“With No Malice”©2012
A General Interest Opinion Column by an opinionated person.
Vic Topmiller Jr.
01/31/13(68)

“Corporation – An ingenious device for obtaining individual profit without individual responsibility.”

“More Big Box
Symbol of the world.”
The Last Word.

I can't seem to get off of WalMart. It is a good subject to write about. It's kinda like WalMart is the big kid on the block, and we can say anything about it we want without fear of retaliation for fear that if they do retaliate they will be labeled as the town bully. We now live in a world of blogs, reviews and the ever-watching media. So, as you have noticed, the big corps do their thing with little or preferably no fanfare. But don't kid yourself, and don't be fooled, they don't need public opinion to support their position when they are able to keep millions of dollars in their budgets to entice political leaders to see things their way. Right or wrong – good or bad, that's how it is and if you and I owned a mega business we'd do the same. I just wanted to say all of this so that you would understand that I know how insignificant I am (and you) as to our opinions and that is why we can blast them to pieces and they won't complain a bit. Dang-it.

Do we understand our place now?

But let's go on. Walmart is very smart. It didn't get to be the biggest kid on the block (world) by being dumb and making dumb decisions. It got there by paying no attention to foolishness and making decisions based on actuaries and numbers. Not theoretical facts as would be learned by the masters of the universities but by logic that says, the last report was good; this report is better; the next report will be even better.

While on the other hand it may say, the last report was not good, neither was this one, there will be no more reports on this item, it's gone.

It doesn't take a New York tower full of graduate statisticians to see what works and what doesn't if you are only interested in profit. And believe me, WalMart loves profit. It will not tolerate a store that doesn't make profit that fits into the corporate window.

All of that was to say: WalMart doesn't beat up and down the university corridors looking for the best of help. They don't need to. They look up and down the isles of their stores. If an employee has demonstrated a knack for moving products or has a sense of buying and merchandizing—from there will the corporation be staffed.

The point is, finally I'm here. It doesn't take a degree from the university to move up the ladder at the Big Box. You have to demonstrate the intellect and the drive to make things happen (as it should be in every job). To show a company profit from your actions. In other words, a person at WalMart can follow success right to the top (as it should be).

One ingredient I haven't brought up yet—Loyalty. You don't go beyond stocker without loyalty. Surprised?

In spite of what you may have thought, WalMart employees are happy(mostly). I know several, they all speak well of WalMart (mostly). The fact that a local employee may stay a local employee, in a large sense, is his or her choice. Did you ever notice how a large percentage of those employees are older and usually retired from another job? See, WalMart gets the advantage of all this experience at bargain basement wages. If you want to do good in any corporation, especially if you want to climb the corporate ladder, you had better put on the corporate gown and show that corporate money invested in you is going to be money well-spent. If you don't like that plan, start your own corporation.

So, surprisingly, WalMart and the Big Box image is really built on “old-fashioned” business models. Find out from the employees and the records what it is that the folks want to buy and buy in such large quantities that your purchasing price will be so much lower than the other stores' so that the price at the Big Box is about the same as a competitor would have to pay at wholesale.

Make sense? Can you find fault in this? Just enjoy the bargains.

Bottom line—every business and every employee needs to be held accountable, keep shopping around and hold feet to the fire.

But don't forget the local store, the one where you get to call the owner by his or her first name.

“Commerce – The principle of liberty....it settled America, and destroyed feudalism, and made peace and keeps peace.”
Emerson.

 That's My Opinion.

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