Despite the yellow smiley faces plastered all over Wal-Mart, the massive corporation is a hungry, growing monster causing problems for both employees and other businesses.
It’s slowly taking over the country, and Americans are letting it.
Wal-Mart built massive stores and put them in communities at the cost of local businesses. Most of these businesses carry similar merchandise: electronics, groceries, toiletries and furniture.
The Wal-Mart takeover is partially the American public’s fault. Wal-Mart stores take advantage of 21st century laziness. Americans live for convenience. We are too concerned about the ability to get everything in one stop. We are blinding ourselves to the monopoly Wal-Mart is creating.
Wal-Mart comes into small towns and runs small businesses out, making us more dependent on the grocery giant itself. After these stores open, the ball is in their court, and they’re calling the shots.
According to Business Insider, Wal-Mart employs 1.4 million Americans, or 1 percent of the American working population. And 1.4 million is a large number of Americans to be making risky decisions with.
Earlier this year, Wal-Mart blind sided its employees in Texas, California, Oklahoma and Florida by telling them they would be closing down five stores. Employees weren’t aware of these sudden, changes until hours before the 7 p.m. closings. The closures affected approximately 2,200 workers.
But they didn’t stop there.
Wal-Mart headquarters in Arkansas plans to lay off close to 500 employees in an attempt to cut back on costs. None of the employees know the real reason why they were cut, according to Huffington Post Business, to which Wal-Mart declined to comment.
This should be everyone’s rude awakening. Wal-Mart, like every other company, is doing what it wants when it wants. However, it isn’t considering its employees. Companies like Starbucks display a genuine amount of care for its employees, whether it’s providing free tuition or free coffee.
How is Wal-Mart showing their employees it cares? Paying your full-time employees an average of $12.94 an hour isn’t the best way to show gratitude.
Wal-Mart may not break any laws, but it certainly takes advantage of its power, and they’re destroying the economy.
An analysis done by Puget Sound Sage “estimates that one Wal-Mart store, which is set to open in a Washington neighborhood, will decrease the community’s economic output over 20 years by an estimated $13 million.”
What a waste of money — $13 million could be better off going toward 3,250,000 McDonald’s Big Macs, rather than out the window.
As a college student, Wal-Mart is the best thing next to a canceled class. We just take one stop at the Wal-Mart on College Drive, and we have everything we need. It’s undeniable how convenient it is. However, students should try their hardest to support more local businesses in an attempt to limit Wal-Mart’s power.
Shop at the bakery for a cake, at the florist for flowers and at the mom-and-pop grocery store for milk and bread. It’ll take some extra time, but it will pay off in the long run.
The more money Americans give to Wal-Mart, the more power it has over us.
Clarke Perkins is a 19-year-old political science sophomore from New Orleans. You can reach her on Twitter @ClarkePerkins.