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1060 Comments
- alapoet, on 06/26/2008, -50/+701I was a small-town newspaper editor in the 1990s when they came to town.
Being Wal-Mart naive at the time, I at first thought that was good news. My publisher just shook her head.
Not only did they not buy any meaningful ad space in the newspaper -- about a DOZEN mom-and-pop stores which had been in town for decades, and in a couple of cases, more than a hundred years, went out of business within months, due to Wal-Mart's artificially low pricing.
And, of course, once Wal-Mart had run these mom-and-pop shops out of business, then they raised their prices higher than what the other stores had charged to begin with. - stonebone4, on 06/27/2008, -21/+356Hate to break it to everyone, but at one point Wal-Mart WAS a locally owned mom-and-pop store. Love it or hate it, they got to be the gigantic Borg-like superpower they are today by cutting corners (like using cheap furniture at their headquarters) to make prices lower.
Are they bad news for locally owned businesses? Definitely. But that's how capitalism works.
The Penn & Teller episode about Wal-Mart is particularly good because they actually look at both sides.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65aLfKke7IM - vault, on 06/27/2008, -9/+292There are a lot of reasons to oppose Wal-Mart. What happened in your story is just the actions of careless employees at a Wal-Mart in the middle of nowhere...it's not like it's company policy to consistently lie about oil changes and just hope no one notices.
- markgl, on 06/27/2008, -16/+298liar
- eelwrolyat, on 06/27/2008, -10/+244Has anyone been in Wal-Mart after midnight. There are some weird people that go there, or there is in my town. I call them Wal-Martians.
- MadameFleur, on 06/26/2008, -37/+194I hate Wal-Mart too. I pay double at our local car mechanic just to avoid it!
On a side note, I heard that every single item was gone from the Wal-Mart in New Orleans during the Katrina looting spree - everything - books, clothes, liquor, guns, electronics, furniture - everything, that is, except country music CDs!!! The entire store was empty except for that one section!! haha!! - huntress58, on 06/27/2008, -23/+175I would rather spend a couple more dollars at a neighborhood store than at Walmart. At least I know the owner and normally they are struggling business people trying to provide an honest service and make an honest living.
- WestonP, on 06/27/2008, -7/+158I agree that he should be mad about what happened, but this guy really needs to grow a pair and learn a thing or two about cars. Stopping in the middle of a road trip and thinking that you urgently need an oil change, just because your maintenance reminder light came on, is something that I'd expect from a blonde woman. Your engine will not blow up or lose years off of it's life just because you went a little over the oil change interval. You're much better off running old oil for a few hundred more miles than letting Walmart, or some other cheap oil change place, work on your car and put in their sub-par oil. I'd trust good oil for 8000 miles more than I'd trust Walmart crap for 3000. The biggest thing is to not let the oil level get too low... don't be like this guy and neglect to top it off until you get an oil change, and don't blindly depend on a computer to tell you when it's low.
- markgl, on 06/27/2008, -24/+150hey that's capitalism for you. the mom and pop shops can't compete with them.
- BrapAllgood, on 06/27/2008, -20/+134http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-383629618 ...
Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Prices
Great flick. Very illuminating
(Does anyone else get a headache just being in a Wal-Mart? Literally, I do...and I am not prone to them at all.) - pianomahnn, on 06/27/2008, -15/+125The blame cannot be placed on Wal-Mart. Look at the consumer who made the decision to purchase items there instead of the stores which had been established within the community for decades. Personally, I would rather see the locally owned stores. I think they're great for communities. But the community itself didn't want that. They chose low prices over locally owned stores.
Such is life in a capitalistic society. - elnerdo, on 06/27/2008, -2/+91Thank you! Someone reasonable. This story isn't highlighting a problem with Wal*Mart; it's highlighting a problem with Idahoans.
- MrGold79, on 06/27/2008, -7/+84Wal-mart totaled my car,bankrupted my business, destroyed my house, disowned my children and raped my wife but ***** they still got the cheapest truck balls in town
- p3nguin, on 06/27/2008, -4/+80I think the writer here is the real moron in this situation. What idiot does not change his/her oil BEFORE a long road trip?
- phorty40, on 06/27/2008, -2/+77No, saddles are not sandles
- minoss, on 06/27/2008, -2/+77Yea, because all other auto repair and oil change shops NEVER pull crap like this...
This has little to do with wal-mart and more to do with how ***** so many auto repair places are. - laserdog, on 06/27/2008, -15/+84It is only capitalism if there exists the possibility of vibrant competition.
That last step, of raising prices after having destroyed the competition, that's the sort of thing that should *never* happen, as capitalism assumes that new competitors will rise up to keep them in check.
This is Walmart using competition to eliminate the idea of capitalism in regions where it knows no one will compete against it. - thcobbs, on 06/27/2008, -2/+65He's often said it... but that doesn't mean he would follow through.
