30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale - Consumerist Comments

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

dugn — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 18:41:33 EDT

@b612markt: Actually, I was. Funny how certain people here think personal affronts are the same as comments. Be Nice.

dugn

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Hello_Newman — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 23:19:07 EDT

This is so funny, they didn't think 30 years of tapes would lose them even a single multimillion dollar lawsuit?
I bet now they will double the original price if they want to keep those tapes from getting into the hands of any trial lawyer who wants them.

Hello_Newman

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

jarchie219 — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 18:07:07 EDT

Idiots. Something this sensitive should be kept in-house. I wonder if their HR and Accounting are out-sourced.

jarchie219

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

scoosdad — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:56:40 EDT

@scoosdad: ...and honestly, I think that memo from the production company's attorney is a bluff. If they truly have the wide interest in buying the tapes that their attorney suggests, then why are they going back to Wal-Mart "one last time" to see if they're still interested in paying anywhere near the original price? Wal-Mart already said no twice, and if they've got other qualified buyers, then sell baby, sell.

scoosdad

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

scoosdad — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:52:52 EDT

@b612markt: I just read the memo, and indeed the production company originally offered to sell the tapes back to Wal-Mart for $150 million, then reduced that to a mere $145 million when they balked.

[walmartwatch.com]

I'd say that's a whole lot more money than what the original article here describes as "several million dollars".

@B: If that was the original offer to Wal-Mart, then I would think they'd be looking for 145,000 lawyers to shell out a thousand bucks each to get the tapes. That reminds me of a lawyer joke....

scoosdad

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

nardo218 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:49:30 EDT

*shakes head* God love em, wtg.

nardo218

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Neecy — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 16:54:22 EDT

If they do end up selling them to the highest bidder, I hope they stick a Rick Roll in there somewhere!!!

Neecy

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

b612markt — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:27:07 EDT

walmartwatch.com has a memo indicating that Flagler wanted $145 million for the videos. I wonder how much Wal-Mart will lose/pay for this now?

b612markt

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

beturbippie — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:21:08 EDT

I would think that the price for the videos just doubled....

WaLLyWorld would not want these videos in the hands of opposition lawyers.

The cost of a lost lawsuits would cover the cost of the video's.

The production company wins this round...pay up WalMart...

beturbippie

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

azntg — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:17:00 EDT

This might be one of the few times that I'll say Walmart seemed to have underestimated itself when it believed that the videos will have minimal interest to the public.

Sure, most of the public wouldn't know or care. But it calls for excellent comedy fodder and lawsuit material! Also, it'll expose some of their "secrets" once the public gets its hand on it.

azntg

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

b612markt — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:16:42 EDT

@dugn: Lame response. you're not a lawyer.

Also, this is the best news I've read all day! I hope all sorts of wonderful things happen that are bad for wal-mart.

b612markt

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

ChuckECheese — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 15:07:13 EDT

@forgottenpassword: It's pretty industry standard-ish for production companies to retain the rights to photos and videos. That's why Miss Americas get outed every occasionally.

ChuckECheese

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Imakeholesinu — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:40:40 EDT

Wal-mart. Always the lowest bidder...always.

Imakeholesinu

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

forgottenpassword — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:34:43 EDT

Ok who was the moron walmart exec that allowed a production company to keep the rights to all that they recorded?

forgottenpassword

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

ViperBorg — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 14:19:14 EDT

The video company says it offered to sell the tapes to Walmart for several million dollars, but the retailer would pay only $500,000, saying that the "footage wouldn't be of interest elsewhere."

Sure it wont.

ViperBorg

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Mr. Gunn — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:50:13 EDT

B: Yeah, any they'll be able to charge a bit more that $1000, too!

Mr. Gunn

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

JiminyChristmas — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:46:41 EDT

@Orv: The danger with plastic gas cans is that they can develop a static charge, which is a potential source of ignition. When you see a sign on a gas pump that tells you to set the container on the ground while filling it; that's the reason.

JiminyChristmas

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

DeafChick — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:46:33 EDT

Consumerist should get in on this.

DeafChick

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

hi — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:41:02 EDT

Can everyone on Consumerist chip in a little money? Lets buy this and put it up here!

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Imaginary_Friend — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:30:49 EDT

This is so awesome! Christmas just came early for all the Walmart haters.

Walmart, you cheap stupid bastard. Nice to see that notorious miserly streak rear up and bite you in the ass. Have fun in court!

Imaginary_Friend

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

boxjockey68 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 13:04:28 EDT

@Secret Agent Man: I will be looking for them, I can SOOO hardly wait!

boxjockey68

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

ceilingFANBOY — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:49:36 EDT

@Starfury: Ok, that joke really needs to be put to rest.

ceilingFANBOY

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Orv — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:45:08 EDT

Plastic gas cans are kind of a bad idea all around. They seem to leak a lot more vapor than the metal ones. I think the plastic is just porous enough to let vapor molecules through, or something. But they're popular because they're like a fifth the price of a good metal safety can.

Orv

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

ChuckECheese — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:35:33 EDT

@petrarch1608: Many a young boy with access to accelerants has been in the running for the Darwins, but it doesn't stop them from setting things on fire.

ChuckECheese

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

dugn — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:27:27 EDT

This company is in a dangerous spot.

