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Wednesday, November 26, 2008

How Big Is WalMart

1 . At Wal-Mart, Americans spend $36,000,000 every hour of every day.

2 . This works out to $20,928 profit every minute!

3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1 to St. Patrick's Day (March 17th) than Target sells all year.

4. Wal-Mart is bigger than Home Depot + Kroger + Target + Sears + Costco + K-Mart combined.

5. Wal-Mart employs 1.6 million people and is the largest private employer. And most can't speak English

6. Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the World.

7. Wal-Mart now sells more food than Kroger & Safeway combined, and keep in mind they did this in only 15 years.

8. During this same perio d, 31 Supermarket chains sought bankruptcy (including Winn-Dixie).

9. Wal-Mart now sells more food than any other store in the world.

10. Wal-Mart has approx 3,900 stores in the USA of which 1,906 are SuperCenters;
this is 1,000 more than it had 5 years ago.

11. This year, 7.2 billion different purchasing experiences will occur
at a Wal-Mart store. (Earth's population is approximately 6.5 billion.)

12. 90% of all Americans live within 15 miles of a Wal-Mart

13. Let Wal Mart bail out Wall Street

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Some economists think WalMart may be the SOLE reason that inflation has not been a problem in the US.

Anonymous said...

I like Walmart!

Anonymous said...

Maybe WalMart should work with Detroit automakers to deliver the cars at a discount price! Oops. WalMart goods are mostly imports from China.

Anonymous said...

Ever wonder why Walmart is enemy no. 1 in the eyes of the more liberal thinkers in America?

Anonymous said...

essJoe you commin around? These Capitalistic corporate power devils have exploited American businesses and American people for decades. The average American thinks because they save a few dollars at the store that all is well, dumb-asses. This corporation has done more to hurt human rights than anything outside of war that i can see, but its worth it because you saved 20 bucks. In case alot of you havent noticed there is a war going on right here in the United States, Pick a side, because there are no amount of sell-outs that will stop it. There is no amount of news media that can brainwash it away. Capitalistic America has been run to the extreme by all these CAPITALISTIC CORPORATE POWER DEVILS that would sell out their grand-mother for a profit. And the politicians are in bed with them to the extent that they have opened up the doors to the federal reserve and said have at it regaurdless of the long term ramafications to the nation. If you people cant see that then maybe your not worth saving, your eighter part of the solution or your part of the problem. Its your choice.(Pick a side).

Anonymous said...

I swore I'd never shop there, however a perdue chick is a perdue chicken no matter where you buy it. As for all the stuff made in China the same thing in Food Lion or Giant is also made in China, why pay 30-45% more? If I want a real good black angus steak then Giant is the place to get it.

joe albero said...

Doug,

Let me assure you I completely understand your concerns.

Before I started Blogging, I spent 20+ years as a manufacturer. There came a day when I invented a new product and the Lamp Manufacturers knew I had beaten their patents and could very easily put them out of a very specialty and highy proffitable market.

I was asked to travel to Cleveland, Ohio to meet with the top executives of GE. Once tere they tried to tell me what THEY would pay for my product and never once asked me what I'd be wiling to sel it for.

When I showed them how I could even sellMY product as a GE product, even using their name to sell it and even forcing their own Distrubitors they had to sel it, they freaked out.

I refused to sell my product, (at the time) to GE. A few weeks later I was at a Trade Show in New York and the NEW Vice President of GE confronted me to explain how everyone in the meeting I had been in a few weeks earlier had been fired. He respected my position as I would NOT fal for the big game of the big guys controling the market. They wanted to be exclusive and there was no way I was faling for that crap.

The next thing yu know, GE would be lowering their orders, not paying on time and cutting the costs until they would put someone like me out of business. Trust me on this one, many of my business friends fell for this kind of crap ad lost everything. Lampi is one company that comes to mind. They were one of the largest fluorescent fixture companies in the United States and had to expand their manufacturing facility to keep up with demand from Home Depot. The next thing they knew, they were getting returns for ANYTHING, (part of their contract) and while they were told it had to be a defect, the contract said other wise ad they fell for it.

When other Lamp Manufacturers came to me, they too wanted an exclusive and I refused and within a week they were al on board. Heck, one of them even agreed to a particular volume and within a year they tried to drop those numbers by 70%. Once I refused to manufacture for them again, they chose to give me the numbers we agreed upon. I at least had some control and wasn't dependent on their business.

The WalMart's, Home Depot's, Lowes, etc. have screwed more American Companies than anyone realy knows. However, American's are clueless to what they do and ultimately they find someone overseas that wil duplicate the product and the American Company eventually folds.

One other thing people have to be very careful of is deadline dates and contracts. Matel wanted to purchase the Cabbage Patch Doll many years ago and they refused to sel the company because the product was so HOT.

