How Walmart Has Changed America Essay

Wal-Mart is destroying our, as Americans, culture and environment. Wal-Mart destroys little shops from our towns, shops that were built by natives and hard-working people. Shops that overcame hardships and reasonable competition are being torn apart one by one in order not to cause too many people filing bankruptcy. Wetlands in America are not being taken care of, as they should. Wetlands are homes and safety nets for many animals. Wal-Mart has destroyed many wetlands in order to build a store in some town people do not even want there.

Wal-Mart, the multi-billion company and the second largest employer in the world, is the most controversial corporation in the world. Wal-Mart is a global powerhouse and affects many people around the world. Wal-Mart is constantly getting attacked from unions, human rights groups, small towns and small businesses. Wal-Mart is accused of treating their workers poorly and driving small businesses out of business. But however these accusations are false or over exaggerated. Wal-Mart offers families and low income people quality products. Also, they pay their workers competitive wages and treat them with respect. Wal-Mart opens their stores in rural and under developed areas. Wal-Mart improves the lives of the people who live rural area and

Some may claim a Walmarts’ arrival in a community is helpful to improve the growth and development in the community, but others tell a different story. Many claim that a Walmart is great way to create new jobs in the community. They are partially right, between construction and development, plenty of jobs are created. Also, about 300 retail jobs are created based on the amount needed to run a Walmart super center twenty fours a day, seven days a week. However, Kenneth Stone, a professor of economics at Iowa State University, conducted a study in which two Super Walmart centers in two different states were evaluated. The study lasted about two years and showed that for every one job Walmart had created, 1.4 jobs were lost in local communities (Davidson 1). Walmarts’ low prices come with additional costs that we are

The company is known for the bad treatment of their employees: they are paid 32% less then other retail stores employees. A typical employee who worked there three years received $1.07 in wage increases. Employees are forced to work off the clock, and managers are taught how to change pay figures so that they do not reflect actual time worked (“Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices”, n.d.). Wal-Mart has come under fire for their employee health insurance policy. They do not propose their employees a health care policy that is competitive with what other retailer employers offer for their subordinates.

Wal-Mart is an American multinational retail corporation and one of the leading discount department retail stores (Wikipedia). It is the highest- grossing company in the United States (Fortune 2008a), and is by far one of the most successful companies worldwide. Wal-Mart offers a place to buy the majority of our goods under one roof like electronics, furniture, clothing, pharmacy, sports, food, books etc. Wal-Mart sells good at lower price than the others and this is even shown by its slogan “save money, live better”.  It drives out smaller and sometimes even the expensive stores out of business due to its lower prices. Wal-Mart provides jobs for thousands of

rose or fell ... But it's clear that average wages fell. (Found off of a website on Google) Walmart workers do not get paid enough money either. The wages that Walmart employers are paid ranges from $7.50-$9.00, and that's even when people have been working there for quite a while. (Found on Google) Wal-Mart wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest possible prices to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never reached. The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic products that don't change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will charge shoppers, must drop year after year. But what almost no one outside the world of Wal-Mart and its 21,000 suppliers knows is the high cost of those low prices. Wal-Mart has the power to squeeze profit-killing concessions from vendors. To survive in the face of its pricing demands, makers of everything from bras to bicycles to blue jeans have had to lay off employees and close U.S. plants in favor of outsourcing products from overseas. So yes, Walmart is bad for America.

Is Wal-Mart bad for America? Absolutely not. Wal-Mart has lived up to Sam Walton's promise of affordable goods and services. Every day, shoppers enjoy the low prices of the things they need. In a recent local survey Lisa of Sedalia, MO claims to save at least $1200 a year on prescription medicine from Wal-Mart's pharmacy. Another shopper, found in the automotive corner of the store, stated that he saves approximately $300 dollars a year on engine oil, spark plugs, filters, windshield washer fluid and wiper blades. These are certainly great savings, and many other people

