Who Is Walmart So Bad For America?

On July 2, 1962 Sam Walton opened up the first Walmart in Newport, Arkansas. Now Walmart has become the most dominant retailer in the United States. Walmart is continuing to expand around the world and become so superior that its competitors are being driven out of business. Furthermore, Walmart is taking jobs away from Americans by outsourcing to China. Also, some Walmart employees believe that they are not getting paid well enough or receive proper benefits. Walmart is bad for America due to driving all of its competitors out of business, outsourcing to china, and low wages.
An issue surrounding Walmart is that the company is driving its competitors out of business. Some argue that the consumer has freedom to shop wherever they would like.

For example, some “In a free country, consumers have the option to shop wherever they choose” (Hoeing 47). This is not Walmart’s fault because no one is pointing a gun to their head and forcing them to shop at Walmart. The consumers decide to spend their money at Walmart instead of at small businesses or other big name stores like Target, Costco, or Walgreens. On the other hand, some believe Walmart’s low prices do not give their competitors a chance to compete with Walmart. Furthermore, “For every Walmart supercenter that opens in the next five years, two other supermarkets will close” (Long 103). Due to Walmart expanding into new areas, it is causing its competitors in that area to go out of business, which gives them total control over that area.
In addition, Walmart is able to drive its competitors out of business due to its very low prices that other businesses cannot match.

Walmart’s competitors are not able to match its prices because Walmart outsources to China. Walmart outsources to China in order to make cheaper goods at lower costs, which creates an advantage for the business over its competitors. Even though outsourcing makes Walmart’s goods cheaper it has a negative outcome in the United States. “Chinese workers getting pennies per day, sweating to keep Walmart’s shelves stocked with cheap clothing” (Mallbaby 622). These low wages are only benefiting Walmart, outsourcing is hurting American because it is taking jobs away from Americans. Secondly, it is hurting businesses that do not outsource to foreign countries because they have higher operating costs which means the prices for its products will be higher compared to

Walmart.
There has been an argument on whether Walmart employees have been getting fair wages and benefits.

Some believe that Walmart does offer attractive pay and benefits to its employees, “Full-time workers receive benefits that include competitive wages, profit sharing, 401(k) plans, paid vacations, life insurance, a discount card, medical coverage, disability insurance, scholarship bonuses and child care discounts” (Hoeing 47). Full time workers seem to receive competitive wages and good benefits. Also Walmart is raising its wages in order to satisfy its workers. “The wage increases and other programs will cost the retailer about $1 billion” (Ziobro and Morath A2). By Walmart increasing its wages to $10, it shows that the company cares about its employees and are willing to take a big financial hit to ensure the satisfaction of its employees. On the other hand, some believe that Walmart wages are not enough to live off of or to support their families. For example, according to a current Walmart associate that is considered “high paid” named Jennifer McLaughlin, “the way they pay you, you cannot make it by yourself without having a second job or someone to help you, unless you’ve been there for 20 years or you’re a manager” (Olsson 607). McLaughlin does not believe that she is able to provide for herself alone with the pay she is receiving from Walmart and she is supposedly considered high paid as well. Walmart has had a history of treating its employees unfairly, for example,

“Some 40 lawsuits in 25 states accuse Walmart of denying overtime pay to those who have earned it” (Garten 24). Walmart is having its employees work overtime but they are not receiving the proper pay so the employees are beginning to sue for their unfair treatment.
Lastly, even though Walmart has some benefits like low prices, variety of goods, and many job opportunities. Although it may seem like Walmart is good for America, it really is not helping this country. For instance, even though Walmart offers a good amount of jobs at its supercenters, it could offer so many more if they did not outsource to China. Walmart is able to have the lowest prices on the market because they outsource to China, which allows them to pay its workers pennies a day for labor. As a result of this, Walmart’s competitors cannot match Walmart’s prices which drives them out of business. Furthermore, Walmart employees feel that the wages they receive are not enough to support themselves and their families. To conclude, Walmart is bad for America because of the company decision to outsource to China, drive competitors out of business, and its low wages.