Walmart not Evil?

dr9 · Jan 9, 2010

Found some good local honey in Walmart today, it tastes very good. Went to the site on the jar, the proprietor is former GA Beekeeper Association pres and board member.

I thought everything in wal mart was supposed to be evil, created on the backs of the enslaved and exploited?

Can bees be considered slaves?

The honey co is Blue Ridge Honey Company.

Part of their site says they pollinate apple orchards, so I'm awaiting a reply on Apple Blossom honey (chasing the dragon) which isn't advertised for sale in the regular section. I'll be sure to let Wayneb know if I find it.

Back to Walmart, according to his site, he's sold in several Walmarts in Georgia and other places in SC and NC.

I'll be using this honey in the coming hours and posting about it. For now, let's argue about how evil Wal-Mart is.

Begin.

akueck · Jan 9, 2010

I'd say Walmart sells it because it profits enough from the sales to justify the shelf space. That is all. Good and evil have nothing to do with it.

AToE · Jan 9, 2010

I'd add the clarification that everything walmart sell from over-seas is evil and explotative, Zellers (you have those in the US?) is much better, they actually have people that go and inspect working conditions and ensure that living wages are being paid at the factories for all their products. I know Walmart doesn't do this, because the same person I know who held that position at Zellers now works for Walmart, and they have no such policies.

Anything from US/Canada is probably totally fine though.

dr9 · Jan 9, 2010

Living wage? I have trouble defining that.

If someone agrees to do X task for Y amount of money... well... what I'm getting at... noone is forced to work at Wal-Mart, or anywhere else.

A lot of it is subjective. A mountain man can live on $100 a year. A pauper in NYC needs $40k.

When you look at Wal-Mart as an anthropologist, you will see something different than when you look at it as a communist, economist, mazer, employee, or stock broker.

FWIW, the executives of Wal-Mart don't have fancy offices, they are in a glorified trailer in AK.

AToE · Jan 9, 2010

dr9 said:
Living wage? I have trouble defining that.

If someone agrees to do X task for Y amount of money... well... what I'm getting at... noone is forced to work at Wal-Mart, or anywhere else.

A lot of it is subjective. A mountain man can live on $100 a year. A pauper in NYC needs $40k.

When you look at Wal-Mart as an anthropologist, you will see something different than when you look at it as a communist, economist, mazer, employee, or stock broker.

FWIW, the executives of Wal-Mart don't have fancy offices, they are in a glorified trailer in AK.

The whole concept of agreeing to work for a wage making the wage fair only works in somewhere like North America, it all breaks down when you live in a country where you have almost no chance of getting a decent job and you need to feed your family, you take what you can get, whether it's enough to live off of or not. And yes, of course, living wage varies wildly depending on location etc.

This really isn't the board for politics and ethics arguments though, I come here to learn about mead, no need for anyone to get bent out of shape at eachother over other topics.

Over and out.

dr9 · Jan 9, 2010

This is the Vitural Pub, where people get drunk and argue with each other. We are fully within the stated boundaries.

jaxn slim · Jan 9, 2010

I just got some honey at Wallyworld, too. I don't know how local it is, but it does say Made in USA. 3 lbs. clover for $7.50.

dr9 said:
FWIW, the executives of Wal-Mart don't have fancy offices, they are in a glorified trailer in AK.

Wal-Mart is based in Arkansas, not Alaska.

Kee · Jan 9, 2010

AToE said:
I'd add the clarification that everything walmart sell from over-seas is evil and explotative...

Actually, a lot of what they sell that was mand domestically is explotative as well. I know of a couple of companies that Walmart delayed payments for products for 12-18 months and put the manufacturer out of business.

I personally can't argue this business practice was "evil," but, then, I'm not the owner of one of those companies.

dr9 · Jan 9, 2010

AR, sorry, didn't have my AP Stylebook handy. My fault.

Kee... there are horror stories about vendors not getting paid in all industries through all different distributors. Problems getting paid is not something Walmart has a monopoly on.

Kee · Jan 9, 2010

dr9 said:
Kee... there are horror stories about vendors not getting paid in all industries through all different distributors. Problems getting paid is not something Walmart has a monopoly on.

I agree, but I thought we were discussing the 'evils' of Walmart in particular.

My last job was for a company that couldn't seem to issue a check for anything. It didn't matter that I followed processes and procedures to the letter. I still had to spend HOURS on the phone with AP to get a check cut to our vendors. I did it because the vendors were small and also at risk. It also wasn't a matter of paying slow to get a few dollars more from interest. AP just couldn't seem to cut a check! Accepting money was just as difficult...

dr9 · Jan 10, 2010

Kee said:
I agree, but I thought we were discussing the 'evils' of Walmart in particular.

My last job was for a company that couldn't seem to issue a check for anything. It didn't matter that I followed processes and procedures to the letter. I still had to spend HOURS on the phone with AP to get a check cut to our vendors. I did it because the vendors were small and also at risk. It also wasn't a matter of paying slow to get a few dollars more from interest. AP just couldn't seem to cut a check! Accepting money was just as difficult...

I know. I work for a "small" contractor for a customer that is in the Fortune 20. We don't begin work until a PO is issued. In other words, the work doesn't even start until the check is practically in the bank. And that's not some "scam" we worked up, that's how the customer tells us to process the work. They know how slow and unpredictable payment can be within their own organization, and so they don't have to deal with us suing them, they just have us wait until the check is cut before we start anything.

As far as AP, my cousin is a photographer who's income is mainly from AP, he "finally" got contractor status with them (which is apparently a difficult thing to do) and he also reports big problems with payment.

akueck · Jan 10, 2010

I'm assuming AP is accounts payable. (And AR would be accounts receivable, the other side of the literal coin.)

We do a lot of contract work in my job. We will usually start work before we get a PO issued, but won't send out the test results until we definitely have the PO in hand. Usually that works out ok, but we have been stuck holding the bag a few times. It's not malicious (that I can tell), it's more like the customers not knowing what they want and changing their mind at the last minute. Blah....

In any case, every contract I have seen has a "payment terms" section which is usually something like "due on receipt", "net 30", "net 45", etc. Legal action can be taken if payment does not meet these terms. If the vendors didn't stipulate payment terms and Walmart decided to take a long time to pay, well, the vendor should have put that in the contract. Immoral but not illegal....

dr9 · Jan 10, 2010

I meant AP literally, Associated Press. I got confused.

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