The High Cost of Low Prices

To me Wal-Mart is a good place in that it provides low prices that other stores cannot offer, Wal-Mart also provides an array of products from groceries to furniture all in one stop making it very convenient. Though it offers a wide array of products, shopping there it is at a cost. Wal-Mart puts smaller stores out of business, does not pay their employees overtime, leaves empty stores for rent when they have to start paying taxes by moving outside of city limits, hurts the environment, and disrespects their employees and does not allow them to unionize.

Wal-Mart's policies and strategies do not conform to the 7 principles of Catholic Social teaching.
1. Life and Dignity of the Human Person – Wal-Mart ignores the dignity of its "associates". The company tells its associates to go on welfare instead of providing them benefits like most companies.
2. Call to Family, Community, and Participation - Though Wal-Mart advertises a strong family like community, employees experience racism and sexism from their contemporaries as well as management.
3. Rights and Responsibilities - Wal-Mart does not allow their workers to unionize. Through a union Wal-Mart employees would be able to protect their rights.
4. Option for the Poor and Vulnerable - Working at Wal-Mart is an option for the poor, but the store pays low wages and does not factor in the overtime hours that are forced upon these employees. Essentially a poor person would remain poor if they worked at Wal-Mart because they would not have the options or the ability to fix their situation because Wal-Mart does not give any benefits, all the money Wal-Mart pays its employees does right back into the store.
5. The Dignity of Work and the Rights of Workers - see numbers 1, 2, & 3.
6. Solidarity – The associates and management are on completely different levels. Wal-Mart is not the family it claims to be.
7. Care for God's Creation – Wal-Mart is involved in several environmental lawsuits per year for their lack of care for God’s creation.

I would never work for Wal-Mart, the store does not offer good benefits and does not treat their employees fairly. If I were to work at a low wage job I would look into a place were I would be respected as a female, paid for my time if I worked overtime or not, and a place that allows unions so that my rights would be protected.

Sadly big retail stores are of such huge convenience with the wide array of product they offer and the low prices on said product that I will most likely continue to shop at the big retail stores. Personally I have never been to a Wal-Mart but I have been to a Target and Costco, and the convenience of buying items in bulk and at low prices tend to out weigh the bad practices of the companies. Also the fact that most big retail stores do not follow just business practices does not leave a lot of options. I will think twice of buying items from big retail stores though, because after finding out that sometimes the low prices that these stores boast are not always the lowest price an item is offered at I am skeptical about if they really are the best option.