Six More Reasons To Avoid Walmart This Holiday Season

This year on Black Friday, American shoppers spent more than $11 billion dollars at big box retailers. One of the largest beneficiaries of this rampant consumerism was Walmart.

And not only did families spend huge percentages of their annual budget at Walmart, they also took the opportunity to exemplify the holiday spirit by trampling each other, snatching low price, low quality items out of each others shopping carts, and blasting each other in the face with pepper spray.

The 1% hails holiday shopping as a boon for the economy, but when it takes place at multi-national corporate storefronts, it’s really nothing more than a psychological trick to pad their pocketbooks.

With our country divided and an economy that’s barely hanging on by a thread, it’s time to think about what else we’re giving away by shopping at social and financial gluttons like Walmart.

Check out Frugal Dad’s infographic demonstrating the crushing Weight of Walmart, and if you find the statistics as shocking as we do, please share it with everyone you know.

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Image Credit: Flickr – Walmart Stores

Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Emily D.

6:16PM PST on Mar 2, 2012

No Walmart shopping for me!

send a green star

Michele J.

5:41PM PST on Mar 2, 2012

Thanks for sharing, Beth! I'm very impressed with Frugal Dad's Infographic.....really shows the catastrophic impact of Walmart (and backed with legit sources). Unbelievable!

Kim H.

12:08PM PST on Mar 2, 2012

Very detailed article. its quite eye opening how large that awful store chain really is!

Peter H.

7:43PM PST on Jan 11, 2012

A study by the American Institute of Planners in the late 1990s indicated that counties with or adjacent to a Walmart had a 16% lower average industrial wage. Also Walmart usually located outside a county line nearest a major centre. This would avoid the protests and zoning problems thus killing the main street of nearby towns/cities. Walmart certainly is a model of an ideal nation-killing entity purely for the sake of profit.

Lisa D.

3:31PM PST on Dec 23, 2011

I shop at Wal-Mart as little as possible, but there are so many bad options out there that aren't much better .... we've allowed the lowest price to trump everything else, which has created this situation ...

Miranda R.

6:12AM PST on Dec 21, 2011

Yet another reason for me to go out of my way to shop elsewhere!

Lori E.

6:50AM PST on Dec 20, 2011

I never shop at Walmart!

Molly N.

3:51AM PST on Dec 20, 2011

Black friday sales are awful and I don't participate in them because people shouldn't be killing themselves just to BUY some object at a lower price.
I find most of the time its people that have money that go to buy themselves expensive items at a lower price.

3:44AM PST on Dec 20, 2011

@Masha S. Walmart is ASDA and I know I've shopped in an ASDA just to see what it was like when I was in London.

This article has to be outdated because the National Minimum wage is $7.25, I thought? That's not much better than $6.50 but it is if you're making minimum wage.
Keep in mind that the poverty level for a family of four is $22,350 in 2011.

I check the label to see where something is manufactured. I prefer to buy 'Made in the USA' but sometimes that option isn't available anywhere.

Lyn B.

8:56AM PST on Dec 16, 2011

I feel like such a hypocrite and I'm working to change that.

Up until 10 yrs ago I had NEVER shopped Walmart. 10 yrs ago marks when my husband and I hit an incredibly bad rough patch. A financial rough patch that we are still trying to climb out of. When we lost our home (in a large metro area) and moved to a rural area the ONLY retail options were Food Lion and Walmart AND we were 30 miles from them!
Because of how truly huge Walmart is no one can compete when it comes to prices. I hate supporting Walmart but when you have little to no money after paying bills, your choices for buying all the necessities other than food and sometimes even food comes down to Walmart or dollar stores. There is no real quality at dollar stores the way there is at Walmart (meaning brands you can trust).
Thankfully we live in another large metro area now so we have more options like Ollies, Big Lots, etc but too often the sales or options at those stores are hit or miss whereas at Walmart the inventory and prices stay current and available.
Things are better but still tight so I still find myself at Walmart more often than I would like to admit. Although when buying I do try to avoid buying anything made in China but that's true wherever I shop. Sadly, it's becoming harder and harder to avoid.