You may be thinking, he just got screwed over by their pharmacy and thats the problem. Well yes it is, however, for a long time, I have been contemplating a boycott of them.
1) Most of their stuff is made the new American way. That is in China. Made by little 8 year olds who work 20 hour days in hot stinky sweat shops.
2) Their quality sucks. They implement the PQFP principle. Poor quality, fair price
3) They arent so destructive in the big city, but that isnt where they went for the kill. The invaded small towns (many Republican inhabited) and put under all the small and mid size businesses. RIP: Pamida, Gibsons, Woolworths, Duckwalls, etc.
4) They then employ the out of work people in a degrading low level low paying job and lie to the employees about succeeding
5) They make themselves the only place you can go if you live in rural areas. Like MJ said in her comment to my last post. I have a friend here that has the same damn problem. Where else you gonna go?
I am not calling for anyone else to boycott them. I am just whining about them. Isnt that what blogs are for :)
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I watched this documentary in Women's Studies class a few years ago about sweat shops...you don't probably own anything that wasn't made in one. If it wasn't made here, it was made somewhere with less than ethical work standards. That's why no-one makes anything here anymore. We ahve very strict laws about that and it isn't cost effective to manufacture because of it. You should see what they do to these women. (it is sometimes children, but predominantly women) Every day they have to come in and take birth control pills or they are fired. If they get pregnant, they either get an abortion or are fired...even if they are sole support of their kids. They live in complete squaller. The only problem is that in order to be an ethical consumer, you have to be rich. You can't afford stuff that is made ethically most of the time.
Nike is the absolute worst actually. They have the worst conditions and treat the women the worst. But it is such a monolith. It feels impossible to address. Walmart is really just a symptom of a greater problem, greed.
I didnt know that. That is so sad. Kinda makes me have a different perspective on my job. You know the one I whined about earlier :)
Makes me want to not buy anything but make all my own stuff. Not much choice though. Greed will ruin this country if we arent careful.
If you come down to it, most places are not worth going. If you look deeper in places, you will see things that you would not like. For example: Petco used to be cruel to the animals. I think they did some experimentations with them or something. I heard all about it. Another example: most places are outsourced.
Anyone remember the Kathie Lee Gifford controversy?
"Petco used to be cruel to the animals."
That sounded a little funny, sorry. It is really a shame that people who labor like that in other countries get treated like shit. I guess change would have to start from us, the consumers. Start raising our voices and who knows what would happen? I know last week I was shopping at Gap for some clothes and they have a clothing line called "RED" that benefits people in Africa affected by AIDS. It would be good also to see something done for the workers too.
Here's the link:
http://www.gap.com/browse/home.do?cid=16591&mlink=5058,204971,9&clink=204971
Also, Bono from U2 has a clothing line "EDUN" that benefits workers in other countries. Pretty cool.
I've not shopped there in almost 3 years and vow not to again... though I did use a $1.50 on a gift card I had collecting dust, so they got the money long ago.
Have you seen the Robert Greenwald film called "The High Cost of Low PRice" ? We own a copy and were boycotting them way before.
There is this complete dufus named Drea Wood who blogs at blogger and for months, commenters have told her the ills of Wal Mart and she KNOWS it's wrong, but insists that saving a few bucks is far more important that morality. Yet, she is one of those people who is saturated in church activity, her husband is a hothead youth pastor ... they like to tell people how they're going to hell, but when it comes to their own personal example, they're out to lunch --- probably eating a hot dog and nachos at the local Wal Mart.
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