05/01: Wal-Mart and Manufacturing Standards
Category: American Culture
Posted by: an okie gardener
Here's something else I learned recently. My source in industry shall remain anonymous, but I will vouch for him.
Because Wal-Mart drives such hard bargains with suppliers, it is not unusual for suppliers to alter their specs so as to sell to Wal-Mart with a profit. I'm talking major manufacturers selling goods through Wal-Mart that are not as well-made so as to fit into the price structure. So what's the problem? Nowhere on the labels will it say that the specs differ from what one might purchase elsewhere.
That sounds fraudulent.
Because Wal-Mart drives such hard bargains with suppliers, it is not unusual for suppliers to alter their specs so as to sell to Wal-Mart with a profit. I'm talking major manufacturers selling goods through Wal-Mart that are not as well-made so as to fit into the price structure. So what's the problem? Nowhere on the labels will it say that the specs differ from what one might purchase elsewhere.
That sounds fraudulent.
phortognome wrote:
For what they're worth here are some of my thoughts on WalMart. WalMart's Business model is extremely successful in tems of Market Share and Profitability, altho they have taken some hits on the public image side. (I hear they are about to launch a campaign to counter this)
What is their successfull model - To give us (the customer) what we want. Givign us what we want means intensive research on our behavior, not on our words. They don't care that much about what we say we want. Several years ago WalMart publicized a "buy American" campaign. As I recallthey would seek american suppliers for any product they sold. This did not last very long, I suspect they found that consumers were willing to go elsewhere (K-Mart, etc) to find cheaper products.
We say we want WalMart to treat their employers better, but, we tell them we are willing to keep thier employees on the job all hours and all days to supply those things we forgot (say batteries... discover on Christmas Eve)
WalMart is willing to put pressure on suppliers and employees to give us what we want, convenience, variety and low proces.
As you note above we may want to look more closely at what they are deliverign compared to what the appear to be delivering...