Posted on 12/01/2005 10:22:41 AM PST by lastmanstanding
BERRYVILLE, Ark. - Nancy McShane used to spend $600 to $700 a month at Wal-Mart on everything from groceries to oil changes. Then in March she abruptly switched to other discount stores, upset over what her turkey-farming relatives saw as undue price pressure from the world's largest retailer.
McShane, a Springfield, Mo., housewife with children aged 11 and 12, is among what organized critics claim is a growing number of Americans turning against Wal-Mart amid allegations from unions and others that the company is bad for workers, the environment and communities.
"We cut off Wal-Mart cold turkey. Now I'm preaching it to other people," McShane said.
But for James Butler, a chicken plant worker from Alpena, complaints that Wal-Mart is bad for America just don't add up — but the savings do.
"It doesn't change my mind. It's just a convenience. And anywhere else costs more," Butler said Wednesday night outside a Wal-Mart Supercenter where he had just purchased batteries.
According to a poll released Thursday by Wake Up Wal-Mart, an anti-Wal-Mart group launched this year by the United Food and Commercial Workers union, more Americans have an unfavorable view of Wal-Mart today than at the start of the year.
The poll showed that a majority, 58 percent, viewed Wal-Mart favorably, but the figure was down from 76 percent in January. Wake Up Wal-Mart said that was proof that its message against the company's low-price business model is hitting its intended target — the average Wal-Mart shopper.
"What this polling indicates is that Wal-Mart's reputation is in a tailspin," said Paul Blank, campaign director at Wake Up Wal-Mart.
Blank said changes in behavior would follow if consumer's opinions about Wal-Mart continue to fall.
Wal-Mart said the survey was questionable and argued that November sales and an onslaught of holiday shoppers the day after Thanksgiving showed it remained popular.
Figures released Thursday showed that sales at Wal-Mart stores open at least a year rose 3.8 percent in November when compared to November 2004 — matching analysts' expectations. Same-store sales are considered the best indicator of a retailer's health.
Retail analyst Don Gher said Wal-Mart's monthly sales growth did not suggest that shoppers were staying away amid a slew of attacks by groups alleging that Wal-Mart's low prices come at the cost of poor treatment for its workers, suppliers and communities.
"At this point the sales numbers wouldn't seem to indicate a backlash," said Gher of Coldstream Capital Management in Bellevue, Wash. The company has Wal-Mart stock as part of the roughly $900 million in assets it manages.
Consumers appear divided.
Steve and Sandy Larsen of Holiday Island, which is near Eureka Springs, said they liked Wal-Mart for the prices and the company's pledges to the local food kitchen and the Habitat for Humanity in Benton County, the retailer's home town.
"We work a lot in charity, and they are great," Steve Larsen said at the Berryville Supercenter. "They just keep giving."
But at Springfield, McShane said she changed stores after her relatives, who also raise produce, complained Wal-Mart exerts too much pressure on suppliers to cut their prices.
"That's too much power for one company to have," she said.
The Wake Up Wal-Mart figures came from two national telephone surveys of about 1,000 adults in January and November. The January 15-20 poll by Lake, Snell & Perry had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, and the November poll by Zogby had a margin of error of 3.2 percentage points.
"In terms of overall favorability, in the span of about 11 months, Wal-Mart experienced a decline of 18 percentage points in the number of American adults who view the company favorably," Wake Up Wal-Mart said in a summary.
The number of people who said they viewed Wal-Mart very favorably or somewhat favorably fell 18 percentage points to 58 percent while the number who answered that their view was very or somewhat unfavorable increased by the same amount to 38 percent.
The group said attitudes were starting to change shopping practices. Asked how often they plan to shop at Wal-Mart in the next month, the number who said they would not go at all rose 8 percentage points to 28 percent. The largest group, those who planned to shop there once or twice, fell 7 points to 32 percent.
Wal-Mart said the November poll appeared to be times to take advantage of publicity around the release of a scathingly critical documentary, Robert Greenwald's "Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices."
"It would be hard for anyone to believe that a poll paid for by the UFCW was more accurate than the fact that our estimated November store sales were up 4.3 percent and that 10 million people shopped at our stores during the first six hours of sales last Friday," Wal-Mart spokeswoman Sarah Clark said.
She added: "A good poll would be to ask if working families enjoy the $2,300 in savings we provide per year."
Clark said Wal-Mart does its own internal tracking of consumer sentiment, but declined to release that data. She said the questions were not the same as Wake Up Wal-Mart's poll so they wouldn't be comparable.
I boycotted them for coddling to illegal aliens, and haven't looked back. WalMart hates small business America, despite whatever "charity" they give out. That's just putting lipstick on the pig.
Capitalism sucks, doesn't it.
So why were there sales up 4.5 per cent in November? The facts don't seem to match up with the rhetoric.
sorry but if unions are against it, then its probably good for the consumer
Tens of Millions of people shop at Wal-Mart every week and delusional AP cited the discontent of one woman and some totally insignificant poll to preach the demise of Walmart.
No, but monopolies that are evolving definitely do! They choke it out.
This must be the same ole, same ole Walmart = Quagmire story.
Everytime a Wal Mart opens up, it becomes surrounded by strip malls FILLED with SMALL BUSINESSES! Wal Mart merely redefines the retail hub and ATTRACTS businesses.
yeah right, like millions of Americans are mad that walmart sells stuff cheap !
ROFL!
...
ROFL!
Tell me again why should I go and buy something that costs me twice in a small business store than what it costs me a Wal-Mart?
****ATTENTION ALL WALMART WHINERS****
*WALMART ALERT*..PINGING ALL WALMART WHINERS...ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping ping..
An intersting figure I saw one time.. more people go to wal-mart per week than go to church.
"WalMart hates small business America, despite whatever "charity" they give out. That's just putting lipstick on the pig."
That's funny, really. I've been in business for myself since 1974. I buy supplies for my business at WalMart. It saves me lots and lots of money. I buy other things at Sam's Club.
WalMart is a business. Its business model is to sell large quantities of merchandise at a good price. That model appears to work pretty well.
Yes, it's a bit hard on competitors, but the smart ones survive just fine. I don't notice that all the other stores in my area are closed. They all seem to be doing just fine. Some stores close, but they're generally run by stupid people who cannot find a niche to fit into. That's not Walmart's problem. Not at all.
People whine about Home Depot, too. Yet, about six blocks from my local Home Depot is an Ace hardware that has been there for years. They're doing just fine...by providing service to their customers. Home Depot doesn't do that. I haven't been in Home Depot for months. I just naturally stop at the Ace.
Who owns all these guns that are stuck in people's backs making them,one work at Wal-Mart and two, make them shop there?
The crazy left doesn't like Wal-Mart for a wide variety of reasons. Mainly they make money. They are also more cost efficient than any government agency ever created. For example on the gulf coast after the hurricane they were in business while the local state and federal governements were not. There is nothing liberals hate more than success.
Nancy McShane: One less fat, dumb, zombie blocking the Twinkie aisle at Wal-Mart.
The populist/socialist retards who whine about Wal Mart are the same folks who whined about Woolworth become a "monopoly" and Sears, and Kmart, etc...
One reason is because your child will soon be fluent in Spanglish,partially because she learned it from an anchor baby whose illegal mother is on the WalMart cleaning staff.
So let me get this straight. A bunch of knee-breaking, union thugs release "a poll" that says that Americans have an unfavorable opinion of Walmart and I'm supposed to believe that? Sorry. I don't do recreational drugs so, unlike the Ass. Press, I'm not buying it. Neither are the millions of Americans that everyday flood the Walmarts all over the world.
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