If they provide these tapes to anyone for less than 'several million dollars', it can be construed as blackmail or extortion. If they leak portions of these tapes (which it seems they're doing), they can get sued for exposing Wal-Mart's intellectual property (different than simply the rights to the tapes they claim they own).

Pretty rocky ground if you ask me.

If I were this company, I'd negotiate for a good price with Wal-Mart, close the deal and walk away.

dugn

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:25:50 EDT

@scoosdad: Find a thousand lawyers looking to sue Walmart, charge them $1000 each for access to/copies of tapes relevant to their case, that's a million right there.

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Secret Agent Man — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:18:43 EDT

@boxjockey68:
Some of the videos made it out into the public already. They were all over CNBC yesterday. Since that is my primary source of news, I just assumed they were being shown elsewhere.

It was basically a lot of managers in drag. I didn't get to hear any of the audio, but apparently there are lots of companies in legal disputes with Wal-Mart that are reviewing the tapes for information that could be useful in the courtroom.

Secret Agent Man

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Starfury — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:08:39 EDT

Step 1: Get a contract to record Wal-Mart meetings and have full rights to the tapes.

Step 2: ???

Step 3: Profit!

Starfury

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Me — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:51:11 EDT

Corporations screw up like this all the time. AOL didn't own its own logo until 2001, IIRC, because they didn't have a work-for-hire agreement with the designer who created it way back when. The designer was still doing AOL work, though, and they worked out an amicable deal.

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

scoosdad — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:44:18 EDT

@qwickone: Right, but to followup, what entity is going to pony up more than the $500,000 that Wal-Mart offered? I think these guys should have taken the money and ran. Sure, they're a curiosity for several groups with an ongoing anti-Walmart agenda, but are any of those groups prepared to pay the several million that the production company is asking for?

They'll all just sit around and wait for them to show up on YouTube when no serious buyers step forward.

scoosdad

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

ionerox — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:42:59 EDT

@Blueskylaw: It's amazing to me that they didn't have some sort of contract in place specifying who had rights to the video whenever their relationship was terminated. Cripes, what a bunch of knuckle-draggers.

ionerox

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

qwickone — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:32:30 EDT

I've got the give the company props for at least offering it to Wal-Mart first. They could have gone straight to the market with it.

qwickone

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

jeff303 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:26:44 EDT

@LynchMob52: Hahahaha. You think most Wal-Mart shoppers will see the tapes? Or even hear about the tapes? Or even know what an "internal meeting is?" Wal-Mart's revenue is in the hundreds of billions per year. They're not about to be ended by a little leaked dirt.

jeff303

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Scotus — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:17:49 EDT

Well, I guess if your company is going to go out of business, you might as well go out with a bang.

I think there are two lessons to be learned, here:

1) Don't get complacent and let one company account for 95% of your business, because when they leave, you're screwed.

2) Don't let someone tape your internal meetings without having an ironclad NDA.

Also, I don't know why anything on the tapes would come as a shock. Of course Wal-Mart managers hate children, plot against unions, and dress in drag.

Scotus

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Blueskylaw — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:15:48 EDT

This may turn out to be one of the worst business decisions Walmart ever made, kind of like when IBM did not want to buy the DOS operating system for $10,000 so Bill Gates did.

Blueskylaw

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

boxjockey68 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:15:22 EDT

OMG! I SO hope these videos end up in the public! If there is any footage concerning their defective shoe department I'll take it!! I am practically drooling here!

boxjockey68

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

petrarch1608 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:13:31 EDT

the boy pouring gasoline and lighting it sounds like a nominee for the darwin award.

petrarch1608

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

razremytuxbuddy — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:12:59 EDT

Even if Walmart bought back these videos now, I doubt the videos could be destroyed. They are potential evidence in many, many past, present and future lawsuits. This horse is out of the barn.

Some excerpts of these videos can be viewed on YouTube. When I saw one of Sam speaking to a group of managers--it made me realize how vastly different Walmart is today.

razremytuxbuddy

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

IconoclasticFlow — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:08:21 EDT

Anyone else hope these end up on Netflix?

IconoclasticFlow

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

GuyNoir — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:07:34 EDT

Are corporations eligible for the Darwin Awards?

GuyNoir

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

hypnotik_jello — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:05:26 EDT

@bobblack555: That's how they got Nixon.

hypnotik_jello

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Git Em SteveDave loves this guy--> — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 11:03:51 EDT

And the D'oh! of the year award goes to.......Wal*Mart. Someone's getting fired for this. Too bad they don't have shop steward or union rep.

Git Em SteveDave loves this guy-->

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

bobblack555 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:59:54 EDT

Who the hell tapes internal meetings and why????

bobblack555

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

pmathews — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:57:29 EDT

If Walmart goes under then where am I going to get cheap plastic chinese products for a reasonable price?

pmathews

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

cmdrsass — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:56:55 EDT

I would love to see videos of board meetings with Mrs. Clinton in attendance. GoGo Obama opposition research.

cmdrsass

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

headhot — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:54:48 EDT

Ouch. I wonder if Walmart has a taped meeting of how to make sure to have a contract with all their vendors and suppliers.

headhot

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

LynchMob52 — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:52:27 EDT

I have a feeling Walmart will pony up before these things get out on the market, although how great would it be if these things actually got out? Could this be the end of Walmart?

LynchMob52

30 Years Of Confidential Walmart Videos For Sale

Echomatrix — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 10:52:03 EDT

lol pwned

Echomatrix