JUST THE FACTS ABOUT WAL*MART

  To the Editor:

 I AM WRITING THIS LETTER IN RESPONSE TO SOME OF THE MIS-INFORMATION ABOUT WAL*MART THAT HAS BEEN RECENTLY PRINTED.
IT TROUBLES ME THAT WAL*MART ASSOCIATES ARE BEING PORTRAYED AS IMPOVERISHED, MINIMUM WAGE EARNING, NO BENEFIT RECEIVING WORKERS AND THAT THE SUPERCENTER WOULD NOT BE GOOD FOR CALIFORNIA. THERE IS NOTHING FURTHER FROM THE TRUTH.
THE AVERAGE WAL*MART ASSOCIATE MAKES BETWEEN $9.50 AND $10.00 PER HOUR AND THREE-FOURTHS OF THE ASSOCIATES ARE FULL TIME. IN ADDITION TO THESE WAGES, WAL*MART CONTRIBUTES ANNUALLY TO AN ASSOCIATES 401K ACCOUNT EACH YEAR, WHETHER THE ASSOCIATE CONTRIBUTES OR NOT. THEY ALSO CONTRIBUTE TO A PROFIT SHARING ACCOUNT ON THE ASSOCIATES BEHALF.  THE ASSOCIATES RECEIVE AN ANNUAL BONUS BASED ON THE PROFITABILITY OF THE STORE, 10% DISCOUNT ON MERCHANDISE AND COMPANY MATCHED STOCK PURCHASES. BOTH FULL TIME AND PART TIME ASSOCIATES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR BENEFITS.
   AS FAR AS HEALTH INSURANCE, 40 % OF WAL*MART’S ASSOCIATES (MORE THAN HALF A MILLION PEOPLE) HAD NO HEALTH INSURANCE UNTIL THEY JOINED WAL*MART.  MORE THAN 90% OF WAL*MART ASSOCIATES ARE COVERED BY HEALTH INSURANCE (50% THROUGH WAL*MART AND 40% THROUGH OTHER SOURCES SUCH AS THEIR SPOUSE, PARENT, RETIREMENT PLAN OR MEDICARE). WAL*MART DOES PAY TWO-THIRDS OF THE COST OF HEALTHCARE COVERAGE FOR ITS ASSOCIATES.
   WHEN IT COMES TO COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT, WAL*MART IS THE LARGEST CORPORATE CASH DONOR IN THE NATION RISING TO MORE THAN $200 MILLION IN LOCAL COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION DONATIONS. THE AVERAGE SUPERCENTER RAISES $30,000 TO $50,000 ANNUALLY IN DONATIONS FOR LOCAL ORGANIZATIONS. YOUR CALIFORNIA WAL*MART ALREADY DONATES IN THIS RANGE.
   WAL*MART BUYS TENS OF BILLIONS OF DOLLARS OF GOODS IN THE UNITED STATES AND WORKS WITH A NETWORK OF MORE THAN 10,000 U.S. SUPPLIERS AND IN 2003 EXPORTED 2 BILLION WORTH OF GOODS OVERSEAS.
   JOB OPPORTUNITIES ARE ABUNDANT IN WAL*MART. WAL*MART WILL CREATE 800,000 NEW JOBS OVER THE NEXT 5 YEARS. IF YOUR LOCAL WAL*MART BECOMES A SUPERCENTER IT WILL CREATE AN EXTRA 200 JOBS HERE AND MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR ADVANCEMENT. 70% OF WAL*MART SALARIED MANAGEMENT STARTED AS HOURLY ASSOCIATES. WAL*MART HAS BEEN NAMED BY FORTUNE MAGAZINE NUMBER ONE ON THEIR LIST OF “BEST COMPANIES TO WORK FOR” IN 2003 AND 2004.
   A SUPERCENTER IN CALIFORNIA WILL ALSO IMPROVE THE QUALITY OF LIFE FOR THE LOCAL POPULATION BY REDUCING GROCERY PRICES BY 17-20% AND ADDING THE CONVENIENCE OF ONE STOP SHOPPING. IT WILL ALSO RESOLVE THE NUMBER ONE ISSUE WITH THE CURRENT WAL*MART. THAT IS THE AISLES ARE TOO NARROW AND IT IS TOO CRAMPED IN THE STORE. THE NEW STORE WILL HAVE WIDER AISLES AND BE MUCH EASIER TO GET AROUND IN. IT WILL ALSO GENERATE MORE TAX DOLLARS FOR THE COMMUNITY.
   IN CASE YOU HAVEN’T FIGURED IT OUT, I WORK FOR WAL*MART. I AM THE STORE MANAGER OF YOUR CALIFORNIA WAL*MART. I STARTED OUT 12 YEARS AGO AS A SALES CLERK, THANKS TO WAL*MART GIVING ME A CHANCE, AND HAVE OPENED AND HELPED MANAGE 5 SUPERCENTERS PRIOR TO COMING TO CALIFORNIA 3 YEARS AGO.  EVERYTHING ABOVE IS TRUE, I HAVE MANY MORE FACTS ABOUT WAL*MART IF YOU ARE INTERESTED, YOU CAN FIND ME AT THE STORE.

SCOTT HARNDEN

(Editor's Note:  No misinformation about Wal-Mart has been printed in ST. MARY'S TODAY.  The reader is refering to snobbish remarks printed in the Enterprise, a publication which is owned in total by the Washington Post.