Chinese manufacturing

[Brewcaster J]

Now as far as Wal-mart shutting local businesses down, I don't buy that 100%. As a retailer there is a lot you can do to go the extra mile for your customer that Wally World won't do. You can source new suppliers of your products. You can sell things that Wall Mart doesnt. I know it is hard, but customers will buy from you even if you are more expensive than wall mart becasue you have great serivce, or you have a sweet return policy. Not saying that Wal Mart wont HURT your sales, but I dont think it will put anyone out of business.

The only thing I really want to chime in on here is this last JPism. I think it's kind of insulting to the hundreds (thousands?) of business owners across the country who have gone out of business when Wally arrives in their town to assume that the reason they did not survive was that they were not smart enough to figure out ways to stay in business. I would be willing to bet that some of those biz owners are much smarter biz people than you and I and still could not manage to compete with America's hunger for cheap consuming. I just think it's easy to say from a distance that it's the owners fault for not figuring out how to compete, and probably much more complicated up close.

I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

[JP]

Now as far as Wal-mart shutting local businesses down, I don't buy that 100%. As a retailer there is a lot you can do to go the extra mile for your customer that Wally World won't do. You can source new suppliers of your products. You can sell things that Wall Mart doesnt. I know it is hard, but customers will buy from you even if you are more expensive than wall mart becasue you have great serivce, or you have a sweet return policy. Not saying that Wal Mart wont HURT your sales, but I dont think it will put anyone out of business.

The only thing I really want to chime in on here is this last JPism. I think it's kind of insulting to the hundreds (thousands?) of business owners across the country who have gone out of business when Wally arrives in their town to assume that the reason they did not survive was that they were not smart enough to figure out ways to stay in business. I would be willing to bet that some of those biz owners are much smarter biz people than you and I and still could not manage to compete with America's hunger for cheap consuming. I just think it's easy to say from a distance that it's the owners fault for not figuring out how to compete, and probably much more complicated up close.

I'm not saying, I'm just saying.

What is insulting is how you are assuming numbers by saying "thousands". Who is to say why these businesses really went under? Who is to say that just because a shop went out of business that Wal-Mart did it. In Codes post, he said that WM came in and two months later a hardware store went out of business. We are all assuming that the presence of WM was the direct result of that. Unless we know otherwise, is that fair of us to say WM "pushed them out"? I don't think so. And I wasn't saying that small biz owners aren't "smart enough" to stay in biz. I was saying there are things you can do - maybe some of these guys didnt feel like competing. Maybe they gave up to soon. And I never said that WM doesnt push out small biz. I said I didnt buy it 100%. Sure it happens. All I was saying was there are way to stay in business and compete against wal mart. Think about it - if WM was the real reason that small businesses went under, then there would only be WM in town. I just am not buying that as the sole reason. Sorry.

Americas hunger for cheap consuming? Oh man ...

I still love you.

[Brewcaster J]

What is insulting is how you are assuming numbers by saying "thousands". Who is to say why these businesses really went under? Who is to say that just because a shop went out of business that Wal-Mart did it. In Codes post, he said that WM came in and two months later a hardware store went out of business. We are all assuming that the presence of WM was the direct result of that. Unless we know otherwise, is that fair of us to say WM "pushed them out"? I don't think so. And I wasn't saying that small biz owners aren't "smart enough" to stay in biz. I was saying there are things you can do - maybe some of these guys didnt feel like competing. Maybe they gave up to soon. And I never said that WM doesnt push out small biz. I said I didnt buy it 100%. Sure it happens. All I was saying was there are way to stay in business and compete against wal mart. Think about it - if WM was the real reason that small businesses went under, then there would only be WM in town. I just am not buying that as the sole reason. Sorry.

Americas hunger for cheap consuming? Oh man ...

I still love you.

So that was redundant.

I didn't assume numbers at all. I questioned whether it was thousands. that's what that little ? mark means. I don't presume to have any idea how many have gone out of business. But I think it's more than logical to think it's many.

Anyway, I heard what you said the first time, and I stand by my comments. If you want specific examples and proof, read The Walmart Effect. It gives tons of examples from both sides of the story.

Did something actually bother you about my assesment of americans hunger for cheap consuming, or is "oh man" supposed to say it all? Be more specific in your criticism.

Flame on vagina butt

[J.Brew]

I just ran several hash functions on each page of content, and they are not the same.

Ahem.

You run whatever hash functions you need to there buddy, I sees what I sees!
I still stick to my first post on this thing. If you don't like where it comes from, it's quality, or it's supplier, use the freedom of choice that you have and don't buy it! Support smaller local establishments instead of Megalomarts and create change. Quit complaining and act. Americans in my opinion have become complacent and spend more time sitting on their couches or computers bitching about what they don't like and then go out and make hypocritical choices. I'm not immune to this phenomenon myself, but to only way to create change that will affect these issues is to make better choices! (And spend more money if you have to). Don't like global warming? Stop driving and don't eat cow!! (Or make sustainable choices).


