By E. J. Montini,
Arizona Republic
January 31st, 2008                              [back to top]    

Early on a Tuesday morning in August, 41-year-old Steve Turner drove to the Wal-Mart at 83rd Avenue and Union Hills in order to get an oil change for his car. What happened after that was explained most succinctly by his wife, Karen.

"It took them about 20 minutes to service the car," she said. "It took nine hours before we found my husband's body in a bathroom stall."

Earlier this week, Karen talked about that terrible day. It's not something she wanted to do. She'd waited a long time to contact me because she had been hoping that someone affiliated with the corporate giant would have replied to a letter about the tragedy that had been sent to Wal-Mart officials on her behalf.

"But I've received nothing," she said. "I don't blame them for my husband's death. It's tragic, and my son and I will have to deal with it. But it's not their fault. However, what happened after Steve died was a horror and should happen to no one ever again. What if the next person, unlike my husband, could have been helped if they were found sooner?"

Steve Turner was an airline mechanic. The day that he went to the Wal-Mart he was scheduled to work a shift beginning at about noon. He got to the store shortly before 8 a.m. and called Karen to ask if there was anything that she wanted him to pick up while he was there.

"We said that we loved each other and that was it," she said. "Then, when I didn't hear from him by noon, I knew something was wrong. He was never late."

Karen went to the store and asked employees to help her search for her husband. One of the first places they checked was the bathroom. She said that a custodian had the door blocked for cleaning and told her the room was empty. She would learn later that her husband had died in one of the stalls of an aortic dissection, a weakened blood vessel that ruptured. It's the same condition that killed actor John Ritter.

"Steve showed no signs of anything being wrong," she said. "I was told that he probably died suddenly at 8:30 that morning."

Karen called the police. She roamed the store for hours. But it wasn't until 5 p.m., when another janitor mentioned that a customer seemed to be spending the afternoon in the bathroom that she rushed in and found Steve's body.

Attorney Douglas Belknap later wrote a letter for her to Wal-Mart officials. It reads in part:

"I do not 'represent' Karen in the usual sense and I do not intend to file a lawsuit. Karen simply wants to make sure that someone at Wal-Mart's corporate level understand the excruciating mental anguish she suffered as a result of almost unbelievable set of circumstances that she hopes Wal-Mart will prevent from recurring."

That was in September. When she didn't hear back, she contacted me.

"What if the next person has a stroke or a heart attack and no one thoroughly checks every place in the store?" she said. "Or worse, what if something bad was happening to a child?"

I contacted Wal-Mart's corporate offices and e-mailed them another copy of Karen's letter. I haven't heard back. Maybe company lawyers are wary of Karen when she says that she's not filing a lawsuit. Maybe they're uncomfortable saying that they're sorry for her loss or that they will put procedures in place to assure more thorough store searches. Who knows? Maybe it just takes a long time for anything to get done in a corporation as large as Wal-Mart. Even a letter.

Karen's son is 5. She was hoping to show him correspondence from Wal-Mart when he's older as a way of explaining what happened. It's still possible a note of some kind will arrive.

In the meantime, I'm hoping this will do.

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Wal-Mart expands RFID requirements

By VICTOR GODINEZ
The Dallas Morning News
Wednesday, January 30, 2008                              [back to top]    

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is looking to accelerate its RFID rollout, and once again the Dallas area is at the heart of the effort.

The company is requiring all suppliers shipping products to its Sam Club's distribution center in DeSoto to start applying the radio tags to their pallets starting today.

If they don't, Wal-Mart will charge the suppliers $2 per pallet to do it for them, the company informed them in a letter earlier this month.

"I think everyone recognizes that it's the future of how products are going to move through the supply chain, and not just at Wal-Mart, but everywhere," said Wal-Mart spokesman John Simley.

Wal-Mart and radio frequency identification vendors say the new timeline – with additional distribution centers around the country coming online later this year – highlights the fact that the wireless technology is working as intended, cutting down on out-of-stock problems and boosting sales.

And it's another sign that the Dallas area is one of the major centers of RFID development and implementation.

Dean Frew is president and chief executive of Carrollton-based Xterprise Inc., which helps other companies, including many Wal-Mart and Sam's Club suppliers, implement RFID systems.

Mr. Frew said the new timeline for shipping RFID-tagged pallets to the Sam's Club distribution center will definitely help Wal-Mart, although the payoff for the suppliers themselves might be a bit further off.

"There's clearly a benefit for the suppliers," he said. "Is it as immediate as they would like to see? No, probably not.

"But you can't ignore the fact that if they're able to keep the shelf stocked more efficiently, in the end suppliers are going to benefit as well."

RFID technology includes a paper-thin tag with a tiny chip and antenna. When in range of a wireless scanner – at a loading dock in a warehouse, for example – the chip is activated and transmits a small burst of data about the product it's attached to.

The goal is an automatic electronic inventory system that can track when products come in the warehouse, when they get shipped to stores, and, eventually, when they get sold off the shelf.

