The Walmart Dilemma

I was hesitant to write an article encouraging people to shop at Walmart because I just plain hate corporate America. On the other hand, I love to save money.

My moral dilemma made me decide to look at both the good and bad that I see in a corporation like Walmart. If I ever strike it rich then I will swear them off forever, but until then I’m stuck shopping there and building my savings account.

The Bad News on Walmart

According to the Wake Up Walmart organization, Walmart underpays employees, exploits workers, has crappy health insurance benefits. They exploit children in other countries, employ illegal immigrants, and discriminate against people. Walmart is basically run by the devil in the opinions of some.

Most of What the critics say is actually true and the lawsuits are there to prove it. At the same time, the above is true for most public companies in America. Any company that has to report to a group of shareholders is subject to unethical activities. Public corporations will do just about anything to make money and people no longer matter.

The Good About Walmart

Walmart instituted the $4 generic drug program which is a lifesaver for millions of Americans. They even sell many common non-prescription medications like pseudoephedrine, cold medicines, and heartburn drugs for 40-50% less than places like CVS and Walgreens!

I recently found out how much I could save when I purchased a 96 count of pseudoephedrine for $9.99 at one of the chain drug stores and later found out that I can get it at Walmart for $5.99!

I investigated some more products and found the same to be true kitty litter, shampoo, razors, and even pizza. The savings on paper products like toilet paper and electronics is minimal, but just about everything else was cheaper than other places I have shopped.

In spite of the corporate corruption, Walmart gives millions to charity. This doesn’t excuse the terrible things that the Walmart corporation has done, but there are both good and bad people working in this company of 1.4 billion employees.

Contrary to Wake Up Walmart’s allegations, Walmart does actually pay decent wages to it’s employees given the skill level required for the job. The average full-time non-supervisor position pays 10.84 an hour. It could be much better, but according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Walmart beats the average wages for:

Other general merchandise stores $9.22/hr
Department stores $9.14/hr
Clothing stores $8.94/hr

So what should you do?

You don’t have to work at Walmart. It’s a free country. You can work there, not work there, get educated, join the army, move to Europe, etc. There are other options and other companies out there with Walmart being far from the worst.

Don’t shop there if you are rich. If you make decent money, then you have the option to stick it Walmart. You can shop at local stores, smaller chains, and other companies that still actually treat people like human beings instead of robots.

Do shop there if you want or need to save money. There just aren’t that many places that can compete with Walmart’s prices. It can be a zoo in there sometimes, but it’s worth saving 30%-50% on almost everything in my opinion.

Now you have some facts, opinions, and links about Walmart. I hope that this will help you make the best decision you can for saving money in this tough economy.