← Dark History
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Bailey Sarian
Hey, do you guys remember the movie where the Heart Is? Did you watch it? Look, it was a movie and it was all about this girl who secretly moves into a Walmart without anyone noticing. It's pretty tragic. And she's pregnant, okay, and she's living inside the Walmart and then she gives birth to the baby when the store is closed because she's locked in the Walmart, no one notices she gives birth. It's like Walmart propaganda, it feels like, but I guess it's based off a true story. Anyways, it stars Natalie Portman and I loved that movie as a kid. I was like, wow, I want to live in a Walmart. Honestly, I give her a lot of credit because if I'm pregnant and I don't have anywhere to live, I'm going to go to a Walmart and like, live there if I could. I mean, Walmart's huge. They have everything you could possibly need, right? Bedding, toilet paper, trash bags, clothes, nail polish removers, Cheetos and cream cheese. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, yeah, I'll live in a Walmart, you know? And then of course, like, what? You know, thinking about Walmart in general, it's just like, I honestly don't remember a time in my life when Walmart didn't exist. Millions of Americans depend on their low prices just to get by in this economy. And like, Walmart is like a savior right now. Others believe Walmart is the reason that millions of Americans are in debt. I know, plot twist. Either way, Walmart is the biggest company in the world and everyone has an opinion on it. So. So of course I was like, beep bop boop. Let's get into it, babe. Welcome to the dark history of Walmart. Attention shoppers. Would the mother of Paul Jr. Come to the rough cashier? You seem to have lost your child. Thank you, foreign. I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Here believe history does not have to be boring. It might be tragic. Sometimes it's happy, but either way, it's our dark history. Before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe. I'm always posting new content and let me know what you think down below in the comments section. I love hearing from you. Now let's get into it. Where do we start, huh? I don't know about you, but whenever I think about Walmart, I think about a lot of things. But I think a standout is Paris Hilton. Remember on the Simple Life? She didn't know what Walmart was. And it's pretty iconic moment. Cause she's like, what is Walmart? It's like they sell wall stuff. No, what is it like? She truly did not understand what Walmart was. And I think all of us who were watching it was like our minds are exploding. How do you not know what Walmart is? Everyone goes to Walmart. It was wild. Before researching this episode, the only thing I knew about Walmart was that, you know, their stuff is cheap. And sadly, I always hear about how unhappy the employees are. Right? That's all I've ever heard. But I've never like looked into it, right? And because they're like such a huge company, I figured, hey, Bailey, now's the time. They probably have a shady past. This could be an episode. Let's do it. And here's what I learned. Walmart is so much bigger than any of us realize. Okay? It's a punchline to a lot of us. But to this day, Walmart is the biggest company in the world. They have 2.1 million employees and they make 1.9 billion in sales every day. Day. Do you understand that? That's a lot of money. The Waltons, the family that created Walmart, is the richest family in the entire world. While everyone in the media is always talking about Elon Musk and Amazon guy, you know, the billionaires trying to like run the country, the Waltons are getting richer and richer by the freaking minute to a level that you and I will never see. And that's not being shady or anything. It's just we'll never understand their type of money. Okay? Now they stay out of the news. We never hear about them. So it's like, I have some questions. What's going on? What are you guys doing with all that money? Cause I know you're not spending it on the employees. Okay? So, you know, I got to digging and I wanted to find out how they do it. Like, why do we love, why do we love Walmart? Or somewhere like, what is, what's up? So the story starts with the founder of Walmart. His name's Sam Walton. Sam was born March 29, 1918 in a working class family that struggled financially. On top of that, Sam's home was, I guess, not a happy place. His parents were constantly arguing. And it's said that Sam actually found like his happiness and his worth in working. You know, it's probably like an escape to get out of that. Those people. It was said that he was very competitive at whatever Sam did. He. He was constantly taking odd jobs to save money. And even when he went to college, he was working several jobs just to pay for school. I'm like, go for him, right? He hustled. He's like the grandpa that would tell you. Back in my day, I pulled up my bootstraps and I worked and I paid for college. And my fan, he's that guy, you know, and he did it to give him credit, you know. Anyways, 1947, Sam graduates college and he decides or he gets a job working as a salesman at JCPenney's. I know JCPenneys. And right away, I guess he really liked the business. He was great at sales. Everyone loved him. But when it came to, like, the technical stuff, like paperwork and being organized, numbers, some people are really, really strong on that. And some people are not that great at it. And Sam wasn't that great at it. I guess he, like, screwed up a lot. Sam's boss pulled him aside and told him, hey, listen, you're not that great, and you're never gonna make it in retail. I'm sorry. This job's probably not for you. So, I mean, this was upsetting