Walmart is the go-to shopping center for most Americans, but are they fully aware of the negative impact Walmart has caused America? Many people shop where they can find everything at once and is in a decent distance from their home, but most shoppers don’t realize what they are really purchasing or the truth about the stores they buy from. If more Americans knew what they were really getting out of their shopping trips at Walmart they probably wouldn’t come back. Walmart has a privative effect on America more than people realize. The people they hurt in the process of trying to “Save money” and “Live Better” are the backbone of the business, the products they sell might as well be used, and their crime rate escalates more and more, and …show more content…
Walmart has been around for quite some time now, but the Walmart we know today has changed immensely. Walmart employees, customers, and suppliers have seen their fair share of Walmart’s bad side. While Walmart’s founder, Sam Walton, claims to make their employees feel like they “are working for them” and that they care Walmart has done such a horrific job with the way they treat their employees that one day, the workers decided to walk out and go on strike. They walked out on the grounds that they “were emblazoned with the workers’ grievances: poverty wages, miserly benefits, dignity denied” (Eidelson 1). They felt like they weren’t only taking a stand against Walmart, but also taking a stand for the younger generations to come. Walmart’s employees are getting treated unfairly and are underpaid. The CEO’s, Michael Duke, annual salary gives him more money in an hour than an employee who works full-time would make in an entire year. In Bangladesh, over 100 workers “died in a factory without outdoor fire escapes, NGOs blame Walmart for pushing deadly shortcuts” (Eidelson 1). Not only are the employees being poorly paid by Walmart, but they are paying their life to Walmart just to make enough money to barely get by. Walmart even made a pregnant employee work around chemicals that eventually made her ill. After a trip to the doctor, Walmart allowed her to be put on a lighter duty, so they made her a door greeter; however, they
Is Wal-Mart bad for America? Absolutely not. Wal-Mart has lived up to Sam Walton's promise of affordable goods and services. Every day, shoppers enjoy the low prices of the things they need. In a recent local survey Lisa of Sedalia, MO claims to save at least $1200 a year on prescription medicine from Wal-Mart's pharmacy. Another shopper, found in the automotive corner of the store, stated that he saves approximately $300 dollars a year on engine oil, spark plugs, filters, windshield washer fluid and wiper blades. These are certainly great savings, and many other people
Wal-Mart is destroying our, as Americans, culture and environment. Wal-Mart destroys little shops from our towns, shops that were built by natives and hard-working people. Shops that overcame hardships and reasonable competition are being torn apart one by one in order not to cause too many people filing bankruptcy. Wetlands in America are not being taken care of, as they should. Wetlands are homes and safety nets for many animals. Wal-Mart has destroyed many wetlands in order to build a store in some town people do not even want there.
Karen Olsen pulls at our heartstrings using the specific people, places and things that we can possibly relate to in a pathos/ethos type method of description. She pours out examples of infringement, dollar signs, inequality and discrimination. Using names and painting a picture of a subject to explain how [Wal-mart] broke the law using intimidation, denying benefits and firing those that support the union. Sebastian Mallaby rebuttals by using facts and reasoning in a logos/ethos way. Examples include but not limited to; “Wal-mart has a war room to defend its image! Well, yeah, it’s up against a hostile campaign featuring billboards, newspaper ads, and a critical documentary movie.” Mallaby goes on to discuss different ways that many of
Walmart is bad for America, as some say. The Globalization essay that was handed out in class had many good points. It states that Walmart puts many smaller businesses out of service. A recent study by
On July 2, 1962, Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas. Over 50 years later, Wal-Mart became known as the largest private employer in the United States and the largest retailer in the world. Wal-Mart have expanded to over 4400 stores across the globe. Americans truly love Wal-Mart. When there is not any groceries at house the first thought comes to mind is Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart have the cheapest and lowest price that everyone can afford, so when the groceries are scarce at home most often Wal-Mart will be the next stop. People love shopping at Wal-Mart since it is more convenient than any other store around. Wal-Mart plays a tremendous growing role in America’s economy. More than 100 million customers visit Wal-Mart every week, but is Wal-Mart good for economy? This a question that many Americans never assumed or inquired. Wal-Mart is effecting America in a lot of ways. Wal-Mart has devastated thousands of small industries and innumerable manufacturing jobs over the past decades (Economy in Crisis). Wal-Mart has become so massive in retail that it sells five times more than any other retailer in the country. Sadly, 85% of the items on Wal-Mart’s shelves comes from foreign countries. This in turns hurts America’s economy, taking thousands of jobs away and taking countless revenue. Wal-Mart is a textbook illustration of where our economic system is headed.
