Re: [Discuss] Discuss - Software Engineering union, now officially OT
On 04/20/2012 08:29 AM, Matt Shields wrote: That's not Walmart's only problem. Walmart has been known for questionable purchasing practices. Let's say you make product X and you're the only one who makes that product. You sell around 100,000 units per month for $10 each throughout the US from a few small retail locations, to which you sell it to those retail stores for around $7 each. Walmart finds out about it and comes to you and says that it will commit to 1,000,000 units/month but it wants to but it for $6 each. This goes on for a few months, which makes you happy because you've been able to grow you production and hire more people. Now Walmart comes back to you and says since it's selling so many it will commit to 2,000,000/month but it wants it for $5/month. You say yes because you don't want to lose your existing orders and at $5 you can still make a bit of profit. But after this, this is when Walmart starts to demand that you only sell through them and continues pushing your price down further and further to the point some manufacturers have had to go out of business. All because American's want to save a few cents and Walmart wants to get more customers and earn a few more cents. Here's just one of many articles. I think there was even a documentary about what they're doing. http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html If you want to save your job, your income, your American lifestyle, I firmly believe we need to be investing more into small local businesses and less into these big chains. Yes you can't get rid of large corporations and in some cases we do need them, but there's a lot of times it would be more beneficial to purchase local services/goods. Matthew Shields www.sysadminvalley.com www.jeeprally.com I'm so glad you wrote that, it saved me the trouble of finding articles about "Master Lock" and "Vlasic Pickles" about their experience with Wallmart. A deal with walmart is like the deal with the devil, it will make you successful instantly, but it will eventually destroy everything you started with. Sometimes, that's OK. Most of the time, not so much. Walmart and Target are very destructive to the U.S. economy and jobs, and usually devastating to local economies where they build a store. They are the worst of corporate america, speak up against them in a town hall, you get a SLAPP suit. Own a small buisiness? pay local taxes? Well, your tax money will go to helping walmart build a building. It will build roads and infrastructure, and in the end, your tax money that you paid for your community will help walmart put you out of business. Then, what's even worse, if the walmart that your taxes helped build, doesn't make a heafty profit, they'll pack it up and shut it down after the local businesses have gone out of business. Devastating the local community. But, hey, those low wage jobs were worth it, right? ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [Discuss] Discuss - Software Engineering union, now officially OT
> But, hey, those low wage jobs were worth it, right? Consumers want to buy things at a price that is cheaper than they would be willing to be paid to make it. -- Tom McGregor --dan [ drawn from this article www.boston.com/news/local/vermont/articles/2005/02/17/founded_in_ne_exported_to_china/ which used to be free, but now has a paywall ] ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [Discuss] Discuss - Software Engineering union, now officially OT
On 04/20/2012 08:53 AM, Mark Woodward wrote: > I'm so glad you wrote that, it saved me the trouble of finding > articles about "Master Lock" and "Vlasic Pickles" about their > experience with Wallmart. A deal with walmart is like the deal with > the devil, it will make you successful instantly, but it will > eventually destroy everything you started with. Sometimes, that's OK. > Most of the time, not so much. Walmart and Target are very destructive > to the U.S. economy and jobs, and usually devastating to local > economies where they build a store. They are the worst of corporate > america, speak up against them in a town hall, you get a SLAPP suit. > Own a small buisiness? pay local taxes? Well, your tax money will go > to helping walmart build a building. It will build roads and > infrastructure, and in the end, your tax money that you paid for your > community will help walmart put you out of business. > > Then, what's even worse, if the walmart that your taxes helped build, > doesn't make a heafty profit, they'll pack it up and shut it down > after the local businesses have gone out of business. Devastating the > local community. I'm not going to argue regarding whether Wal*Mart is evil or not. I grew up in retailing. But, I also recall that Sears was the same way. You made a deal with Sears, you were instantly successful until Sears decided to move it in house. Today it is Wal*Mart. In our industry IBM was the market leader and controlled everything, and today, it is Microsoft (although IBM is a bit bigger and became my employer through acquisition this year). A few years ago Wal*Mart tried to get all retailers to use RFID tags. With RFID, you could conceivably check out without removing the items from your cart. I wonder what would happen in the RFID era if a woman brings her child who has an RFID identifier :-) -- Jerry Feldman Boston Linux and Unix PGP key id:3BC1EB90 PGP Key fingerprint: 49E2 C52A FC5A A31F 8D66 C0AF 7CEA 30FC 3BC1 EB90 ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
Re: [Discuss] Discuss - Software Engineering union, now officially OT
On 04/20/2012 10:43 AM, Jerry Feldman wrote: > A few years ago Wal*Mart tried to get all retailers to use RFID tags. > With RFID, you could conceivably check out without removing the items > from your cart. I wonder what would happen in the RFID era if a woman > brings her child who has an RFID identifier :-) You mean like a new US Passport / Passport Card? ;-) For years I wondered what the register said in the intro sequence to the Simpsons when they scan Maggie at the grocery checkout. I was so disappointed when I got the season 1 dvd and watched it frame by frame only to see it say "Error"... Matt ___ Discuss mailing list Discuss@blu.org http://lists.blu.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss
