For as long as I can remember, Wal-Mart has always been an extremely powerful business where everyone shops. In fact, at a young age, I got an idea of just how powerful Wal-Mart is when the Wal-Mart my family usually shopped at moved from its location right next door to a Hy-Vee, to completely across town in an effort to steal customers from them. However, one thing that has always been apparent to me is that despite the fact that Wal-Mart is a huge and powerful business, its products are what some consider to be cheap, and working at Wal-Mart is not what most people would consider a great job. This made me question what is truly going on behind the scenes at Wal-Mart. If it is truly that terrible of a place with such terrible things going …show more content…
on in it, there have to be some benefits of it considering the fact that they seem to pop up everywhere. Author John Dicker goes into detail about the many problems with Wal-Mart in his article “The United States of Wal-Mart”.
Dicker brings up valid statistics that help give an understanding of just how powerful Wal-Mart actually is including that Wal-Mart employs one out of every 115 American Workers and the business is four times the size of its largest rival (790). He also goes into great detail about many of the issues with Wal-Mart. He talks about not only the many lawsuits filed against Wal-Mart but also the feelings of the workers about their jobs (791-795). Dicker’s article brings up many valid points about the negative aspects of Wal-Mart, however he overlooks the details of how the business manages to stay powerful despite all of the terrible things that are going on and fails to include any benefits that come from …show more content…
Wal-Mart. In his article, Dicker talks about statistics relating to the many court cases in which Wal-Mart is involved. He states that there are, on average, thirteen new lawsuits filed against Wal-Mart each day (793). While stating this huge statistic, he is almost manipulating the numbers by not giving any details about these cases. Also, Dicker left out a huge detail claimed by authors working for “The Wal-Mart Litigation Project”. They claim that Wal-Mart has been able to retain some of the best lawyers in the country (Project). Dicker also makes claims about the extremely bad lawsuits that have been filed against Wal-Mart like illegal immigrants working for them or gender discrimination. However, in all reality, most of the lawsuits filed against Wal-Mart are related to slips and falls in the stores or faulty products (Project). By looking at just the statistics given by Dicker, it seems nearly impossible that Wal-Mart could stay open or at least stay as powerful as it has because he makes it sound like a lot of really terrible things are going on. By ignoring necessary details, Dicker’s approach is not only biased, but he is also not giving enough information for the reader to make a good opinion on the huge corporation of Wal-Mart. Not only does Dicker manipulate statistics relating to the lawsuits associated with Wal-Mart, he only talks about Wal-Mart jobs from one particular point of view.
One thing that he fails to mention is any information on what Wal-Mart workers actually do. As mentioned earlier, Dicker states that one in every 115 workers in America, however, this does not mean that all of these people are sitting behind a cash register or greeting people as they walk in (790). Dicker completely ignores the fact that Wal-Mart offers different types of jobs. While it is true that a majority of the workers do work as suppliers or cashiers, he only talks about the really bad jobs and the really good jobs like CEO of the entire corporation. His points would be much more valid if he paid more attention to the employees in the middle. He also brings up the point that Wal-Mart workers are only paid around $18,000 per year (793). It is obvious that this is not enough money for a person to live off of, however in an ideal world no one should depend on minimum wage jobs to make all of their earnings. Dicker completely ignores this fact and makes it sound like such a terrible thing that people who are working full-time jobs at Wal-Mart are not making as much money as they would like to. Another thing that Dicker completely ignores is the age of all of the Wal-Mart workers. He does not say anything about teenagers working part-time jobs and how they affect these statistics. He also makes Lee Scott and
Michael Duke sound terrible. He states that anytime they are asked about Wal-Mart their only response is that “They provide good jobs” (794-795). Dicker makes these guys sound like they are not very nice for repeatedly stating this; however he does not go into a lot of detail about what these Wal-Mart jobs so terrible. He also continues to manipulate statistics to make Wal-Mart sound worse than they actually are. Dicker’s tone is his article is mostly negative towards Wal-Mart. Although he makes many valid points about the bad things about Wal-Mart, he completely ignores any the advantages that Wal-Mart provides for the economy. Tom Van Riper, a Forbes staff member, gave evidence in his article “Wal-Mart Is Good for You” that employment in areas with Wal-Marts has grown faster than in places without one (Van Riper). He also talks about how Wal-Mart makes up around 6% of retail and food sales in the United States, not to mention five out of six Americans shop at Wal-Mart. With this being said, Wal-Mart plays a huge part in the shopping of a large amount of Americans. Without this huge corporation, our economy would be extremely different. There are actually quite a few benefits that come out of it that Dicker completely ignores. Is Wal-Mart really that terrible of a place? In his article, Dicker brings up many valid points about how powerful Wal-Mart is. It is no doubt that Wal-Mart is not just a store. However, is that such a bad thing? Without Wal-Mart, there would probably be not only an increase in unemployment rates but also a lack of a place where countless people go to shopping. Dicker manipulates many statistics about Wal-Mart and completely ignores any of the benefits that come out of this huge corporation. By just looking at the information provided by him, it is extremely difficult to make a conclusion about Wal-Mart. Dicker could improve his article by giving points of view from people on both sides of the spectrum and not just focusing on everything bad about it.
