Customer Reviews

How Wal-Mart Is Destroying America: And What You Can Do about It

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This book was an eye-opener. Every Wal-Mart shopper must read this book. It's not a difficult read and all the business and political mumbo jumbo is broken down. After reading it, you'll never want to shop there again, it's that moving. American society is in real danger of a business monoply that most of us never saw coming.

The last time I spent any time in a Wal-Mart, I think, was roughly ten years ago. Even then, something about the place felt fundamentally wrong. Maybe it had something to do with the overfriendly greeter at the front door, a guy who spent way too much time trying to get my attention. Perhaps the downright filthy appearance of the store set off my internal warning bells. After all, it's difficult to gain a decent impression of a place when merchandise spills onto the floor, products teeter precariously on top of shelving units, and the employees look like they just got out of jail. I left without buying a single item, vowing never to return. And I haven't gone back after all these years. Neither has Bill Quinn, the eighty eight year old author of this slim indictment of America's biggest retailer. The writer, a former journalist and magazine editor, presents a startling array of facts against the House that Sam Walton built in "How Wal-Mart is Destroying America." After reading this book, you will think twice about returning to shop at "The Box," one of the terms Quinn and his sympathizers use in referring to Wal-Mart.

The list of egregious behaviors occurring under the aegis of Wal-Mart, based out of Bentonville, Arkansas, simply boggles the mind. Quinn's key complaint centers on the retailer's anti-competitive outlook, known as "Stomp the Comp," when the company moves into a small town and proceeds to demolish every mom and pop business in the area. Through cutthroat pricing and luring away employees from smaller stores, Wal-Mart takes business right out from under the noses of modest retail outlets. As all other stores in the area shut down, the Box from Bentonville becomes the only significant force in the region. This allows them to lower wages, raise prices, reduce advertising in local papers, and lets them get away with claiming twenty eight hours a week counts as a full-time job. Even worse, Wal-Mart oftentimes closes smaller stores in order to open a regional "superstore," which forces residents of small towns to drive thirty or forty miles to do their shopping. How does this behemoth get away with such activities? Because politicians in many areas fall for the old "jobs, opportunity, tax revenue" mantra chanted by Wal-Mart's bevy of attorneys, engineers, and other assorted boosters. Once the company gains a foothold in your town, the game is over. The retailer takes advantage of tax loopholes, destroys the environment, and eliminates more jobs than it creates.

Quinn outlines many more atrocities. The number of lawsuits lodged against the Bentonville Beast has reached stunning numbers in recent years. According to the book, customers have sued Wal-Mart for injuries sustained from falling merchandise, slipping on objects on the floor, and heinous crimes committed in the stores' parking lots. Employees too have expressed their dismay with the irresponsible employer. One woman filed a claim when the managers at her store dismissed her for dating a black man. Other workers sued over the company's unofficial policy of intimidating employees into working off the clock. Quinn unearthed many vendors whose experiences with the retailer have since led to court actions. Wal-Mart always pushes its wholesalers for deep discounts, and then often returns damaged merchandise in bulk for refunds at full cost. A few smaller companies went out of business after the retailer made a big order and then reneged on the deal a month or so later. It's gotten so bad that many big vendors refuse to sell to Wal-Mart anymore. Quinn goes on and on, listing outrageous behavior after outrageous behavior. Frighteningly, the company is now expanding into other markets overseas using the same shady business models that turned our rural areas into places tumbleweeds wouldn't be caught dead rolling through.

"How Wal-Mart is Destroying America" does have a few problems. Quinn's sense of humor, a fiery rhetoric fused with crotchety old guy attitude, gets old rather fast. I started noticing a troubling tendency to describe Wal-Mart in biblical terms of good and evil. Nothing is more indicative of this fact than a couple of drawings depicting a Bentonville goon sporting horns. Yeah, it's funny, but is this how you really want to make a serious argument? Moreover, the writer's obvious disdain for the retailer clouds his judgment. Is Wal-Mart at fault when a customer slipped on a cough drop? Should we take an ambulance chaser seriously when he claims Wal-Mart stonewalls every lawsuit? C'mon! Of course a lawyer is going to say something like that. I'm not defending the retailer's oily policy of spending mountains of money defending itself against legitimate court claims, but I understand why they do it. Big companies become targets for sue happy citizens very quickly. Should we expect Wal-Mart to roll out the red carpet for every lawyer with dollar signs in his or her eyes? I don't think so.

Still, Quinn's book is a revelation about a company obviously out of control. I suspect the primary reason Wal-Mart gets away with all this stuff is because it goes on in rural areas. If this sort of behavior occurred in New York City, Chicago, Miami, or a few other huge metropolitan areas you can bet we would all get an earful about it. Well, if this book is accurate city slickers may well discover exactly what Wal-Mart is all about before too long. By racking up billions in sales in Rural America and overseas, the Bentonville retailer will soon possess the ability to strong-arm even the biggest cities into submission. Quinn concludes his book with several tips to either cut down Wal-Mart's power or to keep them out of your area. Personally, not shopping at this store seems to be the most prudent course of action. I know I won't ever return.

I don't often review non-fiction books, so I am rolling the flavor of this review around on my tongue trying to figure out how to interpret my taste of the book.

The good points of the book are how Mr. Quinn outlines areas of defense for your community to patrol, like watching all of the zoning requests, even from companies that seem to have nothing to do with WalMart, for often they will purchase and then lease out to the hungry beast.

He gives website information at the end of the book, so that if your interest (and ire) have been adequately sparked, there are outlets for your fiery resistance to flow into.

