Where do you go to get anything you might possibly need? In
this day and age that we live in, there seems to be a store for everything.
From electronics, to kitchenware, to food, to clothes, there are stores in this
country where you can “have it all.” There are stores like Target, Meijer, but
the big daddy of retail superstore is none other than Walmart. If you’ve been
to Walmart, you can agree with me that sell pretty much anything you can think
of. Want to buy new furniture for your living room? Check. Need a new sound
system and television to go with it? No problem. Need to buy food to restock
the fridge? They have you covered. The one thing that is similar between all
these products in Walmart though is that the low cost you can get them for
compared to other stores like Target or Meijer.
How is this possible you ask? Well it’s actually pretty
simple. Walmart pays their employees like garbage and the products you buy are
most likely made in sweatshops in China. But who’s complaining right? As long
as we, the consumers, are able to buy the stuff we want and need for the lowest
cost, we shouldn’t complain. It’s a double edge sword though for the low cost
that we’re paying.
When Walmart opens up a new store, it drives out all the
family owned businesses because they can’t compete with the low prices that
Walmart offers. What then happens is the owners of the newly closed businesses
then starts working for Walmart at a considerably lower wage. So essentially,
the consumers’ choice in products decreases because Walmart drove them all
away. But who cares, we’re getting it for cheaper right?! Walmart is notorious
for treating its employees like garbage, there’s websites dedicated solely in
bashing Walmart like Walmart is Pure Evil and Making Change at Walmart. Walmart
doesn’t like unions, so much in fact that the cameras that they have in their
parking lots are meant to keep surveillance on any potential strikes or people
unionizing. That’s the real and first reason why they have cameras in parking
lots believe it or not, not our safety.
A couple of weeks ago Professor Manty gave an interesting
lecture about Machiavelli and dirty hands. Professor Manty stated that it’s a
problematic approach to politics where you should do whatever is in the best
interest of the state, even if it’s morally wrong. Italian Niccolo Machiavelli
formulated the idea during the 15th-16th century. He
believed in a regime where the “end” justifies the “means” and that ethics
doesn’t matter. The ends can be reached by any way necessary, whether it’s by
cooperating, negotiating, cheating, or by murder.
Now Machiavellianism is mostly associated with our
politicians today, but I believe we can apply this same idea with Walmart.
Walmart will do whatever it takes to get the highest profit. Whether it’s
murdering the competition or by cheating its employees. Since we live in
Michigan we don’t really see the negative effects of having a Walmart here
because retail isn’t our major industry here, it’s the automotive industry. But
in places like the south where people live off of family businesses in towns
are being crushed by Walmart.
The Walton family, who owns Walmart, has a total net worth
of $100 billion. Now, you’d think that with all that money they can afford to
pay their employees better, but no, the average wage of a Walmart employee is
still less than $9 given the amount of work they do. So in essence, Walmart as
a corporation has gotten its “hands dirty” to come out with its highest
earnings.
The question I want to ask though, does the “end” justify
the “means” for Walmart?
Steven, I am intrigued by your blog post. Wal Mart is a fraud. They are corrupt and unjust. I agree with the idea that they drive small and local family run business out of the area. I was a counselor this past summer at a sleep away camp in Beach Lake PA and the nearest Wal Mart was ten minutes away. It was open 24 hours a day and was located in Honesdale. These workers hated consumers because the store was so massive that they couldn't find the materials and supplies we requested. Counselors loved Wal Mart because it was so easy accessible and everything was cheap. Clearly it was cheap because it was all made in sweatshops. I agree that Wal Mart does not pay there workers enough and that they are corrupt since they are worth over 100 Billion. It is terrible that they provide such cheap labor and cheap products while driving out local business and taking over the area
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that Wal-Mart has “dirty hands.” Many people can find them selves with dirty hands. Politicians, companies, people doing bad things, and many more. Wal-Mart is an example of a company with dirty hands.
ReplyDeleteIf you think about the deals and benefits Wal-Mart’s shoppers get, it is crazy. Wal-Mart blows out all the competition. They have low prices, everything you need, and great deals all the time. Shoppers would agree that Wal-Mart is the place to go for everything from food to paint.