In Deenu Parmar's "Labouring the Wal Mart Way," the author discusses the business practices of Wal Mart, their impact on systemic poverty, and on existing work unions. Their business model forces competition to align with them, or close up shop. Wal Mart hires workers that would usually have a difficult time finding employment. That said, they pay them well below a living wage. Staff are also subject to abuses like overtime without pay. Wal Mart is resolute in their feelings towards unions. Their hiring process designed to cut out union sympathizers. This way, they can prevent any retaliation from staff seeking a better work environment. If anti-union efforts are unsuccessful, they close the store. It also forces existing unions to take pay
Mallaby admits Wal-Mart can treat their employees and other retailers unfairly, but as a result everyone can share in the 50 billion in savings that American shoppers consume annually. The pay that employees get is the price they must pay for low priced merchandise. Because of the minimal pay to employees, Wal-Mart strengthens its’ consumer buying power. Giving the American shoppers the savings they need, Wal-Mart’s has ultimately been them successful. Wal-Mart has potentially wiped out the middle class as an employer, but the employees can now work and ...
This analysis paper will analyze one advertisement picture that was produced by the mega food chain known as McDonalds. The ad is exuberantly promoting three cheeseburgers that the fast food chain is attempting to sell. The three cheeseburgers on the advertisement are the more popular attractions of the fast food chain including the “Angus Deluxe Third pounder”, the “Double Quarter Pounder with Cheese”, and the most famous one of all, “The Big Mac”. These three cheeseburgers have been the baseline for the McDonalds fast food chain ever since the restaurant opened. The burgers are also known world wide, making this advertisement is just a way to get the public to come and buy there food.
Wal-Mart, a "Big-Box Retailer" employs more than 2.1 million associates worldwide and has two-thousand seven-hundred stores in the United States with many more in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Central America, Chile, China, Germany, Japan, Korea, India, Mexico, Puerto Rico, and the United Kingdom, making Wal-Mart the largest retailer in the world. "Wal-Mart accounts for upward of 30 percent of U.S. sales, and plans to more than double its sales within the next five years" (Lynn 29-36). Why is Wal-Mart so successful, and is Wal-Mart actually bad for America?
Within an excerpt from, “The United States of Wal-Mart,” John Dicker explains that Wal-Mart is a troubling corporation. Dicker begins his article by discussing why the store is so popular within the news in an age of global terrorism, coming to the conclusion that Wal-Mart has a huge scope in the United States and that it has more scandals, lawsuits, and stories than any other supercenter. Continually, he goes on to explain that Wal-Mart outsources jobs and their companies demands makes it hard for employees to have livable wages and good working conditions. Furthermore, Dicker addresses the claim that Wal-Mart provides good jobs, by destroying this perception with statistics showing how employees live in poverty and that their union scene
In the book Into the Wild, Jon Krakauer wrote about Christopher McCandless, a nature lover in search for independence, in a mysterious and hopeful experience. Even though Krakauer tells us McCandless was going to die from the beginning, he still gave him a chance for survival. As a reader I wanted McCandless to survive. In Into the Wild, Krakauer gave McCandless a unique perspective. He was a smart and unique person that wanted to be completely free from society. Krakauer included comments from people that said McCandless was crazy, and his death was his own mistake. However, Krakauer is able to make him seem like a brave person. The connections between other hikers and himself helped in the explanation of McCandless’s rational actions. Krakauer is able to make McCandless look like a normal person, but unique from this generation. In order for Krakauer to make Christopher McCandless not look like a crazy person, but a special person, I will analyze the persuading style that Krakauer used in Into the Wild that made us believe McCandless was a regular young adult.
Walmart is bad for America, as some say. The Globalization essay that was handed out in class had many good points. It states that Walmart puts many smaller businesses out of service. A recent study by David Neumark of the University of California at Irvine and two associates at the Public Policy Institute of California, "The Effects of Wal-Mart on Local Labor Markets," uses sophisticated statistical analysis to estimate the effects on jobs and wages as Wal-Mart spread out from its original center in Arkansas. The authors find that retail employmen...
A prior market firm used by Wal-mart (GSD&M) warned Wal-mart of the public image issues they were facing and had not addressed, even though they had been advised of them for over two years. GSD&M wrote in one review to the company that “sadly, after two years of empty rhetoric and ineffective publicity stunts, we now know that Wal-Mart has not only needlessly hurt its Associates and their families, but has pointlessly hurt the image and success that Sam Walton built.” (wakeupWalMart.com, 2007). Wal-mart has acted in a manner that blends with the theory of egoism. This theory “sets as its goal the benefit, pleasure, or greatest good of the oneself alone.” (wofford.edu, 1997). “Egoist use personal advantage…as the standard for measuring an action’s rightness.” (Shaw, 2008, p. 45). Clearly Wal-mart today is acting with interests geared toward their personal advantage and not considering the wreckage it is leaving all around them.
