Plastic Golf and Walmart Economics
Yesterday I accompanied my wife to Walmart to buy various household goods and sundries.
Walmart is, if nothing else, an American cultural phenomenon. It was only a matter of time, I suppose, before someone blended great thinking and capitalistic fervor to create the "super" store, one in which a person could buy both shoes, iPods, flowers, and Edam cheese in one visit.
In truth, however, one could probably trace the development of Walmart to the old days of the Roman bazaar. Centralization has always been a key component to retail success. When malls were just starting out (in the 50's and 60's) they were basically Walmarts with various owners hawking various goods. Now it's all just owned by one company.
No one can deny that the venture has been an outrageous economic success. But I would be remiss if I didn't raise the point, oft vaunted by its most ardent critics, that it has caused the mom-and-pop stores to disappear. I bemoaned this very point in an earlier post about the death of a small hardware store in the town where I work.
But even while admitting this realization, it is easy to forget that if Walmart hadn't caused this event, some other company selling the same items under a different name would have. It's the nature of capitalism, and business in general. So I think it would be more proper to bear witness to the societal values that existed when one ran to the general store to get flour, than it is to blame Walmart for destroying that culture. After all, Walmart only makes money because people frequent its doors. They service a need society has deemed important. Their job is not to quantify or qualify that need- it is only to meet it. Society is a catalyst for business- the converse is rarely true.
That said, I went to Walmart and found a kid's plastic golf set, complete with three plastic golf balls, flags, and clubs. I was most impressed with the detail to the clubs- there was a driver, a pitching wedge, and a putter. All was conveniently contained in a golf bag- plastic, of course. The price of the set was $4.00. Surely a steal.
So I bought two sets, and me and my wife are going to play golf in our yard. We'll play a hole, count the strokes, and the winner will decide on the next hole layout.
Simple, but quite fun.
Walmart is, if nothing else, an American cultural phenomenon. It was only a matter of time, I suppose, before someone blended great thinking and capitalistic fervor to create the "super" store, one in which a person could buy both shoes, iPods, flowers, and Edam cheese in one visit.
In truth, however, one could probably trace the development of Walmart to the old days of the Roman bazaar. Centralization has always been a key component to retail success. When malls were just starting out (in the 50's and 60's) they were basically Walmarts with various owners hawking various goods. Now it's all just owned by one company.
No one can deny that the venture has been an outrageous economic success. But I would be remiss if I didn't raise the point, oft vaunted by its most ardent critics, that it has caused the mom-and-pop stores to disappear. I bemoaned this very point in an earlier post about the death of a small hardware store in the town where I work.
But even while admitting this realization, it is easy to forget that if Walmart hadn't caused this event, some other company selling the same items under a different name would have. It's the nature of capitalism, and business in general. So I think it would be more proper to bear witness to the societal values that existed when one ran to the general store to get flour, than it is to blame Walmart for destroying that culture. After all, Walmart only makes money because people frequent its doors. They service a need society has deemed important. Their job is not to quantify or qualify that need- it is only to meet it. Society is a catalyst for business- the converse is rarely true.
That said, I went to Walmart and found a kid's plastic golf set, complete with three plastic golf balls, flags, and clubs. I was most impressed with the detail to the clubs- there was a driver, a pitching wedge, and a putter. All was conveniently contained in a golf bag- plastic, of course. The price of the set was $4.00. Surely a steal.
So I bought two sets, and me and my wife are going to play golf in our yard. We'll play a hole, count the strokes, and the winner will decide on the next hole layout.
Simple, but quite fun.
posted by Yorick at 3:37 PM
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