Walmart Nation

Nice! You know that just drives libs crazy!

Whoops... same link on both.

Walmart is here.

Thx Doogie.

How does the growth of Walmart only bother Libs?

feel free to shop Walmart and support China if you like.

I am shocked that a right minced person would support Walmart

Ha!
next can we see this map with Eaton's ?

oh, never mind.

Stepped into a Walmart 10 years ago. Never went back.

The Walmart & Target visualizations are fascinating. On the website I also found a link to Wordle.net. With it I created some word clouds, including one of SDA. You can view them here. One from NDP.ca is also there. I give you my word that I did not rearrange any of the words. Some of the random phrases from the site of our socialist 'friends' will make you smile!

I find WalMart very interesting. I can walk in there and get the (very few) things that I want/need

But then - I see things that are totally culturally non-specific

I live in Calgary - and in one WalMart I saw a ton of NASCAR stuff.

OK, it's not my thing - but it's not really a Calgary thing either.

I know that WalMart has sophisticated product management, and just in time delivery, but how well do they read their customers?

Maybe I'm out of it though

Supplied Target with pine storage shelving. One sale, 5 million. Total of 30 million in sales over 6 years. Good business for a little company based in Crofton BC.. Nothing but praise.

Walmart drives libs crazy because as a group they tend to be smarmy, elitist a-holes, and thus look down their noses at the typical Walmart customer.

BTW, the level of inventory management, control and supply necessary for Walmart is one of the great achievements in the history of mankind.

Me thinks yer out of it Erik. Best estimate is at least a million NASCAR fans in Canada. Just look for cars and trucks with the "3" in the back window. Willing to bet there are a fair number of them in Calgary.

And never under estimate Walmart. They don't stock what they don't sell.

Its the successful businesses that we should celebrate, not the losers.

NASCAR at Walmart in Calgary, say it isn't so. First of all, there are NASCAR fans everywhere (even in NS), and secondly, being an oil town, Calgary has a fair share of Texans and Okies there.

An interesting read is the book "Made in America" by Sam Walton.

"Wal-Mart has done more for poor people than any ten liberals, at least nine of whom are almost guaranteed to hate Wal-Mart."
- Thomas Sowell -

That's one of three reasons the left hate Wal-mart:

1. Wal-mart enables the poor to be more self-reliant and less dependent on the government

2. Wal-mart is a hugely successful business, needs no government largesse and therefore is not open to any form of government direction

3. ... it's a non-union business and will not allow unions. That's the killer, as far as the left is concerned

As for right of centre's comment above, the open market doesn't hamper trade with other countries, even those with odious human relations and quality issues such as china. Thus a "right minced" person shops where they want, and are free to boycott Wal-mart if they have concerns with product quality or the origin of product manufacture. I try to buy non-chinese where I can, but it is admittedly getting harder; go to a Cdn Tire & try to find non-chinese goods.

In this age of government bailouts, the fact that Wal-mart is a private business that's flourishing is a good thing. At least Barack et al won't be figuring out how to run that business, the way they'll be "helping" the auto industry.

mhb23re at gmail d0t calm

I worked at head office for 2 large supermarket chains here in Canada during the nineties. There was the constant buzz of "Walmart's coming". This was before they even carried food in the few Walmarts that were here. Canadian businesses just can't compete with them because of their purchasing power and pricing. I personally don't have anything against them or their business model but I do know they will end up closing down most if not all of the Canadian chain stores.

Wal-Mart is nothing more than a giant evil machine; it oppresses everyone from the fifty-cents-a-day sweatshop slave in China, to the impoverished single mom in Canada. Another mega-corporation dedicated perpetuating the cycle of poverty. Not that you should concern yourselves with such trivialities.

Those carved wooden NASCAR pictures sold at Wal-Mart are just so beautiful. And they go so well next to your confederate flag. Hick chic.