After the DeSoto distribution center ramps up, suppliers will have to add four more Sam's Club distribution centers – including one in Dayton, Texas – to their list by the end of October, and then 17 more by the end of January 2009.

The DeSoto facility will also be the first Sam's Club distribution center in the country where suppliers will be required to tag every case on a pallet (Oct. 31, 2008) and then every single item that makes it on to store shelves (Oct. 31, 2009).

The timelines should remove any confusion that suppliers have about what they need to do, Mr. Simley said.

"A lot of suppliers of Sam's were asking for some clarity," he said. "What do you want us to do and when do you want us to do it by?"

Making DeSoto the launching pad for that effort makes sense.

The Dallas area's reputation as a top spot for RFID technology can be traced to a variety of sources, from technical work done by researchers at Dallas-based Texas Instruments Inc. to Wal-Mart's own RFID pilot program, which started in the region.

The area is home to scores of RFID-focused start-up firms, while the Metroplex Technology Business Council is trying to brand the Dallas-Fort Worth region as the "RFID Hub."

The annual RFID World convention has been held in Grapevine for several years, although the 2008 event is being held in Las Vegas

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Wal-Mart Will Shake Up Apparel Unit; Layoffs Set

By Michael Barbaro,
New York Times
January 30th, 2008                          [back to top]    

In a major revamping of its sluggish clothing business, Wal-Mart Stores will shut two divisions at its headquarters in Arkansas, eliminate dozens of positions and move dozens more to New York City.

This will be the first time in years that Wal-Mart, a company renowned for growth, has laid off a significant number of workers at its headquarters.

The overhaul, which has not been made public, is intended to revive one of the weakest departments in Wal-Mart’s 5,000 stores: men’s, women’s and children’s apparel, a $30 billion business for the retailer.

Over the last several years, under the direction of Claire Watts, the top clothing executive, the company experimented with somewhat more upscale collections. Wal-Mart created new divisions to spot trends and to design apparel.

But customers largely rejected the new looks — and, in July, Wal-Mart pushed out Ms. Watts. Today, it is emphasizing what executives call “key items,” like basic, brightly colored T-shirts, over outfits from clothing collections.

The shift effectively overturns the strategy and structure put in place by Ms. Watts. In an internal announcement Tuesday, the company said it would close its product development and sourcing divisions, a company spokeswoman, Linda Blakley, confirmed.

As a result, dozens of positions will be eliminated, Ms. Blakley said. The company would not specify how many, and other details remained sketchy Tuesday.

“We will do everything we can to minimize the impact” of the job eliminations, Ms. Blakley said, like offering workers different jobs within Wal-Mart.

The work handled by the two divisions will be shifted to different units, called buying and brand merchandising. The buying unit will be based at Wal-Mart’s headquarters in Bentonville, Ark.; brand merchandising will be in New York City. As many as 30 workers will move to New York City from Arkansas.

“We wanted a structure where roles were clearer and we can get merchandise into stores as quickly as possible,” Ms. Blakley said.

Bill Dreher, an analyst at Deutsche Bank Securities, said Wal-Mart had recognized the previous strategy’s problems.

“They had tried to overreach — on their own, with little expertise or credibility in fashion. It was not bound for success,” he said. “Now, their aspirations in fashion are much more modest.” The reorganization, he added, “is a big deal, because it means Wal-Mart can finally get apparel right.”

Ms. Blakley said Wal-Mart wanted to “present key items with authority” and “make big bets in apparel where the growth is.”

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Big Business Backs Health Insurance

Associated Press
01.30.08                                           [back to top]    

NEW YORK - As presidential candidates push their plans to makeover the nation's health-care system, some of America's largest employers presented their own suggested fix Wednesday.

Every adult American should be required to purchase health insurance coverage for themselves and their children on a tax-advantaged basis, but it shouldn't be incumbent on business owners to offer or pay for it, according to the National Business Group on Health, or NBGH, a non-profit association of nearly 300 large employers, including General Motors (nyse: GM - news - people ) and Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (nyse: WMT - news - people )

Instead, the NBGH is advocating that individuals who purchase their own policies should be given the same tax advantages as workers under employer-sponsored group health plans, which the NBGH says is the main reason why many American families covered by these plans have access to affordable coverage. Employers who offer group health insurance can write off these benefits for tax purposes, and the money doesn't count as taxable income for the employees.

By contrast, an employee who purchases their own coverage - because their employer doesn't offer health benefits - must pay income taxes on it. Since 2003, the self-employed can take a tax deduction when they take out their own coverage.

But to achieve universal coverage, states and federal governments need to work together with insurers and employers to develop insurance options that meet the medical needs and budgets of American families, according to the NBGH which sets out 20 conditions that would need to be met to meet such a goal.

"With health costs continuing to rise, a weak economy and the number of uninsured Americans growing at an alarming pace, the need to reform our health care system is at an all-time high," said NBGH President Helen Darling.

"Achieving successful health reform, however, is a tremendous challenge that will require individuals, health care providers, insurers, employers and governments at all levels to take on shared responsibility. No one group can or should bear full responsibility," she says.

