“Ethics” Archive
Jun
13
I have never really been a fan of Wal-Mart. I used to shop there during college because in the small college town I lived in for 4 years, they were the only game in town essentially. Since then I have tried to avoid Wal-Mart altogether as I couldn’t stand the overstuffed aisles and as I later learned, the way they treated their employees. Over the years, Wal-Mart, in my opinion has simply become too big for it’s own good. With over 1 Million employees globally and over $345 Billion in sales (yes, you read that right), the company is bound to have some questionable business practices.
Well, just when I thought Wal-Mart couldn’t get any worse, they have managed to outdo themselves with what I would call a “predatory’ pre-paid, reloadable Visa card, which is clearly aimed at folks who cannot obtain credit for one reason or another. On the surface, it seems like a great idea, i.e. giving people access to the plastic they would otherwise not have. The element I think is quite predatory are the fees. Check out this fee schedule (it is in Section 10). Are you kidding me? $8.94 to simply reload the card? a $4.94 monthly maintenance fee? Fees to withdraw your own money from an ATM or even make a balance inquiry. This is outrageous! I understand Wal-Mart is in the business of making money, but charging fees for the most basic of services seems ludicrous to me. If they charged only the initial fee for purchasing the card, they would still make plenty of money. These other fees are where the greed comes in. This card, in my opinion, is the debit card equivalent of the Worst Credit Card Ever.
UPDATE: Thanks to a Nicole, a loyal reader of Dollar Buy Dollar, this story truly is a reason to hate Wal-Mart. This employee followed the company guidelines for reporting unethical behavior and now she finds herself out of a job. Wal-Mart is starting to remind me of Enron or Big Tobacco. This is exactly the reason I will NEVER shop at Wal-Mart.
