Doug Kanter wrote:

"Gould 0738" wrote in message
...
Then somebody else will open another store.

and sell what?

a retailer needs a supplier not already in bed with Walmart

The only suppliers that would be fatally hurt without WM are the ones which
make their private label goods.

As far as being in bed with WM, they treat their suppliers so badly that if
another retailer came along who could move the necessary volume, they'd head
in that direction very quickly. A friend of mine does sales training, and he
was recently speaking to a group of wholesale sporting goods reps. He got a
tip: Don't bother looking for a good selection of Shakespeare rods & reels
at WM in certain markets. The goods are being shuffled to stores like Gander
Mountain Sports, who've insisted that there be "shortages" for Wal Mart.
Prices are very slightly higher at Gander Mountain, but nothing that would
bother the retail customer.

The reasoning my friend was given was very simple: Upscale stores will also
sell St Croix & Browning fishing rods, and that lends an air of quality even
to the cheaper stuff that's two feet away in the display rack. Shakespeare
sells MORE rods, not less. So does Shimano and everyone else.


Sounds like an interesting list could be made of "101 Reasons to Avoid
Wal-Mart."

Health Insurance

High insurance premiums and deductibles keep more than two-thirds of
Wal-Mart workers from participating in the company health plan.

The cost for comprehensive family coverage is about $125 every two weeks.

On a wage of $8.00 an hour with about 32 hours a week--$1,000 a month,
most associates can’t afford $250 a month, or 25% of gross income for
health insurance. Many Wal-Mart families also are eligible for food
stamps or other welfare programs.

Nearly 700,000 Wal-Mart workers are forced to get health insurance
coverage from the government or through spouses’ plans. Wal-Mart shifts
the cost of health insurance to taxpayers and other employers, driving
up the health costs for all of us.

When other companiesget tired of paying the bill for Wal-Mart, they drop
or reduce health care benefits for their employees. There are more than
40 million uninsured working families. The more Wal-Mart grows so do the
number of the uninsured.

The Walton family is worth about $102 billion--less than 1% of that
could provide affordable health care for associates.

Wal-Mart has increased the premium cost for workers by over 200% since
1993--medical care inflation only went up 50% in the same period.
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Women at Wal-Mart:


Women make up a very small percentage in the supervisory and managerial
ranks.

-Men hold 90% of top store manager positions and more than two-thirds of
store management positions overall at Wal-Mart.

-Female workers at Wal-Mart make 4.5% to 5.6% less than men doing
similar jobs with similar experience levels.

-Among non-salaried workers, men earned an average of 37 cents an hour
more for similar work.

-Male management trainees make an average of $23,175 a year, compared
with $22,371 for women trainees.

-The average male senior vice president makes $419,435 a year, while the
four women senior vice presidents earn an average of $279,772.

-In 1975, 1.7% of management positions were held by women. In 2001,
about 33% of these positions were held by women — still below industry
norms.

-20 comparable retailers employed a greater average percentage of women
in 1975, 41.6% — than Wal-Mart does today.

-The greatest gaps are in Texas, Florida, and California.

-Women work disproportionally in lower paying hourly jobs and earn less
in these jobs.

-65% of hourly workers are women.

-Women who hold management positions hold the lower ranking positions,
such as Customer Service Manager, Department Manager, and Support Manager.

-As women are promoted through management, the disparity between their
wages and those of their male counterparts increases.

-Women earn less than men, despite having greater average seniority and
higher performance ratings.

-It takes women longer to be promoted: average time since date of hire
until being first promoted in an Assistant Manager job is 4.38 years for
women, 2.86 years for men.





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