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Jun 17th, 2003 12:40 AM

Burned In Effigy

Only poor people and minorities shop at stores like wal-mart anyways, so who cares.

Jun 17th, 2003 12:39 AM

CastroMotorOil

I work at Meijer and it is 100000 times better then Wal-mart

Jun 16th, 2003 04:33 PM

Immortal Goat

PHONY!

Jun 16th, 2003 04:32 PM

Immortal Goat

Yeah, right, HickMan. Don't believe him, he's always saying that Wal-Mart is the best store ever, and that I am stupid for hating it. PHONY!! PHONY PHONY PHONY!!!

Jun 16th, 2003 04:27 PM

HickMan

I'm not that big for Wal-Mart either, but I go there in habbit. I fear that they will take over the world some day. They definetly have enough power and money to do so. But I go there and I will keep on going there regardless of this post. I don't want to it's just they have dvds for cheap.

Jun 16th, 2003 02:27 PM

Vibecrewangel

EVIL

Kelly that made me lol....

Here is one more reason....

BIG BROTHER COMES TO WAL-MART

By Mary Starrett

June 11, 2003

NewsWithViews.com

Starting this week, the nation's largest discount retailer will quietly begin selling tracking-chipped products to clueless shoppers. The first volley in their war against our privacy is set to start at their Brockton, Massachusetts store.

Wal-Mart will put Radio Frequency I.D. sensors on shelves stocked with RFID-tagged Gillette products, but they'd rather you didn't know about it, because, hey, you might not like it, and then you might make noise and then they'd have a big PR mess on their hands.

You might even stop buying Gillette products or, say, refuse to shop at Wal-Mart.

These chips, researched at M.I.T.'s Auto-ID Center are about the size of a grain of sand. Chipsters say the technology will only be used to help retailers keep track of inventory - like bar codes. But privacy-loving consumers question the very concept of a device that sends out radio waves to "readers" that not only identify the article, but where and with whom it's going.

The Big Brother implications of this thing need little hyping to get your skin crawling.

Wal-Mart's putting the pressure on its top 100 suppliers to make sure their inventory is all chipped by the end of next year.

But why start this in Brockton, Mass?

Could it be because the store's customers are typically lower income minorities who'd be less likely to be aware of the tracking devices, and even less likely to make a fuss about them?

Their thinking? Let's foist it on folks who're too concerned about paying the electric bill to be aware of these types of issues.

Retailers are SUPPOSED to alert their customers to the tracking chips and offer to "kill" the tags at the checkout counter.

Don't count on it, because what you don't know won't hurt you, right? And to PROVE those RFID tags won't be "killed" at the cash register one of the ways they're planning on convincing you, the shopper that these tags are A-OK is by touting how "hassle-free" returns will be. Huh? If the tags are supposedly turned off at purchase, how can they be read after the item's brought back to the store? Just one of the myriad lies you'll be told about this technology.

Are we to expect that in addition to being asked the "paper or plastic" question we'll get an option on whether the RFID tags are left on or turned off? Not only will consumers be witnessing the death throes of privacy, but it's going to cost them. Currently, the chips cost about 60 cents each. Add that to the cost of each and every item that uses this Orwellian technology. Gillette and Wal-Mart are only the pioneers here, the stated plan is to affix each item produced on the planet with RFID tags. Each pack of gum, each roll of film, each bottle of Merlot.

So what's a freedom-loving shopper to do?

Fortunately for us, there's a really smart lady finishing up a Ph.D. at Harvard. She started a group that's bellowing out the urgency of fighting this technology; her name is Katherine Albrecht and she's founder of CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion And Numbering). Albrecht's CASPIAN has proposed a piece of federal legislation called "RFID RIGHT TO KNOW ACT OF 2003". It's a law that would let consumers know which products had tracking chips attached to them. In short, the proposed bill would amend the Fair Packaging and Labeling Program by adding language that requires manufacturers to state (in a conspicuous location) that the package contains a radio frequency identification tag that can transmit unique identification information to a "reader" device both before and AFTER it's purchased(!).

This is where you come in.

The bill needs a sponsor.

