LouDeeter@aol.com wrote:
>
> jerrymoos@sbcglobal.net writes:
> Frontline on PBS had a show a few weeks ago about Wal-Mart, now the world's
> largest company, which epitomizes the triumph of Marketers over Manufacturers
> and how Wal-Mart forces their suppliers to relocate to China to drive
> production cost ever lower and Wal-Mart's margins ever higher. Bruce's description of
> the bike business is exactly what is being done to all US businesses by
> companies like Wal-Mart.
>
> It isn't WalMart that is doing that. It is us, the consumers! We demand the
> lowest price. When was the last time any of us tried to get someone to
> discount their product--including custom frames? I see it all the time when
> selling used stuff to listmembers. Greed, avarice, it causes people to do things
> like creating a spot for someone with vision like Sam Walton, the founder of
> WalMart to fill the vacuum by giving the consumer what they want. And, read
> Sam's book. He didn't exactly start off as a millionaire. Jerry knows about
> WalMart better than most because he was raised in Arkansas where it started. The
> second store was in my wife's hometown. The people were thrilled when a
> WalMart opened and the consumer still is. It is the small businessman who gets
> killed, just like what Bruce was talking about with the ever cheaper bikes from
> Taiwan and China (note, there is a difference). Lou Deeter, Orlando FL
As a great man once said: "We have met the enemy and he is us." --Walt Kelly, Pogo
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, Southern California
.