Made In The USA
Remember YEARS ago, when Wal-Mart was being all patriotic and advertising all the products made here in the USA? When you walked into a Wal-Mart, you'd see signs and tags on items proudly proclaiming "Made In The USA".
I'm not sure what just reminded me of that, but there's definitely quite a contrast between "old Wal-Mart" and "new Wal-Mart"
Tags: made in the usa, wal-mart, walmart
Tom said,
Wal-Mart decided to compete on price, not on patriotism. The fact of the matter is that most of the world's most popular goods are made in China, Taiwan and Canana (who tookover production on a lot of items originally made in Eurpope) and nobody was going to change that, not even Wal-Mart. So, instead, they carry the brands people want with an exclusive agreement that they will always be able to offer the lowest price. Manufacturers of products are basically strong-armed into allowing Wal-Mart to sell their products for a lower than typically agreeable price, but have no choice as more and more Wal-Marts are built, forcing other companies selling the same products out of business. American made items are few and far between, and the cost to produce something in the U.S. prevents competition on a national level. Take luggage for example. Most luggage is made in the U.S. Add in the cost of wages, labor, benefits and the price of luggage is considerably more than it should be.
September 14, 2009 @ 3:22 pm
sparx said,
I'm not arguing for or against it.. it's just the way things are. But I find the level of change and how (relatively) quickly it happened very interesting.
While I don't like the idea of so many Chinese made goods (human labor and environmental issues), I realize that right now it'd be corporate suicide to try to force a change (for Wal-Mart or any other business).
When your business is based on underpricing the competition, making any change that raises your prices just isn't good business.
September 14, 2009 @ 3:35 pm
unlikelymoose said,
Walmart even changed their corporate colors from red, white and blue to blue and orangey/yellow. And the Walmart white star was replaced with a orangey/yellow asterisk.
I was completely shocked when they announced this a few/couple years back because Walmart had relied so heavily on catering to average-joe-six-pack-stars-and-stripes.
I think they changed their branding identity to try to grab market share that Target rightfully stole.
September 15, 2009 @ 8:53 am
kim said,
Ha. As I was reading this post, a Wal-Mart commercial came on tv. Anyway…. I just saw a post on graphjam the other day that made a graph of Wal-Mart products… Made in China vs. Made in USA. It really is sad how many of their products are made in China.
September 15, 2009 @ 11:29 am
spudart said,
I had a friend in high school who would only buy USA-made products. It was a challenge when we'd go clothes shopping at the mall.
September 16, 2009 @ 4:56 pm
mavis said,
I'm from Arkansas and just 1 year ago I lived 5 miles from corporate headquarters in Bentonville. Now let me say the difference is in the management! I promise you Sam Walton would roll over in his grave if he knew what was going on! The all new wal-mart has just yanked the plug on a Arkansas based Co. that made one of their products and given it to a company in a foreign nation. Not only did they quit their home state they quit the United States. Shame on you wal-mart, I will never again shop in a wal-mart store.
September 22, 2009 @ 12:11 pm
goingout dresses said,
I noticed that when I was shopping in Walmart about 10 years ago, on vacation in Florida. The place was very patriotic and it felt like an American store. I'm not sure what it's like now but they've probably felt a pressure, like a lot of stores very strongly connected with a culture, to lighten up on it a bit.
August 23, 2010 @ 10:13 am