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I'm going out on a limb here & saying that Phil A. Delphia doesn't shop at Wal Mart
I just wonder if Phil A. Delphia has a 401k or a retirement plan. It is surprising how many people hate on Wal-Mart but, unbeknownst to them, their retirement investments are augmented by Wal-Mart profits. Not really directed at Phil, but as Americans, we must remember that corporations are amoral, making decisions to benefit their stockholders- in Wal-Mart's case, this covers a broad swath of American investors. We are a greedy culture, for sure.
I don't see a big difference between Wal-Mart and the other national retailers to be honest. Sure maybe Family Dollar is a NC based chain, but you are sending your dollars to Charlotte rather than Arkansas...I guess then shop at Family Dollar instead.
I also don't see an issue with Wal-Mart locating in the larger towns...its when they move into the small towns that it really hurts. They are talking about one in Burgaw...that could hurt Main St in Burgaw. But putting on in Porters Neck area of Wilmington isn't going to hurt many businesses that aren't already national retailers. And its part of the expansion of the community...population increase. Again there is no population increase in Burgaw, its just going to take people away from the existing businesses.
They're forcing other companies to follow along. It wasn't that long ago when retail was a career that paid bills and, especially, had benefits. Walmart changed that for the worse. Those 250+ people at each Walmart, in addition to countless other employees at other stores don't have a reason to care if they're working 35 hours, or even 15. They'll be on public assistance either way, and the taxpayers pay better than Walmart.
Walmart is a revenue generator for Walmart only, and they do it at the expense of everybody, whether you work in retail, education, the healthcare industry, or anywhere else. It's like a triple tax: We pay to set Walmart up; Walmart makes tons of profit; and we help Walmart make payroll. Even if you never set foot in Walmart, we all pay them to suppress us. If they had tried to gain the market shares they have with mergers, they would have been shot down by the FTC. Why they let them get away with it by their own creations is beyond me. In the big picture I fail to see the difference. They practice oppressive civic business tactics. To give them more market share is foolish. If 70% or more of all Greenville retail workers end up working at Walmart or under a pay (and benefits) structure similar to Walmart (to compete), they will only be able to shop at Walmart and nowhere else. Walmart does not promote growth, it retards it.
I agree with Phil A. Delphia! But it's even worse than Phil A. has said. Walmart back in the early nineties, while Sam Walton was still alive, had a buy American campaign for a while. It didn't last long though, because Walmart was soon buying primarily from China. Walmart is primarily responsible for China's economy being what it is today. Buying from China, gave them the ability to under price other retailers, which drove other retailers to buy from China, which in turn destroyed manufacturing in the US.
Additionally, by paying such low wages and having such unethical employment practices, as Phil A. has already discussed, they depend on the government (our tax dollars) to subsidize their business. To make matters worse, state and local governments sometimes will even pay for infrastructure to get them to come to small rural towns, which they end up economically devastating.
This is how it works. When Walmart comes to town, they "likely" (I say likely because I don't have the statistics in front of me) destroy more jobs than they create. They destroy the locally-owned mom and pop businesses like clothing stores, mercantiles, grocery stores, hardware stores, shoe stores, appliance stores, electronics stores, business supply stores, sporting goods stores, etc. They also use their own accountants, lawyers, and advertisers so none of the money those mom and pop stores would have spent in the local economy stays there. They are also located in the burbs and hurt efforts to revitalize downtowns by eliminating the kinds of businesses that would be great for that purpose. Furthermore, the money that goes to Bentonville (and on to China) would have stayed in the local economy with the locally-owned businesses where it would have recirculated many times over.
Also, the people who previously owned the local mom and pop stores destroyed by Walmart used to make good incomes, now they generally make a lot less. The only thing Walmart does for the local economy is the meager wages it pays. It's also likely the tax income generated is also smaller than it would have been with the mom and pop stores.
I chose the name GoingLocal for these very reasons. Local food has become the foundation for local economies and have led the revitalization efforts in downtown Durham and other cities. If Greenville wants to revitalize downtown/uptown, Walmart is not helping that effort. For sure you can get what you need for cheaper at Walmart, but what kind of product quality are you getting there? And at what cost to your town? Local economies are like the economy of any individual. To prosper you need more money coming in than going out. Otherwise, your local economy is either in a balanced state or declining.