to Sam. He's like, oh, man, I really like this. But yeah, I know I do suck. Anyhow. So at the same time, like, World War II is now rolling around. So Sam decided he was gonna do his part, you know, help defend the country. And he ended up serving in World War II. From 1942 to 1945, he serves in World War II, he comes home and he gets married. He ends up settling in Arkansas. And he decides to get back to, like, the one thing that he really enjoyed, retail. I mean, he didn't want to, like, give up his dream. He really liked it. He liked something about it, right? Now, F that boss who told him he couldn't do it. He's like, eh, no, like F that guy. I'm going to run my own store. So Sam, he got married, right? I know. Found love quick, locked her down. His wife's dad. So Sam's father in law had a little bit of money. So he goes to the father in law, he's like, hey, can I borrow like $20,000? I'll pay you back. Just to get started, you know, it's like in our. Did you watch the Big Dairy episode? His last episode, remember? It's just like the government bailing out Big Dairy. He was like, I need more money, Papa, please. $20,000. I mean, that's a lot of money, period. But in, you know, this was back then, in today's money, that's like $350,000. So that was a very nice. I'm glad you had that. So he gets the money. He's like, thank you so much. I'm gonna do something with it. Watch. So then in 1945, Sam decided to sign a lease at a local store. It's called the Benjamin Franklin store. I know. I was like, benjamin Franklin. Well, okay, listen, maybe you're familiar with it. I wasn't. Sorry. But the Benjamin Franklin store, this was essentially like a home goods slash. Like arts and crafts store. Love, right? Even though locals love this store, it was not doing well. Like, sales wise, it was on the decline. So it was kind of like the perfect project maybe for Sam is what he was thinking. He was like, watch me, like, save this. So in order for Sam to keep the store from going under, he had to make sure it was bringing in, you know, steady profits. So Sam, he thinks about it. He took, like, the standard Ben Franklin, like, how to be a manager handbook home, and he reads it over. It's all about, like, how to make a store profitable. And Sam, it said that Sam studied every word of it. And then when he was done, he was like, thank you. And then he put it in the trash. He said he didn't agree with any of the sales tactics because it was all about, like, maximizing profit and basically nothing else. So Sam's like, okay, I gotta create my own handbook, essentially. So he decides to bring in someone that he can trust, and he hires his brother to help run the store. Then he decides to take a risk and lower the prices. So everything was now dropped. The prices. Right now, yes, the store was struggling financially, but he did this because he knew it would make the customer happy. I mean, who doesn't love a low price? Who doesn't love a markdown? When I see that little clearance tag, babe, I love that. Okay? I love it. I will buy it just because I want it for the price, you know, like, it's sick. Anyways, he knew this. He was like, people love that. You know? And he's like, if I mark down my prices, I'm sure the customers will start telling everyone, like, hey, they're having a sale or whatever. Like, he just had a gut feeling it was gonna bring in more customers. Sam was thinking about sales first and profits second. Now, this was a big swing, right? Cause no one ever thinks like that. You always put profits first. It's so freaking annoying. But he's Like, I'm gonna try something different. And it worked. Customers came to Sam's store and Sam kept his prices low. So Sam's store, the Ben Franklin one. So his franchise became like the most successful one ever. So Sam is like, ooh, you know, like no one's gonna. So Sam not only turned a profit, but he was now making double what the other stores in the area were. Mike dropped by and on top of that, you know, he was able to pay back his father in Law the $20,000 loan in just a few years. So Sam is on this journey and it's working. Over the next five years, Sam enjoyed the life of, you know, the Ben Franklin store owner and salesman. But when it came time for him to renew his lease on the store, the building owner refused. I guess the building owner wanted to give the store, Sam's store, over to his son. So Sam's like, fuck you. All my hard work and you're just going to give it to your son? Suck my dick, you know? So Sam was basically kicked out of the store that he, he saved, brought back to life and made super successful now. Yes, Messed up, messed up. He had spent years of his life to this goddamn store and they were just taking it away from him. But he knew, I have an idea, right? Like, it obviously worked. I could do it again. And this time it could be even bigger and better and I could get rid of that Ben Franklin name. What if I use my name, you know? So throughout the 50s, Sam owned over a dozen Ben Franklin stores. And he was able to make them all super profitable. And by the early 1960s, Sam realized that he had proven himself okay, he didn't need this Ben Franklin store anymore. You know, I don't like that guy's name. I want to use my name. You know, maybe I could start a chain of stores called Sam Walton. Sam, Wal. Walt. Sam, you know, he's thinking and maybe, just maybe, he can continue to make a name for himself in the Midwest. So he's really thinking about it. He's vision boarding it, I'm sure writing in his diary, I'm sure. So Sam, he follows his dreams in life, he gets all the funds together, and he decides he's going to open up his own little store. Oh, the name just came to me. Walmart Discount City. It rolls off the tongue. July 2, 