Wal-Mart: High Cost of Low Prices

Is Wal-Mart really a good store to support? After watching this movie about small businesses going out after years and the way Wal-Mart treats their employees, I'm not really sure anymore. In the movie the CEO of Wal-Mart was saying how well they treat their employees and that they are paying them well, but the employees say something entirely different. Small businesses who had been thriving for over forty years were now closing their doors because Wal-Mart was coming in and building another "super center". I don't think Sam Walton would have wanted this to happen when he began this franchise. I also witnessed on the video that when small towns got wind that a Wal-Mart was "intruding" they immediately started a campaign to protest against it. I never really thought about the intricate details of a Wal-Mart and what they do, but after watching this movie it's changed my perspective on the way I look at it.

Moving on to the employees; I was shocked at the way they were treated. In order for them to have decent health care, they had to "buy" it from Wal-Mart and some employees were on medicaid or other certain government health care. Employees in China at the Wal-Mart factories were treated even worse. They were provided with apartments or dorms that were very small and unclean. The workers were paid $0.18 an hour to make shirts or anything they were told. These products (like T-shirts) were sold in America for $14.00 or more and none of the money was going back to the workers in China. I find this degrading. Certain Wal-Mart commercials would say how well the employees were treated and cared for when really they were lying through their teeth. Wal-Mart makes millions and millions of dollars each and every year and can't find a way to better accommodate their employees both here in America and in China??? Maybe Wal-Mart has lower prices than everyone else but are you willing to support the way they treat others? This video has opened my eyes and made me realize that there is a lot more going on than what you can see. It's made me think about why I would shop at Wal-Mart and if I'll continue to do so.