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WalMart and the economy of cheap

Used to be one grew up with the cliche: You get what you pay for, and grew into the truth of knowing it to be so.

A relative who knows us only well enough to see us at funerals and send Christmas cards sent Maggie a $25 gift card to WalMart.

We don't shop at WalMart. We -- which is to say my wife's family -- own a large independent bookstore, and two coffeeshops here in the foothills of Appalachia. WalMart was never part of my shopping experience until I moved to Nashville and there was one down the street. In the old days, I can remember running over there to buy underwear because I was on deadline and didn't have time to go to the laundromat and discipline other people's children. I can remember arguing with Susan when first we met that WalMart was a necessary evil in small towns, because the shopping options were otherwise limited.

And then we moved here, entered the retail world, and did some reading. So we don't shop at WalMart.

This is principally because we wish to support other small, local businesses. Failing that, we order online, or drive to the nearest big city and do our best to buy from smaller businesses there. The best we can.

But it is also because we do not believe in the supreme value of cheap. Which is not at all the same as frugal.

They opened a Super WalMart recently, and we can already see the fresh cascade of local businesses failing. And, yes, some failed to compete, but most couldn't, what with the economics of scale and all the other advantages of big business.

Still, Maggie, who is a few months shy of seven years old, has $25 to spend, and so off to WalMart we go, through the snow which keeps us all home from school, and probably for the whole week. I didn't have $25 to spend until I was 16 and had a job (and I spent it on the first BTO album and Blood, Sweat & Tears' greatest hits, if you must know), but that's not the point. Maggie, who is a few months shy of seven years old, has doting grandparents, and friends, and parents, and a room full of more stuff (and stuffed animals) than even her acquisitive father can imagine. (Not counting the 10,000 CDs in this room, of course. The Duhks' "Mountain of Things" ringing in my ears. And, yes, I know it's a Tracy Chapman song.)

It takes an hour. We walk through aisles of cheap plastic stuff, presumably made in China. WalMart, best a quick Google suggests, is China's sixth or seventh largest trading partner. The others would mostly be, y'know, sovereign nations. China is a major holder of U.S. government paper, a significant investor in our national debt. (Americathon, anyone?)

Or let me quote this, quoted in Bill McKibbon's Deep Economy..."During the weekly meetings of company officers," reports the New York Times, [WalMart] CEO Lee Scott "asks embarrasing questions like: 'Why does Target make a better coffee maker and sell it for $19.95?...Before the meeting is over, the buyer is expected to get on his Blackberry or his phone and not only find out why but, ideally, to have found the same or better coffee maker. He is also expected to bargain with shippers so the company can sell it for less. Oh -- and to place an order. An announcement that the coffee maker will be in stores the next week is the kind of line that get applause, and a nod from Mr. Scott."

As it happens, we sell expensive coffee makers, which run something under $200. I've had one for a decade now. It's beaten up, and occasionally requires cleaning. It makes great coffee. It still works.

We're on our third vacuum cleaner in five years. We bought the one Consumer Reports rated highly, but the parts are plastic and it's a device meant to bang and crash into things, to be stepped on (that's part of how you operate it), and it's built to fall apart. And so that's what it's doing.

Anyway. We're at WalMart. Maggie has $25 to spend. The aisles are largely empty because it's after Christmas, and we can see what didn't sell because it's deeply discounted. Most of what we see is a cobranding toy, Miley Cyrus or Twilight or whatever. It takes an hour for Maggie to find something, as we try to avoid the most obvious crap and teach her the value of money. Our legs are sore, even though both parents are wearing walking shoes and are accustomed to the strains working retail puts on legs.

The toy she finally bought, the best she and we could find? It's already broken. It's made of cheap plastic. It looks good in the package.

Which means it'll become part of the landfill soon enough.

And from where I sit, that's what they sell: Landfill. They are teaching generations that everything you can and should buy will not last, and should be quickly thrown away.

They are destroying our economy, and our ecology, and we are buying the myth that cheap is how we feel. (Hear: The Cowboy Junkies Trinity Session.) Or maybe cheap is how we feel. I just feel ripped off, and impossibly sad that my daughter feels deprived because we don't take her shopping there more often.

This how we keep the poor poor, and constantly in need.

Tags: WalMart, alden, rant

Comment by Adam Sheets on January 5, 2010 at 9:02am: Totally agree. Around here there is almost no choice, but I still try to do most of my shopping online and at the few small businesses still open and only enter Wal-Mart in emergencies. Also, as a strong supporter of labor unions it is hard for me shop at Wal-Mart in good conscience. Not to mention that there selection of music totally sucks.

Comment by James McKinney on January 5, 2010 at 9:56am: Great write up Grant.

