Wal-Mart to close unionized store in Quebec

[M.Dancer]

Poor/cheap people need a place to shop to, Walmart caters to that.

While I have no doubt that poor people shop there, poor people shop at a lot of places..but to suggest that poor people are walmarts target audience is a stretch.

Who’s the fastest-growing Wal-Mart demographic? Shoppers making more than $70,000 a year, up 12 percent from 2007. “Brand aspirationals,” a younger demographic that cares about name brands and labels, were the focus of Wal-Mart’s promotional strategies through the beginning of 2008, but the company has shifted back to low-price messages. Forty-two percent of Wal-Mart sales are to customers making less than $40,000 a year

http://industry.bnet.com/retail/1000211/taking-a-look-at-the-wal-mart-shopper/

Where Wal Mart puts its stores determines what the market will be. If they are in suburbs (which they are for the most part) the bulk of the clients will be middle class.

[Mr.Canada]

I don't really care. I like to shop there and I'll continue to do so.

Left wingers without a sense of civic or community responsibility. This isn't surprising to me at all. Civic pride and patriotism are all things for the right to embrace and are discarded by the left at any and every opportunity.

WalMart drives all small entrepreneurs out of business. If people continue to support these monsters the only stores, services and restaurants left will be huge corporate ones.

I thought the left hated big corporations and capitalism...hrm the hypocrisy of the left wing socialist continues.

[M.Dancer]

Left wingers without a sense of civic or community responsibility. This isn't surprising to me at all. Civic pride and patriotism are all things for the right to embrace and are discarded by the left at any and every opportunity.

WalMart drives all small entrepreneurs out of business. If people continue to support these monsters the only stores, services and restaurants left will be huge corporate ones.

I thought the left hated big corporations and capitalism...hrm the hypocrisy of the left wing socialist continues.

You are one confused individual Gab..

[blueblood]

While I have no doubt that poor people shop there, poor people shop at a lot of places..but to suggest that poor people are walmarts target audience is a stretch.

http://industry.bnet.com/retail/1000211/taking-a-look-at-the-wal-mart-shopper/

Where Wal Mart puts its stores determines what the market will be. If they are in suburbs (which they are for the most part) the bulk of the clients will be middle class.

That's why I said cheap as well. Lots of middle class people from what I see are pretty cheap. I'd say their target market is people looking to buy stuff for low prices. I'd also say people who are looking to buy stuff and get out (note the shotty layout and overall messiness of their stores) however one can buy a greasy McD's burger there though...

[blueblood]

Left wingers without a sense of civic or community responsibility. This isn't surprising to me at all. Civic pride and patriotism are all things for the right to embrace and are discarded by the left at any and every opportunity.

WalMart drives all small entrepreneurs out of business. If people continue to support these monsters the only stores, services and restaurants left will be huge corporate ones.

I thought the left hated big corporations and capitalism...hrm the hypocrisy of the left wing socialist continues.

In other words your a hypocrite.

Do you know what capitalism is? This post sure doesn't sound like it

I bet retirement funds don't mind Walmart...

[GostHacked]

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

[M.Dancer]

That's why I said cheap as well. Lots of middle class people from what I see are pretty cheap. I'd say their target market is people looking to buy stuff for low prices. I'd also say people who are looking to buy stuff and get out (note the shotty layout and overall messiness of their stores) however one can buy a greasy McD's burger there though...

Well that sounds like me but I prefer the term frugal...I refuse to pay more if I can get the same a penny less across the street....which is why I buy my fusion blades at the dollar store for $18 instead of going to Shoppers and paying $28

[segnosaur]

Left wingers without a sense of civic or community responsibility.

(note... I wasn't the person you had replied to... but wanted to respond..)

I'm anything but "left wing". While I'm not exactly a member of the conservative party (and disagree with some of their policies/actions) I voted for them in past elections. I support cutting government spending, taxes, and 'red tape'.

And I shop at Wal-mart quite regularly.

This isn't surprising to me at all. Civic pride and patriotism are all things for the right to embrace and are discarded by the left at any and every opportunity.

Ummm... how exactly is shopping at wal-mart "unpatriotic"?

We live in a global economy. Almost all products that we use ever day have had some sort of "foreign" input, either in the source of raw materials, in the design or manufacturing process, or in the ownership of the retail stores.

