Sunday evening, we watched an hour-long special about Walmart and their questionable treatment of their employees and suppliers. And we all know that they're taking out the Mom and Pop shops town by town. Here's the thing though...they've got us - because no other company can afford to charge as little as they can for products. Who's going to fault a struggling family of four for trying to get by and in doing so, shop there? Not me.
However, I do have a choice. I'm not rich, but I don't have mouths to feed other than my own and I can afford to shop elsewhere at this point in my life. I was pretty disgusted with that company on Sunday evening, but a story I just read has outraged me and I vow to never step foot in another Walmart.
It's complex. I've struggled with this, because in the past I've looked at it from the employee's perspective...If everyone stopped shopping there, they will be out of a job and of course, I don't want that! I'm sure that there are people who would argue the opposite: that Walmart has saved struggling towns and provided hundreds, thousands of jobs for folks who would otherwise be unemployed. But does that make it OK to charge someone making minimum wage an outrageous amount for their health care coverage? You're telling me, that this corporation can't adjust their bottom line to take care of their own?
How long can I stand by and hear story after story about their inadequate employee health care plan among other things and then continue to walk through those doors and spend my money there? I can't. Please read this story, and if you agree with me, don't shop there.
Maybe if enough of us take a stand, they'll step up.
6 comments:
I agree that it is unfair and very wrong.... but as you said, sometimes when you have to feed your whole family on a budget and have medical and other expenses on your own, you don't have a choice than to shop for the cheapest price. With grocery prices going up fast(coffee trippled in price in the last month and dog food went up $1 a bag in 2 weeks) it is a frightening reality. One thing that we should all remember and learn is to know your health care plans forward and backwards. Companies big and small look out for the bottom line (we have learned this the hard way with Colin's current company) and could care less about the people that make them that money. It is a sad reality and even more sad when the only way people find out about it is through tragic stories like that. Hopefully someday things will be more focussed on helping others and not cutting throats to make more money than the next guy on the street.
i totally understand...it sucks...but, they have the cheapest prices.
maybe someday, we'll have universal healthcare! a girl can dream.
Unfortunately for Wal-Mart, when a company becomes as large as it has become, it is a target.
I realize that I am not a member of that woman's family and would probably think diffferently if I were, but rules are rules. If Wal-Mart makes an exception here, where do the exceptions stop.
Also, if Wal-Mart gave its employees a premium benefits package, would you shop there? Probably not because its prices would be considerably higher.
Is universal health care the answer? I don't know, but if Medicare is the model of a government sponsored helath care system, I would be rather keep things the way they are now.
Universal health care does not necessarily mean better and cheaper health care.
I agree with MCW - and yes amy i can sleep at night.
the benefits offered by walmart are a privilege that they extend their employees - if there had been no law suit then they would have (or whoever actually paid the bill would have) eaten the near .5 million in medical costs. These clauses are common now, and are one of the only ways companies can afford to offer low-cost health care to people who would not have had care at all in the past.
Universal health care is one of those dreams - but what model do we use? the Canada has socialized medicine, and it really doesnt work out all that great for most everyone - long waiting lists for surgery's etc - this country would never tolerate it.
giving the economic market more of an influence on medical costs by giving more powers of choice to the consumer (yes, the Dr is a service that you pay for like someone mowing your lawn or fixing your car) - when was the last time that you really looked at what the Dr was billing your health insurance to make sure it was accurate?
last time i looked (since i basically pay out of pocket for all my health care costs) was when a lab billed 4 and 5 times the amount for work done when Nora was born. i called them up and they said "Dont worry about that, the insurance will just approve it"
as a customer, i expect to be treated like one, and that includes the ability to shop around for the best pricing for the service given, if we get to that point with health care then i think we'll be better off than simply handing management of a gigantic issue to a government that can barely manage what it has on it's plate now...
i was pretty ticked when i wrote this yesterday, but still stand by my declaration of never walking in there again...not just for the reason that is dominating these comments.
i hear what you all are saying, and legally, i know that walmart is within their rights.
i just have a real problem with the little guy always getting the raw end of the deal. and this is my little way of protesting against that.
btw, have any of you seen sicko? dispells a lot of myths about universal healthcare.
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