U.S. Consumers Choose Wal-Mart Over Tiffany: Zogby

Reuters:

A survey of 41,175 adults by Zogby Interactive found Americans were choosing to live with fewer material possessions, with two out of 10 giving away more than 10 percent of their belongings and not replacing them in the new economic climate.

Read the whole story: Reuters

Comments

[DandaPanda]

you guys are full of it. really. I went to Saks to buy some jeans and guess what!!! YEPPERS THEY WERE MADE IN CHINA!!! Then I looked at a Ralph Lauren Black label jacket and guess what MADE IN CHINA!!! LaCoste t shirts: made In China; Lilly Pulitzer made in China, my Ariat paddock boots made in China. Now if you think Saks treats their employees better than Walmart does I can tell you they don't.: Saks employees are on straight commission with a minimum wage draw and if they don't sell they actually owe the company. You just perceive a luxury goods store to be a better place with better merchandise and maybe sometimes its true. But hey I was at a horse show in Syracuse NY and I forgot my fancy black show pants so I went to Walmart and bought a very nice fitting pair of $12.00 true black jeans that looked better and fit better under my show chaps then my overpriced horse show pants.

[liberal user]

Obama isn't doing enough with regards to executive pay and bank & wallstreet regulation

good articles: http://www.iamned.com

[tigerlyly]

I would rather have nice jewelry (it will keep its value) or nothing at all if I were 'hypothetically' shopping for jewelry.

The alternative isn't buying gold and diamonds at Wal-mart...it's buying fashionable accessories at Zara etc..

[SorenB]

How about neither?

[Periwinkle]

The poll doesn't make much sense. If you're broke, you don't choose Tiffany. (You do, however, scour every thrift shop and yard sale for anything Tiffany.) No one wants the cheesy imports at Walmart . . . they're just stuck with them until their ship comes in.

[JBS]

I would be interested in seeing the demographics breakout on this one.

What percentage of trust fund babies chose Wally World over Tiffany?

And what percentage of minimum wage earners chose Tiffany over Walmart?

[sonoffestus]

Let's see choice A...........buy cheap crap.
choice B..........buy over priced crap.
choice C..........buy none of the above.

I choose C !

[CAP6]

Good choice.

[AZterritory]

You bet, C. Except I mostly buy at thrift stores that support local groups (Animal Welfare League Goodwill), find some great bargains on housewares, clothes, etc. You can buy Hanes brand underwear (got to have new underwear, right?) at Walgreen's and the rest at thrift shops---I will NOT support Wal-Mart in any way, shape or form.

[drymartini1]

I shop at walmart all the time. However, i dont go there to look around for what to buy. I go there with my list in hand, get my stuff and leave. How difficult is that.

Walmart is only full of crap if you are looking to shop for crap.

If i am buying monthy household items (soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, paper napkin) its an AWESOME place to shop.

stop blaming walmart and blame the frivolous consumer first.

[spinns17]

i dont buy from either

[Artos]

Yeah well duh, of course you will if that's the only two choices you have why wouldn't you. One is stealing their employees wages and using their employees to make profit off of by insuring them. (WAL-Mart) , the other is so expensive that you know they get paid well there. This is what Americans have a choice of now .Big deal. Personally I shop at neither.

[drymartini1]

What % of people who shop at walmart can afford to shop at tiffanys? ridiculous survey.

Thats like the survey responders saying they would rather drive Ford/Toyot­a/Honda/GM rather than Porsche and Maseratis.

Majority of them couldnt drive the latter even if they wanted to.

bogus survey

[billyfitz]

You should never choose WalMart for anything. Ever. The world would be a much better place if WalMart went out of business, but so called "good Americans" will keep shopping there, making sure the America they know and love is slowly destroyed.

Goodbye Main Street.

[drymartini1]

what is the author or survey compiler smoking? and how were the questions phrased?

How many americans can afford to shop at tiffanys? who are you kidding?

