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Wal-Mart has over two million employees. What would you propose to do about this? Given that it didn't get to that point overnight, one might suspect that it gr

by noarchy 14y ago

Wal-Mart has over two million employees. What would you propose to do about this? Given that it didn't get to that point overnight, one might suspect that it grew because of its success, rather than it being any kind of threat (it is a threat to its competitors, to be sure).

chris_wot 14y ago
I'm not sure I particularly consider Walmart to be a particularly positive influence in the U.S. economy...
- noarchy 14y ago
  I understand that. Retail jobs don't tend to be high-salaried positions, with superior benefits packages. They're not the six-figure jobs we read about here on HN all the time, with catered meals and other embroidery. Nonetheless, the company needs people to fill those jobs, and finds them. Is there some kind of intervention that you'd advocate that wouldn't devastate the company?
  - chris_wot 14y ago
    You are sort of missing the point a little. Walmart frequently causes market imbalances with its massive buying power, forcing suppliers to make extremely low profit margins. A good deal of manufacturing went to China from the U.S. due to Walmart's practices. That's really not good for the U.S. economy. On top of this, I'm not really sure I care if Walmart does fail. What I'm saying is that if it does, then that single participant will have suddenly massively increased unemployment simply by no longer being a going concern. Again, that's not healthy for an economy. Many smaller or medium sized players would probably be a healthier thing for the U.S. economy.
    - noarchy 14y ago
      Walmart plays the same game that its competition plays, it just plays it better. I am sure that if it were not them, we'd be talking about some other Big Retailer doing these things, some of which are indeed rotten. And there are definitely some concerns to be had for the amount of power that China, specifically, has via its economy. Not being an economic nationalist (and I'm in Canada), I tend to take it case-by-case.
    - twoodfin 14y ago
      A good deal of manufacturing went to China from the U.S. due to Walmart's practices. That's really not good for the U.S. economy. In a vacuum, no, but how can you be sure that the aggregate value of cheaper retail goods for Walmart's shoppers wasn't better for the U.S. economy? And it's not as if U.S. manufacturing output has shrunk. It's still the greatest in the world, though obviously we're not making as many consumer goods as 20 or 30 years ago. Many smaller or medium sized players would probably be a healthier thing for the U.S. economy. There are at least half a dozen smaller or medium size competitors for Walmart shoppers' dollars. Take a look at the performance of Costco vs. Walmart, for example. The former has competed exceedingly well by playing the game very differently in some respects, while also being smart and efficient in a way that much of the pre-Walmart retail landscape wasn't.

by noarchy 14y ago

chris_wot 14y ago

I'm not sure I particularly consider Walmart to be a particularly positive influence in the U.S. economy...

noarchy 14y ago
I understand that. Retail jobs don't tend to be high-salaried positions, with superior benefits packages. They're not the six-figure jobs we read about here on HN all the time, with catered meals and other embroidery. Nonetheless, the company needs people to fill those jobs, and finds them. Is there some kind of intervention that you'd advocate that wouldn't devastate the company?
- chris_wot 14y ago
  You are sort of missing the point a little. Walmart frequently causes market imbalances with its massive buying power, forcing suppliers to make extremely low profit margins. A good deal of manufacturing went to China from the U.S. due to Walmart's practices. That's really not good for the U.S. economy. On top of this, I'm not really sure I care if Walmart does fail. What I'm saying is that if it does, then that single participant will have suddenly massively increased unemployment simply by no longer being a going concern. Again, that's not healthy for an economy. Many smaller or medium sized players would probably be a healthier thing for the U.S. economy.
  - noarchy 14y ago
    Walmart plays the same game that its competition plays, it just plays it better. I am sure that if it were not them, we'd be talking about some other Big Retailer doing these things, some of which are indeed rotten. And there are definitely some concerns to be had for the amount of power that China, specifically, has via its economy. Not being an economic nationalist (and I'm in Canada), I tend to take it case-by-case.
  - twoodfin 14y ago
    A good deal of manufacturing went to China from the U.S. due to Walmart's practices. That's really not good for the U.S. economy. In a vacuum, no, but how can you be sure that the aggregate value of cheaper retail goods for Walmart's shoppers wasn't better for the U.S. economy? And it's not as if U.S. manufacturing output has shrunk. It's still the greatest in the world, though obviously we're not making as many consumer goods as 20 or 30 years ago. Many smaller or medium sized players would probably be a healthier thing for the U.S. economy. There are at least half a dozen smaller or medium size competitors for Walmart shoppers' dollars. Take a look at the performance of Costco vs. Walmart, for example. The former has competed exceedingly well by playing the game very differently in some respects, while also being smart and efficient in a way that much of the pre-Walmart retail landscape wasn't.