6 ms·

Upvoted for sensibility. in many rural areas of the United States, it is literally impossible to shop anywhere but Wal-Mart. Nebraska and Kansas had a rather l

Upvoted for sensibility. in many rural areas of the United States, it is literally impossible to shop anywhere but Wal-Mart. Nebraska and Kansas had a rather large economic dive in the early 2000's due to the expansion of the Waltons. Their business plan is essentially: 1) Announce intention to move into area 2) woo politicians for financial kickbacks to subsidize expansion 3) launch with prices _far_ lower than all the competing grocery stores and harware stores. 4) Wait as other businesses run out of money due to not being able to compete on price. 5) raise prices once monopoly is established. I moved from one of these places. Now I have 5 wal-marts in my city. I have zero issues with sabotaging their expansion into another country (Canada).

umanwizard 10y ago
Isn't that illegal?
- anonbanker 10y ago
  Not when the city council are your accomplices. Who is going to prosecute?
  - literallycancer 10y ago
    The state apparently. >"The Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, state governments and private parties who are sufficiently affected may all bring actions in the courts to enforce the antitrust laws."[1] 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law
- vertex-four 10y ago
  The best bit is that people will argue that it is literally impossible for this to happen.
toss1941 10y ago
In my fly-over town I have 4 Super-Walmarts within 30 minutes of me and there are still as many Grocery stores around as when we only had 2 Super-Walmarts several years ago. There have also been quite a few smaller grocery stores popping up yearly, especially tiny ethnic markets. If your premise is true, and I'm sure it is to some extent, it isn't having a very big impact in my neck of the woods.
- anonbanker 10y ago
  Congratulations on having a city council that is not hopelessly corrupt, and having an economy strong enough to withstand 4 wal-mart superstores within driving distance. I hope you understand that your anecdata is in a minority, while there are countless examples of what I'm describing.
icebraining 10y ago
Not that I find it hard to believe, but since we don't have them around, is there any data showing (5)?
- anonbanker 10y ago
  Here's a few: EDIT: Multiple lawsuits for predatory pricing: https://ilsr.org/walmart-charged-predatory-pricing/ https://ilsr.org/walmart-charged-predatory-pricing/ http://www.academia.edu/1511858/The_Effect_of_Wal-Mart_on_Small_Towns http://www.academia.edu/1511858/The_Effect_of_Wal-Mart_on_Sm... http://business.time.com/2014/02/24/walmarts-big-push-to-go-small-and-destroy-your-neighborhood-dollar-store/ http://business.time.com/2014/02/24/walmarts-big-push-to-go-... http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/study-proves-walmart-super-stores-kill-local-small-businesses-article-1.140129 http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/study-proves-wa... here's a few directly related to wage fraud: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/18/walmart_n_4466850.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/18/walmart_n_4466850.h... http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-low-wage-employers-cost-taxpayers-153-billion-a-year/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-low-wage-employers-cost-taxp...
  - LyndsySimon 10y ago
    > http://www.academia.edu/1511858/The_Effect_of_Wal-Mart_on_Sm.. http://www.academia.edu/1511858/The_Effect_of_Wal-Mart_on_Sm.... This is literally someone's homework. > http://business.time.com/2014/02/24/walmarts-big-push-to-go-.. http://business.time.com/2014/02/24/walmarts-big-push-to-go-.... This offers no evidence of any harm at all. > http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/study-proves-wa.. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/study-proves-wa.... This talks about a study (but doesn't link to it) that says: "The payroll results indicate that Wal-Mart store openings lead to declines in county-level retail earnings of about $1.4 million, or 1.5 percent. Of course, these effects occurred against a backdrop of rising retail employment, and only imply lower retail employment growth than would have occurred absent the effects of Wal-Mart." If anything, that's evidence to counter your assertion that WalMart raises prices after eliminating its competition - retail in the counties is more efficient, and people are spending less money. > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/18/walmart_n_4466850.h.. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/18/walmart_n_4466850.h.... > http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-low-wage-employers-cost-taxp.. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-low-wage-employers-cost-taxp.... "Wage fraud" isn't what you asserted before, but even that isn't supported by these links. These links talk about the fact that WalMart employees low-income workers.
LyndsySimon 10y ago
> 4) Wait as other businesses run out of money due to not being able to compete on price. > 5) raise prices once monopoly is established. Do you have any evidence of this? I'm originally from northern Arkansas and my town has store #0002. It opened in the 60s, but it was converted to one of the first Supercenters in the early 90s. As far as I know none of the local grocery stores there have closed - both of them are still there to this day. I live in Charlottesville, VA today, and there are three WalMarts within ~25 miles of me - yet there are also many other regional and national chains operating in the area, the most notable of which is probably Wegman's which just expanded here.
- anonbanker 10y ago
  I included evidence here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13107167 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13107167

umanwizard 10y ago

Isn't that illegal?

