Walter
09-15-03, 11:14 AM
I receive my hometown newspaper here in Louisiana. Each week it posts a half dozen or so letters to the editor. Last week, a 16-year-old wrote in about how badly the area needs a Walmart. He claims it's necessary to buy cheap socks, and that it'll help out the local economy! I just wrote this, and I'm about to email it to The Chronicle in hopes that they'll publish it! I'm nervous. I hope it works, is well received, and isn't too long. :sick:Paul Jarvis, in his letter to the editor printed in the September 3rd issue of The Chronicle, contends that he feels a need for a department store in the area. Under the assumption that it's in everyone's best interest he argues that a Walmart, in particular, would help the local economy, put smiles on every family member's face, and slap a brand new pair of underwear on every local's bottom. A Walmart's comprehensive stock of cheap wares in a convenient locale can easily bring about these assumptions.
It's true that a department store would provide a place to shop, provide area jobs, and lower many families' shopping bills. A quick look at these last statements can certainly hint at the benefits of an area Walmart! Today, however, I'm asking the readers of The Chronicle to examine the hidden price that's paid for such cheap luxuries.
WCAX's Buy Vermont First campaign was first to teach me the many benefits of buying locally. When a person chooses to shop at locally owned farms and businesses it can be assured that one's dollars are staying within the community. Shopping at Walmart can insure that most of one's dollars are being sent directly to the Walton family in Bentonville, Arkansas. It might be interesting to note that five of the world's ten richest people are Waltons. London's "Rich List 2001" listed S. Robson Walton as the world's richest person with a total asset of 65 billion dollars. Walmart, the world's biggest corporation and largest employer, takes in 220 billion dollars a year. An amount larger than the GDP of Israel and Ireland combined.
Mr Jarvis explains to us that Walmarts help local businesses. As an example he states that Walmart's local "side shops are in full business." Ironically, we find that Mr Jarvis is in fact shopping an hour's drive from his locality in Littleton, New Hampshire! I'm positive that it may be hard for Mr Jarvis to find all that Walmart can offer in his hometown of Barton, Vermont, but I'm willing to bet that there's more than one local business owner that'd be glad to help him find some lower priced socks and underwear for he and his family. I'm also willing to bet that as long as locals are traveling to Littleton, or to any future department store in Derby, that spotting a shopper on Barton's Main Street will remain a futile task.
If we plan on looking to a future Walmart as a source of new jobs for Derby and Newport then we're forced to think again. I recently read in an Idaho Observer article that for every two jobs created by Walmart, three rival jobs are eliminated! What type of jobs are these replaced with? Let's look at some facts. Walmart claims that 70% of the employees are full time, or in Walmart terms, 28 hours a week. This comes to $11,000 a year which is not much more than the Census Bureau's established poverty level of a single person living in the 48 contiguous states of $8,959! It's also worth mentioning that health care isn't provided for workers until they've worked for Walmart for two years. Only 38% of Walmart associates have basic health-care coverage. These underpaid workers are left with nothing more than having to rely on Walmart to provide their necessities and McDonald's to provide their nourishment. A vicious corporation-feeding cycle. In short, Walmart causes job loss, pays less than the average competitor, and sends its profits to the richest family in the world!
It's also important to know about the story behind most of Walmart's goods. While Walmart shows us a self-proclaimed image of Americana it forbids the disclosure of the addresses and names of any of its factories. The reason is because most are located in China, other parts of Asia, and other third world countries. Walmart sells one out of every five toys sold in the US, and 71% of them are made in China. In one factory in China that produces action figures for Walmart, employees work 13 to 16 hour days, 20 hours during peak season. They're paid 13 cents an hour, which is 18 cents lower than the Chinese minimum wage. These conditions are by no means unusual for workers in developing nations. Buying Vermont first would help to eliminate this unnecessary human suffering.
I remember once shopping at Ames in Derby with my mother and picking up new table mats for the kitchen table. I'll never know now what kind of material they were made of, what country they came from, or what conditions their maker worked through. Recently, my mother sent me some table mats in the mail that came with an informational pamphlet about a company I had never heard of before. These mats were made by Green Mountain Linens, located on Weaver street in Newport! I was shocked to see a weaving company located in Newport, and it causes me to wonder what other responsible local businesses may lay hidden so close to my hometown, Westmore.
