"Jim, Bethesda, MD."

I've happily worked for Wal-Mart for going on 5 years now. I've managed to support myself, college, and every day life needs. For all of you simply jumping on the media bandwagon about Min-wage and health costs.. your career is what you make of it. If Wal-Mart isn't your "cup o tea" then so be it, but don't knock it till ya try it.

And as for "Carol Smith Eugene, Or "
In regards to how we give "nothing away."

We were one of the only places open 24/7 in which people were able to pick up their medication for much needed relief....and yes, we did it for free.

Wow, those deep discounts really do sound great TODAY but do you understand how many AMERICANS have lost their jobs, their entire lively-hood because of Walmart? Now, everyone buys from Walmart and Walmart only buys from cheap Chinese sweatshops with horrible conditions for their laborers (often children as young as 7 or 8 years old!).

Walmart may employ 10% of the nation but those people used to get paid twice as much and have health benefits when they worked in a US Factory making high-quality goods that won't break 10 minutes after you get them home. Now, those people are forced to bag groceries at Walmart because there just aren't any other jobs left.

Walmart is so huge that they are able to move into a community and actually sell their goods BELOW their cost, they lose thousands to millions of dollars at that particular store until every single competitor in the area has been run out of business. (sacrificing hundreds of American jobs for every one that they create) As soon as they have a monopoly on everything, they jack their prices up (still discounts of course because the goods are made by poor children forced to work 14-hour-days).

Hundreds of studies and documentaries have shown that while yes, Walmart is technically playing by the rules of the free market economy, they're certainly playing as dirty as they possibly can.

Take a look at the value of the American dollar as compared to forein currencies lately. The American economy is falling dramatically. America sends billions of dollars out to foriegn countries for every dollar that it brings in. This deficit is killing the American economy and Walmart is right at the head of the line waving the big American Flag and telling us all how patriotic they are as they laugh their a**es off behind your backs at how easily fooled we all are.

Hey Guys-Almost forgot- the Mom and Pop owners lived across town-Big houses the kids weren't even allowed to trick or treat at on Halloween--My grandkids even remember--I walked them to the Walmart Manager's front door this year--kids got treats and invited in for hot choclate-their kids even went with our guys to trick or treat--Maybe we're all in this thing together--Wouldn't it be great if thats a good thing?

I would like to tell everyone a little story. A little story about a girl who was in a 35 car pile up, suffered a traumatic brain injury, and then couldn't find a job while in recovery because no one wanted to hire someone who was "disabled". I first applied at alot of small businesses, but Walmart was the only company to give me a chance, and I started with the store where I now work, before the store opened in the fall of 2003 I am now fully recovered, am in the process of finishing my master's degree, which the management at my store supports, am applying to be a department manager at my store, and will also in the future be puruing my PhD with the FINANCIAL assistance of Walmart. And let's remember something, retail isn't for everybody. It's takes not only alot of hard work to work in retail, but a certain type of person as well. Many people complain about Walmart, accusing my company of wiping out communities, when in fact, in so many ways, they bring alot of prosperity to communities just as they did to mine. I am proud of my store and the company I work for, and I have seen my store do alot of good things in the community i live in. Not to mention bring growth, which has brought the growth of other businesses-small businesses in my town. As far as making a low income, well a Target store opened up about 30 miles from were I live, in a community that's about twice as expensive to live in as mine, and one in which many of the residents of my town commute to for work, and I know of someone who applied to work overnights at that Target store, and he would have made less working overnights, then I do working the day shift at my Walmart store!! As far as the benefits go, I have worked for other retailers where I wasn't able to get ANY health insurance, not to mention other places i have worked where i contributed ALOT MORE for my health insurance than I now do at Walmart. There are also other investment programs that Walmart provides us, without even expecting us to contribute to. What alot of people seem to forget, is that alot of those who work for Walmart, own stock in the company, so when we say "this is my store", we mean it. And as far as that recent documentary that was released? Well anyone can create something that's slanted. I say, give us both sides of the story!!! I am proud to work for my Walmart store #5232, and have been there for over 2 years now, and plan to continue calling it my "family" for some time to come. More times then not, my management team has been there for me, both in good times and bad, and for that I will always be greatful for. When no one else would give me a chance, they did, and they DID do it at a decent rate of pay. They made it possible for me to stay and work in the community where I live, and to prosper. My home. My community. My family. My Walmart.

