I really think we need a new section entitled ethics; this should go there.
Exactly what kind of a bargain at Walmart could turn several hundred people into murderers? That is the estimated number of people who stepped on the Walmart employee on Friday morning and trampled him to death. Other people were injured in the stampede including a pregnant woman. Other emplyees only escaped injury by jumping atop vending machines it was said. What a pall on the start of the season. :o :o :o :'( :'(
Disgusting to the max.. Unbelievable that we as a human race have come to this. >:(
It just show the intelligence of the average Wal-Mart shopper. Run over and kill perfectly good human's to get the lowest price.....ALWAYS.
Just as the entire company tries to kill all the competition. At any cost. We will have the biggest blood bath. Lower the price until there is no competition then raise it and keep the quality lowest in the industry.
OH GOODIE! Do we get to Bash Wal-Mart??? Lovin It!!!
Let me get my Big List Together..!!!
I don't see Walmart as a hero ever, but I do not think that is the problem with what happened on Friday morning. I think it has more to do with raw naked greed, and the retail sector that feeds into that greed. Remember the physical wars between women over Cabbage Patch Dolls back in the 1980s? People were frenzied to get that particular toy for their little darlin' for Christmas and they didn't care how they got it! Now you can find the ruined remains of those same dolls at yard sales for 25 cents. This whole Black Friday thing is getting out of hand, you may get a few things that are priced under the usual price, but great deals? How do you set a price on your integrity? How would it feel to be in a group that trampled a person to death? What could that possibly have to do with the birth of Christ; The Lord Saviour? Just too sad. :'( :'( :'( :'(
I went to WalMart early Friday morning simply for the doorbuster deals. I have a small child and I knew Christmas would be tight this year, so I wanted to find the absolute lowest prices I could find. I would never fight or trample anyone to get what I wanted. The WalMart I went to (ElDorado) was very calm.
Gander Mountain, however was a different story. It was crazy. I really didn't think it would be that bad. I went there with the intention of buying one thing, but I was so irritated that I left and went to Dick's Sporting Goods. It was a disaster area as well. I did get to buy the gun that I was originally going to purchase at Gander Mountain for much much cheaper.
I think it's very sad that people forget the true reason of the season. I will be perfectly happy if all I get is a handmade card or gift. I don't think it's about getting or giving the best gift. I DO like to save money, but I will not KILL to save $100 on a flat screen tv. I believe the situation has a lot to do with our falling economy. People are scrambling to find the best deals and it's truly become a game of survival.
you want the best prices on your gifts then stay home on Friday and make leftover turkey casserole and wait a couple weeks to do your shopping. Prices will be much lower than they were on "black" friday. Gift giving has gotten way out of hand anyhow. Parents thinking their children all deserve those $200-$500. electronic gadgets that will be obsolete in a couple years and doing whatever is necessary to get those gifts. Not only do the parents think that but the kids believe they deserve all that stuff. Good thing I'm not raising mine now days. A new winter coat, some gloves, pair of jeans and a couple toys and that was it and some years not that much. They didn't turn out too bad. Course they were not exposed to a lot of the things kids have today. Guess that is a difference, but I still think gift giving is out of hand.
I went shopping on Friday. Now I didn't trample anyone or shoot anyone. Every shopper I ran across was quite polite. By the way I have no little children to overbuy for. I did buy 2 pair of jeans for my grandaughter. Why do I go? Because I enjoy going with my daughter-in-law and shopping and having lunch. I also make it my annual trip to The Nifty Nut House so I can make peanut brittle.
I'm not exactly sure what it has to do with my intelligence or lack of.
Since I was off for Thanksgiving and had the chance to go shopping,I stayed home!!! I am sure there were wonderful bargains out there but I could not make myself fight the traffic and the manic women that do this every year. When in the long run if you wait until days just before Christmas they will start marking down the prices anyway to get rid of what they ordered.
But have you ever noticed that when something like this happens it is at Wal Mart? Not sure what that says about their store or the people they hire to take care of problems before they start.
