Wal-Mart and Christmas

[KenH]

On another thread the following was stated:

From WalMart's response:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Walmart is a world wide organization and must remain conscious of this. The majority of the world still has different practices other than "christmas" which is an ancient tradition that has its roots in Siberian shamanism. The colors associated with "christmas" red and white are actually a representation of of the aminita mascera mushroom. Santa is also borrowed from the Caucuses, mistletoe from the Celts, yule log from the Goths, the time from the Visigoth and the tree from the worship of Baal. It is a wide wide world.

I read in an Associate Press story in my local paper today that the customer service worker who wrote that response is no longer working for Wal-Mart.

 

[carpro]

Rightfully so, if true.

Not very diplomatic or understanding,to say the least.

 

[emeraldctyangel]

Walmart is unconcious of their standing in the world? Ha. I dare to say the CEO's of this company must certainly look at the bottom line from time to time, which just may indicate that selling red and white themed decorations at the appointed time on the calendar must be the best practice. You dont get to be a world wide organization by spreading yourself too thin, you stick to what you know.

Capro, if this person felt so strongly about his/her viewpoint enough to put it in the paper, then I would venture to guess they were in the wrong business to start with. But that is just me.

 

[donnA]

I am still getting a list of nearly 8,000 items with no redirect to 'holiday' at the wal mart site.
Anyone whose been i wal mart lately knows they have not ignored christmas.

 

[carpro]

Originally posted by emeraldctyangel:

Capro, if this person felt so strongly about his/her viewpoint enough to put it in the paper, then I would venture to guess they were in the wrong business to start with. But that is just me.

What "person" are you talking about?

 

[KenH]

Originally posted by carpro:
Rightfully so, if true.

"LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – A Roman Catholic civil rights group called off a boycott of Wal-Mart on Friday after the world's largest retailer apologized for an employee's e-mail that called Christmas a mix of world religions.

"This is a sweet victory for the Catholic League, Christians in general, and people of all faiths," said Bill Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said in a statement on the group's Web site.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Thursday that a customer-service employee named Kirby had written an inappropriate e-mail to a woman who complained that the retailer had replaced a "Merry Christmas" greeting with "Happy Holidays." It also said Kirby no longer worked for Wal-Mart."

- rest at LINK

 

[LadyEagle]

In keeping with the "holiday" spirit at Wal-Mart:

NLC interviewed workers in China's Guangdong Province who toil in factories making popular action figures, dolls, and other toys sold at Wal-Mart. In "Toys of Misery," a shocking 58-page report that the establishment media ignored, NLC describes: 13- to 16-hour days molding, assembling, and spray-painting toys from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. or even midnight, seven days a week, with 20-hour shifts in peak season. Even though China's minimum wage is 31 cents an hour -- which doesn't begin to cover a person's basic subsistence-level needs -- these production workers are paid 13 cents an hour.

Workers typically live in squatter shacks, seven feet by seven feet, or jammed in company dorms, with more than a dozen sharing a cubicle costing $1.95 a week for rent. They pay about $5.50 a week for lousy food. They also must pay for their own medical treatment and are fired if they are too ill to work. The work is literally sickening, since there's no health and safety enforcement. Workers have constant headaches and nausea from paint- dust hanging in the air; the indoor temperature tops 100 degrees; protective clothing is a joke; repetitive stress disorders are rampant; and there's no training on the health hazards of handling the plastics, glue, paint thinners, and other solvents in which these workers are immersed every day.

As for Wal-Mart's highly vaunted "code of conduct," NLC could not find a single worker who had ever seen or heard of it. These factories employ mostly young women and teenage girls. Wal- Mart, renowned for knowing every detail of its global business operations and for calculating every penny of a product's cost, knows what goes on inside these places. Yet, when confronted with these facts, corporate honchos claim ignorance and wash their hands of the exploitation: "There will always be people who break the law," says CEO Lee Scott. "It is an issue of human greed among a few people."

Those "few people" include him, other top managers, and the Walton billionaires. Each of them not only knows about their company's exploitation, but willingly prospers from a corporate culture that demands it.

Source

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

 

[donnA]

There are people living like that right here in this country but I never see anyone complaining about it.
What compainies make these same items here in our country? And what stores sell them? And what is the price difference?

 

[NaasPreacher (C4K)]

LE,

I have to question the validity of the source quoted.

Why do conspiracy sites so often use blinking lights and garish fluorescent colours .

Seriously, we are looking at Chinese conditions in the light of our mindset. So many of those workers are grateful for any job, and without it would be living in the streets and dying of starvation. Wal-mart has been painted as the big baddie, yet this is common practice among so many corporations all over the world.

 

[Joseph_Botwinick]

Roger,

Are you telling me that since the Chinese Government has created a tyrannical and oppresive culture in their society, that it is ok and we should be accepting of that for the sake of diversity? Do you really think the Chinese are happy living in poverty? I understand that there is a reform movement there to promote capitalism...but I think it is being met with resistence by the Communist Government. A government which has happy content folks in it doesn't need a scene like Tienamen Square.

Joseph Botwinick

 

[Joseph_Botwinick]

Back on topic,

I am glad Wal Mart got the message and took action.

Joseph Botwinick

 

[carpro]

Originally posted by Joseph_Botwinick:
Back on topic,

I am glad Wal Mart got the message and took action.

Joseph Botwinick

They certainly made the chage quickly in their search engine so that a "Christmas" search takes you to the Christmas page instead of the "holiday" page.

 

[gb93433]

Wal-Mart has prospered because of American greed. Americans have wanted large malls where they can have one stop shopping and buy things cheaply. There was a time when some of the city stores ahd high quality items. Not now. You must order thse or buy them online somewhere else. It is much the same with Christian books. If you go into a Christian bookstore and hardly find a reference book. It is mostly other things.

When I taught high schol years ago I almost never got a complaint from a student about how hard they worked. The vast majority came from parents telling me their child was in school to have fun. Sometimes I told them my class was not an entertainment center or PE. Even though it was my students who took first place at all of the competitions each year parents still complained. Lazy greedy parents usually breed lazy greedy children.

 

[KenH]

Wal-Mart has prospered because Sam Walton came up with a tremendous distribution system to keep prices down and shelves well stocked.

The American people are the beneficiaries of this system.

That being said, from my perspective in reading the news, evidently Mr. Walton's successors have not kept the same worker friendly environment that Mr. Sam had when he was alive.

 

[LadyEagle]

Wal-Mart started off by selling a majority of products that were "made in America." That even used to be part of their motto. Sam Walton would turn over in his grave.

Now it doesn't matter. Virtually ALL Christmas lights and ornaments are made in China now.

I can see how this is going...buy Chinese or we won't let you pass through the Panama Canal that we have control of that was paid for with your American tax dollars.

 

[donnA]

If just about all christmas lights and ornaments are made in china, how are we supose to buy christmas ligths and ornaments without buying made in china products?
These are the same products that I see in other stores, Dollar General and K Mart.
Which are my only other choices for shopping. I don't have a lot of money, very little as a matter of fact. If I don't buy as cheap as I can we do without, we don't have an option of paying twice as much to gurantee we're buying american made. This is not greed, it's survival.
I don't see it as wal marts fault that a lot of products are not made in this country. If virtually all christmas lights and ornaments are made in china, then how do you buy unless you buy chinesse made? Same for other products.
How many of you buy made in china or another country products? How do you ensure everything you buy is made in america? What if you can't find the product you need thats made in america? Does that mean you don't buy a product you need?

 

[LadyEagle]

Does that mean you don't buy a product you need?

Yep, with very rare exceptions.