3 ms·

Could you elaborate why?

mikeash 13y ago
They severely mistreat their employees when it comes to on-the-job injuries. Friend of mine injured his knee while working in one of their warehouses. A perverse company policy gives bonuses if the crew is injury-free for a certain amount of time. This is supposed to improve safety, but what it does is cause management to put intense pressure on workers not to see a doctor when injured, because if they don't see a doctor then it doesn't count. In my friend's case, this exacerbated the injury greatly. By the time he got medical attention, it was a $20,000 surgery. Wal-Mart then denied responsibility, saying it was an old football injury and thus a preexisting condition not covered by their health policy. This basically bankrupted him. Beyond that, they achieve low prices by leveraging their massive size difference to completely screw producers. Examples: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:MF1qnjmw8c4J:joewo.com/WordPress/%3Fp%3D9281+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:MF1qnjm... http://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart http://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart In short, Wal-Mart will make big promises that generate big commitments from suppliers, then break their contracts in ways that are difficult to fight in order to save money and make the suppliers ever more dependent on them. But, to be honest, the way they personally affected me by fucking over my friend is by far the bigger reason behind my judgment. I'm not generally troubled by the way that companies act as amoral profit-maximizers. But they're supposed to do it within the law. Wal-Mart actively screws over people by playing outside the rules, far beyond what I see other companies doing.
- vowelless 13y ago
  Thanks for that. When this kind of comment comes up, I am always concerned about a slippery-slope as there are many other companies / practices that do worse things than Walmart and thus boycotting only Walmart would be a hypocrisy. You could say similar things about Apple products, or the random T shirt one would pick up from a cheap store. The personal angle in your comment makes a lot of sense.
- felipe 13y ago
  That would be the same of accusing Apple of being evil for overlooking environmental laws, while other companies (Samsung, etc...) use the exact same practices and end up getting a free pass. Walmart gets labeled as "evil" simply because they are the big ones and therefore the media likes to make them the example, but every retailer acts like them. This is a problem of corporate-capitalism and the lack of labor protection in the US more than anything else. (I agree with you that this is bad behavior. My point is simply that this kind of behavior should be enforced by the system)
  - mikeash 13y ago
    Are the others, in fact, just as bad? If so, I've not heard of it. Sure, there are certain routine abuses that are rampant everywhere, but Wal-Mart takes it to a uniquely high level from what I know. I could be wrong, of course, but that's what I know.
    - felipe 13y ago
      > Are the others, in fact, just as bad? Well, just one example that came to my mind from a documentary I watched recently: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/viewfinder/asia/2013/07/201371211640256607.html http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/viewfinder/asia/2013/07/...
      - mikeash 13y ago
        It's nearly impossible to link a single case of cancer to a particular cause, since the whole process is deeply probabilistic. Absent evidence of routine abuses at this factory and a significant increase in cancer incidence among workers, it doesn't really work. A knee injury, on the other hand, is trivial to link to the on-the-job accident that caused it in many cases.
- redblacktree 13y ago
  There is also their aggressive anti-union tactics. They have a anti-union response team that flies in on a corporate jet to deal with any stores that are threatening to organize.

They severely mistreat their employees when it comes to on-the-job injuries. Friend of mine injured his knee while working in one of their warehouses. A perverse company policy gives bonuses if the crew is injury-free for a certain amount of time. This is supposed to improve safety, but what it does is cause management to put intense pressure on workers not to see a doctor when injured, because if they don't see a doctor then it doesn't count. In my friend's case, this exacerbated the injury greatly. By the time he got medical attention, it was a $20,000 surgery. Wal-Mart then denied responsibility, saying it was an old football injury and thus a preexisting condition not covered by their health policy. This basically bankrupted him. Beyond that, they achieve low prices by leveraging their massive size difference to completely screw producers. Examples: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:MF1qnjmw8c4J:joewo.com/WordPress/%3Fp%3D9281+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:MF1qnjm... http://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart http://www.fastcompany.com/54763/man-who-said-no-wal-mart In short, Wal-Mart will make big promises that generate big commitments from suppliers, then break their contracts in ways that are difficult to fight in order to save money and make the suppliers ever more dependent on them. But, to be honest, the way they personally affected me by fucking over my friend is by far the bigger reason behind my judgment. I'm not generally troubled by the way that companies act as amoral profit-maximizers. But they're supposed to do it within the law. Wal-Mart actively screws over people by playing outside the rules, far beyond what I see other companies doing.

vowelless 13y ago
Thanks for that. When this kind of comment comes up, I am always concerned about a slippery-slope as there are many other companies / practices that do worse things than Walmart and thus boycotting only Walmart would be a hypocrisy. You could say similar things about Apple products, or the random T shirt one would pick up from a cheap store. The personal angle in your comment makes a lot of sense.
felipe 13y ago
That would be the same of accusing Apple of being evil for overlooking environmental laws, while other companies (Samsung, etc...) use the exact same practices and end up getting a free pass. Walmart gets labeled as "evil" simply because they are the big ones and therefore the media likes to make them the example, but every retailer acts like them. This is a problem of corporate-capitalism and the lack of labor protection in the US more than anything else. (I agree with you that this is bad behavior. My point is simply that this kind of behavior should be enforced by the system)
- mikeash 13y ago
  Are the others, in fact, just as bad? If so, I've not heard of it. Sure, there are certain routine abuses that are rampant everywhere, but Wal-Mart takes it to a uniquely high level from what I know. I could be wrong, of course, but that's what I know.
  - felipe 13y ago
    > Are the others, in fact, just as bad? Well, just one example that came to my mind from a documentary I watched recently: http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/viewfinder/asia/2013/07/201371211640256607.html http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/viewfinder/asia/2013/07/...
    - mikeash 13y ago
      It's nearly impossible to link a single case of cancer to a particular cause, since the whole process is deeply probabilistic. Absent evidence of routine abuses at this factory and a significant increase in cancer incidence among workers, it doesn't really work. A knee injury, on the other hand, is trivial to link to the on-the-job accident that caused it in many cases.
redblacktree 13y ago
There is also their aggressive anti-union tactics. They have a anti-union response team that flies in on a corporate jet to deal with any stores that are threatening to organize.