We probably need to go back to the days of just buying what we need and not trying to keep up with what everybody else has.
Just my two cents on the subject.
Army Mom :-*
I know this isn't a popular opinion but I refuse to bash Wal-Mart...they have enabled many of my poorer students to live a half-way decent life...Wal-Mart has enabled many of the have-nots to finally be able to have at least a basic level of existence...even if that existence isn't on the same level as the have's, at least they're given a hand up. You can bash the quality of the merchandise, if you feel the need to do so...but it's there...it's economically feasible...and it is inexpensive enough that, when it shoots craps at the same rate as the expensive stuff, you afford to go out and replace it fairly easily. I am grateful for every advantage that the place affords my students...and me, who has to manage on a teacher's budget. Besides that...the original point of this thread was (and I fully agree with SDM here) that the animals who trampled the worker to death were just exactly that...animals who were not concerned with anyone or anything else other than what they wanted...and the fact that their greed caused another person's death.
Quote from: sixdogsmom on December 01, 2008, 11:16:55 PM
I don't see Walmart as a hero ever, but I do not think that is the problem with what happened on Friday morning. I think it has more to do with raw naked greed, and the retail sector that feeds into that greed. Remember the physical wars between women over Cabbage Patch Dolls back in the 1980s? People were frenzied to get that particular toy for their little darlin' for Christmas and they didn't care how they got it! Now you can find the ruined remains of those same dolls at yard sales for 25 cents. This whole Black Friday thing is getting out of hand, you may get a few things that are priced under the usual price, but great deals? How do you set a price on your integrity? How would it feel to be in a group that trampled a person to death? What could that possibly have to do with the birth of Christ; The Lord Saviour? Just too sad. :'( :'( :'( :'(
Bullseye!
I refuse to bash WalMart as well. I do quite a bit of my shopping there and I think I'm quite intelligent. I'm raising a family and groceries and other necessities just aren't cheap. I can get larger quantities there that will last quite a while. I still shop at Family Market, but when I can drive to a shopping center on $10 in gas and spend the same amount of money to take care of us for a month...I'm going to do it.
And I have to disagree, many of the items I purchased for Christmas...I will not find them at the prices I bought them for. Not in time for Christmas anyway. I did not "overbuy" for my child. He will never have any kind of expensive gaming system. His father and I are strongly against it. I love to shop, and who doesn't love a bargain? If you are going to sit here and tell me that you've never gotten excited because you bought something waay below retail price, I'd say you were full of it. I bought a digital camera that normally sells for $150 for $39.99. Is that crazy? No. That's a deal.
I did buy my son more gifts yesterday at Batson's. I only found 2 items that would appeal to him. So, you who are against Black Friday or WalMart...Tell me what I was suppose to do if this was my only resort. I'm not knocking our little store, I do quite a bit of shopping there. But, I truly want to know what I was suppose to do if I didn't get the deals I did on Friday. I probably wouldn't have had anything to put under my tree. And I'm sure as hell not going to ask anyone to help me like I see in the Eagle daily.
Personally I blame the retailers.......you can't lock your doors and mob hundreds of people up like they're runnin the bulls at pamplona, tell em you have 5 or 10 of what they want for half or less and expect nobody to get hurt when you turn em loose!
It ain't like this is the first time this has ever happened...people get trampled every year, this year people are just a little more desperate and broke.
I don't do shoppin period unless I HAVE to and you couldn't melt my ass down and pour me into that black friday mess.
I also do a lot of what shoppin I do at wal-mart, not cause I want to but because it's what I can afford to :P
Ok, I have done the Black Friday thing in the past. I have resorted to buying online or in town. Why?? I just can't stand to go to Walmart if I don't have to. I spend money on stuff that I don't need. As for over buying, I guess you could say that I used to be that way. I think that I was because I wanted my children to have more than I had. But honestly this year we just can't afford it and what am I teaching my children if they get every single item that they want. Nothing!! I feel that they need to understand that things don't come cheap.
