Stephen King Fans discussion
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Under the Dome
Rachel wrote: "There's a really good documentary on Wal-Mart, came out a while ago. I'll investigate the title."The one I have is "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" and it is extremely eye-opening. I didn't care for walmart before seeing it, but I refuse to go there afterward.
I know that there are a lot of people who literally have no other choice, but that just makes me hate them more, because Walmart is the reason they have no other choice. Well, part of the reason. I'm sure that inflation, low pay, and customers not knowing how awful they are have a lot to do with it. By the time that a lot of this stuff came to light, it was too late. They already were through the door, let alone having a foot in it. We need to uninvite the bloodsuckers.
/rant
Rob wrote: "The documentary is called "Wal Mart: The High Cost of Low Price" Ironically...they were selling that movie AT Wal-Mart for a while."This seriously almost made me choke on my PB&J! I literally almost died laughing. Good thing I was at my desk and had a co-worker to pound me on the back!
That is the funniest thing ever. Just goes to show that WM will sell anything to make a profit.
Rob: Yeah, i think they were selling corndogs right by the entrance. I forget the name of the restaurant. Last time someone dragged me in WM it smelled different but still like bread, in a bad way. I realized the other "restaurant" had been replaced by a Subway.
We have everything in our WM: It's a supercenter, to start, so there are groceries shipped from who knows where to undercut the local growers. Then there is a Subway (BOOOOO!), a "salon", a manicurist, a pretzel shop, an H&R Block during tax season, a photography place, and an optometrist. O_o
It's like an entire community. No wonder Novalee Nation lived in one.
Becky wrote: "Yes, it is true. They are a huge corporation, and they know that stuff stocked in their stores will sell because they undercut the competition, so they dictate what they will sell, and since they are strong on "Christian Family Values" they won't sell anything with explicit lyrics or anything considered "unChristian". Walking through my Wal-mart the last time I was in there, which was probably a good year ago at least, there were 3 rows of books:
Right side of 1: Bibles.
Left side of 1: Christian fiction
Right side of 2: More Christian or religious fiction
Left side of 2: Self-help and cookbooks
Right side of 3: 1/2 YA (but NOT HP still - those devil worshiping books are not permitted) and 1/2 adult fiction - stuff like "Eat Pray Love"
Left side of 3: Harlequin and other bodice ripping romances
And then there were magazines, woefully dominated by books like "Guns & Ammo" and "Hunter Weekly" or whatever.
I think I just threw up a little in my mouth.
..."
No wonder I can never find any books there that I want to read. They never have what I'm looking for. I get my coffee there, certain items, but I always leave with a frown and a headache.
I'm highly interested in that Wal-Mart documentary and Bentley Little's The Store.
Every Wal-Mart here has a McDonald's in it. It's even weirder because there are at least two that sit right next to ANOTHER McDonald's not inside the Wal-Mart. Can never get enough MickeyD's I guess. (blech!)
Kandice wrote: "Every Wal-Mart here has a McDonald's in it. It's even weirder because there are at least two that sit right next to ANOTHER McDonald's not inside the Wal-Mart. Can never get enough MickeyD's I gues..."There's another place i don't really frequent...
I don't like a single thing they offer except Diet Coke. My children, however...I have high hopes they will grow out of it!:)
I just requested _The Store_. Sounds like a cool book; more for my arsenal!Rob wrote: ""I'm highly interested in that Wal-Mart documentary and Bentley Little's The Store. "
I highly recommend each.
"
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I hope not literally! I understand why so many people love walmart - they're cheap and convenient and have EVERYTHING, but they are able to do that because they have no qualms about walking all over anyone smaller than them, including their own workers. You should definitely look into them Angie, but obviously you're free to shop where you like. We just got off on a bit of a tangent... we weren't trying to make you feel bad!
This has been a hard post to follow let alone comment on for various reasons for me, even though I started it.1) is that I live and work in Walmart country; the heart of it, so there has ALWAYS (pun intended) been a Walmart near me. 2) I shop at Walmart weekly. Mostly because of the convenience; I hate to shop so might as well get it all done at one time; plus it’s 500 yards from my house so I can walk. 3) this areas livelihood depends on Walmart. If not for Walmart we would lose nearly 80% of all businesses.
