Avoid Walmart - Shop at Target

[Rick336]

From USA Today News:

Gay rights group raises red flag on Wal-Mart policies


By Andrea Stone, USA TODAY

The Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay rights group, is giving Wal-Mart (WMT) a red "do not buy" rating in its new consumer guide, bestowing a lump of coal on the retail giant just in time for the holiday shopping season.

Citing Wal-Mart's refusal to offer domestic partner benefits to its gay and lesbian workers, the HRC said Tuesday that the USA's biggest private employer has "more work to do in furthering equality." It advised gays and their supporters to shop elsewhere.

Wal-Mart rated a red 40 on a scale of 100, down from a yellow 65 in 2006. It was among 54 companies that scored 45 or lower in HRC's 2008 Corporate Equality index, which assigns ratings to 519 large companies. Also in the red: Toys R Us, RadioShack (RSH) and AutoZone (AZO).

Wal-Mart rival Target (TGT) rated a "green" 80, meaning that "consumers should make every effort to support these businesses."

Wal-Mart has bucked a corporate trend of expanding benefits for gay employees, says Daryl Herrschaft, director of HRC's workplace project. He says two Fortune 500 companies offered domestic partner benefits, comparable to spouse benefits, in 1990. Today, 269 do.

"We're proud of our diversity initiatives and we think we are taking the right steps," Wal-Mart spokesman David Tovar says.

HRC's low rating comes as Wal-Mart has been enjoying positive publicity about its move this fall to offer better health coverage to more of its 1.4 million U.S. workers.

The company had been pummeled by unions and some state legislators who said it was offering unaffordable health insurance plans.

Herrschaft says Wal-Mart had been moving toward more gay-friendly practices. In 2003, the company added sexual orientation to its non-discrimination policy.

In December 2005, HRC executives were invited to the first of two meetings at the company's headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. On the agenda: the intricacies of implementing domestic partner benefits.

Conservative groups angered by Wal-Mart contributions to gay organizations threatened a boycott, and in June, the company announced a policy to avoid "highly controversial issues." Talks on gay benefits ended, Herrschaft says.

Wal-Mart is "moving in reverse on equal treatment of their employees and their gay and lesbian consumers," Herrschaft says.

Tovar, the Wal-Mart spokesman, says he will not "speculate" on whether the rating would hurt holiday sales.

Last year's guide was downloaded from the group's website (www.hrc.org/buyersguide) more than 250,000 times.

[RedneckDyke]

Wal Mart is crapola all the way around. TReats employees like crap, sells crap made in China, puts local stores out of business. I hate Wal Mart and only go there if I have no other choice and I'm desparate. Like it's 9 oclock at night and I need feminine hygeine products or something.

[Vanessa White]

I am with you, RedNeck. I try to avoid it at all costs, and in terms of marketing, they know how to be available for those late night needs, so sometimes I do cave in and go there. However, their practices toward many groups of people within their employment base is the main reason I don't give them my business. Target does treat their employees better and I think that it shows in how their business runs. I spend a great deal of money at Target because of their practices. The thing about domestic partner benefits, is that is definitely benefits same sex couples, but often the way the policy is written, it has to also be available to heterosexual domestic partners as well. SO, what is the big whoop? Huh, Walmart? That way, you don't have to really be touching any "controversial" topics when you aren't just talking about us "gay" people?????

[andrewlittle]

Only on the rarest occasions - not quite hell freezing over, but close - will we shop at Walmart. It has to be an emergency and with no-one else being open. It HASN'T happened since we moved from deep rural Iowa, though, since we now actually live, like, near other people and shops and stuff.

Okay, the weird part. If a small, locally owned store has what we need (read: a store, not a "boutique"), we go there. If a FairTrade product is available, we buy it (if we can't afford to do this, we question how badly we need it in the first place). If locally produced items are available, we buy those.

We live so well in this country when compared to many others, not because we earn so darn much, but because we want more for less, and support those businesses that give us this "benefit" by bargaining with people's livelihoods. Unfortunately, when we get more for less, someone else (usually a dirt poor laborer or farmer in an undeveloped country) gets less for more. It is a cycle of advantage gained on the backs of the world's poor.

We don't believe that our buying habits will overturn that BUT, if more and more people start doing this, it could have some small effect. And a small effect on our scale could be immeasurably important on a poor person's.

So, especially when you consider other social justice issues like GLBT rights, avoiding supporting companies with primarily unfair business practices is just good business - it is good, not just for us, but for most people.

