On Tue, 28 Dec 2004, Globe Trotter wrote:
Walmart sells their employees, too! For under $5 an hour (when
averaged over the time they have to spend unpaid and locked in) and
no benefits. So, they show up in your city's ER and your local taxes
go up....
i didn't want to wander into the political arena here, but there is
one extra piece of information i wanted to add. (and, yes, this has
relevance to laptops.)
a while back, a friend told me that one of the ways wal-mart can
keep prices so low (and also even keep *lowering* them year after
year) is that, when they sign a contract with a supplier, that
contract typically states that what wal-mart will pay the supplier per
unit will *drop* each year. so, you the supplier, will get $1.50 per
unit the first year, but only $1.35 the second year, and $1.25 the
third year. how you choose to cut costs year after year to remain
profitable is *your* problem. if you don't accept such onerous terms,
wal-mart just moves on to another supplier.
i wasn't sure whether or not to believe this but, apparently, it's
true. see
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/77/walmart.html
and the excerpt:
"Wal-Mart wields its power for just one purpose: to bring the lowest
possible prices to its customers. At Wal-Mart, that goal is never
reached. The retailer has a clear policy for suppliers: On basic
products that don't change, the price Wal-Mart will pay, and will
charge shoppers, must drop year after year."
this suggests that, whoever is selling low-end laptops to wal-mart
is going to have to shave costs every year -- quality is virtually
guaranteed to decline as time goes on as cheaper and cheaper parts are
used in the construction. eventually, of course, the supplier simply
isn't making a profit anymore, they go bankrupt, and wal-mart moves
on to another suck... er, supplier.
and regarding linspire and their bundled OS, i'd be interested in
seeing what kind of contract *they* had to agree to.
in any event, yes, this is wandering off-topic, but you'll find a
lot of people who have pretty strong feelings about doing business
with wal-mart.
rday