This back-to-school list was sponsored by "The Onion."I have made no secret about my hatred for Wal-Mart. The stores are overcrowded in the aisles, there are usually only a couple checkout stands open and you are waiting in long lines to pay and get the hell out of there, there are stocking carts and stockers everywhere you turn blocking the aisles you want to go down, there are things in the stores that are just plain unsafe, and the employees (not all) don't really give a crap. I recently had to wait 20 minutes to speak with a manager to gain permission to purchase a display model of a chair. It was a good thing I wasn't in a hurry... oh, wait... I was.
I ran across a blog entry from Kelby Carr. She is a mother with a child getting ready for Kindergarten, and they went to Wal-Mart to buy the school supplies. When she got there, she found out that the store had back-to-school lists for the kids. They are not generic lists, they are specific. Each school, grade, class and teacher have a different list. The lists look very official, and even display a fax send line on the bottom of the page.
You would think it was really cool that Wal-Mart took the time to get these lists from the various schools, but you would be mistaken. Wal-Mart didn't get these lists from the schools at all. As a matter of fact, they made them up completely. They took the time to make each list (by teacher) different, but couldn't they have spent that time actually gaining access to the things these kids would actually need?
Another kicker is that some of the items on the lists are actually banned from certain schools. Why is Wal-Mart telling parents to purchase items they can't use?
Kelby Carr had another point... some people shop at Wal-Mart because of the low prices. Some of these parents are single parents barely making ends meet. They go to Wally World to stretch every penny! They do everything they can in order to make sure their kids have the stuff they need so they won't feel embarrassed on the first day of school!
It's really weird and messed up. Wal-Mart should disclose that these lists are not official lists but instead a guide for back to school shopping.
On top of that, this isn't an isolated incident. This isn't some over-zealous store manager trying to get better sales... oh, no! This has happened before, dating all the way back to 2006 in Anchorage! What the hell?
Shady.
Thumbs down, Wal-Mart, Thumbs down.
Andee
August 19, 2008 at 7:45 PM
Walmart also does not pay it's employees a "living wage". Meaning that a huge portion of it's employee are on some form of public assistant.
It is frustrating because many parents do go there so that they can buy their kids what they need, but the somehow have to overlook the fact that odds are a 5 year old in China made what they are buying for their child. In their effort to give their child what they need, they are denying another child their human rights.
I hate everything about Walmart. Walmart is seriously one of the things wrong in the US. We are so materliastic and have such high expectations, that we are willing to sacrafice others to get what we want. Shame on us as a country for allowing a store to take over the way Walmart has and not providing better support for the family that is forced to shop there because of cost.
August 19, 2008 at 8:44 PM
Truly Confused,
My grandma worked for them when they built their first store in Tooele, Utah. When she was hired they made her work as a door greeter just because she was older than everyone else. They wouldn't give her a job with more responsibility until she "proved herself." Did younger kids have to do that? Nope.
This company has always rubbed me the wrong way. I don't like how the employees are treated either.
A few months ago a woman driving a truck for wal-mart was in a terrible accident. She suffered permanent brain damage, and her family was thankful for the insurance she payed for out of her Wal-Mart check.
Wal-Mart made the decision to ask the family for that money back. There is some fine print somewhere in the contract, and the family went right to the media.
The kicker, and a really sad twist, is that the woman's son died in Iraq, and due to her injury, she asks where he is everyday. Could you imagine having to tell a mother that her son died in combat every single day? Her family has to do that... and walmart had no soul in suing them for the insurance she paid for.
Shady.
August 20, 2008 at 4:29 AM
I actually wrote Walmart about the incident with the truck. They are horrible! I work for a large company and it seems like we struggle to do the right thing. However, once someone goes to the press and we get all that bad PR then they do the right thing.
I am not at all surprised that they did that to your grandma. I also hate that they take over small communities, put the other stores out of business (due to the low prices) and then town has to rely on them. I really do despise Walmart!