Man Arrested For Paying With $1 Million Bill At Wal-Mart
To you, this may be a case of a mentally ill person at Wal-Mart. However, I see it as highlighting the implicit absurdity of money, and an admirable insistence on defining one’s own reality. Winston-Salem Journal reports:
A Lexington man is accused trying to use a fake $1 million bill to pay for his purchases at a Walmart.
Michael Anthony Fuller, 53, of 3 Parker St., walked into the Walmart on Lowes Boulevard in Lexington on Nov. 17. He shopped for a while, picking up a vacuum cleaner, a microwave oven and other merchandise, totaling $476, an arrest warrant says.
Fuller was later charged with attempting to obtain property by false pretense and uttering a forged instrument, both felonies, court records show. A warrant says of the fake million-dollar bill: “There is no such thing.” The largest bill in circulation is a $100 bill.
Lexington police Sgt. Shannon Sharpe said the case is unusual. “It…
The Industry of Hunger
Photo: Tawheed Manzoor (CC)
Vandana Shiva on Al Jazeera English explains how, as mega-chains venture into industrial farming, they have created an epidemic of hunger- and generated billions in profit.
New Delhi, India – In November 2011, when the UPA government announced that it had cleared the entry of big retail chains such as Walmart and Tesco into India through 51 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in multi-brand retail, it justified the decision saying that FDI in retail would boost food security and benefit farmers’ livelihoods.
But the assurance that FDI in retail would ease inflation did not resolve the political crisis the government was facing; it deepened it. Parliament was stalled for several days of the Winter Session, after which the government was forced to withdraw its decision.
The story of FDI in retail goes back to 2005, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh signed an agriculture agreement with the US, along with…
Woman Arrested For Attempting Meth Lab Inside Wal-Mart
If Wal-Mart has supplanted plazas, main streets, and town squares as the communal gathering place in locales across the country, and meth culture has become the predominant culture in some areas, it stands to reason that a logical weekend activity would be cooking up some meth at Wal-Mart. KJRH in Oklahoma reports:
Tulsa Police say a woman tried to make a meth lab inside a south Tulsa Walmart.
According to police, Alisha Halfmoon, 45, began taking items used to make meth off of shelves at the Walmart located at 81st and Lewis in south Tulsa. She then began trying to make the drug while still inside the store.
When officers took the items outside the store, some spilled. One officer suffered a minor burn to his hand. No customers were injured.
Wal-Mart Rolls Back Discrimination Law Suit
Photo: Joey Caputo (CC)
Is Wal-Mart too big to sue? How will this and previous law suits against Wal-Mart effect the future of how other businesses deal with discrimination? Via MSNBC:
If you’re part of a group of employees working for a major U.S. corporation with a gripe about unfair treatment, your collective voices were potentially muffled Monday.
A key attempt to tackle inequality in the U.S. workforce suffered a major blow when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Wal-Mart — with its thousands of stores and millions of employment decisions — was too massive for a group of employees to sue for discrimination using class-action status.
Wal-Mart, according to a 5-4 decision by the high court, is just too big to sue. The court’s decision is a direct hit to women seeking parity in particular. Women now make up about half the U.S. workforce and that means no other minority group seeking a…
British Supermarket Chain Starts Dating Service Based On Shopping Habits
Asda, a British retail giant owned by Wal-Mart, has launched an online dating site which matches singles by the products they purchase. Because, really, you are what you buy, and who would want to cohabit with someone who consumes a different brand of toilet paper? Business Review Europe gets starry-eyed:
Asda customers may be able to find love among the cabbages. According to Asda, the novel idea came about after a survey conducted on 10,000 of their shoppers showed that 71 percent of men and 64 percent of women look for a possible match in their local supermarket. And 41 percent said they viewed contents of fellow shoppers baskets to try and gauge whether they were single. Asda has decided to give the lonely hearts of our nation a helping hand!
Asdadating.com is the ‘perfect matchmaking option,’ explains a Asda spokesperson, ‘you can chat to fellow shoppers you like the look of whilst getting…
2010 Fortune 500: Wal-Mart’s Number One
Fortune 500 has come out with the top ranking stocks of 2010. Wal-Mart’s taken over the top stop, pushing Exxon to number two. Did the lack of employment encourage consumers to shop at Wal-Mart where they “roll back prices”? Read the Top 1000:
Rank Company Revenues Profits
1 Wal-Mart Stores 378,799.0 12,731.0
2 Exxon Mobil 372,824.0 40,610.0
3 Chevron 210,783.0 18,688.0
4 General Motors 182,347.0 -38,732.0
5 ConocoPhillips 178,558.0 11,891.0
6 General Electric 176,656.0 11,891.0
7 Ford Motor 172,468.0 -2,723.0
8 Citigroup 159,229.0 3,617.0
9 Bank of America 119,190.0 14,982.0
10 AT&T 118,928.0 11,951.0
Wal-Mart’s Competitors Help Fund Activist Campaigns
When we helped Robert Greenwald distribute his classic exposé documentary Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, we trumpeted the fact that we were receiving support from a panoply of unlikely allies, from the Sierra Club to the Petroleum Institute. It turns out that some of the megastore’s competitors have been helping out too, according to this report by Ann Zimmerman for the Wall Street Journal:
MUNDELEIN, Ill.—Robert Brownson long believed that his proposed development here, with its 200,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter, was being held hostage by nearby homeowners.
