Tuesday, February 17, 2009
The other day, as I was driving down Sixth Street, I noticed a new building sitting just off the corner of Sixth and Wakarusa streets. The building looked rather familiar and after a little research I found that, as I had suspected, another Wal-Mart was going in on the northwest corner of that intersection.
Wal-Mart has become one of the most recognizable symbols of big business. Because of this, it has drawn the ire of countless people who want to see it destroyed. Undoubtedly, nearly everyone has heard the arguments against Wal-Mart. “It destroys all the mom and pop shops,” says one. “They practice predatory pricing,” claims another. These arguments go on and on. If it didn’t border on obsession, it might actually be funny. Unfortunately, all those who attack Wal-Mart don’t seem to understand that Wal-Mart exists because the majority of people want it to.
It really is quite simple, as simple as supply and demand. If there were no demand for the goods and services provided by Wal-Mart, it would not, and could not, exist. This demand is provided by all those who shop there. It makes little sense to deride Wal-Mart for providing what consumers want.
Look at Lawrence, for example. On the demand side, the population of Lawrence, particularly the large student segment, demands many basic necessities at a cheap price. On the supply side, this is precisely what Wal-Mart provides. By providing this, Wal-Mart capitalizes on the surplus of consumers.
Now, I’m sure many are still unconvinced and believe we would all be better off without Wal-Mart. I argue that few people actually agree with this. I’ll use an analogy that we should all be familiar with, given that we just had an election this past November: voting. Under American capitalism, every dollar spent is equivalent to casting a vote. Thus, every dollar spent at a Wal-Mart is a vote for its continuance, expansion and success. If no one shopped there it would quickly go out of business. Given that Wal-Mart continues to open new stores, it seems quite obvious that people are indeed shopping there, thus voting for its continuance. No one would argue that the winner of an election should be the loser. That makes no sense. Similarly, as people continue to “vote” for Wal-Mart, it makes no sense to argue that it should not exist.
If, however, one remains unconvinced that Wal-Mart is positive for consumers, there is something that can be done about it: Don’t shop there. It really is that easy. The only way to fix the perceived problems created by Wal-Mart is to cease shopping there and force it out of business.
Many will say that there is no way that only one consumer can make that kind of difference, and they are right. Individual consumers can, however, organize large portions of their communities to direct their purchasing power to Wal-Mart’s competitors. This is the only opportunity for those who so avidly oppose Wal-Mart to drive it out of business. On the other hand, Wal-Mart’s detractors may find while trying to organize people in opposition that the vast majority of people support Wal-Mart, because it supplies what they demand, at prices they can afford.
— O’Neill is a Topeka junior in economics and history.
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Comments
O'Neill: Consumers ‘vote’ when dropping their dollars at Wal-Mart’s door
Just to play devil's advocate here - where are all the libertarians when Wal-Mart goes on its eminent domain rampages?
O'Neill: Consumers ‘vote’ when dropping their dollars at Wal-Mart’s door
I really liked that piece. I'll add that the only times I've shopped at WalMart is to replace the battery in my car. Word to the wise, they sell car batteries with one to two year full replacement warranties. The batteries are crap and have rarely lasted me more than nine months. I call it the perpetual battery. And that's why I like WalMart.
O'Neill: Consumers ‘vote’ when dropping their dollars at Wal-Mart’s door
I love Wal-Mart. I used to work there, too!
O'Neill: Consumers ‘vote’ when dropping their dollars at Wal-Mart’s door
I used to work there too, though I don't go there that much anymore since it's so far out of my way.
O'Neill: Consumers ‘vote’ when dropping their dollars at Wal-Mart’s door
I also love Wal-Mart. I do 99% of my shopping there. That one store has almost everything I need and in one place. I even do my banking there and get my hair cut in the salon. Ask for Tiffany. I got my TV and computer and printer there. I get movies that I like for four dollars. Okay, some I paid as much as nine for. The Mom and Pop stores are tiny, have no variety, no real choices, God only knows where they are, and sorry, but I don't have the money to subsidize Mom and Pop.
O'Neill: Consumers ‘vote’ when dropping their dollars at Wal-Mart’s door
Obviously this person is from a large city (Topeka) where it doesn't matter when there is only one wal-mart 100,000 people. Go live in a city where there is one wal-mart per 5,000 people, and the minute the store opens it closes every store in the town. Then you will see that wal-mart destroys communities, and with no competition to compete with its either shop there or starve to death. O'Neill does not truly understand what he is writing about since he has not experience the locations where wal-mart has the largest presence, and having a small perception of the company in a setting where it doesn't hurt everyone around it should be evidence enough.
O'Neill: Consumers ‘vote’ when dropping their dollars at Wal-Mart’s door
Stick a fork in Mom and Pop, they're done. Deal with it.
O'Neill: Consumers ‘vote’ when dropping their dollars at Wal-Mart’s door
Wal-Mart increases the standard of living in the towns you just spoke about by lowering prices for basic consumer goods. This allows towns that would have faded out by now to continue growing and prospering, saving many of America's small towns.
I don't see how this is destroying the community so much as saving it.
O'Neill: Consumers ‘vote’ when dropping their dollars at Wal-Mart’s door
Let me also add that Wal-Mart generally pays its employees more than your average "Mom and Pop" store, which are much more likely to only be able to afford minimum wage.
On top of that, Wal-Mart has a corporate philanthropy program that contributes to tons of charities in towns like the ones you are talking about.
O'Neill: Consumers ‘vote’ when dropping their dollars at Wal-Mart’s door
Wal-Mart and Hastings are wonderful because of the variety. Wal-Mart is close to a McDonalds and Hastings is close to the frozen custard place. What is there not to love?
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