I know it’s nothing new to bitch about the evils of walmart but I just have to bitch for a while on the walmart worshiper.

The first claim is always “if you were poor you would understand, some people have no other options.”. Well, I call you on your bullshit! I don’t work due to health problems and my husband waits tables. We live well below the poverty line and still manage to be ethical shoppers. The fact is that these cheap, often sweat-shop made products shouldn’t even be available in the first place. And why is saving a few bucks considered a good reason to throw ethics out the window? But most will bluntly tell you that they don’t care how the merchandise got there, they need to save money!! It seems like these people would sooner murder their precious baby jesus than give up their low prices.

I also have to throw in here that being poor also isn’t an excuse not to be vegan. (This is an abolition blog after all, I have to throw it in there somewhere.) Putting aside the fact that my grocery bill has significantly gone down since becoming vegan, I again ask, what price do you put on your ethics?

Another common walmart defense is that you can get name brand products there for half the price you would pay for them elsewhere. There is a reason for this. That name brand product that you’re buying at walmart is an entirely different product than you would buy in any other store. The reason walmart can charge half price for these “name brand” products is because they make deals with those companies to manufacture a lesser quality of product specifically for walmart. So you’re not actually getting a good deal, you’re actually paying for a crap product with a name brand sticker on it.

“The Wal-Mart vice president responded with strategy and argument. Snapper is the sort of high-quality nameplate, like Levi Strauss, that Wal-Mart hopes can ultimately make it more Target-like. He suggested that Snapper find a lower-cost contract manufacturer. He suggested producing a separate, lesser-quality line with the Snapper nameplate just for Wal-Mart. Just like Levi did.”
The Man Who Said No To Wal-Mart

So, as far as I can see, there are no good reasons for shopping at walmart. There are so many ways you can save money and be an ethical shopper at the same time.

In fact, this has spurred me on to go do another post on exactly what how people can do this. After all, I shouldn’t just criticize, I should offer solutions as well.

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