Walmart Is Not the Bargain You Might Think [View all]

[marmar]

Walmart Is Not the Bargain You Might Think

Saturday, 07 December 2013 00:00
By Maura Stephens, Truthout | Op-Ed

People flock to Walmart for perceived bargains and convenience. Here are some facts that might keep them from adding their hard-earned cash to the profits of a company that's squashing lives and worker rights worldwide.

Next time someone tells you they shop at Walmart because it's cheap or convenient, share this.

Despite 1,500 protests nationwide against Walmart, the world's biggest retailer claimed its most lucrative Black Friday ever in 2013. Our friends and neighbors flock there.

They do - even those who have seen mom-and-pop stores shut down when Walmart moved into town, who miss being able to pick up one or two items and be out of a store in 10 minutes, who personally know Walmart employees relying on food stamps and who have heard how much money the Walton family continues to accumulate.

Walmart is the poster child for how huge corporations have undermined people's ability to make a living. It does this by sending manufacturing abroad to countries where labor is cheap, at the same time paying its own employees less than a living wage, using other unfair labor practices in numerous locations in the United States, and undercutting locally owned enterprises right out of business. It harms Main Streets and local commerce centers across the country and further drives people to malls. .....................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/20440-walmart-is-not-the-bargain-you-might-think-it-is