Walmart--Show Me the $$

Do the economic benefits justify shopping at Walmart??

Certainly, there are lot$ of reasons to shop at Walmart. One stop shopping--assuming the shelves are properly stocked. Great exercise--by the time you have found everything on your list, you've certainly covered some serious terrain and toned your upper body maneuvering the cart through hairpin turns. Maybe all this shopping has you feeling a bit famished--stop into McD's or Subway for a lil' somethin' somethin'. And yes, you can save some sweet moula--even more than selling that new line of polymer cookware and food storage.

How much sweet moula? In 2004, Walmart shoppers spent $124 billion on groceries alone. Should that food have been purchased at other typical supermarkets, it would have cost $146 billion (roughly 15%--a conservative estimate). That's 22 B's. That's a lot of B's no matter how you slice it.

Let's say you are a family of 4 (except I can't think of one family of 4 who reads my blog!), with an annual income of $52K. If you spent $125/wk or $500/mo on groceries at Walmart, they'd end up saving $900/yr...or 7 weeks of free groceries. Who doesn't want free groceries for almost 2 months??

But here is the rub. What are we doing with that $900? Saving it? Putting it in an IRA? Sending an under-privileged neighbor to summer camp? Probably Not. We are probably spending it...and most likely while we are are Walmart.

We have a nearly untreatable virus...most of us do anyways. I do. We want more and we want it cheaper. I want a nicer car, a bigger TV, better coffee, more express lanes, and on and on. And I love getting it for the cheapest price around. It has been a slow growing virus, but it is one that has found its way into nearly every thread of American/Western life. Walmart is certainly not responsible for this, though it has played its part--Always Low Prices. "Buy it, why don't you? It's cheap. The cheapest anywhere. Trust me." And often we do. We buy more than we need. There's one example in the book about Vlasic pickles being sold at Walmart for $2.97 a gallon. A FREAKING gallon of pickles. Who, besides vendors at baseball games, needs to buy a gallon of pickles. Well, who cares. They are only a little more than the 1/2 gallon. It's a great deal. Then we eat half the gallon and throw the rest away. And sleep soundly.

We dream of more. And cheaper, please.

Some of my own conclusions @ this point...
· Paving money is not a good enough reason for me to shop at Walmart. When I admit that I probably don't really SAVE all of those saving and recognize the waste associated, it just doesn't make enough of a difference to shop there for the economic benefit.
· Plus, there are several other serious questions not yet addressed. Is Walmart FOR people? Is Walmart Pro Earth? Does Walmart diminish the creative and entrepeunerial spirit of small business owners? Do communities wither or thrive when Walmart comes to town? Let's keep asking questions, shall we?
· I will say here something that REALLY needs to be said. Some people must shop at Walmart. They NEED the $900/yr to survive and to try to make ends meet. For those that are "working the system" to survive, I champion you. I hope to have the kind of steadfastness you have to embody to make it.
· My call is for those, like me, that have a choice to communicate with our money--vote with our credit cards and check books. Let's ask ourselves if we are shopping responsibly and with strategic inentionality. Let's consider buying less and spending more...and somehow find a prophetic vaccine for the virus that has affected our culture. Let's concern ourselves less with spending thriftly. If you are going to shop, SHOP BOLDLY!

(since my last post, I've gotten some good questions I'll try to address soon, plus an interesting article my Dad sent me about Walmart initiatives that would be Creation-sensitive)