Uncle Sam's army: Walmart in the American imagination

Walmart began as a small mom and pop store in Arkansas in the 1950s and has evolved into one of the largest retailers in the world today. The chain’s major hallmark: selling goods at prices lower than...

May 16, 2018, 18:16 IST7 min

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On July 2, 1962, Walton opened the first Walmart Discount City store in Rogers, Arkansas. He chose rural locations out of necessity, since it was cheaper to build there, but soon made it a ...

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Walton had made a promise to his employees (whom Walmart calls associates) that he would do the hula on Wall Street if the company reached a pre-tax profit of 8% for the fiscal year. Walmar...

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In the 1980s, Walmart invested in a sophisticated inventory tracking system that uses their own satellite network. In addition to track inventory, the system allows technicians and executiv...

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Today, Walmart is the largest employer in the world, with the estimated number of employees being close to 2.3 million globally (as of Feb 2018), of which over 60% of the workforce are wome...

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Walmart has faced a torrent of lawsuits and issues involving workers&rsquo low wages, poor working conditions, inadequate health care, and issues involving the company&#39s strong anti-unio...

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Walmart introduced a batch of new employees at 50 stores recently, but they&#39re not there to flash you a smile. These 6 feet tall, autonomous robots (made by Bossa Nova) continuously go u...

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Walmart loses about $3 billion a year from shoplifting, and have a &lsquorestorative justice&rsquo programme that avoids calling the police. People deemed low-risk, first-time offenders are...

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Since Sam Walton&#39s death in 1992, Walmart&#39s charitable giving has increased and now approach US$1 billion each year. In the wake of Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Walmart spearheaded the ...

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Each week nearly one-third of the US population visits Walmart&rsquos U.S. stores. The company tracks shoppers&#39 purchases across Walmart.com and its more than 4,700 US stores. In a recen...

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The Black Friday shopping phenomenon - the day following Thanksgiving Day in the US which falls on the fourth thursday of November - sees shoppers turn into raging hordes, baffling social s...

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The company&rsquos retail experiment called Walmart Express failed miserably. Launched in 2011, Walmart Express were small-sized stores carrying general merchandise like toilet paper, toys,...

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In November 2006, Walmart launched its wholesale cash-and-carry business in India in a joint venture with Bharti Enterprises. As foreign corporations were not allowed to enter the retail se...

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With a 2018 net worth of $46 billion according to <em>Forbes</em>, the founder&rsquos daughter Alice Walton is the wealthiest woman in the world. A Trinity grad, the heiress spends her fort...

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Walmart has built a Tinder for grocery shopping. It filed a patent in Jan 2018 for &lsquoFresh Online Experience&rsquo, that allows an online shopper to view the actual 3D images of their g...

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Walmart has just filed a patent for autonomous, robot bees, according to a World Economic Forum report. The patent specifically covers &#39pollination drones&#39: tiny robots that act just ...

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