Quote:
Originally Posted by 33girl
I said the same thing when Walmart came to my town, but then again I didn't have to feed a family on near poverty wages. For them, the price is everything. The sick thing is, Walmart reduces prices, drives everything out of business, and then puts their prices back up. People are finally getting wise to it, but it's taken a long time.
And Kevin - college degrees, plumbers' school, electricians' school (even if you do internships) COST MONEY. Which many of Walmart's employees simply DO NOT HAVE.
Don't misunderstand - from a MONETARY point of view, I completely understand why they're doing this. My best friend is a retail manager and this is the kind of stuff that keeps her up at nights - did we go over budget? did we make plan? Is my job on the line because we didn't have enough sales to match our hours? It is the right MONETARY decision. But for a company that's taken so many PR black eyes lately and keeps saying that they care about their employees, it's a really stupid, not to mention uncaring thing to do.
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I will agree, from the PR point of view (at least to the public), this doesn't look good. However, I'll also say that, if someone wants to go into plumbing or be an electrician, school isn't necessary. They can hook up with someone in the area and learn on the job. I realize it's not the easiest thing to do (my dad is a contractor who learned those skills on the job), but it's an option for people who wish to make more money and have more secure employment.
I think I'm just coming from a biased position on this whole, larger issue, of self-improvement, etc. My family didn't have much money, and I worked full-time (2 jobs senior year) to pay for undergrad (KSigRC can attest to this), and am currently working full time to pay for law school (evenings). It's not necessarily relevant to the present conversation, but it's the reason why I tend to side the way I do in situations like this. I think there are opportunities out there for people to better themselves, although I'm also fully aware that it's difficult for many in these situations to do so.
To back up what MysticCat is saying, it's happening right now in my hometown (as I noted). People are flocking to the WalMart, and slowly businesses in the area are starting to close down. Customers are ignoring the local places, and that's not WalMart's fault.