Don't Shop at Wal-Mart

“alot of us wasted time mourning your dumb ass

haha

Like you believed it! ("It'll be our little secret.") << you know what I'm talking about! LOL”

“hey, i two/fifths believed it”

“What was this thread about again?

Oh yeah, Wal-Mart RAWKS!”

“if for no other reason than going there and seeing all the gap-toothed yarfusses and 300-pound trailer park matriarchs in their polyester mumus driving their little motorized carts makes you feel better about yourself”

“Q: Has anybody ever been asked for another form of ID when they showed a signed credit card, by Wal-Mart or by any other store in history?

A: Yes, several times at several different chains over the last three years including Wal-Mart but even at the same store sometimes they ask, sometimes they don't. It wasn't just that one cashier being difficult.”

“Lots of morons out there if that's true.

This is the first time that ever happened to me.

Dang vigalante cashiers!”

“before I put "Ask for ID" on my cc's I never got asked for an ID when I just had my signature on it”

“gap-toothed yarfusses

I like that term. I'll have to remember it.”

“before I put "Ask for ID" on my cc's I never got asked for an ID when I just had my signature on it - Ewker

humanpackmule, I believe you, but I think that's HIGHLY unusual. I am 38 and have NEVER been asked that before. In the 7 stores I've worked in where we took credit cards in my lifetime, that was never done either. It was never discussed either. If they do ask you for that, they're in the wrong.

I do appreciate cashiers who are viganant at checking the authenticity as they are supposed to though.”

“Oh it's true all right.
Like you, I was rather put off by that request and it crops up again on occasion. I think the last time was say....three weeks ago?

I work in online banking, in particular credit cards so I get a bit of the inside track on what's coming.

You can expect more of the same kind of thing in the future. Lots of pressure is being put on card issuers and merchants to demand more evidence of identity during financial transactions.

If you bank online you will get a bit of that next year as we have been mandated by the feds to move to a supplimental authorization method in 2006. So the old username/password is now considered "unsecure" by our friends in government.

It will be an aggravation and an extra step to card holders. Will it be more secure? I doubt it, web thieves and porn sites adapt better than anyone to change.
last edited: 11/17/05 10:51:31 AM”

“Until that is a condition of the card-holder agreement, I will no longer comply. These companies have no business with collecting additional information about me. If I want to buy a clock, they don't need to know what state my driver's license is from and whether or not I'm an organ donor.”

“No arguement there but I'm pretty sure that language (couched and obfuscated in legalese) is already in some cardholder agreements.”

“the whole point of debit cards over checks is so that you dont have to provide proof of identity, or so i thought”

“Don't shop at Wal-Mart. Their slave labor Mexican gum drops are from the devil! ;-)
20 oz for a dollar.
I feel ill.”

“Wal-Mart's Tax On Us
Greg LeRoy
November 09, 2005

Greg LeRoy is the author of The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation and executive director of Good Jobs First . This piece originally appeared on Alternet.org.

Wal-Mart, the Alpha Dog of discount stores, has also become the Alpha Hog at the public trough.

The phenomenal growth of the world's largest corporation has been supported by taxpayers in many states through economic development subsidies. A Wal-Mart official once stated that the company seeks subsidies in about a third of its stores, suggesting that more than 1,100 of its U.S. stores are subsidized. A national survey by Good Jobs First in 2004 looked at 160 stores and all of the company's distribution centers—and found that more than 90 percent of them have been subsidized. Altogether, 244 subsidized facilities in 35 states received taxpayer deals of more than $1 billion.

The economic impact of these subsidies on small businesses is given a human face in one powerful segment of Robert Greenwald's new documentary, "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price." The sweetheart deals given to two Wal-Mart Supercenters in Hamilton, Mo., undermined Red Esry's four family-owned grocery stores. Esry watched his sales plunge as soon as the Supercenters opened—he couldn't compete with Wal-Mart's prices and lost almost half of his business virtually overnight.

In the film, Esry's wife ruefully recounts how her husband went to City Hall to ask for a property tax abatement to match Wal-Mart's subsidy, but was turned down. Esry cut costs, but refused to stop paying his employees a good wage and continued to provide them with full health-care benefits and a pension package. Red Esry's story is being played out in thousands of communities across America.

Wrong-headed Subsidies

Giving subsidies to suburban retailing is bad policy on many levels. The proliferation of far-flung stores contributes to sprawl and its many problems: undermining traditional downtown business districts and worsening traffic jams and air quality. The diversion of tax dollars into the coffers of developers and big retailers takes much-needed revenues away from public schools and other services. The low-wage jobs created in the malls do little to stimulate the economy and actually serve as a drag, given that workers with McJobs need more assistance from taxpayer-financed safety-net programs.

The subsidies Wal-Mart lobbies for run the whole gamut: free or reduced-price land, infrastructure assistance, tax increment financing (TIF), property tax abatements or discounts, state corporate income tax credits, sales tax rebates, enterprise zone tax breaks, job training funds and low-interest tax-exempt loans. The most deals and dollars were found in Texas (30 deals worth $108 million) and Illinois (29 deals worth $102 million).

