Wal-Mart hypocrisy

[darknemus]

Since I'm Mr. Liberal, I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart's business practices.  Specifically, how they treat their employees and the like.  Because of this, I shop at Target for 'that kind' of shopping.  I realize that, overall, Target's not much better - but at least they give that 1% of sales back to the local communities (charities and the like) - at least I feel not quite so bad about shopping there.

Honestly and truly, though - they are corporations.. who's primary goal is to make money for their stockholders.  I don't kid myself into thinking that shopping at Target has brought me closer to Buddha or something.

Oh, and yeah, I remember that Tipper / Dee Snider thing, too.  Getting old(er) sucks.

-darknemus

[AxlsMainMan]

I think it has to do with sales. They know that the majority of music buyers are under 18. So they want to make sure that they can sell all those cds. Having the explicit label may hinder the sales process in their minds. I think that's the reason for selling the music pre-edited.

Actually, I think it's just the opposite. I think more kids would buy music from Wal-Mart if they had both edited and explicit music to choose from (as most big stores do). Like I said, they can get around their "moral" dilemma by putting age restrictions on the purchase of CDs with explicit lyrics. They already check ID of people that buy DVDs that are rated R. As for Brokeback Mountain, I haven't heard if certain stores will be selling it or not. Their website has it for sale though.

Raven

They seriously ID people ib The States for buying a Parental Advisory album, or an R-Rated movie?

Ive never heard of, or seen that practice in place here in Canada...

[Markus Asraelius]

They IDed me once for buying a protein supplement. Can you imagine? 

[AxlsMainMan]

They IDed me once for buying a protein supplement. Can you imagine??

IDing kids for cigarettes is one thing, but a protein supplement is a whole other...

[pilferk]

Since I'm Mr. Liberal, I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart's business practices.? Specifically, how they treat their employees and the like.? Because of this, I shop at Target for 'that kind' of shopping.? I realize that, overall, Target's not much better - but at least they give that 1% of sales back to the local communities (charities and the like) - at least I feel not quite so bad about shopping there.

Honestly and truly, though - they are corporations.. who's primary goal is to make money for their stockholders.? I don't kid myself into thinking that shopping at Target has brought me closer to Buddha or something.

Oh, and yeah, I remember that Tipper / Dee Snider thing, too.? Getting old(er) sucks.

-darknemus

Yeah, I don't disagree. ?I'm not the hugest fan of some of their internal HR policies (my wife worked there for awhile as a SIS manager), but I, like you, recognize the nature of the beast. ?And their propensity to sort of "force" (indirectly, of course) companies to outsource production overseas to keep costs down so they can SELL goods to walmart and survive is a bit annoying.

Their practices are well publicized but don't seem to deter enough people from shopping there to have much effect. ?That's pretty much the corporate model of capitalism working at it's peak. ?"Do exactly as much as you can to increase your business advantage and not break the laws and piss off your consumers so much they stop buying shit from you". ?They all do it. ?WalMart just seems to be exceptionally good at it. ?They don't do anything that offends me enough to boycott them, so...I'll take the cheap diapers, wipes, and assorted other sundries that are less expensive there than anywhere else on the freaking planet.....and quietly walk out the door with them.

Oh, and WalMart gives a % of their sales back to the local communities too. ?At least our local WalMart does (and the others I've been to). ?Usually a big ole board somewhere within the store crowing loudly about the amount of money they've given since they've opened, and who their largest contributions have been to. ?That kinda stuff always did make me laugh....sorta like buying back good karma from the universe or something...I mean, it's not like they don't write it all off in taxes anyway.

[pilferk]

They seriously ID people ib The States for buying a Parental Advisory album, or an R-Rated movie?

Ive never heard of, or seen that practice in place here in Canada...

R-Rated movie, if you look remotely close to 17? Yup.? At least it's company policy at Walmart to do so (and lots of other corporate stores).? Same with MA and even, I think, the next level down (who's name/symbol escapes me) video games.? Now, what the level of compliance is on actually carding people is debateable.? Various studies and TV exposes would lead you to believe it's pretty mediocre.

Not sure on the CD's.  I've never been carded.....but then again, I'm 32 and the labels went on when I was 16-ish (not exactly sure)....

[pilferk]

They IDed me once for buying a protein supplement. Can you imagine??

They ID'd me the other day for buying Pseudophed (the real stuff, not the "new" version).  Had to show my license, and they entered the number into the register....I would assume to track how much of the stuff I was buying to make sure I'm not running a meth lab or something.

[AxlsMainMan]

They IDed me once for buying a protein supplement. Can you imagine??

They ID'd me the other day for buying Pseudophed (the real stuff, not the "new" version).? Had to show my license, and they entered the number into the register....I would assume to track how much of the stuff I was buying to make sure I'm not running a meth lab or something.

Thats common practice in Canada here now too.

I work in a grocery store, and half our medicine supply had to be thrown out or put on clearance before the 30th of last month because it contained that ingredient.

[gilld1]

Thank you Tweekers for making us all feel like criminals when we have colds or allergies!

[SLCPUNK]

Thank you Tweekers for making us all feel like criminals when we have colds or allergies!

That stuff makes me feel like a tweaker. I practically take off running down the street when I take it.

[Bostonrose]

Since I'm Mr. Liberal, I'm not a big fan of Wal-Mart's business practices.? Specifically, how they treat their employees and the like.? Because of this, I shop at Target for 'that kind' of shopping.? I realize that, overall, Target's not much better - but at least they give that 1% of sales back to the local communities (charities and the like) - at least I feel not quite so bad about shopping there.

Wal Mart does the same thing, they give back loads of cash to the communities they are in, much more than Target,?

Wal-Mart gets a bad wrap sometimes...if you want swears in your music, don't shop at Wal Mart...I don't think anythign is wrong with it...