[Blue]

Us elites shop at Target.

Pronounced "taaar-jaaay."

[magkelly]

If it wasn't for Walmart the unemployment rate here would probably be twice what it is. They and Target employ a significant number of people in an area that is economically depressed for the vast majority. They're not the best employers but they keep people working. We never did have much by way of a downtown industry and while it's true that Walmart does compete somewhat with the local grocery chains by and large the chains make up for what Walmart sells by having more variety to choose from and yes, competitive pricing. There are times when I do buy at Walmart and Target. They are cheaper on certain things and they sell dolls besides. I always like to go there and see what's new. But the days of Walmart and Target being cheaper across the board are long gone. They're not always the place to go. I look at the sales and shop accordingly. I would estimate I do about 1/3 of my shopping at Target and Walmart. I don't think my local groceries have lost much from my buying there. The quality of certain food things at Walmart isn't what I'd call edible and I can often hit the grocery BOGOF sales and beat Walmart's prices on things that usually are cheaper, like cereal.

My only real alternative to Walmart for other things is the big mall (The mall always was the only place to shop here.) Honestly I can't just afford to go there anymore and buy things like clothes, shoes, etc. The prices at the local mall are so extreme that I wouldn't be able to afford to even think about buying anything. If I was to decide for some reason that I needed to buy new clothes and if I hit the mall and I'd spend $700-1000 on just a basic wardrobe of jeans, shirts, a few skirts, and shoes. Hit Walmart or Target and I could do the same shopping for maybe a bit more than half of that sum. Given that, which one do you think I am going to hit? Of course I'm going to hit Walmart. If the prices weren't so insane elsewhere maybe I wouldn't but shopping for a few clothes at the mall here means going into hock almost to the tune of buying a K5 and frankly I'd rather save my $$$$ for the K5.

As for hate groups using Walmart there's a pretty simple explanation for that and it has nothing to do with any blame on Walmart. People with racist leanings tend to be less well educated and they have less money. A lot of them hunt animals for food out of necessity. A lot of them are survivalist, conspiracy people. They like being armed, period. They want to buy guns and cheap ammo. They want to buy a lot of cookout food for rallies and such. They want cheap liquor, cheap cigarettes, cheap clothes. Of course they're going to choose Walmart to do their business at. Why go to the mall when you can buy your ammo when you buy your sneakers and probably spend 30% less to do it all? Walmart is ultra convenient for people like that. They have everything you could possibly want to see at a skinhead rally all in one place, plus they sell the gas to get there. What's not for a racist punk to love? Does that make Walmart racist for selling all that stuff? Hardly. They're catering to the legit sports people. They can't hardly help it if the skinheads and such like them too.

Not every town has a legit downtown. We actually did have people try to build us one. They finally built a couple of groceries downtown. They built all these new apartments, condos and office buildings and even made a lovely new outdoor mall with lots of restaurants and the movies, bookstores, all kinds of interesting things to do. People came and they opened even more stores and places to eat and for about a year or two the downtown was a much cooler place to be. Then the muggings, rapes, and car jackings started and there was a drive by shooting at the movies and suddenly people deserted that area in droves and no amount of police patrolling the place was enough to get the crowds back. End of downtown. They're still trying to revive it but no one cares, shrug.

My whole town is nothing but beaches, low end motels, bars, strip malls and stores like Walmart. Lots of older concrete built housing and mobile homes. It never was much more than that if you want to be brutally honest. Walmart, Target coming here that was actually a GOOD thing. There are thousands of people working here that would simply not be working at all if it was not for Target and Walmart. Even with that the unemployment rate here is staggering. Walmart did not cause that. Neither did Target.

People just keep coming from elsewhere looking for work and the industry here just cannot support them. This area ironically is experiencing it's greatest population boom in a century. Problem is there are no jobs for the people who have been here let alone the new arrivals and that is why 1 in 3 people here is on welfare or food stamps and why people flock to Walmart when they actually do announce they are hiring on some new people. For every job opening here there are several hundred people applying. Maybe more, and believe me the last thing that they are worried about is if Walmart qualifies as the Evil Empire and/or if a bunch of racists shop there.

Our local Walmarts? To be fair, they've probably added much more to the success of business here than they have ever taken away. Walmart being here keeps the grocery stores honest. They force the chain clothing stores, the gas stations to compete somewhat more. That is not a bad thing. Big business here thinks this is a boom town and it is in terms of people living here now, but what they don't get is that aside from a small population of people who make a lot of money, and a few tourists, is that most of the people who live here are retired or working at low end jobs. They're always cash strapped and looking for the best deal and they will go to whomever gives it to them. They have to.

