Al Norman, 06.26.2009
Allowing Wal-Mart to buy itself out of criminal prosecution did not sit well with the victim's family. "It's like if they were driving a car and they hit someone, killed him and walked away," said the father of the victim.
Al Norman, 02.03.2009
The police in Nassau County, New York released a report this week that clearly lays the blame for a Black Friday trampling death on Wal-Mart.
Lisa Wade, 01.27.2009
There is something truly amazing about a sign touting "Doorbuster!" sales that shows how quickly we forget, how callous we can be, and the level of incompetence at JCPenney.
Patrick Takahashi, 01.27.2009
If there is a mega landslide of sufficient size and velocity falling into a deep ocean, the tsunami can be as high as 1000 meters, depending on who you ask.
Bruce E. Levine, 01.22.2009
All fundamentalists decry, deny, or ignore the multiple dimensions of life that fall outside their particular theologies and ideologies. Fundamentalist consumerists could not care less about workers' rights, human-scale business, and environmental sanity.
Jason Mannino, 01.19.2009
career strategist, personal development coach, speaker/facilitator
When we think "self-centered," unpleasant images often come to mind; but it becomes important in the context of self-actualization to distinguish SELF...
Shelly Palmer, 01.10.2009
President, National Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences, NY
The House Energy and Commerce Committee released a scathing 110 page report titled "Deception and Distrust...
Dr. Susan Corso, 01.09.2009
omnifaith spiritual expert
Is anyone else having trouble shopping for the holidays this year? I sure am. I'm finding that I cannot buy things. I'm definitely in the spirit of the season, but things just aren't cutting it.
David Nassar, 01.03.2009
When ten employees of the Wal-Mart meat department in a TX store elected UFCW as their union, Wal-Mart immediately scrapped their entire network of in-store butcher departments nationwide.
Reverend Billy, 01.02.2009
Spiritual Leader of the Church of the Shopocalypse
Jdimytai Damour's death in Valley Stream, Long Island did not come from Wal-Mart, or from Black Friday -- it was not just negligence. It was murder. ...
Stephen Funk, 01.02.2009
Queer and Antiwar in the Marine Corps
Even considering the long list of mistakes perpetuated by this Administration on the American people, the war in Iraq is by far the most urgent problem president-elect Obama must address.
Phil Bronstein, 01.01.2009
Executive Vice President and Editor-at-Large, San Francisco Chronicle
What's going on here is only the ugly reality of herd mentality. It's why governments are so nervous about mass demonstrations and why "crowd control" is a fundamental concept in maintaining public security.
Reverend Billy, 01.01.2009
Spiritual Leader of the Church of the Shopocalypse
Last night, Sunday the 30th, the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir embarked in vans and a pace car with a lawyer -- journeying to the Wal-Mart in Valley Stream, Long Island -- for a vigil and songfest.
Fortune's Stanley Bing, 01.01.2009
Fortune Magazine Columnist
Who are all these people forking over piles of green? Aren't they aware that the economy is in the sump?
Reverend Billy, 01.01.2009
Spiritual Leader of the Church of the Shopocalypse
The big bucks investors will shop again when they feel better, and the rest of us will follow soon after, standing in line to swipe the plastic.
Jeannie Ralston, 01.01.2009
When I told my husband about the worker trampled by frenzied Wal-Mart shoppers on Friday morning, he thought it was a joke.
Kerry Trueman, 01.01.2009
Co-founder of EatingLiberally.org
I've tried to put myself in the shoes of the Long Island lemmings who stomped the life out of Jdimytai "Jimbo" Damour... but I just can't seem to fit into their frenzied footwear.
Shelly Palmer, 01.01.2009
President, National Academy Of Television Arts & Sciences, NY
Cyber Monday will follow a robust Black Friday. While dim reports on the state of retail are all the rage, if analysts and the media ...
August J. Pollak, 01.01.2009
Respecting a holiday with ancient traditions dating as far back as 2005.
Al Norman, 12.31.2008
Where better to carry out these random acts of violence than at a huge Wal-Mart, where price takes precedence over people? The crowd at Valley Stream was just following the program.
Steve Parker, 12.30.2008
Journalist/Broadcaster covering the auto industry and auto racing for 35 years.
How anxious are the Detroit Three carmakers to make sales?
My wife and I were at the Los Angeles Auto Show last night, "Black Friday," at the Los Ang...
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It's called Deflation. And it is just as bad for the economy as inflation because it means companies that produce the junk we buy won't continue to do so (or as much) because their profits are minimal when they have to slash prices becaue demand is low cause no one has money (or credit). Years over outsourcing of high-paying jobs and stagnant wages for the rest....combined with consumers having tapped out their credit (and banks crippled by reckless lending)....have brought us to where we are now....the economy is going down like the Titanic....Captain Dubya hit the mother of icebergs while blindly steaming full speed ahead with deficit spending. And there's not enough lifeboats.
I'm not a mall person. Alicia Silverstone's character in "Clueless" is probably wishing that she hadn't overspent.
This article is addressing experiences at up scale stores and this should have been indicated in the heading. There aren't commissions at most stores mid class people shop at.
I've been to both up scale and big box stores where the associate expects you to wait while they finish their personal phone conversation or they are clustered gossiping about the customers. Stores aren't kept neat and clean anymore. They leave trash from shipping boxes on the floors for customers to carefully step over as they restock or set up a display. Management types stand in the middle of an aisle and dress down an associate or have meetings with other department managers while customers try to maneunver around them. Carts are left in the aisles for customers to find their way around. Rarely have I seen any associate that anxious to help a customer. The economy is not the only reason people aren't shopping in stores. There is no more customer service.
You should do what my family does. We do not give presents on Christmas. Thus we save big bucks and the urge to buy junk even at low prices. We also don't get trampled to death in malls or shot dead and or have to worry about our cars getting dented in parking lots. The best time to buy is after Xmas when the deals are really good and their are no lines. America, Wise Up!!!
How much good has a business degree been to these automatons? All these business which are focusing on cutting costs cannot wrap their head around growth. All the cost cutting at the bottom layers are at a max and no come the tiers above. Everytime a business cuts an employee in America they are cutting a consumer. Without government intervention this cycle continues indefinitely.
Think about it folks. When you go to the grocery store those self serve check out lanes used to have people working at them. All those online sales might result in some minor savings today but when the retail stores close there will be less local jobs, more for lease and build to suit signs and less asset value in real estate and more foreclosures..... Does anyone see a pattern here? Cost cutting...
Just make sure you pay the big boys as much money as possible....
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