A picture Wal Mart wishes was not on the net.

[MadHound]

30. Not a business person, are you.

The major reason that Wal Mart is doing so well is because they perfected the business technique of vertical integration. What this means is that they control the manufacture, distribution, transportation and final sale of each and every product. This strategy allows them to not only cut costs, but demand, and receive, concessions from suppliers. This is what drives the profits for Wal Mart, this is what has allowed them to make billions. If you come in with a single shop providing all the goods and services that Wal Mart does, you are going to get eaten alive. Your hypothetical single business simply doesn't have the economic clout to get the cheapest wholesale prices out of suppliers, transporters, etc. Your costs, even on a per store basis, will be much greater than Wal Mart's costs. Add your two dollar an hour pay increase, and your costs will go through the roof. You simply won't be able to keep your prices low enough to compete and you will go out of business. You would be eaten up by Wal Mart, which would simply burp and go on.

If you want to get the best deal for Wal Mart workers, organizing and unionizing each and every Wal Mart. That's is also Wal Mart's greatest fear. They have spent billions to keep out the unions, but that defense, as we see in the OP, is starting to crack. You unionize Wal Mart, and not only is it a great benefit for workers, but it also makes mom and pops more competitive.

Wal Mart is not going away anytime soon. I suspect that at some point, they will collapse under their own weight like so many mega corporations before them. But that could be a long time away, so you've got to deal with them in the most effective manner you can now. Unionization is the best way to do that.

I'm not against mom and pop businesses, at one time I owned one myself. But I also recognize business reality, and Wal Mart isn't going to be forced out by mom and pop competition. The only way to deal with them is organizing, unionizing, and getting the public on your side. That will do much more long term good than offering up sacrificial mom and pops for their consumption.