatory pricing, selling below their cost, or so my cousin once removed told me. He was a CPA who worked for them for a time. That's a good deal for the consumers, right? It put the locally owned department stores and some of the groceries and strip mall specialty stores out of business.  Thing is, I don't know that WalMart is still selling below cost, now that they have a monopoly. Nobody has deep enough pockets to start a new local department store to keep them honest.

Now another store might come in if the market were large enough, but until there's room for both WalMart and say Target, for example, who wants to come in, spend the capital, and have to compete with WalMart  going predatory again?  The rural people are sort of hostages. They can shop at WalMart, or drive to another county.

WalMart has an evil streak.

Becoming self-reliant is never easy, but it usually has merit.

The small business owners often lose in the long run to larger chains because of the efficency of scale that the larger chains have over the smaller business owner(s).

[Buster's Uncle]

They lose because a Big Brother monopoly larger than Microsoft moved in.

[vonbach]

Why keep Wal-Mart open?  It's evil.

Thats a good question really. If the factories were in America employing real Americans
I could deal with WalMart. But thats what tariffs are for.

It put the locally owned department stores and some of the groceries and strip mall specialty stores out of business.  Thing is, I don't know that WalMart is still selling below cost, now that they have a monopoly.

This why we used to have laws against monopolies.

[Rusty Edge]

Fortunately, rural people now have Amazon to help keep WalMart honest.

[Elok]

I once asked a friend of mine why people single out Walmart for hate when Target is practically identical.  He replied, "Target's a little bit more expensive.  And it has better aesthetics.  Most liberal causes are about aesthetics."  As my friend is very liberal himself, I thought that was kinda funny.

Srsly, though.  Why does Walmart get so much more hate?  I don't know a lot about the facts of the controversy, this is open curiosity on my part.

[Buster's Uncle]

Target isn't muscular enough -no way of telling if it's that aggressive, given the means- to shut down local businesses.

[Rusty Edge]

Well, where I used to live, WalMart came through first. Target came later , and only to the cities of 30,000 or more people. They were seen as an alternative to WalMart. So WalMart "equates" with a loss of choice, while Target is associated with a second and better choice. 

I forgot to mention that WalMArt tends to build new when they want to switch from a WalMArt to a Super WalMart in a successful town, and leave a run down eyesore of an abandoned big box behind.

**********************************************

But let me tell you about Target, and why I'm boycotting them. It revolves around Thanksgiving and Black Friday. The Friday sales kept getting earlier and more outrageous. Our family dinners are incomplete now, because we have retailers in the family, and they have NO CHOICE about when they work regarding Thanksgiving week.

Beyond that, a few years ago my wife got suckered into a Target bait and switch scam. We went there at 11PM or so Thanksgiving night, and after we put a couple hundred dollars worth of qualifying merchandise in our cart, we meandered in a checkout line for a little over 45 minutes, and qualified for some kind of gift cards or discount certificates.

When we went back the following week to redeem them, we wasted hours hanging around while mangers called each other, because they made a policy change on Monday regarding these discount certificates. They were no longer good for everything in the store. I REALLY HATE A BAIT AND SWITCH, it doesn't matter who's doing it. 

So, I stopped doing business with them. They lost thousands of dollars/year from me as a direct result, but I don't do business with companies I can't trust to honor their word. They might have lost-$40-60 on that discount cert. deal if they had put it through, but unless their profit margin is under 1%, they are losing that much every year I boycott the liars and slave drivers that force everybody to work on a holiday.

WalMart may be evil, but I buy from them sometimes. The employees may not know much, but they are always nice to me. Target not at all. Their customer service sucked.

[Unorthodox]

We got a Walmart first (no groceries), then a super target, then the super walmart, and then neighborhood walmarts (only groceries)

When the first walmart opened, they were very unkind to employees.  Keeping them all under full time hours so they didn't have to provide benefits.  Target didn't hold that practice when they opened. 

I do not know the current situation of either store. 

When the Super Walmart opened, the Target downgraded our store class immediately without a fight.  (brother working there so I know) Lowering the stock levels and quality offered. 

My grocery shopping is split between Costco, a local chain, and the neighborhood walmart.  Various Sundries can only be found at the Target or Super WalMart. 



The black friday thing is now in a ridiculous state, and I only patronized a local mom and pop last year. 

[Unorthodox]

I will say local managers have a BIG impact on the stores, at least here. 

My very first manager ever (at burger king at the time) happens to be a WalMart manager.  They move her around the area.  Whichever store she touches is GOLD.  ORGANIZED.  CLEAN.  EFFICIENT.  Speaking as a customer, but believe it would be the same for the employees under  her.  If they could only find a way to keep the stores up to snuff after she left it would be wonderful.  Unfortunately, she's one of those rare lead from the front types that are oh so difficult to duplicate. 

[Rusty Edge]

On Topic-  -leads-carson-second/71285456/]http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/iowa-poll/2015/08/29/iowa-poll-[Sleezebag]-leads-carson-second/71285456/

The Des Moines Register came out with poll results of likely caucus goers.
Big ant-establishment sentiment. "Mad as Hell"

[Sleezebag] still leads, Carson is up to 18% and Fiorina is up to about 5%.

None of the establishment/qualified candidates is in double digits any more. Most people say they'll vote for the person and trust them to figure out the issues once they're in office.

An interesting read and it doesn't support the copy function.

[vonbach]

If they could only find a way to keep the stores up to snuff after she left it would be wonderful.  Unfortunately, she's one of those rare lead from the front types that are oh so difficult to duplicate.

In other words she's one of the types that drive employees out of the door.
Most of the people working nowadays simply cant bring themselves to care
enough to bother when they are paid just over minimum wage. It reminds me
of the old soviet saying "you pretend to pay us and we'll pretend to work."

[Buster's Uncle]

No, I'm sure she's one of those types who keeps employees with considerate treatment.  -Also, she pretty much lives in the store.

[vonbach]

No, I'm sure she's one of those types who keeps employees with considerate treatment.  -Also, she pretty much lives in the store.

Interesting. She's one of the rare ones in my experience.

[Unorthodox]

Lets say, if all other things were equal, I'd follow her and work wherever she was managing.