And because of poor disclosure in most states, this could be just the tip of the iceberg.

Of course, the real force driving Wal-Mart's site location behavior is its voracious appetite for more market share, not subsidies. The 2004 survey found cases in which the company had sought subsidies, didn't get them—and still built new sites.

In Chula Vista, Calif., a $1.9 million subsidy deal was successfully challenged in court in 1998, after citizens complained that local redevelopment agencies were awarding state money to big-box retailers for projects with little benefit to the public. The Chula Vista Wal-Mart ended up being built without public assistance.

In 2001, voters in Galena, Ill., rejected a $1.5 million sales tax rebate sought by the company for a planned Supercenter. Immediately after the vote, Wal-Mart said it would drop the plan, but later decided to move forward after getting the private seller of the land to agree to a lower price. Wal-Mart also proceeded with the construction of an unsubsidized Supercenter in Belvedere, Ill. after its request for a $1.5 million sales tax rebate was opposed by local officials.

Such events are especially controversial in TIF deals, since the governing law often requires that the beneficiary of TIF affirm that the project would not occur "but for" the subsidy.

According to a report by 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, Wal-Mart admitted that the TIF funding provided to a project in Baraboo did not meet that requirement. The report also noted that the supposedly blighted area chosen for the project consisted of a cornfield and an apple orchard.

Public opposition to subsidies for Wal-Mart has played a role in some successful site battles.

In 2000, voters in Olivette, Mo., rejected a $36 million TIF proposal for an 80-acre shopping center that was to be anchored by a Wal-Mart and a Sam's Club. In 2002, Wal-Mart was rebuffed when it sought an $18 million subsidy in connection with a project that was to be located on the Near South Side of Chicago. According to a press report, Mayor Richard M. Daley "guffawed" when presented with the request. The project was abandoned.

Denver officials dropped plans for a Supercenter project in 2004 that could have involved as much as $25 million in public money. The plan was controversial because of the subsidy and because it would have used eminent domain to displace a group of Asian-American small businesses. In 2004 voters in Scottsdale, Ariz., voted resoundingly against a plan to give a developer up to $36 million in sales-tax rebates for a complex that was to include a Supercenter and a Sam's Club.

Costs And Benefits...Or Costs And Costs?

Wal-Mart's reaction to the 2004 survey of its reach into taxpayer subsidies was classic bait and switch. The company responded by saying it couldn't verify the figures, but that if they were correct, then "it looks like offering tax incentives to Wal-Mart is a jackpot investment for local governments."

Specifically, the company claimed that over the past 10 years, it collected $52 billion in sales taxes, remitted $192 million in income taxes, wage withholdings and unemployment insurance, and paid $4 billion in local property taxes. "Do the math and you will see that every dollar invested returned more than thirty," the company summarized.

Of course Wal-Mart "collected" sales taxes; as a retailer, it's required by law to do so. But that's consumers' money, not the company's. Wal-Mart is just a pass-through. And since much of its sales come at the expense of other retailers, any gain is obviously offset by lower sales taxes collected at competing stores—and by the taxpayer costs of abandoned downtowns and malls.

Of course Wal-Mart "remitted" income and payroll taxes—it's an employer, and is required to deduct taxes from its workers' paychecks. But income tax is not the company's money; it's money from the workers' meager paychecks. And since Wal-Mart jobs are largely shifted from other retailers and Wal-Mart pays so poorly, any net revenue gain is unclear.

And, of course, Wal-Mart paid some property taxes—all property owners have to support local services. Unless, of course, they get an abatement; our study found more than 40 such instances. But Wal-Mart offered no disclosure on how much in property taxes it hasn't paid. And as economists point out, companies pass on the cost of property taxes to customers as much as market conditions allow.

So there you have Wal-Mart's version of cost-benefit analysis. Taxpayer costs for economic development are balanced by "benefits" that mostly consist of, well, workers' costs, consumers' costs and taxpayers' costs.

It's ironic that a company which promotes itself as a free enterprise success story is so highly dependent on taxpayers. This fact was conveniently forgotten during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, when Wal-Mart garnered widespread accolades for its role in providing emergency supplies to victims of the storm. Those truckloads of supplies should be seen not as corporate charity, but as small bit of payback for the huge sums the company has previously drained from taxpayers of America.”

“Just got back from Wal Mart :o”

“I'm sure I'll be buying a 20+ pound turkey and equally large ham from Wal-Mart this weekend.”

“Mmmmmmmm .... Communist Ham. *gargle gargle*”

“Hey, if you can't export American jobs, you can always import them illegally.”

“I think I'll go to Wal-Mart tommorrow.”

“Buddha Bear - How the heck are you!
I agree by the way Don't shop at Walmart! :-)”

“lol Diane - K-Mart at least employs Americans! If I have to shop at a big box, K-Mart is 1st on the list......”

