It's a shame

The video above is a segment of a documentary titled "The High Cost of Low Prices." It speaks about Walmart, the largest retail chain in the world & indubitably the number one seller of groceries in the United States. There are interviews with former associates, small business owners, and former managers from the mammoth company. The documentary speaks vividly about Walmart's shady tactics with wholesalers, their high rate of insurance offered to employees, and their improper calculations of employee overtime pay.

There is no mystery as to why Walmart can offer low prices. Generally their stores use up lots of real estate. They can afford to take large quantities of almost any item. Where as a local supermarket can order (and store) 500 cartons of orange juice, Walmart can store maybe 5000-10000 cartons of orange juice. In some supermarkets the managers may not order more 100 cartons of cereal. Walmarts can probably order thousands of cartons for one store. Since Walmarts can order larger quantities, the wholesalers & warehouses will offer Walmart a cheaper price per individual good. In turn Walmart can pass this discount onto customers who shop at their stores. Therefore it's a win-win situation. Walmart offers low prices. Customers like the low prices. All is well (even if the lines are super long). :p

The main people who lose out are the low level associates. Not only do they earn mediocre wages, but they encounter all kinds of abuse at the hands of management. If you watch this documentary in its entirety, you'll see that certain Walmart employees have been explicitly told by their bosses not to take breaks due to the work that needs to be done. Managers have been asked by their superiors to scale down the overtime pay of employees who work well over their normal hours.

To me the proof is in the pudding. Though I rarely shopped at Walmart I have yet to see an upbeat employee at any of their stores. Most look despondent, unhappy, and miffed at the fact that they have to work there another day. I may be wrong though, but if they have this outlook I can't blame them. How can a greeter at Walmart beam when he/she is enduring the abuses I'm reading about? Let's not forget that these guys make such low wages as is. I myself would probably flip everyone the middle finger with pride.

I became interested in learning about Walmart after reading the company plans to open its first Manhattan store soon. I personally could care less if a company wants to expand. That's their right, but I know New York politics too well. I'm pretty sure that Walmart will ask & get money from the city's public coffers to pay for the store's construction. For that reason I hope Walmart never comes here. In no way should taxpayers' money be used to fund the construction of a PRIVATE, wealthy company like Walmart. There may be teacher layoffs in the Department of Education. The NY Fire Dept. & NY Police Dept. will also have to layoff some officers. The city itself will have a projected $9 billion budget gap, but somehow money can be found to fund Walmart? GTFOHWTBS

I implore all to watch the documentary (it's all on youtube)& to understand one thing: This is American Capitalism at its finest. PEACE

-Muhammad the Harlem Sk8rboi