Before anyone campaigns for another corporation to enter the green hills of Vermont, it'll be beneficial to look around and see what's already available. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to find some cheap socks in your own neighborhood!
Sincerely concerned about home,
Michael Parenteau
New Orleans, Louisiana
It's true that a department store would provide a place to shop, provide area jobs, and lower many families' shopping bills. A quick look at these last statements can certainly hint at the benefits of an area Walmart! Today, however, I'm asking the readers of The Chronicle to examine the hidden price that's paid for such cheap luxuries.
WCAX's Buy Vermont First campaign was first to teach me the many benefits of buying locally. When a person chooses to shop at locally owned farms and businesses it can be assured that one's dollars are staying within the community. Shopping at Walmart can insure that most of one's dollars are being sent directly to the Walton family in Bentonville, Arkansas. It might be interesting to note that five of the world's ten richest people are Waltons. London's "Rich List 2001" listed S. Robson Walton as the world's richest person with a total asset of 65 billion dollars. Walmart, the world's biggest corporation and largest employer, takes in 220 billion dollars a year. An amount larger than the GDP of Israel and Ireland combined.
Mr Jarvis explains to us that Walmarts help local businesses. As an example he states that Walmart's local "side shops are in full business." Ironically, we find that Mr Jarvis is in fact shopping an hour's drive from his locality in Littleton, New Hampshire! I'm positive that it may be hard for Mr Jarvis to find all that Walmart can offer in his hometown of Barton, Vermont, but I'm willing to bet that there's more than one local business owner that'd be glad to help him find some lower priced socks and underwear for he and his family. I'm also willing to bet that as long as locals are traveling to Littleton, or to any future department store in Derby, that spotting a shopper on Barton's Main Street will remain a futile task.
If we plan on looking to a future Walmart as a source of new jobs for Derby and Newport then we're forced to think again. I recently read in an Idaho Observer article that for every two jobs created by Walmart, three rival jobs are eliminated! What type of jobs are these replaced with? Let's look at some facts. Walmart claims that 70% of the employees are full time, or in Walmart terms, 28 hours a week. This comes to $11,000 a year which is not much more than the Census Bureau's established poverty level of a single person living in the 48 contiguous states of $8,959! It's also worth mentioning that health care isn't provided for workers until they've worked for Walmart for two years. Only 38% of Walmart associates have basic health-care coverage. These underpaid workers are left with nothing more than having to rely on Walmart to provide their necessities and McDonald's to provide their nourishment. A vicious corporation-feeding cycle. In short, Walmart causes job loss, pays less than the average competitor, and sends its profits to the richest family in the world!
It's also important to know about the story behind most of Walmart's goods. While Walmart shows us a self-proclaimed image of Americana it forbids the disclosure of the addresses and names of any of its factories. The reason is because most are located in China, other parts of Asia, and other third world countries. Walmart sells one out of every five toys sold in the US, and 71% of them are made in China. In one factory in China that produces action figures for Walmart, employees work 13 to 16 hour days, 20 hours during peak season. They're paid 13 cents an hour, which is 18 cents lower than the Chinese minimum wage. These conditions are by no means unusual for workers in developing nations. Buying Vermont first would help to eliminate this unnecessary human suffering.
I remember once shopping at Ames in Derby with my mother and picking up new table mats for the kitchen table. I'll never know now what kind of material they were made of, what country they came from, or what conditions their maker worked through. Recently, my mother sent me some table mats in the mail that came with an informational pamphlet about a company I had never heard of before. These mats were made by Green Mountain Linens, located on Weaver street in Newport! I was shocked to see a weaving company located in Newport, and it causes me to wonder what other responsible local businesses may lay hidden so close to my hometown, Westmore.
Before anyone campaigns for another corporation to enter the green hills of Vermont, it'll be beneficial to look around and see what's already available. Who knows, maybe you'll be able to find some cheap socks in your own neighborhood!
Sincerely concerned about home,
Michael Parenteau
New Orleans, Louisiana