First, thank you sincerely for sharing I do appreciate it!!
Secondly, I would be lying if after reading your Folgers story if I didn’t pause and say to myself “Dam I wish I was Walmart”. lol sorry!!
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Yes, it’d be nice to have the power and money to screw over both your competition and the companies kowtowing to work with you, but happily, I have a different set of priorities.
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Employees vs. Employers even of the same company can often find their views and objectives to vary, that’s very common. You can view that story as an example of screwing over your competition, I view it with the envy of being in a position to completely control you/your companies destiny. Perhaps personally I would have handled the situation differently, but it is still every self employed persons ultimate goal to be in a position to make the “F U” call if they so chose to.
Well, no, I view that story as an example of screwing over me, personally, and the company I worked for, who was working with P&G to create a promotional event that involved dozens of people across many companies. The mucky-muck at Wal-Mart took it personally that their competition beat them to a big promo, and they took it out on a company who’d been bending over backwards for months to meet all of Wal-Mart’s demands & make them happy. I’ve been self-employed for 15 years or so and certainly hope I never get to the point of abusing people they way they do.
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Well for further clarification in your previous statement you said;
“to screw over both your competition and the companies kowtowing” you didn’t personalize it and say you felt screwed, my apologies for not knowing that’s what you meant.
" I’ve been self-employed for 15 years or so and certainly hope I never get to the point of abusing people they way they do." Congratulations on your business success 15 years is a notable accomplishment. Again for clarification I never said I aspired to be in a position to abuse people. As being self employed if you do not aspire to be in a position of such dominance it provides you with such freedom(s) above your competition or vendors so be it. My apologies again for speaking on behalf of employers.
I remember when Strawbridge & Clothier opened their Clover stores. High quality products at reasonable prices. A shirt didn’t shrink 3 sizes after the first wash and it came out of the dryer with the same number of buttons it had when it went in.
A high percentage of their employees were full time career oriented, received healthcare & traditional pensions.
Because they were career employees, they were experts within their departments, really knew their merchandise and could always answer customer questions about different products. They took pride in their work, put forth a professional appearance & were always polite.
Quite a contrast to the Walmart “Associate” chewing a cud containing 8 pieces of gum & brandishing 3 inch fingernails whose product knowledge is limited to what isle an item is in and even that is a crap shoot.
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NotJr, I appreciate that the small operations do and should dream of being big operations someday, but I don’t think Walmart has gotten there honorably. When they go to China and demand lower and lower prices from the manufacturers, that’s how we get tainted baby formula and toxic drywall and the general crap-ification of everything. And when they don’t pay their employees enough to stay off welfare, we all subsidize those low prices with our tax dollars.
I’m in business too, but being the cheapest is not my goal, being the best is. It doesn’t have to be all about how many tax loopholes you can find and how tightly you can squeeze your suppliers and employees. Some of us want to make a quality product, give good customer service, and do good in our communities while we make a living.
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Yup, same thing here.
"When they go to China and demand lower and lower prices "
I agree completely however that’s how our trade policies are set up. I have a hard time blaming Walmart for using or taking advantage of the system the way it’s set up. I 110% support changing our laws regarding trade and manufacturing but until I’m shown Walmart acts illegally rather than shrewdly I have a hard time “blaming” them.
“I’m in business too, but being the cheapest is not my goal, being the best”
Well I think that depends on the type of business you are in, we have 2 primary business models retail and service. If you are in retail, I disagree and I do think being cheapest/least expensive is the majority of your business plan. (Obviously with exception for specialty retail etc)
If you are in the service industry than you are 100% correct, it’s not who is cheapest it’s who is best, or perhaps a combination of both. A man needing a heart transplant doesn’t ask the surgeon how much her charges before the operation. Lol
“Some of us want to make a quality product, give good customer service, and do good in our communities while we make a living.”
Agreed, however I believe Walmart; (in my fairly limited experience at my 1 local Walmart)
1.) they give excellent customer service,
2.) are the one of the worlds most charitable business’s
3.) is the worlds largest private employer
4.) they receive on avg. 25 applications for every job oppurtinity. (I’m pretty sure on that fact) So if they are such a horrible employer the working base hasn’t gotten the memo. (Yes it’s a sign of the times and terrible employment market overall, unbelievable out unemployment rate is only 5% right!?!?!)
Again, I’m not really a pro-Walmart as much as I am an anti-trade policy person. Walmart does spend a lot of money taking advantage of loopholes etc. then close the loopholes. The problem is our policies that encourage companies like Walmart, Apple, Nike etc. etc. etc…(the list is endless) rather than the companies themselves.
My opinion only, I respect yours and anyone who chooses not to support or shop there.
I realize it’s old (2003) – but most of this is still going on – I think this is what people are talking about:
http://morningnewsbeat.com/News/Detail/15923/2003-11-13/
and this is the article to which it refers:
I always leave Walmart feeling the vague urge to go take a shower - but I’m caught in a vicious cycle.
There’s really no other options in my quiet little community – and I like my little community in part because it’s quiet.
