Wal-Mart's effect on our Life

David
EAP2 WW
Synthesis Ex
November 27, 2007



Wal-Mart’s affect in our Life


Here is one of the biggest groceries, “Wal-Mart”. We can see Wal-Mart anywhere, even in the rural side of America. They have everything with low price such as food, toys, electronic things, fish, tools and so on. So if we need something, we can find it in Wal-Mart. According to E. Locke (2004, par. 4), “Wal-Mart is one of the most impressive success stories in the history of business”. The article shows us, Wal-Mart is very nice company in our life, but on the other side, they are not. Wal-Mart ruined small groceries in towns, because many people won’t go to a small grocery; small groceries are more expensive than Wal-Mart and do not have much guarantee like Wal-Mart. People want low price with guarantee and want an easy way to find stuff; if they are in Wal-Mart they can find anything but if there is no Wal-Mart, people have to stop by many kinds of groceries for what they want. So Wal-Mart ruins the small groceries. It is not right, because normal groceries cannot compete with big groceries such as Wal-Mart, so they will lose their job. If small groceries are all gone, the quality of goods will go down, so we should use small groceries for our economy.

First of all, people should think about how Wal-Mart affects small groceries. In these days, Wal-Mart has bought land in Carbondale-Murphysboro; it will cause a big problem. “Some Murphysboro and Carbondale residents are protesting a new Wal-Mart super center in Murphysboro because they fear it will destroy the town’s small business and the quality of life for some of its citizens” (Jacobs, 2005, par. 1). So people should take care of this problem. We can buy much stuff in an easy way with Wal-Mart but our neighbor who got a small business may go.

Next, Wal-Mart may monopolize everything. Wal-Mart has broken some other big groceries such as Kroger and Schnucks, so they may monopolize everything about groceries. Actually, many items in Wal-Mart are made in China; the stuffs’ quality is very low, but people use it because it is cheap and easy to find. That happening will make stuff’s quality go down and make people foolish. In this situation, many other big groceries and small groceries will disappear; after that, China’s employees costs will increase, the stuffs’ price may go up, and people will have to buy it even if its’ expensive. According to R. Auxier (Jacobs, 2005, par. 10), “Murphysboro should not be foolish enough to believe that the right way to fix its financial problems is sales tax revenue from Wal-Mart.” So if people realize what is happening, they should buy stuff in many different ways, not just at Wal-Mart.

Finally, Wal-Mart’s employees are working in a dangerous situation. According to UFCWIU (2005, par. 1), “Wal-Mart reports that its health insurance only covers 48% of their employees. Wal-Mart has approximately 1.3 million US employees”. So when employees are hurt from any other reason, 52% of them have to pay for their own medical treatment. It is not right, because employees are not rich people, they are normal salary workers, so if they are damaged from something, they don’t have enough money pay for the fee, and they cannot work while they are sick. So the insurance system should change for employees. They are mega size groceries; they need to treat their employees in accordance with their size.

In my opinion, Wal-Mart has many benefits for our life, but it may spoil small business. So I don’t like this situation, in which one company got a commercial power in one area; it is a crazy event. And this event makes people more wasteful, because Wal-Mart refunds every item, so many people waste those goods. Many kinds of small groceries are needed for people and groceries owners but Wal-Mart spoils these things with cheap price and a guarantee. In my case, I usually go to Wal-Mart instead of a small grocery, because I don’t have a car, so I can’t stop by many stores, but if people have a car, they can visit many groceries, so they should think differently. We can’t prevent the new building of Wal-Mart in our area, so we need help from government; government has to make a new rule for small business people.

In conclusion, Wal-Mart is ignoring many types of groceries and other big groceries. When the local economy is spoiled by Wal-Mart, Wal-Mart may also spoil, because people don’t have enough money, and will want new stuff that is not in Wal-Mart. In general, many companies have competition with other companies so they develop their goods’ quality and low prices. If just Wal-Mart is left, the goods quality and price will go up.
Just government can solve this problem for people; government should make new policy for business things.



Reference

Jacobs. N. (2005, April 1). Local opposition to future Wal-Mart Supercenter in Murphysboro. Daily Egyptian. Retrieved November 27, 2007, from http://newshound.de.siu.edu/spring05/stories/storyReader$858

Locke, E. (2004, February). Three Cheers for Wal-Mart. Capitalism Magazine. Retrieved November 27, 2007, from
http://www.capmag.com/article.asp?ID=3534

Wal-Mart Wages and Worker Rights (2005). United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Retrieved November 27, 2007, from http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/