Take Care of Your Own
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I've asked this very question numerous times and never gotten an answer. If you feel the urge to write about socio-economic issues in the U.S. then start your own blog.
This kind of nonsense has no place in this forum. That having been said, if we want to start crucifying big business for their practices, why not start with something closer to the content of this site and go after Microsoft, or will that affect SQLServerCentral's bottom line?
heh.
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My family and I refuse to shop at Wal-Mart because of what they have done to small local businesses. They bring in a new store to a community and undercut the local business, often at a loss, until the small guy (or gal) can't keep up any more and goes out of business. Once the competition has been reduced to almost nothing, Wal-Mart jacks their prices right back up and gives it to the consumer from the rear. If you're a satisfied Wal-Mart shopper then you obviously just listen to their advertising and don't shop around. Except for the few weekly sale items, I have not seen anything at Wal-Mart that is more than $0.02 below full retail. Meanwhile, about half of the downtown shops sit empty; is it any wonder where the entrepreneurial spirit has gone in this nation?
[font="Tahoma"]Bryant E. Byrd, BSSE MCDBA MCAD[/font]
Business Intelligence Administrator
MSBI Administration Blog -
Read economics entry level: low prices benefit everybody. If the little "mom and pa" stores cannot sell at the same prices as Walmart, maybe they are in the wrong business. Long live Walmart!
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Okay, let's discuss what Walmart is doing to promote RFID and what RFID is going to do to more and more employees. Last year in San Diego we had a grocery store strike against three chains (Ralph's, Vons and Albertson's) and it lasted about four months. The effect from this strike wasn't just that people at the groceries were out of work; but, and it was ironic that they were fighting for medical insurance, the medical community lost 8000 members when their insurance expired while on strike... now, I can't state the repurcusions from that; but surely the whole thing eats into the economy.
When RFID is good enough to pickup the information in a grocery cart or bag as a customer walks through the door, who do you think the first ones to cut cashiers from the payroll?
Walmart set goals many years ago that said they would not purchase merchandise from vendors if it was not tagged with RFID transmitters by a certain date. I believe they have backed down on the date; but not the intent.
It was miserable in this town for several months because of a tiny grocery strike and the unemployed as a result and the related fall out.
Think what it is going to be WORLD-WIDE when RFID reaches the next plateau. And WALMART is driving the evolution.
There Steve. let's talk about THIS for a while now.
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This is in response - not to Steve's post - but to all those who cannot figure out why this topic featured in "Editorials" at all...
Other than "Anything that is not SQL" & "Editorials" - all other forums are dedicated to SQL Server topics. I personally browse through these 2 non-related forums only to find out what the people I've come to know through this site think on topics other than SQL Server - sure I can go to individual blogs but I don't care for the opinions of someone I don't know at all - however, there're so many familiar names on this site where we've jointly participated in posts - SSC members who feel more like friends and colleagues from the innumerable times that we've all debated a wide range of topics - it's well nigh impossible (not to say - a waste of time & downright stupidity) to PM everyone asking for their opinions on various subjects...
Why pick on the only 2 forums that do not discuss Databases and SQL Server - why not read what's relevant to you and move on to other things - if I read a topic that's of no interest to me I won't waste any time on even voicing my opinion - what's sauce for the goose may not necessarily be sauce for the gander.....for each person who's driven to yawning cavernously by a topic there're at least several who find the same subject informative and interesting...
Use this site as you would a reference book - pore through the pages that provide you with specifically required information, glance at others that seem somewhat interesting & ignore the rest...that's not so labour-intensive is it ?!?!?!...
**ASCII stupid question, get a stupid ANSI !!!** -
I grew up in Cannonsburg, Kentucky, and I just got back from a vacation trip to the old homestead. We had one 4-way stop in the middle of town, a couple of grocery stores, a couple of hardware stores and various and sundry other shops scattered in the even-more-rural parts of Boyd county. If you didn't like the prices or the service at Foodland, you went to Kroger or one of the smaller shops. Then Wal*Mart moved in. Now they just have Wal*Mart. Everything else is gone. If Wal*Mart doesn't have it, you're out of luck, or you drive 40 miles to West Virginia. The living wage jobs supported by the local stores are also gone.