I’d rather have an option, but not if it’s the crappy Target that’s the closest option, and having an option means having a lot more traffic and a lot less quiet.
The KMart that used to be near me closed down eons ago – and the only other KMart is not only further away than the crappy Target, but the place is a ghost town (and an even crappier shopping experience than the crappy Target!!)-- you could drive a golf cart down the aisles and never risk running anyone over.
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Legal and ethical are not synonymous.
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Regarding the pickle story I have two things to say. First after reading that (and knowing nothing of the company) it seems management should have backed out of the Wakmart relationship rather than continue to operate at a loss. Business is a two way street, if the business Walmart supplies you with causes a net negative, you’ve got to back out and stop it. In my opinion.
Secondly, I think it would be an interesting study to see how many companies Walmart have grown substantially because they are on Walmarts shelves. My gut would tell me a substantial number of suppliers make money thanks to Walnart rather than goes bankrupt. I could be wrong.
I’ve read and heard so many people say things like you about feeling like needing a shower after a visit. That’s exactly what prevented me from ever going to a Wakmart before the one by my office opened. Maybe it’s the location (solid middle/upper middle class area) or the fact I generally go early mornings or late afternoons (never weekends or prime shopping hours) but the clientele and cleanliness of the story do not bother me at all.
Granted…however ethics with a publicly traded company are notoriously a secondary concern, with profits / bottom line being the first. Again to my knowledge (if I’m wrong I’ll acknowledge it) Walmart doesn’t act much different than Apple, Nike, etc. etc. they just happen to be on the largest scale and get the most attention.
If memory serves me correct I read an article about Apples assembly campys in Asia somewhere. The factory is attached to dormatory type housing since the employees work something like 18 hour shifts, then go straight to their room. They were paid slave labor and the circumstances were so poor the suicide rate among the employees was exceptionally high. Yet the Apple is the “Apple” of wall streets eye. The apple products are huge consumer favorites, yet corporately they are probably one of the least “ethical” companies out there.
Yes I’m typing this on an iPhone 6s. (Full disclosure!)
All I’m trying to say is, yes Walmarts tactics suck, I admit it. I just think the public is VERY hypocritical in their selection to “hate” Walmart where in my opinion they are no worse than many other companies. (Perhaps even much better all things considered)
a) it was only mentioned briefly, but refusing to do the $2.97 pickle deal would have resulted in losing ALL of the Vlasic pickle business at Walmart – so they soldiered on, because the rest of the items carried DID make a profit. (Vlasic is the pickle producer who used to run commercials with a Groucho Marx-like stork – they hae been the largest pickle company in the US for a long, long time)
b) No, a substantial number of companies make only very slim profits from Walmart – but they are playing the volume game.
I have also seen a lot of companies go bankrupt trying to supply Walmart, for reasons mentioned in the two links –
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Walmart ends up demanding so much volume that the supplier simply can’t feed the monster, and they die, whether because of overextending or missing so many deadlines that WM drops them like a hot potato.
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They can feed the monster, but at the expense of all (or nearly all) of their other business. They literally become a one-trick pony, and when demand dries up from WM, they die.
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Walmart becomes basically their only customer (see 1 and 2 above) – and then when there’s a cost increase on their materials, they can’t raise their prices, because Walmart will cancel their supplier agreement…they can’t cover their own expenses, and they die.
Many years ago, a Home Depot buyer came to my company and asked us to please quote on supplying them with the product we made. I will never forget the look of utter incredulity and bewilderment on the Home Depot buyer’s face when my boss told him flat-out that we simply could not supply Home Depot on a national basis, because we just didn’t have the capacity. He later admitted that no one had ever told him no.
Home Depot is also considered a nasty bitch of a mistress, too – for most of the same reasons. They are a nightmare to deal with.
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So is your boss still in business? I honestly think we more agree than disagree. If a company cannot scale up or make enough profit to make the relationship profitable they should do like your boss and say no. Instead they see the numbers and bite off more than they can chew, placing the noose of their demise around their own neck.
No, he sold it to a Fortune 100 a few years later.
Your solution sounds brilliant, but I’m guessing you know that nothing in life is ever that simple.
Many small companies have gone bankrupt because they took on enormous debt to gear up to meet the big box store volume demands only to lose the contract a few years later.
Often much safer to supply a variety of independents than have all your eggs in one basket.
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I use Walmart for my prescriptions, where Walgreens were charging me a fortune, Walmart have a $4 list which 3 of mine are on. I couldn’t beat that locally so once a month I go to the Walmart less than a mile from my house. Invariably I need some household items and there is no doubt that most things are cheaper than Publix (not everything).
I don’t want to buy Made In China clothes and appliances but since many stores clothes are also made in China but just cost more I’m not sure what we should do any longer. I liked some shirts in Chico’s but they were all made in China as well and cost 3 x similar Walmart shirts.
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Exactly my point.
Well in theory the business lives on, he didn’t go under.
My answer is just based on good judgement, something your boss apparently exhibited. There is nobody forcing anyone to sell their products through Walmart, it’s just that simple.