Proponents of individual mandates say they respond to concerns about uninsured people who receive treatment when they're sick but pass on its cost to taxpayers or individuals with insurance. Requiring everyone to have coverage will strengthen and stabilize insurance risk pools by including more healthy people - who are the most likely to risk going without insurance - eventually driving down the costs for all, they say. However, critics say implementing an individual mandate could be costly and impractical as it would require new layers of bureaucracy to enforce.

Some 177 million Americans get their health insurance through their employers, making job-based coverage the most common source of coverage. Large companies continue to view health benefits as a key tool for recruitment and retention and 98 percent of firms with over 200 workers offer health coverage to employees, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers' Health Research Institute. However, the cost of annual premiums has almost doubled since 2000 to $12,106 for family coverage and $4,479 for an individual, damaging corporate competitiveness in the global economy.

NBGH said its members want to maintain their voluntary role in providing health insurance, but are opposed to any mandates that would require them to provide it or else contribute to the cost of it, an option known as "pay or play."

"Mandating employers to offer coverage or requiring them to pay the government is very harmful to working families and our economy because it will only force employers to eliminate jobs, move more jobs offshore, stunt future job growth, or raise consumer prices," says Darling.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart gets its bank - in Mexico

By Carolyn Whelan,
CNN Money
January 29th, 2008                      [back to top]    

For years, Wal-Mart tried to enter the U.S. banking business, but it gave up in 2007, pulling its application after endless outcries from domestic retail banks. Now it's found a more receptive audience south of the border. In November, Wal-Mart de México opened its first consumer bank, Banco Wal-Mart, in Toluca; the company plans to launch 80 more by the end of the year.

Toluca , a sprawling industrial town near Mexico City, seems like an unlikely place for Wal-Mart's maiden push into banking. But there, in a strip mall, beside a bakery and a beauty parlor, Norma Pacheco is mulling a Wal-Mart account. "I'd use it to pay for my Wal-Mart purchases," says Pacheco, a 42-year-old engineer. "The brand gives me confidence."

Pacheco isn't the client Wal-Mart de México is ultimately after. Mexico's biggest retailer, with 668 stores, wants to crack the low-income market in a country where just 24 percent of households have savings accounts, compared with 55 percent in Chile. Wal-Mart (WMT, Fortune 500) plans to boost sales via debit cards, later ease users into more profitable services like insurance, and make money on interest-rate spreads. Early signs are promising. Héctor Aguila, the bank's manager, says that about 40 percent of the new clients who have signed up at dedicated desks in the store since the bank's November launch have never had an account of any kind.

Wal-Mart's mission is to lure newcomers with easy instructions and entry points, like minimum balances of less than $5 and no commissions, compared with $100 minimums at competing banks. (But interest rates are only 1 percent, half what most banks pay, and Wal-Mart's annual rate for consumer loans is 75 percent.) The retailer, which opened three branches in Toluca, plans to have as many as 80 by the end of the year, before an even bigger push in 2009.

Wal-Mart is also eyeing the $23 billion remittances market - the amount sent home every year by Mexican immigrants in the U.S. Because it forged a cut-rate deal with MoneyGram (MGI), Wal-Mart is outpacing the overall growth in the money-transfer market, says Robert Dodd, an analyst at Morgan Keegan, but its share remains tiny. The retailer says it has no plans to revisit the U.S. bank market soon, though Jan Smith, managing director of InfoAmericas in M iami, says Mexico is "a good dress rehearsal."

Wal-Mart isn't the first bank to court Mexico's low-income earners. In 2002 appliances retailer Grupo Elektra started Banco Azteca. Today it has nearly 1,500 branches and more than seven million savings accounts. A spinoff from microfinance firm Compartamos followed in April with similar services and an IPO that was 13 times oversubscribed. But Wal-Mart's broad appeal, high traffic, and low fees give it an edge, analysts say.

The retailer's entry into Mexican banking follows reforms by the Calderón administration, which wanted to make it easier for low-income earners to open accounts. Now other big banks may try to get in on the action. Says HSBC (HBC) corporate accounts manager Julius Cardoza: "We're curious about Wal-Mart's strategy."

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Wal-Mart to Cut Prices on Some Items

Associated Press
01.29.08                                              [back to top]    

BENTONVILLE, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, said Tuesday it will cut prices on thousands of items to lure shoppers struggling with the weak economy.

The retailer said it will roll back prices by 10 percent to 30 percent on a range of products, particularly Super Bowl snacks, fitness items and home products. The store said it will offer no interest for 18 months on purchases of $250 or more with a Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) credit card.

The store also said it would include a $100 gift card with the purchase of a $1,296 Phillips 42-inch LCD HDTV.

The company said the latest price cuts will be detailed in its latest home circular.

Wal-Mart shares rose 4 cents to $48.75 in premarket trading. The shares closed at $48.71 Monday.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. 

