If you're reading this blog then you're probably either already an anti-Wal-Mart person or you're wondering what the big deal is.
So I thought I'd take a few minutes and relate what Wal-Mart is and represents to me and, hopefully, that will help explain why I will never spend another dime of my money in any of their stores (unless they completely remake the company in a more ethical image but that would cut into the bottom line and they'll never do it).
Wal-Mart is an enormous company with more power at its fingertips than, most likely, the majority of the world's countries. They certainly make more money than alot of countries. But, instead of using their bulk and power to make the world a better place (which is, truth be told, not their job or their mission) they use their power to weaken America, they use their power to keep people poor, they use their power to exploit neighborhoods and towns, they use their power to do nothing but pursue every single buck they possibly can.
And they have a long track record of crossing ethical and legal lines. From forced overtime without pay to cooking the books so that it looks like they have more full-timers than they do (defining a 28 hour work week as full-time does not a full-time job make), foisting their healthcare expenses on the local governments of their monster stores, making applicants perform some silly physical exercise to discourage fat people from applying, the list goes on and on and on.
I realize that large corporations have large problems. But they can afford to and should be leading by example and not by exception. They could use their energy to make the American people stronger, they could use their power to help force reform on the healthcare industry rather than sweeping their problems under the rug's of the localities they inhabit. They could be a responsible corporate citizen but instead they focus on the bottomline and dismiss the rest as inconsequential.
Well, people like me don't think its inconsequential. I vote with my wallet and make sure that Wal-Mart never sees a penny of my money. I also make it known that I will not accept gifts purchased at Wal-Mart. Nor will I support in anyway people who shill for them (that's you Beyonce and Garth not that I care for either of your musical styles anyway). Its a small thing but it makes me feel better as I'm not supporting a company that could be so much better but isn't because of greed. And I do not have any desire to fuel their greed or their efforts to infiltrate more towns to spread their cancer.
If you don't care about Wal-Mart then shop there, just don't complain when your job is outsourced and your forced to work there and enter the ever-downward spiral that is the Wal-Mart cycle.
Tags: Wal-Mart<, WalMart, explanation, the why, the how