As for the person that trampled the other, that is just crazy! What on this earth is worth killing another person to buy. I made up my mind that when I did start going to black friday sales, that nothing was important enough to treat others unkind!! Just plain CRAZY!!!
No matter what is said, it is still the responsibility of any store to have their employes trained on crowd control. This is not something new, the after Thanksgiving sales have been going on for a long time. Here in Topeka they were camped out in tents in front of the stores the day before. They showed people walking in to Best Buy in a slow and orderly way with the staff standing on both sides of the door in a line. So I would say they had their crowd control in order.
PS I am not bashing Wal mart, I am bashing how they took care of things. :'(
Army Mom
You go girls! My money and I'll spend it when and where I want.
Quote from: sixdogsmom on December 01, 2008, 08:32:48 PM
I really think we need a new section entitled ethics; this should go there.
Exactly what kind of a bargain at Walmart could turn several hundred people into murderers? That is the estimated number of people who stepped on the Walmart employee on Friday morning and trampled him to death. Other people were injured in the stampede including a pregnant woman. Other emplyees only escaped injury by jumping atop vending machines it was said. What a pall on the start of the season. :o :o :o :'( :'(
We often forget to add up all the costs to determine what is a value. Sending all our money to China through Walmart. Cheaper but ineffective customer service sent over seas to India|Phillipines etc., wasting gas\energy, greater national debt\trade deficit. Many times we all are part of the trampling herd. Hopefully this can inspire us to do better and personally do our part to stop all these selfish acts. We all like cheaper prices but we need to look at all the costs, short term and long term. The trampling is just a horrendous act of our selfishness. We can do better.
David
I stayed home on Black Friday and put up my Christmas decorations, including my nativity scene... the reason for the season! I appreciate a small, well-thought, personal gift more than any expensive item.
When I lived in KC, we did go out and do some shopping on black Friday, but only to JoAnn's to get craft items for holiday gifts. It was more of a "fun" thing than a necessity. I personally prefer Cyber Monday, anyway!
Nov 28th was my First time EVER to try the whole 5am Walmart or Black Friday Shopping experience, and I got there right at 5am. At my age, I got game. I found tho the Wmart carts were aready all used, everyone I thought was pretty calm in the front section and Christmas section of the store in Indp. (I saw too many sleepy little kids and they were "in the way" for that type of shopping, tho. )
There were no more parking spaces so I'd had to jump the curb and park out by the north retention pond, and found it totally ringed by like-minded shoppers 20mins later ----when I went out with a single prize: a $9 pink vacuum. I went into town and back 30mins later and it was all pure lines waiting to check out, but everyone in there seemed pretty Okay "waiting", all in all. ~~~~ I heard an angry guy had clocked a woman back in Electronics over something called an "X Box", but not how old they were.
All in all, I had my little Black Friday experience, it was... interesting. And no need to try THAT one again.
I will continue to shop at large retail stores...mainly WalMart. Like greatguns said, it's my money and I'll spend it where I want.
What happens if a large retail store suddenly desides that one section of its inventory is not moving very fast? They are not making enough money in that retail section and deside to pull out of it. Remember large retail stores have a lot of influence with manufactures. They tell them when to produce what and when to provide it to the store. We now have no competion because we are so good at our job. We get the products someone else says we need and when we need them.
When was the last time you were at a locally owned lumberyard? Big box stores are changing the entire market in that sector also.
Then, as always the lowest prices kill the world, we deside to quit selling fabric.
Where do you get it now?
The mom and pop stores have been long out of business.
You now only have two choices JoAnns or Hancocks.
$4 prescriptions will not build a healthy health care system.
Competition is good. It keeps the system in check. If one company gets too much market share it wrinkles the system. I don't hate Wal-Mart's business plan I hate what else it does. It damages the manufacturing by lowing the bottom line forcing out of country locations. It has changed the way people shop. No one needs a gallon of pickles or can use them before they rot.
