Vacuum Cleaners Discussions

Carmine D.

Carmine D. 

Hello retardturtle1:

I rec'd it, thank you.  A bit of ancient history before your time here:  A regular poster, no longer here, and I had a running debate on retailers.  Two in particular at the time were neck and neck on stock price:  Best Buy and Wal*Mart.  Tho, not a Wal*Mart shopper/buyer, I liked the future prospects from a financial news perspective: future sales, profit and stock price.  Why?  The USA was at the tippy top end of an unsustainable bubble shored up by bloated housing prices, greedy banks and run-a-muck deregulated investment firms.  A very bad mix for financial stability.  It all had to burst.  When it did, I opined that Wal*Mart, the oft ridiculed budget basement non-union China sourced vendors conglomerate, had to clean up.  It did and it has.  Sadly, some few people equate respect for financial success in bad times as admiration/support for the company.  Very different things.  One can admire and praise its success w/o liking and supporting it. 

Carmine D.

Hi retardturtle1:

The bad, unlimited expansion at the expense of smaller businesses, stores and historical preservation [battle fields in Virginia] comes with some good not just for the US but for the world:  jobs for persons who otherwise would be unemployed, increased standard of living for underdeveloped countries and societies, and budget prices for American families and households on spending plans.  Of note, many of the W*M execs and even industry analysts are saying that US consumers who traded down in the current recession [bypassed shopping at the high end/upscale retailers for W*M] will likely change their shopping habits.  Instead of reverting to their old buying and shopping preferences once the economy improves, they will stay as long-time shoppers at W*M.  Not a pleasant thought for the US retail industry.

Carmine D.

Interesting question and many local county and city officials have to deal with.  I lived in Prince William County Virginia for many years. It was a suburb of and bedroom community for Washington DC that expanded by leaps and bounds in the 80's, 90's and 2000's.  Locals and nature preservationists were concerned as the pristine landscape was torn down for new homes and businesses.  Then many of these structures were vacated and shuttered.  Right after the tech bubble burst and before the housing bubble burst, local PWC leaders passed ordinances to limit the square footage of new big box retail stores.  Worked well and forced many businesses to lease, buy, and occupy smaller already shuttered buildings rather than build new larger ones.  Here in North Las Vegas which is part of Clark County, the community leaders could have learned a valuable lesson from the Prince William elder statesmen/women.  Homes and businesses look like ghost towns.  Lost tax revenues, jobs, and spending.  Expansion was too fast too soon. 

Carmine D.

Hi retardturtle1:

In recent years, before the 2008 recession, W*M conducted studies and surveys to learn how many items customers shop for in one store visit and how long they want to spend shopping.  Also, how long its customers say is a reasonable time to cash out and leave.  W*M also wanted and tried to convince all its products vendors to use bar codes on all the cartons so merchandise can be tracked from vendor to the warehouse to the W*M store and then to the final sale.  These are all issues that are pertinent and relevant to its customers and shoppers store experiences and exact inventory control throughout the product shipping and sales cycle. 

Carmine D.