When you consider how Wal-Mart treats their workers though that is where the whole situation gets “dirty.” They are treated poorly (as seen in those articles). They get paid extremely low wages. There are also many other disadvantages to being a Wal-Mart employee. It would be one thing if the company was doing poorly; couldn’t afford to pay their workers. But that is not the case. There is no acceptable reason for the workers to be treated this way.
However Wal-Mart’s dirty hands will never be addressed. As unfair as it is, it’s the truth. Shoppers would NEVER surpass the deals that Wal-Mart’s gives out and stop shopping there because the employees are being mistreated. It is unfortunate but Wal-Mart can keep doing what they are doing, and no one is going to stop them. This is a case of dirty hands that will always remain dirty.
Steven,
ReplyDeleteYour argument is very compelling and extremely well written however, there are some aspects to your argument that I don't agree with completely, and others that i give my support 100%.
First and foremost, Walmart is a business and the primary goal of a business is to turn a profit. In doing so companies have no choice but to try and beat out the competition. The whole idea of survival of the fittest directly applies here. When you make your case that Walmart has dirty hands because it drives out the competition in nearby areas i have to respectfully disagree. A business cannot succeed and make money when there are other companies all vying for a percentage of the market. Walmart is doing all that it can to make sure it is the only player in the game and it does so by dropping prices and literally selling anything you can imagine which, like it or not, is a positive for the consumer.
It is absolutely terrible how Walmart, as a company, neglects the people that it employs. I took a look at some of the sites you posted and it is almost sickening. They pay their workers essentially nothing and offer a lack of benefits. What is even worse is that the company netted a little more than fifteen and a half billion dollars last year and still will not pay their workers what they deserve. In this case i agree both with you and Allison that is aspect of dirty hands that is associated with Walmart is one that will unfortunately always persist as a case of dirty hands.
While their business practices are absolutely disturbing, they are unfortunately not unfair. We overlook that it is not just Wal Mart's hands that are dirty, but ours as well. We as consumers support the exploitation of children oversees producing the inventory, as well as the underpaid workers employed in the store by choosing to spend our income here rather than at smaller businesses. We cannot just blame Wal-Mart for supplying products at low prices and a convenient format that there is clearly an insatiable demand for, we need to take some responsibility as well and think twice before choosing to support their brand. Thank you for your extremely interesting blog post that brought this topic to light, hopefully it will help consumers to think twice before purchasing all of their food, furniture, and clothes in a single stop at Wal-Mart.
ReplyDeleteSteven, I agree with your point that Walmart has "Dirty Hands". Their payments to their workers, and the means they take in producing their products. Despite their immoral ways, I refuse to place all the blame on the owners. We live in a society where the rich get richer, and the poor stays poor. As any successful business man/woman, your main goal is to make money. As long as you have people willing to take those low paying jobs, and they get the job done their will not be any change. When the consumer is in line paying two dollars for a gallon of milk, they are not cosidering who was mistreated and allowed the price to be so nonexpensive. It sound good to boycott the company and strike against the company, but are consumers ready to pay five dollars for a jar of jelly. This similiar tactic was tried against Nike, because they charged constumers 100 plus dollars for shoes that cost less than ten dollars to produce. The plot did not work though, because people just would not stop buting their merchandise. Walmart may never change their ways, because they are not seeing a decline in their revenue.
ReplyDeleteFirst of all, your post was very interesting, and it really gave some insight into the deviousness of Walmart. The corporation definitely has some aspects that aren’t acceptable. You mentioned the children working in sweatshop unions in China, and I would definitely agree that the immorality of making small children work far outweighs any profit or business gain that comes from the labor. The children are working against their wills for little or no payment, and children that small shouldn’t be working jobs like that; there are far too many safety hazards and too much energy input required.