The Company thought they had Matel by the short hairs as Matel came in and placed an order for several million Dolls. The Cabbage Patch Doll Company got al excited and went to the Bank to expand and they did. Having that Purchase Order was al they needed to sel the Bank on the loan.

What the Cabbage Patc Dol Company didn't realize was there was a deadline date for delivery and they thought they could make it. To make a long story short, they went to deliver the products a month or so AFTER te deadline date and Matel rejected the delivery.

Needless to say, the Contract was solid and Matel folded a perfectly good company and ultimately bought them for peanuts! This happens all the time and I have been very smart over the years not to fall for this kind of corporate game.

I Manufactured for companies like Kodak, Fuji, Dupont, 3M, IBM, Motorola, Intel, Texas Instruments and so forth, BIG companies. AL of them wanted a piece of my Company but I refused, respectfully and I always treated them fairly.

So I understand what could happen but most Americans truly don't. I did a Post some 2 or 3 years ago that explained how bad it would be on Americans if these big companies, (Banks included)didn't have competition and look where we are today. I was right back then with the exception of, I never thought WE as Americans would be bailing out al of these companies with our own money. However, I did say it was going to happen and America would crumble if any one of them went bankrupt. HELLOOOOO!

Anonymous said...

So youll be on the front lines with us? (careful buddy your soul showing).

Anonymous said...

The reason they make so much money is that they pay their employees absolute crap, barely enough to survive if they have a family even on a full-time schedule.

FYI - do not buy a TV from Wal Mart. The return policy is 30 days. If a customer returns the TV on day 29 (with all the correct paperwork and packaging) Wal Mart will simply re-tape the box and sell the TV at full price like it is a new item, and NEVER reveal to the customer that the television is pre-owned.

Profits before everything? That's your neighborhood Wal Mart.

joe albero said...

anonymous 1:12,

That's a LIE. Don't go talking sh!t under anonymous making such ilegal claims.

WalMart, nor any other company can legally do that. You know it and everyone else knows it.

The next time you want to bash a company, do so with your name and act like a man. This way WalMart can sue your a$$ for defamation.

Anonymous said...

WalMart sucks! I wouldn't spend a dime in that place. My experience wax not good. Customer service was horrible.

BossHogg said...

Sam Walton would be rolling in his grave knowing the amount of Chinese product being sold.

Anyone ever read his book?

Made in America

The company was founded to make money and create jobs for Americans.

Now as Joe has clearly stated, they are the toughest SOB's to deal with on the planet.

To supply Wal-Mart is insane for a small business or any business for that matter.

The avergage person has no idea how they treat their suppliers.

Do I shop there?

Yes I live in Pocomoke and there is no competition within 20-miles because Wal-Mart put them out of business years ago.

Anonymous said...

Thats an Oxy-morion Mr Hogg.

Wymzie said...

Doug,
Billy's life is an oxymoron!

Anonymous said...

Joe,

I am anon 1:12, but am choosing anonymity since I am still employed by the Mart.

Please do not act all high and mighty about things you do not have first hand knowledge of. This "selling of returned merchandise" is standard operating procedure every day of the year.

If we can get the box taped up nice and neatly (or even if we can't) it goes back into circulation. As long as there are no obvious physical defects, and it operates properly, we will sell it like it is new, sometimes in the same day it is returned.

Is this horrible business pracice? Absolutely. Can we, the peon associates do anything about it? No. This comes from management, who encourage and expect it. It is a great way to cut overhead and increase profits.

They won't sue anyone for defamation because they know it is true. Do some investigative reporting of your own. Research the return policies. Research the legalities of the procedures. Speak with management. Speak with employees.

This happens everyday, all the time. Sorry if you expected more of them.

Anonymous said...

In this economy there may be a lot of people wishing to work at Walmart soon. Which would you prefer? Low wage or NO wage? At least they are working and not on the street selling more profitable things like drugs or breaking into people's homes. Apples for Apples I'm purchasing were I can buy it at the lowest cost. I'm lucky to have a secure job even in this economy, however I'm still going to be frugal as hell, save money and see where this goes from here.

LetterWriter said...

Walmart is evil. It is absolutely the root of so many problems our economy has. And while we are sending all of our money over to China by buying the crap their 9 year olds make for Walmart, China's sending all that money back to us to bail out our own American companies (indirectly, I mean) and charging us (I'm sure) an arm and a leg in interest. If you want to support China's economy, move to China.

Yeah, a Perdue chicken is a Perdue chicken no matter where you buy it, but I'd rather have Mom and Pop stay in business by supporting them and America's economy. Support OUR economy. Local markets are just as cheap as Walmart and you're buying local. You're supporting our agriculture. People think that they're getting such a good deal by buying at Walmart, but look at the hidden costs of that company. THEY ARE ABSOLUTELY EVIL.