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas. I know, Arkansas, huh? Why do we pronounce it Arkansas? Because it's like AR Kansas. It should be AR Kansas. And I just want to say that and I will die on that hill. Okay, just saying that for the record, but on July 2, 1962, in Rogers, Arkansas, the very first Walmart Discount City opened their doors. Yeah. Now maybe you're thinking, where'd that name come from? Well, you know, wall is for the first part of his last name, and mart comes from supermarket. So Walmart, he's like, sometimes you ever, like, get those light bulb moments, like in the shower or on the toilet, and I bet you it just smacked him in the head. He's like, walmart. You know. Now he added Discount City because I think he wanted to make it clear to the audience, the customers that, you know, discount City. Right. So I think he added that for some flavor anyhow. So Walmart Sam decided he was going to use the same tools that had made the Ben Franklin store successful. But, you know, he was gonna turn it up a notch. First, Walmart was going to be a discount store, which means that he was going to be super competitive when it came to pricing. If the store down the street sold sponges for 10 cents apiece, he was going to sell his sponges for 8 cents. Now to you and I, we're like, okay, wow, two cents. Killing it. But Sam knew every cent counted. Sam grew up during the Depression, and he knew if you could save customers $5 a week, that would make, like, a huge difference for them. So, like, he knew the importance of saving money. Sam was also going to make sure to pay attention to the customer's shopping patterns. He also, like, made a habit of talking to his employees, I know, wild. And getting their honest opinions on the store, like, hey, what do you think I could be doing? He was constantly trying to figure out, you know, what people are looking for and how to please everyone. He did this because he wanted his employees to take ownership and pride in, like, whatever their job was, whether it was stocking the shelves, being a cashier, unloading, you know, the trucks. He wanted them to care about Walmart as much as he did. And it seemed to work because, you know, allegedly people really enjoyed working there. Sam knew that, like, happy employees would translate into customers enjoying shopping there. There also, Walmart wanted his employees to recite a Walmart cheer at the beginning of each day. And I think they still do this. Let me know, let me know. When I worked retail, we always had to do, like, start the day. If you were working the opening shift, you'd have to start the day with, I'll cheer, pay more and I'll read your cheer. God damn it. So Sam wanted every day to start off On a positive note. And he knew if there were good vibes in the store, customers would choose to come to his discount store. Which was important because at this time, Walmart wasn't the only discount store in Arkansas. The discount stores that were around during this time, they were only in major cities and because in their mind, they didn't wanna go to the Midwest because everyone in those areas to them were low income, low income, excuse me, or impoverished. And they were like, they're not gonna spend money or whatever. Which to you and I is like, that's. Those are your customers, whatever. It was an inconvenience though, because if you lived in a small town and you wanted to get something like an iron at a discount price, you would have to take a long drive to the nearest main city, get your discount iron, and then back. And if you do the math, gas, time, blah, blah, blah, you know, financially, does this even make sense? So it was a missed opportunity that these other stores, they weren't, they weren't there for the people. He never thought less of, like small Midwest towns at all is where he grew up. So he actually set Walmart apart from those other big stores by opening his stores in these small towns. And it seems like common sense, but at the time it wasn't. You know, this was like, what's he doing? That's not gonna work. He was bringing respect to these areas, essentially saying, like, hey, I see you. You deserve discounts too. Now, customers love this shopping experience because the employees were so nice and they engaged. How's your day today? You know, hey. And of course, I mean, they love the low prices. Plus Walmart was great because it was like they had everything, lawnmowers, underwear, basic groceries. It was very convenient. Sam brought the city in one store to the Midwest. You know, he's like, you no longer have to go to 10 different stores. You come to my one store and I will be able to have everything for you. Sam was able to keep profits up and cost down by like, trimming the fat that most retail stores in the area had. So, for example, he almost never spent money on promotional flyers or decorations for the store. So everything was bare bones. It's ugly to look at, sure, but it saved with cost. Now at this time in the 60s, the way a store looked was a very big part of like, the shopping experience. So a lot of people saw this as like, Sam taking a risk, but it was a risk that paid off. I mean, obviously it turns out people really didn't give a crap about how a store looked. If they could just save some money. Walmart Discount City was so successful that just a few years later, Sam was able to open two more stores in Arkansas. A lot of people were like, mm, it's so ugly. Like, it's just ugly to look at. They didn't believe Walmart was gonna last at all. One of those people was a man named David Glass. He attended one of the new store openings and said, quote, it was the worst retail store I had ever seen. Is that Ira Glass's dad? I love Ira Glass. Do you guys listen to this American Life? Ah, love. Years later, David Glass, you know, he had to recant his statement because he realized, wow, I'm dumb. And this was actually a really genius move. F me. And he actually went on to work for Walmart. I don't know what a beautiful story that is. Over the next few decades, Walmart grows at a shocking rate. Stores are now opening across the country. By 1987, there were 1,198 Walmart stores that were bringing in $15.9 billion. Okay, listen, that's 1987 money. 