Why Shop at Wal-Mart?
The NEA, AFT, and UFCW would have us believe that Wal-Mart is all about taking advantage of people. As I noted back in this post, they are trying to organize a boycott of Wal-Mart until the company pledges not to tolerate "exploitation of children."
In response to their call for a boycott, I said, "Our family will be purchasing school supplies at Wal-Mart this year." Mrs. Smada took the kids there today. Here's why we make that choice.
(updated to clarify): We bought 3 Elmer's glue bottles (1 for each kid in school). Price was 20 cents each, for a total cost of 60 cents. A comparable bottle, found at the linked Staples site, was priced at $1.99, and would have cost us a total of $5.97
Total cost to me for all those items was $67.63. At comparable retail prices in other stores, those items would have cost nearly twice what I paid. The table below has the details of what we bought, what we paid, and what we probably would have paid without Wal-Mart.
| Item | Qty | Wal-Mart Price | Cost | "Retail" Price | Cost | Source | ||
| Elmer's Glue | 3 | $ 0.20 | $ 0.60 | $ 1.99 | $ 5.97 | Staples.com | ||
| Glue Stick | 3 | $ 0.20 | $ 0.60 | $ 0.24 | $ 0.71 | Staples.com | ||
| Theme book | 6 | $ 0.10 | $ 0.60 | $ 0.23 | $ 1.38 | Staples.com | ||
| 1-inch binder | 1 | $ 0.55 | $ 0.55 | $ 0.99 | $ 0.99 | Staples.com | ||
| Boy's shorts | 2 | $ 4.50 | $ 9.00 | $ 12.99 | $ 25.98 | Target.com | ||
| Boy's shirts | 3 | $ 3.88 | $11.64 | $ 6.99 | $ 20.97 | Target.com | ||
| Boy's jeans | 1 | $ 3.00 | $ 3.00 | $ 17.99 | $ 17.99 | Target.com | ||
| striped t-shirts | 3 | $ 4.88 | $14.64 | $ 6.99 | $ 20.97 | Sears.com | ||
| Girl's jeans (Jordache) | 1 | $ 11.00 | $11.00 | $ 10.94 | $ 10.94 | eBay | ||
| Girl's jeans | 1 | $ 9.00 | $ 9.00 | $ 11.98 | $ 11.98 | Target.com | ||
| Carpenter shorts | 1 | $ 7.00 | $ 7.00 | $ 8.99 | $ 8.99 | Target.com | ||
| $67.63 | $126.87 |
The numbers say it all. Why go anywhere else?
|