People often ask us why we've chosen not to shop at Walmart, and I've always found it difficult to articulate the reason. Not that we don't have one, it's just that I'm not an economist so my vocabulary in this area is rather limited. I came across an article the other day that summed it up pretty well, though (you can read it here). It basically comes down to 2 things:
1) Walmarts do initially create more jobs, but they're not "good" jobs, and in the long run they undermine the local economy.
2) Those low, low prices come at the expense of fair wages at almost every step in the production and distribution process.
In light of these two facts, TC and I have chosen to support local small businesses whenever we can. Things may cost a little more, but that's only because we're closer to paying the true cost for the item. As a bonus, we're a lot less likely to buy things that we don't really need. We've been doing pretty well, too. Since January, we've only purchased one thing at Walmart, and that was because it was the only place we could find it.
Please understand that I'm not condemning those who shop at Walmart. The fact that we don't is the result of a decision that TC and I made, based on our understanding of the world and the role we have in it. Not everyone would agree, and that's okay. But I am curious to know what you all think about Walmart. Is it good? Bad? Ugly? Are you completely okay with shopping there? Do you avoid it altogether? Or are you somewhere in between - shopping there but feeling slightly guilty about it?
5 comments:
I have a hate-but-still-shop-there-sometimes relationship with Walmart. Sometimes I feel guilty sometimes I don't like when I buy olive oil for $8.00 less than anywhere else - the price makes me forget what a beast it really is.
I should know better especially since they closed that store in Quebec after the employees were working at being unionized. It was easier for them to shut the whole thing down than to listen to their employees' requests. That says a lot.
NY city makes it hard to shop at Walmart because there's no room for a Walmart so you have to get out of the center to get to it. Needless to say we haven't bothered. We've been getting our stuff at little shops here and there which I enjoy much better. Guilt-free shopping, unless I spend too much but that's a different story :)
I, like Annie, went to WalMart to buy olive oil, and that was pretty much the only thing - but two days ago I danced a jig when I saw that they just started to carry the same olive oil for $1 less at the Superstore. Still a giant mega store, but better than WM.
I'm definately a non-Walmart shopper for the reasons you have stated. The closing of S&R will make it harder to find stuff though... However, I wonder why I'm not anti-other big chain stores that sell things for less.
sharon
I know I'm late in the game commenting, but I have been thinking of this post lately. Maybe like you, Sarah, I have a hard time putting my ideas into words.
We do shop at Walmart when we need to. I've thought about why I do (or should not) but couldn't really discern the difference between this nasty giant corporation and all the other ones. Is Zellers any better? What about Ikea?
Maybe I should read the article you linked to, since I'm still willing (and secretly hoping) to be convinced to boycott....
Thanks for all the thoughtful comments! I agree with the general questioning of whether any of the big box stores are better than Walmart. My own answer to that is that they're not, at least not fundamentally. So we avoid those too if we can, shopping at the little local hardware store owned by our neighbour rather than the Rona or Canadian Tire, for example.
But you're right too in that sometimes there are no other options. Where, for example, can you buy pillows that isn't a big box-type store (and I'm including places like Sears/the Bay in that category)? In that case, we'd choose to shop at one of the other stores because in our minds it's the lesser of two evils, if that makes sense.
It's not a perfect system, and we're certainly not going to bring Walmart to its knees or anything like that, but that's not our goal. The point, for us, is simply to try to live in a way that's as ethically responsible as possible.
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