Unions hate Walmart because because the labor/management model they raised to such success has no room for a useless, parasitic additional layer of shop stewards, negotiators and phalanxes of destructive lawyers that unions invariably bring in.

I'm hoping that when people get hurt* by Obama's pro - union meddling, unions will go the way of slavery, which it kind of is, in a way.

*Walmarts shackled/closed; Prop 13 in California canceled - property taxes skyrocket to pay six figure incomes to firechildren, other public sector drones; silly, destructive strikes across the land as card check gets forced on small businesses, etc. etc.

Well. ol' Izanpo just proved the point about the left hating Walmart for us. Cheers!

They do hate to see a success. Failure is their only option.

"Wal-Mart is nothing more than a giant evil machine; it oppresses everyone from the fifty-cents-a-day sweatshop slave in China, to the impoverished single mom in Canada. Another mega-corporation dedicated perpetuating the cycle of poverty. Not that you should concern yourselves with such trivialities."
Izanut
So 50 cents a day is worse than peasentry slave labour for nothing? The impoverished single mom in Canada? The only way I can see that you are against giving poor people a break in their purchasing power is that you "work" in the victim industry.
The only mega-coporation in Canada dedicated to perpertuating the cycle of poverty in Canada are thelieberal/socialists/unions!!!
You hit your head run you rolled of mommie's couch this AM?

I hate buying a product knowing the money goes to China, but on the other hand if that product were to be made here by over paid North American unionized worker, it would cost at least twice as much if not ten times as much.

I guess we are kind of stuck between a rock and hard place...

That was very impressive. How about one following the progress of the progressive conservatives in Alberta starting with Ralph Klein, finishing with Ed Stelmack, that would be a kalidoscope of color finishing up with the color of mud.

Walmart, in the savings it provides to the poor in America, gives an annual amount far greater to the pockets of the poor than the entire US Food Stamp program.

That "giant evil machine" has helped lift about 2 billion people out of abject poverty and dramatically improved the purchasing power of those who shop there or at its competitors. Ask the chinse and others who supply it what they thonkof walmart and the lessons it has taught them in all aspects of production from quality control to supply chain management.

Whats wrong 'wuberman', Mr. Klein & Mr. Stelmac not to your liking.

All of that without government bailouts?

I watched AN American Carol last night, great show, and I'm sure I saw Izzypoo and Ulanov in there cheering for Michael Malone,and the military hating, walmart hating lefties that he represents.

What's wrong with buying inexpensive goods?

Why should the poor - and the middle class - have to spend on expensive goods, which are expensive in many cases because the cost includes the enormous parastic union bureaucracy that lives off the wages of the workers.

Why shouldn't products be available in different price ranges? In many cases, these are the same end products; their costs differ not only because of wage labour costs but because of all the other costs that production must bear: supporting the union, whose bureaucrats do no work but live off the wages of the workers; high taxes to support social welfare programs, high taxes to support top heavy bureaucracies..etc.

Walmart provides low-skilled jobs to hundreds of thousands. What's wrong with that? What's wrong with paying the worker for their limited skills, providing work experience and a living wage, rather than having them on welfare?

What's wrong with buying goods from China? Would a boycott on Chinese goods enable China to move into a modern political and economic infrastructure or prevent it?

Should other countries boycott Canadian goods because unions and high taxes increase the expenses?

There are a couple of things WalMart does that impresses me. I paid for goods with a traveller's cheque. They scanned it to ensure it wasn't stolen, took about 2 seconds. The other is only the US military has a larger computer network. The guy at WM that cares about that sort of thing has the previous day's sales figures at his desk next morning with everything sold by WM on that database. He knows what was sold when and where. Even if I go to WM and don't need much, I always come out about 50 bucks lighter because I buy things I will need but know I won't go back to WM for when I need them.

' Those carved wooden NASCAR pictures...'
I see someones been to Walmart. lol

"Should other countries boycott Canadian goods because unions and high taxes increase the expenses?

