"Doug Freyburger" > wrote
> Out of the other side of their mouth Walmart drives one
> manufacturer after another out of business with their endless pressure
> to lower prices.

WalMart has never put anyone out of business. Incompetent and often greedy
managers of those companies is the reason they failed. Sometimes you have
to just say "NO". It is not only WalMart. We've had similar pressure from
others and walked away.

Of course Walmart has put some places out of business, but it's hard to ignore their sheer convenience. Does anyone still complain that we don't do most of our manufacturing in our own countries anymore? Of course not. I can understand that people will sometimes want a company that understands their community, like an Ottawa windows installer, but more often than not, convenience and cost are hard to resist.

Yes, people will inevitably lose from Walmart. With that said, some changes are difficult to resist, and for a reason. People also benefit from Walmart through significantly lower prices.

I second this opinion!!

"monkeyboy" > wrote
> Of course Walmart has put some places out of business, but it's hard to
> ignore their sheer convenience.

No, they have not. Show me one instance. Retailers go out of business
because their former customer decide other stores suit them better.
Suppliers to some big stores (or other big manufacturers) go out of business
because they willingly sell product for less than it costs to make.

My company had an opportunity to sell to Wal Mart. They offered to buy 15
truckloads on an item and they would pay 85¢ a piece. We normally sell it
for about $1.20. We declined.

A few years back, Frigidaire was a bug customer of ours. They wanted us to
reduce the price by 25%, go from 90 days to 150 days for payment, and give
them a 5% rebate on the previous year purchases. We said, "no thanks, where
do you want us to ship the tools?" Another company stepped up and took the
business from us at the reduced price. They later filed chapter 11. I've
seen this happen often over the past 40+ years. Different companies,
different names, same sad result.


> Does anyone still complain that we
> don't do most of our manufacturing in our own countries anymore? Of
> course not.


No, because deep down, they want to save a few pennies even if it puts you
out of work.