Wally World.

Good Morning Folks:

I recently had occasion to visit Wal Mart, and it started me thinking more about this Corporation.

Now, I have known for a long time that when Wal Mart comes into a community, smaller stores soon begin to fail, and in short order small towns such as the one in which My Family and I reside, are soon filled with empty stores, where there once were thriving small businesses.

I suspect this happens to a greater degree in small towns vs. large cities, but have no doubt that a considerable number of smaller businesses in large cities also close their door when "Wally World" enters.

I don't think, and I have nothing to base this on except my judgement, that Sam Walton meant for this diaspora of small businesses to occur, but as we all know, it has happened, just the same.

Whether this is now the Business Plan for Wal-Mart or not, this is exactly what happens:

Wal-Mart opens. New patrons will at first be thrilled with the wide selection offered, and in a lot of cases, much lower prices will be found. But over a long or smaller length of time has elapsed, small towns around the new Giant store have lost many, if not all, of their small businesses and a patron of Wal-Mart who pays attention will, I think, begin to notice the following:

1. Prices at WM will start to creep up, to the point where the patron is soon paying more to shop at Wal Mart than they ever did shopping in the small businesses in their Town, Village or Hamlet . But.....what is one to do? All the small concerns have shuttered their stores and....Voila! Wal-Mart is left as the only option.

2. Wal-Mart will gradually omit more and more American Made items, as they can buy Foreign made good much cheaper, and thus make a greater profit. I have noticed, as a rule, when W-M first started stocking Foreign made goods, they were a LOT cheaper than domestic items on the next rack, but over time, the foreign made goods will slowly increase in price, coincident with fewer and fewer American Made products being displayed or available.

This folks, is called "Conditioning", sort of a sort of adaptation of Pavlov's "Response Theory", wherein dog's are slowly trained to start salivating when a bell is rung.

Whether you want to call it Conditioning or a Criminal Enterprise, this is exactly what is happening in Cities across the United States, and has been for a long time.

There was a time when such devious conduct was known as an illegal monopoly , and was against the law, but no longer.

This is perhaps because the U.S. is selling U.S. Securities at a greater and greater pace to China (the largest case) and other countries. In fact, it seems to me that what we, the Citizens of the U.S. have allowed to occur, is a Government falling over on its back, and saying to China among others, "sock it to me Baby".

Unpleasant, but true, in my humble opinion.

Remember when Wal Mart first opened in your town? Everywhere you looked their were "associates", employees of WM who were helpful and courteous....no more.
Wal Mart is slowly, but surely "paring down" its payroll and you now have to look long and hard to find someone to help you. You will also note, as I have, in the Wal Mart "Super Stores" the replacement of check out isles with 'Self Check" aisles, ostensibly for your (the customer's) convenience. this is not for our convenience folks, this is for one purpose only and that is......you guessed it,to allow Wal Mart to eliminate yet another employee. You will also, I think, notice, as I have, that fewer and fewer check out aisles will be open, forcing us, the customers, to wait for a longer and longer period of time. WM is counting on us saying to ourselves," well, I've already got a cart full of stuff that I need, so I'll just have to wait my turn", and Wal Mart will have once more succeeded in reducing their costs, to the detriment of us, the buying public.

If you want a suggestion, which might or might now make the Mighty Corporation sit up and take notice, when you get to one of the few check outs open, only find a long line, just wheel your cart to one side, abandon it, and leave the store. If enough people do this, maybe, just maybe, Wally will get the message, or maybe not, but at least we will have registered our displeasure, and perhaps one employee of Wal Mart will keep his or her job, in order to re shelve such abandoned items.

Also, if, say, a certain shirt, or other item, catches your eye, look to see where its made, and if it's not American Made, don't buy it, unless you just HAVE to have it. Perhaps, and it's an "iffy" perhaps, if enough people start doing this, the American Garment Industry will start to make a come back. Its worth a try!

So, I'm very much afraid what we will see, will be come to be known as the "Wal Mart Effect", whereas we will see increasingly, fewer and fewer small businesses and their attendant jobs, More and more giant Businesses, higher and higher prices, a continual growth of unemployment, higher taxes, until, like the Kilkenny Cats, all that is left of the United States of America will be our nails and the tip of our tails.

Another example of this syndrome are Lowes and Home Depot. The rise and success of these giant"Home Improvement Warehouse" concerns have closed down the small town Lumber Yard, for the most part. I sometimes wonder if these mega-corporations employ a person to go around to towns with and/or near such a Mega-Corp., and more or less conduct a census to determine how many small businesses are left? Don't laugh, it is entirely within the realm of possibility. What better incentive for, say, Lowes, as an example, to raise their prices, than the determination that there is, in fact, no competition for them except for Home-Depot. I confess I am as guilty as the next person of patronizing Home Depot, as an example. A few days ago, our Home water heater went toes up, and I purchased a replacement at Home-Depot. I tried to make amends by hiring a local Man and a small Businessman to install the water heater, and paid him almost the exact same price for the installation as the Water Heater cost at Home-Depot, so maybe, in a small way, I tried to balance out the necessary with the desired. In other words, it was necessary to purchase the Appliance at Home Depot, but I was desirous of keeping as much of my money in my own Community instead of the pockets of a Giant Concern, and thus be a good citizen.

But, perhaps, I have it all wrong?. However, since Wal-Mart has already captured Boardwalk and Park Place, they are in the final stages of winning this International Monopoly game.But...........it's not a game, now is it?

When it affects our collective pocketbook's it's no longer a game is it?.

Cheers

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