I think most of you forgot the big picture...It's the part that these people have little to nothing. Most have lost there jobs, homes, and what used to be a normal peacefull life on the Mississippi coast. It's not the government who is helping these people, it is we the people. Try and going 3 months without a home, electric lights, or a place to sleep for yourself and family. It's the small things that give them hope. It's not about Walmart it's about human survival. I too have been touched by Katrina, and try everyday to look for hope it what seems to be a reaccuring bad dream.

I worked for a family grocery chain for almost 14 years that had the same hard work philosophy as Wal-Mart They were disliked just like Wal-Mart becouse they put some mom & pop stores out of business They were open 24-7 and had lower prices every day Then the corporate raiders got ahold of them The first group of corporate raiders probley stoled over a billion of its gross worth They now have the fourth group in control of them The founding family gave and gave If there was a storm trucks were loaded and sent ahead and right after the storm My only regret is that I did'nt leave there and go to work for Wal-Mart Becouse they seem to have some of the same work philosophys that I've worked under before So go Wal-Mart go, keep giveing and helping It will come back to you

I worked for Wal-Mart in an mid management position in one of the warehouses. It was a ruthless as they come. Wal Mart is not doing things out of the goodness of their hearts they are doing it for money.

Mr. Sam was one of the worlds greatest retailers there ever was. It is the strong arm tackicts of the upper management that is the problem. They will slit your throat if it meant they could make the numbers. Remember the movie THE FIRM? I think it was based on the inner workings of Wal Mart.

Been there done that.
Linda

Hi Everybody, I see some people detest or love to
shop in the Walmart in America. Walmart is not perfect about tragedies for example, Katrina Hurriance and troubles for example, illegal immigrants bust in 29 States and other illegal Mexician trademen bust from construction site in Pennsyvanlia recently. Most Citizens, Local, State, and Federal Governments pardon Walmart Headquarter Office after Headquarter Office paid $11 million to Federal Government and keep cooperate with 3 Governments daily. Citizens and I believe that Walmart Excutive Board, Officers and Leaders learned their lessons and fixed their mistakes. Life move on. :) God bless America!

People can say what they want about Wal-Mart. Do they put "local" stores and mom and pops out of business? YES. Do they import most of their merchandise from China? YES. Do they not pay their employees well? DEPENDS Do millions of americans rely on them to "get buy" on a daily basis (whether it be for cost or convienence) ABSOLUTLEY. Not everyone can afford to shop at the trendy supermarket and department stores, not everyone can go without until the mom and pop store opens up in the morning. There is a time and place in this world for everything and Wal-Mart has theirs.

My husband works for Wal-Mart. Even BEFORE Katrina hit-his district was planning for the aftermath. The day after the storm at 4am he and a team of others drove, then walked into New Orleans to one of the Wal-marts. They helped GIVE AWAY items that the people needed. They were there trying to help, supporting the community-living in a Wal-Mart for weeks!! They were not told to go by "upper management" they volunteered, and Wal-Mart backed them. That's what Wal-Mart is all about...PEOPLE!

Ok, so here we are all freaking out about the rights and wrongs of walmart while our brothers and sisters are stuck in a world full of anguish. good job, guys. walmart or not, it is so important for these people and i, for one, am glad to see that someone is pulling through for the victims, plywood and all.

Whenever I see or hear people bashing Walmart, I think the same thing: "they" couldn't have gotten this big unless people were willing to shop there.

Without customers, which it has in droves, Walmart couldn't put a single small pop-and-pop out of business. They manage to do it because most people are two-faced. On one hand, they hate that Walmart has come to town & changed the face of retailing. On the other hand, they can't resist those low prices & the convenience of one-stop shopping.

In my mind, the only people who can bash Walmart in good conscience are those who are willing to pony up the extra cash, time & gas to support the truly local businesses in their towns. If more people did that, the mom-and-pops would still be around & Walmart wouldn't be a behemoth.

But consolidation & efficiency are the nature of the consumer market. In most areas, it starts off with a number of players, but usually comes down to two or three big competitors duking it out for the consumer dollars. Candy companies? The big three. Soaps & laundry needs? The big three. Fast food restaurants? A ton of local players, but only 3 major burger chains and a handful of other specialty chains.

