More Wal-Mart shopping Kossacks emerged on the comments to
my post yesterday. I read there about what a fantastic job Wal-Mart does in offering low prices. I read the same old story about people doing the price comparisons themselves. I read about $20 golf clubs. I got one plea to stop writing about Wal-Mart.
Therefore, I think it's time to review what we know about Wal-Mart's prices. I am going to link to what I have already written on this subject. You can go to the published links from those posts. After that, I'll go on to explain why this point is so important.
Myth 1.
Wal-Mart has low prices throughout the store. They focus on about 100 items known as "opening price points." The idea is to get you to believe that they have low prices because they discount things you know are cheaper than at other stores. Then you go and purchase a bunch of normal and higher-price things while you there.
But you say you've done the price comparisons yourself? You have seen it with your own eyes. Do you purchase over 100 different items at Wal-Mart regularly? If most people can't memorize anything longer than a 7 digit number, how can you expect to know the prices of even a significant fraction of all the goods available at a giant discount store? Shoot, most Wal-Marts won't even let you write prices down while you shop for fear that you might learn the truth.
People who believe that Wal-Mart always has the lowest prices are not stupid. They are simply falling victim to clever marketing and a gigantic television advertising campaign. Seriously, Terri Schiavo looked very much alert in the clips her family sent to the networks, yet you were willing to side with the army of doctors who said she was brain dead even though it contradicted what you saw with your own eyes. Why is this any different?
Myth 2. Wal-Mart's prices are always the lowest.. In fact, Wal-Mart's prices are often beat by other stores. That's why Wal-Mart sends out managers to price the opening price point items mentioned in point number 1. Sometimes Wal-Mart beats another Wal-Mart's prices in the same community; therefore, they can't always be the lowest. If one Wal-Mart has too much of a certain good, it's price on it will be lower than one where the good is selling at a normal pace. Stores that are close to competitors like Target and K-Mart have lower prices than those where Wal-Mart is the only game in town. They can't let anything get in the way of keeping this myth alive because otherwise nobody would have any reason to shop there.
Myth 3. Wal-Mart's low prices help millions of Americans make ends meet. Wal-Mart's low prices are not some kind of service to humanity. If there are instances where a Wal-Mart's broad range of prices are particularly cheap, this is part of their strategy to drive its competition out of business. This is why you get Wal-Mart overload in places like the San Diego suburbs. Once Wal-Mart is the only game in town, the sky's the limit.
In other words, by shopping at Wal-Mart now, you are killing yourself in the longrun and condemning your community to a future of limited commercial choices. If you can think long-term with regard to the deficit and Social Security, why can't you think long-term with regard to your own economic future?
I hate to get all Ari Fleischer on you here, but Wal-Mart shopping Kossacks, you need to understand that when you make statements like "I hate Wal-Mart but they sure do have low prices," you are helping the enemy. You are perpetuating a myth and by virtue of the fact that you are progressive enough to inhabit this web site your word has higher credibility than the average pro-Wal-Mart shopper. It's like saying "I hate George Bush's policies, but I admire him for his straight-forwardness and his determination to stick to his guns." You are playing right into Wal-Mart's strong suit. In fact, it's pretty much the only suit they have. Wal-Mart couldn't buy better word of mouth.
Indeed, the importance of this dispute is that prices are Wal-Mart's achilles heel. If they didn't have low prices, the vast majority of Americans wouldn't shop there. Yet, as I've explained here repeatedly, their prices aren't all that low. Therefore, the most effective way to force Wal-Mart to reform is tell the truth about them, and that's what me and a few others on this site have started doing.
I hope you'll consider joining the club. Wal-Mart has its hands in so much that is wrong with America today, there's more than enough room for everybody.
JR
Update [2005-4-13 16:15:13 by JR Monsterfodder]:
I can now also make an announcement. My introductory post is now up at the UFCW's wake up Wal-Mart blog. I'm really honored that the folks at the union liked my work. It gives me the opportunity to help a cause I believe in and get my analysis into a more formal, permanent setting than the diaries. From now on, I'll be sending them my longer Wal-Mart posts first and then cross-posting them here. It seems likely now that I'll also be on the blog of another very good anti-Wal-Mart site soon. I'll post the link when that happens too.
Don't worry, I'm not going all Kevin Drum on you. I'm not getting paid for this and I won't stop doing posts here at Kos. But honestly, I'm going to have trouble keeping up my recent pace, particularly as I prefer writing the longer posts to just doing news updates and I'm taking another trip next week. So please, join the Kos anti-Wal-Mart club. If you've read my comments, you know there's an interested market for it.