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SunPower Installs First Wal-Mart System

Associated Press
01.28.08                                   [back to top]    

CHINO, Calif. - SunPower Corp. has finished installing the first of seven solar-power systems for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. at one of the retailer's California locations, the companies said Monday.

The 390-kilowatt system has been installed at a Sam's Club store in Chino. The seven systems will have a total annual generating capacity of 4.6 megawatts.

A one-megawatt plant running continuously at full capacity can power 778 households each year, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. There are 1,000 kilowatts in a megawatt. Solar technology has lower capacity since its power generation is constrained by availability of the sun.

Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ) installed the SunPower (nasdaq: SPWR - news - people ) system using the solar-product maker's Access program, which allows entities to purchase solar electricity through a long-term agreement instead of purchasing the systems to be installed.

Wal-Mart has plans to install solar panels at about 22 of its stores and distribution centers in Hawaii and California. It expects the stores to save on utility bills starting the first day of each system's operation and estimates the systems will reduce its annual greenhouse-gas emissions by 8,000 to 10,000 metric tons.

SunPower shares rose $1.31, or 1.8 percent, to $74.60 in premarket trading after closing Friday at $73.29. Wal-Mart shares closed at $48.09 Friday.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Sentencing Set for Wal-Mart's Ex-No. 2

Associated Press
01.26.08                                        [back to top]    

FORT SMITH, Ark. - Former Wal-Mart executive Tom Coughlin will be sentenced again for fraud and tax evasion next month without the health exam requested by federal prosecutors, a judge ruled.

Coughlin had cited health problems, including heart trouble, when he was sentenced in 2006 to 27 months of home detention. He had faced a possible sentence of more than 28 years in prison and fines of $1.35 million.

Last year, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the sentence was too lenient and sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Robert Dawson.

In an order Thursday, Dawson said a health exam would delay Coughlin's Feb. 1 sentencing and cause him to spend in more time in home detention without credit.

Coughlin was second in charge at Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (nyse: WMT - news - people ), the world's largest retailer, when he retired in 2005. He was accused of stealing gift cards and having the company cover the cost of other items, for a total loss that Wal-Mart estimated at about $500,000. He pleaded guilty to wire fraud and tax evasion in 2006.

In addition to home detention, Coughlin was fined $50,000 and ordered to pay $400,000 in restitution. Officials say Coughlin has paid those sums.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Wal-Mart outlines vision as 'company of the future'

Reuters
Thursday January 24                       [back to top]    

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc must be a "company of the future" that embraces advances such as electronic health records or hybrid cars to drive down costs, keep prices low and tackle issues the government may not be able to solve, its chief executive said on Wednesday.

"We live in a time when people are losing confidence in the ability of government to solve problems," said CEO Lee Scott, according to a copy of a speech provided to the media.

"But at Wal-Mart, we don't see the sidelines that politicians see. And we do not wait for someone else to solve problems that might hurt our business or affect our customers in a negative way."

Instead, Scott said Wal-Mart will use its heft as the world's largest retailer to push for changes in health care, energy consumption and sourcing.

Scott was scheduled to deliver the speech at a meeting for U.S. store managers held in Kansas City, Missouri.

It built on a speech he delivered in October 2005, when he first outlined Wal-Mart's environmental efforts. While the goals, such as one day using only renewable energy and creating zero waste, are seen as a way to help the environment, they are also meant to help Wal-Mart cut costs.

Many of the goals Scott outlined on Wednesday were aimed at helping Wal-Mart strip out excess costs and promote low prices at a time when its core lower-income shoppers are being squeezed by a deteriorating housing market, higher food and fuel costs and a credit market crunch.

"We see our customers having to choose between filling up their gas tanks or buying food and medicine and clothes," Scott said, adding that, in the United States, out-of-pocket energy costs for working families have doubled over the past decade.

"These families now spend an estimated 17 percent of their monthly income on energy. Somebody has to do something."

He added Wal-Mart is working with its suppliers to make the most "energy intensive" products in its stores 25 percent more energy efficient within three years.

He also said that, by 2010, the retailer wants all its flat-panel TVs to be 30 percent more energy efficient.

On the health care front, he said Wal-Mart will partner with doctors to increase the number of electronic prescriptions that it fills in the United States to 8 million by the end of year. That would mark a nearly 400 percent increase in e-prescriptions filled at Wal-Mart, he said.

Wal-Mart will also provide electronic health records to U.S. employees and their family members by the end of 2010.

"These records will be personal, private and portable. They will drive down costs and improve quality and safety," he said.

In the wake of a slew of recalls last year of Chinese-made products, Scott said Wal-Mart intends to be tough with suppliers.

Wal-Mart will only work with suppliers "who maintain our standards throughout our relationship," he said, adding that, in some cases, Wal-Mart may pay more to suppliers that meet its standards.

"Paying more in the short term for quality will mean paying less in the long term as a company," he said.

FAR OUT!

In looking for ways that Wal-Mart could become a retailer of the future, Scott also offered some ideas he said were "completely out there."

For instance, he has been talking with the heads of the major auto manufacturers, asking "if there is a place for Wal- Mart in the hybrid electric or plug-in electric car market, so our customers do not have to spend so much money filling up their gas tanks."

