The Wal-Mart Posse

WSJ ^ | October 18, 2006 | WSJ

[Brilliant]

Wal-Mart may be expanding in the People's Republic of China, but here in capitalist America the low-price retailer has become the Democratic Party's favorite pinata. The media like to portray this as a populist uprising... But what they don't ...disclose is that this entire get-Wal-Mart campaign is a political operation led and funded by organized labor.

We've done a little digging into the two most prominent anti-Wal-Mart groups, and they might as well operate out of AFL-CIO headquarters. An outfit called Wal-Mart Watch was created by the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), probably the most powerful union in America after the National Education Association. Wal-Mart Watch is backed by Five Stones, a 501(c)3 organization that received $2,775,000 in 2005 from the SEIU, or 56% of its $5 million budget. According to financial records, SEIU also gave Five Stones $1 million in 2004 to launch the anti-Wal-Mart group...

A second group, Wake Up Wal-Mart, is more or less a subsidiary of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). Wake Up Wal-Mart refuses to divulge its funding sources, but here is what we do know: The group was founded by the UFCW, is housed at UFCW headquarters, and its campaign director's $135,000 salary is paid by the UFCW.

Wake Up Wal-Mart also has close ties to the Democratic Party. Its union-funded campaign director is Paul Blank, who was political director of Howard Dean's failed Presidential campaign. The group sponsored a 19 state, 35-day bus tour across the U.S. earlier this year, staging anti-Wal-Mart rallies. Nearly every major Democratic Presidential hopeful has joined in the Wal-Mart-bashing, including Senators Joe Biden and Evan Bayh, New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, and trial lawyer-turned-man-of the-people John Edwards. They all seem to believe they have to take this line to pass union muster for 2008...

[em2vn]

I'd rather see the Teamsters organize Wal-Mart.

[Gabz]

LOL!!!!!!

[KarlInOhio]

I have to ask a question of my fellow FReepers...when you go to Wal Mart, does the 'Greeter' (aka Wal Mart Nazi) stop you demanding to see your receipt for the goods you purchased?

This is to keep the employees from helping friends steal stuff. Run the TV near the scanner while scanning a different UPC - ding - $1.99. Run a couple of DVDs over the security disabler but cover up the UPC while scanning - ding - free. The store is just doing a quick check to make sure that what's on the receipt looks like what's in the cart on your way out.

I've never seen it in a Wal-Mart, but it happens in Sam's every time I go.

[vitaman]

I live in three states and shop at WalMart in four different localities. In the Baton Rouge and Chicago area they ask to see your receipt if you are shopping at a WalMart which services areas where the crime statistics are high. They never ask in low crime statistic areas such as rural Wisconsin and rural Illinois. To some that would appear to be racist but it is based upon crime stats and their own internal loss stats. They will ask to see your receipt anywhere if you seem to be taking stuff out of the store without going through the checkout.

[1rudeboy]

If by some odd chance they didn't get one of their anit-theft tags de-activated at the register and it set off the alarms on the way out I would just continue on my merry way. The receipt in my hand says that what I have in my shopping bag is my property and, unless they have a police officer there with a properly obtained search warrant, they have no business looking through my personal property.

Please consult with an attorney before following that course of action, you'll save yourself a whole lot of trouble.

[spectre]

Yes, it happened for a week here at the Super Center Wal*Mart in North Little Rock..

My checker explained to me that the theft rate was UP and flat screen TV's and other such high ticket items were "walking" out the store..

I don't mind, since it keeps the theft and costs down..

sw

[Thunderchief F-105]

..........we shop at two Wal-Mart stores in Virginia; never had it happen yet..... maybe other stores in high-crime areas or stores that have had experience with shoplifters or dishonest employees check receipts, but have never had it happen to us.... and, really; is it fair to call a Wal-Mart employee who is only doing what his or her supervisor has asked them to do, probably for minimum wage pay, a "Wal-Mart Nazi"? Knowing what we all do about the horrors of Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945, that is really demeaning. And as much of a Rush Limbaugh fan as I am, and as disgusted as I am over much of the "feminist movement", I really don't like to hear Rush constantly using the term "femiNazi," too........

[bfree]

Even the Walmart bashers will have to recognize that the union scum has been behind these phony organizations all along. The truth hurts.

[Diana in Wisconsin]

"But what they don't disclose is that this entire get-Wal-Mart campaign is a political operation led and funded by organized labor."

I'm shocked! Shocked I tell you! *WINK*

Will be going to Wal-Mart tomorrow to spend a few bucks just to irritate the libs. :)

[Gabz]

Oh, they'll recognize it alright-------and avoid this thread like the plague :)

[Gabz]

I'm going Friday :)

[ashamedtobefromparkridge]

So you abuse the person doing his job? Never worked a hard day in your life right?

Whenever people act like that over being asked for a receipt you know 2 things.

1. That they don't have a decent bone in their body.

2. They've never worked a hard day in their life.

[ashamedtobefromparkridge]

I'm going there eating KFC wearing a fur coat and with various Republican bumper stickers on my car.

[ashamedtobefromparkridge]

Another person who thinks they are above everyone else thinking abusing employees at Wal Mart is okay.

Every time I see a scumbag abuse a greeter I feel bad for their kids and spouse.

No decent human being does this.

[CrawDaddyCA]

1. That they don't have a decent bone in their body.

2. They've never worked a hard day in their life.

You know nothing about me, so keep your opinions to yourself.

And I work offshore in the Gulf of Mexico. The work I do would probably make you cry like a little girl.

If you don't like the way I treat people who are basically accusing me of shoplifting, I have one word for you...TOUGH!

So, buzz off.

[mdmathis6]

Here in Milothian,Va they check but only if the security scanner goes off. Usually its because the DVD's didn't get their security RFID's deactivated properly. I have no issue with it personally!

[Diana in Wisconsin]

Better be armed, if you're going to go THAT far, LOL!

[wanderin]

If you don't like the way I treat people who are basically accusing me of shoplifting, I have one word for you...TOUGH! So, buzz off.

Paranoid?

Do you also refuse to shop Costco?

With those large high dollars items it is hard to deactivate the security devices in them. And very easy to let high value items walk out the door with out simple precautions.

Theft loss comes out of the employees annual bonus. They are doing their job, not trying to embarrass or get a black helicopter to follow you home.

Bet your a real nice person all the way through the store to deal with.

[Gabz]

You've got a seriously bad attitude.....and if this is an example of how you conduct yourself in public, well, I can actually understand you being stopped.

[Pablo64]

I believe that a FReeper attorney outlined exactly that course of action on a similar thread quite some time ago. That's where I remember first reading about that way to handle the situation. I also know that nobody (except an arresting officer) has the right to lay a hand on you. That is simple assault.

That being said, I don't expect it to ever become an issue.