As a longtime retail industry consultant and a notoriously picky shopper myself, I‘ve had a front row seat to watch the rise of Walmart—and the growing backlash against it. While there‘s no denying that Walmart offers low prices and an incredibly wide selection, for many consumers, the company‘s massive size and market dominance have come at too high of a cost.
In this article, I‘ll dive deep into the top reasons why Walmart has generated such strong negative sentiment among a significant portion of the population. From its treatment of workers to its impact on local communities to its effect on the environment and the global economy, we‘ll examine the practices that have earned the company so many detractors.
Walmart‘s Negative Impact on Local Economies
One of the most common complaints about Walmart is the destructive effect it often has on the local businesses in the communities where it sets up shop. Walmart‘s playbook is to saturate an area with multiple stores and continuously expand until it corners the market. Walmart now captures one out of every four dollars that Americans spend on groceries.
Researchers have found that the opening of a new Walmart store causes a steep drop in sales at incumbent retailers within a 15-20 mile radius. The impact is particularly severe for small, locally-owned businesses, who simply can‘t match Walmart‘s economies of scale. One study estimated that each Walmart store causes a net loss of 300 retail jobs in its county, as smaller retailers downsize and close up shop completely.
Walmart‘s growing dominance of the U.S. retail sector is staggering:
- 90% of the U.S. population lives within 15 miles of a Walmart store
- Walmart captures 50%+ of all grocery sales in 43 major metropolitan areas
- In 38 states, Walmart is the #1 largest private employer
- Walmart‘s annual revenue of $559 billion exceeds the GDP of all but 23 countries
With this level of market share, Walmart exerts tremendous power as a buyer to squeeze suppliers and as a seller to undercut remaining competitors. An estimated 1.4 million small retailers have gone out of business since the 1990s as Walmart has expanded relentlessly. Walmart‘s "super-stores" have left a trail of boarded-up main streets and shuttered small businesses in their wake.
Taxpayers Are Subsidizing Walmart‘s Low Wages
As the largest private employer in the U.S. with 1.6 million workers, Walmart has an outsized impact on labor standards and working conditions. And that impact is overwhelmingly negative. Walmart is notorious for its low pay, stingy benefits, and harsh treatment of workers.
The average Walmart "associate" earns just $14.76 per hour and less than $25,000 per year, significantly below the retail industry average. Walmart‘s pay is so low that many of its workers are forced to rely on taxpayer-funded programs like food stamps, Medicaid, and subsidized housing to make ends meet. A 2014 study by Americans for Tax Fairness estimated that Walmart workers receive $6.2 billion in public assistance annually.
In effect, Walmart is shifting part of its labor costs onto the public while booking massive profits for its wealthy owners. The Walton heirs, who still own around 50% of Walmart‘s stock, now have a combined net worth of over $200 billion—greater than the bottom 40% of all Americans combined.
Meanwhile, more than half of Walmart‘s hourly employees work less than full-time, making it difficult to earn a living wage even with Walmart‘s recent pay increases. Lack of health care coverage, unpredictable scheduling, and alleged retaliation against workers who attempt to organize are also common grievances. Walmart routinely shows up on lists of the worst companies to work for.
Offshoring of U.S. Manufacturing Jobs
Walmart‘s size makes it the top importer of consumer goods into the United States, and the company‘s constant pressure on suppliers to cut costs has had a major impact on the geography of global manufacturing. Experts say Walmart‘s pivot to sourcing more and more of its products overseas in the 2000s accelerated the loss of American manufacturing jobs to China and other countries with low wages and weak labor protections.
Today, products imported by Walmart account for a staggering 6.2% of total U.S. imports. An estimated 80-85% of all products sold at Walmart are now made overseas. Walmart‘s import volume growth is so massive that it was responsible for 11% of the growth in the total U.S. goods trade deficit with China between 2001-2013. That deficit hit a record $419 billion in 2018. Numbers like these highlight the key role Walmart has played in hollowing out America‘s manufacturing sector as factory after factory has shut down or moved abroad to meet Walmart‘s demand for ever-lower prices.
Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich has said that "Walmart is a template for the new economy in which corporations do not share their revenue with their employees," instead pressuring suppliers to cut wages and benefits. Indeed, Walmart routinely turns down American-made products if they are even fractionally more expensive than imports. With the world‘s biggest retailer constantly pushing manufacturing to relocate to countries with rock-bottom labor costs, both American factory workers and poorly-paid workers abroad suffer.
Walmart‘s Products Get Cheaper, But There‘s a Catch
Another common gripe about Walmart—even among loyal shoppers—is that as prices go lower and lower, so does the quality of many products on Walmart‘s shelves. Walmart‘s most loyal customers tend to be extremely price-sensitive, so the company must continually cut costs to keep them coming back.
The result is that Walmart‘s in-house brands and bargain-priced products are often remarkably flimsy and low-quality. Cheap materials, poor craftsmanship, and even counterfeit goods have frustrated customers:
- Walmart‘s Great Value brand is consistently ranked among the worst store brands for packaged foods
- Faded colors, ripped seams, and holes are common complaints about clothing basics from Walmart lines like George and Athletic Works
- Kitchenware and small appliances from Walmart‘s in-house Mainstays brand often break or wear out within months
- Fraudulent "wood" furniture that‘s really particleboard, electronics that instantly break, and flammable children‘s products have all sparked customer anger and even lawsuits
- Dangerous and deceptive "dollar store" type products like shoddy phone chargers, ineffective cleaning supplies, and adulterated personal care items pervade store shelves
So while the price may be unbeatable, customers often get what they pay for at Walmart in terms of durability and quality. In the long run, having to replace cheap items frequently can wipe out Walmart‘s initial cost savings. This is a source of particular frustration for choosier shoppers who prefer to invest in fewer but higher-quality items.
