posted
I don't know if this has been discussed in the past.
I was watching an episode of South Park in which a Wal Mart opens up in town. Of course everyone shops there and all the local stores run out of business because they can't compete with Walmart's prices.
I was talking to some one with their own business they say the reason Walmart offers low prices is because they screw over the vendor. Basically they'll go to a vendor and make a contract for 100,000 doodads at 50 cents per 1,000 doodads. But the contract allows Walmart to change the price. So the vendor makes 100,000 doodads then Walmart says they've changed their price to 25 cents per 1,000. So now the vendor is screwed over and since Walmart paid less for the doodads than other companies, they charge less which makes customers go to Walmart instead of other stores.
As for Microsoft, Bill Gates has gone to court for violating anti-trust laws and preventing competition. I don't completely agree with it, there are other choices for computer software and operating systems. Not that I'm defending MS either.
But my question is, how can Walmart get away with essentially the same thing and while the government shits all over MS? Once Walmart invades a small town it pretty much kills all the local shops thus preventing competition until it gets to the point where you have almost no choice but to shop at Walmart.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
Registered: May 1999
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posted
Well, I mean, Wal-Mart and Microsoft are both in pursuit of market domination, but what their businesses actually do is so different I'm not sure I see where your comparison is coming from.
(This thread title gave me an odd thrill of glee and panic, since one of the characters in the novel I will probably never write used to be a programmer for Wal-Mart and developed Wal-OS, and while I would like to be a prophetic visionary I also do not want to be scooped by reality.)
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
The point I'm trying to make is that while both companies are trying to take over the world, when MS does it the government files a lawsuit on them, but when Walmart does it nothing happens to them.
-------------------- I'm slightly annoyed at Hobbes' rather rude decision to be much more attractive than me though. That's just rude. - PsyLiam, Oct 27, 2005.
Registered: May 1999
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posted
Yes, but their actual businesses are so different that I don't believe the various charges brought against Microsoft have much to do with what Wal-Mart does, or even could do.
Beyond that, Wal-Mart already faces antitrust suits for its own particular business practices that various people have found unfair or illegal, such as this dust-up between the Waltons and Mastercard.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
How much of their market does Wal-Mart control? How does that compare to Microsoft? Just at a guess, I'd say the numbers aren't close.
-------------------- "This is why you people think I'm so unknowable. You don't listen!" - God, "God, the Devil and Bob"
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
The daughter of the heiress of the Walton fortune was recently revealed to have paid her roommate to do her homework for her in college. And it's the only fucking thing they'll talk about in the news here, for some reason. Has anyone else been hearing about this non-stop, or is it just local?
Anyway, I'm curious about what you said, Hobbes, about Wal-Mart and their vendors. Are you saying that Wal-Mart tells them "okay, we'll pay you $50 for that product", and then, when the vendor delivers the product, Wal-Mart says "okay, thanks, and here's the $25 we owe you"? And that the vendors actually sign contracts ahead of time, allowing Wal-Mart to do that?
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I'm not sure I'm saying that the difference is size. . .just that, to my admittedly untrained eyes, selling code is different than selling groceries, clothing, and shotguns, and that the laws breakable in one enterprise are different from those breakable in the other.
But now I suppose Hobbes was speaking in a more general manner, really.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Trying to attain market domination is, by itself, not illegal. It's the way you go about it. Microsoft did various "dodgy" things, like include Internet Explorer free with Windows, thereby stifling browser competition. It would be like putting Word free with Windows.
Walmart sell things. They sell things cheap. People would rather buy stuff at lower prices, so they go there. What would you have them do, artificially raise their prices? The "screwing over the vendor" thing is heresay at the moment, and not directly related to the monopoly argument anyway (if someone wants to complain about them screwing over their vendors, they should complain about them screwing over their vendors).
Walmart aren't destroying the local competition because of dodgy practises. They are destroying them because they are larger and can afford to buy stuff cheaper. The smaller shops don't offer any particular service that Walmart doesn't, or if they do, people don't want to pay for it. That's capitalism for you. Complaining that Walmart is cheaper is like complaining that online stores are cheaper because they don't have to run a physical shop.
(And, incidently, I'd say it's far easier to go through life never shopping at Walmart than it is to never use Windows.)
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Well, uh, Wal-Mart has been accused of all sorts of shady practices, and for all I know has been found guilty of some of them.
I mean, there's a difference between accusing them of being criminal and accusing them of being mean.
(The world of anti-trust law seems to sometimes exist in the nebulous inbetween.)
Anyway, this thread is starting to confuse me, so to recap: All I am saying is that Wal-Mart isn't accused of doing the same things Microsoft is accused of doing because Wal-Mart, as a company, does different things; Wal-Mart occupies a different legal sphere, within which it has faced its own challenges.
Registered: Mar 1999
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quote:Originally posted by PsyLiam: (And, incidently, I'd say it's far easier to go through life never shopping at Walmart than it is to never use Windows.)
I have found it rediculously easy to never shop at Wal-Mart. One look at the 300 pound woman wearing spandex walking thorugh the front doors, and my conviction is reaffirmed.
posted
Sez you pallie: Wal Mart is a cornicopia of strangness here in Fort Lauderdale: it's located far from everything, and it's open 24 hours.
A girl I was dating and I once threw those Nerf Javelins at each other for an hour while employees laughed on their little powered merchandise sleds. Besides, where else you gonna buy floursecent green spray paint, ammo and beachtowels [i]after[/i[ midnight?
-------------------- Justice inclines her scales so that wisdom comes at the price of suffering. -Aeschylus, Agamemnon
Registered: Aug 2002
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posted
We have a chain of stores here called Meijer. It's 5 times the store Wal-Mart is. And the women that frequent the place are generally more attractive.
posted
But Tim is twice the size Wal-Mart is, so he wins.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Aban, don't come to the Port Huron Meijers.... You will be sadly disappointed.... The mall on the other hand, well, there you'd be in business....
Jason, Super K.
-------------------- "You are a terrible human, Ritten." Magnus "Urgh, you are a sick sick person..." Austin Powers A leek too, pretty much a negi.....
Registered: Sep 2000
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