"Maybe there isn't room for Wal-Mart in this right now. But something tells me that there may be some role for us in the future and we are going to continue taking a look at this," he added.

Wal-Mart could also try to provide "ecofriendly energy" to customers.

"Imagine your customers pulling into your parking lot and seeing wind turbines and solar panels, and being able to charge their cars while they shop," he said.

Wal-Mart could then feed the power generated by its wind turbines and solar powers back into the electrical grid.

"Just imagine the impact of our customers being able to buy ecofriendly energy at the unbeatable Wal-Mart price," he added.

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Bill Gates and Wal-Mart want to save the world

Call it Capitalism 2.0: Microsoft's founder and Wal-Mart's CEO say there's got to be a better way.

Andrew Leonard
Jan. 24, 2008                                            [back to top]    

Ten years ago (almost to the day) I thought I was being provocative when I called Bill Gates a "bleeding heart do-gooder liberal," based on a relatively small contribution the Microsoft founder had made to a Washington state handgun control initiative and some grants given by the nascent Gates Foundation to reproductive health and family planning groups. Reporters love contrarian takes on reality, and back then, calling Gates a liberal, even as his company was establishing itself as a global avatar of rapacious capitalism, crushing all who dared oppose it, seemed daring.

So I would not have predicted that a decade later, Gates, channeling Mohammad Yunus, would address the mighty potentates gathered at Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum and tell them, "We have to find a way to make the aspects of capitalism that serve wealthier people serve poorer people as well."

The Wall Street Journal has the scoop: Bill Gates "has grown impatient with the shortcomings of capitalism."

Among the fixes he plans to call for: Companies should create businesses that focus on building products and services for the poor. "Such a system would have a twin mission: making profits and also improving lives for those who don't fully benefit from market forces," he plans to say....

In particular, he said, he's troubled that advances in technology, health care and education tend to help the rich and bypass the poor. "The rate of improvement for the third that is better off is pretty rapid," he said. "The part that's unsatisfactory is for the bottom third -- two billion of six billion."

You go, Bill. But in a bizarre manifestation of über-capitalist harmonic convergence, on the same morning that the Journal was hyping its Bill Gates scoop, the New York Times reported that Wal-Mart's CEO, Lee Scott, gave a speech on Wednesday declaring that the world's biggest retail chain was determined to drastically change the world for the better, by simultaneously solving the world's energy, healthcare and environmental crises.

Scott's "social manifesto" left no social ill unturned:

It is important for all of us to understand that there are a number of issues facing the world that will profoundly affect our lives and our company. I am talking to you about issues like international trade, climate change, water shortages, social and economic inequities, infrastructure and foreign oil...

We live in a time when people are losing confidence in the ability of government to solve problems. But at Wal-Mart, we don't see the sidelines that politicians see. And we do not wait for someone else to solve problems that might hurt our business or affect our customers in a negative way.

Scott, if taken at his word, proposed a platform even more radical than Bill Gates':

In the next three years, we would like to build a very different system. We believe that there should be one framework of social and environmental standards for all major global retailers. And there should be one third party auditing system for everyone.

That sounds suspiciously like a New World Order agenda. Who would impose this "one framework"? Who would provide the "third party auditing system"? Dare we suggest, the United Nations?

Given Wal-Mart's track record on its treatment of its own employees, it is easier to be skeptical of Scott's promises -- cheap, energy-efficient air-conditioners for the people!-- than Bill Gates'. Gates is clearly devoting the rest of his life to spending his accumulated billions to improve the quality of life for the people living on this planet. Whether that can be done via a "bottom-of-the-pyramid" strategy in which businesses sell products such as cheap skin whitener to poor Indians is very much open to question, but Gates' commitment is not. Meanwhile, Scott's speech rings with all the sincerity one would expect from a major public relations campaign.

But even if you dismiss both speeches as self-serving grandstanding, it's still worth noting the direction in which the rhetoric is flowing. That Lee Scott should feel compelled to pledge that Wal-Mart is going to do the right thing, because it's the right thing to do, signals that the once all-conquering ideology of free-market greed-is-all-we-need-ism is no longer acceptable to tout in polite company.

The world's problems need fixing, and unregulated markets are not up to the job. Bill Gates and Lee Scott said so. Pass the word.

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From Wal-Mart: A social manifesto

By Michael Barbaro
International Herald Tribune
Thursday, January 24, 2008                      [back to top]    

KANSAS CITY, Missouri: Wal-Mart pledged Wednesday to cut the energy used by many of its products 25 percent, to force the chain's suppliers to meet stricter ethical standards and to apply its legendary cost-cutting skills to help other companies deliver health care for their employees.

In a lofty address that at times resembled a campaign speech, the chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores, Lee Scott Jr., said that "we live in a time when people are losing confidence in the ability of government to solve problems." But Wal-Mart, he said, "does not wait for someone else to solve problems."