If you want to be a "patriot", shop for items where the price is cheapest (which is sometimes at wal-mart, sometimes at other stores), and take any money you save and put it towards something that is uniquely Canadian (Tickets to a CFL game, the latest CD by Great Big Sea, a genuine Saskatchewan seal skin coat, etc.)

WalMart drives all small entrepreneurs out of business.

Actually they don't.

(You're not the first person in this thread to make that claim... problem is, that 'claim' is wrong...)

Wal-mart has been around since the 1960s... In the past few decades, as the number of Wal-mart stores has gone up, the number of small businesses has actually remained stable. And if you look at different regions of the United States, the number of small businesses in states with the most Wal-mart stores has little or no correlation with the number of small businesses.

http://www.be.wvu.edu/divecon/econ/sobel/All%20Pubs%20PDF/Has%20Wal-Mart%20Buried%20Mom%20and%20Pop.pdf

Wal-mart is in competition, but it is not competing with your small little mom-and-pop stores, it is competing against the Home Depots, Targets, K-Marts and Zellers of the world.

[segnosaur]

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

Nice.... so they post a bunch of unflattering pics of people shopping at Wal-mart for people to laugh at.

Not exactly a very classy thing to do.

Frankly, I think its the schoolyard equivelant of laughing at the foreign kid with the lazy eye, something that should be considered morally reprehensible if it were applied to other "social groups".

Not only that, is there even any proof that shoppers at wal-mart are any more "distasteful" (on average) than those that would shop at Zellers, or Loblaws, or any other big store?

And if Wal-mart didn't exist, where exactly do you think these shoppers would go? Think they'd disappear? Or would they automatically become more attractive?

[segnosaur]

Your argument seems to be that we should let big corporations screw their employees any way they can to increase profits. But what happens when that gets around to YOUR employer?

What makes you think that it doesn't happen to people on a regular basis?

Hey, Wal-mart is probably a crappy place to work for many people. McDonalds probably is too. And working at some tiny mom-and-pop convenience store isn't exactly going to be providing you with a huge salary either.

People wages and benefits should be based on A: how difficult the job is, B: the skills you need to actually do the job, and C: how many other people with the skills/interest to do the same job. Wal-Mart pays low wages because the jobs are typically unskilled/low skilled, and usually aren't overly demanding (compared to, for example, heavy construction.) If you don't like the wages you'd get at wal-mart, go out and learn new skills. If enough people do that, then Wal-Mart will be forced to increase their wages to attract people.

[segnosaur]

If Costco can make money then I fail to see how Wal-mart is just scraping by while paying its employees half as much as Costco does.

Different business models...

- Costco sells a larger portion of their stuff "in bulk", reducing unit overhead

- Costco often sells higher end brands than Wal-mart (meaning higher prices, and the ability to have higher markups)

- Costco is not always consistent with the products it sells; many items that sell out are not restocked. I'm assuming that that makes it easier for their purchasing agents. Yet Walmart, when they sell out of an item, usually ends up restocking that same item.

[Mr.Canada]

So again we have more hypocrisy of the left wing.

As you suggest we have a "global economy". The left wing protests the OPEC meeting and the G20 , G8 and what have you deriding the "global" anything. Yet the left wing shops at Wal Mart.

The left claims to be a friend of the working man yet shops and therefore supports the business practices of WalMart. WalMart has some of the worst business practices in the world. They will do anything to save money no matter what it is.

WalMart competes with those other big box stores because there's no one else left to compete with. In the small towns that Wal Mart opens up in many small businesses close down. That is a plain fact, it's harder to see in the urban areas is all, due to the congestion, pollution and urban youth crime. Most of you socialists are from large Urban centres so you have no idea what happens outside your fish bowl other than what the CBC tells you.

I find it hilarious that the same people who are here extolling the virtues of poor people, immigrants and treating people fairly shop at WalMart on the week ends.

Complete and utter hypocrisy.

EDIT- Whoever mentioned my retirement funds. I have shifted most of my holdings to gold and silver quite some time ago, I posted about that months(years?) ago. I still own quite a few shares of a couple select entities none of which are WalMart.

Edited December 12, 2009 by Mr.Canada

[Smallc]

Lots of people shop at Wal-Mart. Left, and right.

