Comments on: I Hate You, Wal-Mart, For What You Have Done to America’s Mind

By: The Writing On The Wal » Blog Archive » “Wal-Mart has unleashed an incredibly destructive force on America.”

Fri, 13 Jul 2007 20:00:29 +0000

[...] I agree with this. [...]

By: Bill Deys

Bill Deys — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 18:20:49 +0000

What is this discussion saying about Bloggers/Podcasters? Are we more inclined to demand better service and quality and not be Wal-Marts customers. Statistically if you look at even the relatively small number of commenter’s to this post thus far if it was a good mix in demographics there should be at least one person that likes to shop at Wal-Mart. After all they have to have a lot of customers. Also when is the last time you went through a drive-tru and actually got what you ordered? I think at this point we are just used to everyone screwing up. There isn’t a morning in recent memory that my morning coffee order has been right. My dad flips when this happens and most people now just accept that thats the way it is and deal with it.

By: Christopher Johnston

Christopher Johnston — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 17:34:23 +0000

You are correct Chris. I absolutely HATE shopping at Wal-Mart and I’m perfectly happy to pay more for a product if I can get great service from the employees. If you want to see a great example of this go to Whole Food Market. They offer a high quality niche product, excellent service and they charge a premium for it. People generally only complain about price in the absence of value but there seems to be a nationwide trend in the level of poor service and terrible quality people will accept because it’s cheap.

By: Christopher S. Penn

Christopher S. Penn — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:15:50 +0000

Bryce: absolutely. The connection for piracy was intentionally a little sensationalistic – but when you consider it, if you’ll feed your body – for which there is no warranty and you only get one per lifetime – garbage just to save 50 cents, it’s not a huge stretch to say that mindset can taint everything else.

By: Bryce Moore

Bryce Moore — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 16:00:50 +0000

I think Sam Walton would be ashamed of where his company has taken itself. Surely I’m not the only one that remembers Wal-Mart’s “Made In America” campaign from years back?

Sometime between then and now the company turned into the 1000-pound gorilla it is by figuring out it can squeeze its vendors’ prices to the rails, sell at 1% profit margin (or less), and make a mint by selling a simply mind-blowing volume of product.

The value and perception of quality raises proportional to the person’s income, which means Wal-Mart’s hack and slash price mechanics will always have a place with those less fortunate or of less means than others.

I think you’re making quite a leap from “low prices” to “steal this”. Wal-Mart is responsible for a lot of bad things (including a lot of bad things in the music industry), but I can’t make the connection that they actually encourage piracy — at least not with a straight face.

At some point, personal responsibility has to step up and be counted — you’re going to steal someone’s work because of your choices in life, not because something Wal-Mart does.

By: David Jacobs

David Jacobs — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 14:52:15 +0000

Interesting concept, but I think you’re stretching it a little too far. To Bills point, the iPod is by far the best selling digital music player on the market, yet it’s is not the least expensive. I also don’t eat the $1 value menu every day at McDonalds because it’s the cheapest food I can get.
I agree somewhat with Mike; people will spend based on their perceived value of a product. Flying used to have a high perceived value, but with all the cost cutting it’s gone. So to your point, does aggressive price cutting diminish perceived value? Probably, yes. But the music industry have done themselves no favor by aggressively treating their own customers so badly lately. If you make me hate you, I don’t feel much like paying you anything more than I have to. On the other hand, Apple has engendered so much good will among it’s customers, they can charge almost whatever they want and people are happy to pay it.

By: Mike Bellina

Mike Bellina — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:27:07 +0000

What’s in that coffee you guys drink? I can’t totally agree. I think it is more based on demand. Why would a $500 phone sell so well when you can get one for $30? What would you buy a Mercedes when a Honda will get you from point A to point B just the same?

I think we buy cheap when we don’t care. When there is no passion behind the product you’re buying then price becomes the overriding factor. Then again, if I can buy a product that I want at 10% less then I will do that. Overpaying is so 1980s.

By: Bill Deys

Bill Deys — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 13:04:55 +0000

I won’t say I’ve never downloaded music but I always support the people who are in “our” community. John said it best when he use the term “Wal-Mart Syndrome”. It’s something we have used in our own family business for a few years. In my industry, swimming pools, we are feeling the effects of above ground pools, especially liners, coming from overseas. The popularity of the “blow up” pool that Wal-Mart sell is also a factor. One other important note to make is that they sell the pool but the rest or us, the “real” pool people, are expected to do all the service work for them. When the filter on your pool breaks why not go back to Wal-Mart and have them service it! I could go on but I’d start to go farther off topic so I’ll put an end to it right here.