Go Costco! F Walmart.
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It says I must log into my acct to access the article, can u copy paste the article to this posting ?
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Wes; I agree, Walmart seems like a Petrie dish for Roaches. Cost Co has great quality products at a fair price. Walmart has Cheep crap at cheep prices. But it seems like a life style choice. Some people would rather have Quantity over Quality. I don't have to feed a family of 8 kids so its hard to to knock people on a small budget for shopping in bulk to save. I can afford to shop where I like but many people Can't and IMO the others either don't care about where Walmart products come from or are on another planet and could care less. If you really want to sicken your self watch a movie called
"Walmart. The high price of low cost" It is deplorable that a company in America contracts with factory's not just in china But all over the world that Completley take advantage of workers. It is simply unbelievable what Walmart Factory's Or Company's that Walmart buys from put their employes threw. IMO Walmart takes advantage and turns a blind eye to poor working conditions and low pay long hr's in exchange for low cost products that are pure $hit so that Americans that must consume in Mass quantity can have low prices. I must admit I have bought 22.3 Ammo at Walmart. This was before I saw the Documentary now I buy at other places like Big 5. |
Costco has been selling their $1.50 hot dog and soda for the same price since 1984. They sell 90 million of them a year worldwide. Years ago a young execurtive came to Jim and showed him how much money they could make if they raised them just 25 cents, surely 25 cents wouldn't slow sales and they could in crease profit by $22,000,000. He refused and said come to me when you can lower the cost to produce them.
He's a smart business man and does it in a very different way than the norm. It obviously works. |
Here is a link to the Movie Im talking about
http://www.walmartmovie.com/ |
I have one beef with Costco.
My wife and I went to Maui last year. we stopped at Costco to stock up on some food for the week. we went to grab a big container of sliced mangos. they were from Mexico! are you kidding me! Mexico! we were in Maui! Mangos were everywhere on that island. needless to say, we stopped at a fruit stand for our mango fix. I thought that seemed a bit silly. other than that, Costco is great imo. |
Costco has been my favorite store where I spend more many than any other for years. I go there every week. This is a great story that makes me feel even better about that. I even ran my last couple of re-financings through them (which can't be beat as far as costs from what I've found). Several years ago, I got a membership at Sam's Club to compare and get a little more variety. Paying their employees a lot less definitely showed. The employees there were definitely not up to par with Costco's. Its too bad more companies don't trim their executive pay (who are basically no more than upper managers) and take better care of their employees.
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See, here's where I wrestle with myself... on the one hand I'm like, "Hellz yeah! you go!" but then I'm like, "wait, why did they go public"? was it because they needed some capital to plow into the company to expand, go into new markets, or whatever? Whatever the reason, they did it. So don't those investors also have a right to pressure Costco to maximize their returns on their investment? Then I'm like, "yeah, i know... most investors don't give a crap about the actual company... in fact "COST" is just another ticker in a portfolio they're managing... so YEAH! Take care of the workers!
It looks like what is Costco today is the result of a few mergers and divestitures... so they may have been a publicly traded company for a long time. It's the old double edged sword of being a publicly traded company. Once you IPO, it's like signing a deal with the devil! If you want to run a company NOT as profitable as possible (not that I condone ONLY focusing on maximizing profit) you really should stay private. It's probably the number one thing an owner has to consider when thinking of going public.. i'd bet you a dollar ol' facebook boy wishes he'd never gone public. |
I don't understand the issues here. You are comparing apples and oranges. Costco and Walmart serve two entirely different markets (with some overlap) with two entirely different business models. Walmart isnt MAKING people work for them people are CHOOSING to work for Walmart - they can leave whenever they want. This is like comparing Nordstroms with K-Mart. These are different models with different priorities. This isn't about margins this is about business models. Costco wants a better customer experience - Walmart wants lower prices.
Walmart - $440B Costco - $100B |
Secondly, the thing that drives me crazy is that people are always looking for a "deal". People will scour the internet looking for the best price on a particular item electronics, cars, etc. and then criticize a company like Walmart for going offshore to reduce the cost of goods. You can't have it both ways. Either you pay the premium for American made goods or you accept that our goods are sourced in Asia.
Do you find it hard to believe that the U.S. work force's compensation is so bloated that it is literally cheaper to ship products around the world then to make them locally? Thank your local Union. |
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It isn't logical to allow a trade deficit to deplete the economy unless the means to counteract the depletion is a good one. So far it seems that govt deficit spending and monetary expansion is the only means, and everyone seems to hate those. |
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has anyone realized this was published in 2005
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The Costco hot dog meal might be the best lunch deal you can find in the USA. |
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The saying " The Market is always right" might seem to fit but but at times I see the market kind of like a 5 year old child. If you gave it everything it ever asked for would it be a better person or would it be a better Market. If you went into the Ghetto and asked people what stores they wanted I would hate to imagine what the hood would be like!
Sure we all want low prices but at what cost? I do agree with Jason, Vote with your wallet. You don't like Walmart! Dont shop their. Urge your friends and Family not not shop their. I feel the same way about Target and all the other. Mass quanity discount places. |
I don't understand why people do not like these big discount stores. Yes, they support a lot of jobs offshore (which isn't really their problem it is a systemic problem) but this company employs 2.2M people. I don't know the exact number but I suspect that at least 80% of those people live in America. They made $15B in profilt in 2011 - I would suspect the majority of that profit is distributed in North America. The amount of jobs they support, the amount of American based businesses they support is extreme. It is short sided IMO to think that Walmart is doing bad things for America.
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I highly doubt that Walmart has their eye on keeping the pay low so their employees have to shop there. All associates get a 10% discount and I bet less than 10% of their products have a 10% margin - so Walmart is losing money with their employees. |
" I bet less than 10% of their products have a 10% margin - so Walmart is losing money with their employees"
I highly doubt this. as cheap as their products are, they are made for basically nothing. businesses dont lose money on purchases made, even those made by employees. |
2012 net profit margin 3.68%
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That doesn't really matter. Even at a loss, it benefits them because it keeps the money out of the pockets of other businesses in the area. You're being really naive if you think that walmart execs aren't seeing that.
In the end, it's almost like endentured slavery ( ok ok that is extreme, but hear me out). Walmart is the poor employees source of A LOT of goods. Food, house necessities, clothes, oil changes, tires, tools, shoes, luggage, toys, sporting equipment, lawn care, seasonal items... hell they even have banks, hair salons, eye centers, pharmacies. So since the employee needs all these things for cheap, they get all of that at walmart. So in a sense, walmart is just paying their employees in mostly product, plus SOME cash. In the end, the employee only spends a portion of their pay outside of walmart, and on things that walmart cannot supply. |
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