For those of us who live in Arkansas, it might be a shock to the system to find ourselves too far away from a Wal-Mart. Heck, for most of us who live anywhere in the good old United States of America, that might be a shock. Because isn’t Wal-Mart everywhere? Hey, what if I need a new set of towels, a pound of ground meat and a bicycle?
A few years back, a brand-new bigbox store went up on the outskirts of a quiet neighborhood in Central Arkansas. The mega-store/super-center/ behemoth was built just a driver-and-a-wedge away from a neighborhood Wal-Mart that we’d grown accustomed to. When the bigger store opened, we asked the manager of the neighborhood Wal-Mart how long it would be before the smaller store closed. We were met by wrinkled brows and a curious look. “Why would this store shut down?”
That’s right. They’re building Wal-Marts next to each other these days. And they’re all full.
There’s a reason Wal-Mart is so popular. Wal-Mart offers low prices, the company knows its customers, and, in Arkansas, there’s a bit of home-state pride involved. Local company makes good and all that.
The good news for the nation’s capital is that customers there may soon be able to get that new set of towels and a pound of hamburger at a Wal-Mart near them. Yep, the papers say Washington, D.C., is finally catching up with Arkansas.
IT’S ABOUT time. Headquartered in Bentonville, Ark., Wal-Mart has built stores in all 50 states-yes, even Texas-and in 26 other countries. But it’s been shut out of Washington, D.C., for years.
Now two stores are going up in Washington, one on H Street and another on Georgia Avenue. Other stores there are still in the planning stages.
What took so long? Politics, of course. You expected something else? It’s Washington, D.C.
Washington’s city council passed a jobs-killer of an ordinance called the Large Retailer Accountability Act back in July. The law had less to do with requiring accountability on the part of large retailers than with throwing a bone to labor unions, which are none too fond of Wal-Mart.
This act would have required Wal-Mart to pay $12.50 an hour as a minimum wage instead of the usual $8.50 that most minimum-wage workers get in the District of Columbia. You guessed it: The ordinance was worded so that only Wal-Mart had to pay the higher minimum wage.
The mayor of Washington, D.C.-a man named Vincent Gray-saw the proposal for what it was and vetoed it. Last week, the council couldn’t override his veto. So now the stores are getting ready to open. Much to the dismay of those who pushed the Large Retailer Accountability Act.
The Rev. Graylan Hagler was pushing for the $12.50 minimum wage at Wal-Mart. He says working families are being left behind as the economy improves back East.
“I didn’t necessarily have any problem with [Wal-Mart] coming in,” he said. “I just felt they needed to pay a fair share to their employees in the area. The fact is that they should pay their employees more . . . . The reality is that we should not be driving wages into the basement.” That’s an interesting way to look at it.
But here’s another way: Now thatthe Large Retailer Accountability Act has failed-
(1) The people of Washington will get to shop at a large retailer that buys in bulk-and how-and keeps prices low, saving its customers money. That would seem to be an important improvement for folks on a budget. Or hasn’t Reverend Hagler thought of that? If so, he ignored it.
(2) The unemployed are already lining up for jobs at those new Wal-Marts. (Who says folks want to stay on welfare?) Dispatches say there are hundreds of positions to be filled. That’s hundreds of people who’ll benefit right there. A chance to support yourself is no small benefit if self-respect and self-reliance are blessings. And they are, Reverend Hagler.
(3) Now that customers won’t have to leave The District and drive to Virginia or Maryland to shop at a Wal-Mart, tax money will stay in the city. Which the city says it can use. And some of that money will likely be spent on services that help just the kind of people the anti-Wal-Mart crowd claims to represent.
In some parts of Washington, D.C., unemployment still hovers around 20 percent. New mega-stores like super Wal-Marts tend to spur other investments, too, all of which will improve neighborhoods that might well need improving. If there’s a downside to Wal-Mart’s going up in the District of Columbia, we have yet to think of one.
THE GOOD Reverend mentioned above spoke of Wal-Mart’s needing to pay its Fair Share. But what is fair? Is $12.50 an hour fair? Why not $22.50? And if $22.50 becomes the minimum wage this year, what will a “fair” minimum wage be next year? And what would that do to the prices at Wal-Mart? Inflating prices is easy. It’s providing value that’s the hard part. No wonder they call inflation the great robber of the poor.
The market would seem the best judge of what’s fair or not-because it represents the best judgment of all the consumers. And they’re willing to put their buying power where their judgment is.
When one of the formerly out-of-work is offered a job at one of these new Wal-Marts in Washington, D.C., and shakes the hand of a Human Resources type making the hire, and hears the starting salary, he just might say: “Fair enough.”
Editorial, Pages 14 on 09/27/2013