Wal-Mart, The High Cost for Low Price

Many people walk into a Wal-Mart, looking for a good deal, but they don’t know who is suffering to get you a good deal on that product. First of all, their employees don’t get paid enough. For example, in 2005, a family of two people would need about $28,000 for basic needs; even working full time, a Wal-Mart employee is making $17,000 a year and because of their low wages, it costs the taxpayers around 2.5 billion dollars in the form of Federal Public Assistance Programs to pay for the underpaid people who work at Wal-Mart. Then after that, only 43% of their employees get a health plan. The workers overseas get treated even harsher. The workers overseas reported that they got paid under the legal limit, were not allowed to take holidays off and were forced to work overtime. A woman in Bangladesh even reported that she could not have a day off for six months. If she didn’t work overtime, she would get fired.

Another worker reported that her supervisor attacked her “by slapping her face so hard that her nose began bleeding simply because she was unable to meet” her “high quota.” After treating their employees like slaves, they are also harsh to the environment. In the state of Connecticut Wal-Mart improperly stored pesticides and other pollutants. Their pollutants went into streams and not only contaminated them, they killed many fish. In Florida, Wal-Mart violated Florida’s petroleum storage tank at its automobile service centers laws; they failed to register their fuel tanks, install devices to prevent overflow, and failed to check them monthly. So next time you buy some products at Wal-Mart, please consider who is suffering to make that good deal.

Works Cited

http://www.wakeupwalmart.com/facts/ January 15, 2007

[New York Times, September 14, 2005]

[Associated Press, 11/18/04]

[“Basic Family Budget Calculator” online at www.epinet.org]

[http://www.walmartfacts.com/docs/1625_jan2006healthcarebackgrounders_57689024
0.pdf]

[The Hidden Price We All Pay For Wal-Mart, A Report By The Democratic Staff Of The Committee On Education And The Workforce, 2/16/04]

[Hartford Courant, 8/16/05]

[Associated Press, 11/18/04]

[New York Times, September 14, 2005]