Wal-Mart plans $50 billion "buy American" push
Source: Reuters
Wal-Mart Stores Inc will buy an additional $50 billion in U.S.-made products over the next decade in areas like sporting goods and high-end appliances in what the world's largest retailer called a bid to help boost the U.S. economy.
.......
Wal-Mart said the plan to buy more U.S.-made goods is an effort to create U.S. jobs and spur economic growth. Critics countered that the company and other retailers could help the economy by paying better wages and offering workers more regular hours.
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The moves received a cool reception from critics who claimed Wal-Mart does not pay its workers enough and slammed the retailer for selling too many goods made in lower-cost countries like China. The company is also under pressure over its sourcing practices, particularly after a deadly fire at a Bangladesh factory that made Wal-Mart clothes.
Wal-Mart's U.S. unit says about two-thirds of the goods it buys for its stores are made, sourced from or grown in the United States, citing data from its suppliers. It did not give a dollar amount for how much it pays for those goods, or what percentage the increased domestic sourcing would bring.
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/01/15/us-walmart-us-idUSBRE90E0MB20130115?feedType=nl&feedName=usdai
niyad
(113,510 posts)not have to have a "buy american" push. they could even pay their workers a decent salary, not lock them in, not have them work off the clock, etc., etc.
I don't care what they do, have not set foot in a wal-mart in over 17 years, don't ever plan to, either.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)about $50 there, total. And that was almost entirely on loss leaders, lol.
I hope to never set foot in one again.
DissidentVoice
(813 posts)I have not made a purchase at Walmart in well over five years.
I have not entered a Walmart in almost four years.
I had a classmate in college who worked at Walmart. The horror stories you've heard about the way they treat their associates - they're all true, and then some, according to my classmate.
This is nothing more than "grandstanding" on behalf of Walmart and does not change my opinion of them one iota.
My opinion of them, and my continuing individual boycott, will not change until, at bare minimum, they allow their workers the choice on whether to organise or not.
Populist_Prole
(5,364 posts)Especially galling since they more or less wrote the book on squeezing suppliers to chase the cheapest labor, which gutted the working class....their customers.
I'll bet their "Buy American" will be defined so broadly that all a item has to do is have a US based ( read: paper pushers ) operation.
Sorry for the surly...but my ass is chapped by the whole issue.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)Dr Hobbitstein
(6,568 posts)supplied WalMart with some of their sunglasses. This was in the late 80s/early 90s when they had their original Buy American push. Her job? Remove the Made In Mexico sticker and replace it with a Made In The USA one. A scam if I've ever seen one.
freshwest
(53,661 posts)It was a major selling point for people to go to WalMart. So they were lying even back then. Disgusting. Thanks for the info.
Ellipsis
(9,124 posts)Viva_La_Revolution
(28,791 posts)approximately 2%.
DollarBillHines
(1,922 posts)Nasty effing produce, at that.
Ellipsis
(9,124 posts)DollarBillHines
(1,922 posts)From bankrupt dairies
Canuckistanian
(42,290 posts)Walmart bears responsibility for the destruction of the American Middle class.
But carry on with your PR campaign.
RiverSong
(35 posts)Canuckistanian
(42,290 posts)Welcome to DU, BTW
OswegoAtheist
(609 posts)WalMart stands to get ~$7000 in tax breaks per veteran hired, for 100,000 vets (assuming 100K vets apply) over 10 years. That's about 1 vet for every 7 stores each year, but the sheer numbers look great in a headline.
Oswego "also, love the user name and avatar " Atheist
customerserviceguy
(25,183 posts)I will never go into one of them again, haven't been for a very long time.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)Well Said!
alp227
(32,047 posts)appleannie1
(5,068 posts)Art_from_Ark
(27,247 posts)when Wal-Mart was listed on the stock exchange and became hostage to Wall Street.
Wellstone ruled
(34,661 posts)8 bucks per hour. All done with Government subsides. Give us a break,do these twits really think we will buy this charade.
Tikki
(14,559 posts)Pay your workers a real wage and give them health benefits......Make that your USA FIRST message.
Tikki
primavera
(5,191 posts)I suppose it's a step in the right direction, but since MalWart has built its empire killing American jobs, it's hard to imagine these guys, of all people, being genuinely concerned about the US workforce.
DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)liberal N proud
(60,339 posts)Space inside the front door featured and noted products made in the community where the store was located.
Once Sam was gone, everything about WalMart changed.
niyad
(113,510 posts)using the "small business exemption" and then went to court to try to keep doing it? the man was nothing but blood-sucking scum--the only thing that changed when he died was it got worse.
. . . .
Walton was good at playing "modest" despite the fact that he was the richest man in America when he died in 1992. But he achieved success by making sure that other people--especially the clerks, cleaners, truck drivers and other workers who make Wal-Mart run--didn't.
Walton admitted as much in his autobiography. "In the beginning, I was so chintzy I really didn't really pay my employees very well," he said. "We really didn't do much for the clerks except pay them an hourly wage." The "beginning" has lasted over four decades now.
Mr. Sam did everything he could to avoid paying even the minimum wage. The Labor Department investigated Walton for his illegal practice of using a "small business" exception to the minimum wage. When the Labor Department ruled against him, he sued in federal court to keep paying his workers below the minimum wage. Fortunately, he lost.
