Unfortunately, I was one outlet short.  Determined to finish the project this weekend I decided to head over to our local Do-It-Best store to pick up one.  Unfortunately, the locally owned store was closed – the owners were away at a conference according to the note tacked to the door.  This meant I only had one choice left – the place I hate the most – Wal-Mart.

I figured that I would just run in, get the outlet, and get out.  I hate shopping at Wal-Mart and it’s the place I use for absolute can’t wait until tomorrow emergencies.  Home Depot, Lowes and Menards are all a 20 minute drive from where I live in rural Missouri and it wouldn’t be until Monday when I’d be over their way.  So I justified my decision to go into Wal-Mart with the notion that it was for one item to finish a project that was long overdue.

I quickly found the electrical aisle and the outlet I needed.  It was a GE brand, though about $0.75 higher than what I was used to paying for similar outlet switches at Home Depot.  I was just about ready to grab it and get out of that place when I turned the package over and saw those three dreaded words, “MADE IN CHINA”.

I was floored.

Here was a product that cost more than the equivalent American made product (Levtron) from Home Depot and yet it was made in China.  I absolutely refused.  I have just had about all I am going to take seeing American jobs being shipped overseas.  It’s one of the reasons I loathe Wal-Mart so much – they are the biggest drivers of sending manufacturing overseas.  I was not about to help them achieve their goal of getting rid of every last job in America.

It’s a slap in the face really – the reason they “outsourced” and “offshored” these jobs was for lower prices.  After all, why pay an American worker a living wage when you can get Chinese people to work for $2.00 a day?  Yet this Chinese made product cost MORE than the Made in America product.  Where was all the savings going?  Who was profiting off this?  Oh, that’s right – Wal-Mart and the manufacturer, GE.

I walked out of that store in disgust.  People around here praise Wal-Mart yet they really have no idea.  They are paying more for the products that are of inferior quality and helping ship their own jobs overseas in the process.  They are literally shopping themselves out of a job.

As much as I wanted to finish this project this weekend, it can wait.  I’ll give Home Depot my business and buy their cheaper, Made in America outlets.  Not only will I save money, but I can leave the store with my purchase knowing that I at least did a small bit to help keep American workers working.

Wal-Mart is a scam.  Plain and simple.  Wake up, folks.

Wal-Mart carries “American Greetings” – and, as the name suggests, I was expecting them to be quality cards Made in the USA.  After all, American Greetings has been around for quite a while – not quite as well-known as Hallmark, but still they carry quite a selection and variety.  Imagine my surprise when the cards all revealed they were “MADE IN CHINA”.

I was disgusted to say the least.  I looked over many cards – and every one of them was stamped “MADE IN CHINA” on the back.  I couldn’t believe it – how much money could they possibly be saving by printing cards in China versus America?  Whatever the savings were, they certainly wasn’t passing it on to the consumer – the cards were all $4.00 and up!

Determined I was not going to support a company that ships American jobs overseas I threw down the cards and left.  I then made a special trip to Hallmark in Columbia, MO and found plenty of cards still made here in the good old USA.  Sure, I spent more money in gas than I saved, but I stood by my principles.

The funny part is, the cards that were made in the USA – they were cheaper!  $2.50 versus $4.00 for “Made in China”.  So much for all that savings, huh?

How will the economy in this country ever get better if companies such American Greetings keep outsourcing every job they can?  And when they do outsource there is ZERO SAVINGS for the consumer – in fact, we end up paying more.  That money goes right into their corporate pockets.  They apparently never heard of this guy called Henry Ford who was famous for saying that he had to pay his workers a good wage, otherwise how would they ever be able to afford to buy his cars?

American Greetings, you’ve lost my business.  There is no way I will support a business that treats the American worker like they are just another “number”.

That all changed last Thursday while surfing Netflix on demand for a movie to watch and came across “Wal-Mart:  The High Cost of Low Prices”.  This 2005 documentary interviewed many former and current employees of Wal-Mart from all ranks—from cashiers to high-level executives.  The story throughout was the same – Wal-Mart considers employees and small, family owned businesses enemy #1.

Tale after tale of tactics by the company to push employees to work longer, harder and many times off the clock.  Stories from executives of how many employees were told to use welfare and other public assistance programs just for necessities.  Can you imagine being a full time employee and still having to use WIC or Medicaid?   Apparently that is common practice with Wal-Mart.  Their own employees making below the poverty levels, and Wal-Mart really not giving a damn. 

Then there were the stories of the China factories that produce for Wal-Mart.  The horrific working conditions these people have to face on a daily basis.  Stories of young males and females who should be enjoying their youth working and living in the factories because that was policy.  It was nothing more than modern day slave labor.

I could go on, but I really encourage you to watch the documentary yourself and listen to employees tell the Wal-Mart story.  You be the judge.  If you can watch this film without shaking your head in disgust then perhaps Wal-Mart is the store for you.

As for me, I’m officially 100% Wal-Mart free.  The one holdout in our family, my dad, has even switched with me.  We now support our local merchants, which we are lucky enough to have quite a few of (the Wal-Mart in Boonville, MO hasn’t managed to put them all under yet – though I am sure they are trying ). 

The amazing thing is – even after a weekend of shopping at local businesses, many of which are family owned – I noticed something:  I wasn’t paying more.  In fact, in a few cases we noted we were paying less – much less than Wal-Mart.  What’s more we noticed that many of the goods we were now buying were stamped “Made in the USA”.  Something that Wal-Mart has just about managed to destroy completely – American manufacturing.

As for me, and the rest of my family – we took the pledge to be Wal-Mart free.  I encourage you to do the same.  Don’t be fooled by the high cost of low prices –  many of which aren’t really low after all.

Now, before my co-workers storm my desk tomorrow, let me explain – this wasn’t a pay raise.  This was something even better, something that I think everyone can get in various amounts.  This raise was courtesy of me cancelling all the stuff that we don’t use anymore.

We all have it, those little charges that are $5 here, maybe $7.50 there.  Seems like such a tiny amount – until you add it up.  Things like cell phone insurance plans, television channels you never watch, and land-line phone services that you haven’t used since the 1980s. 

Today, I happened to be working from home while waiting on the repairman from Sears to come and fix our oven when I took a break and started looking at some bills.  Before I knew it I had my calculator up and running and was amazed at what all this added up to.

• $22.00+ for an “Essentials” package for our land-line phone from AT&T that included call-waiting, three-way calling and other nonsense we haven’t used in years.
• $12.99 for Starz from DirecTV – we have better things to do than sit in front of the TV all day and night.
• $20+ for AT&T wireless “insurance” on our cell phones (all 4 of them).  Of course, they charge you a $50 “deductible” (in some cases $100 depending on the phone) plus activation charges if you use it which makes this totally worthless in every sense of the word.
• $10.00+ on two credit cards for “payment protection” – another worthless product. 

I added this all up and I was astounded to find that in a years time this was almost $700 going down the drain for stuff we never used.  It took me about 30 minutes, but I cancelled every one of them.

It just goes to show how little things can creep up.  I still have more stuff to go through to weed our frivolous charges and I’m confident I can give myself another $500 raise with a little work.