What's everybody's beef with Walmart? Seriously, i know a ton of people who won't shop there. Why?

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I already HATE wal marts for other reasons. I cringe at the fact they even sell iPods there...but, oh well. I won't buy one there, that's for damn sure.

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I also dont know what everyones beef with walmart is. They have all these anti-walmart websites, protests etc, for what? Becuase they dont pay employees 20 bucks an hour to ring registers? Becuase a lot of thier employees are part timers thus not elegible for benifets? Becuase they wipe out mom and pop stores? Who cares, thats capitalist america for you. Free enterprise. Thats what makes the USA what it is today.

I enjoy apples products AND am an apple shareholder. I believe in Steve and feel he will do whats best for the company. So if he thinks partnering with walmart is a good idea, then lets do it.

Walmarts are a little dingy for my taste, but I do pick up home items and really cheap cereal there, so Im not really complaining.

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In Canada, there was a store in Quebec that managed to unionize themselves and what did Walmart do, rather than pay them a decent wage and offer competitive benefits? They closed the store. Put everyone out of work, rather than let another store's staff get the idea of unionizing themselves.

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I've owned seven Macintosh computers, from the Performa 405 to the new MacBook Pro. I use it for just about everything - from development to just watching DVDs. Recently however I've been more and more tempted to switch to using Linux exclusively. Apple's low ratings with Greenpeace hasn't done a whole lot to make me want to continue paying Apple's premium price either. Partnering with Walmart may just be the issue I that makes the decision for me. Walmart is a disgusting company that I refuse to have any part of. Any part of! I will not support its monopolistic practices that help destroy the middle class in America. I will not support its kin-to-slavery labor practices. I will not support its discrimination of women and people of color. I hope the Apple leadership feels the same way.

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I always shop at Wal-Mart. And I love the fact that every time I go to a Wal-Mart all the lefties get angry. Hopefully, they'll pop a vein!

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In your post you describe Wal-Mart Watch as "an independent organization that keeps tabs on what Wal-Mart is up to[.]" They are hardly independent. They are a union-sponsored organization. This AP article describes its funding and explains that "Andrew Grossman, Wal-Mart Watch director, [] is also the president of Service Employees International Union[.]" See: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7577104

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I don't shop at Walmart. I don't cross picket lines. I buy Apple products. Uhm, I think that's all I have to say. Oh, go Niners!

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I'm with Gmoney on this one.

So what if people get crappy benefits and pay at Walmart. People that work at Walmart do have other options then Walmart and if they honestly don't they've set themselves up to be in that position. I have no degree/experience and lots of bills, but I applied my ass off to a million places and found an entry level job that pays well. People work at Walmart because its easy to work at Walmart and they don't want to try harder to find a better job.

Also, stores that fail when running against Walmart fail because they were not a strong business to begin with. All of these giant companies start out small, competing against bigger competition, but they do something right and become successful. So sue Walmart for intelligent business ideas.

When you have the opportunity to team up with a corp that has like 14 people in the forbes billionaire list... you shouldnt even have to think about it.

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Wal*Mart bullies suppliers? I'd invite anyone to actually show any evidence of this. Go to China and visit factories that produce for Wal*Mart. You will be surprised.

Wal*Mart is leading the charge in bringing US workplace conditions to China and factories that produce for Wal*Mart are held to very high standards regarding workplace conditions, pay, and other human rights issues.

Employees in China fight over the ability to work in a Wal*Mart factory because they value their employees, pay them more, and treat them better. Wal*Mart is "ruining" the ability to exploit cheap 3rd world labor because they insist on higher standards.

So next time you want to berate Wal*Mart for something, at least find out if it's true first. There are plenty of things to hate Wal*Mart for, but exploiting labor, bullying suppliers, etc. are not among them.

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Not in the minority if you ask me. I won't even set foot in a Walmart.

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totally against wal-mart and apple partnership... horrible horrible idea. maybe i'm wrong, but wal-mart is not innovative, wal-mart is not sexy, wal-mart should not be allowed to sell anything from apple. i don't know what the numbers are on ipods sold at walleyworld, but the staff certainly are not trained to answer questions customers might have about apple products (most probably haven't even seen a mac before), most don't even know where other frequently bought items in the store are. apple+wal mart=bad idea your steveness please don't.

G Money, perhaps you are not one of those people that has worked in a wal mart, or a crappy retail place in general. before you label wal mart as just another capitalist company succeeding in our free enterprise economy, go and work there for a little while and see if you still have the same opinion.

