Walmart Myths #5

(This is another in a series of articles in which I will discuss certain aspects of working at Walmart, which is the subject of so much hatred on the internet. I should point out that these are not attempts to debunk or disprove any claims made against the retail chain. I will simply relay my experience working with the company. Some of the things I state reflect the period of time from 2001 - 2006 and working in two locations in California. Some of what I say may no longer be true, may be different in other locations, or policies may have changed.)

The Walton Family Foundation is a facade non-profit that doesn't contribute anything

Every Walmart store has someone in charge of community distributions. People from various local charities can approach their local Walmarts to ask for donations. There's a rather complex process in which forms need to be filled out and it can take at least a month before any funds are approved and released.

The recipients of these distributions typically come to the store during the daily staff meetings and are presented with a giant novelty check for a photo op, along with an actual check in the amount of the contribution. Every novelty check that I've seen read "Walton Family Foundation," but had the Walmart/Sam's Club logo on them.

The only real problem with this charitable giving is that we would often get people from local organizations coming in the store and demanding the contribution right then and there. That never happened.

Walmart gets its products from less than reputable providers

This is something I can't really argue with. There's enough evidence to indicate that a lot of the merchandise comes from overseas locations where they allegedly have sweatshops staff with people working for very low wages. But not everything is manufactured under those conditions.

However, I got to have fun with this once. A woman was in the Sporting Goods department. She asked me how we were able to sell flashlights for a dollar each. I immediately responded, "Child labor in third-world countries." Her jaw hit the floor. That was probably what she thought, but she likely never expected anyone from Walmart to say that out loud. I followed up by saying, "Well, I don't know that for a fact, but you hear stories." She then went and bought a $5 flashlight.

Right now, these are all of the Walmart Myths I'm able to come up with. If I think of more that I can respond to, I'll be posting them in the weeks to come.