Maybe YOUR Congressional Representative would like to go on record as having helped stop this assault on our privacy. Forward this article to him/her and tell them the entire text of the bill can been seen at nocards.org.

Will you make it a point to email, call or fax your representative today, before our Big Brother gets any bigger? Do it NOW before the lobbyists and big money special interests get to them and convince Congress these RFID chips are consumer-friendly!

And while you're at it, why not tell the suits at Wal-Mart and Gillette (and Home Depot, Proctor and Gamble and Johnson & Johnson, too, by the way) that from here on out you wouldn't go near their stores or their products with a ten foot pole.

It works. Remember back a few months when I told you how Italian clothing company Benetton had chipped their Sisely line of clothes and was all set to roll out the garments with RFID tracking devices? Well your outrage and feedback caused them to put the scheme on hold.

Let's make sure the behemoth Wal-Mart is similarly put on notice. (By the way, IBM's planning to add RFID to it's products; so if Wal-Mart manages to sneak this past us, all bets are off and then every corporate giant will be able to inflict this chilling, tracking/monitoring horror on us.)

If RFID gets off the ground as planned, that would make George Orwells' predictions off by just 20 years. It's up to us.

© 2003 Mary Starrett - All Rights Reserved

Jun 16th, 2003 02:00 PM

kellychaos

From a friend on another board. Funny stuff:

Quote:

Walmart people aren't like us. They are strange and different and disturbing.
Now I understand why we have the gene for prejudice. All through life we are told not to judge people, to meet them on their own terms.

Yet it's hard not to. We do it all the time. Why then does evolution equip us with this horrible tendency?

Walmart. It is good to fear the people in the blue vests. It is wise and proper that your blood run cold at the sight of the smiley face flair button on the purple vest.

My first encounter is with Cartboy the Obsessive. Cartboy's job in Bizzaro Walmart world is to collect the carts from the parking lot and return them to the store for the shoppers to use.

It sounds simple, and it works fine at other stores. Cartboy the Obsessive though is granted a foul implement. He has what I can only describe as the Cartrain Engine. The Cartrain engine is a powerful device that allows Cartboy to push around an infinite number of carts.

What Cartboy does is park the Cartrain engine in front of the good empty parking spots. The he collects carts and attaches them to the Cartrain engine. He will not simply collect 50-60 carts and return them to the store. For Cartboy the Obsessive, nothing less than collecting every cart in the entire parking lot and assembling them into the ultimate cart train will suffice.
Of course this is an impossible task. The long-haired hippy Cartboy the Obsessive stares balefully at shoppers exiting Walmarts with their carts. He follows them to their cars takes their carts and attaches them to his 100 yards of Cartrain, and Cartrain engine.

Though I've never actually seen the Cartrain in motion, there is a statistically certain chance that it will be blocking you into your parking space when you exit the store.

I avoid Cartboy by parking in the extreme end of the parking lot, and begin the hike to the store.

The weather is fine yet when I enter I am hit by an inexplicable blast of air from the heaters.

As I enter Walmart Proper I am met by Smeagol the Greeter. Smeagol the greeter has aged far beyond the allotted lifespan of humanity, and he's paid a terrible price for his immortality, doomed to lurk just inside the Walmart entrance, he derives the energy which sustains him by detaining, confusing and disturbing shoppees.

Smeagol the Greeter will always stand in the middle of the entranceway and position himself so that as he accosts a shopper, the entrance is completely blocked so that nobody else will be able to pass.

I wait in line to be accosted senselessly by this demon, and the family of four in front bolts in sudden panic. Stealing my nerve I approach Smeagol.

"Gut Afdernoon, Velcome to Valmart" he says in what seems to be a parody of a German accent. Either that or it's his vampire voice. I'm not sure.

I smile and attempt to pass.

"Are you heffen duh Cheddar?" asks Smeagol catching me with his Gary Oldman eyes, black orbs.

"Umm no thank you, " I say attempting to move on. He pulls a cart out, blocking me.

"Are you heffen duh Cheddar?"

"No. Please. I just want to buy some Nicorrette. Can I go now?"

"No. No. no. Heffen duh Cheddar. Heffen duh Cheddar. Are You heffen duh cheddar."

A couple tries to sneak by behind Smeagol, but his unnaturally attuned vision catches this and he turns.