Wal-Mart represents the sickness of capitalism at its almost fully evolved state. As Jim Hightower said, "Why single out Wal-Mart? Because it's a hog. Despite the homespun image it cultivates in its ads, it operates with an arrogance and avarice that would make Enron blush and John D. Rockefeller envious. It's the world's biggest retail corporation and America's largest private employer; Sam Robson Walton, a member of the ruling family, is one of the richest people on earth. Wal-Mart and the Waltons got to the top the old-fashioned way: by roughing people up. Their low, low prices are the product of two ruthless commandments: Extract the last penny possible from human toil and squeeze the last dime from its thousands of suppliers, who are left with no profit margin unless they adopt the Wal-Mart model of using nonunion labor and shipping production to low-wage hellholes abroad." (The Nation, March 4th 2002 www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020304&s=hightower).
To this day, when I walk into Wal-Mart and come face to face with a manager I once worked under they give me dirty looks. People report that managers will trash talk you to another job that applied for if that job contacts Wal-Mart about you. Wal-Mart has unrealistic workloads for some overnight stockers, their managers aren’t the best in the world, and their policies are harsh. This is why I constantly call Wal-Mart a communist regime; not because it shares the ideals but because it is just bad for everyone in general. Hopefully one day a high positioned power will restore the order and peace that once was Wal-Mart according to the history they teach you in training and that their policies and workloads may become more realistic and doable.
Karen Olsson claims that while Wal-Mart is the top retailer in the nation, they do not pay their employees enough to live off of, they deny promotions and equal pay to women, and are too tightly controlled from headquarters in Arkansas to claim ignorance of what is happening in their stores, in her article titled “Up Against Wal-Mart.” Olsson provides facts supporting that Wal-Mart is the top retailer in the nation such as they have $220 billion in sales and their “annual revenues account for 2 percent of America’s entire domestic product.” Olsson also states that Wal-Mart plans to add 800,000 more jobs even though the economy is slowing. Olsson questions a man named Greg Denier who comments that it is impossible to live off of what Wal-Mart pays its
In “Robert,” by The Goodwill Industries of Middle Tennessee a non-profit company, gives the audience a view of how Goodwill Inc. has helped families by the donation of others. Robert Guerard, is an older African-American disabled man with a disabled family. His circumstances has challenged his life, but when he thought hope was lost, that’s when Goodwill reconstructed his faith. With the donations of others unused items, he is able to obtain a job and provide for his family like everyones else. He is also able to spend quality time with his son and cherish each moment with him. The commercial uses many strategies to persuade the audience to donate and to Goodwill, through imagery, emotional vocabulary, and change the lives of others by renewing their hope.
Wal-Mart may be the biggest employer in the United States, but that does not mean that all employees are treated fairly and appreciated. Wal-Mart is notorious for offering poor health care coverage and low wages. The health care policy for this corporation is known as one of the worst in all of corporate America. Many Wal-Mart employees do not have healthcare through their employer and also have lower wages in comparison to other employers. This means that Wal-Mart takes advantage of their stranglehold on the market and offers employees the lowest wages and benefits possible. Many people are employed with Wal-Mart due to lack of education and job
Walmart has had a long-standing presence in America society since the middle of the 20th century, seen as a place to get everything done, Walmart has become a fixation in our society. From grocery shopping, to changing your oil and even filing your annual tax returns, Walmart is always there, everyday. Started by Sam Walton in 1962, it began as a small operation catering to a small Arkansas community. It was started on principles very similar to small local businesses in small towns. Today Walmart has gotten a different, darker reputation. On the surface, Walmart may seem like the solution to everyday issues. Low-income families are attracted to the low prices, and people who work odd hours benefit greatly from the 24 hours a day that many Walmarts are open. Lately, Walmart has also managed to be publicly recognized as a store that sells many of today’s green products, including organic food, environmental conscious cleaning products, as well as, paper products made from recycled paper. However, underneath all this, Walmart has a different side. Exploitation of its workers is widespread amongst Walmarts who do not belong to a union, especially in the United States. Wal...
===America the land of the free, the country where all dreams come true, or they say. Many times the American dream lives up to its expectations, but it also fails to meet other people’s expectations. Wal-mart has become a very popular store across the United States because it’s able to provide to the consumer what he or she wants at very low prices in comparison to other stores such as Target. Wal-mart is what people look for, a retailer where they can get everything they want within their budget. This is part of the American dream some people look forward too. Not only is Wal-Mart good for the consumers but it is also good for the owners. They attract millions of people across the united states, because they offer products that are in demand