2008 Woodie Awards
Wal-Mart not a local problem
Issue date: 3/3/06 Section: Rocket Letters
To the Editor:
As I read a piece by Rocket staff writer Mike Goodwin on his views on Wal-Mart, I asked myself over and over again, "How can somebody be this ignorant of facts and continue to write for a student-funded newspaper?" He discussed how he believed that Wal-Mart is ruining the American Economy by buying products from foreign nations, not paying its employees enough, and eliminating small businesses. He "cited" several sources but conveniently left their names out of the piece. And seeing is that he is a "fair and accurate" journalist, I have a hard time believing that these sources aren't biased or groups dedicated to eliminating Wal-Mart.
The facts about Wal-Mart are often never told because everybody loves to hate the No. 1 big business. It is true that Wal-Mart imports most of its products from China, actually $18 billion worth of products as of 2005. But to think that Wal-Mart is the only company doing this is just plain dumb, every major retail chain in America imports a majority of their goods from China. Capitalism will go where it's treated the best, and Wal-Mart gets the most bang for its buck in China. Wal-Mart imports the most product because it's the biggest, that's simple logic. But Wal-Mart is also very dedicated to the local economies.
A common part in every Wal-Mart Super Center is local agriculture, Wal-Mart buys millions of dollars of crops from local distributors when location allows. And as we saw recently, Wal-Mart bought a large amount of Steelers paraphernalia to sustain the hype following the Super Bowl.
The next big issue comes with pay and health care. A common Wal-Mart hourly wage starts at $6.25 an hour with guaranteed raises every 90 days, and the company average in all 3000+ stores is $10.11 an hour. My younger brother, for example, started working at a Wal-Mart when he was 16 years old at the rate of $6.25 an hour. Now he is 5 months into his job and he makes $7.50 an hour and literally makes his own work schedule as a part timer. Wal-Mart also offers a health care plan to all of its employees. Every associate pays a co-pay of about $44 dollars a month for an individual and $155 for a family of any size.
As I read a piece by Rocket staff writer Mike Goodwin on his views on Wal-Mart, I asked myself over and over again, "How can somebody be this ignorant of facts and continue to write for a student-funded newspaper?" He discussed how he believed that Wal-Mart is ruining the American Economy by buying products from foreign nations, not paying its employees enough, and eliminating small businesses. He "cited" several sources but conveniently left their names out of the piece. And seeing is that he is a "fair and accurate" journalist, I have a hard time believing that these sources aren't biased or groups dedicated to eliminating Wal-Mart.
The facts about Wal-Mart are often never told because everybody loves to hate the No. 1 big business. It is true that Wal-Mart imports most of its products from China, actually $18 billion worth of products as of 2005. But to think that Wal-Mart is the only company doing this is just plain dumb, every major retail chain in America imports a majority of their goods from China. Capitalism will go where it's treated the best, and Wal-Mart gets the most bang for its buck in China. Wal-Mart imports the most product because it's the biggest, that's simple logic. But Wal-Mart is also very dedicated to the local economies.
A common part in every Wal-Mart Super Center is local agriculture, Wal-Mart buys millions of dollars of crops from local distributors when location allows. And as we saw recently, Wal-Mart bought a large amount of Steelers paraphernalia to sustain the hype following the Super Bowl.
The next big issue comes with pay and health care. A common Wal-Mart hourly wage starts at $6.25 an hour with guaranteed raises every 90 days, and the company average in all 3000+ stores is $10.11 an hour. My younger brother, for example, started working at a Wal-Mart when he was 16 years old at the rate of $6.25 an hour. Now he is 5 months into his job and he makes $7.50 an hour and literally makes his own work schedule as a part timer. Wal-Mart also offers a health care plan to all of its employees. Every associate pays a co-pay of about $44 dollars a month for an individual and $155 for a family of any size.
