Walmart Impact On Society

As the largest retailer in America, Walmart has been called “one of the most impactful organizations in the history of humanity” (Roberts 1); however, we must ask ourselves what type of impact Walmart is making. Because they are such a large corporation, Walmart has the power and ability to greatly influence our society either for the good or for the bad, and most people agree that their impression on our current society is a negative one. There is lots of controversy over the ethical and economic repercussions our country faces because of Walmart. It is evident to most people that Walmart negatively impacts communities, treats employees unfairly, and facilitates child labor in American and abroad.
With a history stretching back to the year
He was told by many people along the way that this type of business wouldn’t be successful, because of his commitment to customer service over profits. Walton soon proved them all wrong, and surprised even himself with the rapid growth of his business. In 1970, only eight years after opening his first Walmart store, Walton sold his very first stock at the price of $16.50 per share. This was just the beginning of a decade of growth and domination for the Walmart franchise, and by 1979 Walton had opened a distribution center, been included in the New York Stock Exchange, and established the Walmart Foundation; however, this was just the beginning for Sam and the Walmart corporation. In the year 1983, the first Sam’s Club was opened. Sam’s Club, a retailer that specializes in wholesale, was created by Walton to provide other small business owners with an opportunity to purchase inexpensive merchandise to carry in their store fronts, and to make that same value available to families across the nation. Other milestones reached in the ‘80s included the company
Walmart allegedly hired 16- and 17-year old employees, directly violating the Fair Labor Standards Act (“Critics Claim Labor Department Is Soft On Walmart” 17). While this is important and should have serious repercussions for Walmart, that is a mild example of Walmart’s history with child labor and harsh working conditions. Several of Walmart’s suppliers have been found to put employees in sweatshop like conditions overseas in countries like Bangladesh. One specific factory in Chittakong, Bangladesh subjects their employees to “physical and verbal abuse” (Gogio para 2); the workers are also sometimes forced to work up to 19 hours a day and earn a meager $25 a month. (Gogio para 2). Walmart’s response to these allegations has been to report even less about the ethics of their suppliers overseas and to be very lax about the audits they perform on the factories, which should be very alarming to the Labor Department and to the American