15.9 billion. He was a billionaire in 1987. Everyone else is slow. He's like, catch up to me, bitches. You know what? Yeah, that's a lot of money. I feel like you could tap out, Sam. Yeah, but Sam doesn't cash his checks and, like, take a vacation like other CEOs. He doesn't get a facelift. He doesn't get, like, a hot, young little mama. He continues to visit every single store he opens and reminds the staff of Walmart's number one rule. The customer is always, always right. He knew if they lose the customer's trust, they're screwed. Walmart had, like, a second rule, too. So not just one rule. There was two rules. If the customer is mistaken, just remember they're not. The customer is always right. That was rule number two. I love that. By 1990, Walmart was the most profitable retail store in the country. I know. I'll give him. I'll give them that. We can go. Forgot. No one here is alive. Yeah, they take off booming. This is also the time period when McDonald's comes into the Walmart food court. Do you remember that? You would walk into Walmart and smell those fries they got us? They got us gooched. I don't know if that's a word, but I like it. Okay. I love those fries. Oh, you would go to like, oh, I. Oh, it was smart because it was like, hey, moms, we know you're shopping for Toilet paper. You can make your kids happy by giving them some fries. And it was just like, yep, I walked right into that trap. You know, I loved it. The worst though was like, okay, you'd eat all these fries and then your fingers would get all greasy and salty and then you would push the shopping cart, do you remember that? And then like you would, the shopping carts would be all green, greasy. I didn't like that. I had a complaint. It was that, thank you, they're doing great, everything is great. Many people in the suburbs of America like prayed that a Walmart would open in their town. Okay? I mean it was cheap, it was convenient, and it was good for the economy because it brought jobs to the area at this time. But we already know when something seems too good to be true, it usually is. Walmart was a huge success, but it was changing the way Americans shopped. And you know, not necessarily in a good way. Okay, listen, Walmart made shoppers across America feel entitled to a deal, which to be fair for the American people, we are entitled to a deal because we know that you are over, like you are raising the prices on everything. So anyways, so with this mindset paying full price, it really wasn't an option anymore, even if it meant the item wasn't the best quality. For example, back then you could buy a microwave. Yeah, I know, wild. But you could buy a microwave from a mom, like a local mom and pop shop for $100. Now it was good quality. It was implied that this microwave would last you until you died. Okay? You would never need a microwave again. Walmart would bring in cheaper microwaves for $40 and like list them for $40. And yeah, it might only last the customer five years, maybe longer, I don't know. But even if the microwave broke after five years, our microwaves are only $40. You can just come and you buy another one, right? And they're conditioning us to kind of think like this cheaper quality, yes, I get the cheaper price. And I could just buy another one, toss out the other one. Whereas before it was all about investing in stuff that was going to last you a long time. I mean, think about it, when you're growing up and stuff and you'd go to like your grandparents house or grandparent figure and you know, they would always have stuff that was so old they'd be like, your grandpa got this toaster during World War II. And you're like, Grandma, it's 2025. What? Like, and their stuff lasted forever. You ever open up your grandma's medicine cabinet they'll have Bayer Aspirin from 1940 anyways. Products were made to last. Okay, you can have the toaster when I die. Joseph. This is how Walmart literally changed the psychology of what it means to own something. Oh, yes, the source. We don't care about, like, passing things down to our grandchildren. Plus, they don't want your crap anyways. Like, we want our stuff cheap and we want it fast and we want it to work and we want it now. Okay, I want to plug it in and I want it to work. And then when it dies, I'll just get another one, right? Because of this, like, Walmart changed America's shopping habits. We as a nation or whatever were. I don't know what we are, but we went from valuing, like, products that had cool quality and durability to products that were now cheap and easy to replace. But, like, I get it too, you know? Like, I get it too. Like, you don't want, you don't. If you don't have a hundred dollars for something, you know, you can find the cheaper option. It was just for the first time Walmart was presenting options, right? So Walmart, you know, created their own path, created their, their, A whole new, like, formula to admire and copy, essentially. So other stores and people are taking notice about what's going on with Walmart and they're like, we gotta do what they're doing. Everyone wanted in on this, like, Walmart magic. And I'm very handsy today. A perfect example of this was deodorant. Yeah. Which actually is a nice call because I got deodorant marks on