For main street America to reemerge, we need to create thousands of excellent entrepreneurs to start business that will benefit local economies, reestablish the meaning of free enterprise, and quit being dependent on the government and big business to supply us everything we need.
What about the roughly $7,000,000 in just sales tax alone that Pitt County will get from Walmart per year? Or the donation of more than $1,000,000,000 by Walmart in 2012 to various charities. Sure the company has some downsides. Yes it should pay its employees more. The consumers decide who stays in business and who doesn't. That's how capitalism works. The day and age of mom and pop stores for general merchandise is over. That has nothing to do with Walmart. Greenville is a prime example of the chain store era. I'd like to see this thread without personal/political/social opinions, so i apologize for putting mine in. Pitt County and Greenville are lucky to even have the opportunity to have discussions about jobs and expansions. Many other parts of this state would love to have this taking place and i think we should be more grateful for the relative prosperity that exists in Pitt County.
What about the roughly $7,000,000 in just sales tax alone that Pitt County will get from Walmart per year? Or the donation of more than $1,000,000,000 by Walmart in 2012 to various charities. Sure the company has some downsides. Yes it should pay its employees more. The consumers decide who stays in business and who doesn't. That's how capitalism works. The day and age of mom and pop stores for general merchandise is over. That has nothing to do with Walmart. Greenville is a prime example of the chain store era. I'd like to see this thread without personal/political/social opinions, so i apologize for putting mine in. Pitt County and Greenville are lucky to even have the opportunity to have discussions about jobs and expansions. Many other parts of this state would love to have this taking place and i think we should be more grateful for the relative prosperity that exists in Pitt County.
I think its a relevant point...the new Wal-Mart is within Greenville City limits, correct? And the businesses surrounding it are in the City limits. The tax base is growing with those businesses.
In Wilmington they are getting ready to build a 3rd Wal-Mart in the county only 1 of them is within the city limits. With the lack of ability to annex now, it sets up all those businesses that follow Wal-Mart right outside the city. And then those sales taxes collected are outside the city.
So, IMO, the 2nd Wal-Mart is a benefit to the city in terms of tax base and sales tax...and bringing in folks outside the city to spend their money. Greenville gets a nice rate of return on that 2nd Wal-Mart.
I think its a relevant point...the new Wal-Mart is within Greenville City limits, correct? And the businesses surrounding it are in the City limits. The tax base is growing with those businesses.
In Wilmington they are getting ready to build a 3rd Wal-Mart in the county only 1 of them is within the city limits. With the lack of ability to annex now, it sets up all those businesses that follow Wal-Mart right outside the city. And then those sales taxes collected are outside the city.
So, IMO, the 2nd Wal-Mart is a benefit to the city in terms of tax base and sales tax...and bringing in folks outside the city to spend their money. Greenville gets a nice rate of return on that 2nd Wal-Mart.
If we treated small businesses and big businesses the same, i.e. eliminate subsidies for big business, there would be many more small businesses that would fill the shopping demand. Small, locally-owned businesses would spend their money in the local economy instead of it being sent directly out as soon as someone buys something. The entrepreneurial, local companies would create more tax revenue (because the money spent by consumers would circulate in the local economy longer), make towns more interesting (who can tell one town from another these days, they all have the same big box stores), help reduce our federal deficit, create a more conducive environment for democratic values to flourish, and help resurrect the manufacturing sector in the United States (creating even more revenue to offset the federal deficit). It would also be better for workers, the environment, and would help bring back the middle class.
There's a difference between capitalism and free enterprise. We need capital to raise money to fund business development, but what we have evolved to in the US is corporatism. Corporatism means that corporations get lots of financial breaks small businesses don't. Create a even playing field for all businesses, then it's free enterprise. Besides, small business is where most jobs are created, not big business.
Looks like lots of work on College Hill and the Steam plant....as well as some Minges technology upgrades. Improving the technology in the coliseum may help in getting more other events in Greenville like concerts going forward.
Would be great if someone could post pics of the recent downtown activity...1st St, Georgetowne, and 5th St.
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