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Due to a recent chatraquero discussion session, the magnitude of two evil corporations was decided to be judged.
Between McDonald's and AOL, which multi-billion dollar corporation exudes evil when compared to the other?
Posts: 1004 | Registered: May 2002
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This thread just proves the idea that after a certain level of success you will always be universally hated.
There are a lot of companies out there that are far more evil, but they are just not as successful and ubiquitous.
Posts: 5383 | Registered: Dec 1999
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>> This thread just proves the idea that after a certain level of success you will always be universally hated. <<
Yes, which has the convenient side effect of making the hated party more accountable to the hating parties.
Though I certainly wouldn't call McDonald's "hated." AOL, on the other hand, is the bane the tech-savvy Windows user's existence, from what I understand.
Posts: 10886 | Registered: Feb 2000
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I deal with salesmen where I work, and they often have computer related problems. They ask what is the problem. We tell them AOLHELL is the problem since almost all of them use it. Why do they use it? Because they can get dial up service in almost any city they visit.
Now McDonalds, im not sure of the actual factness of this, but I heard that theyve had commercials that would air in middleeastern countries, with a slight anti-american flavor sprinkled throughout the commercial. I wish I could find out if this was true or not.
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Walmart employs more minimum wage workers than any corporation in America, while being one of the most profitable companies in our country.
Posts: 2752 | Registered: Feb 2001
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In all honesty, what I've recently heard about DeBeers, which has been on Amnesty International's hit list for quite a while, nearly makes me want to boycott diamonds.
Since I don't really buy diamonds anyway, I haven't boycotted them. And I have a hard time boycotting anything because I don't want to be a hypocrite by not boycotting all the other four million products that come from corruption and the suffering of others, but how they get their diamonds is a pretty creepy tale. Posts: 7600 | Registered: Jan 2001
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JaneX, how DARE (please note histrionic emphasis) you call Disney evil!? They're awesome, they're fantastic, and they paid for my car. hehe
Posts: 154 | Registered: Nov 2000
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I'd have to agree...Wal-mart is pretty evil. It's like...you have to go there, but you know you're going to leave and have to resist the temptation to drive over the 20 or so people who leave the store and dash out in front of your car. It's so crowded but you can't NOT go there. Argh I'm getting peeved just thinking about it! Posts: 113 | Registered: Aug 2003
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Walmart employs 1.3 million people, making it the world's larget employer. Because of that as well as it's tremendous purchasing power, huge portfollio of real estate holdings and widespread distribution systems, Walmart can substantially influence the U.S. and global economy. The practices it engages in and the technologies it uses influence its suppliers and competitors in a more powerful way than any other corporate entity.
Because of that it continues to substantially remake the landscape of the American society and economy -- one of the largest issues (and this may not be evil depending on your perspective) is that it has been hugely successful at sapping the power of labor unions -- 1) because it has created a huge non-unionized workforce 2) because it is such a huge buyer of such a large variety of products, every time it buys products from overseas (or decides to manufacture its own items), manufacturing jobs (many of them union jobs) in the U.S. get siphoned off. Granted, this is a pattern that many U.S. companies are following, but Walmart is so big that its impact is felt more deeply. When a Walmart goes into a community, it not only damages the retail stores in that community, but also all the manufacturers, distributors and service industry providers (accountants, advertising agencies, etc.) that did business with those retail stores.
I don't think most Americans care because Walmart does offer a wider range of products at cheaper prices so the effect on the average consumer is positive. There's also something to be said for the efficiency of its distribution systems -- perhaps some of the retail stores that they are hurting weren't engaging in sound business practices anyway. The question is whether the long-term effects are going to be positive for the American economy as whole.
Just a plug in favor of Walmart. I see a whole lot of stuff there that is "Made in the USA," unlike at other large retail stores.
Before Sam Walton died, they had a policy that if a product could be had in the U.S., Walmart would buy it from the U.S. supplier, even if said supplier's price was up to 5% more than the competing off-shore supplier.
I don't know if that policy has changed since the founder's death or not.