Wal-Mart is considered one of the biggest employers in the U.S. with 25 different stores in most states also worldwide. One out of every 10 retail workers in the industry is employed by Wal-mart. When you think of Wal-Mart, you think of bargain items in any department of your choice. Hundreds of people visit Wal-mart on a daily basis, whether it is a big city or a small country town. Even though the business has created lots of jobs for people, especially in the smaller cities, it does hurt the small businesses. Wal-Mart has been viewed to have destroyed tens of thousands of small businesses and manufacturing jobs (Wal-Mart’s Impact on America 2012). With the opening of these Wal-Mart stores, it displaces other retail workers in the rural areas (Who win with Wal-Mart, 2011).
Wal-Mart and other big box retailers are destroying the cultural landscape of America. As Ehrenreich states "wherever you look there is no alternative to the megascale corporate order, from which every form of local creativity and initiative has been abolished by distant home offices." Wal-Mart is a key player in the cultural homogenization of America. It is impossible to "think outside of the big box." Everywhere you go in America you find KFC, Home Depot, Best Buy, Circuit City, Burger King, etc...
“Up Against Wal-Mart” by Karen Olsson, a senior editor at Texas Monthly and who’s article appeared in Mother Jones, introduces her article through the perspective of a Wal-Mart worker. She focuses on the negatives of Wal-Mart by telling the real life struggles of different Wal-Mart employees. “Progressive Wal-Mart. Really.” by Sebastian Mallaby, a columnist for the Washington Post, focuses his article on what Wal-Mart critics say and attempts to defend Wal-Mart by comparing Wal-Mart to other retailers. Even though Karen Olsson and Sebastian Mallaby both examine the negative effects of Wal-Mart, Olsson berates Wal-Mart’s unfair treatment towards employees and the unlivable wages that the world’s largest retailer provides while Mallaby
Not only does Walmart directly affect the economical situation of your community, it also puts significant strain upon the environment we live and depend on. In October of 2004, North America sued Walmart for violating the Clean Water Act CWA in nine states, causing a huge uproar both from the defensive Walmart corporation and more so from the targeted communities. Relying upon a communities oblivion, Walmart takes advantage of the situation in which it's presented, posing a threat to all nearby water supplies because of all the toxins and pesticides literally oozing from Walmart facilities worldwide. Much more costly towards the environment than the tinkling of spare change resounding in our pockets. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that a single Walmart location expends countless amounts of energy to maintain,
Walmart has had a long-standing presence in America society since the middle of the 20th century, seen as a place to get everything done, Walmart has become a fixation in our
If there was a choice for you as an American consumer between a Wal-Mart store that uses foreign goods and services over a local business that purchases local goods and local services, which one would you choose? Thousands of people choose to shop at Wal-Mart every day, which isn’t just the world’s largest retailer; it is the largest company in the global economy that brings the lowest possible prices to its customers. It has grown very rapidly throughout the years, bringing great bargains to its customers. However, despite Wal-Mart’s lowest prices, almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its suppliers knows the high cost of those good deals. To reach a nearly unapproachable goal, Wal-Mart chose to avoid the United States’ products
Currently Wal-Mart has 4,227 stores in the U.S and 3,210 internationally. Wal-Mart is the largest retailer in the world. In 2004 Wal-Mart accounted for 6.5 percent of the retail sales. In 2004 Wal-Mart had 1.3 million employees (Emek Basker). Sam Walton, a former JC Penney employee, started a small store named Walton’s in Bentonville, Arkansas in 1945. It grew into a multi-million dollar retail company known as Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has done great things for consumers by keeping their prices low and affordable. They helped China create a middle class in their economy because most of the goods sold at Wal-Mart are manufactured in China. Although those things are good, they come at a price. They have
The location of the first Wal-Mart in the Fortune Global 500 for the year of 2001 to 2002 turnover of 219.81 billion dollars. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the retail in the world. The company was much larger than its competitors in the United States - Sears Roebuck, Kmart, JC Penney and Nordstrom combined. In 2002, Wal-Mart operates more than 3,500 discount stores, Supercenters and Sam's Clubs in United States and over 1,170 stores in major countries around the world. The company also sells products online via the website, www.walmart.com. Wal-Mart is one of the largest private employers in the world, with the use of force about 1.28 million. The
When you talk about Wal-Mart the first thing that you have to remember is that they are the largest retailer in the world. Wal-Mart employs more people in the United States than any other company and is second only to the federal government in the number of employees that they have on the payroll. These are important facts to consider in that due to their tremendous size, Wal-Mart has an enormous
Negative Impact of Wal-Mart When Wal-Mart comes to town, the local economic framework is immediately thrown into turmoil (Wolff-Mann). Almost all Wal-Mart stores crush nearby communities and local businesses. Wal-Mart stores effect everyone; senior to youngsters, high-end stores to low-end stores, and grocery stores to pharmacies. Wal-Mart has a major impact on the community’s economy and the overall economy.