ReplyDeleteThere are some points you mentioned, though, that I would say are not immoral of Walmart. You said that it was wrong of Walmart to make their prices so low that no other stores could compete with them. That may not be the nicest thing to do, but unfortunately, business isn’t always about being nice. It’s about bringing in the most revenue while using the least amount of resources, and all Walmart is doing is getting more people to buy more things by driving prices lower. It’s just a market strategy. It’s not being done because Walmart is trying to be cruel. It’s just how our economic system functions.
I would also say that the low employee wages are moral on Walmart’s part. I definitely agree that it’s not nice or good, but Walmart is a business. As I previously mentioned, its job is to bring in as much revenue as possible, and part of making more of a profit is paying your workers less. To work at a Walmart chain, you have to apply for the job and accept it. You know what your pay is, and during any point, you can decide that you don’t want to work there anymore. Walmart may not treat their employees kindly, but if the employees don’t like the jobs that they have, it should be their responsibility to find another job. These people aren’t being forced against their will to work at this establishment.
This blog post is extremely provocative and engaging, but I feel as though your example does not truly represent dirty hands as discussed by Walzer and Machiavelli. You extrapolate dirty hands to define to the ends justify the means, but the true essence of dirty hands and Machiavelli is that the good of the state is preserved. I think in the case of Walmart we are seeing an example of a monopoly. Monopolies occur because market power and market share. Yes, many feel that shipping jobs overseas is morally repugnant because we are paying workers essentially nothing to do work for us. However, this occurs because China, Thailand, and India which are only some examples have the comparative advantage for labor. They have a lot more citizens to employ and their cost of living is lower which allows workers to accept lower wages. According to economics, in order to maximize revenue and profits we should locate the comparative advantages in trade and compartmentalize.
ReplyDeleteThus, as long as Walmart is paying its employees minimum wage it is engaging in moral activity. Having a lot of work done overseas is rational, not immoral. So who actually has the dirty hands? Is it the jealousy of the success of Walmart by the small business owners? The government for allowing monopolies? The answers are unclear. But it seems quite positive that Walmart is not engaging in immoral activity.They are just making the profit, but yet there are some who find successful business, not dirty hands.
Steven I really enjoyed reading your blog. Wal-Mart has been terrible for the United States economy. According to the U.S. Census, between 1992 and 2007, the number of independent retailers fell by over 60,000. Wal-Mart is one of the main reasons we have such a weak middle class and you did a great job alluding to that. One of the main problems of dirty hands that you didn’t touch on is the consumer.
ReplyDeleteI found out that the average family in the United States spends over 4 thousand dollars a year at Wal-Mart! Whatever happened to the days of going to the local market and buying our goods there? When my grandparents moved to the United States, they opened up a fresh produce business. Their business was incredible; they had tons of local customers who would stop by regularly. After a Wal-Mart was built, it was down hill. In the past decade, business slowed down considerably so they had to sell their store. Unfortunately, the guy who bought their business also couldn’t compete with the low prices of Wal-Mart so he had to shut it down. The worst part is, it’s not just the family business that was hurt. Think about all the local farmers who relied on that business to sell the produce they grow. It’s an unfortunate chain of events. That’s only the story of one of the 60,000 businesses. Aren’t consumers to blame here? Instead of springing the extra buck to buy local, we are all falling into the low cost trap of Wal-Mart.
I don’t blame the Walton family for what they did. They are simply being a great business by thriving on the fact that Americans love their low prices. If you put yourself in the shoes of a businessman you have to do what’s right for you. If the consumers cared more about keeping the middle class strong, they wouldn’t buy from these money-hoarding companies like Wal-Mart.
I completely agree with your post, Steven. I defiantly think that Walmart has "Dirty Hands" With Walmart, the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. In my hometown, I have seen independent businesses get shutdown because a Walmart opened in the center of my city. Walmart has shutdown many independent businesses causing a lot of job losses.
ReplyDeleteWalmart may be cheaper, but is it worth paying a couple dollars less to let the corporations win? Billion dollar corporations keep growing while independent businesses die. It's hard to thrive when you get companies like Walmart taking over. On an ethical perspective, Walmart also treats their workers like crap. As the others said, with all that money you would expect to pay the workers more and not treat them like dirt. I don't think corporations like Walmart will ever stop but grow more powerful.