Dear degas,
I'm proud and glad that you worked your way out of low-end scuzzy jobs to become what you are, a man who can spellbind Fodorettes (and Fodorites) with tales of European travel.

Hi Ira -

I understand that WalMart puts mom&pop stores out of business, but I always thought that was because they are able to sell products really cheap due to their their anti-union (anti-employee?)policies. But is it really because they are open on Sundays, or just the cheap products? If WalMart closed on Sundays (and all other stores were closed on Sundays too) would that give smaller stores any advantage?

Also, I know stores are open late. But for some people, like me, it is more convenient to shop on Sundays than to race to the store after work and hope I can still get home in time to eat dinner.

Which makes me wonder about the people who have to work late so that stores can stay open for shoppers like me. Is it better to give them Sunday off so they can have a picnic with their kids, rather than let them work Sunday but get home early Monday-Friday and spend evenings/dinner with the children? Is it government's place to decide that having Sundays off is better than having free evenings during the week?

I don't want the government to require any store to stay open on Sundays to cater to shoppers like me, but I also don't want the government to prohibit any stores (and employees) from doing so if they choose.

Unions have been declining in size and power for years. There are many good reasons for that situation. They served a purpose once, but thier time has come and gone. All they do is drive up costs, and protect slackers.

Hey ira,

I was in the process of responding yesterday afternoon and had written a nice, long message but we lost power before i could post. Darn it, MAN!

First of all I'm really pleased with how this dialog has developed, with no name-calleing or mean-spirited posts. An open and honest discussion with input from the wide range of personalities we have here.

I never said unions were wrong and agree 100% with your assessment concerning incompetent and vastly over-paid executives making bad deals with the union. But the threat of labor stoppages has a hand in that. If everyone came to the bargaining table with an open mind, honest intentions, and without the combative attitudes, they might actually be able to come to an agreeable resolution, that is rarely the case.

Of course the union wasn't the only reason Penn Central went under but they certainly played a significant role in their demise. Bad management coupled with unreasonable union demands are always a script for disaster.

Again we agree about the CEOs with golden parachutes. Salaries of 100's of millions of $$$ for mis-managing a company is way out of line, then to get a severance package equal to or better than the GDP of almost all but the most developed nations is greed at its most.

I'm in the process of planning our trip to Europe next summer and have found this forum to be a signiificant resource. Thanks to everyone that asks, everyone that replies, and the trips reports.

MvK

To ckenb :

"Trying to make France or any other country into another America seems kind of counterproductive. Vive la différence !"

Bravo, la France a son originalité et n'est pas une colonie américaine ! Marie (Normandie, France)

Forgot to add a /smiley to show I was not getting angry but was simply pointing out what I think !Cordialement. Marie (Normandy, France)

Hi Jolie,

WalMart began with a very good idea; sell cheap goods at low prices 24/7.

Sam Walton had some great ideas; one of which was employee profit sharing.

He was also lucky, in that he started WalMart at a time when "consumerism" was on the rise. Note that Target, Kmart and a number of names that are no longer with us all started at about the same time.

Unfortunately, like all things taken to extremes, the world's largest retailer (and perhaps the world's largest company)is no longer the fun place to work that it claims to be.

WalMart has about 1.8 million employees. According to it's website (http://www.walmartfacts.com/associates/default.aspx) about 620,000 have health insurance through the company. That is, 2/3 don't.

My point here is that WalMart is now so big that it distorts the market.

Any claims that its employees operate as independent actors in a free market are utterly wrong.

Anyone who thinks that it doesn't have the financial power to impose its will, should it want to, is wrong.

When WalMart built its supercenter here in Madison our 2 small groceries and one of our chain stores closed up within 6 mos, and YES, one of the reasons was that they couldn't afford to stay open on Sunday.

As to whether our quality of life has been diminished or enhanced, I can't say for sure. I think that it was a wash.

Please note that I use WalMart here only as an example. It could be Loews or Home Depot or Kmart or Target, etc, etc.

Well, then, I stand corrected. I didn't think a store like WalMart could put a small store out of business just by being allowed to open on Sunday. But I do not personally have a WalMart in my town, so I am unfamiliar with how it impacts the other businesses.

But I will continue to shop on Sundays.

Yeah, Walmart started to decline after Hillary broke off her close, long term relationship.