<p>Sewhappy, your posts are getting nastier and nastier as you get more and more frustrated. Zoosermom asked me a question and all did was give her a factual answer. </p>
<p>Your response tries to insinuate that I gave some information about why or how the part time thing started, which I did not.</p>
<p>Scubasue, no ulterior motive. I am not familiar with Walmart the way you are, so I was curious if the ACA was changing things at Walmart as at some other places. Sometimes a question is just a question.</p>
<p>Actually in 2009 Walmart came out publically as a BIG supporter of the ACA, publically stating that healthcare costs should be shared amongst all of us (or maybe is was by all business, not sure now) but since then, they’ve backtracked on that.</p>
<p>And, Zoosermom, I didn’t take your question as anything other than a question; no ulterior motive suspected.</p>
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I shopped at Wegmans as my “main” store for a number of years (before I moved out of their territory), and as I mentioned before I made an extended trip to shop there not because of exotic ingredients but because (a) their “low brow stuff” was of higher quality and (b) because their prices were better than the other stores.</p>
<p>Now this was not always immediately obvious - for example, if I bought a pound of green beans (so exotic!) at the local Giant, I would discard many of them as being slimy, half-rotted, and inedible. When I bought green beans at Wegmans, the price was higher… but I could actually USE all the beans I bought, and the price per edible bean was lower. As another example, I could purchase a given quantity of lunch meat (Sliced turkey! Living the high life!) at Wal-Mart and a week later it would be slimy and smelling like a chemical factory and I would throw half of it away. Conversely, the meat I bought at Wegmans would still be tasty and safe - the slightly higher cost would be more than balanced by the reduced waste.</p>
<p>Oh, and many to most of the prices were actually lower to start with. Go figure.</p>
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You mean that they are clean, pleasant, and polite? How elitist! No, seriously, when I started shopping at Wegmans I was a technician making about $25k a year. I see no reason why anything at Wegmans should prohibit anyone else from shopping there. Do they have high end products? Sure, and you might be surprised how many OTHER chains do as well (even Wal-Mart carries more than just basics), but that does not mean that they do not have lots to appeal to shoppers with more modest culinary aspirations.</p>
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If your only criteria is cost, judged only by what it says on the tag, you are a sucker waiting to be taken. And Wal-Mart is happy to take you.</p>
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I actually eat at McDonalds about once a month, and I still consider it an embarassment to restaurants everywhere. You know who else likes to bash it? Doctors, nutritionists, trainers… basically anyone who knows anything about food. Like a burger? Go to Five Guys - You can get a “little hamburger” for about the same price as a Big Mac, and it is phenomenally better, and better for you too.</p>
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This is an interesting argument, because that has not been my experience. When your house is filled with junk purchased at seemingly affordable prices, how is your “quality of life increased significantly?” When you are eating food that was rejected by every other retailer, how is your “quality of life increased significantly?” When you have to constantly replace all this stuff you have bought because it wears out or breaks far faster than even modestly pricier stuff, how is your “quality of life increased significantly?”</p>
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Believe it all you want. Dismissing people is always easier than dismissing arguments. I come from a long line of white trash, and in my experience Wal-Mart does not help the poor, it preys on them.</p>
<p>sewhappy, I’m so glad you spoke up on this side of the isssue.</p>
<p>As to people’s repeated question of why somehow anti-Walmart bashing sounds elitist- it sounds the most elitist and hurtful to people who share the exact same disdain for Walmart, but are forced to shop there anyway because of financial concern. Which is most people. </p>
<p>Of course everyone loves the the welcoming atmosphere of stores like Whole Foods, the higher quality organic food, the warm and polite employees, the feeling of making more socially responsible choices (“voting with your dollars”). Were people actually naive enough to think that if Wegman offered the same prices on everything as Walmart, most Walmart shoppers won’t go there instead? That Walmart shoppers are somehow blind to these common sense aesthetic differences? Of course cheap Walmart products break down easily compared to higher quality, pricier things. Don’t you think Walmart shoppers know this all too well?</p>
