Wal-Marts low prices are part of the reason this economy is in the shitter. It is one of the main reasons we are shipping jobs to China.

Stop buying at Wal-Mart. The low prices have a huge invisible cost attached to them.

I am definately stocking up on Tyson chicken wings this weekend! Don't tell the g/f....

Hasn't this been Wal-Mart's big plan all along? Destroy domestic manufacturing, send the economy spiraling downward, then capture the customers who can't afford to shop anywhere else. The new company store for the modern age.

Hear that? Its the sound of sweatshops all around the world expanding their manufacturing space.

"Excited about shopping"?! In a Wal-mart?!!

Eh, why not fiddle while Rome burns, let them eat chicken wings!

Well, if people didn't think that they "need" a new iPod every year and people focus more on what they actually need, then people wouldn't need to spend as much, either.

Walmarts already doing well with the tanking economy- it was one of the only companies to still post a decent profit last year (at least in that industry). I just wonder what else they're going to have to cut to make prices even lower- I saw on one of the Walmart documentaries that they run a very small operating profit. I mean, you can only demand lower prices from so many vendors, even the chinese ones, until you reach a bottom.

Geez walmart thanks for the help. No go die please.

@homerjay: nope. don't hear anything. could explain that funky smell though. i just thought i forgot to wash this morning.

I guess that Wal-Mart workers will be given less than full-time hours so that benefits don't have to be offered, and a few of them will have to be pressured to work off of the clock. Oh, wait. They're doing that already.

@cobaltthorium: Sounds almost like personal accountability. We don't take kindly to people suggesting we take personal accountability for our actions in this country.

Many people can blame only themselves for their financial hardships. (See also: CA housing crisis)

@suburbancowboy:
@hwyengr:
@headon:

Amen, brothers. Preach on!

I'm still going to Target, it's closer to me, even if the neighborhood isn't so nice.

@cobaltthorium: What? $300 music players and $500 phones aren't necessities? That $2700 Nav system in your new car? HOw are you ever going to find your way to all the places you've been driving to for years?

It's a shame all the childish "I want that (insert overpriced novelty gadget here) now!" idiots will drag the rest of us down with them. After all they outnumber us about 500 to 1.

P.S. My Nav system always has and always will fit in the seatback pocket or glovebox.

@unklegwar:

Way to ignoantly missplace the blame for the economy.

You're blaming people for spending? Seriously?
The only thing that keeps our economy running in the first place?
.
Maybe you should go read up about lending institutions and their shady buisiness practices.

I don't understand the anti-Walmart mentality. There's usually an economic boost to areas where WalMarts are built! How is that hurting anything?

@brent_w: Ignorance is strength

@frugalchick: If that's a serious question that you're actually curious about, check out PBS's Frontline episode about Wal-Mart. You can stream it from their webpage.

We're in this together.
Schooner Tuna.
The tuna with a heart.

What a deal!! Lead from China...10 to 30% off!! Thanks Wal-Mart!

I smell a dump. Price dumping anyone?

@hwyengr: Actually Walmart reminds me more of the images of Soviet era state food stores. The bleak places people stood in line for hours to get a loaf of bread. I think it is the blinding florescent lights and the smell of dispair. The company store comparison is pretty right too.

If only they would have reduced my price 10-30% when I went there to buy milk today. Sure glad my car doesn't run on milk.

One thing I do have to commend Walmart for is having so many perscription medicines available for $4.00. Alot of us who don't have health insurance just flat out could not afford them without this program.

Sort of want?

Yeah listen to all of you bashers, its pathetic. A company tries to help and then you see hordes of fickle people who think Wal-Mart is so bad when in reality is a new business model that more than just Wal-Mart follows. Target says they have low prices but their mark ups are far more than Wal-Mart and their quality of products suck. So yeah bash Wal-Mart for trying to help and lose sight of the bigger picture. Yeah Wal-Mart isn't the best employer and they have gone down hill a lot since Sam Walton passed, but they are still a huge company that employs thousands of Americans. So yeah bash them again for paying Americans.

you know, thats really nice of them!

we should give them dibs on a Bagdhad SuperCenter and let them sell missles at their rock-bottom prices!

go 'Merka!

Silly how little some Consumerist readers know, or apparently care, about how international trade works. Can we post a relevant econ primer somewhere on the site?

Here's an idea: Keep prices the same, but manufacture products in the United States and pay your employees a decent wage.

@bohemian: obviously you've never been to a soviet grocery store. Anyone who has would be very thankful for all the products you can get from Wal-mart

@SkyeBlue: Grocery stores [in my area] are offering the same $4 pricing on hundreds of prescription items.

Really, I don't do most of my shopping at WalMart because other stores in my area have better prices on most items. It's MY choice. And I'd rather read (and have) something other than a biased article from PBS.

We are very lucky that the rest of the world (at this current time) has vested interest in keeping us as a consumer driven economy. Once Asia decides to stop saving and rather spending, however, bad news bears.

@JMH: Good luck on that one. Post again when you can grasp reality.

@SkyeBlue:
That is commendable. Target, K-Mart, Sam's and maybe Costco (dunno cause we don't have a Costco in the area yet) all have similar plans. There are at least a couple of grocery chains that have a limited drug discount list, too.

And while their plans are similar to each other, they are not identical, so ask for the list at the store, or find it online.

And IIRC, in most states, even if you don't have a membership card, you can still use the pharmacy at warehouse stores.