Lowering the prices to kill the competition then raising the prices and lowering the quality once it has the monopoly is very bad for the country.
Every dollar you spend on non domesticly produced goods puts us that much more in debt to the foreign markets.
Shop where ever you like but don't be surprised it is a have to situation in the future.
Stay with us as we grow.......
..........Wal-Mart is not Elk Konnected.
Good Ol'Wal-Mart!!!
I have gave my share of money to them. Not because I want to but because, they have almost left us no other choice. If I can buy a product somewhere else I do. And that doesn't mean K-Mart, Sam's, Target and whoever else there is. I will make one trip a year to shop in Wichita and that is Christmas.
When we first moved down here we needed some LA200 and asked Tom if he had any. He said that he sold feed and Doc "Williams" sold vaccine.
I have seen old Vacant Wal-Mart buildings just setting. Some towns will have more than just one vacant old Wal-Mart building. As they grow bigger they just take up more land that could be used for something better. Wal-Mart don't give a hoot about the land. They will pay the big bucks to buy ranch and farm land to sell you products NOT MADE in the US. Land used to raise your food and clothing to sell you food and clothing at a cheap price made and raised in other countries. It's all about greed, and it isn't just Wal-Mart it's the people that sell the land for the big bucks. Maybe the people selling the land don't have anything to do with the family farm or ranch they just see the rent money every year from the guy working the land. That check from Wal-Mart is a heck of a lot more than the rent check they get from the farmer or rancher. Forget about the money he is shorting the renter! Now he has to try to make a living with less land. You can buy a lot of stuff at Wal-Mart but last I checked they don't sell land. You can't manufacture land! When it is gone it is gone. Do the people selling the land ever think where they are going to get their food and clothing? Oh they will just go to the Wal-Mart.
I do my part and buy what I can local. If not Elk Co, it's Greenwood, Cowley, Sumner, Butler, Chautauqua Counties.
I don't know about all of you but I like being able to call the local guy that knows you. If you are running late they will, set out what you need or bring it by the house on their way home. They will trust your neighbor to pick it up for you and send you a bill.
I did once while in Amarillo call a feed store and have them set something out for me. I had to give them my CC# of course and they informed me that I should hurry because they couldn't promise me that it would still be on the step when I got there. We showed up and that feed store had bars on the windows!
I do shop and buy locally alot. Now Pep just because I shopped on black friday, it doesn't mean I bought a thing. Of which I didn't at Wal-Mart. And I will shop in Howard, Kansas for Christmas. JC Penny's is the only place I have found girls 16 1/2 plus jeans. Whatever country they are made in, they fit the girl. By the way what I build at work is all bought by those countries overseas.
I'm not saying I'm a huge Walmart shopper. I said I go there to stock up. If I don't go there then I go to Dillon's. I STILL shop in Howard, I'm there almost every week. As for fabric, I have recently been buying off of Ebay...It's cheaper and there's a bigger selection. Sometimes I can even get it pre-cut into the size of squares I need which saves me time. Shall we bash Ebay next?
I never bragged about the quality of merchandise from Walmart. We bought a tv there 2 years ago and it didn't even last 3 months. Our next two sets came from Larry at J & L Video - A LOCAL RETAILER - along with our dvd player, fax printer copier, and laptop computer. I really don't purchase anything from Walmart other than groceries when I go. The garden center is a mess and the furniture is a joke.
The deck we added on our house came from Sutherland's. It's put together well and has proved to be very sturdy. Same with the guttering we purchased. I also buy often at Orschelen's. Clothing, farm supplies...etc. I'm not going to run around the tri-county area trying to support everyone. That's going to cost more money than it's worth.
Are you going to tell me next that I should have hired a local contracter to build my house rather than have ordered a pre-fabricated one from a big store on east Kellogg?
I buy clothes at wal-mart....I can afford some from there once in a blue moon. That's the "shoppin" I do.