my shirt. Look, I hate when that happens, huh? Ah, it's the worst. Now, I hear if you just rub the fabric on it, it will go away, but, like, sometimes it doesn't work. Any tips? Let me know down below. Now, I know what you're thinking, Bailey. Deodorant, who cares? Shut up. Okay, fine, Goodbye. But this little deodorant nugget I'm about to drop on you, like, blew my mind. Okay, so our expert for today's episode, Charles Fishman, he wrote a book called the Walmart Effect. Now, in the book, he talks about Walmart cutting down on paper waste in the 1990s. But it's not because they cared about the environment. Allegedly. No. You see, back in the day, all deodorants, like, came in these cardboard boxes that were meant to protect them during shipping and all that, right? So a customer would buy the deodorant, open up the packaging, you know, take the Throw the box away. It was a waste. So someone at Walmart was like, hey, idea. Each box that the deodorant came in costs $0.05 to make. It made the deodorant shipping containers heavier, costing Walmart and the manufacturer more money. Plus when we put it on the shelf, it's taking up a lot more space. So Walmart thought if we get rid of the box, okay, we can put like the deodorant just on display, no box or anything. We could sell them quicker, you know, there's no waste. Plus the customer and the company can save a couple of cents. So Walmart goes to the manufacturer of the deodorant place and they're like, hey, don't use deodorant boxes anymore. The deodorant manufacturer person is like, wait, but what if we want to keep like doing the boxes? Walmart would be like, excuse me, I'm Walmart. You fucking do it. At this time, Walmart's really profitable and powerful. If they tell you drop the box, you're gonna drop the box. That's kind of fun. Listen, it just goes to show how much power Walmart had. When they told you to do something, you did it or you were gonna get cut. They're gonna find the guy who's gonna make them more money by cutting the boxes. They were actually saving like a couple of cents, right? But that all adds up when you're buying a ton of product, whatever. It was all about power. Even if these manufacturers wanted to say no to Walmart, they couldn't. Walmart was their biggest buyer and you did what they said, period. Okay, so then in 1992, Sam Walton, he was now 74 years old. Sadly, he passed away of cancer. Now, before his death, most customers knew who Sam Walton was or they had heard of him, right? Like he was a pretty big, he was a pretty big deal. This was sad. And honestly he created, he was kind of like what everyone means by like the American dream. I mean, look what he did. Holy shit. So sad. I mean, Sam knew he wasn't gonna last forever. So of course they had, you know, Walmart was gonna still move forward. They had a strong business model and this time was gonna come eventually. So they're able to move forward. And then around this time, Walmart makes one key change. They go from selling snacks in random home goods to now evolving and growing into a full blown grocery store. Do you remember this? Walmart evolution? What would you call this? This was like a wild moment in Walmart history. Cause I know growing up we would Go to Walmart. That's where we shopped. And then they started slowly adding in like fruits and stuff. And it was like, I don't come to Walmart for fruit. Like I don't know. I did like their freezer section though. They had like a huge freezer section and the ice cream buckets, oatmeal cream pies. Oh duh. We didn't even talk about the them doing like oil changes and stuff. I used to go to a Walmart to get a new battery or my oil changed all the time cause it was so cheap. Okay. But the 2000s became Walmart's like super center era. Oh mind you, at some point they dropped the Walmart like discount city. They were like, we don't need that, just Walmart. But now they're evolving, they're growing into the next era, the Walmart supercenter era. And for 10 years straight, Walmart opened four supercenters every single week. Where were they finding the place? I don't. They did though. Meanwhile other grocery stores or like when a Walmart comes to town, they're like, they can't compete. They're paying livable wages, they can't compete anyways. So other grocery stores, they were dropping like flies. Nine U.S. grocery chains filed for bankruptcy. During Walmart's growth, Walmart got rid of Lucky's. Did anyone shop at Lucky's? Shout out to Lucky's. Never forget. I love the commercials. It was like the lady with the short red hair, she looked like Reba. I love Lucky's. Okay, so sad. A lot of stores were closing because they couldn't compete with Walmart. So today Walmart now sells more groceries than any store in the world. They sell 25% of all groceries sold in the United States. But despite all this growth over the years, Sam's focus on the idea of happy employee, happy customer kind of got like, you know, pushed aside, forgotten, hidden, removed, faded, goodbye. You know, behind the scenes scandal began creeping into Walmart workplaces all across the country. All those low, low prices were affecting the people. Nobody was thinking about the employees. So by the year 2000, Walmart has a ton of stores, like 4,000 stores. And they also have like I think near a million or over a million employees. It was cute that Sam used to go around and talk to all the employees and stuff. But this day and age with this growth, it was like they couldn't keep up with every employee at every store. Right? They can't. With Sam gone and like the pressure to keep profits high, employees started to feel Disrespected, underpaid, overworked and like, to them it felt like they were the last ones Walmart seemed to be thinking about. So