The Lure of Low Prices
The week of November 13th, a poll was conducted through Zogby for WakeUpWalMart.com. The results of this poll showed that 56% of those surveyed (and thus by extrapolation–according to those who asked for the poll, 56% of Americans) felt that Wal-Mart was bad for America. Or, in the terms of the option they picked, I believe that Wal-Mart is bad for America. It may provide low prices, but these prices come with a high moral and economic cost for consumers. Looking at this on the surface, it seems like people in the majority are getting fed up with Wal-Mart’s practices and the general way in which they conduct business.
Going with that assumption for the moment (because it is an assumption), we now have to look at the actions of American consumers–especially in light of Black Friday just happening. Consumers still showed up in mass to shop at Wal-Mart on Black Friday. They showed up for the low prices and large selection. As in many things with the American Public, the only thing that mattered was the bottom line and not anything that went into it.
I will freely admit that there are ethical questions regarding how Wal-Mart conducts its business practices. By and large, they do not want competition given how they come in and drive out local competition. They treat their employees poorly (in many cases), going so far as to try to find ways to drive out older employees to make way for newer employees they can pay less. Then there are the regular complaints of the labor used to make their products and the deceptions they go through to be able to claim the ‘Made in America’ label.
In the end, though, it appears that while American Consumers may think one way, their actions speak in a completely different manner. Unfortunately, this means that Wal-Mart has little to no incentive to change their practices. I firmly believe we don’t need the government interfering simply because of the precedent it would continue. It’s something that needs to be handled by the consumers themselves. One would hope they’ll start listening and turning their money and attention elsewhere to push Wal-Mart to make changes. The cynical side of me, however, doesn’t see this happening anytime soon. Regardless, you’ll likely see me at Target rather than Wal-Mart.