Bout 4 miles from where we live there is a feedstore where I get my feed and know the guys who work there....there is a cafe..an insurance office...a beauty shop...and a general store/lumberyard. We will buy lumber plumbin etc. from him but his groceries are higher than a kite just cause he's the only show around. There's a grocery store east about 20 miles kinda like morrows used to be...one southwest about 18 miles same...and I do shop at them. Other than that you have to go either 35 miles east to cassville, 23 miles to Neosho, 30 miles to bentonville. Just in case y'all don't remember this, wal-mart IS the local guy down here.
When I lived in Severy all them years I bought groceries at morrows every week, feed at the co-op, gas at rockies, insurance from the guy down town, lumber etc. from knights, garden seed and some feed from floyd coble, even bought a beer or two at the tavern back when I still drank beer. I spend my money with the local guy whenever I can.
Yeah the way wal-mart operates SUCKS....when you only got x amount of dollars this week tho and you can't get everything you NEED for it at some small guy then you do what you got to do and you don't apologize for that. You may feel bad about it but you still gotta do what you gotta do.
On another point it ain't just wal-mart takin up land that could be put to better use :P.......big highways....casino resorts.......titty bars.....shoppin malls........etc....etc..etc...
You made a funny point PEP. Some Walmarts have stopped carrying Fabric. I needed stuff to finish a quilt that I am making and had to go to Walmart in Coffeyville to get the stuff. But it's funny that they did run out the local people and now you have to drive even further to get the stuff you need. I checked into getting it quilted locally, but couldn't afford that so decided to do it myself. But they do run other businesses out of town, look at Independence. They ran out Kmart, to grocery stores and other mom and pop stores.
I don't think Patrick was making personal attacks on anyone who shops at Walmart. Like he said, he's just against the business model that Walmart uses. One person not shopping at Walmart isn't going to break that store. I think Patrick was just trying to encourage people to consider shopping locally; where people know you and care for you and will give BACK to you and the community and the schools. Even if you go to another town to shop, consider shopping in their locally-owned stores. I find the best gifts (and likely to not get duplicated) come from small-town stores. And when you shop locally, local business can expand, and then can offer more and more and more (perfect examples: drug store turned grocery store, and feed mill turned farm store).
I've admitted that I shop for certain things at Walmart and Dillons that I can't get at Family Market. But I would HATE to return to having to drive to Wichita or El Dorado or Independence weekly to get my grocery shopping done (even when you "stock up" you forget things). Now, I can save on gas by only going once every 3-4 weeks.
Also, e-bay is probably a great place for locally-owned stores and businesses to get their goods out to the public, without selling out to Walmart at "always low" prices and with such volume requirements. I don't consider e-bay to be in the same category as Walmart, at all.
Back to the original conversation, though, I think people are blaming Walmart for the incident because it's easy to blame the big guy rather than to take the blame themselves and admit that the human race and our race for the best deal is really the worst offender.
Quote from: pepelect on December 03, 2008, 10:16:50 PM
What happens if a large retail store suddenly desides that one section of its inventory is not moving very fast? They are not making enough money in that retail section and deside to pull out of it. Remember large retail stores have a lot of influence with manufactures. They tell them when to produce what and when to provide it to the store. We now have no competion because we are so good at our job. We get the products someone else says we need and when we need them.
Thats called freemarket. :) IF your widget doesn't sell then you need to come up with a better widget.
QuoteWhen was the last time you were at a locally owned lumberyard?
Actually not too long ago. their prices are double what another locally owned lumberstore in goddard sells for. IT pays me to drive to Goddard to get the lumber there, or to lowes or sutherlands since they price match.
If there was a local sawmill here that had airdried lumber and reasonable prices i would buy there. Quite frankly buying from a sawmill is the only way i get good lumber.
QuoteBig box stores are changing the entire market in that sector also.
IF there wasn't a market for big box stores then they would be out of business.
QuoteThen, as always the lowest prices kill the world, we deside to quit selling fabric.
Where do you get it now?