He then laid out sweeping plans for the company on several health and environmental issues, and he hinted that even more ambitious goals might be on the horizon. Scott said, for instance, that Wal-Mart is talking to leaders of the automobile industry about selling electric or hybrid cars � and might even install windmills in its parking lots so customers could recharge their cars with renewable electricity.

With the new commitments, Wal-Mart is trying to cement its reputation as a leader in areas where it was once known as a laggard. The initiatives are the most visible sign to date that Wal-Mart, which spent much of the past decade defending itself against criticism of its business practices, has gone on the offensive.

Since 2005, it has committed itself to a dizzying number of changes, and even some of the chain's critics concede that it has begun to make good on the promises. For instance, Scott said Wednesday that Wal-Mart had sold 145 million compact fluorescent light bulbs, which he said had saved enough electricity to forestall the need for three coal-fired power plants in the United States.

Several experts applauded the new goals, saying they would have an effect beyond Wal-Mart, given the chain's influence over companies that supply Wal-Mart and other retailers. "When Wal-Mart asks, suppliers jump," said Noah Horowitz, a senior scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council. "There are positive ripple effects throughout the supply chain."

On health care, Scott said that Wal-Mart would begin working with major American employers to help them manage and pay prescription drug claims, a costly task now handled by companies known as pharmacy benefit managers. He estimated Wal-Mart could save companies $100 million in 2008. That is a relatively small sum in the $275 billion annual American drug bill, but Wal-Mart has a history of refashioning nearly every business that it tackles.

In the address to store managers, Scott said Wal-Mart would try to fill eight million electronic prescriptions in 2008, four times the number filled last year. Such prescriptions are considered safer than handwritten doctors' notes, which can be misread by pharmacists, leading to medical errors, experts said.

And the chain said it would provide electronic health records to all of its United States employees and their family members by the end of 2010. These are intended to give doctors a full survey of a patient's medical history, in part to prevent treatments that conflict with one another.

Ron Pollack, the head of Families USA, a health care advocacy group, said the moves had the potential to "significantly improve quality and reduce the cost of health care."

Given Wal-Mart's size and influence over its peers, Pollack said, the plans "should have a salutary impact on employer-based health care."

Scott said that Wal-Mart, which already promotes energy-saving products in its stores like the fluorescent light bulbs, would begin focusing on additional products that use a large amount of energy, like air-conditioners, microwave ovens and televisions.

Its goal is to work with suppliers to make such products 25 percent more energy-efficient within three years. "We do not know exactly how we will get there," Scott conceded.

Advocacy groups have long argued there is room to cut electricity demand in the United States by improving the efficiency of appliances. Highly efficient appliances are available today, but they often cost more than inefficient ones, and many people decline to buy them even though that would save them money in the long run.

Scott said Wal-Mart was committed to selling energy-efficient products at low prices to make them accessible to its working-class customers.

Horowitz of the Natural Resources Defense Council said that in the past, Wal-Mart had successfully reduced diesel use by its trucks and electricity use in its stores. "Now," he said, "they are taking the next step � to look at the energy used to make and operate the products they sell."

Horowitz said Wal-Mart had room to improve, however. Its next goal, he said, should be to stop selling the least energy-efficient products, rather than simply introducing better models.

Finally, Scott committed Wal-Mart to creating a more socially and environmentally conscious network of suppliers around the world. He called on other major retailers to join a global network of retailers and consumer goods companies, led by a Paris organization known as CIES, that is developing socially conscious manufacturing standards.

"We believe there should be one framework of social and environmental standards for all major global retailers," he said.

Scott also said he would press for suppliers in China, which are known for flouting environmental rules, to comply with that country's environmental regulations and would require them to certify that they meet industry standards.

If an industrywide effort falters, Scott said, "Wal-Mart will in fact lead; we will move forward by ourselves."

Copyright © 2008 The International Herald Tribune | www.iht.com

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Wal-Mart to go "head-to-head" with Tesco

Progressive News Letter                     [back to top]    

Wal-Mart is reportedly set to launch a counter-attack to Tesco's move into the US with its own plans to open smaller grocery stores. The US retail giant is planning to go to head-to-head with Tesco's Fresh & Easy stores in Arizona, according to Financial Times. Wal-Mart is said to have secured leases for four 20,000 sq ft outlets near Phoenix, in and around where Tesco is setting up its own stores. The plans for the so-called Marketside stores are Wal-Mart's first new concept in the US for ten years, the FT said. Officials at Wal-Mart failed to return a request for comment as just-food went to press.

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Taobao's Business Volume Exceeds Carrefour,
Wal-Mart

ChinaRetailNews.com
January 23, 2008                                    [back to top]    

According to the statistics released by Chinese consumer auction website Taobao.com, the company's total business volume was over RMB43.31 billion in 2007, which exceeds the business volume of Carrefour and Wal-Mart and makes Taobao.com one of the largest comprehensive markets in China.

The statistics show that users of Taobao.com reached 53 million in 2007 and the average daily expense for each is RMB817, which increased 45.1% compared with RMB563 in 2006.