In the 1960s, the first attempts were made to organize Walton's workers--by the Retail Clerks Union, one of the forerunners of the present-day United Food and Commercial Workers union (UFCW). Connie Kreyling, a worker at the Mexico, Mo., Wal-Mart, was fired for trying to organize a union, and fought for two years to get her job back.
. . . . .
http://www.ncrp.org/news-room/news-2005/399-the-horrible-house-of-walton
xtraxritical
(3,576 posts)liberal N proud
(60,339 posts)Through the stock programs and other incentives.
Working for WalMart at those times was like working in a family. It was a completely different atmosphere and the management cared for their employees.
niyad
(113,510 posts)Selatius
(20,441 posts)patricia92243
(12,597 posts)I have found it very difficult to buy things actually manufactured in USA. Lot of things say they are made here, and when I get the details - they say "imported."
Left Coast2020
(2,397 posts)But not offical state. Stayed in the Pacific Island Club (1999) directly across street from this sweatshop paying crap per hour. I've written about this here before.
Wal-Fart? Can't trust them as far as I can throw them. No crediblity with me whatsoever.
matt819
(10,749 posts)Walmart's annual sales are in the neighborhood of half a trillion dollars. With average annual purchases of $5 billion and assuming, let's say, a 20% markup, that would be an additional $6 billion in sales of American-made goods, for the "huge" percentage increase of roughly 1.2% in American-made goods.
Sure, this may be good news for some American suppliers, but it's jack-shit overall. To say nothing of what happens to American suppliers who are then forced to cut costs and destroy their quality and reputation to meet Walmart's price demands.
Thanks, but no thanks.
diane in sf
(3,917 posts)OneMoreDemocrat
(913 posts)Good for them.
$50 Billion is going to add a lot more to the economy than a bunch of people snarking over their keyboards will I bet.
Sherman A1
(38,958 posts)The article states that one of the areas included in this push is sporting goods. One wonders just how much of that category will be guns?
hatrack
(59,592 posts)Get a grip, please.
brentspeak
(18,290 posts)Nope, no pattern at all.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021867720#post3
OneMoreDemocrat (853 posts)
3. Not entirely accurate...
Thu Nov 22, 2012, 12:28 PM
What's missing from most of these screeds is that Walmart doesn't just sell crap. Hundreds of companies from Kraft to Disney to Johnson & Johnson fall all over themselves to get their products into Walmart stores.
It is easier to demonize Walmart (it makes you super cool and Progressive), than to look at the whole picture and to spread the blame around to all of the guilty quarters.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022199649#post28
OneMoreDemocrat (853 posts)
28. Eh, doesn't your knee get tired from all of the jerking it has to do...
Wed Jan 16, 2013, 08:50 PM
Until YOU can do something to employ Veterans maybe you should be happy that someone is doing SOMETHING besides sniping from behind their keyboard.
Good for Walmart, good for Veterans.
(In response to the thread, "How Walmart Helped Make Newtown Shooter's AR-15 the Most Popular Assault Weapon in America"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=2015874
OneMoreDemocrat (853 posts)
5. Whew...
Mon Dec 17, 2012, 09:06 PM
Thank God someone is here to place the blame in the right place.
I figured Walmart would be named before too long.
People want guns, Walmart sells them...I doubt very much it's the other way 'round; but whatevs.
PSPS
(13,608 posts)What they should do is pay their workers more. The last I heard, part of their orientation for new employees was instructing them how to apply for public assistance.
jsr
(7,712 posts)KurtNYC
(14,549 posts)I wonder if this isn't less than they already buy? 2% of what's on the shelves?! 2% ?? Considering that most paper products are made here -- diapers, paper towels, etc. that should be 2% right there.
I wonder if there are stores in China that average 2% American-made product.
Response to Redfairen (Original post)
keithmkr59255us This message was self-deleted by its author.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)And I wonder how much of the goods they claim are made in the U.S. are food products? That doesn't really count.
Earth_First
(14,910 posts)It doesn't escape the fact that Wal Mart is vehemently opposed to the US worker.
malthaussen
(17,215 posts)cbrer
(1,831 posts)Shipping prices must have gone up. This is a marketing ploy pure and simple. Walmart always has one objective.
Period!
underpants
(182,861 posts)$50 billion over 10 years is ....yeah this is tough $5B a year. They buy $260B a year so this would be about 3% of their buying.
Drahthaardogs
(6,843 posts)I might consider shopping there.
hatrack
(59,592 posts)It's not just that Wal-Fucking-Mart remains the industry standard for outsourcing jobs and buying cheap Chinese crap, and has been for 30 years and more now.
It's that their bullshit is oh-so-transparent. Like they're ever going to be believed on a PR move like this. It is to laugh.
lynne
(3,118 posts)- it's been that way for at least the past 7 years. An area of the store was devoted to island made items. Large selection and great prices. Not sure if they do that in other regions but it's the best place to get souvenirs when in the islands.
samsingh
(17,600 posts)Incitatus
(5,317 posts)Sekhmets Daughter
(7,515 posts)$5 billion a year is a drop in the bucket...