Wal-Mart names new head of online site

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I know the story, I side with Walmart.: First off, merely working with China isn't "evil." So lets leave that out. The whole number one customer, and all is pointless. Making money isn't wrong either as long as it is made properly. And most of what Walmart did is as American and proper as realistically possible.

Walmart started VERY small. An old guy bulk buying stockings and selling them at a very low cost out of his truck! His goal was to sell stuff at rock bottom prices.

From there, he built stores and got bigger and bigger not from political protections, but by staying 2-3 steps ahead of all the competition and offering VALUE to the customer.

Walmart did something no other company in history could. They turned the system upside down. Before, every end salesman was at the mercy of the guy further up the supply chain. The big manufacturers basically dictated the market. Walmart reversed all that.

Today, they have a globally connected system that autoreorders items from a small contractor shop in god-knows-where the minute the item leaves a store! They have become THAT efficient. They will put a product on a table and auction the price off to suppliers. Could be a simple toothbrush, or paperclip and result in a penny difference. And with such revolutionary methods they dictated the prices that manufacturers can sell to them.

Initially, that was easy. Manufacturers were inefficient and passed that cost onto consumers, now they just needed to get into shape. But Walmart kept the competition very high and American suppliers couldn't keep up. So many moved to Mexico, BUT Walmart didn't force them. It was a choice. Either they lower the price or they won't get shelfspace, simple as that (they could always go to other retails). They choose to lower the price and the only way they could do it was by moving to Mexico. And Walmart recommended it cause so many suppliers were being successful in doing so. They literally told suppliers, hey we know what all your costs are, and you just will not be able to offer us a lower price than your competition unless you do this and this.

But, Mexico's economy came up. Infact, relatively they have grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years. Manufacturing related jobs were becoming more expensive. So, the new low cost labor is... China. It is basic economics, not some evil greedy plan.

It all comes down to this: Why should someone pay MORE than the value of the product or service?

Rubbermaid, yes it is a sad story, but you know the race goes to the fast and the swift. Rubbermaid, as great as a company they were, realistically just couldn't hack it. They couldn't adapt to the changing times.

The way I see it, I spend less at Walmart so I can spend more somewhere else. Sure, LOTS of jobs were lost, but according to economists, many jobs were created too. Today, Walmart exports to China, scrap metal, compressed paper, and all kinds of used materials that China converts back to goods.

Now, Walmart isn't all holy. The dumping thing was real, no excuse. But realistically, it was China not Walmart. The Chinese production plants aren't Walmart. They are seperate contractors and China did (still doing) some illegal subsidizing for them just like the US and the EU do for our producers. IMO, the WTO should allow more action than just staring and glaring at them.

Overall, I would say our economy is doing fine. We have better growth rates today than we did a decade or two ago. Sure we lost many parts of manufacturing (steel?). But we shouldn't be doing those things anyway! The hard cold fact is we SUCK (relatively) at doing such things. We should reallocate our limited resources to stuff that we are good at! Let them make stuff they are best at and let us make stuff we are best at and lets trade.; Posted by: doe_z Posted on: 06/16/05 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use