See my immediately following post, wriiten simultaneously.

The Walton's set up the company to run a business and earn themselves (and others) a return. They did not establish a charity (or at least Walmart was not established as one). If someone wants to run a business for the benefit of their workers or some wider ideal then they can do and they will need to compete with Walmart et al should they wish to be retailers.

Absolutely. I think you've hit a nail on the head about where at least part of the problem lies.



Spot on again.

Over the years, the quality of service – which has cost [ime[/i time and money – at a number of retailers that might appear to be cheaper than John Lewis (forgetting the 'never knowingly undersold' thing) has ensured that now, if I need household goods, say, I go straight to JL and, where I use a supermarket, it's Waitrose too. It seem that a number of retailers no longer care about customer service.

But there's also the related point that increasing numbers of businesses seem to see their employers simply as a cost – to be cut as much as possible – and not as an investment, which partly brings us back to the living wage, as mentioned earlier. Not only is it better for individual employees – it's better for business, if business is prepared to be slightly less short-sighted and short-term in thinking. I do wonder how much the pressures of the Stock Exchange/City exacerbate this.

There's also the wider point that, quite simply, the current situation is not sustainable. And why does anyone want to keep pushing an unsustainable approach?

If you think JL customer service is good try ordering carpet / flooring from them and see what happens when things go a bit wrong!

Likewise I have also received good service from RS to the point where I may need a new main TV set before xmas and will be buying it from RS, have done the price comparisons and they are within £10 or so of the very cheapest retailer (Tesco), so the choice is, do I buy a TV set from Tescos or from a specialist retail outlet who only employ people who actually know what they are talking about ?

Hmmm



They are lucky in that they have a niche market where employing generic shop assistants isn't really an option, they need to employ experts to advise the (often) geeks who shop in there, AND they also take it beyond the selling boxed TV Sets to doing full home cinema installs, and commercial installs, so they do have to know their onions.

Well I'm going on my experience – and reports from a number of people I know – and I suspect we outnumber you, Dally.

I used to love going into the Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street, to the classical music section. The staff in there really knew their stuff. They could suggest things to you that almost always worked for you. I might be able to get things cheaper from Amazon, but I miss that experience and that human interaction.

HMV at Piccadilly Circus had been like that too, before it closed.

What really grates with me is the Walton family actively and aggressively employ any meaures they can to avoid or minimise paying federal and state taxes. They then expect the US and UK taxpayer to pick up their slack on behalf of their employees.

Frankly, on that basis alone, they're filth.

It surely wouldn't be that difficult to assess the total goverment support (tax credits, housing benefits etc) paid to subsidise a company's employees. HMRC could then simply present the company with an annual bill, including all costs of calculations, to reimburse the exchquer. That might be one way to concentrate a few minds away from paying less than subsistence wages

Sheer genius.

It would be interesting to work out for some companies. And see if it could be alleviated through higher wages, company provided employee benefit schemes, higher/correct amounts of tax paid etc

Name one FTSE 250 company that does not pay the correct amount of tax in accordance with the law of the land.