Walmart Receives Massive Taxpayer Subsidies
Despite being one of the most profitable companies of all time, Walmart is notorious for extracting taxpayer subsidies from the communities where it operates. A groundbreaking study from Good Jobs First found that Walmart has received over $1.2 billion in state and local subsidies since 1990, with an average of around $40 million in public handouts per facility. Common subsidies include:
- Free or reduced-price land
- Income tax credits and exemptions
- Sales tax rebates
- Infrastructure assistance
- Property tax abatements
- Enterprise zone (and other zone) status
These sweetheart deals that Walmart extracts from local governments force small businesses and individual taxpayers to essentially subsidize their biggest competitor. Public services like schools, parks, infrastructure, and safety net programs suffer as a result of the lost tax revenue. It‘s an example of Walmart using its unrivaled size and clout to further pad its bottom line.
Walmart‘s Troubling Labor Practices
Over the years, Walmart has developed a reputation as a particularly bad actor when it comes to respecting workers‘ rights to organize collectively and negotiate for better working conditions. The company has been accused of numerous unfair labor practices, including:
- Closing down stores or departments that unionize
- Firing workers who discuss unionization or workplace issues
- Hiring union-busting consulting firms to stifle organizing drives
- Requiring workers to attend anti-union presentations
- Intimidating and spying on workers engaged in organizing activity
- Refusing to negotiate with unions that do successfully organize
Walmart has largely succeeded in preventing its American workers from forming unions, which many experts believe has contributed to its substandard wages and working conditions compared to other large retailers. By fighting unionization so fiercely, Walmart has avoided having to negotiate with workers or address issues like low pay, unaffordable health care, and unpredictable schedules.
A string of employee-led lawsuits in the 2000s also revealed a pattern of widespread wage theft at Walmart. Managers were found to be pressuring workers to work off the clock, "adjusting" employee time cards, and forcing workers to skip legally mandated breaks—all while corporate higher-ups looked the other way. In total, Walmart has paid out over $1 billion in fines and settlements from wage theft lawsuits brought by workers.
Walmart‘s Massive Carbon Footprint
Walmart isn‘t just the world‘s largest retailer—it‘s also a gigantic polluter. With its globe-spanning supply chain, sprawling stores and parking lots, and mountains of waste, Walmart has an oversized environmental impact. Consider:
- Walmart‘s global greenhouse gas emissions top 18 million metric tons annually
- Products imported and shipped by Walmart account for an estimated 3-4% of U.S. carbon emissions
- Walmart parking lots take up more than 400 square miles, an area larger than Tampa, Florida
- Walmart uses enough electricity to power all the households in Austin, Texas
Walmart has announced various sustainability initiatives over the years, but its fundamental business model makes truly sustainable operations a challenge. Selling massive quantities of cheap, disposable stuff by definition generates pollution and waste. Despite promises to green its supply chain, Walmart is still among the top enablers of the single-use plastics crisis and of dirty overseas manufacturing powered by fossil fuels.
Disorganized Stores Can Be a Picky Shopper‘s Nightmare
Setting aside the various social and environmental concerns with Walmart, the in-store shopping experience itself is often a major turnoff. As someone who prefers calm, orderly stores with attentive customer service, I‘ve had my share of stressful Walmart runs.
With their cavernous layouts, towering shelves, and crowds of shoppers, Walmart stores are frequently overwhelming and difficult to navigate. Actually finding a specific item on my shopping list is a recurring pain point—I can‘t count the number of times a product I need is out of stock, misplaced, or has no price tag.
Walmart stores also suffer from notoriously long checkout lines and a lack of open registers. Customers routinely complain about waiting 20 minutes or more in the checkout line as their ice cream melts. This is likely related to the chronic understaffing found at many Walmart stores, with few workers available to restock shelves, tidy the aisles, or ring up purchases in a timely fashion.
Overall, while Walmart‘s vast inventory is impressive, actually purchasing a basket of goods there is often a frustratingly time-consuming and chaotic experience compared to other retail options. The company‘s "always low prices" simply aren‘t worth the headache for shoppers who put a premium on convenience, curation, and customer service.
What Could a Different Kind of Walmart Look Like?
As Walmart has grown into an economic behemoth, its negative impacts on workers, local businesses, the environment, and the economy at large have also mushroomed. These mounting downsides have created a growing backlash against the company‘s business practices and values.
So what could an alternative model look like? Imagine a Walmart that:
- Pays all workers a true living wage and provides affordable benefits
- Gives workers a voice on the job and an ownership stake in the company
- Sources most of its products locally to support American manufacturing
- Invests in the communities where it operates instead of extracting subsidies
- Makes reuse and repair key parts of its business model to cut down on waste
- Lobbies for policies that help working families instead of the corporate bottom line
A company that truly "saves people money so they can live better," as Walmart‘s tagline promises, would put the well-being of its workers, suppliers, and local economies ahead of profits for distant shareholders. The fact that Walmart has chosen to take the low road on so many issues speaks to deeper problems with how the company and our economy at large are structured.
Ultimately, Walmart represents the apex of a consumer culture that puts a premium on cheapness, convenience, and disposability rather than sustainability, craftsmanship, and strong communities. And that is the deepest root of "Walmart hatred"—not the specific policies of one company, but what our relationship with that company says about our society‘s deeper values. Only by building a new economic model based on very different principles will we make Walmart and what it represents less dominant in our lives.