Wal-Mart does buy domestic product as well as foreign. One problem large chains have is supply. there has to be adequate supply for them. This tends to result in many, many suppliers of the same item. Yes, I work in the industry and have first hand knowlege. McDonald's has encountered this multiple times too. At one point there was not enough available steel in the US to manufacture all of the toasters they needed for all of their stores. This also happened on more than one occasion with tomatoes. Will I say that they do not hurt the economy? No. I can vouch for their stringent demands and quality control though which makes me feel safer as a consumer. Wal-Mart is only at the forefront due to their size. What of Hershey moving manufacturing to Mexico? The great American chocolate. The economy is globalizing, that is a fact. Some companies will survive, some will not. This was set in motion before Wal-Mart came on the market. Now smart businesses are partnering with Asian, and other, markets for it to work. There is very little left that does not have a multinational tie.

Considering that so many people are up to the ears in debt and can't pay their mortgage, car payments or credit card bills, I am sceptical of the notion that increased spending will do anything to help the economy in the long term. Regardless of the driving force (shady lending practices, for instance), too much spending is what got us here in the first place.

I will not shop at Walmart. Nor will anyone in my family, and I work to make sure none of my friends shop there. Actually understanding economics places a good deal of social burden upon a person.

@JMH: The question is, will the companies be able to keep profit margins high enough to continue to draw investment, especially if said companies are already doing poorly? How about you pay extra for the US made products so they have some incentive to be kicked in the crotch with respect to their non-US-manufacturer competition ...

To the guy who said spending kept the economy going - the problem with THAT is that people decide they 'need' stuff they don't (see: new iPod or PC every year), then go into debt of some kind to get it. We're spending money we don't have.

Wal-Mart does buy domestic product, but they give the domestic manufacturers a book called "How to do Business with Wal-Mart" and rule 1 is to move your factories to China.

Wal-Mart dictates what price they will buy your product at. You may be able to afford it buy keeping your factories in the U.S. But it is highly unlikely. They want you to build a lower quality product at a lower price.

If you don't mind buying a crappy foreign made product and sending every factory job to China, then by all means, shop at that store.

@frugalchick: Thank you for disclosing your own bias. The option for a rational discussion is now gone.

Cowboy it's called business. You don't think that manufacturers dictate price? Then you are sadly mistaken. MSRP stands for Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price. Then Wal-Mart talks them down for the consumer because Wal-Mart will sell a lot of what it buys and the manufacturer's know that so that's why they are still in business. So don't become disgruntled over good economics from both sides, and don't keep the story one sided.

@suburbancowboy: @
"Stop buying at Wal-Mart. The low prices have a huge invisible cost attached to them.'

I agree. We should all pay more money for stuff that will come from China anyway. Call this a "lifestyle maintenance tax" for the people that can't run their shithole stores at a profit.(K Mart anyone ?)While we are at it,lets provide free healthcare for the dumb shits that don't pay attention in school and smoke a burrito sized joint in the morning to take the edge off and end up at Wal Mart.It's only fair that the people thta got an education,worked damn hard and tried to make something of themselves should hand over free health care and other social goodies to WalMart employees. We should forgive their debts,lower their mortgage rates,feed their kids...Hell,we should wipe their asses because they work at WalMart.
Let me tell you about invisible costs.One invisible cost is big companies like Proctor and Gamble (Tide,Pampers) and Tyson (chicken,beef)being able to charge whatever the hell they goddam please because they have the local supermarket chain by the balls and there are no other choices.I like having my own 300 pound bully to match against those bullies. I like the fact that they make every other store that they compete with work harder to get better or go the hell out of business.My local supermarket manager is a great guy,but he has been even better since WalMart came to town.It was either do better or lose his livlihood.There was an article on Consumerist yesterday about how shitty Sears/K Mart is. What would happen if there were no WalMart (Or Target) to keep them in line ? They would be 10 times worse,that's what. All of you WalMart haters are free to spend more than you need to,but stop moralizing to the rest of us. When Wal Mart is no longer a player,it won't be because PBS or the IFCW union puts them out of business,it will be because they did it to themselves.

@bohemian: "Walmart reminds me more of the images of Soviet era state food stores. The bleak places people stood in line for hours to get a loaf of bread. I think it is the blinding florescent lights and the smell of dispair. The company store comparison is pretty right too".

That's the dumbest thing I have read on these blogs in a long time (and believe me,the competition is stiff). I have been to the old USSR. The cleanest hospital I went to was dirtier than the dirtiest WalMart I 've ever been in.The stores are indescribable. Meat looks like 30 pounds of flies on a hook (open air - most small stores have no refrigeration). Fish laid out to dry with flies and other flying bugs hovering around.The vegetables look like compost and the bread is just as likely to be moldy as fresh.Are you people so blinded by your hatred of this company that you can't think rationally ?WalMart has it's faults (lots of 'em),but even if you don't shop there ,they give you more choice and more clout than you would have otherwise...Sweet Jesus,stop listening to these people with an axe to grind and think for yourselves...

@suburbancowboy: As one who shas worked for American supplying Wal-Mart, this has not proven to be true. This holds true for two out of two companies I worked for supplying them. Do they work a tough deal on a handshake? Yes. They are very tough and will drop a supplier in a heartbeat for doing the wrong thing. Working in food QA, I do not have a problem with this. Many food recalls are caused/enabled by looking the other way and not following regulations. As federal regs tighten, there WILL be an uptick in recalls. It's very scary.

@snarkysnake:

Bravo, good sir.

Excuse me, Walmart. Why didn't you worry about the economy years ago? You helped make this mess. You should be giving stuff away.

@snarkysnake: Your comment has hijacked my equilibrium with HTML weirdness. just sayin'.