While the economy tries to pull out of its downward spiral, consumers are flocking to discount department stores like Walmart, looking for the cheapest products they can find. But Walmart’s prices are low for a reason: its business model includes relying on public benefits and services for everything from store security to employee healthcare.
So if you shop at Walmart, make sure to pick up something for your neighbors, because their tax dollars subsidized those “great deals.”
It is no secret that Walmart keeps prices low by keeping salaries down. But Walmart also takes pains to keep stores under-staffed, and that includes security personnel. Since its own security staff are inadequate, that means Walmart relies on already-strapped local police to fill in. When a shopper was trampled in New York on Black Friday, it just underlined the problems with this practice.
Nobody expects to make a fortune working at Walmart, but it keeps wages low enough that many Walmart employees are forced to rely on public healthcare programs for their families. And when they retire—if they retire—they will rely primarily on social security, not their retirement savings. Walmart costs millions in state healthcare costs every year.
And, of course, Walmart’s reputation for destroying small, locally-owned businesses has been discussed to death, so I won’t even go there. You can read plenty about that if you care about the survival of small business.
So stop shopping at Walmart. Give your money to companies that are not pulling it out of your paycheck every month.
(photo: Wikimedia Commons)
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
This has long been my argument when people defend Target because it “gives so much money back to education.” I can’t imagine how much Target hasn’t paid in taxes because of city subsidies when new stores are built. Is Target really any different than Wal-Mart in this sense?
I don’t think Target has the same business model. However, it may be that, as Wal-Mart takes more and more market share, stores like Target are forced to adopt the Wal-Mart business model or die.
I’d be interested to find out how much stores like Walmart actually save an average person and family. Then use that data to see if their low prices are actually doing more harm or good. I think comparing it’s only positive (low prices with everything in one store [ie save on gas...maybe]) with all it’s negative costs.
Any chance you could post other companies costs so your data has a better value? I’m talking about how Walmart’s health care numbers compare to a similar business.