And, he gives factual information on the tactics that WalMart uses to infiltrate small-town America and ruthlessly destroy small business owners.

Most shocking to everybody should be the fact that WalMart is now the number one large-business employer in America...paying minimum wage and considering 28 hours a week to be "full time". No wonder America is slowly becoming a third-world country. In the past, when I actually shopped at WalMart, I felt like I was entering a third world country when I passed through those wheezing doors. Now I know why.

Teetering on the edge of good-point/bad-point is the simplistic writing style of Quinn's book. On the one hand, it is easy to read and gets the point across rapidly. On the other hand, it tends to sound a bit like Grandpa "going off" as he sat around the old stove at night. (Sigh...those good old days long before WalMart...)

The single most blatant bad point about this book was the fact that *not once* did Quinn mention that the simplest way to stop a carnivorous corporate giant like this is to STOP SHOPPING THERE. He made it sound so much like these places were plowed over with a bulldozer of incomprehensible size, when the simple statement of PROTEST NOW could go a lot further than the whining of people left in the destructive wake of this beast.

Quinn also fails to mention that Small Business (as a singular entity) is still the number one employment means in America, and that it is worthy of supporting NOW before the claws of the giant draw arterial blood.

The facts are that the general American wage is dropping because of minimum wage corporate giants like WalMart; that more people employed at poverty wage mean a greater burden on the country as a whole, and if left to the "Savage Capitolism" of Walmart, rather than the competitive forces of individuals and small business owners, America will eventually become a third world country itself...with a few very wealthy folks and an overall population of slave labor forces.

This book is very good in that it is based on real information and will stir you into some sort of anger. The bad point is that Quinn should have spent more time in pro-active response rather than re-active response.

Bottom line: If you don't like their presence, don't shop there. If people didn't patronize these places, they would go out of business. *steps off soapbox...bows to Quinn*

It never ceases to amaze me how much people want to whine and whimper about Walmart. After having spent the last 2 years in a town where I had to pay 48 dollars for a 4 year old's bathing suit I was ecstatic to see Walmart finally move into town. The local businesses protest just the same this book does. They have carried on and had a fit because they can't compete with Walmart. Are we supposed to feel sorry for them?? I feel sorry for someone who has to pay 48 dollars for a child's swimsuit or 30 dollars for a pair of child's shorts that aren't even name brand. I'll take my 10 dollar swimsuit from Walmart and my 4.99 shorts any day. If you can't stand the heat get out of the kitchen. If you overcharge people then what do you expect? Sam Walton didn't do anything that anyone else couldn't do. People can piss and moan about it all day long but Walmart is here to stay. I say go get a pretzel at the snack bar, shake the hand of the senior citizen handing out happy face stickers and load up the cart with bargains. And if you must stand outside Walmart having a pity party with your protest sign just make sure you push my cart back for me if I forget.

How Wal Mart is Destroying America (and the World) By Bill Quinn

The author of this book is very convinced that Wal Mart is evil, in fact he appears to hate Wal Mart more than anything else in the world. His writing is very convincing with all of this "proof" that people have given him, however like everything else don't take something just on someone's word. If you are pro Wal Mart (like I am) you might want to just read this at a library sometime, after reading maybe ask some of the employee's questions. However if you already hate Wal Mart you might want to buy a copy.

Reed Floren

Bill Quinn has written this book in a very disjointed and disorganized manner. In addition, a lot of the information in the book seems to be based on anecdotes by disgruntled Wal-Mart haters. Could have been better organized and used more research-based facts.

I recommend this book. It details some frontline experience with the Wal-Mart monster. The big points are: cheaply bought good thanks to sweatshop labor, corporate greed, abuse of employees (although mild by worldwide standards), shirking of social responsibility, and misleading advertisements.

The trouble with this book is that instead of presenting the facts and letting the reader decide for themself the author tells us what to think. Another example of questionable tactics is in a bullet list of Wal-Mart's bad behaviours: the author includes an extra bullet that says "And Much More". Well then what else?

Overall this is a gopod book that points out some dark truths about the seemingly good natured, christian beacon of smiley faced capitilism. An enlightining read

The author has a bias against wal-mart and he never bothers to conceal it. He even refers to Wal-Mart as "Bentonvillians" and "blankety-blanks". This gives you an idea what to expect throughout. At least you know what you're in for.

Unfortunately it appears most of the information comes from disgruntled former employees and other people who have an axe to grind. While the anecdotes are amusing and informative most of them appear to be isolated incidents. He never gives specific insider information that this was all part of some grand plan. It just looks like a bumbling bureacracy with some medium level tyrants.

The most insightful information given is the information about the moving around of management level employees so they don't get settled in and the fact that Wal-Mart fights (and appeals) every lawsuit.

I hate Wal-Mart as much as the next fella but I'd prefer to have a few less amusing anecdotes and a few more smoking guns of intentional wrongdoing.

This book contains interesting information about Wal-Mart's tactics to eliminate competing small town retailers and many other outcomes that impact a town with a Wal-Mart. It includes information from former employees, competing retailers, newspapers, and television. Much of this information in important to know, especially if a community is interested in allowing a Wal-Mart into their town. However, this book has its problems. It appeared to me that many of these arguments came to the conclusion that Wal-Mart is bad for small towns and we need small towns for the sake of small towns. This argument needed to be developed more to show the benefits of having small town retailers.

This book is also written very colloqually and takes many cheap shots at Wal-Mart. Overall, the information in this book is important to know, it just could have been presented better.

This book has some pretty good info, but it is not the best book of its genre. I'd read Ortega's "In Same We Trust"