[Hydraboss]

To the best of my knowledge, not one single employee of Walmart is a slave. They have not been purchased by the company and have free will to leave. Want better pay? Leave and go somewhere else.

Everyone in the majority of tax brackets shops at Walmart sometime. One of my kids wants Call of Duty Modern Warfare II for Christmas. Local game store $74.99. Walmart $45.00. Any guesses where I bought it? I don't tend to buy crap, but when Wally World has the same product I'm going to buy anyway for less, I'll go there.

Don't really care to spend an extra $30 to "send a message" to Walmart (the evil bastards!!)

As for unions, I'm exceedingly happy that they killed off the store to send a message to the unions. Unionize and we'll make you go away. I just wish Canada would end the charade and proclaim "union busting" as legal since it's done anyway. Take that, you little union whiners.

[bjre]

I hope all Unions in Canada disappear. Then we can have more jobs and less crimes.

[Hydraboss]

I hope all Unions in Canada disappear. Then we can have more jobs and less crimes.

Huh? Less crimes? How exactly do you equate the two?

I have my reasons for detesting these groups that exist to extort and protect underachievers, but I do not see how they cause crime. More jobs? Ya, probably. Less crime? Maybe Canada should restrict or cut off immigration from countries supplying criminals (Somolia, the middle east, China). That would help.

[bjre]

Huh? Less crimes? How exactly do you equate the two?

I have my reasons for detesting these groups that exist to extort and protect underachievers, but I do not see how they cause crime. More jobs? Ya, probably. Less crime?

More jobs means less crime. People has a job has less time to crime.

Maybe Canada should restrict or cut off immigration from countries supplying criminals (Somolia, the middle east, China). That would help.

Try to find support for your argument on finding statistics how many people in jails are born in canada and how many are from each of the the countries you listed.

Edited December 12, 2009 by bjre

[segnosaur]

So again we have more hypocrisy of the left wing.

Once again... I am not "left wing". I voted for the conservatives in the last election. I support the lowering of taxes and government spending.

The left claims to be a friend of the working man yet shops and therefore supports the business practices of WalMart. WalMart has some of the worst business practices in the world. They will do anything to save money no matter what it is.

And any company that doesn't attempt to save money will usually find themselves out of business.

WalMart competes with those other big box stores because there's no one else left to compete with. In the small towns that Wal Mart opens up in many small businesses close down. That is a plain fact,

Ummm.... did you actually read the f*cking report that I referred to? It was actually done by a university (in case you try to claim it was just Wal-mart publishing false statistics), and it showed that there are just as many small businesses now than there were 2 decades ago. Furthermore, it showed that there is no co-relation between the number of Wal-Mart stores in an area and the number of small businesses.

So, if Wal-Mart is driving all of these small companies out of business, then why do we see just as many small businesses around now as we did 20 years ago?

Edited to add: In case you have trouble actually finding it, here is the post that I made that has a link to the study.

http://www.mapleleafweb.com/forums//index.php?showtopic=2872&view=findpost&p=489686

So, you have my figures. Real ones. Not just anecdotes and rumors that you like to post about.

I guess its just easier to get sympathy if you say "Wal-Mart put me out of Business" rather than "I'm an incompetent businessman"

I think this cartoon says it all: http://www.somethingpositive.net/sp09082004.shtml

... it's harder to see in the urban areas is all, due to the congestion, pollution and urban youth crime. Most of you socialists are from large Urban centres so you have no idea what happens outside your fish bowl other than what the CBC tells you.

I have never listened to CBC radio, and the only show that I've watched on CBC television in the past decade has been the CFL, NHL, or reruns of Arrested Development.

Edited December 13, 2009 by segnosaur

[bjre]

Huh? Less crimes? How exactly do you equate the two?

I have my reasons for detesting these groups that exist to extort and protect underachievers, but I do not see how they cause crime. More jobs? Ya, probably. Less crime? Maybe Canada should restrict or cut off immigration from countries supplying criminals (Somolia, the middle east, China). That would help.

If there are lots of immigrants crime, how will that imply?

Each immigrant has provide an non-criminal record before he come, if they crime in Canada, that means they made first crime in their life in Canada. Why when a model citizen comes to Canada, he will become a criminal? What makes him did that?

[Mr.Canada]

Wherever a WalMart is built you have many Big Box stores also being built close to WalMart.

