Walmart, Good for America?

Is Walmart Good for America?

Did you know that Walmart pays its employees an average of $10 less per hour than competing retailers? Walmart is terrible for America because it is a “race to the bottom”. There isn’t room for both Walmart and high-paying jobs in America, and America needs jobs back.

Walmart is pressuring its suppliers into selling their products to Walmart for as cheap as possible. Manufacturers have to sell to Walmart in order to sell enough of their products to stay profitable, but in order to sell to Walmart; they have to sell at rock bottom prices. This is all because Walmart has so much influence over the market that it can essentially require anything within human limitations of it’s suppliers. In order to do that, they have to manufacture in China, instead of America. Walmart pays its employees incredibly low wages with weak benefits, which is bad for our economy, in an effort to do what it calls, keeping prices low.

When you first walk into a Walmart, you often see an item priced incredibly low that you probably aren’t looking to buy. However, you form the concept in your mind that their prices are the lowest in town. As you walk down the aisle, you stop thinking about the prices because you remember that item priced incredibly low. This allows Walmart to sell items with high margins when customers think they are getting a bargain. Walmart regularly has margins between 60 and 80 percent on items (cite: Jon Lehman), and that is because manufacturers have no other choice but to sell to Walmart at Walmart’s price.

Is competition always good?

Competition is always a good thing in our economy. However, when one company takes an unfair advantage over another at the employee’s expense, it is a bad thing. Walmart is unfair because it has the lowest wages, some of the worst benefits, no pension, and terrible health insurance. Employees must work 6 months full time, or 2 years part time, to be eligible for the company’s health insurance, which some claim is not very good. Walmart cleverly claims that 90% of its workforce is covered by health insurance. That is true, however only about 30 – 40% are actually cover by Walmart. The other group either buys their own health insurance or receives it from a spouse’s employer.

An affect of Walmart’s competitive practices is putting other companies, who treat their employees better, out of business. Employees, who used to make $15 an hour at a company such as Thomson, are now being forced to work at places like Walmart for nearly half of the money, because they have no other options. This is because people decided to cut maybe 5-10% off their shopping bill by shopping at Walmart, which resulted in their pay being cut in half, no pension, and no health insurance for at least 6 months. Better wages for workers is more important than slightly lower prices for the consumer.

Some people say that Walmart is just being competitive, and people are willing to work for those wages, and it’s just a job to start out with! However, Walmart is being unfairly competitive. So competitive, that in a way, people are forced to work for their wages, or not work at all, because people are losing their jobs because of Walmart. People were once able to earn $15 an hour at competing retailers, but now they are out of work because of Walmart, they have no other option but to work for Walmart. Walmart’s treatment is bad for America, and they need to start treating employees correctly.