- meshman, on 06/27/2008, -19/+82??? Why take your car to department store for repairs? It just seems kind of odd to me.
- dystra, on 06/27/2008, -6/+67not a fan of wal-mart but this could have happened anywhere. change your own oil.
- BabaRamDass, on 06/27/2008, -15/+76"And, of course, once Wal-Mart had run these mom-and-pop shops out of business, then they raised their prices higher than what the other stores had charged to begin with."
Did any mom and pops come back to town when Wal-Mart raised the prices?
Wal-Mart came to my town about 15 years ago, and since then another one came in. I'd say it was a GOOD thing. We still have plenty of mom and pop stores that remain competitive. I guess it depends on which part of the country you're in. - DaDrake, on 06/27/2008, -3/+62Walmart specifically allowed residence to loot food and clothing. The fact is, Wal mart gave more charity than any other NGO directly after Katrina. Furthermore, Wal Mart continued to give free food and cloths over a year afterwords to victims... not to mention, they provide some of the cheapest prices (which is important if you just lost your home and businesses).
- DreKor, on 06/27/2008, -7/+64No, you're thinking of a free-market economy. It's funny how people get those two confused. The end result of capitalism has always been monopoly.
- jtucker65, on 06/27/2008, -9/+66We had a similar problem at our local Wal-Mart only they put TOO MUCH oil in my daughter's car! It is also a "foreign" car (a Mitsubishi) they claimed it was because it was different from american cars!!
- Mr.Gone, on 06/27/2008, -31/+87I F-Ing hate whiny hippies.
- NeoCortex, on 06/27/2008, -1/+54I used to work in a Wal-Mart, and in the garage, no less. When I applied for the job, I was actually applying for electronics. They said, "we're going to put you out in the shop working on cars". I told them I didn't know jack about doing work on cars, but their response was "you'll get the hang of it". When I occasionally browsed through electronics on my breaks, I would routinely hear the associates from that department telling customers flat-out wrong information about products because they simply didn't know any better.
Wal-Marts problem is that they don't put people where they're qualified. Instead, they look at every employee as being interchangeable. - JettaMan, on 06/27/2008, -18/+72You know, blaming this on Walmart is idiotic. A misunderstanding happened, coupled with the fact that the teenager working there was obviously a chronic liar. The fact is, businesses need to hire people. Even dumb people. To say this is somehow Walmart's fault is beyond ludicrous. ***** happens, ***** has always happened and ***** will continue to happen.
- veriix, on 06/27/2008, -7/+58Either you're a liar or your priorities are really ***** up.
- pathouston22, on 06/27/2008, -4/+54Who the hell gets an oil change on a halfway across the country trip?
- inactive, on 06/27/2008, -12/+59Why is this on Digg? I don't care that this individual is retarded. The oil life meter in Honda's is based on millage there is no magical sensor in the engine. If when he pulled out his dipstick he noticed it was low I really find that odd because he either has issues or 2 didn't know how to read the dipstick. I like how he never mentioned checking it after they actually changed it. My guess is he's just used to taking it to the dealer to have it changed and when he comes out the fancy meter tells him its all better. The truth is the dealer could screw him over just as easy all they would have to do is tell him they changed the oil and reet the meter and he wouldn't be the wiser.
- markgl, on 06/27/2008, -12/+56wtf? you don't think people at wal mart are trying to make an honest living too? come on man think about it.
- EnviroChem, on 05/22/2009, -2/+46One hint about oil changes, if you use full synthetic oil you can go around 5,000+ miles between oil changes (depending on the oil). While synthetic oil costs more up front, it can end up being cheaper because of fewer oil changes. On long road trips this can have the added advantage of being able to avoid having to do "routine" service at some strange place that you don't know. You should always avoid having such work done at a place you don't know and don't trust because all too often you will get screwed.
- Pittance, on 06/27/2008, -2/+45I will not eat them, Sam I am. I do not like green eggs and ham.
- inactive, on 06/27/2008, -4/+47However, Wal-Mart does have its uses.
Whenever I want to feel rich, successful and thin, I just to to the local wal-mart and hang out in front of the store. - skipdog172, on 06/27/2008, -16/+55You know, there really aren't a lot of reasons to opposte Wal-Mart.
I have yet to read one GOOD reason to oppose wal-mart. Yeah, they want to keep unions from forming because unions would devoid their company's ENTIRE GOAL: CHEAP PRODUCTS! Wal-Mart employees don't need unions. It is a skill-less job and they get paid well enough to live a decent American life. They get paid much better than many other skill-less jobs. This notion that they treat their employees like ***** and bla bla is pure ignorance. With so many stores of COURSE there will be some bad managers/employees. Of COURSE there will be occasional stories like this. It is because there are SO MANY STORES!!
Wal-Mart provides American citizens with goods cheaper than others can. Yes, if the local mechanics at your Wal-Mart suck, don't go there. It doesn't mean that their auto-centers everywhere are *****.