WalMart charges less for goods then everyone else. In order to get these goods WalMart suppliers also have to charge less.

WalMart pays their employees next to nothing so in turn the wages of WalMart suppliers must also drop, take away benefits etc or Wal Mart suppliers move their manufacturing to places which have cheap labour such as China, Philippines, Mexico etc so Canada loses jobs.

WalMart contributes to the urban sprawl that is infecting every quiet small or smaller town in Canada. As I've said, look at any Wal Mart that's built , there are always a ton of other Big Box stores that are also built close by.

This big box sprawl is seen by you people as a good thing?

The lowering of Canadian wages and benefits or the lose of jobs completely is seen as a good thing?

Wal Mart's lack of women is management positions is seen a good thing? 90% are men, while 60% of the lower positions are held by women.

Remind me again how Wal Mart is the savior of Canada.

[Jack Weber]

Wherever a WalMart is built you have many Big Box stores also being built close to WalMart.

WalMart charges less for goods then everyone else. In order to get these goods WalMart suppliers also have to charge less.

WalMart pays their employees next to nothing so in turn the wages of WalMart suppliers must also drop, take away benefits etc or Wal Mart suppliers move their manufacturing to places which have cheap labour such as China, Philippines, Mexico etc so Canada loses jobs.

WalMart contributes to the urban sprawl that is infecting every quiet small or smaller town in Canada. As I've said, look at any Wal Mart that's built , there are always a ton of other Big Box stores that are also built close by.

This big box sprawl is seen by you people as a good thing?

The lowering of Canadian wages and benefits or the lose of jobs completely is seen as a good thing?

Wal Mart's lack of women is management positions is seen a good thing? 90% are men, while 60% of the lower positions are held by women.

Remind me again how Wal Mart is the savior of Canada.

The neo-liberal economic types love WalMart...They see it as an example of the manifest destiny of their economic ethos.And this goes to the Freidmanite notions of organized labour...

[blueblood]

Wherever a WalMart is built you have many Big Box stores also being built close to WalMart.

WalMart charges less for goods then everyone else. In order to get these goods WalMart suppliers also have to charge less.

WalMart pays their employees next to nothing so in turn the wages of WalMart suppliers must also drop, take away benefits etc or Wal Mart suppliers move their manufacturing to places which have cheap labour such as China, Philippines, Mexico etc so Canada loses jobs.

WalMart contributes to the urban sprawl that is infecting every quiet small or smaller town in Canada. As I've said, look at any Wal Mart that's built , there are always a ton of other Big Box stores that are also built close by.

This big box sprawl is seen by you people as a good thing?

The lowering of Canadian wages and benefits or the lose of jobs completely is seen as a good thing?

Wal Mart's lack of women is management positions is seen a good thing? 90% are men, while 60% of the lower positions are held by women.

Remind me again how Wal Mart is the savior of Canada.

You are a bloody hypocrite!!! Here's another lesson in economics, when goods are cheaper, that makes lives better for regular consumers who themselves happen to be mom/pop store owners/little guys.

What the hell are you talking about, a lot of those "big boxes" are franchises, owned by you guessed it a regular joe!! Not only that, those "big boxes" owned by a regular joe franchisor really cut down on his marketing expenses due to the power of the brand name making him more money.

Take a look at the financial statements of Walmart and tell me what would happen if you raised the wages and decided to include lucaritive benefits packages to all walmart employees. Also tell me hown many billions of dollars that would cost.

It does not make sense to have manufacturing jobs in Canada that make Walmart crap, there are too many high paying other jobs to justify opening a factory. What was the unemployment rate before the recession 5-7%. Manufacturers would go bankrupt paying the wages you think those chowderheads deserve.

You call yourself a conservative, yet every "conservative" on the board has ripped you and your nonsense in half.

EDIT- Whoever mentioned my retirement funds. I have shifted most of my holdings to gold and silver quite some time ago, I posted about that months(years?) ago. I still own quite a few shares of a couple select entities none of which are WalMart

And there are many many more people who have shares of walmart, should they get screwed over?

Edited December 14, 2009 by blueblood

[segnosaur]

Wherever a WalMart is built you have many Big Box stores also being built close to WalMart.

And guess what? You also have big box stores build close to each other even when there's no Wal Mart around.