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Anyone who doesn't hate Wal-Mart hasn't had to live in a small town where a Wal-Mart comes in and puts every mom and pop shop out of business, not to mention large grocery store chains, and then your only choice for needing to by paper so you can print out your resume is going to one of those gigantic eye sores, parking in the huge parking lot, and battling through everyone else in town in the store since it is now the only place to shop. Everyone that was making a good living running there own business, a noble endeavor in and of itself, is now reduced to being a Wal-Mart cashier. Now they make barely enough to get by, but at least they don't have to leave work to pick up a $20 apex dvd player that will work for about two weeks. Yay Wal-Mart! Seriously people, there is an argument for and against Wal-Mart as there is with anything. But most of the people saying what's the big deal probably haven't had to experience what it is like to have to go there for everything. I now live in Washington DC and I never have to step foot in a Wal-Mart and I would be as naive as the rest of the world if I had not had to experience the Wal-Mart wrath first hand. I am being a little over the top, but seriously Wal-Mart is in no way a good thing, and isn't a good example of why capitalism is a good thing.

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G Money, perhaps you are not one of those people that has worked in a wal mart, or a crappy retail place in general. before you label wal mart as just another capitalist company succeeding in our free enterprise economy, go and work there for a little while and see if you still have the same opinion.
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You know what Kevan, I dont have to. Remember this, lets say Janet is a cashier at walmart making 7 bucks an hour. The 7 dollar an hour walmart cashier bizness didnt choose Janet....Janet chose the 7 dollar an hour walmart cashier bizness.

No one holds a gun to anyones head and forces them to work. They are fee to do as they please. If they dont like walmarts benifits and pay, then quit and get another job. Its really that simple. The truth of the matter is that there are many oppty's in the USA made available to anyone who chooses to use them and better there situation. Why do you think there are so many immigrants here. Cuz here you have a choice! You have an oppty! Dont blame walmart for the poor choices thier employees made throughout thir lives.

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What's the big deal?

Yes, Wallmart has terrible practices on the market, like destroying local economies. But why are they painting Apple as such a nice, innovative, and caring company?

Yes, I love their computers and players. But like all corporations, Apple isn't as innocent as they seem. It really seems like a website for the uninformed masses, with the overused "screw Wallmart" slogan. Worldpiece!

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All you semi-literate pinheads who think Walmart is the paragon of capitalism should close those MySpace pages and go read a book on the subject. Keywords: Adam Smith, monopoly, dumping.

Go ahead. I dare you.

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Me thinks G Money either works at Wally World or has parents/family that do. :)

I just find it insulting that a company as big as Wal-Mart hands out applications for MediCal (public funded healthcare) to their new hires in CA.

I also refuse to shop at Wal-Mart. Their labor practices, employee compensation, and shady business tactics aren't my cup of tea. I will spend 3-5x as much to buy a quart of motor oil at Kragen/Schucks before I buy it at Wal-Mart.

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I love Apple. I've never had occasion to cross a picket line, but I would do so happily. I've recently moved to Chicago, and the dearth of Wal-Mart here makes me sad. Whatever else they do, they sell cheap goods of satisfactory prices. Apple seems to have a lefty following. That bugs me a bit. That Al Gore has (had?) a seat on its board bugs me, too. But I love my PowerBook, and I look forward to getting an Intel Mac in the next year.

P.S. I'm all for decent standards for employees. I don't personally approve of some of the tactics Apple is accused of. But please note, those folks who want high minimum wages? Union members. Unions aren't bad, but one thing they're excellent at doing is preventing people in lower socio-economic classes from getting the jobs they want to get themselves out of poverty. Are union members intentionally trying to keep those lower than them on the economic rungs down? No, not the vast majority of them, anyway. But the effect is the same regardless of the intention.

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Well, I think it's safe to say that the "G" in G Money doesn't stand for grammar.

Two words for the all the staunch Wal-Mart supporters out there:

Speaker Pelosi

Party's over.

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There are reasons why many, many people (not just liberal Democrats) despise Walmart. Walmart does not pay a living wage nor do they offer many full-time positions with health benefits. As a result, many Walmart employees need government assistance; and so all of us end up indirectly subsidizing Walmart's rock-bottom wages and benefits via taxes and higher heath care prices, etc. One of Walmart's main competitors, Target, while charging a bit more, uses the extra money for higher wages and benefits, and that way, we don't end up subsidizing their employees. Helping to raise families out of poverty is good for our society and is the morally good (Christian) thing to do. Helping the rich get richer (Walmart has made many billionaires, both directly and indirectly) and leaving the poor to suffer is not. There is some trickle-down from the rich, but only so much, otherwise the rich wouldn't be getting richer, and the middleclass wouldn't be on the verge of extinction. And, yes, capitalism is a good thing, though any good, working system has feedback and limits lest it run amok and destroy much of the good that it helps to create. Capitalism has our government and it's regulations to keep it working well. Without limits, Microsoft and other big businesses would be running the world (even more than they already do), and that would not be a good thing.

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