Ditto for retail and grocery chains. The only big news is that Walmart has made great strides in the grocery business, which has put a lot of supposedly-solid smaller competitors out of business. When that happened, the "living wage" jobs at the smaller chains were replaced with near-minimum wage Walmart jobs, which is part of how those "low prices" stay so low. It's also why many people in communities w/ new Walmart Supercenters are pissed off. Their cushy $15/ hr union-protected job has been downsized to $6.25/hr, which is all it is worth in a non-union environment.

This is one of those situations in which I see both sides. But, in the final analysis, I guess I side with Walmart. The cornerstone to good business is finding a way to deliver low prices & convenience as cheaply as possible. Walmart has succeeded because they've done that. A second cornerstone of business is to keep wages low to deliver profits to the shareholders. They've done that, too.

It's no different than in any other industry, where there is a built-in conflict of interest between the employee & employer. The employer NEVER wants to pay a penny more than necessary for an employee's services. When the labor market is tight, the employer is forced to pay more to get the best people. But in a wide open market, particularly w/ lower-skilled retail jobs, the employer sets the rate. It happens everywhere, not just at Walmart.

As for me, I never bash Walmart because I shop there. I LOVE low prices & the convenience of one-stop shopping. Although I sympathize with people who are affected by a Walmart coming to town, my priority is feeding my OWN family as cheaply as possible. And that means Walmart.......

Three cheers for Wal-Mart! Not only do they create good paying jobs, if they didnt why would they have hundreds of people working at each location? Sorry I dont buy the party line from the United Food Commercial Workers Union that Wal-Mart is not a good corporate citizen, it all comes down to your union having a declining membership! Well this is America where consumers vote with their wallet and the votes are in Wal-Mart reduces the cost of living for people like me on a fixed income. By the way when is the last time the UFCW actually created a job, donated millions to community projects or otherwise create anytype of value?

Why can't it just be a good thing that people who lost so much are starting to have some sign of normalcy? Some don't like Wal-Mart and that's ok. We have the freedom to feel and speak how we want. I do think, however, that some are missing the big picture and what this was all about. I, personally, feel that Wal-Mart does do a lot of good by supplying people with goods at an affordable price. Right now, it seems that is one thing the people need in order to restore their homes. Can't that be a good thing? Also, I do agree that if it was not them, it would just be another corporation. Also, big corporations are having to lay off employees (GM most recently) could we agree that Wal-Mart happens to supply a lot of job opportunities for those who have nowhere else to go? If one does not like them, that is their choice. We are all free to shop where we like.

Well Wal-Mart could always buckle to the special interest groups and unions and in 30 years we'd have another General Motors on our hands. A company that exists only to pay the bloated wages and benefits of their retirees. There will always be entry level employers, period. Funny that WM just asked Congress to raise the Federal Minimum Wage. Pretty greedy of them right? You either believe in this great country and its capatalist free-enterprise system or you are a marxist, a socialist, or a communist. Feel free to move to a country with those systems and see if it really is better. And if unions cared about anything other than lining their own pockets they'd go set up shop in the 3rd world countries where they might actually be able to improve the human condition. Get a life.

WALMART IS NOT PERFECT, BUT UNLIKE SO MANY OTHER U.S.COMPANIES THEY HAVE NOT FORGOTTEN THAT IT IS THE CUSTOMER THAT MAKES IT ALL HAPPEN. FORGET YOUR CUSTOMERS AND THEY WILL FORGET YOU.

I am one of the 100 million people who shop at Wal-Mart every week. I'm not crazy about shopping there, but it's so darn convenient to get virtually everything I need at one place. Where else can you do that? Time is money and until a more ingenious business model comes along, I will probably keep shopping there.

As for the lost jobs because "Wal-Mart moved in" my guess is those jobs would have been displaced for some other reason soon thereafter anyway. The economy is always shifting, changing, evolving. That's the free enterprise system, folks. It's the right of every American business person to figure out a way to do things faster, more efficiently, at lower cost, etc. Wal-Mart has been enormously successful because they have just plain figured out how to do it better.