It's not just about convenience, though of course people like that. It's absolutely about survival. You look around here and there's house after house for sale. People are living 2 families to one house, two to an appt because there's no way they can afford to do otherwise. The term "living wage" down here it's always been a joke. It's better than it was sure, but it's in no way kept up with inflation and the cost of living here. Walmart is not the problem it's all the employers who are the problem. None of them wants to pay a worker anything like what a worker here needs to live here. Getting f/t employment? Not so easy.

No one here hires f/t hardly or offers much in benefits at all. Walmart is actually a pretty good employer compared to a lot of what's available here. They hire for Christmas, but they also hire permanent workers for the whole year, not just for the busy season. That's more than 95% of the other retail businesses in this town do and FYI, most offices here they use more temps than permanent people too. Same deal. It's all disposable people in short term jobs that don't last or offer anything worth investing yourself in. Even if they keep you in it's usually as a long term temp so they don't have to give you benefits or pay you more. You don't want that? Out the door you go.

That's the reality of living in my area and that's why when I do see a Walmart I don't sneer. I'm actually glad to have them here because it means someone here will have a job, even if it's a crappy one.

[monochrome]

The biggest problem that I have with Walmart is that their work force is subsidized by the state. A significant portion of their work force ends up on Medicaid and therefore receives their health care at the expense of the taxpayer.

The sales tax is a different issue, but basically, the government should go ahead and collect sales tax on internet sales (as it stands now, the purchaser is responsible to report sales to the state and pay sales tax after the fact, but basically no one does). Otherwise, there is no way for local stores to compete with internet giants like Amazon.

Or do away with Sales Tax altogether. Then tax land - all land - at one flat rate. That'll make those Amazon warehouses and WalMart parking lots very expensive and remove any incentive to shop online.

Then again, food will go up and you'll choke on your mortgage payment.

[monochrome]

Us elites shop at Target.

Yu wouldn't believe the ratio of BMW and Mercedes vehicles to pedestrian Ford and Chevy in our Target lot.

Then again, you have to save serious coin on plastic tubs and aspirin to afford a Beemer.

[Rondec]

Or do away with Sales Tax altogether. Then tax land - all land - at one flat rate. That'll make those Amazon warehouses and WalMart parking lots very expensive and remove any incentive to shop online.

Then again, food will go up and you'll choke on your mortgage payment.

Sure. There just has to be a different way where on line dealers (who in reality all have a physical location somewhere) don't collect sales tax on online sales. If you go to B and H to buy a lens, you pay more than if you buy it on the interwebs (unless you live in New York). Local stores (particularly small ones) will always struggle to compete anyway, but with such a price differential (7 percent of a thousand is quite a bit), they stand no chance.

[Parallax]

I buy most of my consumer electronics, optics cameras etc from online vendors like Amazon and B&H to avoid paying 7% NJ sales tax. Adorama has a NJ store so unless they beat all others by over 7% I buy from B&H etc.

Yeah, New Jersey doesn't need that tax money. They would probably just squander it on stuff like social programs for the poor, paving roads, paying teachers; stuff like that.
All that wasteful spending that conservatives hate so much. Good for you!

[jsherman999]

Yu wouldn't believe the ratio of BMW and Mercedes vehicles to pedestrian Ford and Chevy in our Target lot.

Then again, you have to save serious coin on plastic tubs and aspirin to afford a Beemer.

The cars in the parking lot are probably determined by the area of town your Target is in I actually enjoy shopping at Target, because I know where everything is, now, and my trips are quick & efficient. I also probably buy the majority of my clothes at Target - the jeans and shirt I'm wearing right now were bought there. Yes, my fashion sense boils down to "does it fit and does it have to be ironed much.".

[Rondec]

The cars in the parking lot are probably determined by the area of town your Target is in I actually enjoy shopping at Target, because I know where everything is, now, and my trips are quick & efficient. I also probably buy the majority of my clothes at Target - the jeans and shirt I'm wearing right now were bought there. Yes, my fashion sense boils down to "does it fit and does it have to be ironed much.".

I'm glad to hear you are wearing clothes, Jay. I'm afraid that some of those posting here aren't!

[Blue]

I'm glad to hear you are wearing clothes, Jay. I'm afraid that some of those posting here aren't!

[jogiba]

Yeah, New Jersey doesn't need that tax money. They would probably just squander it on stuff like social programs for the poor, paving roads, paying teachers; stuff like that.
All that wasteful spending that conservatives hate so much. Good for you!

I pay over $20,000 in property taxes in NJ every year and I don't feel like paying more than I have to on NJ sales tax.

