Walmart tries again

Portland has a reputation for being a socially conscious city. Buying local is a big deal to us. With this in mind, it is surprising that there is already a Walmart here. Will Portland allow another Walmart? Let’s hope not. One is more than enough in our small metro area.

In the last five years, Walmart has tried and failed twice to build another store here, with residents and city leaders fighting against it. But they are trying again, this time at Hayden Meadows among other big box retailers in North Portland.

Walmart has a slick new marketing campaign. In their TV ads, pretty women push carts full of reusable Walmart shopping bags. According to The Portland Business Journal, the proposed new store would have sustainable features such as high efficiency LED lighting. Walmart is attempting to sell you a new image of a socially aware and environmentally conscious company. However, this is simply not true.

Walmart’s Web site discusses their new charitable Walmart Foundation and claims, “Through financial contributions, in-kind donations and volunteerism, the Walmart Foundation supports initiatives focused on enhancing opportunities in our four main focus areas: education; workforce development / economic opportunity; environmental sustainability; health and wellness.”

This is all backlash from the negative publicity they have received in the past. They had a reputation for treating their workers horribly, so now they use vague phrases like “workforce development” or “economic opportunity” to try and make you believe they have changed dramatically.

Walmart is a giant corporation ranked second on the 2009 Fortune 500 list, not a nonprofit working for the good of the community. They would love for you to believe that they care about society because then you will spend more money there. The main objective of Walmart is to make money by selling you their image and their cheap goods.

Today, the United States imports more goods than ever and this saves the consumer money at retailers, though it takes away American manufacturing jobs. In order to drive down the prices, big-box retailers like Walmart have figured out a way to get the goods cheaper from the manufacturer. They do this by using foreign manufacturers.

According to a PBS Frontline exploration of Walmart from 2003, of the corporation’s 6,000 global suppliers, it is estimated that 80 percent are based in China. Go to Walmart and look at the labels to see how much of their goods are made in China.

In 2003, Frontline reported that the salary for a Chinese worker was about 50 cents per hour, or $100 per month. These figures are outdated, but still relevant. It is extremely cheap to manufacture goods in China and with that kind of salary, not very ethical.

This is how Walmart keeps prices so low, but it completely discredits their attempt at tree hugging. It is not environmentally friendly to ship goods all the way from China, not to mention China’s lax environmental manufacturing regulations. So much for Walmart’s claims of economic opportunity and environmental sustainability.
“If people were only consumers, buying things at lower prices would be just good. But people also are workers who need to earn a decent standard of living,” said economist Larry Mishel, of the Economic Policy Institute, on PBS Frontline. “The dynamics that create lower prices at Walmart and other places are also undercutting the ability of many, many workers to earn decent wages and benefits and have a stable life.”

Proponents of big boxes say building a new Walmart is good for the local economy because it will bring in jobs.
This is only true in a very limited and short-term sense. Yes, local builders will find temporary construction work and locals will become sales associates. However, sales associates make measly salaries, and wouldn’t it be better to buy goods from a retailer that bought American-made goods, especially if they’re a local, family-owned business?

Environmentally conscious people know cheap goods don’t last very long and will wind up in a landfill when they become junk. It’s better to spend more upfront for a product—such as a kitchen appliance—that will last a long time than to buy something cheap that’ll need replacing every few years. Walmart does not promote this logic, despite their claims of being environmentally friendly. They sell cheap appliances to keep you coming back for more.

Walmart is bad for the economy, bad for the environment, bad for America and bad for Portland. Let’s do all we can to keep another one out. They can hand out reusable shopping bags made in China and install LED lights, but Portlanders can see through them. It’s like putting a small bandage on a festering sore.