Thursday, November 01, 2007
Pretty Sneaky, Wally
David versus Goliath: Austin residents take-on Wal-Mart
In the past, locals in an area targeted for retail assault by Wal-Mart have been able to get a headstart on the battle by keeping tabs on land purchases and zoning change requests. How very weasely of them!
But Wallyworld has learned a new trick, instead of buying the land, they lease it and let the landowner file the paperwork for them. It keeps them under the radar a bit longer and makes it that much harder to fight them.
Wal-Mart is the disease and information and the dissemination of their misdeeds and exploits is the cure.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, weasel, circumvention
Friday, October 19, 2007
Always Low Prices? Sort Of
In the past, locals in an area targeted for retail assault by Wal-Mart have been able to get a headstart on the battle by keeping tabs on land purchases and zoning change requests. How very weasely of them!
But Wallyworld has learned a new trick, instead of buying the land, they lease it and let the landowner file the paperwork for them. It keeps them under the radar a bit longer and makes it that much harder to fight them.
Residents’ frustration over Wal-Mart’s hushed move-in was compounded by the city’s atypical approval process of Wal-Mart’s site plan. By granting the developer an “administrative” site permit instead of a “conditional use” permit—which RG4N says is required by city law because of Wal-Mart’s outdoor garden center—the city-council wasn’t required to hold a public hearing.Wal-Mart will also stoop to lying to town councils about their personal culpablity (i.e. they are told that they will have to provide their own legal defense on their own dime, something that's pretty much never happened before).
Wal-Mart is the disease and information and the dissemination of their misdeeds and exploits is the cure.
Tags: Wal-Mart, WalMart, weasel, circumvention
Labels: weasels
Friday, October 19, 2007
Del.icio.us It
Digg It!Always Low Prices? Sort Of
Wal-Mart Price Differences
This is a good illustration of what a weasel company Wal-Mart is. The guy bought a DVD player at his local Wal-Mart for $139 and then found it on the Wal-Mart.com website for $127 with free shipping. He went back to ask for a price adjustment and they refused because, well, they already had his money.
Try doing the same thing at Target or another major retailer and they will almost certainly refund you the difference. Why? Because its good business to treat customers fairly.
Wal-Mart doesn't care about good business, they care about their profit margins.
This is a good illustration of what a weasel company Wal-Mart is. The guy bought a DVD player at his local Wal-Mart for $139 and then found it on the Wal-Mart.com website for $127 with free shipping. He went back to ask for a price adjustment and they refused because, well, they already had his money.
Try doing the same thing at Target or another major retailer and they will almost certainly refund you the difference. Why? Because its good business to treat customers fairly.
Wal-Mart doesn't care about good business, they care about their profit margins.
Labels: price differences, weasels