This is an update on a column that I wrote in 2005.

Don 

  “Victoria's Secret. Well their stuff's real nice.

But I can buy the same damn thing on a Wal-Mart shelf half price”

 -Gretchen Wilson 

 The line in “Redneck Woman” represents how shopper’s attitudes have changed.  Not long ago, people didn’t brag about shopping at a discount store.

 Now boasting about bargains has become the national sport. 

 One of the most insightful business books ever is  John Dicker’s masterpiece,  The United States of Wal-Mart.    Since the time the book was released in 2005, the winds of change are occurring  in the world of Wal-Mart.

 But they are occurring slowly.

 Bargains are a way for shoppers to feel good about their mastery of the supply chain.  Dicker traces the change in attitude to the recession of the early 1990’s.

 In a recession where white collar workers fared worse than others, displaced workers dropped Macy’s and never came back.

 The shift in shopping attitude is one of many insights that Dicker gives us in “The United States of Wal-Mart.”

 It is a provocative book based on history, sociology and Dicker’s edgy writing style.  

 He wrote, “It’s clear. We’re all Wal-Mart’s bitches.”

 When I bought the book in 2005,  I assumed it was one of the many Wal-Mart bashing books in circulation.   Dicker takes his shots but his conclusions are even-handed.

 I’ve developed an email relationship with John and he is a witty and insightful man.

 He explains the sociological and business changes that allowed Wal-Mart to become the 800 pound gorilla of the retail world.

 He points out Wal-Mart’s warts but entwines them in the history of how Wal-Mart grew from one store to a company that does $288 billion in sales.   

 Dicker devotes many pages to Wal-Mart’s alleged exploitation of foreign labor and allegations of mistreating American employees. 

 He notes the number of class action lawsuits based on alleged gender discrimination and alleged violations of wage and hour laws.  

 He explains why attempts to unionize the company have failed and that some of the blame goes to the inept efforts of union leaders with six figure salaries and country club memberships.

 There is one way to stop a Wal-Mart from coming into a community and that is to fight it over zoning issues.  Protests over labor practices or its impact on other businesses have had little success, but zoning battles have kept Wal-Mart out of some cities.

 The prospect of driving down property values or traffic problems will cause a large cross section of a community to fight Wal-Mart.  Nothing else will stop it.

 Dicker discussed how the move of Wal-Mart into inner cities has a positive economic impact on blighted communities.   Poor people don’t complain about having a Wal-Mart nearby when the alternative is to a take bus or cab across town.

 The book gives us a lot to think about, especially if you live in a small town where Wal-Mart is the only place to shop.  

 Dicker’s book is one of those, like Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring, that span a reaction and spur action.    The company has come under massive criticism in all the arenas that he brings up.  The book was part of Wal-Mart’s wakeup call to clean up their act.

 There are signs that some people in Bentonville are listening.   John’s thoughts are not just about Wal-Mart but about American sociology in general.

 He ends the book with an ominous insight:

 “The ugly truth is that we have become a nation that values little above a bargain. Customer service, product quality, a connection to people who make and sell our sacred stuff - it’s all become secondary to savings.”

 Gretchen Wilson and millions like her can  brag about finding a Wal-Mart bargain.  That bargain has a cost.

 Read the book.  It is funny, insightful and not on sale in the Wal-Mart book department.

 Don McNay is  Chairman of McNay Settlement Group and does not buy his clothes at Wal-Mart or Victoria’s  Secret.  He is the author of the Unbridled World of Ernie Fletcher.  You can write to him at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it or you can read other things he has written at www.donmcnay.com   He is on the Board of Directors for the National Society of Newspaper Columnists.