"Yes. I'm Heffen duh Cheddar. Thank you," I say and pass.

Besides the monstrous presences in the blue vests there are more horrors that await me in Walmart. Something strange happens to people there.

I'm confounded by Irving the Indecisive. Irving is moving his cart in a fashion which at first seems totally random, and is travelling with the velocity of a beached loggerhead. Get to close, and the random motion is clearly a ruse. He will inevitably turn the cart straight into you.

You can't resign yourself to fate and politely walk behind Irving or Carry the Collider will smash you from behind with her cart.

At the same time you must avoid the Aisle Thrusters. These are the people who lurk at the end of the aisle waiting for someboyd to walk by. As they do, the hurtle their cart out of the aisle and into you.

Avoiding these people I take the dark forbidden paths through vaccums and cleaning accessories towards the pharmacy. I smile as I make good time.

Then of course I run into a Thumper. The Thumper's job is to walk towards you in the opposite direction. He will then run straight into you.

After bouncing off a Thumper I'm back in a main aisle. It's a clear shot, with only a few of the nameless I-have-stopped-randomly-and-without-purpose-and-am-standing-inexplicably-in-the-middle-of-the-aisle types.

Then a true horror. I encounter THOSE WHO MUST WALK THREE ABREAST. There is nothing to do but back up and duck into an aisle with these folk.

Then I'm at the Pharmacy section which is full of the Loitering Lost, doomed to wait out entropy for their prescription to be filled.

The Nicorrette case is of course locked, so I must wait on line with the Loitering Lost for and indeterminate but endless period as they again ask if their prescriptions are ready.

I inform the blue-vested troll behind the counter that the case is locked, and she grabs the Intercom-that-once-worked-but-has-been-broken and attempts to invoke the Keymaster who is apparently being detained on some other plane of existence.

I can almost bend the plastic door on the case to get the Nicorrette out. Almost. Instead I sit on one of the chairs of lifting on display which help people who can't stand up on their own by being so uncomfortable they never want to sit.

The Keymaster arrives and I grab my Nicorrette 4mg replacement box, and sprint for the registers.

Somewhere out there lurk the Nazgul on their motorized disability scooters....

....But I dare not say more about them.

As a veteran of Checkout Lines of Unending Detainment, I got on line, and ignore the false please of blue-vested orcs who attempt to decieve me with such transparent lies as "Aisle 17 is free. She can take you right away."

Oh yeah! Like I'm going to fall for that. You may think that the trick is obvious. By the time you get to aisle 17 that line will be longer than the one you are on. But it hardly ends there. At aisle 17 your will be informed the aisle 64 is open. At aisle 64, it is aisle 21.

Aisle 21 will indeed be open. Nobody will be waiting in line. This is because that aisle is closed and there is nobody working checkout in Aisle 21.

So I just wait out my sentence in aisle 9. They change checkout workers, have management conferences, interminable price checks, train new workers on how to change the blue printing receipt rolls and all the usual stuff.

Eventually it's my turn, and I swipe my card 30-40 times through the Credit Card Reader of Unsighted Obstinacy, collect my receipt, get in my car, avoiding Cartboy and return to planet Earth

Box baby, you want us to believe you're willingly one of these Walmartians??

Jun 13th, 2003 01:50 PM

UnDeath

yeah, but that kind of stuff has documented pictures.

Jun 13th, 2003 01:45 PM

Jeanette X

Quote:

Originally Posted by Immortal Goat

MBurbank: "I never shop there. They are VERY bad for small, local businesses."

VinceZeb: "But it does hurt small business, so I try not to shop there unless I need to get a bunch of different things at one time, but unfortuantly, they are the only place to get video games and other items."

Mark this day on your calendar, ladies and gentlemen, Vinth and Max agreed on something.

This is about as rare as a lioness adopting an oryx.

Jun 13th, 2003 01:36 PM

Immortal Goat

That's a very valid point, GAsux. Thank you for the advice. If I ever want to get laid by a girl who will one day have as much facial hair as Saddam, I will be nice to the door greeters at Wal-Mart.

Jun 13th, 2003 01:18 PM

GAsux

Words from the wise...