I'm glad to hear that the Gulf Coast residents are grateful for their Wal-Marts. Sounds like it's one more step towards normalcy.

As for the Chinese children working 14 hours a day, do you really thinks it's an American company's responsibility to monitor human rights overseas? Perhaps foreign governments should rightfully step in and enforce a basic minimum work standard. It's clearly unfair to blame Wal-Mart for abominable working conditions in a sweat shop half a world away. Wal-Mart isn't forcing people to work in terrible conditions; they are simply forging alliances with suppliers overseas to keep prices down for American customers. By the way, I don't work for Wal-Mart either.

I am really surprised that given the situation our nation is in with the war in Iraq, the devistation from Katrina, not to mention the small disasters through out the country from wild fires to tornadoes that people are raising this much fuss over Wal Mart. My husband is in the military, my entire family is in Biloxi, MS and I can assure the very last worry on our plate is whether or not Wal Mart has their heart in the right place with what they are doing. At this time I really believe we should all be focusing more on what we can do to help each other, take care of and help each other. To the soldiers in Iraq, Thank You!!! To the employees of Wal Mart who are just trying to take care of their families and make an honest living, Thank You. I (and my family) appreciate all you do.

great company doing a great job. the heroic effort they made on the Gulf Coast after both Katrina and Rita will never be forgotten by the people who had to live through it. nobody else was rushing in with water,ice, generators, fuel etc.........

At this point people in this area are just trying to survive and if Walmart was the one to help that happen then great for them. The truth is the mama and pop business in most area tends to gauge the eyes of the poor out. But since the Walmart came alone poor people have been doing better. Better goods for less money and less money is what the poor have. I can remember my parents taking up groceries at the local Mama and Pop and they paid through the nose for the bare necessities. And most of the Mama & Pop owners lived in the finest houses in the small towns and they looked like the Southfort Ranch with all kinds of caregivers, caregivers for the house, caregivers for the lawn, caregivers for the kids and caregivers for everything else that need "special" attention. So now they are all on the same level, survival. Thanks Walmart for helping my family member on the Coast who need you. And well for those people who don't want them in their area...I see you making the journey to the area where they are.

More than half the country away, we can still feel the frustration of our friends in the gulf coast. The people in the gulf coast are soul-weary and ready to get back to their lives. There are just certain things you want to be able to count on: Wal-Mart is one of them. These are stores staples in the communities. The place you know you can get what you need when you need it. I'm glad that they are back and running in the communities where they are needed most. Already, they are employing people and letting the rest know that they won't have to do without much longer. Say what you like about Wal-Mart... many of you already have... but kudos to a sense of normalcy in our hardest hit towns. It's a small thing to be grateful for in a time of so much loss.

Mike Freeman is absolutely correct! Our middle class, main supporter of our capitalistic society is shrinking every day. And they're not getting richer, but poorer. If we don't want fascism, or socialism or communism in this country, we need to maintain a large middle class and make life affordable for all of us. Otherwise, we turn into England, where there are only poor and rich. And the rich own most everything.

say what you want about walmart....but i say there a great company.....my 80 yr.old father lives in silsbee texas when the hurricane hit .he was evacuated to tyler . we could'nt get back into silsbee for at least week maybe more . all my father cared about was his dog he left in the house.i called police , fire , etc.... nobody was concerned about this 80 year old mans dog ... then i called walmart ..which by the way was closed due to the hurricane .i told the securtity personel my fathers problem and he said he would look into it ..not 2 hours later the store manager called me and informed me that he and one other employee went to my dad's house found his dog ..fed him and watered him and told me they would do so every day until we could get back in the city. which he did for almost a week .so to all you people that bash walmart . i wonder if those fat cat union guys or for that matter any of you that bad mouth walmart would have cared enough to feed and take care of a old mans dog. while your own business life and personel life was in shabbles due to the hurricane ..i doubt it. all i want to say to mike the store manager is thank you mike ..i know you made sam a very proud man......

I learned this weekend that WalMart is donating 100,000 bicycles to the kids on the Gulf Coast. This Christmas will be the hardest that most families will ever endure, WalMart, say what you want will make a difference to thousands of families this Christmas season.

Thank You Walmart for helping the Katrina victoms in their plight. We do most of our shopping in your stores and wish to tell you that your new store in Goodyear is great!