You can't drive by the boarded up stored and shops without feeling that something that can't be measured in economic terms has been lost. All those little places contributed to the community with more than just money. They were active in the schools and churches and other civic endeavors. Cannonsburg used to be a spirited argument between the Methodists and Baptists, a good softball game between the Kroger and Foodland teams, and a summer picnic at the volunteer fire department.
Now it's just the place where the Wal*Mart is located and very few stop longer than they have to.
If it all comes down to money, that's really sad.
And then again, I might be wrong ...
David Webb -
Hey Steve,
Let me give an insider's take on Wal-Mart. I spent almost six years working as a lowly hourly employee at Wal-Mart back in high school and college. When I started there in the late 1980s, I was making a little over $3 per hour (minimum wage was much lower then, of course). Over the years, through merit raises and cost of living increases, I ended up at about $8 an hour when I left, which was a very high for an hourly retail employee in this area at the time. I did have health insurance, though I had to pay a portion of the premiums. I also took advantage of the profit sharing program, which netted me thousands of dollars after six years.
At the time, I remember thinking that the job stunk; low pay, minimal benefits, etc. However, I had some friends that worked in other retail stores and in fast food, and comparing their pay and benefits to mine made me feel like Trump. As such, Wal-Mart had higher standards for its employees, requiring pre-employment practical exams for computer usage, money handling, etc.
I worked with some great people at Wal-Mart. Many were students like me who needed a job but had to have a flexible work schedule for school. Others were retired workers looking for a little extra income. A number of former housewives, suffering from empty-nest syndrome, joined on just to get out of the house. Those groups composed about 2/3 of the hourly staff, by my estimation. The other 1/3 were career hourly employees, who had no ambitions beyond going to work and collecting a paycheck. Few had any education beyond high school and no intention to pursue such. As a group, these folks worked the least, complained the loudest, and did little more than cause problems for the company and fellow employees. My point here is that Wal-Mart (and other similar retail establishments) should represent transitional or temporary employment for most people.
Now for those who had aspirations to move into management, there were numerous opportunities to do so. Some of the managers I worked for were hired directly out of college, but many were hard-working hourly employees who spent a year or two learning the ropes and then applied for promotion. Even I as a young adult was presented with a path to work into management (though I did not take it).
The point I'm trying to make is that Wal-Mart's business model will never make their hourly employees rich. If, for example, they were to raise prices to accomodate increased wages and larger benefits packages, they would lose business to competitors such as K-Mart and Target. Eventually, business would decline to the point that the company would be forced into a) lowering wages or b) layoffs.
I agree that in a perfect world Wal-Mart employees would be well paid. But I'm not willing to pay $8 for a gallon of milk to accomodate this.
And by the way, don't worry about those who give you a hard time about writing a non-SQL article on this site. Their reading and subsequent responses to your article indicate that you have written something interesting and useful.
~Tim
Tim Mitchell, Microsoft Data Platform MVP
Data Warehouse and ETL Consultant
TimMitchell.net | @Tim_Mitchell | Tyleris.com
ETL Best Practices -
Tim,
Thanks for the insight. I'm not really expecting people to get rich working there, but I'd hope that someone with a fulltime job can afford a small apartment, food, a minimal car payment, and health insurance. From what I've read it doesn't appear you can do that at Wal-Mart for FTEs, but I am surely taking the reporting with a grain of salt.
And thanks for the vote of confidence
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I worked for Wal-Mart for 3.5 years at their corporate headquarters. I quit one year ago to take a job back in my home state.
I worked on the Retail Link team (the merchandising portal for suppliers and Wal-Mart buyers, including the Decision Support System). Wal-Mart's Retail Link system is the envy of other retailers. The funny thing is that it runs on SQL Server. Granted, it hits other database too, but the bulk of the reporting and all of the security and UI run off SQL server.
Wal-Mart treated me well while I was there. My son was born with club feet and my managers went out of their way to be sure that I could go to Little Rock once a week for his treatments. They paid me for this time too, but they didn't have to. My dad was in the hospital in Utah, and again management gave me the time off to go see him. When I returned a week later I found out that my manager had arranged for my time off to be paid even though I didn't qualify.
