I Am Skooter	«08.13.08 . home . 08.14.08»
So here's us, on the raggedy edge.

Making the World a Cheaper (and Poorer) Place

If you shop at Wal-Mart reading Wal-Mart: The Bully of Bentonville: How the High Cost of Everyday Low Prices is Hurting America might be enough to make you stop.

I don’t, and have rarely set foot inside (in Charlottetown, PEI there were few other options when I lived here) for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the principle involved in supporting a mass market big-box retailer with little interest in its employees and the bottom line.

What’s interesting about this book is that it paints a very different picture of Costco. Perhaps it’s a matter of degrees: Costco may not be good, but Wal-Mart is uniquely evil. I’m not so sure.

The book’s about two years out of date and paints an unflattering portrait of the company’s current CEO Lee Scott who is, at this writing, still in the top spot.

High fuel prices are no doubt taking a toll on the company, and shifting the purchasing patterns of the entire world. I’ve no doubt that Wal-Mart will survive, although I’m hopeful that it is fundamentally transformed by the modern economy.

Posted by skooter at 3:57 AM This entry is filed under America, Marketing.
This entry is tagged: Consumers, Retail, Shopping, Wal-Mart

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