The notion that Wal-Mart putting "mom-and-pop" stores out of business is a BAD thing, is ludicrous. What is the benefit of having locally owned store that charges more for goods? The only thing that does is stifle the local economy. Is the benefit simply that a couple local folks own the business? How does that benefit the town? The fact is, if they can't provide goods for prices comparable to Wal-Mart, they don't deserve to keep their business. Seems pretty simple. Wal-Mart has done anything BUT hurt the economy.
Penn & Teller sum this up well, but do some additional research along with it. The more you find out, the more you realize how mindless and ignorant the Wal-Mart hate is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=65aLfKke7IM - mustafya, on 06/27/2008, -12/+50This just in! Car Mechanics everywhere tend to do subpar work or nothing at all and charge you for it if it looks like they can get away with it. I remember one of the big news shows did an expose where they went to dozens of small shops in New York and most of the places they went to did the job paid for. In fact a couple of times they ended up with video of the mechanic intentionally damaging something so they could charge more.
This has nothing to do with Wal-Mart policy and a lot more to do with American workers who are lazy and stupid. - nevetssav, on 06/27/2008, -1/+39You may *want* to see locally owned stores, but how much would you be willing to pay to keep them around? By shopping at mom-and-pop stores instead of the price-dumping wal-mart, you're essentially paying them to stay around. Very few communities can afford to do that.
- EnviroChem, on 05/22/2009, -4/+42Did you really expect an under trained and under paid Wal-Mart technician would know how to read a dipstick?
- KSUdesigner, on 06/27/2008, -2/+39There are some weird people in Wal-Mart at all hours of the day.
- musntSurfatWork, on 06/27/2008, -13/+511 person hates wallmart, meanwhile 500 shoppers lineup at the cash every minute.
1 person hates wallmart, meanwhile that same person who hates it, goes there anyway, maybe his wife like shopping there.
1 person hates wallmart, but if they have something he or she "WANTS" at a good price, they'll say, F-CK do I hate Wallmart, and go there to buy it anyway.
Wallmart is here to stay, suck it down people. - inactive, on 06/27/2008, -1/+37You have to break the mirror in the back office to destroy it - true story i seen it on TV
- wanderlander, on 06/27/2008, -30/+65YAY - let's hear it for Business Efficiency(TM)! Make lots faster and faster, destroy quality of product and quality of life in a single bound! People will flock to save money and lose their jobs, Forbes will be ecstatic, and the public won't give a s**t, because that's the entrepreneurial spirit at work! Shop Wal Mart, the all American Support our Troops In God We Trust United We Stand Family Values Price Dropping Job Dropping Economy Killing Factory Closing Send The Money To China Neighborhood General Store! Tune in, turn on, cop out!
- puter, on 06/27/2008, -3/+37Wow, I read all the comments and no one noted that he checked if his oil had been changed by seeing if there were any on the dipstick.
He has more problems than he even realizes if his oil change interval is based upon whether his engine has burned all the oil it has. I agree with the comments that he needs to grow a pair and learn at least a little bit about his damned car works. I know my girlfriend certainly knows more about how her car works than he seems to know about is. - tehknotte, on 06/27/2008, -0/+33saddles, apparently
- DraxusD, on 06/27/2008, -3/+35Which makes him a liar
- EntropyFan, on 06/27/2008, -2/+30I've heard the 'then they raised their prices' story before. I've never seen anyone give the slightest proof of it being true. No studies, no receipts, nothing.
- jaznova, on 06/27/2008, -2/+30Can they afford not to do that?
Money spent at M&P stores gets recirculated back into the community.
Money spent at walmart gets shipped outta town... - aoe2bug, on 06/27/2008, -4/+31the people working there, and the people shopping there may be. but the owners are not.
- ben162005, on 06/27/2008, -1/+28Working in a Wal-Mart TLE I can safely say our store has never done this and everyone knows exactly how to reset the change oil light on a honda (hold down the trip reset button while turing the key to ON) they are not confusing or difficult. you drain the oil put on a filter and put a new crush gasket on the plug and torque it at 30 ft lbs. which im sure they failed to do by the sound of how stupid they are.
- EnviroChem, on 05/22/2009, -5/+30The last place I would trust to work on my car is Wal-Mart. There are times when cheaper does not save money and auto repairs/maintenance can be one of those times. Cheap parts by under trained/paid technicians can cost a lot of extra money down the road. While my cars are under warranty I take them to the dealer I buy them from when recommended. The last new car we bought my primary reason for buying the car I bought was because the dealer's service department always gave us excellent service. Going back to the dealer while the car is under warranty helps them catch warranty issues that others would miss. Once our car is out of warranty I take it to one of my friends who is a mechanic and runs his own shop. I never miss a scheduled maintenance and have never needed road side assistance as a result. When we buy a car our plan is to buy it new and then drive it until it dies. My goal is to make sure the car has as long of a productive life as possible without the expense of repairs becoming more than their worth.
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