[tdogg]

We prefer Target to WalMart anyways. But, my sister works at WalMart, while it's a fairly decent job for her they do treat their ee's like crap. She works long hours, gets calls all day long on her days off (when she doesn't have to work them), and when ee's are gone, guess who picks up the slack. She's in the asset protection (aka security) area which is probably much better than being a cashier or stocker.

I just hate going in that store for some reason. Who knows, maybe my spirit feels the hatred???

[tpdncr4christ]

SHOP AT TARGET!!! holy cow do I love Target. Shop at Target because just last week alone Target donated nearly three hundred thousand dollars to local schools through the Take Charge Of Education Program. Target Region 200 District 202 also delivered a Fire Truck of requested goods to the Firefighter Headquarters of San Diego totaling in excess of one hundred thousand dollars. Target pride's itself of benefiting the community, and creating a meaningful relationship on a local level. We strive for a no wait experience in our stores by developing a fast fun and friendly culture. Our company goal is to become the Best Company Ever, and every day we take strides towards accomplishing that goal.

No that I've sold my bit, I do wonder what Target has to help same sex partnerships. Its something I'll look into on the company level and post back. We do have a policy dedicated to diversity, were we strive for excellence, energy, execution, and enthusiasm. I really should be a Target commercial...

[scott snedeker]

I'm on it Rick! No more Hellmart!

[hippie4lyfe]

Hey Guys,

Walmart was once upon a time LGBT friendly but now the Christian right has threatened them and they have pandered to them. I have been boycotting Walmart for years. Walmart is not only horrible on LGBT issues, they also have not paid women equally, they are terrible for the environment, they are way too corporate, and they don't provide security in their parking lots hence lots of rapes, murders, theft goes on there. Walmart doesn't have enough money to provide protection to its customers? Get outta town!

[ladyinred]

I haven't noticed you around lately. Is it just me? Anyway glad you are back.

[Zerbie]

Originally Posted by ladyinred

I haven't noticed you around lately. Is it just me? Anyway glad you are back.

Nay. I'd noticed too. Haven't seen Rick posting since May.

Glad to see you around Rick.

We've shopped at Walmart once. We needed a citrus juicer, and only Walmart had one for less than, like, $75. I think we paid $15. Plus, someone had given us a Walmart gift card (yuck!) so Walmart already had someone's cash. Figgered we might as well get some merchandise for it.

Other than that, my only excursions into Walmart were when I spent a couple months in rural Arkansas and it was the only place I could get ANYthing I needed.

I loathe that place.

[sailaway58]

I like Wal*Mart. They give jobs to people that seem to need them. Most people I know gripe about the place they work so why would Wal*Mart employees be different?
I am frustrated that they backed off the GLBT support wagon and we also like Target better. Our town will never have both so Wal*Mart wins.

I don't believe there are rapes in the parking lot at Wal*Marts and I have never seen on without security cameras. Murders? Come on, you can't just make shit up about places you don't like.

Consumer greed for the cheapest prices is what created the downfall of smaller stores, that and the fact the taking something back is a personal insult to small stores instead of just part of business.

Remember your first shopping mall? They were blamed for the fall of downtown shopping. We was consumers desire convenience.

Wal*Mart caved to the threat of the Christian right, what threat do we impose on Wal*Mart? You not shopping there hardly translates to a threat when know one knows you exist.

Know one has to boycott really. Wal*Mart executives just have to believe that if the GLBT did boycott it would cost them as much as the C.R. claimed their boycott would have cost.

Idle threats with signatures is what changes corporations hearts

[hippie4lyfe]

I recommend watching the Walmart documentary. And yes so many crimes have happened in Walmart parking lots. They are huge parking lots, often with women and babies so they are vulnerable. Hence many crimes such as rape, theft, and even murder have occured in Walmart parking lots. The only reason Walmart is to be held accountable for this is because they are rich and could easily afford security for their customers in the parking lots.

[andrewlittle]

Originally Posted by sailaway58

I like Wal*Mart. They give jobs to people that seem to need them. Most people I know gripe about the place they work so why would Wal*Mart employees be different?
I am frustrated that they backed off the GLBT support wagon and we also like Target better. Our town will never have both so Wal*Mart wins.

I don't believe there are rapes in the parking lot at Wal*Marts and I have never seen on without security cameras. Murders? Come on, you can't just make shit up about places you don't like.

