Walmart lawsuit.

[Bad Monkey]

Originally Posted by Eric H

Ahh yes, unfettered capitalism. We can all hope that one day Wal-Mart can just buy up all the campgrounds and public parks and pave them over too. God forbid there should be any push to keep anyone away from Wal-mart so they can get at all of their quality Chinese merchandise after spending the night under their beautiful mercury halide lights.
You're actually using terms like "Strong Arming" for local campgrounds and those who support them? HA, Wal-Mart strong arms local governments, local shops and their own workforce, it's just disgraceful. I've been through many small southern towns with decaying down towns and boarded up businesses because of your friends at Wal-Mart. And FYI, "Wal-Mart" and "Good Karma" don't belong in the same paragraph.

Does Wal-Mart make the toys, housewares, Levi jeans, and other products in their store? Are those products only available at Wal-Mart? Or do other stores carry the same bands that Wal-Mart does? I find it funny Wal-Mart "strong arms" their employees, yet they pay better the the union and local stores here. Don't like Wal-Mart, don't shop there. Put lets be honest about who makes the products and that every other store sells the same Chinese crap Wal-Mart sells.

[Jaxon]

Originally Posted by Eric H

I've been through many small southern towns with decaying down towns and boarded up businesses because of your friends at Wal-Mart. And FYI, "Wal-Mart" and "Good Karma" don't belong in the same paragraph.

We fulltime throughout the US and yup, they’re alot of towns where WalMart is the only store. Partly because they undercut the local businesses and mostly because WalMart carried what people wanted and the small town was dying anyway - people went to “the city” to go shopping.

Chineese merchandise. Well, pretty much every big box store carries that (try buying decent screws, nut & bolts at Home Depot/Lowes). Walmart does not have the monopoly on Chineese made goods...

You pretty much made the point using Walmart as your evil example... thing of it is, if I just need a stop-over for the night and local campgrounds aren’t willing to come up with a stop-over rate (not their usual $30 on up rate) for me, then I’ll keep on going. It isn’t Walmart that’s trying to force up new city ordinances telling me where to camp for the night.

Who knows, if a local campground came up with a cheap overnight rate (no hookups, just in and out), then not only would they make some money on the deal, maybe they’d have an increase in business & this thread would be a moot point.

[eubank]

Up here (well, near here, sort of) the local Walmart isn't so much of a drag on local business, though they'd like to be. The issue was whether they should be allowed to build a SuperWalmart. City council agreed, but only if Walmart would break up the store into physically separated units: A grocery store, a tire/autoparts store, a clothing store, and so forth. Not surprisingly, Walmart refused. So we have a little Walmart, and folks tend to shop there only limitedly.

As far as camping is concerned, it's pretty much of a dumb one. Some folks just don't want to camp in RV parks, and that's ok, too. If they don't "camp" at Walmart (currently space for four or five RVs, at best), they'll camp elsewhere, and often do. Duh. That's called freedom.

Ultimately, it's doubtful that Walmart would want to start charging for staying in the parking lot. That would entail taxes (including both sales tax and the so-called "lodger's taxes" or "bed taxes"), detailed record keeping for audits, the whole shootin' match that RV parks and other lodging establishments have to contend with. Again, I doubt that they'd want to fiddle with it, but if they do, they'll almost certainly need to judge the meager income against the employee hours needed to keep track of it.


Lynn

[Eric H]

True Jaxon,
and your tone is much better in that post then in your previous post where you were responding to my simple statement that it isn't an easy question to many people (as you can see due to the mixed response). Sure, it's not a great thing to limit the convenience of wal-mart to sleep in, yet you have to understand that many people find the practices of wal-mart to be overly aggressive to the point of cruel. So, it's not as simple as you may think.
As for your statements Bad Monkey: no they don't make the stuff, but they use shady practices in their buying, and YES, they do strong arm their employees, they do this by keeping them on part time so they don't have to give them benefits, take hours away, and create a sexually discriminative workplace (which they then defend). Please do a bit more research on the history of walmart and how it deals with it's employees and buying before making blanket statements, like the fact they pay better (maybe without heath care).
Once again, my original post was that it's not as simple as it seems since some of us see the paving over of nice areas and the decay of small towns and maybe think that a bit of regulation couldn't hurt. You can think what you like, and I'll think what I like.
Cheers,

[OB Bambi]

Seems like the only thing left here is: Who calls each other "Nazi" first. Hey, everybody, the world and the United States is changing.

[Frank's Trailer Works]

Is anyone paying attention? Obviously not. The local governments are banning the camping in parking lots. Why anyone would want to(camp in a parking lot) is beside me, but if your going to argue, argue proper facts.

[ROBERT CROSS]

In 24yrs we have never been asked to leave an area we stopped in for a 3-6hr "rest".

Maybe we just pick 'em better.

[Eric H]

I'm sure the opinions remain the same on both sides, that's the great thing about this country we live in, we can all have our own opinions and change things with our vote.
Things are never black and white, issues have intricacies that require a bit of forethought and fact checking before blurting out blanket statements. No one is going to call anyone a Nazi, and those type of comments certainly don't help.
There are multiple schools of thought on how things from campgrounds to schools to wars should be run, that's what makes America great. As I stated before, it's a complicated situation and it seems this thread has proved that point.
Anyway, I'm here to talk about aluminum, not politics, so best to all.

[Jaxon]

Originally Posted by Eric H

True Jaxon,
...and your tone is much better in that post then in your previous post.

Oh, well thank you. I was really concerned about that...

[Eric H]

You're quite welcome. Often tone is everything, I teach that to my 5 year old Godson too.

[Ag&Au]

I am having a hard time jumping back and forth between threads.

Could we just combine the two most contentious current threads into one?

Do you hate campfires in Walmart parking lots as much as I do?

[Mike Leary]

I noticed a "no overnight parking" sign at a Wall-Mart in Flagstaff. I asked a greeter what the deal was and he told me they were having problems with "campers" that set-up housekeeping. He also looked at me and said, "if you ask permission for a overnight, we have no problem with that."

[Mr.Bill]

I never shop at Walmart. I live in what used to be a union town - then Walmart threw enough money at the city council to get them to overrule the wishes of the community and build their non-union store. Now there are no unions, and corporate America has taken another step towards their plan of turning back the clock to the days of the Titanic, with them in first-class and the rest of us in steerage.

[Mike Leary]

We've stayed at a lot of tire stores overnight, less lighting, never a hassle as long as we were out early.

[DaveFL]

Long term parking in a rural airport is a nice quiet spot and some even have security, seldom a night landing at smaller airports.

[Kevin245]

After two+ years and 135 posts this thread has run its course and is closed.

Thanks for your participation.

On behalf of the site team.