On Fri, 28 Dec 2007 17:55:23 GMT, "JoeSpareBedroom"
wrote:

"Calif Bill" wrote in message
...

"Eisboch" wrote in message
...

"HK" wrote in message
. ..
Eisboch wrote:
"HK" wrote in message
...

Really? Does Larry also think the bitty Bose speaker systems are crap,
and that you cannot violate the laws of physics when it comes to sound
reproduction?

Bitty Bose speaker systems may be crap, but the ol' Doc has done pretty
well:

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/compa...y-History.html


Eisboch

So has Dick Cheney. Doesn't mean he isn't crap, too. Sometimes there is
a connection between money and quality, and sometimes there isn't.
Wal-Mart does a tremendous amount of business, and yet it is a crap
operation.


You must feel like a voice in the wilderness since thousands, hundreds of
thousands and millions of people feel otherwise everyday.

I saw a documentary about Wal-Mart the other day. They have a central
computer system that is second in size only to that used by the Pentagon.
The sale of any item, from a plasma TV to a tube of toothpaste at any
store nationwide is reported to the central computer within an hour of
the sale. Trends are monitored as well as weather forecasts for all areas
because a storm or unusual weather event historically raises the demand
for certain items. The computer data results in extra stock of those
items being shipped to the affected area from several distribution
centers, days before the storm system arrives.

There sucess is partly because they teamed up with NCR Corporation in the
early days with their point of sale systems and the software that tracked
sales. They still team up with NCR. Part of the reporting, is to allow
Walmart to send a check to the supplier to pay for the stuff sold. One
big part of Walmarts profit is they are a warehouse for the suppliers
product until it is sold out of the warehouse and the supplier gets the
money.


Another part of their success comes from a return policy that often stiffs
their suppliers. I read an article a couple of years ago about a
manufacturer of garage door openers. Half the packages returned from WM
contained things other than garage door openers: Rocks, bricks, etc. Or,
they'd contain mangled garage door openers. Because WM's people are often
badly trained, they weren't checking the contents of the boxes before
refunding customers' money. When the manufacturer explained that they
couldn't afford this nonsense, they were told they could either accept the
situation, or stop doing business. They chose the latter.

Urban legend. Saw a thing on CNBC about Wal-Mart and they picked that
one.

They did have a problem, but it was related to something entirely
different.

The key element of the story was that Wal-Mart made good on the
differences.