I get mine from a distributor. I never pay retail on fabric. :) I buy it by the bolt when i do buy it and sell the excess on ebay. :P
QuoteThe mom and pop stores have been long out of business.
Thats not true! Walmart came into dahlonega in 1996. There was the typical wailing and gnashing of teeth from ALL of the small businesses mom and pop stores and everyone else.. they were screaming they can't compete. Hockypucks! two months later a small business came in, j&J groceries and they put the hurt to walmart! They spanked walmart good on the groceries. ON top of that, that owner took care of his customers. I would say that his store was about the size of howards over in eureka.
Then you had charlies meats and groceries who was smaller than batsons. THey sold good meat and lower than wally worlds prices. What they did was cut prices offered service and they made their profit in volume sales and service.
Quote$4 prescriptions will not build a healthy health care system.
Why not? Lets take one of my meds for example, lopressor. 30 tabs probably and i am being liberal here, costs the pharmacy maybe 1.50 for 30 pills. so they make 2.50 profit. I might be wrong. But quite frankly, life saving maintenance drugs, should be 2% markup over cost and no more. When you have a senior citizen sitting there having to choose between eating and the meds that keep them alive, then that med after it hits generic should be low as possible so they can afford it.
Besides, if a pharmacy sells lopressor or other drugs like that for 4 dollars, theres no loss in that for the pharmacy. Thats something that draws your customers in. Would you rather have high drug costs or customers coming in to get the low cost drug and shopping in your store because now they can buy something to eat.
QuoteCompetition is good. It keeps the system in check. If one company gets too much market share it wrinkles the system. I don't hate Wal-Mart's business plan I hate what else it does. It damages the manufacturing by lowing the bottom line forcing out of country locations. It has changed the way people shop. No one needs a gallon of pickles or can use them before they rot.
ROTFL wanna bet! :P LOL
I buy my pickles mustard mayo and everything like that in gallon containers. Bulk prices can save soo much money and its less trash in our landfills.
QuoteLowering the prices to kill the competition then raising the prices and lowering the quality once it has the monopoly is very bad for the country.
I saw walmart TRY to do that in dahlonega, they failed miserably at it. When J&J came in, walmart dropped prices on coke products, and meat products. J&J matched them. Every single time wally world tried to undercut J&J, J&J matched them. Within 3 months walmart quit and raised prices back to their normal markup and J&J kept prices low. IT was funny.
QuoteEvery dollar you spend on non domesticly produced goods puts us that much more in debt to the foreign markets.
I don't disagree.
I try to do business where i live, but sometimes the prices make it really hard for me to do that.
Just like in any store, big or small, the more people shop there, the more the demand increases for certain types of good, the more the store can buy from their distributor, and the less they have to pay for the product, and they'll pass the savings on to the customer.
Family Market is a prime example of that; the food prices used to be quite high when there was only an aisle or two of food items, but now that they have more customers and can move product faster, the prices have decreased dramatically.
Remember, for any community or county or Elk Konnected area to work, we not only have to support ourselves, but support each other! Walmart may (?) support local organizations and groups in the towns where they are located, but only Elk County stores are going to support Elk County organizations and schools... and only Elk County people are going to support Elk County stores.
Sorry that I got off the subject....but it does come back to GREED, and Priorites. Sad but true.
I have been following this thread and it is a good lesson in human nature. A lot of what has been said reminds me a humourous conversation I have had about WalMart with one of my older sisters. She is always telling me how she hates walMart, how bad Walmart is to shop at and how none of the people like or want a WalMart in there community. I always tell her that I understand and that she must be right because Walmart has not been a sucessful business venture, does not do much volume and has never grown much.
