Walmart announced its newly appointed Chief Executive Officer who just might have an unfortunate name. It’s Doug McMillon, which is frequently misspelled Doug McMillion. Can’t wait until the self-appointed anti-capitalists, who simply can’t abide the world’s largest retailer, start having their fun with this.
Last week, a bunch of Boulder’s anti-Walmart stalwarts joined their despondent brethren by conducting a nationwide protest against the company complaining about a laundry list of evils the company has perpetrated on its under-paid employees, hapless customers, and the unsuspecting communities in which they ply their wicked ways. For the most part activists chanted negative statements about corporate greed and offered other assorted accusations of the company’s endless corporate wrongdoing. It’s all part of a show that elitist activists, most of whom have no idea what they’re talking about, love to entertain us with.
You might recall that Walmart snuck into town so that no one would notice. A few Boulderites dissed the retailer because local activists didn’t want to taint the city with the likes of this supposed corporate criminal. Once word got out that Walmart was trying to breach the city limits a few agitators attempted to coerce neighboring retailers in some kind of subterfuge to prevent the store from opening. Many of Boulder’s elites have a lot of political pull and know where the buttons are that might get pushed.
So what’s the beef? Well, as rumor would have it, Walmart mistreats its employees. Perhaps every now and then managers hire thugs to roust employees from their warm beds and march them to their stores. Such coercive actions must be necessary because the giant retailer won’t allow its employees to unionize or collectively bargain, or take breaks, or eat lunch, or work full time, or give them healthcare, or other benefits.
Of course, reality is something not commonly understood by elitists. In fact, nearly 75 percent of Walmart’s store managers (who earn between $50,000 and $170,000 a year) began as entry-level employees. The company claims that, depending on the time of the year, there are between 15,000 and 50,000 job openings in the U.S. providing an average full-time hourly wage of over $12.80. Entry-level personnel may earn less but turnover rates are lower than industry averages and the company claims over 300,000 of their associates (including 200,000 women) have over 10 years of continuous service. Each year the company promotes around 160,000 people to higher paying jobs and offers education assistance, retirement plans, and training opportunities to their staff. Walmart has recently pledged to hire any honorably discharged military veteran within his or hers first year off active duty. Not bad for these dastardly uncaring corporate McMillionaires!
Other complaints have to do with “big box” stores putting local businesses out of business. To be sure, this has happened in some smaller communities, but Boulder hasn’t been impacted. Big box retailer Home Depot came to town and some believed home-grown McGuckin Hardware might be forced to close. That prediction was false and McGuckin continues to thrive. Big-box “natural food” purveyor Whole Foods may have disrupted some smaller grocery stores but other competitors seem to be doing just fine. And if you think Walmart has disrupted traditional retailing to the detriment of the community or the consumer, think again. There’s this outfit called Amazon.com that’s responsible for more disruption in retailing than Walmart may have ever contemplated.
Not everyone in Boulder can shop just anywhere without first considering what they can afford. Walmart caters to providing great value by employing their bulk purchasing power along with lower overhead costs. If you don’t like the shopping there, and if you are bothered by “those kind of people” who shop there, that’s fine. Just don’t assume others don’t appreciate or need lower priced alternatives. Free markets provide choice and when that happens, everyone benefits — even those diehard elites.
Email: robertdgreenlee@aol.com.