anonbanker 10y ago
Not when the city council are your accomplices. Who is going to prosecute?
- literallycancer 10y ago
  The state apparently. >"The Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice, state governments and private parties who are sufficiently affected may all bring actions in the courts to enforce the antitrust laws."[1] 1 - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_antitrust_law
vertex-four 10y ago
The best bit is that people will argue that it is literally impossible for this to happen.

toss1941 10y ago

In my fly-over town I have 4 Super-Walmarts within 30 minutes of me and there are still as many Grocery stores around as when we only had 2 Super-Walmarts several years ago. There have also been quite a few smaller grocery stores popping up yearly, especially tiny ethnic markets. If your premise is true, and I'm sure it is to some extent, it isn't having a very big impact in my neck of the woods.

anonbanker 10y ago
Congratulations on having a city council that is not hopelessly corrupt, and having an economy strong enough to withstand 4 wal-mart superstores within driving distance. I hope you understand that your anecdata is in a minority, while there are countless examples of what I'm describing.

icebraining 10y ago

Not that I find it hard to believe, but since we don't have them around, is there any data showing (5)?

anonbanker 10y ago
Here's a few: EDIT: Multiple lawsuits for predatory pricing: https://ilsr.org/walmart-charged-predatory-pricing/ https://ilsr.org/walmart-charged-predatory-pricing/ http://www.academia.edu/1511858/The_Effect_of_Wal-Mart_on_Small_Towns http://www.academia.edu/1511858/The_Effect_of_Wal-Mart_on_Sm... http://business.time.com/2014/02/24/walmarts-big-push-to-go-small-and-destroy-your-neighborhood-dollar-store/ http://business.time.com/2014/02/24/walmarts-big-push-to-go-... http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/study-proves-walmart-super-stores-kill-local-small-businesses-article-1.140129 http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/study-proves-wa... here's a few directly related to wage fraud: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/18/walmart_n_4466850.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/18/walmart_n_4466850.h... http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-low-wage-employers-cost-taxpayers-153-billion-a-year/ http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-low-wage-employers-cost-taxp...
- LyndsySimon 10y ago
  > http://www.academia.edu/1511858/The_Effect_of_Wal-Mart_on_Sm.. http://www.academia.edu/1511858/The_Effect_of_Wal-Mart_on_Sm.... This is literally someone's homework. > http://business.time.com/2014/02/24/walmarts-big-push-to-go-.. http://business.time.com/2014/02/24/walmarts-big-push-to-go-.... This offers no evidence of any harm at all. > http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/study-proves-wa.. http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/brooklyn/study-proves-wa.... This talks about a study (but doesn't link to it) that says: "The payroll results indicate that Wal-Mart store openings lead to declines in county-level retail earnings of about $1.4 million, or 1.5 percent. Of course, these effects occurred against a backdrop of rising retail employment, and only imply lower retail employment growth than would have occurred absent the effects of Wal-Mart." If anything, that's evidence to counter your assertion that WalMart raises prices after eliminating its competition - retail in the counties is more efficient, and people are spending less money. > http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/18/walmart_n_4466850.h.. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/12/18/walmart_n_4466850.h.... > http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-low-wage-employers-cost-taxp.. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/how-low-wage-employers-cost-taxp.... "Wage fraud" isn't what you asserted before, but even that isn't supported by these links. These links talk about the fact that WalMart employees low-income workers.

LyndsySimon 10y ago

> 4) Wait as other businesses run out of money due to not being able to compete on price. > 5) raise prices once monopoly is established. Do you have any evidence of this? I'm originally from northern Arkansas and my town has store #0002. It opened in the 60s, but it was converted to one of the first Supercenters in the early 90s. As far as I know none of the local grocery stores there have closed - both of them are still there to this day. I live in Charlottesville, VA today, and there are three WalMarts within ~25 miles of me - yet there are also many other regional and national chains operating in the area, the most notable of which is probably Wegman's which just expanded here.

anonbanker 10y ago
I included evidence here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13107167 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13107167