Just around the block from me, there is a street that has a: Pet Smart, Rona, Adventure Electronics, Marks Work Wearhouse. All of these are rather large. And there's not a Wal-Mart within a mile.

WalMart charges less for goods then everyone else. In order to get these goods WalMart suppliers also have to charge less.

Yes. Its called Capitalism. Perhaps you might have heard of it.

WalMart pays their employees next to nothing...

As does Zellers. As does McDonalds. As does most retail stores. I have worked 2 jobs in my life which paid minimum wage... one was in a corner store, one was in a restaurant. Neither of these had anything to do with Wal-Mart. (In fact, neither had anything to do with any sort of major chain.)

so in turn the wages of WalMart suppliers must also drop, take away benefits etc or Wal Mart suppliers move their manufacturing to places which have cheap labour such as China, Philippines, Mexico etc so Canada loses jobs.

And guess what, almost every store sells products that were made in foreign countries. Even small boutiques. Any company that doesn't try to get the best deal for products is likely to go out of business.

WalMart contributes to the urban sprawl that is infecting every quiet small or smaller town in Canada. As I've said, look at any Wal Mart that's built , there are always a ton of other Big Box stores that are also built close by.

Yes, I'm sure that does happen. But guess what? That's what people want. If people didn't like having Wal-Mart and other big box stores, they wouldn't shop there.

This big box sprawl is seen by you people as a good thing?

Well, that 'big box sprawl' typically results in consumers having access to a wide range of products, available in close proximity, often giving them the ability to comparison-shop for the best deals. Sounds pretty good to me.

Or perhaps you'd rather have a situation where people have to travel miles between different areas of town in order to obtain items they may need, increasing the time and effort needed to shop, and reduing the ability to find the best products/lowest prices.

The lowering of Canadian wages and benefits...

Here's a little news flash for you... there will always be jobs that pay minimum wage (or at least close to it). Even if Wal-mart were to totally disappear, corner stores, other department stores, fast food restaurants, mom-and-pop stores, etc. will still be paying low wages with no benefits.

At least with Wal-mart around, those people who earn low wages will at least have an additional option for shopping that might help them stretch their already tight budgets even further. Or perhaps you think those people who have low paying jobs deserve to suffer?

...or the lose of jobs completely is seen as a good thing?

Except you've never shown how Walmart is causing the loss of jobs.

Wal Mart's lack of women is management positions is seen a good thing? 90% are men, while 60% of the lower positions are held by women.

First of all, you never gave a source for your figures, but I can guarantee you that they're most likely wrong. IN fact, men don't make up anywhere near 90% of management positions.

It should also be noted that there is also a difference in the way the statistics are calculated...

From: http://www.forbes.com/2001/06/27/0627walmart.html

Richard Epstein, a law professor at the University of Chicago, regards the use of gross statistical numbers as "a form of willful ignorance." Plaintiffs, he says, want to simply compare the percentage of employees who are women to the percentage who are managers, and simply assume that any unexplained variance is the result of discrimination....[Wal-Mart] classifies management positions differently from its competitors. For example, it says department "managers" are not included in the count of managers because they are not salaried positions. "If we included these, our overall percentage would probably be close to 50%," the company says.

I'm sure there are cases where individual women have been discriminated against at Wal Mart. But given the size of the company, its not surprising that some problems exist (even if they're not a result of systemic discrimination).

Remind me again how Wal Mart is the savior of Canada.

Who claimed they are the 'savior of Canada'? They are a retailer. They sell products, sometimes at a price cheaper than its competitors.

[Mr.Canada]

There is a $10 billion lawsuit against Wal Mart for discrimination going through the courts right now. Wal Mart has tried to stop at three levels of courts but each judge has said no it has merit as there is proof that Wal Mart systematically discriminates against women. I was hoping you'd try to say I was wrong, I am not.

90% of management of Walmart, the whole company CEO's and downward are men. 60% of the lowest paying jobs are held by women. These are facts.

To add insult to injury men who hold similarly low paying jobs make more than women.

This is fair in your mind? This isn't discriminatory?

Maybe you work for Walmart and make more than your women counter parts and like it that way. Pay equality in your mind is a farce I guess. Thank you for showing your true colours.

Edited December 14, 2009 by Mr.Canada

[Smallc]

A conservative union man who cares about urban issues......