- the lowest employee turnover rate in retail
- higher than average wages, $17/hour
- real (as opposed to Wal-Mart's largely fictional) health care benefits to 90% of its employees.
The model for shopping there is like Sam's Club; there's a $45 membership fee. So it would take a while to realize any savings. And we would definitely have to drive, so ethically we'd have to factor in the gasoline and environmental costs of driving. Here's my wild scheme of the day (what would a day be without Andrea coming up with something to make life more complicated???).
We have in this town two shelters (for humans... this idea could get even bigger!): one for people who are homeless and one for survivors of family violence. Buying supplies for these shelters is a huge undertaking. (I wonder how much toothpaste gets used in a year at the homeless shelter.) They could be encouraged to move their shopping away from Wal-Mart and towards Costco. Moreover, we could extend the obvious carpooling idea to include families who have recently moved from these shelters into their own homes. While my family car wins no "sexy car" prizes, it IS reliable -which frequently can't be said for the families at some economic risk.
And here's another thing... When families in emergency come to my church and ask for assistance, they typically receive Wal-mart gift cards. I don't even like the idea of giving assistance that ties people to one way of constructing a solution to their troubles. But, that said, I really really don't like having the church's money tied up in Wal-Mart. And I have yet to construct an idea that would both fly with the hierarchy and be the ethical and helpful choice for the clients. Still working on that.....
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