The Devil Is Me And All Along I Was So Sure It Was Wal-Mart Part 1

I was convinced - and still am to some degree - that Wal-Mart is Satan Incarnate, but yesterday as I was reading The Wal-Mart Effect, by Charles Fishman; it occurred to me Wal-Mart did not get there all by itself which I will get to eventually. First, I want explain why I think/thought Wal-Mart might eventually take over the world, or at the very least end market capitalism as we know it.

A Few Facts per The Wal-Mart Effect:

Sam Walton started Wal-Mart in 1962 in Bentonville, Arkansas.

There are 4,000 Wal-Mart stores in the US alone.

Wal-Mart is the number one employer in 24 states with 1.6 million employees.

Wal-Mart takes in $35 million dollars in sales an hour, every hour of the day, every day of the week.

Wal-Mart sells more by St. Patrick’s Day than Target does all year.

Wal-Mart's profit is $19,537/minute, which means every minute Wal-Mart takes in the same as one of its clerks earn in one year.

Wal-Mart saves people approximately $30 billion dollars a year.

Wal-Mart is the largest company in the history of the world.

Wal-Mart, of course, is not all bad. As I have stated above Wal-Mart saves many people lots of money without much work on their part. Wal-Mart keeps their prices consistently low therefore, the consumer does not have to search for bargains, cut coupons or research all the competitors because they can feel fairly confident Wal-Mart will charge the lowest prices around on almost all products. These dependable low prices are the reason Wal-Mart is the largest company in the world.

I thought Wal-Mart was great until I discovered how they keep their prices so low which I will explain in Part Two.