We don't have a walmart here in NYC.

Both run domestic sweatshops.

Walmart's are public. Amazon's are hidden.

Both should be subject to criticism.

Due to their partner network. This allows smaller businesses to reach a greater audience then they could on their own.

Amazon kills hundreds of jobs for each job 'created.'

But the link is this - if you have evidence that Porn is created under dehumanizing conditions and you have evidence that Walmart employees work under dehumanizing conditions - why would it be wrong to criticize both? I think most people around here would agree that Walmart (and Trader Joes and Starbucks and so on) should treat their empoyees a lot better, and it wouldn't be controversial to say so.

Why would it be controversial to say the same thing about how Porn is produced.

Would you say that people who criticize walmart see themselves as better than the "great unwashed?"

Bryant

Everybody is all for the 99% until they find out that some people have to shop at WalMart or Aldi's. Most of the people I know don't have Whole Foods or TJ money.

I got myself a cast iron dutch oven at WalMart. I can't see myself spending $200+ on a fancy one.

stuff they sell to the Whole Foods shoppers.

Just an FYI

I like Aldi's. We get an amazing amount of stuff there for little money.

plus no antibiotics or growth hormones. Oh, and the wines...

We don't have Aldi's in the west that I know of.

We just this last couple of years got them here.

It's not a moral win.

The individual groups were originally owned and managed by brothers Karl Albrecht and Theo Albrecht. Karl Albrecht retains ownership of Aldi Süd, and with a personal wealth of €17.2 billion, is the richest man in Germany, while the co-owners of Aldi Nord, Berthold and Theo Albrecht Jr., follow close behind at €16 billion.

They are the walton family of Europe. People get fooled by TJ's california vibe. It's all marketing. Their products are knockoffs of other private brands, largely built by subcontractors overseas. A lot of their food is made in thailand, mexico, etc with cheap exploited labor using unregulated factory farmed sources. Guacamole from mex etc.

Search for "trader joes and recall" you might think they have the worst quality control in the world.

better than the industry standard. Some stuff has changed, but they took the hint and have left most of the model and suppliers alone. Another thing I personally know for sure is that working for TJ's is light years better than working for Jewell, Walmart, or A&P.

Probably before you were born, working for the grocery stored was a real profession and millions of people staked their lives on working in that industry. Today, thanks to many years of legislative corruption at every level, it is just another McJob.

when there is an eco/worker friendly place I can buy supplies for my job at midnight in this one-horse town, I will go there. In the meantime I will have to go to WM. I wish Costco would come here. I would never go in WM again.

Interestingly, I also won't shop at Starbucks, Target, or Trader Joe's - particularly not Whole Foods due to their publicly right-wing sympathies. For mostly the reasons you state, and some others.

That's not an absolute boycott (for example, *bux is the only coffee available in some spots). But as a matter of principle, I agree with you.

[img][/img]

Someone we know makes something like $9.00/hour, and I was aghast because that is this person's LIVING. So, I asked, how on Earth would I be able to support myself and have some basic middle-class accoutrements like a car and a home? All on $9.00/hour? I mean, sheer nonsense, so I do more of my shopping at Costco or proprietor-run/mom&pop establishments over the big chains that pay an unliveable wage to their employees.

They do pay more to their low-level employees than, say, McDonald's, but they still don't pay a living wage.

See, for example:

http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/04/are-starbucks-and-whole-foods-union-busting

And one more recent:

http://www.salon.com/2013/11/22/starbucks_union_buster_is_ironic_winner_after_liberals_push_nuclear_option/

When I was with Starbucks in CT, the median hourly of my coworkers (we were a very busy store so we almost never had outside hires...only experienced transfers from other stores) was around $9.50/hr plus tips which varied every week but generally hit between $3-$4/hr. additional.

$12-13.50/hr. in CT with benefits isn't great but it's enough to split a 2BR apartment and live comfortably within certain means.

The employees inside NYC make almost the exact same $$$ (their tips are usually $4+change) and you can't afford to live in a shelter for that.

I had a coworker who transferred to OK and kept his hourly wage (Because if you transfer, you keep your wage and benefits). It made him the highest paid person in the store, slightly edging the manager.

Of course I'm gonna focus on Walmart over Starbucks and other places.

Why?

Because it gives us tactical advantage to do so.

Walmart is the symbol, so we attack them first and make them the example.

I'm puzzled why anyone would claim they aren't?

That sounds dirty.

pulp fiction from the same era.

Bryant

You know, because of all the porn threads lately.

So disgusting, in fact, that I'm embarrassed to have had the same thought myself.

there are not.

Or have to work there.

I.e. a critique if you will.

From a DU perspective we say boo walmart crappy labor place, Small business destroyer etc.

From a Walmart perspective, thank you Democrats for expanding SNAP, we're making more money because of it, and we like it a lot. We realize most of our customers are on some form of government assistance from social security, unemployment, snap, etc... republican attacks on these programs or other austerity hurts our profits. We (one of the most powerful businesses in the world) are on some issues a natural ally of the democratic party. We even actively promote these programs to be used by our associates.

Since the shoppers of walmart are trying to save money they are generally lower income and more likely to vote democratic.

The success of the Clinton family is partially due to walmart.

It's really a love/hate relationship.

I'm shocked when I go to walmart at all the unhealthy people. A super sized walmart lifestyle is not good for you and they are killing their own customers.

And to those who say they shop there because it's cheaper, I say you need to do a little price checking.

I don't shop at WalMart, but in the past couple of years I've had about three occasions to check their prices, in that someone else told me what something was going to cost there and I found those things to be less at my local Albertson's.

Oh, wait. One time a couple of years ago I was in the local Sam's Club with someone who was buying some things needed for the office where she worked. They didn't have the specific items she needed, and I noted to prices of a couple of other things and, guess what, they were cheaper at Albertson's.

Notice how they always use the same arguments over and over.

The first bullshit argument: We somehow have a moral obligation to treat our enemies fairly - if we're beating up on Walmart, we have to beat up on every other business out there that might be doing the same thing, otherwise, we're being Bad. I call it being strategic - focusing on a symbol, the business out there that everyone things of when the term "unfair labor practices" or "predatory business practices" is brought up: Walmart. I call it using our resources wisely to concentrate our fire on the worst offenders, make an example of them, and use them to scare the shit out of every other business that abuses its workers and drives mom-and-pop places down.

The second bullshit argument: There's this mythical place in America where Walmart is always right next door, but every other business is seven hundred miles away, there are no Targets or Krogers or Kmarts, so they HAVE to go to Walmart, they're so poor, and they don't want to spend gas money, and they're so deprived! Am I the only one who suspects that 90+% of the people who use this argument are lying through their teeth? Like Name Removed?

If you shop at Walmart, you're a fucking scab.

Name removed picked all liberal businesses to beat up - which kind of gave his game away. That said - I can imagine a situation in which not shopping at walmart is an economic inconvience.

Bryant

and the other options are either very expensive relative to Walmart or farther away. Clewiston, Florida is one example.

Our Walmart serves a five county area and other than convenience stores, there's no other place to get goods.