Out!!

P.S. What the hell is a hash function?

[JP]

What is insulting is how you are assuming numbers by saying "thousands". Who is to say why these businesses really went under? Who is to say that just because a shop went out of business that Wal-Mart did it. In Codes post, he said that WM came in and two months later a hardware store went out of business. We are all assuming that the presence of WM was the direct result of that. Unless we know otherwise, is that fair of us to say WM "pushed them out"? I don't think so. And I wasn't saying that small biz owners aren't "smart enough" to stay in biz. I was saying there are things you can do - maybe some of these guys didnt feel like competing. Maybe they gave up to soon. And I never said that WM doesnt push out small biz. I said I didnt buy it 100%. Sure it happens. All I was saying was there are way to stay in business and compete against wal mart. Think about it - if WM was the real reason that small businesses went under, then there would only be WM in town. I just am not buying that as the sole reason. Sorry.

Americas hunger for cheap consuming? Oh man ...

I still love you.

So that was redundant.

I didn't assume numbers at all. I questioned whether it was thousands. that's what that little ? mark means. I don't presume to have any idea how many have gone out of business. But I think it's more than logical to think it's many.

Anyway, I heard what you said the first time, and I stand by my comments. If you want specific examples and proof, read The Walmart Effect. It gives tons of examples from both sides of the story.

Did something actually bother you about my assesment of americans hunger for cheap consuming, or is "oh man" supposed to say it all? Be more specific in your criticism.

Flame on vagina butt

I guess assume was not the correct word. Infer would be more to the point. All I was saying was I think a lot of people accuse WM of driving out the smaller business, and they make this claim sole because WM is a huge company. Much like they do Starbucks, Costco, and even MoreBeer ...

And I have read the Walmart effect, and yes it does give both sides of the issue. I am not saying you are incorrect, it just seems to me that people are always ready and willing to pick on the easy target, be it WalMart, Starbuck, America, China, whatever. JBrew makes a good point - if you dont like it dont buy it. I personally dont shop at Walmart because they have shitty products, they treat their employees like dirt, and they know jack about what they sell.

Yeah Oh Man was supposed to say it all. It was a pretty overly dramatic statement, I think. That's all.

[Kacey]

Not to change the subject but I see a lunch meet topic brewing here!

[TimC]

Oh and i got a smokin deal on my RCA TV there last fall.

Glad to hear it - nothing wrong with a good deal. Coincidentally (or not), one of the plants that used to make the picture tubes for those RCA televisions in Circleville Ohio was torn down this year (after being closed for a few years) and standing right next to it is a brand new Supercenter! For more info on that, see Is Wal-Mart Good For America? - a good documentary that ran on PBS's Frontline a while back.

Now as far as Wal-mart shutting local businesses down, I don't buy that 100%. As a retailer there is a lot you can do to go the extra mile for your customer that Wally World won't do. You can source new suppliers of your products. You can sell things that Wall Mart doesnt. I know it is hard, but customers will buy from you even if you are more expensive than wall mart becasue you have great serivce, or you have a sweet return policy. Not saying that Wal Mart wont HURT your sales, but I dont think it will put anyone out of business.

I agree that there are things that small businesses can do to go the extra mile for the customer, but I believe the problem is that too many consumers only care about the low price and not the service. So some of these small businesses probably did try to stay in business with better service and better products, and it didn't work; and others probably realized that it wouldn't work and gave up without a fight. I'm just guessing here, though, I have no facts to back this up.

Think about it - if WM was the real reason that small businesses went under, then there would only be WM in town. I just am not buying that as the sole reason. Sorry.

In my hometown, Wal-Mart IS pretty much the only one around, besides other chain stores like CVS. There are still a few small shops around, but these are specialty shops that don't compete directly with Wal-Mart. If you want electronics, CDs, DVDs, small appliances, housewares, sporting goods, etc., Wal-Mart is the only choice without driving 30 or 40 minutes to the next town. And even then, it's more of the same.

If you don't like where it comes from, it's quality, or it's supplier, use the freedom of choice that you have and don't buy it! Support smaller local establishments instead of Megalomarts and create change.

I agree. I try to support local businesses, but it is getting more and more difficult to find any to support.

[Kacey]

Oh let me add some of my two cents here.

I can see both your points, I have heard people blame walmart for closing down local coffee shops before (I am not kidding here). I have also seen real good places shut down because they can't compete.

There are more reasons to this then just price, Its location and convenience. My reasons for not wanting to go to walmart isn't shitty goods, well thats part of the reason. Its mostly that I can not stand big stores like that! I enjoy going to small shops and the people that run them. Building relationships like this make my shopping experience better. For some people they love the one stop shopping.

Also to say that this is all walmarts fault it bad because ultimately we the consumer control that. So it's not walmart's fault that Mark's grocery shut down, its our fault. But even that is not totally true, Mark may have just sucked, maybe if he stopped licking the produce.


What the fuck am I talking about, I need a beer and maybe some cousin.