Comments on: Walmart Shareholder Meeting

By: Rosecrans

Rosecrans — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 13:29:06 +0000

Muchas gracias por su explicaci?n, la escritura era muy super
En el ?nterin, he revisado su gercekler sitio muy bueno, le deseo ?xito.

By: Jay P. Greene

Jay P. Greene — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 19:58:11 +0000

Hi Corey,

Sorry I was out of town and missed your comment. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the mean hourly earnings for sales and related occupations in the General Merchandise industry is $10.01. (See http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_452000.htm#b41-0000 ) According to Walmart their average full time associate makes $10.82. (See http://walmartstores.com/media/factsheets/fs_2322.pdf ) Also according to Walmart “More than 90 percent of Wal-Mart associates have
health insurance through one of our plans or through another source. Additionally, every child of a Wal-Mart associate can
become eligible for health benefits as soon as the parent is eligible.”

By: Corey

Corey — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 02:42:21 +0000

Adam: Perogies are polish

Dr. Greene: Can you post a link to the study or studies that examine the pay/benefits of wal-mart?

By: The Writing On The Wal » Blog Archive » HOW MANY LIES BEFORE CREDIBILITY IS LOST…?

Thu, 12 Jun 2008 00:55:57 +0000

[...] Jay P. Greene wrote: [...]

By: Greg Forster

Greg Forster — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:45:51 +0000

If you’ve seen Edwize’s broadside against Jay, click on that trackback link in the previous comment to the response at Education for the Aughts, and keep scrolling. It’s worth five minutes of your time, especially the parting shot.

By: Say No to Child Labor! at Education for the Aughts - American School Issues and Analysis

Mon, 09 Jun 2008 20:33:36 +0000

[...] Leo Casey, Vice President of All That is Good and Holy, ripped/mocked Jay Greene over some praise for Wal-Mart. And really, this is a biggie – so big that Casey reached into his bag of rhetorical tricks [...]

By: Greg Forster

Greg Forster — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 13:50:28 +0000

You’re right that you’d make a lousy activist, Jay. How about this for an anti-Wal-Mart chant:

Take our money! We don’t want riches!
We want to be Proctor and Gamble’s [victims]!

For the record: the produce at the Pike Township Wal-Mart here in Indy is lousy, too, and the lines are long, and the self-checkout machines keep malfunctioning. Worst of all, roughly 50% of the time the whole grocery section smells strongly of cleaning chemicals – and I’m not talking about the fine P&G products you use to wipe your countertops, I’m talking about the industrial stuff that turns you into a mutant supervillain if you drink it. You really don’t want to be smelling that when you’re shopping for food.

Thankfully, due to the beneficial effects of competition, I can shop at Wal-Mart’s competitors, who have ripped off all of Wal-Mart’s techniques for lowering prices but have also learned how to provide a better shopping experience.

By: Jay P. Greene

Jay P. Greene — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 09:24:53 +0000

Leo Casey has his made-with-a-union-label you-know-whats in a twist over at Ed Wize (see comment above for link). Notice that Casey never addresses my claims:
1) Walmart significantly reduces retail prices, especially for basic consumer goods.
2) Low-income consumers are the primary beneficiaries of these reduced prices.
3) Walmart’s reduced prices come primarily at the expense of other corporations.
4) Unionization would hinder the ability of Walmart to reduce prices, which would then come at the expense (at least partially) of low-income consumers.
5) But Walmart succeeds at reducing prices to some extent even in foreign markets where most of its workers and those of its major competitors are unionized. That is, squeezing unions and/or workers is not an essential part of Walmart success at keeping prices low and making good profits. Squeezing other corporations is the heart of their business model.
6) Walmart currently offers compensation (pay and benefits) that is above the industry average.

All that Casey does is present a list of alleged misdeeds by Walmart in the area of child labor, discrimination, etc… And he complains that their pay and health benefits are less generous than they should be. In other words, he judges Walmart against perfection, not against reasonable alternatives. Walmart has 2 million employees worldwide and one would expect that things would go wrong with any organization of that size, just as the teaching workforce of 3 million has at least its share of misdeeds.

One other point — I’m always struck by people’s faith in the government fixing their problems even when it repeatedly fails to do so. Their faith is founded on the belief that if only the government did the right thing, then all would be well. But they never ask themselves why the government finds it so hard to do the right thing and to do it well.

By: Jay Greene Sings “Amen, Amen” To Wal-Mart Management | Edwize

Jay Greene Sings “Amen, Amen” To Wal-Mart Management | Edwize — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 23:12:20 +0000

[...] Greene, denizen of the ultra-right on educational issues, is singing the praises of Wal-Mart on his blog. Greene attended Wal-Mart Week — what David Nassar described on the Huffington [...]

By: Larry Sheldon

Larry Sheldon — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:24:14 +0000

I find the remarks about Walmart produce interesting.

Here (Omaha, NE.) and everywhere I go driving a truck Walmart is the place for pretty good and dependable produce (I don’t care for their “fresh” meats–too loaded with watr and “stuff”.)

Of the several stores in the area where we sometimes shop, WallyWorld has the best avocados.

There are things to not like but most of _them_ are related to keeping the costs down.