This tangent has turned ugly... =\I'm sorry if anyone feels bad because of my comments against WM. I know that there are many reasons why people shop there, and I did NOT mean to imply that anyone who does so is a bad person or anything like that.
My frustration is with the company alone. They push smaller businesses under, pay their workers next to nothing, and exploit foreign countries' workers to make a bigger profit, which gives them more buying power, and more sway in the market, and just makes them that much bigger and formidable.
Anyway, I'm no expert on anything. My point is that people should know about them, but I'm not a person to judge or condemn someone for choosing differently than I do. Everyone has their own reasons for their choices and I don't know any of you intimately enough to think I know better than you about your lives.
So, I apologize to anyone who may have been offended or felt bad because of my comments. I don't apologize for my anger at WM, but I hope that none of you take that personally. :)
And I hope you all know that I am not perfect either. I'm accepting a WM-bought gift from Kandice. So even though I don't shop there, I'm still supporting them indirectly. That probably makes me a hypocrite... *sigh* Oh well.
Thanks Rachel. I love you guys too! :D
LOLWe ALL love you Becky, and you are certainly allowed to hate Wal-Mart!
Over the years I have remained fairly neutral in regards to my opinions toward WM. I have disliked at one time and been indifferent most of the time. However, the accusations that are thrown towards Walmart regarding a living wage and health care are (in my opinion) just ridiculous. They are no different than any of the other retailers out there, other than being larger. Kmart, Target, Woolworths, Walgreens, Sears, etc. only pay their employees the smallest amount they can to keep employees. It is common business practice. They are not alone. Jump to fast food restaurants. They have the exact same business practices but nobody is complaining that McDonalds or Wendy’s doesn’t offer better pay and health insurance to that 40 year old mother of 4 that works 28 hours per week. Why not? They are out of site out of mind when it comes to the media.I hate the imported products as much as any American. But, that is an issue much larger than just Walmart since imports are in every store you go into. It's a trade agreement issue.
Has anyone seen the commercial for Henry Rifles(?) where it shows a guy going through his house getting rid of everything that isn't made in America? Hilarious! He's left with only the gun hanging on the wall. The funniest part is when he turns his China over one plate at a time and tosses them out the window.
After I watched the video, I was completely disgusted and irate. But what can I do about it as a consumer? You're right. The problem is bigger than we are. It's a monopoly. It's unfair. But all I can do is keep shopping at the independent book stores and family owned businesses in my area as often as I can. I may even decide to buy Under the Dome A Novel from Barnes and Noble. Just because they are more about books than Amazon, Target, or Wal-Mart. Or better yet, wait for a used copy to show up at Alibris. (If I befriend an author, I will buy the book new, if I can afford to, so that they will benefit. In the case of S.K., I don't think he would mind if I bought one of his books that has been previously read.)
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By the way Becky I'm not really crying in a corner I promise (though I am saving money). :)
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I always want to buy American made... sad thing is not a lot is made here. We just bought a new Toyota Tundra, and we have a Honda. No American cars. I feel bad about that too but I want my cars to last and American cars just don't have that reputation. SAD!
Hey!!!! I am a Chevy girl and my husband is a die-hard Ford guy, so...
Well... I thought we'd really upset Angie... which is why I thought it had. But now it seems that wasn't the case... so... Right. :)
By the way, I agree with you 100% Rob.
Can I put in two cents here?My husband and I both started working for Home Depot in 1988 when it was still run by the originators, Bernie and Arthur. At the time they paid, even new employees, well above minimum wage, paid us to attend 3 hours of Do-It-Yourself classes a week, so we'd know what we were talking about, had an employee stock option plan, excellent insurance...I could go on and on. It was a terrific place to work.
When Bernie and Arthur retired about 10 years ago, they hire Bob Nardelli to run things for them. He came from, you guessed it, Wal-mart. Our insurance has gone steadily downhill, you now start out at minimum wage, there is a salary cap and most long-term employees are well above it so will not recieve a raise in forseeable future, no more classes, no more anything extra. It's a miserable place to work unless you have been there forever.
It's the Wal-Mart effect.
Don't get me started about Barnes & Noble or this discussion will NEVER end! Talk about the "Wal-Mart Effect"! (I used to work for them.) Let me just say that if at all possible, try to buy your books from the Indies...if you can find one. They really need our support!
