The sad truth about Wally World

Walmart has always been the store known for cheap prices and great customer service, but little did I know about how the workers and the people who make Walmart’s products are suffering. Coming into this class, I didn't have much knowledge about economics, so I was surprised to learn that cheaper prices mean lower wages for employees. I have always known about the overseas labor workers because of big companies such as Nike, where workers are being paid less than a dollar an hour. However, I also thought since its common knowledge, a well-loved store would change their ways. Furthermore, I assumed that since people today are learning more about the benefits to shopping local that maybe Walmart would jump onto the bandwagon as well. 

In the article that I read about Walmart "Why the Bosses Need Wal-Mart" I was surprised to learn that lowing wages would lower prices, and since Walmart is the largest retailer the suppliers have to lower their prices. Other companies are influenced by Walmart, so they also have the same wages in order to compete to obtain supplies. Another fact that shocked me was that even if you worked 40 hours a week with a salary of $10 that isn't enough for one family to survive. One of my group members mentioned how to make up for a low salary Walmart would give them discounts so that way you get stuff back for working at Walmart, but since Walmart then gets back the money they just paid to their workers, that logic didn't really make any sense.

In class we watched a documentary called "Made in Bangladesh" about labor workers, the majority of whom were young women being payed less than 25 cents a day, and working outrageous hours. It was upsetting knowing that even though they worked really hard some days they didn't receive money for their efforts and if they confronted someone about it they would either be fired or abused. All Walmart could do to make their life slightly better would be to pay them 30 cents more. Another shock was they mentioned Disney in the documentary, and how that business was acting the same way as Walmart except they shut down that sweatshop. I was sitting in class wearing a Disney shirt that I bought at the Disney store I felt very ashamed at myself. All over the Disney channel they advertise about changing the world and showing their actors making a change in developing countries. So knowing that they too were treating overseas labor workers like they were nothing made me rethink what other companies were doing the same thing. 

Some of the workers that were in the documentary mentioned that one solution to how they were being treated is that American shoppers should contact the CEOs of these large companies and demand change. As an American, I felt like that wouldn't solve anything, and my group discussed about how we could help but we all felt like there wasn't anything we could do because just writing letters won't make a big change. It's especially hard to go against a big company that has such low prices that many families depend on to survive. I left the class wondering if there was anything I could do to help those who are suffering in other countries because of the big companies over working them. I would donate money but at the same time I feel like that won't solve the larger issue.