<p>Is this really a question?</p>
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<p>comicfish, I think we’re coming from the same place but looking at different populations. Of course there’re people of the kind you’ve described, who are just silly, but then there’re people for whom it’s a choice between having crappy Walmart junks and not having anything, period. It’s more of a choice between being able to take your kids to a “restaurant” like McDonald’s, and never being able to afford to go to one, period.</p>
<p>“Actually in 2009 Walmart came out publically as a BIG supporter of the ACA,”</p>
<p>Seeing that ACA was an idea first proposed by the Heritage Foundation a lot of people/businesses originally loved the idea who are now very, very opposed to it. Funny that.</p>
<p>That’s very interesting about the change of heart. I am aware in my own industry that research is being done to figure out how or if to drop employee coverage. I have heard the expression that no firm wants to be the first to do it, but that the floodgates will open once the first firm breaks free. Law firms all do these things together.</p>
<p>I would like to further clarify something I said up thread. I have expressed annoyance that my city can’t have a Walmart because of union opposition. This is documentably correct, but I don’t see that as an indictment of the unions. It is their job to advocate for current and future members. It is, however, an indictment of the elected officials who have ignored the requests of so many of their constituents.</p>
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Nope. If a union is needed, then great. If it isn’t, then great. Some companies don’t want to mess with a union, and so they treat their employees so well that unions have nothing to offer - the Wegmans route. Some companies don’t want to mess with a union, and so they do everything possible to suppress unionization while still treating their employees horribly - the Wal-Mart route.</p>
<p>And yes, some unions are bad as well. This is not a union issue.</p>
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Tell me what things “the poor” enjoy and I will comment, otherwise this is just baiting.</p>
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My anger comes at how they treat employees and suppliers, and the way they change the retail landscape for the worse. If they offered good working conditions and quality products*, I would like them regardless of union status and aesthetics.</p>
<p>*: quality is not the same as expensive, and in many cases has no correlation whatsoever - there are many low-quality, expensive products out there.</p>
<p>Cosmicfish, great post.</p>
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And if you are in that situation, then never going to one is the best option! And I say that in all sincerity! When I was unemployed, when I was poorly employed, I did not consider Wal-Mart and McDonalds to be options, because the nutritional content per dollar spent was poor, and when you don’t have many dollars this is a very important issue!</p>
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<p>Too true, and so is the reverse. There are many low-quality, expensive products and many high-quality inexpensive yet perfectly functional ones.</p>
<p>Since my children are out of the nest, I’m trying to limit my purchases, and clean up my perception of a cluttered house. That’s one way to limit trips to any store. Instead, I work several angles to help pay tuition. </p>
<p>Over the years I’ve been the following: a local WalMart vendor (I wrote a book with local ties and they were the logical choice as Amazon and Barnes and Noble were not invented then), a current Farmers’ Market vendor, and a current Amazon vendor to re-sell my children’s textbooks. I’m also an NEA member in order to get a teacher’s liability policy. I’ve received teaching awards from several governors, who all have made budget cuts that have affected my salary. So I guess, on several counts, I’m a “good guy” or a “bad guy” depending on which fence you sit.</p>
<p>Life. An enigma.</p>
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But the issue with Wal-Mart is that there are very nearly no “high-quality inexpensive yet perfectly functional” products out there that cannot be made cheaper, in the process turning them into low-quality junk. And since Wal-Mart makes low cost* their holy grail, this happens to nearly everything they sell. If you can find “high-quality inexpensive yet perfectly functional” products at Wal-Mart it is either because there is not any cheaper alternative (rare) or else it is an accident.</p>
<p>*: Low cost is different than low price. I have seen some of both sides, and the cost gap that manufacturers see is often much, much wider than the price gap that customers see.</p>