Walmart is affordable for millions. Tiffany, maybe a few thousands.

so who did the survey people call?

bogus survey

[canfemlib]

Affordable for millions? What a hoax! It's full of cheap crap that you don't actually need, but it's so "cheap" or, its "price rollback" that if you look at most people's carts in that store, you see it full of unnecessary stuff, bought to make them feel like they can "treat themselves" without spending too much. Except that it IS spending too much. It's the Junk Food Addiction of the US economy, buying just for the sake of it.

[lonbwoy]

I personally dont shop at walmart, but you Liberals always come up for sily stuff most the time.
Do you know walmart employs over 2 Million people???, that's right, outside the Government that you liberals love so much they are the biggest employers, so if they go out of business, yeh you know what happens then.

Also name just one Big Department store in the USA that doesn't have stuff made in china???.

Enough of this Walmart hating.

[SorenB]

I think the word "Walmart" is Chinese for cheap crap made in china! :-)

Yes the export of jobs to China was supposed to mean cheaper goods at home, but most manufactures used that as an excuse to get lower COST OF GOODS SOLD, and kept the prices the same.

There were many of those jobs here in the US, but paraphrasing SAM WALTON "If the Chinese can build it cheaper, by exploiting their people and polluting their environment, let 'em! I'll buy from them!"

Walmart is also known to be notorious in stiffing their own workers on health care and benefits. Most people that work at Walmart need a second job to make ends meet.

http://wakeupwalmart.com/facts/

So when you buy from Walmart, you are supporting the corporation not the people.

[jinsei]

As far as Walmart employees go, do you know what the average salary is? It's minimum wage, which is between $6-$8/hr, depending on the state. Let's see, $6 x 40 hrs./wk = $240. $240 x 4 = $960/ month before taxes.

Can you say that less than $900 per month is a LIVING WAGE in the United States, which supposedly has the largest economy in the world? Rent in my small city is an average of $550 per person. Not only is it not a living wage, it's not even feasible.

[YewNeekId]

Walmart is nothing but a front operation for c'ommunist china.

As long as Americans continue their insatiable desire for cheap khrap from china, then we will continue to loose jobs in this country.

It's a deat'h spiral folks.

[AZterritory]

Well stated, thanks.

[worriedinvt]

I'm a little skeptical about this survey. Like all surveys, it is only as reliable as the language it used to describe the choices. The fact that the results were 78% Walmart, 10% Tiffany and 12% don't know means the question was not stated very well. The fact is that, if people were saying they'd choose the Walmart item at half the price if it "looked the same" as the Walmart item, that is not a reflection on their level of materialism. It is more about the relentless race to the bottom that Americans are engaged in, as (thanks to relaxed global trade policies that allowed cheap labor to be exploited) )they have become accustomed to finding more and more items, priced more and more cheaply. For years now, they have been choosing quantity over quality, quietly switching the American zeitgeist from proud worker to eager consumer. The economic free-fall may have inhibited many people's ability to consume, but it has not rendered American society any less materialistic.

[therealredstateblues]

there has been a noticeable decline in comsumer quality and choice in the era of imported goods

you have either cheepo products or high end products, little in between that used to represent the value choice - acceptable quality for a reasonable price

you see declines in quality in tools, shoes, clothing, appliances, electronics, all items when US made lasted years if not decades.

a cheaper price is not so cheep if you have to replace it more often

[sonoffestus]

As someone who spent 30 years in consumer goods you are correct.

Dumbed down and cheapened up, the American way.

[WonderingNThinking]

I am bummed about this trend. My biggest gripe is clothing. It's either "wash and toss" or $300.

[GerryS]

NO to smogmart--

[mountainweb]

DUH! Lets see, in hard times do people buy things that they can afford and things that they REALLY need. If we don't have a job do we buy a $2,000 chair to sit at the table or a $100 chair, keeping in mind I still need money for FOOD. Only need to apply a little common sense to figuring out the Wal-mart over Tiffany issue.

[OpposingViewpoint]

But common sense is in short supply in America these days. A he// of a lot of people can't think for themselves on the most BASIC of issues, prefering instead to defer to the government or someone else to do their thinking for them. Common sense and common decency can't be purchased and are therefore unattainable for many.

[Albert Amato]

LIve and let live.....even with ice cream we always had van, choc, or straw.
To each his own.