Everybody knows the Walton family, the people who put the “Wal” in “Walmart”, is the richest family in America. They’re so rich you would have to pile up more than 40% of the wealth in the entire United States to even be on the same level. If each member of the family lived to be a thousand years old, they couldn’t even begin to spend all of their fortune. So asking them to pay their employees a living wage and a few measly benefits is like asking them to give up, say, 1/10,000th of their fortune. (Don’t quote me on that; I don’t know that for absolute sure.)
But I’m ever the optimist, so I put these questions to them:
Q: Why won’t you Waltons listen to reason and start paying your employees–um, Associates–a livable wage? It would barely eat into your profits, and people would like you better.
A: We don’t wanna.
Q: Why not?
A: Cuz
So there you have it. I tried.
But someone at a Canton,Ohio Walmart must have gotten wind of our concerns because something new and wonderful has appeared in their employee area:
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| Photo credit: Cleveland Plain Dealer |
As you can see, the bins in which poor Walmart employees can donate food items so that other poor Walmart employees might enjoy Thanksgiving dinner are brand new! These are not moldy old bins that might have held who knows what kind of gross, horrible stuff. Oh, no! They’re clean and nice and, if you’re into that sort of bin thing, fall-fashionable. They are lined up purple and orange, purple and orange, purple and orange. Like that.
But wouldn’t you know? Some employees walked in there, read that sign, took one look at those lovely color-coordinated bins, and took offense.
[A]n employee at the Canton store wasn’t feeling that Walmart was looking out for her when she went to her locker more than two weeks ago and discovered the food drive containers. To her, the gesture was proof the company acknowledged many of its employees were struggling, but also proof it was not willing to substantively address their plight.
The employee said she didn’t want to use her name for fear of being fired. In a dozen years working at the company, she had never seen a food drive for employees, which she described as “demoralizing” and “kind of depressing”.
Strikes against Walmart are planned for Monday in both Dayton and Cincinnati. I reached out to the Waltons for some clarification, but all I’ve received so far is this terse comment:
“No comment.”
(Cross-posted from my political blog, Ramona’s Voices.)
Constant Commoner 
I hate Walmart. This speaks to one of the many reasons why.
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Tell me about it. It’s our only major store for a couple hundred miles up here in the boonies, but I only go there when I can’t find something anywhere else. But between online and local stores I can find almost everything without having to go there. We do get our prescriptions through them because they’re cheap and they’ll mail them free.
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We’re lucky enough to have a couple of other options here (Target, Shopko) although I’m not sure that they’re really that much better. It’s a bit tough with family members though because some are absolutely dedicated to shopping there and can’t or (won’t) understand why I won’t. I feel like it just perpetuates the cycle… although I suppose you could make the argument that not shopping there eliminates jobs!
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The job issue is true, Wages are low up here, anyway, and jobs are few and far between. I think the people who work there feel lucky to have any kind of job and may even wonder what all the fuss is about. Unions don’t come here and thousands have jobs that are seasonal, with unemployment compensation the norm for the winter. They not only feel lucky to have a job at Walmart, they feel lucky to be able to shop at Walmart.
I find, though, that it’s not always cheaper to shop there. Our IGA and Spartan stores have good sales and I stock up when I can. I would love to see a Costco come in, but they look at the population and don’t see a need. They don’t realize how many miles people will travel to get to the big stores. We have to drive 60 miles, but there are others who are even farther away.
Canada is right across the river and on any given day half the Walmart parking lot is filled with Canadian cars. They would pack Costco, too. I’ve written to them several times, trying to explain this but I never get an answer. Not one that satisfies, anyway.
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My husband works at a firm that does some of the engineering for WinCo, a chain that is very similar to Costco, but without the membership requirement (I think). I know that they will not open a store unless it’s within the range of one of their distribution centers. That’s partly how they save money… they load one truck with everything they need and send it to the store instead of having one truck with multiple stops. It’s possible that Costco works off the same model and there’s not a center near enough… but I agree, it’s a shame.
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That never occurred to me. That makes sense, though, having the distribution center nearby. I just looked at the map of Costcos in Michigan and there are only 12 in the entire state and they’re all around city centers in the lower part of the state. So sad. They’ll never come to where we are. So Walmart will be here to stay.
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