“The argument that "Everyone else does it, so why not Wal-Mart?" just doesn't hold water.”It may not hold water and I can’t say that I wouldn’t like them to take a higher moral ground, but really what incentive do they have to do any differently? The last time I had encountered someone that had just started working in a WM store they were hired at a higher than minimum wage salary. It wasn’t much more but it was more. Nobody, but teens, can live on a minimum wage so does that make the minimum wage wrong? If so, then the government should raise it. The last time that happened I heard all kinds of complaints how that was going to drive the small businesses to fold because they simply could not afford to pay it. It’s a vicious cycle that is much larger than anything I can solve in my spare time. ;)
Buy American isn't even simple. The last time I looked into it (10 years ago) Honda's were assembled in Ohio and Chevy's were assembled in Mexico. I think Toyota's are assembled here as well but am not certain. (If you really want to know research what your VIN tells you, it shows where the car was made).
I think the Home Depot and Barnes & Noble statements are indicitive of the same. Basically, the greed of corporate America has never changed and we are all just under a different style of business than 100 years ago. Walmart and the other retailers are not doing anything different than the steel and newspaper industries did a century ago. Corporations try to make the most money they can for their stockholders and a handful of people make tons and tons of money in the process and die rich. The rest suffer.
Lonnie has a point, Walmart isn't the sole evil, it's the business model. I still prefer to shop (esp for books and movies) at independent shops, but sometimes that's not feasible with new stuff
That's very true. But my problem with that argument is that it seems to legitimize their practices. "Well, every corporation does it, that's how it has been and that's how it is, so there's no point in calling anyone out about it." I will absolutely agree that the issue is larger than just WM, but that doesn't mean it should be ignored, or worse, accepted. I call out WM because they ARE so big, and so powerful, and are only interested in becoming more so at the expense of everyone and anything. Granted, I'm sure that there are exceptions to every rule, and there may be managers out there with a heart who are willing to do a little bit more and hire people at above the absolute minimum, or offer more hours or whatever, but that's not WM's standard procedure.
And all of that isn't even mentioning their theft prevention measures. It's bad enough that their "greeters" make people who have JUST COME THROUGH THE CHECK OUT LINE provide proof of purchase to leave the store, but refusing to show a receipt for something that you've just purchased apparently constitutes theft in WM's view, and they think that they can detain anyone who doesn't like being treated as a suspect. I've seen this myself at WM. I've seen people literally followed to their cars by security and harrassed, simply for not proving the purchase that they just made.
My own boyfriend has been followed around the store by security several times, one time security even going so far as to watch us go through the check out and then following us to the car. My boyfriend isn't Mr. Clean-cut, but WM's attitude of suspicion and Everyone-IS-A-Thief is what initially made us dislike them, but we were still willing to deal with it until we learned about their larger business practices.
I think their next step is to fingerprint and retina scan customers at the door in order to background check them before allowing admittance.
That's no way to treat customers. I should not have to verify a purchase to leave the store with my bagged items after walking 30 feet from the check out line to the door.
These things are the kind of thing that make me hate walmart. Like I said before, I'm not perfect, they still are supported by me indirectly, but I choose not to shop there.
If they want my business, they will need to change their way of business, and be a leader for the right reasons, like providing workers with fair pay, health insurance options, allowing full time schedules, a 401K, etc, not by cutting those things to increase their profit margin, and thereby setting the example that profit is more important than everything else.
The incentive for them to do that is money. It may not be anything at all to them that they've lost my business, but I will not directly tell them that it's ok by spending my paycheck in their stores. I don't have a Sam's club membership, and I will probably never have one.
I can't tell people not to shop there, or judge them if they do, but I do think people should know what WM stands for.
I used to work for Wal-Mart (most miserable time of my life) so I will say this for them: it is their standard practice to hire in above minimum wage (Perhaps only a few cents above, but still above. And BTW, minimum wage is not even close to a 'living wage' unless you have absolutely no bills to pay... but that isn't WM's fault). However, it was also standard practice to pressure their Associates to continue to work off the clock (that may vary depending on how ethical specific managers are) and to fire anyone even seen speaking to anyone who is pro-union (which is in their actual training video- or at least it was 10 years ago when I hired in). The store managers have a fair amount of autonomy so not all stores have to be run exactly the same way- though the anti-union stance is Company policy. Other people may have had much better experiences than I did, but mine were so bad that I will pay more or do without to keep from shopping there. Not everyone has that luxury, though, and I completely understand that.