when companies are the size of Walmart, there's usually a push within the employees to unionize. When employees unionize, they're teaming up and saying like, hey, we deserve fair pay, decent hours and to like not be treated like garbage. Thank you. And then a bigger organization, AKA the union, steps in to help make sure that it actually happens. The union will negotiate for better pay, safer working conditions and just really looking out for the employees. To big companies, unions are seen as the enemy. It's such a fucking eye roll, right? Yeah. Okay. When workers unionize, usually that's going to come with a cost. The company's gonna have to pay a lot of money. Okay? And then on top of that, the company is now gonna be at risk of getting sued or fined if they don't follow the union rules. And a lot of big companies don't wanna do that because they wanna take advantage of us and they wanna not pay us and they don't. We should do an episode on unions, maybe, I don't know. Let me know. The only way a company like Walmart can operate is if everything and everyone stayed within the budget. Unions were not in the budget. So Walmart did everything in their power to like shut the union people up, you know, and make sure they weren't planning anything, I guess. There was a situation in 2000, the year 2000, there was a group of Walmart employees in Jacksonville, Texas and they all voted to unionize. This specific group of employees were butchers at Walmart. So they were working in the meat department. So the job of being an in store butcher at Walmart meant you had to be highly skilled. It took a lot to do that job. Plus it's also dangerous. They have knives. So the butchers, they knew this and they wanted to work better hours, they wanted better pay and they just wanted to make a living. Sorry. So they voted to unionize and their bosses were notified. So these butchers are like making some progress. They are able to get everyone on board. Everyone's in on it. Okay. And all that was left to do was essentially to announce the decision, like, we're unionizing. Okay? It's gonna be great. We're heroes. Woo. But plot twist these demons and demons meaning Walmart, instead of letting the butchers unionize, you know what Walmart did? Walmart thought to themselves, do we even need like a meat counter? Who gets meat? And all the Executives were like, yeah, we don't get meat at a counter. Yeah, you're right. We don't need butchers. Walmart was acting like the Godfather, Slashing people, trying to act like they're being nice about it, but low key. They had some issues. Your job, you're asking too much. You come to me asking for a raise to unionize the butchers. Well, I got butchers of my own. We're gonna slice you like we sliced the meat. We don't need butchers. Butchers need us. So you know what they did? Walmart got rid of the butchers and completely eliminated their jobs. Yeah, that's why you don't see a butcher anymore. Have you seen one? Exactly. Now I'm not just talking about, like the butchers that were in like, Texas. Walmart, they got rid of butchers in every single Walmart across the United States. Congratulations, Walmart, you did it. Walmart, you know, they still kept the meat department, but now they were selling pre cut, prepackaged meat. Assholes, huh? Now the employees obviously were very pissed and they tried to fight back against this whole situation, but Walmart came back with some excuse saying that they'd always planned to start selling prepackaged meat. They're like, we were thinking of this way before. You were unionizing. No, we were already. This was already happening before that. Sorry. Regardless of whether or not this was true. We know it's not true. Let's be honest. The butchers had no way of fighting them. They now had no job. They had nothing. They got fucked. Yeah. Now this sent a pretty strong message to everyone who was paying attention. All these employees, you mess with Walmart, we're gonna take your job. Do you want that? You want that? No, you don't want that, do you? Well, you better follow the rules. Walmart never faced any consequences for their actions. Why would they? They're a Walmart. Hmm. Yes, it sucked. But many employees were now like, dude, if I say anything, I'll lose my job, whatever. So a lot of them just kept their heads down, you know, kept working. Because a lot of us just. You just need the paycheck, right? It's fucked up. Then in 2001, one brave Walmart employee decided to take the risk and expose what really happened behind Walmart's closed doors. In 2001, a Walmart employee named Betty Dukes. Love, I know, because can you think of, like, cute jeans? But that's not the point. Betty Dukes decided to sue Walmart. Okay? Not only did she sue them, she filed a class action. Lawsuit. Now, Betty, she worked for Walmart as a cashier and eventually she became a department manager. She claimed that Walmart paid women less than the men, even though she and all the other women were doing the same exact work. Right. She also said that Walmart didn't promote women to manager positions like they did with the men. Now, the lawsuit also described how female employees, you know, at Walmart were usually pushed to lower paying departments. One of the biggest complaints in the lawsuit was how women allegedly had to deal with a sexually hostile work environment. Do we believe it? 100%. Oh, my God. I worked retail, I mean, 2020 all my life. And like, yes. Do you know how people sexually harass you as a retail worker? It's out of control. It's weird. Anyway, so she's like, listen, I'm tired of this shit, I'm gonna do something right? And she did, and I love that for her. There were sworn declarations from around 110 women describing what they had to go through on