Really? Then, perhaps, a little homework rather than just naysaying would be in order:

In total, 648 “serious or violent” incidents were reported at the Wal-Mart stores versus 100 at nearby Target stores. On average, 20.25 “serious or violent” criminal incidents were reported per Wal-Mart store versus 3.13 per Target store. Based on this analysis, Wal-Mart stores experienced 6 times the number of reported criminal incidents defined as “serious or violent” than nearby Target stores in 2004.

http://walmartcrimereport.com/report.pdf

Some ther reading about employment issues:

http://www.now.org/issues/wfw/wal-mart.html
http://www.usatoday.com/money/workpl...art-cov2_x.htm
http://walmartwatch.com/img/blog/rol...x_payments.pdf

That's all I have time for right now, but this only took me 20 minutes. A little research might be a good investment of your time. It might save you the embarrassment of "making shit up" without knowledge.

[Zerbie]

Tim,

I recommend you take a look at "Inequality MAtters: The Growing Economic Divide in America and its Poisonous Consequences." The book is a collection of essays by various writers. Specifically, look at "Earth to Wal-Mars" by Barbara Ehrenreich.

[sailaway58]

The Ultimate pro-Wal-Mart Article

By Paul Kirklin

This is a small part of it.

Wal-Mart's Critics

In spite of Wal-Mart's outstanding achievements and tremendous benefits to the public, a determined group of Wal-Mart critics has appeared on the scene. These people have made it their life's mission to smear and obstruct Wal-Mart at every turn, many of them behaving with the same passion that one might expect from religious fanatics. The critics are utterly ignorant of economics, yet they pretend to be authorities on the subject, and loudly proclaim such things as: "Wal-Mart causes unemployment," "Wal-Mart lowers wages," and "Wal-Mart reduces access to healthcare." In addition to these alleged economic sins, they say: "Wal-Mart destroys communities," "Wal-Mart treats its female employees unfairly," "Wal-Mart causes greedy consumerism," "Wal-Mart desecrates sacred ground." To listen to these critics, one might think that Wal-Mart was the source of all evil.

Every time Wal-Mart tries to open up a new store, there is a good chance that these anti-Wal-Mart crusaders will be there to interfere, attempting to persuade zoning boards and local governments to intervene and make it impossible for Wal-Mart to operate. They've created websites such as Wakeupwalmart.com and Walmartwatch.com that provide "public education" on their incorrect version of the economic effects of Wal-Mart. They've held anti-Wal-Mart demonstrations, and put out advertisements, books, and movies. They've called for crippling regulation of Wal-Mart, and increased taxes on Wal-Mart. One of their favorite activities is to point to someone who they believe has been, or could be, negatively affected by Wal-Mart's success — no matter how temporarily — misinterpret the meaning of this phenomenon, and proceed to work themselves into a frenzy because they are convinced that this proves that Wal-Mart is destroying the world.

All of their objections are based on profound ignorance of Wal-Mart's actual economic significance, and their behavior is destructive to themselves and everyone else. The huge amount of media attention given to these critics by many willing accomplices has strengthened their negative influence. The critics have succeeded in making themselves impossible to ignore. They have dragged Wal-Mart's good name through the mud, causing the general public to associate Wal-Mart with the endless list of accusations, rather than with the incredible service they provide.

High profile individuals such as Theresa Heinz Kerry, who came very close to being first lady of the United States, have taken public stances in favor of these critics. According to a recent Zogby poll, 56% of Americans now believe that "Wal-Mart is bad for America."

Wal-Mart managers now have a new challenge; not only do they have to run one of the biggest organizations in the world; they have to do it with an army of fools waging a constant war of propaganda against them. They are forced to waste an increasing amount of their time and company's resources defending their highly efficient, very successful, and perfectly legitimate organization against these vicious saboteurs.

[andrewlittle]

Originally Posted by sailaway58

The Ultimate pro-Wal-Mart Article

By Paul Kirklin

This is a small part of it.

Wal-Mart's Critics

An interesting viewpoint from the thinktank of Libertarian economic policy - the kind that believes the "free" market is the ONLY viable economy, that the making of profits far outweighs the ethics involved in its accomplishment, that all governmental interference in or oversight of economic pursuits is inherently evil, and that believes making money is the attainment of the highest good.

Alrighty. Think what ya gotta - I don't see any point in a conversation - we are light years apart and pretty apt to stay that way.

Do you share their views on environmentalism:

Generally the picture you gain from living in this environment for more than a few days is the very opposite of the “preservationist” outlook you get from environmental propaganda. If we are to survive in this cruel world, the only option is to tame it or kill it. It’s them or us. We hear about the precious and delicate balance of nature, how species help each to thrive in a mystical cycle of being, but all we witness is a “natural” kill-or-be-killed practice that is so awful you can hardly watch.

The cruel competition for survival is not limited to animals. It extends to plants, to all things. And it could easily characterize the actions of people absent the civilizing institution of exchange, ownership, and the marketplace – the scene of peace in which man uses his reason to create and develop, cooperate and flourish.