I agree 100%! I do not think that most Americans realize the damage that Walmart is doing to this country long term. As we loose more and more manufacturing in this country every year its Walmart, the countries largest retailer, that continues to pressure even American companies to find cheaper ways to manufacture their products. There are documented cases of Walmart pressuring companies located state side to begin or in some cases move all of there manufacturing to China thus putting hundreds and sometimes thousands of American workers out of jobs. This also, as Grant pointed out, leads to poorly make merchandise.

Wal-Mart also engages in some of the worst labor practices in the country: Paying its employees substandard wages, forcing unpaid overtime on its workers, and refusing to provide affordable health insurance. Walmart is so aware of the fact that it pays substandard wages thus making much of its workforce eligible for welfare that it provides information to its employees on how to apply for public assistance. All of this on top of discrimination cases across the country (many brought by the federal government) covering not only racial discrimination but discrimination against women. There is much evidenced that it was a company policy not to promote women to the highest positions as fast as men despite the majority of the Walmart workforce being made up of women.

I wont even get in to the whole killing of main street America and the unique flavor of the small town. Just listen to James McMurtys "We Cant Make It Here". Says it all!

I have long sense stopped shopping Walmart. The list of issues I have with them is actually much longer but I covered the highlights. I only hope more people jump on the bandwagon and boycott Walmart. Maybe when the way they conduct business start to cost them revenue they will think of changing their ways.

Comment by Easy Ed on January 5, 2010 at 1:23pm: We've got three Walmarts within fifteen minutes of the house and there would probably be a fourth one but the mountain gets in the way. As a personal choice, we rarely shop there for many of the reasons mentioned above. But they're always jammed. In our valley with 15% unemployment, empty homes and abandoned shopping centers, folks seem to choose them for perceived value and price, as well as the convenience of getting everything you need under one roof.

When I do need to go there from time to time, I find it to be a sad place. But I also know that many other people have the opposite feeling and actually appreciate what they've brought to the retail equation with selection and pricing. And there are manufacturers and distributors who don't mind cutting prices to get their goods on the Walmart shelves because they buy a lot and actually pay bills on time. And there are also many employees who enjoy working for them and see as much opportunity in their career choices that others view as oppression.

So in other words, I'm not so sure that it's either black or white. Trust me that I don't want to be the Walmart apologist on this thread, but the things Grant talks about seem to be bigger than just the boys from Bentonville.

Comment by Grant Alden on January 5, 2010 at 1:35pm: One of my points would be that the presence of those three WalMarts (and Baker Maultsby has a great song, if you can find it, "we've got three WalMarts in a tricounty area...") has probably contributed to that 15% unemployment.
I'm not sure manufacturers and distributors "don't mind" cutting prices to be on WalMart's shelves. Maybe some do, but the record seems to indicate that WalMart excels at putting their suppliers out of business. And at some point we may need to repudiate business models based on market share, and not on profitability.
That said, nothing is black and white. This is just a deep shade of gray.
And my larger point, the one I harp at whenever possible: Cheap is not the highest good. Making something less well so it costs less...that's a false economy. Factor in the cost of energy to deliver goods from China, and you add to the ecological disaster of the landfill.
Cheap is not the highest good. Low taxes are not the best form of government. I'd type more, but, y'know...I'll be back...

Comment by Easy Ed on January 5, 2010 at 2:05pm: Walmart must have expanded in Baker's tri-county area. The songs is now called "Four Wal Marts"

Comment by Matt L on January 5, 2010 at 2:51pm: I am so glad to see someone write this so eloquently! My wife is so tired of my harangue that there is no value placed on quality or service any more. Everything is about getting it absolutely the last penny, and this is literally killing our country (and it values). I absolutely am willing to, and militantly attempt to, pay for quality - whether it is a product or service, or like music a bit of both.

Comment by Grant Alden on January 5, 2010 at 2:53pm: What, I should fact-check my memory?
(I guess I should. Sorry, Baker.)

Comment by Thomas Cromwell on January 5, 2010 at 3:05pm: I am proud to say my 9 year old son has learned to scoff at the store he calls "plastic crapmart" I am saddened every time I drive by one and see the business they do on a daily basis. I have to admit I shopped in one until 5 years ago until I began to realize half the stuff I bought there was being thrown away in record time. Never, ever again. I like the slogan Walmart sells landfill. How sad and very true.

Comment by James McKinney on January 5, 2010 at 3:50pm: You know what they say-"Wal-Mart, Fall-Apart"!

Comment by Gar on January 5, 2010 at 4:17pm: Grant, did you ever read the book "The Walmart Effect: How The World's Most Powerful Company Works--And How It's Transforming The American Economy"? Scared te fire out of me to read it. I think I have shopped their 3 times this past year (and once was to buy socks...). I come from a town in middle Wisconsin that had their whole downtown destroyed by Walmart. First they bought up the old Woolworths that was downtown, made it into a Walmart, killed every small business that was downtown, moved out of building and out to the edge of town and built a Super-Walmart. Really is sad....You should read the book though if you have time.