Somehow litigation is a stronger association with Walmart. Who knew? And I'm a lawyer. I mean, I know Walmart has been sued. (There was that unsuccessful effort to make a class action out of the lack of advancement of female employees.)
Speaking of law, how can you write a huge NYT article about RV vacationing in the U.S. and not mention Clarence Thomas? Here's an article to make up for the gap:
"We've been in dozens of Walmart parking lots across the country," said Mrs. Thomas. "Actually it's one of our favorite things to do if we're not having to plug in and we've got enough electricity ... but you can get a little shopping in, see a part of real America -- it's fun."
When Justice Thomas is recognized, "it sort of puts a damper on things... It's not that there's anything bad... What actually happens is we kind of get mobbed. We had to leave one site that, they got so friendly... they looked forward to seeing us every year that there'd be 20 - 30 people waiting for him to come out of the bus, so we just had to move on."
She says the tough economy isn't going to stop a lot of campers, "Campers are very resilient... if gas goes up, or the cost of camping changes, or if it's difficult to fit it in, they're going to find a way to vacation. There's a whole range of campers -- from tents to pop-ups to fifth wheelers... they're people who love their family, they love the simple life, they love to get away but not spend a whole lot of money ... it's the best of America out here."
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43 comments:
This just shows how crappy the NYT is. Walmart has gained huge mileage (no pun intended) from providing overnight parking for RV'ers and their research should have shown that. The RV's in Walmart is heavily featured in Reamde by Neil Stephenson.
"Of all the things Walmart is best known for (low prices, litigation, the demise of mom-and-pop stores), an overnight stopping place for RVers is not among them."
Perhaps... if your residence is within walking distance of Columbus Circle.
Thanks, Professor. What a wonderful PRI story about the Thomases! How did I forget or not know that she is white? This would seem to be a factor in the leftist hatred for her husband.
I'll put on my grammar/former Editor hat.
You can't be best known for more than one thing. I think Wal*Mart is best known for low prices.
That sentence is in woeful need of a competent editor.
"Speaking of law, how can you write a huge NYT article about RV vacationing in the U.S. and not mention Clarence Thomas?"
Why would you risk humanizing him? Your readers don't want that. Or at least your editors don't.
@MadMan--I think it is possible for WalMart to be the best-known among all stores in each of multiple categories. It's all in the hyphenation:
What store is the best-known for low prices?
What store is the best-known for RV friendliness?
etc.
As opposed to, "What is WalMart best known for?", which can only be one thing.
And I'm a lawyer. I mean, I know Walmart has been sued.
Name one large business that hasn't been sued.
There's no better place to eat your fast food drive-through than a capacious Walmart parking lot.
The seagulls know there will be french fries.
This just shows how crappy the NYT is. Walmart has gained huge mileage (no pun intended) from providing overnight parking for RV'ers and their research should have shown that.
No kidding? I live in Arkansas, home of Walmart where we've had the store forever, and I didn't know that. It makes sense though. Parking overnight is probably not at a premium and Rv's would probalby buy stuff. Win/Win.
I love Winnebagos. I spent 9 months on the road with a play in the 80's. If we were, say, Minneapolis one night and were to be in Chicago the next, we would load up the people who set up the show and drive all night so we'd be there for the morning load-in.
Coast to coast and Canada to El Paso. Just a lot of fun. Get one.
I'd rather park on the beach on Padre Island than in a Wal-Mart parking lot though.
RVers would buy stuff, sorry. Not RV's.
This is one thing I don't blame the NYTimes people for. Probably it's something mainly known to RVers. If you aren't in that world, you have no reason to find this stuff out (unless, I guess, you're doing an article about it!)
RVs used to be called Winnebagos. The Walmart concept used to be called a Wigwam Store. That was before Bain Capital came along and despoiled the entrepreneurial environment.
That sentence is in woeful need of a competent editor.
It's a spanish Inquisition thing. (I don't really need to link, do I?)
There are no Walmarts in New York City (although there are a few in New Jersey).
Perhaps New York Times employees should get out of NYC a little more and see how the rest of the country lives?
Although it's hard to see a true-blue Times reader (let alone a Times reporter) shopping in a Walmart. Or at least willing to admit having done so.
It's a spanish Inquisition thing. (I don't really need to link, do I?)
No. Not for the cool people, anyway.
Perhaps New York Times employees should get out of NYC a little more and see how the rest of the country lives?
Drowning in a sea of dreadful crap from China?