He had seen them protesting at city hall, and they had filed a lawsuit to stop the project.
What he didn’t know was that the locals were getting a lot of help. A grocery chain with nine stores in the area had hired Saint Consulting Group to secretly run the antidevelopment campaign. Saint is a specialist at fighting proposed Wal-Marts, and it uses tactics it…
24 Hours Inside Walmart
If ants ever make it to the top of the food chain, it might look something like this. From Bernstein & Andriulli:
Stephen Wilkes took a photo every 10 seconds of the day for a time-lapse video inside Walmart for Fortune magazine. All in all, 8,640 frames were taken (1,800 that are actually used) and the entire 24 hours is compressed into two minutes. The shoot took place on April 6, 2010 in New Brunswick, New Jersey from 9:14 am [sic] to 9:14pm. Says Photo Editor Lauren Winfield, “The inspiration was to show that Walmart never sleeps… open 24 hours with no real daylight, you have no sense of what time of day it is. We wanted to see what the traffic flow of people coming in and out of the store looks like as a day in the life.”
Wal-Mart Fires Associate Of Year, Cancer Patient, For Medical Marijuana Use
Steve Elliott writes on Toke of the Town:
Despite medical marijuana being legal in Michigan, WalMart has fired a cancer patient and former employee of the year who tested positive for the drug, which was recommended by his doctor.
“I was terminated because I failed a drug screening,” ex-WalMart employee Joseph Casias told WZZM-13.
In 2008, Casias was Associate of the Year at the WalMart store in Battle Creek, Mich., despite suffering from sinus cancer and an inoperable brain tumor. At his doctor’s recommendation, Casias legally uses medical marijuana to ease his pain.
“It helps tremendously,” Casias said. “I only use it to stop the pain. To make me feel more comfortable and active as a person.”
Casias said he went to work every day during his five years at WalMart. “I gave them everything,” he said. “One hundred and ten percent every day. Anything they asked me to do, I did. More than they…
Working For Walmart
Outside the Wal-Mart in Orland Hills, IL, by Clean Wal-Mart.
Kevin Robinson writes on Chicagoist:
As part of our on-going coverage of Wal-Mart’s attempt to break into the Chicago retail market, we take a look this week at the company’s employment practices in the Chicago metropolitan area. Chicagoist met up with three Wal-Mart employees to talk to them about their jobs, company policy, and why they work there.
Roslyn Lindfair also knows what it’s like to be hurt on the job at Wal-Mart. She worked at the Cary, Illinois store for five years as a cashier before she was fired after her arm got caught in a turnstile.
“It was maybe about 7:30, I was ringing up a customer, and she was turning the turnstile one way, and I was turning another way. And it hit me in my arm. It hurt, and I just kinda waited a while, and I noticed my arm…
Detroit Schools Offer Class in How to Work at Wal-Mart
Muriel Kane writes on RAW Story:
Wal-Mart has been widely condemned for offering its employees only low-paying, dead end jobs. Even President Obama criticized Hillary Clinton during the 2008 presidential campaign for having served on Wal-Mart’s board and stated that the firm ought to pay “a living wage.”
In inner-city Detroit, however, where the unemployment rate is estimated at an astonishing 50%, the prospect of a Wal-Mart job may appear far more attractive.
Four inner-city Detroit high schools have decided that employment with Wal-Mart is an opportunity worth training their students to pursue. The schools have teamed up with the giant merchandiser to offer a for-credit class in job-readiness training that also includes entry-level after-school jobs.
Read More: RAW Story
Man Arrested for Peeing on Steaks at Ohio Wal-Mart
Anyone think Wal-Mart’s going to resell the steaks? ALWAYS LOW PRICES! : )
Pete Kotz writes on True Crime Report:
When heading off to jail, it’s best to commit a crime that will provide you with a manly story to tell your fellow inmates, something a little more desperado-like than, say, knee-capping a rival figure skater. Working as a hired gun for the Mafia always sounds good…
Armored car heists always have a nice ring to them. And even if you’re not quite up to something this ambitious, you can still trot out the old resisting arrest.