Casey Pettingill
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Envy of success, pure and simple. Wal Mart thrives in this beautiful CAPITALIST country we have here and people (especially liberals), just don't like it. Long live Wal Mart, a company that deserves its success. Hmmm, where do they keep getting all those "down and out", "poor and pitiful" workers?! They just keep seeming to not mind working for them and getting a pay check. Those people are just forced to work there, eh??? Not.
-Vic
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That's just it, we don't have capitalism. We have corporatism; companies with money control congress who, in turn, write laws that control competition. Communities have voted against allowing Wal Mart into their neighborhoods but a little lining in the pockets of the right government officials helped them get in anyway. If the government would just stay out of it things would be a lot better off.
BTW, I am not a liberal nor am I a conservative. I am somewhere in the middle and I still believe as our nation's forefathers that this is a country for the people, all of the people; not just the rich and not just the poor, not just the liberals and not just the conservatives, let majority rule and you exclude the extremists that cause trouble for benefit of themselves.
[font="Tahoma"]Bryant E. Byrd, BSSE MCDBA MCAD[/font]
Business Intelligence Administrator
MSBI Administration Blog -
I'm a Republican for the most part, imagine that
, and I love capitalism and freedom to succeed or fail.But don't get caught up in this "I can succeed, so can they", or "they have a choice". Lots of people don't have those choices and not everyone can succeed. For every IT worker making > $50k, there are dozens of people trying to support their families on $15k.
The hurricane in NO was a microcosm of this. I could easily send my wife and family away, or move the family for 2-3 days to somewhere else to keep them safe. But if I were working at McD's for $8, I couldn't afford to move myself for 2 days. Not for the hotel or gas, but because I couldn't afford not working! And there are a couple times a year where it's possible a hurricane would come.
There are similar situations with Wal-Mart. Say 100 of you work at Bob's All-In-One shop. Then Wal-Mart comes and they'll only employ 80 of you because they are more efficient. Great, it's capitalism at it's finest. And they pay less.
So 60 are looking for other jobs that pay better, but there aren't that many that do. So some of you get stuck at Wal-Mart and get hurt. And the goverment, meaning us taxpayers, foot some of the bill, people live in worse conditions, etc.
It's easy to look at unfettered capitalism as the most efficient way of conducting business, but it's not. Oligopolies and monopolies are more efficient just in terms of producing goods and services, but there are huge social effects as well that are usually negative.
And that brings the overall "benefit" down. You end up with a few doing very well, more doing well, and lots doing poorly.
Wal-Mart may save many people a few sheckels, but is it worth the cost of lots of people in worse shape?
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Then those people that are getting shammed at Wal Mart should look elsewhere for employment. It's a free market, go elsewhere! Don't blame Wal Mart because they may pay less than some other store. Also, I surely will get caught up in the this "I can succeed, so can they", or "they have a choice". I don't buy your claim that some people just can't succeed. Sure they can, by making the correct choices to not quit school, not do drugs and drink, work hard and move up the ladder, get an education, don't have kids if you cannot afford them, the list goes on and on. It's called personal responsibility. Yes, if you're really down and out and poor, it may take a generation or two to make a lot of money, but stop riding the taxpayers back, and as they say down here in the South: "Pull yourself up by the bootstraps, boy!".
-Vic
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Easier said than done. And not everyone can succeed.
As I heard recently, "you don't confront your demons and win. You confront them. And then you confront them again. And again. And everyday."
There aren't always other jobs. Everything should try harder, but we're human.
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I have to agree with Steve on this. The idea that everyone can just pull up stakes and go somewhere better is grossly oversimplifying the complexities of life. In the case of my hometown, the folks were not that far above the poverty line to start with and obtaining the resources necessary to move somewhere else would be a years-long effort in many cases. I, for one, am not OK trading Wal*Mart's success for the multi-generational downgrade of a significant number of my fellow citizens standard of living.
I'm a great believer in personal responsibility. But part of my personal responsibility is to prevent the exploitation of those less capable than me and to temper the unbridled greed of our current version of capitalism with the knowledge that, in the end, the community we pass on is more important than the ending balance of our checkbooks or the size of our retail outlets.
And then again, I might be wrong ...
David Webb
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