05.19.11
Walmart laments beggaring its US customers (not really)
This item was to laugh yesterday — a Wal-mart CEO bemoaning the fact that the customers of the sundry goods megastore chain weren’t spending.
Having led the charge to Chinese-made goods and subsequent forfeiture of American jobs and wage compression, there’s a lethal irony in a US multinational company unselfconsciously expressing regret over diminished profits because its US middle class customer has been beggared.
Wal-Mart reported better-than-expected quarterly profit and revenue Tuesday, although its U.S. store sales continued to decline as higher gas, energy and food prices ate away at its customers’ paychecks.
“Our core U.S. customers are stretched. They are concerned about rising gas, food prices and employment issues,” Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke said …
Last month, Duke told an industry gathering that Wal-Mart’s core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a year ago due to rising gasoline prices, and that the retailer is worried.
Wal-Mart shoppers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, typically shop in bulk at the beginning of the month when their paychecks come in.
Lately, they’re “running out of money” at a faster clip, he said.
As their budgets get more stretched, Wal-Mart shoppers are also changing their buying habits, picking up more groceries and household goods — such as detergent and paper towels — while cutting back on non-essential items such as clothing and home furnishings.
Which are all made in China although they may be US company branded.
Like its competitor Target, Wal-mart has greatly expanded its role as a supermarket, both companies realizing people must eat. And that the government foodstamp subsidy is a revenue stream to be mined more thoroughly.
If you had a button to push that would silently annihilate these people you’d use it.