Fortune Magazine has released it's top 500 companies from 2007. A look at them can tell us a few things about the world we live in and why we need to make a few changes. I will admit that this area is not me specialty but this blog is a place for me to rant and rave, not necessarily be accurate... Though I do research my comments as best I can and try to cite my sources as often as possible. This entry is mostly a knee jerk reaction the the Yahoo article about the Fortune 500 article.
The number 1 company is Wal-Mart. Most people who know me know I hate them but for so many more reasons that you would expect. For starters, the simple answer, Wal-Mart puts the little guys out of business and ends the rule of generations of Mom and Pop run stores. They do this by introducing low prices to a community. Americans love a bargain and swarmed there for years, and continue to keep Wal-Mart a hugely successful company. But are low prices what Walmart really brings? Or do they just bring cheaper goods?Cheaper and lower prices are 2 different things. Walmart is so big now that non-cheaper goods are only available at specialty stores and are considered over priced. The brands Walmart has introduced are now the regular, everyday throw away brands we have come to expect.
How about customer service? Have you ever had good customer service in a Wal-Mart? I have been in retail for most of my adult life and most customers and trade magazines report the same thing, there is no good customer service left in America. They bitch about it non stop and yet the store most notoriously linked to poor customer service is the #1 company in America. So do you really care about good customer service or is it really price first? Next time you need something that you can shop around for try rewarding the store that provides the best customer service and not the best price. Why? Do you really think that item cost you that much more at a different store?
What if I told you Wal-Mart was bad for the American economy. Walmart is America's single biggest employer but offers the lowest wages and worst benefits. They are a drain on every community they are in. Walmart management is trained on how to get their employees on state support because they refuse to offer a living wage and affordable medical insurance. And that's to their few "full time" employees, most employees are aren't ever offered the unaffordable benefits because Walmart positions are only part time, even if the employee works an average of 40+ hours. Walmart has had numerous legal problems in this department and has lost a number of class action lawsuits. You would think the largest company in the WORLD could offer decent health care insurance. I have worked for a number of large companies and they all offered good and affordable benefits based on covering hundreds or thousands of people.
I have more but I will be saving some of my anger for the #2 company on the list, Exxon Mobile (Also the most profitable company IN THE WORLD for 2007). But that is another post.
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