[Parallax]

Yep. Everybody has reasons that the standards they would hold others to shouldn't apply to them.
I'll bet Romney feels the same way.

[boriscleto]

The sales tax is a different issue, but basically, the government should go ahead and collect sales tax on internet sales (as it stands now, the purchaser is responsible to report sales to the state and pay sales tax after the fact, but basically no one does). Otherwise, there is no way for local stores to compete with internet giants like Amazon.

Unless you live in NY. When our current Governor, Prince Andrew, was Attorney General he made a deal with the largest Internet retailers. In exchange for not suing them, they would collect sales tax from NY residents and then keep it for themselves. No need to pay NY anything. He just wanted to "even" the playing field for his donors in NY.

[Medium FormatPro]

The term "living wage" down here it's always been a joke. It's better than it was sure, but it's in no way kept up with inflation and the cost of living here. Walmart is not the problem it's all the employers who are the problem. None of them wants to pay a worker anything like what a worker here needs to live here. Getting f/t employment? Not so easy.

More about the living wage... One of these names might sound familiar; the other might have to be "googled". Look at exactly where Walmart ranks in terms of being one of the largest companies for the ten past years; yet look at what they pay their employees. There is also a new policy for all of Walmart, as follows... They've increased the amount of money that their employees need to contribute yearly for benefits - for a majority of their employees - it has doubled. Also a majority of Walmart employees are in fact part time. The second largest lot of Walmart employees are deasonal ones; full timers come in a distant third. BTW it is fully Walmarts plan to not hire or promote any other of it's workers (outside of managers) to full-time, It's also the plan of Walmart to try to get rid of the existing full-timers by making their jobs as miserable as possible.

As referenced earlier; please feel welcome to "google" Giant Eagle, a Pittsburgh based regional grocery monopoly. That grocery monopoly made "by it's reports" some 9.3 billion last year, also has within the ten highest (general) grocery prices anywhere in the country.

No problem though - I don't see the american economy lasting all that much longer.

[boriscleto]

More about the living wage... One of these names might sound familiar; the other might have to be "googled". Look at exactly where Walmart ranks in terms of being one of the largest companies for the ten past years; yet look at what they pay their employees. There is also a new policy for all of Walmart, as follows... They've increased the amount of money that their employees need to contribute yearly for benefits - for a majority of their employees - it has doubled. Also a majority of Walmart employees are in fact part time. The second largest lot of Walmart employees are deasonal ones; full timers come in a distant third. BTW it is fully Walmarts plan to not hire or promote any other of it's workers (outside of managers) to full-time, It's also the plan of Walmart to try to get rid of the existing full-timers by making their jobs as miserable as possible.

As referenced earlier; please feel welcome to "google" Giant Eagle, a Pittsburgh based regional grocery monopoly. That grocery monopoly made "by it's reports" some 9.3 billion last year, also has within the ten highest (general) grocery prices anywhere in the country.

No problem though - I don't see the american economy lasting all that much longer.

And if you want to know how a store can be run, check out Wegmans.

Wegmans Food Markets - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wegmans Food Markets, Inc. is a family-owned U.S. regional supermarket chain headquartered in Gates, New York, near Rochester.[5][6] Wegmans has more than 75 stores[1] spread across the mid-Atlantic region, in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts. Founded in 1916 in Rochester, New York, Wegmans has appeared on Fortune's annual "100 Best Companies to Work For" list since its inception in 1998, and has ranked among the top 10 for eight consecutive years.[7] Food Network recognized it with its award for Best Grocery Store in 2007,[8] and Consumer Reports ranked it the top large grocery chain in the United States in 2012.[9]

[Todd Adamson]

Yup, there are still a few shining examples of good businesses, run properly, that benefit the community AND make a profit. But Wal-Mart is slowly squeezing them out. If other businesses are unable to pay their employees well, or provide adequate insurance, or operate safely and sustainably, it's precisely because of Wal-Mart's anti-competitive practices.

Again, there is no reason to shop at Wal-Mart that doesn't derive from ignorance and laziness, and further, there's no example (or very few) of other independent businesses employing unsustainable practices that didn't come about because of Wal-Mart's dominance. Wal-Mart is single-handedly destroying America, and if you shop there, you are complicit. Are you about to get defensive at that last statement? If so, it's because somewhere, somehow, you see the truth of it.

Sure, there are other big box stores, and there are online businesses cutting into tax bases. But Wal-Mart is the model for all contemporary practices of such. Wal-Mart = ruin. Just take your hard-earned money and hand it over to China, and get it over with.