How about the abolition of public education and instituting private tutoring:

As wealth has expanded under capitalism, it has become increasingly possible for middle-class parents to do what the rich have always been able to afford, i.e., private tutoring. Today, middle-class parents are wealthy enough to indulge in substantial private tutoring and could do much more if they were free from the burden of financing state schools. And even where wealth is not yet sufficient and parents choose schools, a market of private schools would suppress the deficiency of schooling as parental spending would guide schools to find the most effective arrangements for developing each child's personality. As with thymological knowledge that the child gains from his own actions, formal education proceeds naturally and privately.

State interference in education usurps the child's rights and displaces the custodial role of the parents in exercising those rights. That the state would seize the custodial rights from the parents demonstrates that it has its own interests in mind. The state must resort to force because neither the child nor the parents want the natural arrangement to be overturned. Because the state rests on compulsion its activity extinguishes the very basis for the development of the personalities of children, which is freedom.

Or how about their theories that private property ownership of governmental lands in California would have prevented the recent fires:

Oh: there is one more action that government takes: officials express profound sadness and regret that it is all happening. And we all just sit back and say, well, heck, I guess there is nothing that can be done about it.

Ridiculous! Are we under the impression that private markets can't handle risk management? Private markets specialize in protection of property, particularly against natural risks. If the land were privately owned, it would be protected against burning through better management. If it had to be burned, the burning would be controlled. Unexpected events like droughts and winds would be calculated into management decisions.

They also call things like state and federal parks "land socialism".

The article you cited comes from people who proudly describe themselves as economic anarchists. More power to them - or would that be more power OVER others.

[sailaway58]

WTF is this kind of crap? I got nothing to say about the article except the group that wrote it are evil, just like Wal-Mart?
I didn't join a club just because I like one article that considers something besides corporate success is evil.
Maybe rape, murder and robbery are a community issue, a police issue an indication of societal decline. These things happen everywhere. I guess if you were the CEO of a successful business you would shit on your stock holders to give away the profits to save the world. Wal-Mart does provide security in areas that have been a problem, one of the articles I read had the writer angry because Wal-Mart didn't make it a corporate policy to provide golf cart security in all their store lots. We sure don't need that in our Wal-Mart. We live in a low crime area, not all Wal-Marts are that lucky because they go where many won't.
Here is a tidbit you won't find in the articles you asked me to look at:

Wal-Mart is the Largest Corporate Cash Contributor in America.
Last year, Wal-Mart was recognized by the Chronicle of Philanthropy as the largest corporate cash contributor in America. In 2006, Wal-Mart gave more than $270 million to 4,000-plus communities in the United States. Charitable contributions from Wal-Mart support a variety of causes and issues in the areas of education, the environment, health and human services, civic and community groups, and culture and the arts. The majority of those contributions were made to organizations at the local level, based not just on corporate decisions, but also on recommendations from our associates. This grassroots style of philanthropy encompasses the small things, such as allowing the Girls Scouts to sell cookies at our front doors, and the big things, like funding college scholarships and assisting emergency responders in times of disaster.

[andrewlittle]

Okay, since this way more emotional, vitreolic and abusive than I care to get into - have fun with it.

[pnggrad79]

My wife and I had a lot of "fun" at Walmart the other day. My iPod my wife got me for my birthday decided not to work. So we decided to take it back, and as luck would have it, we couldn't find the receipt. Now she bought it for me Oct. 31, and we left for P-town Nov. 1. The iPod went dead Nov. 14. We took it back Nov. 15. 16 days after purchase, the COS can't find the receipt in the store computer files. And it took right at 2 hours for the COS to even get to Customer Service to even look it up. She accused us of not even being there that night despite the cashier remembering us being there and buying it in her department. So we went home, found the box it was in, pulled up our bank statement with the record of the purchase on it and printed it out. We brought it back to her and showed it to another COS. She was able to pull it up. By this time, my wife was a little upset and decided to just get her money back rather than just get another one as was her original plan. She did get me another one the next day. What can I say, I love my wife. She is good to me. But she swore she would never buy any more electronics at Walmart. My daughter does work at Sam's though.

[NickyChris]

Originally Posted by hippie4lyfe

I recommend watching the Walmart documentary. And yes so many crimes have happened in Walmart parking lots. They are huge parking lots, often with women and babies so they are vulnerable. Hence many crimes such as rape, theft, and even murder have occured in Walmart parking lots. The only reason Walmart is to be held accountable for this is because they are rich and could easily afford security for their customers in the parking lots.

Because of course crimes never occur in Target parking lots... :P