A representative from Taobao.com said at a press conference that from when the company was founded in 2003 to 2007, Taobao.com used only four years to realize a total business volume of more than RMB40 billion. While the world's top retailer, Wal-Mart, used 29 years to realize a total business volume of US$40 billion. In China's retail market, Taobao.com exceeded Wal-Mart in 2005, and then exceeded Carrefour in 2006. In 2007 its business volume even exceeded the sum of the two retail companies, according to Taobao. From 2006 to 2007, the quarterly increase of Taobao.com was six times of eBay's.

In 2007, Taobao.com's profit mainly came from daily commodities, IT and digital products. The top ten products are clothes, mobile phones, cosmetics, articles for daily use, household appliances, prepaid phone cards, cameras and video cameras, PC and its accessories, laptops and health products.

Taobao.com is a division of Alibaba.com, one of the largest Internet marketplaces in China, bringing buyers and sellers together for Internet sourcing.

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Wal-Mart Becomes One of the First to Offer Over-the-Counter Zyrtec

PRNewswire-FirstCall
Wednesday, January 23, 2008                       [back to top]    

BENTONVILLE, Ark., Jan. 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Wal-Mart announced that the FDA's most recent prescription to over-the-counter (OTC) approved drug, Zyrtec(R) (cetirizine HCl) is now available at select Wal-Mart U.S. stores. Wal-Mart will offer eight different OTC Zyrtec products, including tablets, chewable tablets and syrup in each of its 4,128 U.S. stores by January 23 for prices that will help relieve allergy sufferers of their itchy eyes and runny noses, and save them money.

Zyrtec's maker, McNeil Consumer Healthcare, a division of McNeil-PPC, Inc.,

estimates that OTC Zyrtec will cost up to one third less than the average prescription co-pay for Zyrtec. And, Wal-Mart is committed to helping customers save even more. For example, the 45-count OTC Zyrtec product, which Wal-Mart expects to be most popular among its customers, is available for less than $29.

Employing learnings from its successful June 2007 launch of Alli(TM) (orlistat), the first FDA-approved OTC weight loss drug, Wal-Mart utilized its supply chain efficiencies to get Zyrtec on shelves as fast as possible and keep the product in stock. The product was available in select Wal-Mart stores on Monday, January 21 and will be in all stores nationwide by January 23.

"Many of the country's 50 million allergy sufferers have looked to us for their prescription Zyrtec, and we're sure they'll continue to look to us for the OTC product. In fact, they'll look to us for the lowest price on OTC Zyrtec and we don't plan to let them down," said Dr. John Agwunobi, senior vice president and president for Wal-Mart's professional services division. "Our commitment to making healthcare products more affordable and accessible is no secret -- and our $4 prescription program is only one example. As products go from Rx to OTC, we will work to get them on our pharmacy shelves fast and priced lower than our competition."

Since June 2007, Wal-Mart has saved customers more than $14 million over prescription costs by offering Alli, the only FDA-approved OTC weight-loss product, at a great value. The drug has since become its best-selling OTC diet product. Wal-Mart anticipates similar results with the launch of OTC Zyrtec.

OTC Zyrtec is approved to relieve indoor and outdoor allergy-related sneezing, runny nose, and watery eyes, as well as itching due to hives. OTC Zyrtec is approved to treat these symptoms in adults and children as young as six years old.

Wal-Mart will also sell non-prescription Zyrtec-D(R) (cetirizine HCl, pseudoephedrine HCl), which will be available behind the pharmacy counter.

Wal-Mart will promote the availability of over-the-counter Zyrtec through prominent placement in circulars, Wal-Mart TV, http://www.walmart.com and on billboards.

Copyright 2008 PR Newswire

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Officials May Fire Commission Pilots Who Rejected Wal-Mart Project

judyth piazza
newsblaze.com                                            [back to top]    

Elected officials here are ignoring warnings about a public safety threat from a Wal-Mart Supercenter project and instead have initiated a plan to oust military pilots sitting on a county airport commission which voted in November to oppose the project because of those same safety concerns.

A news conference will be held TUESDAY, 10 a.m. at the Solano County Board of Supervisors Meeting (675 Texas Street), regarding not-too-secret plans to "decapitate" the Solano County Airport Land Use Commission (SCALUC) leadership for political reasons.

The Solano County Board of Supervisors will vote Tuesday on a proposed ordinance amendment to allow firings of SCALUC members without just cause, undermining the regulatory powers and independence of the commission.

The 230,000 square foot Wal-Mart project in Suisun was scheduled for a public hearing Tuesday, but the Suisun City Council abruptly postponed it when they learned thousands of Travis Air Force Base retirees and residents had been alerted to the hearing.

The Suisun City Council said it will override the 5-2 vote of the SCALUC, and the mayor has said they will replace SCALUC chairman John Foster, a decorated military pilot. Region mayors have already announced they will listen to arguments to oust Foster next month.

The SCALUC which includes a number of retired or current pilots and veterans are being supported by CalTRANS, which wrote that it agreed with the conclusions by the commission about the safety factor of the project.