“LOL @ dhutch
Spoken like a true KMart/Sears employee!

How's the new location working out Diane?
Settled in yet?”

“Thanks BB! Still love ya man!

Love my town SS it's cute as a button. I'm 80% settled. Can't wait to explore outdoor activities in Wisconsin and the surrounding states! Downtown ChiTown's not bad either.”

“K-Mart at least employs Americans! If I have to shop at a big box, K-Mart is 1st on the list......”
Buddha Bear
10:59:35 AM
11/18/05


ones down here are loaded with every type of worker other than American. half don't even speak English”

“Damn foreigners ;op”

“Hey Y2, those Mexican gumdrops I got at Wal-Mart were soooooooooo good. ;-)”

“Damn foreigners ;op”
Y2
11:26:26 AM
11/18/05

isn't your time here up yet ;)”

“Agents rounded up 120 illegal aliens building a WalMart distribution center yesterday near Millersville, PA. WalMart says they are not at fault and blame the contractor. Not long ago the local Walmart's were caught hiring illegal aliens to do the janitorial work. It getting common to hear about this on a daily basis lately not just WalMart either.”

“Damn family owned local contractors!”

“Speaking of which I just watched a small INS convoy come through my neighborhood. This ought to be interesting.”

“The Feds ran a bunch of illegal aliens out of the shipyard a while back.
Everyone working on U.S. Navy ships is supposed to have a security clearance.
Subcontractors lieing to the Company is the problem here as well.

I give the Mexicans credit, they do believe in working hard.”

“Ewker - unfortunatley they let me stay indefinately ;op”

“I'm pretty sure I heard on the news that illegals are moving into the flood zone in the gulf region to do clean up work.”

“LOL
All I know is all the guys that put on my Blue Roof spoke Mexican. One understood English and was the foreman.”

“I have to shop at Walmart for some things. Their prices are cheaper and besides, it's a great source of entertainment. I get all the white trash people there and they are fun to laugh at. I'm talking about people who wear clothes that are too tight or small with overhanging fat. Hello, someone should tell them to buy a mirror while they are there!!!”

“I go to Wal Mart as a form of birth control. All the undisciplined, screaming, bratty children keep me from ever wanting any of my own.”

“Just saw the film Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price. I thought it was very effective and well done. I won't be going into any Wal-Marts. No great loss since I average about one visit every other year anyway. I buy most of my food from my local fruit stand. They have just about everything, even the dried foods I take backpacking.”

“Just saw the Simpson's episode with "Sprawl-Mart" the other day. It was very enlightening. They put micro-chips in their workers and if they don't cooperate they get a shock. Somehow though, most of the workers figured it out and had already removed the chips. I didn't know Sprawl-Mart workers were that smart, but apparently they are.”

“and they sell ky warming lotion buy 2 get 1 free.......8 oz bottles only”

“SCRANTON, Pa. - An immigration raid at an under-construction Wal-Mart distribution center yielded the arrests of 125 illegal immigrants, all of whom will be deported, immigration officials said Friday.

Search warrants were executed Thursday at six companies on the job site at the Schuylkill Highridge Business Park outside Pottsville, about 80 miles northwest of Philadelphia.

The illegal workers were from Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico, according to Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. Some of them used fake documents to obtain employment, officials said.

"Employers who knowingly hire illegal aliens, and those who utilize false documents to gain employment, face significant criminal and administrative charges," John Kelleghan, acting special agent-in-charge for ICE in Pennsylvania, said in a statement.
[...]
The search warrants sought evidence of "several potential violations, including money laundering as well as harboring, transporting, and encouraging illegal aliens to reside in the United States," according to a statement from ICE.
[...]
In 2003, a raid of 60 Wal-Mart stores in 21 states led to the arrests of 245 illegal workers. An affidavit claimed a pair of senior Wal-Mart executives knew cleaning contractors were hiring illegal immigrants. The retailer agreed to pay $11 million in March to settle the case but denied senior executives knew of the hirings.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/business/national/13205837.htm”

“*Yawn*
Old News....see RichB's post way above.”

“Sorry. I have him on 'ignore'.”

“Sweet 'ole RichB?”

“Yeah.

I don't suffer trolls.”

“I do wish more of you dang peeps would stay out of Wal-Mart!

It took me about 20 minutes to check out this morning when buying a turkey.
I then had to go to yet another Wal-Mart to find a nice ham and stand in line again. The first was sold out of whole hams.”

“You could have gotten a canned ham I bet. There is seldom a shortage of canned meat.”

“Isn't there a law against selling items that contain and shed lead?

Today I bought "Holiday Time" Christmas lights to put up and found this on the box...
CAUTION: Prop 65 Warning:
Handling the coated electrical wires of this product exposes you to lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause cancer, birth defects and other reproductive harm. WASH HANDS AFTER USE.

Does this seem strange, or is it me?
last edited: 11/27/05 7:22:44 PM”

“What do you think connects all those components on your computer?”