Unfortunately, Robert T. Jenkins now sits in jail with probably the worst criminal tale ever. He was arrested at a Wal-Mart in Canton, Ohio for peeing on steaks. Yes, you heard that right.
Cops were called to the store after Jenkins simply walked up to the meat counter, pulled out his manly apparatus — which we hope isn’t capable of reproduction — and begin peeing on the steak selection.
No one seems to know why he did it, unless he was practicing a bold new form of marinating.
Wal-Mart Uses Fake Community Group to Manufacture Support
From the Chicagoist:
The controversy over Wal-Mart’s attempts to break into the Chicago retail market has flared up again recently. Opponents argue that Wal-Mart drives down wages, destroys local businesses and leads to no net increase in jobs or tax revenue for the city.
Wal-Mart and its allies contend that neighborhood residents deserve to have a say in what happens in their neighborhood, and people that don’t live there should stay out of the matter. The lack of good options available to people that live on the South and West sides of Chicago has been well-documented, and it’s very plausible that there is a substantial and passionate movement in those neighborhoods to bring Wal-Mart to their communities as a solution. Wal-Mart would have us believe that such a sentiment exists, but it turns out that support for their expansion into the city is being manufactured by the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, a local public…
Wal-Mart Sued for Videotaping Employees and Customers in Bathroom
NATHALIE TADENA writes on ABC News:
A Pennsylvania Walmart Supercenter videotaped employees and customers in a unisex bathroom, several former and current Walmart employees alleged in a lawsuit filed this week.
Seven former and current employees from the Tire and Lube department at the Walmart in Easton, Pa., filed a lawsuit in county court against the Arkansas-based corporation and four local managers Dec. 21.
Several employees discovered an “off-the-shelf” video camera in a store bathroom March 31, 2008, according to the court filing. The unisex bathroom, which also served as a changing room, was used by employees and customers. Customers and employees were not notifed of the surveillance, according to the court filing.
“I am incredulous that anyone would think that it’s appropriate conduct for any reason to photograph people in a changing room and bathroom,” said Erv McLain, the plaintiffs’ attorney.
Read More: ABC News
Another Wal-Mart “Shoplifting” Nightmare
From HuffPost:
On December 3rd, a 15 year old black girl will enter a Juvenile Courtroom in Davenport, Iowa to face charges of shoplifting $39 worth of merchandise from the Wal-Mart superstore on West Kimberly Road. Hundreds of similar incidents take place everyday in the Wal-Mart Empire, and most escape notice by the media.
Destiny Crawford, the 15 year old defendant, denies she stole anything from Wal-Mart. But the ordeal she went through after the alleged incident doesn’t fit the crime.
According to the family, on August 2, 2009, James Crawford Jr. was shopping for groceries at Wal-Mart. James’ teenage sister, Destiny, was in his care while his parents made a short trip to Chicago. Destiny was accompanied by a schoolmate on the shopping trip. While James shopped for necessities, the two teenagers wandered through the aisles, trying on shoes, and looking at trinkets. In the bakery section, the girls met up again…
Blood Gold at Wal-Mart; Five Million Dead in the Congo
One of the most interesting things I found out about in this 60 Minutes story is that Wal-Mart is the largest gold retailer in the United States. Here at Disinfo, we distributed Robert Greenwald’s Wal-Mart: The High Cost of Low Price, and here’s another troubling consequence to add to this idea, that low price doesn’t come without costs that you, the consumer, may not be aware of. Costs that can make you think twice about exactly what you are buying.
Scott Pelley reports on 60 Minutes:
Walmart’s Trying To Muscle Into NYC Again
via Gothamist (for more info see the Robert Greenwald film WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price):
Looks like that temporary Walmart in Times Square last year may have been a sign of what’s to come for the city. The Financial Times reported today that the retail giant is finally ready to muscle its way into larger cities, including New York.
“We already have in our real estate program a robust plan to go after those [urban markets],” Eduardo Castro Wright, the CEO of Wal-Mart’s U.S. stores, told analysts. While it has discount stores (which don’t sell fresh food) around Philadelphia, DC and Los Angeles, there are few of the more profitable Supercenters near those cities.
Walmart, the largest U.S. private employer, is strongly anti-union and UFCW grocery workers’ union and its political allies have done their job keeping the chain on city outskirts. However, Saint Consulting found the number of people who would…
Wal-Mart Starts Selling Caskets, Urns Online
USA Today reports:
MILWAUKEE — The world’s largest retailer wants to keep its customers even after they die.
Wal-Mart has started selling caskets on its website at prices that undercut many funeral homes, long the major seller of caskets.
The move follows a similar one by discount rival Costco, which also sells caskets on its site.