a regular basis. There was a male department manager who told a female employee, quote, God made Adam first so women would always be second to men. So obviously they're kind of like, dumb. Then there was a Florida store manager who said, men are paid more because men are here to make a career and women aren't. Retail is for housewives who just need to earn extra money, end quote. Anyway, so allegations are coming out left and right. People are writing down, like, their experiences and sharing it. And a lot of it was like, you know, if you were a woman working at Walmart, it just did not seem like a safe space at all, or you weren't supported. There's a lot more stories. There's a way more stories and allegations that came out. And just to make things worse, if these women tried to call out these men for their behavior, not even call them out, it's just like, correct them. Of course they would face retaliation at the workplace. Right. Why are you being such a bitch? Oh, your feelings hurt? I hate, I hate you. This case ended up being one of the largest employment class action suits in America's history. It actually made it all the way up to the Supreme Court. This is because the Supreme Court had to approve this lawsuit before it could move forward. Now, America, yes, it gets to the Supreme Court. Yes, like progress. Then you watch it all burn down because the Supreme Court didn't approve. They didn't approve it as like a class action lawsuit. Why? I don't know. Because they don't like us. And instead they encouraged these women to file their own lawsuits or form a smaller class action like lawsuit group. It just. What? It didn't make sense to them. The woman had already spent like so much time on this lawsuit that came they with all of the evidence they needed. You know, they're obviously upsetting people. It's not like you just go back to Walmart and start working like normal, like, yeah, I'm sure they're gonna welcome you with open arms. So most of them, when they got this news, they couldn't move forward. It was just a huge bummer. Even though each of these cases happened at different Walmart stores in different states, in my opinion, it was like the perfect example of how modern day Walmart seem to care more about their business than their employees. It seems like unless you worked at a Walmart and had firsthand experience, most of the public didn't know what was going on behind closed doors. But then in 2004, something else popped up. Guess who? Peekaboo. It's me. New York Times. Hi, the New York Times. They were doing an investigation about what had been going on, you know, at Walmart after hours. How were they treating their employees? You know, what was going on when no one was looking? Well, they had been doing an investigation for like months and they found some spicy information. So allegedly there were some employees with sticky fingers. They were stealing everyday items like personal hygiene products, toilet paper. I don't know, they were probably thinking no one was going to notice, right? Eventually the night crew that restocked Walmart shelves discovered that they were missing products. And then they realized a lot of the time it was the employees who were stealing it. In my personal opinion, I was like, if your employees are stealing basic hygiene products, toilet paper, tampons, deodorant, whatever. To me that says you need to pay your employee more because they can't afford to get this, this stuff on their own. That's what I gather from this. But fuck me, you know, I won't get into like the nitty gritty of the numbers and details of it all, you know, whatever. But essentially Walmart can afford to keep prices low as long as they're not losing too much products to theft. For example, if someone steals like a single container of deodorant, Walmart would have to sell 10 deodorants just to make up for that one that was stolen in order to break even. So like low key, if it's one deodorant one time, okay, you know, like it's not a huge hit. But if thousands of people are stealing across like all Walmarts, that cuts into Walmart's profit. And what did I say? You mess with me, I'll fuck with you. Oh, that's a good idea. Okay, if we all go to a Walmart and we all just take one thing, God will forgive us. But we could probably take down Walmart. Better load up that shopping cart. We could take down Walmart one deodorant at a time. Oh wait, we kind of have the power here actually. So in the early 2000s, Walmart, like low key, made an announcement that there's a lot of theft happening in their stores, especially late at night, especially in high crime areas. So someone, not sure who, decided to come up with a plan that would kill two birds with one stone. Managers were told to lock employees into the store overnight so they couldn't get out. They're like, there we go, problem solved, you know, I mean the logic was like, if they can't get out, their stolen merchandise couldn't get out either. Walmart, they said that they did this to protect their employees from robberies, you know, especially in high crime areas. They were like, we're doing this to protect our employees. But it was like, hey, it's happening at all of your stores like across the country. So like, what's that about? So again, New York Times is doing a little investigation. They're like, they're fucking locking them in. What the. The New York Times found that 10% of Walmarts were locking in their employees, which means over 450 stores were locking in thousands of employees. So they couldn't leave their shifts with stolen merchandise in like the middle of the night. Now remember, like, not everyone stole. Walmart was just like making assumptions here. Now the investigation revealed that for over 15 years, some