<p>I just find it interesting that some people assume that since someone won’t shop at Walmart that automatically = disdain. </p>
<p>I don’t have strong feelings about WM. I just do not shop there as I choose to spend my money elsewhere.</p>
<p>Time for a Costco versus Walmart thread. Or Walmart versus Target. </p>
<p>My father likes this product: [Archer</a> Farms® Original Mango Peach Medium Thick … : Target](<a href=“Mango Peach Salsa Medium 16oz - Archer Farms™ : Target”>Mango Peach Salsa Medium 16oz - Archer Farms™ : Target) and the rest of the family thinks it is pure heresy, especially when slaving on their molcajete. </p>
<p>I like Trader Joe’s, even if takes to forget who actually owns the chain. Where else can you get a nice supply of <a href=“http://www.traderjoes.com/images/products/products-speculoos-cookies.jpg[/url]”>http://www.traderjoes.com/images/products/products-speculoos-cookies.jpg</a>. And I like all the little markets in my village.</p>
<p>PS Some might be amazed by who actually produces the “White Products” that people assume is junk. The United States have yet to fully embrace the private labels and other co-packed products. In some European countries, the private label brands represent more than 50 percent of all products sold, and in many cases, those brands have become synonymous to the highest quality for your … euro! The deep discounters a la Aldi and Lidl are also changing rapidly.</p>
<p>No sensible person assumes that not shopping at some place = disdain. I think they just wish for their own decisions to be not endlessly criticized by people who seem have never been in their shoes. </p>
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<p>I certainly hope there’s truth to that! Because to this day my parents are still waiting to buy a lot of things, convinced like you are that they should wait for discounts on the higher quality ones. Even with fairly stable and well off jobs now, they still held on to that past and come to see certain things differently. They waited like ten years to buy their first couch, so I can only hope the wait for them and for a lot more families out there is worth it. </p>
<p>I can’t agree with you on the #353 quality of product argument, since I tend to see the same brands of cereal on the shelves of all these different stores, but it could just be that we just never owned anything of high quality and don’t know any better. Oh well, c’est la vie.</p>
<p>^ Well then good, but I would hope you’d refrain from attempts to deny its entry to your community as so many obviously altruistic types feel they must.</p>
<p>I would like industrious soul on here to produce a somewhat credible link to the benefits websites of Walmart and Wegmans. That would be interesting.</p>
<p>Oh, and that would have to be company websites not Salon and blogs, et al.</p>
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I certainly like the way they treat their employees, and they have a number of products that I do enjoy, but I do not and would not ever use them as a “general purpose” grocery - not enough of a selection of staples. Who owns the chain and what is the issue with them?</p>
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Discounts, buy used, whatever it takes. It is far better to live simply with quality (i.e. functional and durable, as opposed to pretty or cheap) items than it is to live in a mess of quickly disintegrating, barely usable junk. I have a number of items that I “need” that I have not bought because I have not found quality that I can afford.</p>
<p>And please note that I am typing this from a full-sized solid mahogany desk, made in the 50’s, bought used for less than a comparably sized desk from WM made entirely of particle board that will be in the garbage after ten years or two moves, whichever comes first.</p>
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I mentioned something about this up thread, but I will summarize here - I have first hand accounts of how name-brand home electronics produced for WM are completely different than name-brand home electronics produced for other retailers, despite often having identical cases. The drive for low costs means that such items are made using outdated designs often originating with different companies entirely, and are produced in locations that the manufacturers would normally reject for their low quality. Having observed that, and having done what I could to verify it, I do not trust that ANY product made for WM is actually the same as supposedly identical products made for other retailers.</p>
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<p>Oh I agree with you there.</p>
![http://www.traderjoes.com/images/products/products-speculoos-cookies.jpg[/url]](http://www.traderjoes.com/images/products/products-speculoos-cookies.jpg%5B/url%5D){kind=link}