I worked at al Wal-Mart for two years here in Cali while I was going to a J.C.

Don't knock the door greeters. While old and overly mustachioed, those ladies have granddaughters. And granddaughters rule. You get in good with the bearded lady at the door, and you might find yourself with an express ticket to the granddaughter gravy train.

Jun 13th, 2003 01:02 PM

Vibecrewangel

Sad

I remember when Safeway and Lucky's did that to the small grocery stores.

We had one that had the best produce department and butcher shop right down the street. They just couldn't compete with the big supermarkets. Now I have go out of my way to get a decent cut of meat if I want something other than than the crap Albertson's and Safeway carry.

Jun 13th, 2003 12:57 PM

kellychaos

I live in a rural area and Kmart did the "vampire" thing to our local businesses too. The strip mall, which includes Kmart and a cineplex, lies about 3 miles outside of town has been there about 20 years or so and has slowly sucked all the life out of the local small businesses, some of which had been in business upwards of 50 years.

Jun 13th, 2003 12:46 PM

Protoclown

Quote:

Originally Posted by VinceZeb

But it does hurt small business, so I try not to shop there unless I need to get a bunch of different things at one time, but unfortuantly, they are the only place to get video games and other items.

Wow, you must live in Bumfuck. And all this time I thought you were in St. Louis. Is St. Louis really so uncivilized as all that?

Jun 13th, 2003 10:52 AM

Immortal Goat

Jun 13th, 2003 09:46 AM

VinceZeb

I love Wal-Mart. It is the Mecca of my hometown. Up on a big hill, it is. They make us pray to it 5 times a day. The Supercenter is the hub of the nightly social life as well.

But it does hurt small business, so I try not to shop there unless I need to get a bunch of different things at one time, but unfortuantly, they are the only place to get video games and other items.

Jun 13th, 2003 09:13 AM

mburbank

I never shop there. They are VERY bad for small, local businesses.

Jun 12th, 2003 10:59 PM

Protoclown

I hate Wal-Mart.

Sadly however, I am getting ready to go there with my roommate to go grocery shopping. Since it's the only place that's really open right now.

Jun 12th, 2003 10:50 PM

Immortal Goat

That, and also because at the one near me, the women that work there have more facial hair than the men.

Jun 12th, 2003 10:16 PM

Isaac

and there greeters scare the shit out of me

Jun 12th, 2003 10:06 PM

Jeanette X

Don't shop at Walmart.

From www.walmartwatch.com

Top 10 Wal-Mart Worst Actions
A judge fined Wal-Mart $18 million because the company provided incomplete and false evidence in a lawsuit brought by a woman who had been abducted in a Wal-Mart parking lot.
Upholding a $2.3 million verdict awarded to two women sexually harassed by a Wal-Mart manager, the judge said, the manager's conduct was "outrageous and apparently Wal-Mart was aware of this, since his conduct was witnessed high-level [supervisors].
Federal judges in three states have fined Wal-Mart--as much as $120,000--for destroying evidence, withholding documents, and other violations in cases where Wal-Mart shoppers were either injured or a crime victim at a Wal-Mart store. A jury found that Wal-Mart fired a white female employee because she was dating a black man, in a 1998 case.
A 14-year Wal-Mart worker was awarded $2.75 million after a jury decided store officials wrongly accused her of stealing.
Three existing community jobs are destroyed for every two new jobs at Wal-Mart.
Wal-Mart, the company that wrapped itself in the American Flag, is so patriotic it runs a Buy Mexican campaign.
Wal-Mart sold fake Tommy Hilfiger apparel to consumers after a judged ordered the company to stop.
Only 38% of Wal-Mart employees have company provided health insurance--compared to a national average that shows 60% of employees are covered by company plans.
After the FTC charged Wal-Mart with not identifying the country of origin on apparel items listed on its Internet sales site, Wal-Mart removed the items, apparently preferring not to disclose where the clothing was made.

More anti-Walmart:
http://members.aol.com/walmopboy/abuse/wst.htm
http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill...1/release.html
www.walmartvswomen.com
http://www.bit-net.com/~dka/Resources/Best%20Links.html
http://www.hel-mart.com/links.php

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