Walmart definitely doesn't like to pay its people one penny more than it can get away with (this according to some friends who have worked there).
What I don't get is, if Walmart is so bad to its people, why do they seem to be so content working there? And why are they always so polite and helpful? I mean, I had one lady take me all the way accross the store to point out where the axes were. You just don't get that at Kmart. Posts: 524 | Registered: May 2003
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On a side note, of the top 5 richest people in America, the Walmart kids take up 3 spots with $17 billion dollars each.
..but as George W. Bush says "They pay more taxes than you lazy, stupid poor people, so they deserve and are entitled too more of their own money back!"
$17 Billion just doesn't buy what it used to, isn't that right Jesus?
[ August 14, 2003, 03:40 PM: Message edited by: The Silverblue Sun ]
Posts: 2752 | Registered: Feb 2001
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quote:Just a plug in favor of Walmart. I see a whole lot of stuff there that is "Made in the USA," unlike at other large retail stores.
This is part of a marketing campaign -- trying to live up to their image as down-home, aw-shucks Americans. They may stock more than K-Mart or Target, but do they stock more 'made in America' items than the retail stores they put out of business? I don't know for sure. I do know, however, that Walmart has done an extensive marketing campaign to try and convince U.S. consumers that they are very much a "made in America" store. I have yet to see an unbiased report on this, but I admit that I'm always skeptical of this type of marketing.
quote:Walmart definitely doesn't like to pay its people one penny more than it can get away with (this according to some friends who have worked there).
This is another problem. Not just wages, but health insurance. Who pays for the health insurance of all its part-time employees? The American taxpayer. Now it says that it has a high percentage of "full-time" employees, but it defines "full-time" as anything over 20 hours (okay, so I don't know the exact number -- it may be 24 or 28). Yet you don't get benefits unless you work a certain number of hours per week. Of course, you can't work those extra hours if you don't get scheduled for them. Other retail chains, including Sears, have started to do this as well, where "full-time" is actaully 32 hours a week -- and often less. It really sucks for the employees caught in this situation.
quote:What I don't get is, if Walmart is so bad to its people, why do they seem to be so content working there? And why are they always so polite and helpful?
This is a great question. Retail service usually sucks. And to be fair, other large retail operations do treat their employees worse than Walmart does -- it's just that because Walmart is so large and widespread, its other practices (low wages, driving out local business) have a huge impact on local and regional economies. Any large corpration can have a large impact on the national and world economy -- on the abstract finance/stock market/currency/capital spending level, but retail chains, if they become pervasive like Walmart have a more immediate, direct effect on regions.
How does Walmart do it?
For one, they have an effective, strong corporate culture. Also: it's made clear that this is part of their job duties. In my experience, unhelpful, when bad attitude employees crop up, it's not based on how they're objectively treated (i.e. benefits, salary), but rather how they're managed -- what the expectations are. I'm not saying it's all a facade. For some of its employees Walmart is an easy way to work.
Posts: 3423 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Oh Lordy, SweetWilliam...I'm going to have to come to where YOU live and shop at YOUR Wal-Mart. The Wal-Mart in East Tucson is easily one of the major world evils, and you can't get help from anyone, even at 6 o'clock on a Thursday morning, with employees all around you doing nothing.
Posts: 113 | Registered: Aug 2003
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I try to go to Target, but they done went and "Wal-Marted" up my Target, and now it stinks too.
Posts: 113 | Registered: Aug 2003
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quote:Okay, and lest someone misunderstand me; I was referring to the phrase "tarted-up," which I think is a sort-of Brit phrase.
Speaking of which, how's come the only Brit we have around here is Amira? I mean, yeah - Amira kicks mucho buttockso, but I can't exactly flirt outrageously with her. And she's, like, academic and stuff and has a life and only posts to show off her 1337 brainy skilz.
Jebus doesn't even post anymore.
Where have all the Brits gone? I mean, Where have all the MALE Brits gone?
Posts: 7600 | Registered: Jan 2001
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