A good friend of mine informed me the other day that avoiding W.M. is sort of like being in a 12-step program. If you are trying to avoid it (like I claim to have been for nearly a year now) you have to find alternate ways of feeding your craving, especially in THIS town, when it offers the only reliable choice for groceries in a particular geographic area; you also have to confess when you've been bad and shopped there (I've been doing that a bit on this blog, but not enough) and you have to come to grips with who and what you are hurting when you shop there.
Even though she was gently teasing me at the time, it is true. It is too easy to fall back into the W.M. addiction, and I've defiitely fallen off the wagon of late. You would think that they planned it out or something. Market themselves specifically to me, even though I claim to hate the place. I do hate the place. I hate shopping there. I hate their smug corporate attitude. So why am I spending The Reenactor's hard-earned salary there? Even on the smallest purchase?
One word: convenience.
I find that I go there for weird multiples...I might have half an hour to shop for five items...trash bags, organic milk, DVD-Rs, a birthday gift for T2's friend, and ballet tights for T1. I need all of these items in the next 24 hours, and I have the choice of driving to four or five different stores....at least two of which would still be "big box" stores, of lumping all these errands into one location and being done with it.
So I'm guilty of shopping there. And I FEEL guilty. I feel bad that I'm supporting such an awful corporate culture. I feel angry that I don't have better choices for groceries and other items in the town I live in. I am disturbed that most of the items I buy there are made in a sweat shop on the other side of the world. I don't want to have such far-reaching consequences lumped on my hurried-up need for milk, toys, and trash bags.
I don't have an answer, I'm just venting. I am still going to make a choice to shop elsewhere as often as possible, and to avoid the big box stores as much as I reasonably can. I'm hoping that if there are enough of people out there like me doing at least a portion of their shopping elsewhere, that the big corporations will realize they ARE accountable to us to be responsible citizens. Maybe I'm dreaming....maybe I'm just fantasizing at this point....dreaming my dreamy dreams.
I can always hope, though.
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7 comments:
Hi, my name is Jackie, and I'm five years Wal-Mart free.
Have you noticed Wal-Mart's new slogan? They've kicked the "everyday low prices" to the curb. Now, it's "save money. live better." with each commerical touting how shopping at Wal-Mart has improved someone's lifestyle. Of course that someone is not the person who makes the unnecessary plastic items hocked at the store.
Hi Jackie...I'm going to make you my sponsor!
Shall I call you every time I feel compelled to run into WM?
I did notice their Thanksgiving commercials about being able to afford more food than the hostess "had table for." What a commentary on our society.
How many months could a family of WM China workers eat with what we spend (and save!) on food for one holiday?
don't be so hard on yourself, auntie, you're making an effort to be a conscious consumer, and that's a big step in the right direction.
that said, let me introduce two radical concepts to the camp:
first, there was a group of friends in berkeley (where else?) that made a pact with each other to not buy anything new for a whole year. food, drink, and personal items (like TP and aspirin) were excluded, but everything else had to be purchased second hand, bartered for, or borrowed from a friend. interesting, no? i think i would find it impossible to not want a spanking new pair of shoes or even a package of underwear for a year, but maybe i'm just "addicted" to the concept of buying stuff. it puts me in the mindset of living on the prairie with ma and pa, where new shoes were a serious occasion. it would be quite a challenge in this day and age, especially with a family! easier for the single mancave types, but still pretty darn hard to envision.
second, and possibly more doable, what about trying to organize a wal-mart boycott, even for just a day?
Hello Auntie K,
I have been WM free for over 35 years! It is possible to shop outside the box. How long does it takes you to shop at WM? The average WMer spends over an hour in their store. That's is twice the time compared to Alberston's or Krogers. WM is crafty in their design so that even if you just went in for food, it is almost a guarantee that you will go into another section you didn't plan to see.
Anyway, be strong and do your best and be happy with the effort.
Here's my thing, I have a major disdain for WM as well. I don't enjoy shopping there and also fell used after I'm done. Since moving to Florida, I've found a couple of grocery stores that can provide me with the same products I need at much lower prices.
However, what is the difference in shopping at Publix or Target versus WM. Is it the treatment of the employees, they treatment of good suppliers or is it just basic economic theory. There is only such much purchasing power in the economy and any used outside of WM is a good thing?
I would love to rid my life of WM but in today's society I'm not sure there is a way?
I do like the boycott idea.
As much as I like the idea of a boycott of WM, it would probably have the same effect as the often called-for one day boycotting of oil companies. Even though you might make a small statement for one day in many communities there simply is NO other choice for many goods than to purchase them there. WM effectively wiped out most alternate choices for products...the mom-and-pop owned Western Auto Stores, locally owned pharmacies and dime stores, and groceries.
I'm sticking with my original plan of just cutting back as much as possible. And Nick is right in saying that there is a different "feel" to shopping in other big box stores...you don't have this overpowering sense that you are getting cheap goods at the mercy of the employees and suppliers of the Big Corporiate Monster.
I just did a quick check in our banking software, and I've spent 50% less as of today than I had spent at WM a year ago. 50 percent, people! If each WM shopper did that for one year they would completely fall to their knees!
I'm re-inspired!
An interesting read on "smaller" box stores--and their influence on us and our habits--"The McDonalization of America"
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