I went to Evilmart today. The draw for cheap soups was more than I could fight. Their motto, “Always Low Prices” just seemed to appeal too much to me today. For many, this might seem ridiculous. Why the heck wouldn’t a guy like me shop at Evilmart every day? Guilt, I guess. I’m not thrilled with the wages and benefits that they pay their employees just so I can have a nickel off a particular item. Well, like I said, that .05 savings per can of soup was just too much for me to fight. Okay, it wasn’t exactly that. It was a lot more than .05 per can. More like about .60 per can cheaper and on top of that, we had a coupon to drop the price even more.
Normally, I wouldn’t care, but these soups are a nice easy way to only eat 6 points (I’m sort of following the Weight watchers plan). And to be able to buy 10 of them for about .65 cheaper per can, added up to enough that I decided to go there and buy them. Some of my friends think I’m ridiculous for having this point of view, as I’m sure some of you do too. Well, as the corny old country song says, “You’ve got to stand for something or you’ll fall for anything”. I’ve tried to make a stand against Evilmart for as long as I can remember (long before it became so hyped in the media) because I do think that they could be a better company for my community by paying better wages and giving better benefits to their employees. I read today that there are over 3100 Evilmart employees on public paid health care in my state. That just doesn’t seem right. They have jobs, yet we are paying for their benefits.
So, there you have it. I’ve gone against my own principles and shopped there. I’m not proud. Maybe the $6.00 I saved on soup wasn’t worth feeling the disappointment. Oh well. Too late now. I think I’ll go make myself a can of soup and think about my pension, health care and matching 401k at my company.
It’s a catch 22. If you went to another store, you’d probably be thinking about how you could have gotten the soup for less…
Wal-Mart (assuming you mean this :P) is doing a valuable service providing a job for the kind of people who usually work at Wal-Mart. The option for these people, insted of getting fairly low wages from Wal-Mart, is not getting superduper millionaire wages with multimedia benefits. The realistic option is not getting a job at all (if that’s not the case, well, why else would they work at Wal-Mart?). I just hope Wal-Mart some day decides also to do business in this country. Instead, we have to deal with nationwide cartel prices.
Here’s a writing about a slightly differing point of view on the matter: http://sixteenvolts.blogspot.com/2006/01/shopping-for-better-life.html
Especially the last few paragraphs explain the point a lot better than I ever could.
Don’t feel too bad, I have to sell my soul to Evilmart every week. My only other option would be to drive 40 miles one way to another store. Even before gas went so high, the extra time and expense became prohibitive.
The employees in my area are in the same boat. Most are on food stamps and their children on Medicaid.
I don’t think the soup savings are ridiculous. Hell, I will travel 5 miles out of my way to pump cheaper gas at costco.
Don’t sweat it money. The pride will heal.
Hazzard, you might want to check out this article: 25,000 applications for 325 Wal Mart jobs.
There seems to be at least 25,000 people in that area that aren’t bothered with the company’s wages or benefits.
Hey, I am doing ww too! Have lost 18 plus pounds since last week of December. If you want a really good 3 point soup, get the campbell’s chicken vegetable soup. It has 1.5 points per serving, and a total of 3 points for the whole can (low low fat, tons of fiber). I get them from kroger, but am sure that walsnart carries them.
As for the shop at walsnart dilema…
we live in a capitalist society, like it or not, and we must deal with the realities (good or bad) of such a society. As for me, I find that I can stock up at kroger or bi-lo when they have sales, and do better than the snart…
keep up the good blogging…
ncnblog.com
ncnpodcast.com
Excuse meeee……..keep spreading the Union lies about wal-mart……..wmt employees have the option for affordable healthcare…..$22 bucks a week ……….$11 bucks a week for single coverage….
WMT is the greatest corporation in human history…..behind Phillip Morris (Altria group)………..thats why no one can compete against them
You guys continue to spread the lies about wmt……..you are making the UNions very happy……now that they have killed GM and FORD……the parasites must find a new host….wmt fits their bill…….
Then you will be paying high prices….but dont worry…you will feel better knowing your money is going in the Unions pockets………….
And your always crying about wanting to buy individual stocks……you should have bought wmt in the low 40’s………….still not too late…thats a $68 stock
I had to approve the last comment from Mr Greedy. Just so people know I don’t delete the flames.
Yeah, so I do like having my own opinion and am glad you have your own.
Some times people have different points of view. I think the company can do a better job with pay and benefits. That’s all I’m saying. I also think companies can be successful and still have compassion for their employees. That must be why I like Costco so much. They offer great value and provide a reasonable wage and benefits.
i think its sort of misleading to say that “They have jobs, yet we are paying for their benefits.” The people that work at wal-mart are paying into the system just like the rest of us.
i’d also point out that wal-mart doesn’t exactly attract CEO material. not the run of the mill associates anyway. i know for a fact that some of the people that work at wal-mart in my hometown are functioning addicts/alcoholics. people with an addiction like that aren’t going to work on wall street.
if you have no more ambition in life than to work for wal-mart, then life gives you exactly what you wish for.
I figured this thread would generate some comments. Yeah, I don’t disagree that many employees at Walmart aren’t exactly aspiring rocket scientists. Ideally, we all wouldn’t be paying for their health care though.
I’m not a fan of walmart. I dislike the way so many businesses in small towns have been wiped out. I dislike the mentality of less quality, but cheap! BUT, it is the consumer that keeps walmart successful. It is the societal disease of wanting stuff, and wanting it cheap.
Maybe it’s nostalgia on my part, but remember when people used to save their money to buy quality products from craftsmen (tailors, cobblers, etc.)? Instead, we want lots of stuff, and we want it to be cheap, so we get the chinese to make it for us.
On the employment side, we can’t have it both ways. If wal mart didn’t have the ultra low prices, they’d lose their edge. They definitely wouldn’t get any customers based on the shopping experience. No one forces these people to make employment at walmart their highest goal – we should be happy that they choose to have a job at all. I for one, do not want Unions taking over walmart.
Hazzard, I wish I didn’t have to pay for anybody’s healthcare, but according to lots of posts across the internet that I’ve read, lots of employers aren’t offering affordable healthcare plans any more. It’s sad really, but maybe it’s time for people to step up and take some responsibility for themselves. Find a job with healthcare benefits, quit eating crap & start exercising .. get an HSA .. get an education… there are so many ways to make it in this country, it’s sad that we all expect the government (or large corporations) to foot the bill all the time.
You’ve gotten some great comments!
The only problem with that, Carolyn, is that some people survive because of Wal-mart’s “cheap”. It’s the “cheap” that still allows them to put food on the table for their family while paying higher heating bills. Always low prices means the dollar stretches further, and for some families, that makes all the difference.