And, a national pipeline safety organization wrote Travis AFB, congressional leaders, Suisun City Council and federal agencies, stating it was "troubling" that a dangerous jet fuel pipeline running near the Wal-Mart has not been addressed in project planning.

Military retirees also fear the encroachment by the city on the base could force Travis, the biggest area-employer, to close, affecting services to 65,000 retirees in Solano County.

Copyright © 2008, NewsBlaze, Daily News

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Wal-Mart Says More Workers Insured

By JON GAMBRELL
01.22.08                                                   [back to top]    

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Tuesday its rate of uninsured employees dropped by more than 20 percent in the last year, fueled in part by its new health care plans for workers.

The world's largest retailer said only 7.3 percent of its workers reported being uninsured, down from 9.6 percent the year before. Wal-Mart (nyse: WMT - news - people ), which union groups have targeted over health care, said more than half of its eligible employees received coverage under its health care plans, a first in recent reporting.

The company said about 1 million of Wal-Mart's 1.3 million full-time and part-time workers in the U.S. were eligible for health care benefits during its last enrollment period.

Linda Dillman, an executive vice president of benefits and risk management for Wal-Mart, told reporters on a conference call Tuesday that the increased enrollment likely came from the company's new health care plan. The plan, which allows employees to customize their coverage, includes premiums as low as $5 a month and access to $4 prescription drugs.

"Everybody in this company is on the same set of plans," Dillman said. Wal-Mart president and CEO "Lee Scott made the same selection the newest part-time cashier at Wal-Mart did."

The Bentonville-based retailer said 50.2 percent of employees took the company's health care coverage. Last year, 47 percent of its eligible employees were covered by its health plans. In 2006, it was 46 percent; in 2005, it was just 43 percent.

Union-led groups have claimed that Wal-Mart skimps on benefits. An internal company memo leaked to unions and the media in October 2005 conceded that the company was vulnerable to criticism because its health plans at the time were expensive for low-income workers with families.

Since then, Wal-Mart has shortened its eligibility period, allowed part-time workers to cover children, lowered premiums and lowered copays for prescription drugs. Scott and other Wal-Mart executives even joined with union leaders last year in calling for "quality, affordable" health care for every American by 2012. Neither side offered any specific proposals, however.

Meghan Scott, a spokeswoman for union-backed WakeUpWalMart.com, declined to comment immediately Tuesday on the retailer's announcement.

The company said a survey of more than 802,000 employees in November showed 22.3 percent of workers were covered under a spouse's policy. Another 9.7 percent received government health care coverage, either from Medicaid, Medicare, state programs or through veterans benefits. Others received coverage from parents, schools, previous employers or personal policies.

State lawmakers have criticized Wal-Mart for allowing its workers to take part of state-funded health care for the poor. A confidential 2006 state study in Washington state showed Wal-Mart had 3,194 workers on Medicaid and the state's Basic Health Plan, more than any other private employer.

Dillman said the retailer had seen a slight drop-off in the number of employees saying they took part in state-sponsored health care coverage, but said the percentages stayed roughly the same.

"We did get some movement off of the plan, but we didn't see much change in terms of the total percentage," Dillman said.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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Report: Sears to Reorganize Into Units

Associated Press
01.20.08                                                      [back to top]    

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. - Sears Holdings Corp. plans to reorganize into several companies in another bid to pull the ailing 121-year-old retailer out the doldrums, according to a report published Saturday.

The restructuring could create separate units to manage Sears real-estate holdings and run brands such as Diehard and Craftsman, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Edward Lampert, the hedge fund kingpin and Sears Holdings (nasdaq: SHLD - news - people ) chairman, sees the move as a way to revitalize the company in the face of tough competition from companies like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (nyse: WMT - news - people ), the newspaper said, citing unnamed people familiar with the situation.

Details, including which units might run the Hoffman Estates-based company's 3,800 Sears and Kmart stores in the United States and Canada, weren't clear.

Spokeswoman Kimberly Freely issued a short statement Saturday confirming Sears Holdings is "introducing an organizational structure that provides operating businesses with greater control, authority and autonomy." She declined to comment further.

Analysts say the changes contemplated by Lampert - who acquired Kmart in 2003 and Sears, Roebuck and Co. in 2005 - run against prevailing trends where retailers try to craft a single, cohesive business image.

"He's looking to turn it around by using a different approach," said retail consultant Walter Loeb. "I think it's risky."

On Monday, Sears Holdings told investors it would likely post fourth-quarter earnings well below Wall Street forecasts as eroding sales push its profit down as much as 57 percent.

It expects to earn between $350 million and $470 million, or $2.59 to $3.48 per share, for the quarter ending Feb. 2 - far less than the $4.43 per share sought by analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial. Sears earned $820 million in the fourth quarter a year earlier.

Sears blamed growing competition, a slowdown in the housing market and consumers' credit fears for slumping sales figures.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved.

Five Wal-Mart Supercenters planned for Victor Valley