Chosen,
Where I buy my groceries is actually irrelevant as my objections to Wal-Mart have to do with much more than just groceries. In the interest of honesty, though, I buy my groceries at Hy-Vee - a company founded and centered mostly in the sate of Iowa although they have branched out into some of the neighboring states.
But, as I said, this is about more than groceries. For instance, why would I want to go to Wal-Mart and buy toys for my kids when I could go some place like A Planet's Wild and support a locally owned and operated business? For a myriad of reasons, I think it's important to support local businesses. Clearly, there are others who think differently. That's their right. I certainly don't begrudge Wal-Mart for making money, I simply choose to spend mine other places that are more local. To each their own, I guess.
As far as worker organization goes, I'm not speaking from the headlines but from the documents (pdf). It's long been known that Wal-Mart discourages unions. When you say that the associates "have spoken in a loud and clear voice that no outside representation is needed," I have to wonder if it's because they have been coached or encouraged. Never having worked in a Wal-Mart, I can only speculate. If you say you don't need it, then that's fine with me. However, I know what the documents say and I strongly disagree with the company's position. (There are a number of other issues where I disagree with Wal-Mart but for the sake of brevity I'll keep my comments confined to this topic for the time being.)
Certainly, there are things that Wal-Mart can provide that smaller, more specialized businesses can not. In addition, by sheer volume alone, Wal-Mart has the ability to undercut all competitors on price. Combined with the convenience of one-stop shopping, I can understand why a lot of people like Wal-Mart. Once again, that's their right. As it's also my right to choose to spend my money elsewhere. It takes me a little longer and costs me a little more to do my shopping as I have to go to multiple places, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make in order to support as many local businesses as I can.
(Story time)
Some years ago (as I have not even entered a Wal-Mart in close to three years) I was at Wal-Mart with my wife. It was a weekday afternoon and the store was less than crowded. I was waiting for her near the registers and I had the opportunity to watch the amount of money that was exchanging hands. At a single register (there were others open but I was only watching one), nearly five hundred dollars passed through in a fifteen-minute span. That's a rate of $2000 per hour; $48,000 per day. From one register. Naturally, this is not a scientific study by any stretch of the imagination and I can't say how accurate a representation this is of Wal-Mart as a whole but when I see Wal-Mart taking in that kind of money and then giving out their $1000 scholarships and/or their $500 teacher-of-the-month awards, I relate that to less than an hour's intake from one register. Or a mere 1% of the intake from a single register in a single day. Needless to say, I'm not that impressed.
This is just my opinion, of course. You, along with Tom and imwatching, obviously disagree. Feel free to do what you like but I'm going to remain content spending my money somewhere other than Wal-Mart for the foreseeable future.