Posted by: ET at January 31, 2009 10:17 AM "

No Et. They should only boycott goods that are union made.Remember that saying...look for the union label? I do.And I throw it in the aisle,where it belongs.When are people going to realize that unions are only fronts for socialism/communism?

Very clever graphic. Nicely done.

I hate Walmart as much as the libs.

ET, I've seen a read a good deal about Walmart. What they get their employees to do is one step away from what you would find in a cult. I find it positively frightening.

In general I think society is better served when it has higher expectations for its citizens.

justhinkin- very funny; as if a label actually says 'union made'. I maintain my point. In this modern era, unions are no longer functional and have transformed into enormous capitalist corporations. The difference is that they produce nothing; they are parasites and feed off the wages of the workers, increasing all costs of living and decreasing the availability of jobs as companies pack up and leave.

TJ - I suspect that the web sites that you've visited that 'prove' that Walmart is akin to a cult are rubbish, created by radical anti-Walmart types. Kindly provide the links.

I also think it is extremely arrogant of you to denigrate the Walmart worker. Are you seriously suggesting that everyone has to go to university? What for? Does everyone have to be in some upper level profession? Why?
Does everyone have the time, skills, ability and above all, desire, for such a job?
Are you saying that no-one can work at an entry-level job or a low-skilled job, and live a satisfying, productive and happy life? Must they always feel that they haven't 'measured up to greater expectations'?

In the US we should recall who is was that put the _Government's_ response to Katrina to shame:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/walmart-katrina

In the critical hours and days after the Katrina disaster it was the private sector, not the public sector that got the goods into the hands of those most in need!

Wal Mart exploits slave labour, the most prevelent crime on the planet. Slave labour is no different than child pornography, violating human rights for financial gain.

When Chinese children have all our manufacturing jobs, just how are Canadians going to make a living? As Wallyworld greeters?

I rarely go to Walmart because of the shopping experience. I don't like standing in a line up waiting for a cashier that I can't see yet. However there are time that I am forced to go there simply because I need something that only Walmart sells. Did I mention I hate their self serve cash outs as well?

Izanpo: "Wal-Mart is nothing more than a giant evil machine"

No, what is evil is wanting that "impoverished single mom in Canada" to pay more than she has to for the hundreds of goods for sale at Walmart that have nothing to do with "the fifty-cents-a-day sweatshop slave in China". Unless you're willing to send her the extra money she'll need to shop at non-Walmarts for soap, toothpaste, breakfast cereals and oj for her kids, you're the evil one, "dedicated perpetuating the cycle of poverty".

Wal-Mart is nothing more than a giant evil machine; it oppresses everyone

Wal Mart exploits slave labour, the most prevelent crime on the planet

When Chinese children have all our manufacturing jobs

The leftie hyperbole is priceless; keep it coming.

Walmart Walmart Walmart Walmart

ET I saw for example a documentary on Walmart, I don't have a reference off hand, which was an overview of the company.

It included interviews with the CEO, etc, and Walmart let the documentary makers film one of their employee gatherings at some large stadium somewhere.

The employees were made to jump up and down and chant, and sing slogans, etc.

That's what people do at a football game after a few beers. People who do that as part of their "job training" are in a cult.

Nowhere in my comment did I suggest that everyone should go to university, and nor would I.

But on the other hand I believe that 99% of society is perfectly capable of learning to read and comprehend well, and write well, and do basic arithmetic.

Armed with that minimum level of education most Walmart workers would almost certainly prefer to do something else.

Wouldn't you prefer instead that those Walmart workers were building you a piece of quality furniture for your house, or sewing a truly well-made dress, and getting true satisfaction out of life?

Or would you prefer that they jump up and down and chant slogans and worship at the altar of the Walmart God?

You seem to fail to understand that if Walmart could find a way to do without human workers in their stores they would.

Wow.