To blame WalMart for what a bunch of rude, crude dumb people did seems unfair. We have shopped Black Friday for years and in many places, Dallas, Houston, Tyler, Texas, Midland, Texas, Denton,Texas and this year in Long Beach/Signal Hill California and I have never had people be anything but considerate and courteous. I have seen massive crowds, and seen people that lined up 24 hours ahead of time, but I have never seen people push, shove or be rude. My guess is there is more to this story than what has come out. Also I have spent time in new York over the years and I seen some pretty rude people. In fact every time I get together with an old friend that I worked and traveled all over the world with, we always have a conversation that starts out with"Somebody is going to have to get off of this Bus". That goes back to many years ago we flew into New York and stayed all night to catch a flight the next morning to London, the Hotel had a bus that went to the Airport every hour, we got on the Bus and it eventually filled up, there was only one seat left, a couple from New York got on, the lady looked around and announced" somebody is going to have to get off of this bus", she went on to say there was only one seat and two of them and they were not going to be late for their flight.
In any case WalMart is the largest retailer in the world and for a reason.
I remember once talking to a man in Mervyns in Midland Texas and he said "Damn I want to thank the Chinese for these low priced shirts", I said well be sure and thank them for the high priced Gasoline that is coming with those low priced shirts.
Frank
I have shopped at little gift shops and stores in El Dorado and other towns. I LOVE El Dorado's stores. I always find cute things at Triple S, Robin's, and all the other little stores down Main Street. The same with Eureka. I do support my local businesses. Probably more than some of our local forum members. I bank in Howard AND Eureka, we buy parts at Lanning's and Harrod's, sometimes order dinner from Poplar's, buy gifts from Traci's, send floral arrangments from K & K, buy tires at the co-op, and run into Cookson's when something breaks! But I cannot afford to buy everything here. I am out of town once a week anyway, so that's when I go to other stores. I never forget what I need. I'm not perfect but I am a control freak and organize everything. I have lists about lists.
But sometimes, those auto parts are cheaper from JC Whitney catalogs, gifts are cheaper online, and farm supplies have better deals in catalogs. There's always a better deal out there. There are only a few things we DON'T do locally. We do not doctor here, never have, never will. I think that's the only thing we do not do here.
But I do shop locally quite frequently. I don't mind supporting my town and my county. I like keeping my money here. But I like to get out of Elk County once in a while too. Actually, I LOVE to get out of Elk County. I just feel like it's hard to depend on the local businesses while trying raise a family. I don't feel confident that I could stay afloat if I had to do everything here. :-\
I buy lots of Ammunition of all kinds at WalMart, if someone can tell me a cheaper place to buy it I will do it. The Ammunition at WalMart is the same exact quality, brand etc as any place else.
Well, if Elk County had everything we needed, we'd be Wichita (and it's funny that people from Wichita still drive to Tulsa, OK City, or KC to shop, too). But we're very lucky to have the things that ARE here, and that we don't have to go far to get the things that aren't.
In thinking back 40+ years ago, the people of Elk County went to GEM, Government Employee's Store and David's in Wichita, foerunners to K-Mart and Walmart, and shopped for Christmas and other occascions, why, for the selection and the price, same reason they go to Walmart today.
I think this thread should have been labled "What Kind of Person Would it Take"?????
I am not trying to bash our locally owned stores either. But on the parts from Lannings and such, if you ask sometimes he can get them for you and pretty cheap. We do alot of our business through there. I had to buy certain batteries for my smoke detactors at the daycare and they were 10.00 a piece. Not sure what they would be at Walmart, don't really care. I bought them at Cookson's because they had them and would order more for me if I wanted. I am not trying by anymeans to step on any toes, but I just think the convinces out weigh the trips out of town. I had to load up 3 girls and take them out of town to go shopping, wasn't fun before. I am the type that likes to look over the items and make sure that I am getting the cheapest and best thing for my money. I now LOVE to grocery shop. I can go into Family Market get what I want and leave the kids at home with their father. Less stress and hassle!!
Quote from: Tobina on December 04, 2008, 01:29:54 PM
Well, if Elk County had everything we needed, we'd be Wichita (and it's funny that people from Wichita still drive to Tulsa, OK City, or KC to shop, too). But we're very lucky to have the things that ARE here, and that we don't have to go far to get the things that aren't.
