You know you're old when

[SuperBuickGuy]

Arron - let's not blame the Chinese for importing our jobs - that honor should rest solley on the shoulders of our American companies trying to do exactly what you said.

I blame the Chinese for fake it until you make it. (or fake it rather then make it).

As for companies - ask anyone who makes goods in America, the issue isn't the desire to build quality goods, it's the desire to stay in business... in my opinion anyone who shops at Walmart hates America... (and I can already hear the parade of feet stampeding to tell me how 'wrong' I am)...

[Deaf Bob]

Even if the product says "MADE IN USA"?
How can one justify shopping at Safeway while the same product is $1-2 cheaper at Walmart?
Sometimes stuff on sale at Safeway can be cheaper..
Just read labels and buy USA... the name on the store should not matter.
Yes! There are only 2 big grocery stores in this town

[Loren]

I got nothing against Wal-Mart especially if they can sell U.S. products but it has brought changes. I know they nail their suppliers very hard...here's a story, I was looking for a 50 gallon aquarium for the wife some time back, a pet-store guy said "just go to Wal-Mart", the prices there were so low they couldn't try to compete and were no longer stocking aquariums. I wasn't worried about cost as I was already spending some hundreds of dollars having a custom cabinet/stand built, but that's where I went. So our Wal-Mart aquarium lasted about five years before the whole front panel just randomly broke out at 3 a.m. one morning and dumped the contents through the entire living room (carpeted) floor. I would guess that to save one dollar and try to make a profit, the supplier used some cheap glass, maybe not tempered properly, that fatigued much faster than it should have (glass under load fatigues over time). Thanks for nothing, Wal-Mart. The coming of any mega-store to a town means the mom & pops get hit, whatever families in town that had been making a couple-hundred grand get replaced by a single family from Arkansas making tens of billions and again, Wal-Mart suppliers have a very tough time doing well. Typical, from a town in Nor. Cal I was reading about during random Wikipedia wanderings: The relocation of the post office, the aging population, and the coming of Wal-Mart have combined to kill the "downtown". Fifteen years ago, there were two markets, a chain hardware store, two gas stations, video store, salon, and several restaurants and bars. A privately operated marina had fish and ski boats for rent. But by the late nineties, Clearlake Oaks was down to one market, one convenience store, and a struggling antique store. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clearl...ks,_California If and when Wal-Mart ever decides to move out, you're left with one giant vacant building and a fenced-off parking lot on the edge of town.

[Deaf Bob]

I don't know about aquariums at Walmart... .
Sucks you had a mess at 3 am
We mainly go to Trader Joe's and Market of Choice in Corvallis.. Walmart is between them and is an only grocery store one.
Yes, I miss the mom n pop stores.. They knew who I was..

[Loren]

Sucks you had a mess at 3 am

Try to imagine. I can smile about it now...

We have a family-owned hardware store in town trying to resist the onslaught of a new Tractor Supply, and still hanging on. There were two other small hardware stores, now closed. To their credit the Tractor Supply built a much-nicer building than they needed to and really improved their corner of town. If they're making their money back on it, I don't know.

[JOES66FURY]

Ugh, some people should not talk...ever....put a gag on that woman...

[SuperBuickGuy]

I got nothing against Wal-Mart especially if they can sell U.S. products but it has brought changes..

They don't sell US products unless there is no choice and no time to rip off the person who came up with the item.

If it's at Walmart, you don't need it.

And Bob - where do you think Walmart gets its savings? there is a true cost of everything built - yet Walmart sells below that, how do you think that happens?

And yeah, I get it, if it is something you cannot get locally and it is something you need - you won't shoot yourself in the foot to make a point...

[Deaf Bob]

Walmart gets their savings on crap that others buy..
I stick to name brand stuff.. And American made..i was able to buy my cheese at Winco instead of Walmart because it was 40 cents cheaper a loaf. While Safeway is almost $2 more for the same brand/size..
I gotta make $1500 last the month! If I could afford it, I'd buy from the local station whose owner lives behind me..at an average of 30-50 cents a gallon, I go to safeway.. But I do buy all my super from him and I use that in all my mowers and saws as well as the flatbed when I haul rock.