I haven't been to a walmart in months, but, after seeing all the crazy lefties on here, I've decided that when I drive down to Toronto in a few hours from now I'll stop at the local walmart on the way and pick up a few things just for the hell of it.

To get an idea of how bad it (slave labour) is, ask the expert - E. Benjamin Skinner http://acrimesomonstrous.com/ ...

The thing is, bottom line, if you tell a liberal that an item can be purchased at Store A for $100 and Store B for $80, assuming the opportunity cost is less than $20, said liberal will -- 100% of the time -- go to Store B, notwithstanding all that cuddly stuff about mom-and-pop shops and all that faux-humanitarian paranoia about Chinese "slaves".

It's the same sort of hypocrisy we've come to expect from liberals who "oppress" Phillipino nannies and have trouble running personal tax software.

When the discussion descends to the simplistic view that if you don't like Walmart then you are "a crazy leftie", then you know it's time to move on.

It's sunny here today, on to other things!

Thanks again Kate for the very interesting link.

joe - so, you are against lineups as Walmart? What about those at Canadian Tire stores? Or at airports? Oh, and what about those self serve cash systems at these places?

TJ - a 'documentary' that was obviously biased is hardly evidence.

The people were 'made' to jump up and down and cheer? You're kidding. Were there security guards there to see that they did this? Were they fired if they didn't? Or did they do this because they like being part of a community and felt secure in their jobs?

What about being made to join a union? What about the fact that you can't work at certain jobs unless and until you join a union? What about the fact that you can't become an employee of an industry and reject the union? How's that for freedom of association.

Are you serious? Are you actually claiming that a Walmart employee is unable to read and write and can't do basic arithmetic? Prove it.
Also, prove your assumption that most Walmart employees would prefer to work elsewhere. Prove it.

How incredibly arrogant you are, with your assumption that the only way to achieve 'true satisfaction' is by some skill (woodmaking, dressmaking). What if the individual doesn't want such a skill, or doesn't have the hand grip or the cutting hand or the eye perception or whatever?

And above all, what if they are perfectly happy with doing a minimum wage job, asking for few skills other than keeping shelves stocked, serving customers and so on. Hmm, sounds like a lot of jobs in many stores.

Please provide proof that Walmart prefers stores without humans. Sounds more like many high end stores where finding some service requires searching and searching.

I think that you don't know very much about Walmart and stores like it; don't know very much about economic levels, and are just young and indoctrinated.

i'll shop at Walmarts any day of the week. I see nothing wrong in these types of stores, whether called 'no name' or whatever.

me no dhimmi- exactly. It's the same snobbish attidude we find in those with illegal nannies, unpaid taxes and an elitist attitude.

ET, I recall seeing on the label of Molson Canadian, "Union Made" (not often!, just from time to time..)

I always suspected that it was required as per the union agreement, but also thinking, "well I'm going to drink it anyway"
and this was before I had any regular political thought in mind.

I cannot think of any other reason "Union Made" would willfully be on a label.

I am a WalMart fan! They have recently opened two major centres with fresh produce and meats in my region. They are full of customers. The prices and product are superior to the chain competition. For the cynics who have written in here, job seekers for these stores, surpased the expected numbers and more time and application space was required to process the numbers.

Right of centre's comment at 1:35 AM is breaking me right up. It's a fabulous expression that he has coined there: "a right minced person".

Sounds like a Down-Easterner describing somebody who's really drunk: "That boy's a right minced person". HAHAHAHAHAH!!

Made my day.

Johnpeg

I am glad my typo could make your day.

My step son works at a Walmart in Calgary.
He has experienced fair wages, promotions, profit sharing just to name a few things. I have been informed he wouldn't work at any of the other big box stores because Walmart treat him better than any of the others.

Oh and they get staff discounts too!

Our Troops fight and die for those whose human rights are being violated. Wal Mart imports the products produced by slave labour, and you celebrate such???