On July 2, 1962, Sam Walton opened his first Wal-Mart in Rogers, Arkansas. Over 50 years later, Wal-Mart became known as the largest private employer in the United States and the largest retailer in the world. Wal-Mart have expanded to over 4400 stores across the globe. Americans truly love Wal-Mart. When there is not any groceries at house the first thought comes to mind is Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart have the cheapest and lowest price that everyone can afford, so when the groceries are scarce at home most often Wal-Mart will be the next stop. People love shopping at Wal-Mart since it is more convenient than any other store around. Wal-Mart plays a tremendous growing role in America’s economy. More than 100 million customers visit Wal-Mart every week, but is Wal-Mart good for economy? This a question that many Americans never assumed or inquired. Wal-Mart is effecting America in a lot of ways. Wal-Mart has devastated thousands of small industries and innumerable manufacturing jobs over the past decades (Economy in Crisis). Wal-Mart has become so massive in retail that it sells five times more than any other retailer in the country. Sadly, 85% of the items on Wal-Mart’s shelves comes from foreign countries. This in turns hurts America’s economy, taking thousands of jobs away and taking countless revenue. Wal-Mart is a textbook illustration of where our economic system is headed.

Wal-Mart is good for the economy because of their low prices, every dollar saved by consumers that shop at Walmart lets them buy other items. When prices are lower the consumers’ needs can be more fulfilled rather than when prices are higher. Wal-Marts’ size proves the success of their strategy and also benefits the economy. With Walmart growing into the largest business on the planet it shows that it is accurately fulfilling consumer needs and efficiency. Wal-Mart helps people get more for what they pay for and provides jobs for people willing to work. “It is making suppliers want to achieve greater economies in manufacturing”.

Wal-Mart is now the largest grocer, largest retailer, largest corporation in the world. "If Wal-Mart was a nation, it would have a bigger economy than 80 percent of the world's countries"(Singer and Mason). About "138 million people go to one of Wal-Mart's 5,000 stores in the United States and nine other countries", and purchase more than $300 billion every year (Singer and Mason). With a 1.6 million global workforce, Wal-Mart has become the biggest private employer "in the United States, as well as in Mexico and Canada"(Singer and Mason). "Wal-Mart already has 11 percent of all U.S. Grocery store sales," and "by 2013 that figure is likely to rise to 21 percent"(Singer and

The Northwest community research group figured that over a 20 year period Walmart will decrease a community's economic output by 13 million dollars. This has a very negative effect on small businesses. Most communities are looking to expand economically not to diminish. Losing this much money within the community can lead to economic decline and business failure.

Wal-Mart Does not help the Economy To some Wal-Mart is a successful company but to others, they are a corporate criminal. In this article “Wal-Mart Is Good for the Economy” Author John Semmens Explains that many people see Wal-Mart as a corporation that is a crook and who is making money off the economy and consumers. I agree with this statement; for instance, I do not believe Wal-Mart is good for the economy. Being that Wal-Mart pays poverty wages and forces their employees to work unpaid overtime and gets their products from overseas sweatshops.

“Up Against Wal-Mart” by Karen Olsson, a senior editor at Texas Monthly and who’s article appeared in Mother Jones, introduces her article through the perspective of a Wal-Mart worker. She focuses on the negatives of Wal-Mart by telling the real life struggles of different Wal-Mart employees. “Progressive Wal-Mart. Really.” by Sebastian Mallaby, a columnist for the Washington Post, focuses his article on what Wal-Mart critics say and attempts to defend Wal-Mart by comparing Wal-Mart to other retailers. Even though Karen Olsson and Sebastian Mallaby both examine the negative effects of Wal-Mart, Olsson berates Wal-Mart’s unfair treatment towards employees and the unlivable wages that the world’s largest retailer provides while Mallaby

Wal-Mart and other big box retailers are destroying the cultural landscape of America. As Ehrenreich states "wherever you look there is no alternative to the megascale corporate order, from which every form of local creativity and initiative has been abolished by distant home offices." Wal-Mart is a key player in the cultural homogenization of America. It is impossible to "think outside of the big box." Everywhere you go in America you find KFC, Home Depot, Best Buy, Circuit City, Burger King, etc...

Being such a large company with many stores and employees Wal-Mart faces many issues. Some of the issues the retail giant faces are; wages, gender discrimination, and health benefits. It seems too many that Wal-Marts has lost its way. When the recession hit Wal-Mart laid off many of its employees and because of that consumers feel the shelves are not being restock and they can’t find what they are looking for. According to Bloomberg Business Week Wal-Mart went from having 343 employees in a store in 2008 to 301 employees in a store in 2013. Even though the employee cut seems logical it is costing the retail giant business. There is no man power to keep the shelves stock and give customers the great customer service that Sam Walton envisioned. (Bloomberbusinessweek)