Join Your TownOpinions 
Rolling back the price on my soul
By Jillian Lazzaro, Staff Writer
Thu Apr 03, 2008, 04:24 PM EDT
This isn't going to be a typical editorial about Wal-Mart; but for the sake of partiality, and maybe even my sanity, I'm going to throw out a disclaimer before continuing.
I've read the heartbreaking articles about Deborah Shank, the Wal-Mart employee left brain-dead in a car accident, and then sued by her employer for her health insurance fees.
Yes, like many people, I was left bothered after watching the numerous documentaries on Wal-Mart detailing their cut-throat tactics to bring shoppers the lowest prices: their ability to force merchandisers to wholesale prices they can not afford.
I've been around while they're superstores have quickly driven mom-and-pop shops out of business.
Oh, and of course, I'm here, right now, envying their success: while the rest of us bow under the strains of recession, Wal-Mart is flourishing off of our need to buy cheaper white bread and shampoo. In fact, a Wal-Mart heiress, all sunshine and smiles, just forked over a small portion of her inheritance to buy her very own art museum. Lucky girl.
So, no, I'm not a Wal-Mart shopper; but, soon, I may have to be.
But, my goodness, how attractive Wally world has become in the past years, what with their new organic line of food, their initiatives to increase energy efficiency, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and cut solid waste.
Wal-Mart has even honed-in on a more style-conscious demographic, renovating stores with wider aisles, wood floors, sushi bars, coffee shops, and Wi-Fi.
Just the other day, my editor, John Andre, walked into the office as if floating on a cloud, high on the good deal he'd made at our local Wal-Mart on plastic crates for his garden; but while I bombarded him with my usual Wal-Mart diatribe, I silently realized, only $4 for a garden crate is a great deal.
There I was, faced with a moral dilemma: stick to my beliefs and continue buying at regular prices, or toss them to the wind and save a nice chunk of change.
And hey, who cares that Wal-Mart is rumored to cheat its employees out of wages each year, that it continually rewrites its full-time employment policy to make employees ineligible for health insurance, that store managers have been found deleting hours from employee timecards, or that they face several class-action lawsuits on charges of racism and sexism? Who cares
when I can get toilet paper fifty-cents cheaper?
Maybe I can't find many of the DVDs, CDs, books or magazines that I want to buy, because Wal-Mart deems them too morally compromising for my soul, but I will absolutely find any they find fit, and at a price lower than anyplace else. Besides, it must be comforting to know that Wal-Mart looks out for us, the customers; even if it doesn't look out for its employees.
It goes without saying: these tight-wallet times have us backed into a corner. We've cut the corners on our favored frills, and now we're coming to the point where cutting the corners might knock out the wall. So, maybe I might have to sell my soul and start frequenting Wal-Mart, but at least I'll know someone will be getting a bargain, right?