Um... and on the topic of Under the Dome: 18 days until release!! Woo-hoo!
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Hehe... Oddly enough, I read Memory last night, which of course is the short excerpt of the story that eventually became Duma Key, and Edgar mentioned Walmart... And I just had to laugh.
I thought that was funny too.I love your HA!s Angie.
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Basically, the greed of corporate America has never changed and we are all just under a different style of business than 100 years agothe GREED has not changed, but the way businesses operate has - in MOST cases - changed. Unions and government has forced many of those changes, but I like to think SOME businesses chose to operate in a more humanitarian way.
The choice to put dinner on an employee's table (read shop at mom pops) or help feed that corporate greed is no choice at all for me.
Others can deal with their consciences as they see fit.
Again, I 100% agree, Rob.And you'd think that theft prevention would be more along the lines you described, especially for such a gigantic company, but Google it. Take everything with a grain of salt though, there's a lot of angry bloggers. :)
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I've been at my job for 5 years. We used to get raises, but have not gotten one in the last two years. The cost of everything has gone up. Every product, gas, every utility, every piece of anything I try to by. Any service. The powers that be are claiming that we have a "bad economy" to excuse all of this, and at the same time deny raises to employeess because they can't afford to pay us. They make us feel fortunate that we aren't being laid off. And on top of it all, our medical insurance and cost of medicine skyrockets every year. More money taken out of our checks, but less going in. Pretty soon Obama will be taxing us more to pay for free medicine and health care for people that don't work for it.
But neither here nor there, economics are a huge strain on me and my family. Getting worse all the time as the media keeps telling us that the economy is bad.
Then they break for commercials where they want you to spend oodles of dollars on frivilous bullshit that we don't need. Cell phone upgrades, trips to other places, new cars with extreme bells and whistles. Our young people are so high maintanence that they have to have 400 dollar game systems etc. etc. Does this sound like a cripled economy? No. What keeps the economy bad is the perseption that it is bad. The more they say it is a depressed economy, the more depressed it will become. Buyers define the market and people will buy if they feel they can afford it.
Alright, I got off topic a little.
Here's my question. With the above described economical environment, what am I, the average half broke struggling consumer to do?
I see a new book I want offered for $9 on amazon (or at Wal-Mart, whatever). I recognize a good buy when I see one, since i certainly don't have the budget to buy a 30 dollar book. So I buy it.
Then I come online and hear about how the Feds are investigating the price wars and that the book industry is being screwed by amazon, walmart, etc. And that I am supporting these evil empires by buying the cheaper product.
Does that mean that I should shop around and pay the most I possibly can for a new book? So that the writer and publisher isn't being robbed?
Here's where my frustration is: I can't drive past a gas station without seeing an example of price gouging. I cannot get sick without it busting the bank account, and I have health insurance. I cannot afford all the copayments and medicines on top of the premiums. Food is more expensive, as is everything else.
So I see a bargain buy and I jump on it. Happy that I will get the new Stephen King book without having to make one of my children go hungry for a week. What a deal!
Then I find out I'm supporting a deplorable and questionale practice in industry.
Shit. I can't win. What do I do?
I have to admit, I bought one $9 Under the Dome on Amazon last night, AND one at Wal-Mart.com.
Awww, Chris, you're breaking my heart! You make the best decision you can. That's all any of us can do. But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't know as much as we can in order to try to make that decision. I don't have kids yet, and even though I make shit pay, for my area, it's well above average and it's still tough to make ends meet.
There's not one answer that will solve everything... I wish there was.
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Chris wrote: "That's what I'm talking about. You're a consumer. You saw a good deal on a product you wanted. I don't want to get into the arguement of Government's right to meddle with the economy, but aren't ou..."Hear, hear!
All seriousness aside... I really wouldn't want to have to choose between feeding the kids and buying the new King book. O_o Poor kids. Hehe...
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Yes... They tend to do that, I've heard. :)
I can second that, too! And they always love the expensive stuff!
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Hahaha! The gifts that just keep on giving. :)
Stephen King Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
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Because It Is Bitter, and Because It Is My Heart (other topics)
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft (other topics)
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At any rate, I don't think that SK would even allow his books to be sold there if he thought they might be "censored "in ANY way.