Hummmmmmmmmmmm very well said and how very true. Nice little ray of sunshine on an overcast day!
We have Wal-Mart, the symbol of unfettered capitalism gone asunder. We have the day after Thanksgiving, known as "Black Friday," where people are known to go crazy for 5 a.m. "doorbuster" sales at department stores. ("You can't beat these prices unless you, y'know, go online!") We have an apocalyptic unruly mob, only instead of racing fellow consumers for Soylent Green or the new Brawndo flavor, they want 20 percent off flat-screen TVs. And we have the death of a Wal-Mart employee, trampled to death, as hundreds of avid customers skip over his body, unaware of the grisly death underneath their tennis shoes. A pregnant woman was also injured in the bullrush.
This actually happened, right? This wasn't some kind of viral video stunt? Because that would somehow make more sense.
After reading comments in some of the News' threads, one central theme is clear. "This, my friends, is everything that is wrong with America," wrote one commenter. Another reader said, "How absolutely sickening! It just confirms my belief that Black Friday is the High Holy Day in the religion of Materialism when everyone bows down to the Almighty Dollar."
So this was embarrassing and quite sad for Wal-Mart, the employees family, for Long Island, and — sure — for the country. What will be even more fun to watch, however, will be to see who the legal system assigns the blame on this one. The mob? The store? Bush? Obama? Richard Jewell? Or, here's a novel concept, perhaps they can rule the unfortunate death as an accident, poke society in its craw, and mumble a few words about self-control and the spirit of the holidays, and wait for the next strange circumstance to unfold. Perhaps a man will leave his cell phone at a McDonald's with nude pictures of his wife, the pictures will show up online, and the man will sue McDonald's. We'll just have to wait and see. http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/news/71375/
You need an Ice Cream cone just to take the edge off.
Quote from: Warph on December 05, 2008, 01:39:41 AM
Or, here's a novel concept, perhaps they can rule the unfortunate death as an accident, poke society in its craw, and mumble a few words about self-control and the spirit of the holidays, and wait for the next strange circumstance to unfold. Perhaps a man will leave his cell phone at a McDonald's with nude pictures of his wife, the pictures will show up online, and the man will sue McDonald's.
AMEN!!! It's sad that we/society have been reduced to always looking for and placing the blame on SOMEONE else. We/society are rarely willing to take blame for our own decisions and actions. Whatever happened to RESPECT, COURTESY, RESPONSIBILITY, and SELF-CONTROL?? The unbelievable tragedy that happened is not due to the fault of Walmart. That's ridiculous. That incident could have happened at any large store that Friday morning. Tyring to lay blame on the retailer is a scapegoat.
I personally believe there is blame to be put on the people and also the stores for encouraging people to fight over the five items that are such a bargain.
Quote from: greatguns on December 07, 2008, 08:55:06 PM
I personally believe there is blame to be put on the people and also the stores for encouraging people to fight over the five items that are such a bargain.
That was my opinion too.
Quote from: greatguns on December 07, 2008, 08:55:06 PM
I personally believe there is blame to be put on the people and also the stores for encouraging people to fight over the five items that are such a bargain.
Well, if you are going to place blame with the retailer then don't forget the media. Without the media to constantly push the advertising, that advertising & marketing agencies have developed, to push down everyone's proverbial throats the public wouldn't be aware of what they need to froth at the mouth to get out there and kill to buy. I guess then we should actually blame the media for the publics lack of self-control, lack of respect, and inability to make rational decisions. See, there is a whole new group out there to blame!!
Whatever!
How about we put the blame where it goes.......with our whole stupid greedy materialistic culture that puts more value on stuff than they do on people................................................................eveybody mentioned bears a little bit of the blame from the people who hype the stuff up to the stores who lock people out until they are in a frenzy to the stupid people who think some stupid toy or tv or whatever is worth WHATEVER they have to do to get it even kill somebody. It makes me pukin sick........
I agree Pam. Maybe I should have said I believe the cause of it instead of using the word blame.