Walmart has a very well oiled litigation unit for personal injury cases. They hire good local attorneys but keep them on a short leash. Having done investigations for them they also keep investigators on a tight budget but are sharp enough to invest their dollars when warranted. As you might imagine, they get sued a lot.
Target has even a tighter ship. I've never done work for them however, if someone slips and falls they will have video. Their corporate security guy is ex FBI and they have such sophisticated video capabilities the corporate video people do enhancing of grainy footage for local cops..gratis. Good way to stay in w/ the local police.
The animosity towards Walmart (and the Waltons) bespeaks the liberal mindset to success. My lady friend and I just came back from a trip to Bentonville Arkansas where we visited the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art--A tour de force both in terms of the architecture of the place and the collection. In walking distance of Sam Walton's original store.
Of course when you can spend 1.2 BILLION dollars you can get results--and the beauty of it is it puts a stick in the eye of NYC and the West Coasts effetes who apparently think that access should be limited to them alone.
And to make it even better: admission is FREE (funded by the Walmart foundation) and the food is excellent and under 10 dollars a dish.
God bless the Waltons and Walmart--they have done far more to make American accessible to many Americans than any of the East Coast liberals.
Bentonville is a bit out of the way, and regretably a dry county--but it is an outstanding collection of American art--they only thing they lack is a Winslow Homer,l but given Ms Walton's pocketbook, that wont last long.
Fuck the upper east side Manhattanites and West Coast fags. Crystal Bridges is a tour de force and well worth your time to visit.
No. Not for the cool people, anyway.
Because they have it bookmarked already!
Peter, when the NYT or another major news reporting group wants to go into non-New York America, they go to Pennsylvania, not New Jersey. New Jersey is just refineries and swamps to New Yorkers; Pennsylvania is this big place (smaller than New York, but it has the fortunate byline of a foreign locale).
If you watch for this in news reporting emanating from NYC, it becomes obvious. Quick ride; low budget; both suburban and rural people within easy reach. Even a few conservatives!
Fuck the upper east side Manhattanites and West Coast fags.
This New York fag says fuck you right back.
Wal-Mart doesn't miss a trick. Besides being RV friendly, notice that the lighting of their parking lots is accomplished by "white" mercury-vapor rather than the Euro-induced (mid-70s) yellow sodium vapor lamps which the public absolutely loathes--as countless surveys never fail to demonstrate.
I understand that one reason that WalMart has a reputation for litigation is that they have a policy never to pay someone to go away if they threaten a lawsuit.
Palladian--you are welcome! Establishing a dialogue is always a wonderful thing.
Speaking as a former trucker, Wal-mart is a God send...try living off the groceries you can get in a truck stop. Break your wallet, and your wind.
Wally World has its good points and its downs.
In our neck of the woods, they have attracted other businesses into an area that was clearly moribund.
OTOH, they can squeeze out small firms catering to similar needs.
Bob Ellison said...
Thanks, Professor. What a wonderful PRI story about the Thomases! How did I forget or not know that she is white? This would seem to be a factor in the leftist hatred for her husband.
Don't forget they're Catholic.
The Lefties hate them for that, too, no doubt.
Drowning in a sea of dreadful crap from China?
And nothing in NYC is made in China? It just costs 1000 dollars instead of 10.
we visited the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art
Roger, I went there last month. Much better than I anticipated! They focused a lot on American Art, which is not really my favorite, but they did have some lovely stuff. I particularly liked some hummingbird pictures and would have liked to buy prints if they had been available. It wasn't the Smithsonian, but still.
Plus, the grounds were gorgeous.
Shanna--grounds are really gorgeous especially if you walk from downtown--it is adjacent to the compton gardens which has a wonderful display of native vegetation. Now please keep in mind, if you would ma'am, the museum is focused only on American art--now if you want European art, esp impressionism, the dixon gallery in memphis has a solid collection of impressionism.
Found it interesting in the firm that I recently worked for, that no one liked Walmart (except for me), but the firm was making a bit of money by renting attorneys to the company. We had maybe a half dozen or so, camped out in Bentonville.
Sure, small stores are squeezed out, but everyone else benefits a lot more with the lower prices and much greater choice. Where I mostly live now, back in the 70s, there were no big box stores, and groceries cost enough that you had to make a run down to Denver every month for staples. And, will probably spend some time in Montana this summer, where the closes Walmart is 70 miles away. You really get spoiled when you have one close, and don't realize it until all of a sudden, you have to save your every day purchases for long trips to a big town.
