Wal-Mart is getting in the online classifieds business. When I heard, I thought of it as maybe another one of their moves towards sustainability. What better than classifieds to encourage people to ‘Reduce-Reuse-Recycle‘! Then I went to the new site,
. . . and wondered if Wal-Mart‘ s intentions are as pure as I was initially led to believe. I understand the idea is in beta testing, and they may not be ready to fully integrate it into their main site. Still, this begs the question of will they? If not, they are lending their name to lure in the classifieds crowd to their main site, where of course, it is all about consuming, consuming, consuming.
For now, I am sticking to Craigslist, where citizens rule!
Wall Mart pure? Not likely. This isn’t Sam’s company anymore nor his values.
I think it’s just a way to extend their brand. Not particularly a green move.
Although I’m convinced Wal-mart’s management realizes that their business model is unsustainable. You can’t have a one-way flow from natural resources to consumer products forever. That has been a dream for many for some time, something we are slowly waking up from.
You two, just call me naive . . .
I don’t think linking this to sustainability is far fetched. On the other hand, it’s not logical to expect sudden “pure” intentions from people who have not done good all their life. But business leaders everywhere are changing, and with them their strategies. Just gon’t expect sudden conversions. They’ll be more gradual. Unless a CEO is replaced by the board or something of course.
“people who have not done good”
Good in the strict sense. I’m not accusing them from being immoral. They may even themselves think they’re doing the best they can. In that sense, they are. We have to help them do better. Luckily, we’ve got Adam Werbach.
Greenwashing, all the way. It comes down to whatever will improve the bottom line and make money for shareholders. Corporations are plunderers. They are legally bound to make a profit every quarter (ok- that, and they are mainly run by greedy Republican sociopaths…hmm, is that too much of a generalization?
). How about a return to charters? I sometimes wonder if that could fix this hot mess.
Greenwashing, you said the word. I didn’t dare . . .
Wal-Mart’s intentions are always a mixed bag.
Example:
Wal-Mart wants to sell you a credit card and a bank account that you can use right there in their store and it’s easier with a discount. However, the reality is that Wal-Mart wants to have their own bank, and was denied by the US government for several reasons, including abusing customers and collecting unfair advantage against competition. Not that it stopped Wal-Mart, since they do now have their bank – it’s just in Mexico now instead of the US.
They always thinly veil their marketing ploys behind the good intention curtain by saying they do a service by hiring little old ladies to be greeters (and then grossly underpaying them and not giving them any benefits). This is clearly one of those instances that they will be called on.
As crunchychicken tells us, even the Indy 500 is going “green” this year.
Green is the new black! Or something.
I agree, greenwashing all the way.
Wal-Mart’s business model can hardly be called sustainable. While they are touting CFL light bulbs, reduced packaging for certain items (but not on ones where the packaging is most intensive like TVs) and improving the fuel efficiency of their own truck fleet, their business model is based on continued growth. Any energy savings they implement at existing stores will be offset by new stores. Their Supercenters each occupy roughly the size of a football stadium and are open 24 hours a day. How is that energy saving? The parking lots alone contribute to “non-point source water pollution”, the leading cause of water pollution in the U.S. Wal-Mart Supercenter’s are a major reason why customers drive longer distances to shop. The sourcing, production and shipping of millions of products that Wal-Mart sells has a tremendous impact on the environment. In fact, 90% of Wal-Mart’s environmental footprint is in the supply chain. Whatever they do, they always have an eye on the profit margin.
I wrote a post recently when I read about their organic milk: http://verdavivo.wordpress.com/2008/06/01/can-wal-mart-really-be-green/
I guess there is a consensus here. Adam Werbach, are you listening?
Companies aim is to give the customer what they want. But what if the customer is wrong? Honestly, I fear that civilization will have to fall before this situation corrects itself.
This is why I place great hopes in rising prices. The shrinking wallet will succeed in forcing hard changes, where reasoning will have failed. This is not a popular stance, I am aware. As Gary mentioned in his comment on yesterday’s post, it is important to be a realist, and that is what I am. Reality is cold. And facing it is an absolute necessity in these days..
I think something can be only fairly called greenwashing when the company communicates deceptively. If Wal-mart would suddenly call themselves “committed to recycling” based only on this classifieds site, well that would be kind of deceptive. But is Wal-mart doing this?
I think it’s neither fair nor helpful to dismiss each small step in the right direction as greenwashing. Why not say: That’s a step in the right direction, let’s hope they do more?
In this case, it seems like Wal-mart is not even advertising this specific move as being green. Then how on earth can it be greenwashing?
An increase in Wal-Mart prices is forthcoming.
The Fed has been pushing the US dollar into new lows lately in the hopes of getting China to unhinge their money – which is unfairly pegged. This has driven China into a huge recession in which food and housing is almost too expensive for the “middle class” Chinese citizen.
To alleviate rising costs, China will re-evaluate their monetary unit and raise it to meet a new standard. This will, in turn, raise the price of Chinese goods coming to the US, and outsourced work to China. Wal-Mart utilizes both to such an extreme that they will find it hard to keep their prices low. This will eventually cause them raise their prices, and Wal-Mart will no longer be the unfair front runner.
It’s the same with India – US corporations outsourcing to India to save a buck are learning that it actually costs MORE. Plus with India applying to receive a Euro denomination as their currency, it will only further raise the cost of hiring overseas. Same goes for South America, who is slowly facing inflation and pushing the value of their money up to combat it.
Eventually, the only place cheap for US corporations to hire from will be … the US.
Meryn, you are right. It is not ‘technically’ greenwashing, but it strikes me as an opportunistic move to lure people who would otherwise be in a greenlike mindset back towards buying more stuff.
Right on, mcclaud.
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