But consumers aren't helping their fellow countryman earn his own living by buying these imported items. Consumers are giving their hard-earned money to Walmart to go back to China to buy more items. (Smith & Young, 2004). Walmart has created new jobs for people when they open new stores, but they are underpaid jobs. Many of the positions are part-time, therefore, they are positions without benefits.
As Source C shows, it actually takes just as much fuel—and thus, just as much pollution—to ship a small load from a local farm as to ship a large load from a farther location. . To buy local means to ignore farm conditions, ignore packaging techniques and simply focus on the distance food is shipped (Source C). As source C continues, it is evident that buying “local” in an urban area from a factory-like farm is simply not what one would expect Instead of choosing to buy groceries because they are grown in the state one lives in, people should buy groceries because the farm they are grown on is safe and environmentally
"This can only potentially get worse. We need to think about what we're putting into our grocery carts." A major source of concern is the fact that while grocery-store staples such as potatoes or apples are expensive in some regions, the cost of chips, pop and other processed foods is fairly low, and stable, across the country. It's a reality that is stoking fears that more people will be forced to dine on less-healthy
For example Tesco or ASDA. Median sized supermarkets can be sited near town centres or large ones can be sited near the edge of housing estates. They choose to open here as people need food and drink every day so having a convenience store near a housing estate is profitable. Supermarkets sell a lot items in one place it makes shopping very easy so the need to go to different stores lessened so because of this small town centre stores are getting less and less business this is causing more and more of these stores to close down. Some superstores for example ASDA have a clothing section and in this case a large part of that is for school uniform.
However, these products come at a large premium, which makes them unobtainable for many of its customers. To be socially responsible, Company Q should stock many more of these products and at various price levels. This would allow customers with smaller grocery budgets to still have healthy choices. Most companies have a philanthropy program that lets them give back to the communities that allow them to stay in business. Grocery chains often have connections with local food banks or other distributors of day-old or unsold products.
Michael Pollan suggests how industrial food system is unsustainable because of monocultures, which means a lot of the same species are grown together and that’s only possible by using antibiotics to keep them alive. To keep crop healthy, fertilizer is needed. For example, in Iowa, all the farms were corn and soybeans, which are for industrial use mainly. Separating the animals from the farms raises a huge sanitation problem and the animals are not happy with the conditions, a pollution problem occurs as well. Society is obsessed with productivity becoming cheap, which has made more problems regarding pesticides.
In a monopoly, a single company supplies a product or service for which buyers cannot find a close substitute. A monopoly may arise when one company can supply a given commodity more cheaply than two or more companies can. Such “natural monopolies” often include utilities that provide electric power, gas, or water. A grocery store in a small isolated town may be a monopoly. Internet shopping has tended to break down monopolies, because buyers have access to companies around the world.]
A time it took place many times the documentary China Blue such as when there were Americans and people from other countries came to observe the factory. It has a big impact on buyers who plan to retail in stores, in a positive way reducing cost of bulk. This is because there is a reduction in international barriers such as tariffs, export fees, and import quotas. The losers in globalization as shown in documentary china blue are the workers at the factory. Workers become losers in this process because the producers have to sell their products close to dirt cheap which causes them to work more for cheaper.
In America, whoever has the big bucks controls how things are run. With money, there is no boundary to what can be done. According to the video, “Food Inc.” a perfect sample of the want for more is in the food industry. The narrator makes the argument that profit is put before the consumer’s welfare, the heritage of the American farmer, workers safety, and our precious environment (Food Inc.) in many major corporations. I firmly believe that these corporations have put to the side and have purposely tried to hide the actuality about how unhealthy the food they create truly is for the American community.
With accusations on discrimination, environmental violations, and their poor worker treatment, it’s no wonder why it is losing its standing with Americans. Although Wal-Mart offers many benefits to the American public, it is ultimately a store that does harm to society and the environment. For one, Wal-Mart offers the advantage of low- prices items. Most items that are always low in price are the meat products. “A range of studies have found prices at Wal-Mart are anywhere from 8 to 39 present less than its major competitors” (Aubekerora).