My understanding is that not all Walmarts allow overnight camping, but many do. I think that the ones that don't, tend to be in the larger cities. Haven't done it with an RV, but done it plenty of times in a car. And, it is great the next morning, when you can pop inside to get donuts and caffeine before hitting the road. And, not at 7-11 prices either. Moreover, I feel safer in a Walmart parking lot than at a truck stop.
now if you want European art, esp impressionism, the dixon gallery in memphis has a solid collection of impressionism.
I was kind of spoiled on this living in DC for so long, generally anything close to me now doesn't compare, but I may check out Dixon sometime. Thanks for the recommendation!
I suspect Mr Hayden's comments probably reflect a recession economy--many folks did not like Wal-mart until the bottom fell out--then all of a sudden, shoppers preferred low prices to "socially conscious" issues. As an interesting aside to my anecdote about Crystal Bridges, we were outside the original wal-mart store when an indian gentlemen and his wife came up. We engaged them in conversation, and his comment was, "this is where history was made." Presumably he was an MBA understood exactly what Wal-Mart had wrought.
Walmart also creates mom and pop stores.
They're attracted by the traffic.
Our local Wal-Mart is in a big U shaped open shopping center. Probably 25 stores or so.
Pretty good selection, shoes, clothing, sporting goods, grocery store, costume jewelry, Walgreens, optician & so on.
Walmart competes directly with every single store in the center.
Yet every space is full and there is very little turnover.
Yes, you can compete with Walmart.
I spend much of my time working with (mostly US) manufacturing companies. Almost all rely on Walmart for anywhere from 40 to 70% of total sales. Walmart is tough to sell to. They insist on plants being efficient and producing quality products.
Most importantly, they insist on them producing products people want to buy.
The thing most people miss about Walmart is that they do not sell products to their customers. They buy products for their customers.
This simple concept has created a revolution in manufacturing, retailing, logistics and more.
Lot's of people *say* that retailing is about buying, not about selling. Few believe it. Fewer still practice it.
I am a fan of Walmart on a number of levels for a number of reasons.
John Henry
Again, New York dipshit knows absolutely nothing about the country. Only a closeted fool would not know that Walmart is THE place to safely park your RV. I don't, and won't, own an RV but if I did I do know where to park it.
Chances are the writer proudly does not know how to drive.
Bruce Hayden: Some years ago I was trying to buy some land from an older native Hawaiian on the island of Kauai. I was trying to suck up using the native angle and asked her what I thought was going to be a leading question about the new Walmart. My thesis, of course, was that it was a horror and that it was ruining business for everyone on top of destroying the landscaped.
She absolutely beamed at me! She was so happy to talk about Walmart and the tremendous convenience and savings it was bringing to the people of the island. No more schlepping to Honolulu to buy a TV, no more having to go to the mainland for some items.
Very educational.
Everyone who travels in an RV, camper trailer or 5th wheel knows this. Even some Rand McNally atlases have a list of what towns have Walmarts for the convenience of RVers. There are some towns and cities that do not allow camping in the Walmart, or any other, parking lot but most do.
I have to tell you though, the country RV parks in Madison are so good I would love to camp there again.
Because they have it bookmarked already!
Book marked?! Memorized!
Book marked?! Memorized!
Along with the Bruces, the Lumberjack, Dead Parrots and the odd fish dance or two.
rhhardin said...
Walmart also creates mom and pop stores.
They're attracted by the traffic.
Bingo!
Up in Sturgeon Bay there's a new Wal Mart on a arterial/commercial street that was dying. A big reason for the dying was that a newer highway had bypassed what used to be the main way through town.
No more--there's lots of traffic now.
Plus the new Wal Mart is less than a mile from Sturgeon Bay's struggling down town.
If they can't find a way to leverage this new magnet, shame on the local merchants.
All of a sudden
Here in our quaint but backwater southern town, we will never have a Costco or a Whole Foods or any of the other fancy pants groceries of any stripe. Even Kroger won't come here.
But we have Wal Mart. It took me a while but I figured out that Walmart has better fresh fruits and veggies than all the other supermarkets. As good as Whole Foods (I ted to live near one) but without as much selection.
Why? Buying power, turnover of inventory and commitment to quality. They put the Publix to shame.
"Wal-Mart doesn't miss a trick. ..., notice that the lighting of their parking lots is accomplished by "white" mercury-vapor rather than the Euro-induced (mid-70s) yellow sodium vapor lamps which the public absolutely loathes--as countless surveys never fail to demonstrate."
Metal halide. Nobody uses mercury vapor anymore. Incredibly low efficiency in lumens/watt, and monochromatc. Color rendition is just as poor as sodium, but in a different hue. Metal halide has decent, not great, CRI, and efficency approaches that of sodium.
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