It pained me greatly, but I had to go to WalMart today. Not for me, but for work. There was no part of my being that wanted to go in there, but I had to get bringer cards printed, and they’re the cheapest. Instead of waiting, I decided to drop them off and go back later to pick them up.
I went back two hours later, only to find they had printed 1 of the 150 I needed, so I ended up having to wait inside the store anyway. I walked around a bit, but I had no desire to shop, much less to be in a superstore of any type.
I boycotted WalMart for a long time, but eventually started shopping there again when I started on the single-mom budget. WalMart bullies their suppliers to keep their prices low and will support sweatshops if necessary to stock their shelves with an overabundance of low priced stuff. As the big superstores get bigger, the small businesses go out of business. Is bigger really better? I think the mentality of going into a superstore is one that encourages impulse spending and purchasing large quantities of unnecessary things. He who dies with the most wins? Hmmm, I’ll call this super hoarding. Just look in my garage… I’m clearly a victim of this.
I’m not here to pick on WalMart, but it does pose some interesting questions.
- Who are the small businesses in your town and do you support them?
- Are you willing to buy less of things you don’t need?
- Would you be willing to pay a little more to support the smaller businesses?
I answered these, but it wasn’t easy. Living in Cookiecuttersville, where everything is owned and operated by a chain, finding small businesses is no easy task. The small businesses I support are my local thrift stores, the donut place by my house and Andrea’s pizza. I am willing to buy less, and I’m also willing to pay a little more to keep the small places around.
With all that being said, I want to be more intentional about finding and supporting local small businesses in my area. :)
I have mixed feelings about the whole WalMart debate. WalMart provides thousands of much needed jobs, helps communities in the form of taxes and adds value to small cities commercially. Everyone loves to hate big business but, like it or not, they do fill a necessary need in our economy.
I do agree that it’s very important to support our local small businesses. I prefer our local hardware store over the Home Depot. I would rather buy my meat, vegetables and dairy from local farms than the Kroger store. But not because they are small business and they deserve my money more for being small or local. I support local business because they offer more for my time and money. No one can offer better advice than Lee at our Ace Hardware and it’s one of the most friendly stores I’ve seen. Local farms offer the freshest and safest food available and I know exactly where my food comes from. Price isn’t always the first consideration. I will, and do, walk into Wal-Mart with my coincidence clear and feel good about my choices. Do they make a profit from my purchases? God I hope so.
I agree with you, it would just be nice to have some balance. A few superstores and many local, smaller businesses. Thanks for your input. :)
Ok a little different perspective from Las Vegas By the way Hi Jody I came over from Brian’s Blog to see what you had to say.
I work in a Grocery store here called Food4Less a kroger store. When I say less most of the time our prices are considerably less.
We are also a union store, Walmart is our neighbor and is not. Walmart just did a big remodel and turned their store into a superstore (so they added food and such). They have taken business from us in-spite of price because of the all in one convenience. They have done this time and time again for years in many places across this country of ours.
Here is the thought, even though we are union Walmart is paying better. Their starting pay is higher and from my understanding they don’t top out like we do. Our Union has put a ceiling on pay and given most of our benefits away.
in this situation I am still having mixed feelings. I totally believe in free enterprise. But my problem is I have a conscious and have been on both ends the labor and a business owner.
Ok I’ve decided, hire illegals and put us out of work so we don’t have to worry about being mistreated.
Waaaaa! so many issues and so little time!
Thanks for your input. It’s nice to see a perspective from someone that has experience in this world. My goal is to make good choices, not only for my benefit, but for the benefit of others. I want to support the companies that are doing things to help people, no matter what country they live in. I also want to support companies that aren’t wasteful with resources. I guess what frustrates and bothers me is society in general, that everything is to selfishly make our lives easier, even if it’s at the expense of other people.
I enjoy reading your comments, thanks for sharing. :)