Walmart stores enforced this quote, unquote lock in policy so nothing would damage their precious profits. If you've been watching dark history for a while, you should remember, I think it's season one, we did the Triangle Shirtwaist fire where they were locking in and placed employees in the workplace. And then a fire broke out and a lot of people got stuck. They couldn't escape because the doors were locked and a lot of people died. And this started a whole movement for workers rights and safety in the workplace and stuff. It's been suggested to me from legal that I should say this has to be illegal, right? No, bitch, no. This is illegal. Boo. Get the fuck out of here. You can't lock your employees in a place. Sorry, you can't period. Thank you Legal for that. Suggestion, we should rage. I'm really upset. And we should go steal deodorant. So New York Times, remember they're doing this investigation. Nobody knows, nobody knows what is going on. And I love that. But Walmart, someone found out that this was going on. Someone at Walmart found out that the New York Times was about to publish this little expose or just a story, I don't know, Right before it was published, in just a matter of days, those hundreds of stores, I don't know, it was like a miracle or something. They just like, they just miraculously stopped locking employees inside. Now Walmart didn't come out and like make a statement or anything. It just, it just like, what are you talking about? We don't lock them in. Look, Walmart denied the allegations. One spokesman said that, look, if employees really needed to leave, like they could have gone through the fire exit. What are you talking about? Like they weren't walked in. That's crazy. That's like so dumb, you guys. Like, why are you saying that? But again, if you like read that New York Times like article or whatever, like to this day it's like, we know, we know that, that, that bad. Two things can be right at the same time. That's bad. But I do need a toaster and Walmart is right there, you know, so it's like people don't stop, stop shopping at Walmart because of this. They were like, oh, that sucks. Pop Tarts. Yeah, you know, so what I'm getting at is like, okay, this didn't really hurt them. By the mid-2000s, millions of Americans depended on Walmart to get affordable groceries and home goods or whatever they needed. In fact, at this point, half of the adults in America shopped at Walmart every single week. Besides the employees, the people who really suffered from Walmart's success were the mom and pop shops. According to an article from Bloomberg quote, in 2006 months before a Walmart store was opened in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago's west side, researchers counted 306 businesses in the surrounding area. Two years after Walmart opened, 82 of those businesses had closed. So most of these businesses that were closed were small businesses. You work with Walmart, you part of the family, you don't work with Walmart. Yeah, I don't know about you. This is a side note and a personal opinion. It's so hard to remember what a small business was back then because everything now is so corporate. You see the same chains everywhere. It's hard to remember what it was like before Walmart and These large chains were around, right? I don't know about you, maybe that's just me, but like, it's so. It's hard to remember, which is sad, sad, sad. Most of the businesses that closed were small businesses. And then there was research done and it showed that if you were a business, an independent business owner, whatever, and a Walmart, you know, store opened up next to you, the closer the Walmart store was to your business, or vice versa, the more likely your business was going to close. You don't mess with the family and it's like, it's hard. You wanna support mom and pop shops, but you're living paycheck to paycheck. They got you in a chokehold, they being Walmart, right? You don't wanna shop at Walmart, but you can't afford, like, you can't afford the better stuff. So unfortunately, like a lot of those places, the mom and pop shops, they just had to close down. You know, support mom and pop shops was like a lot of people just didn't have the funds to support the mom and pop shops. So it was just a shitty situation, huh? In 2024, Walmart made over $648 billion in that one year alone. Listen, ladies, here, I got some ideas for us, okay? The Walton family. I bet you some of them are single. The son, they have sons. I need one of you little bitches out there to work your way into the Walton family, secure the funds, and then I need some of you sluts, sluts and hoes. And I love you, I mean that in a good way, to get on the inside and fuck with the family from the inside. Let me know down below if you're down. Now, the family that seems to be profiting from all of our bargain shopping is the Walton family. When I say the Waltons, I'm talking about six of the children and grandchildren of Sam Walton. Yeah, I can't even explain how rich they are. It's disturbing. The Waltons are worth over $432 billion, okay, as of right now, it could change tomorrow. Yeah, and they're quiet, aren't they? People that rich who are quiet worry me. Mm. I don't know. They're the richest family in America and the world. I mean, the Waltons were lucky to be born into a family who founded a company that literally changed the way humans shop. Because Walmart pays their workers so little, tens of thousands of the workers are forced to turn to like taxpayer funded public assistant programs, like, you know, food stamps or just whatever, just to get by. And Walmart likes it this this way because guess where you know people are using their food stamps? Walmart. Oh, the place where you can get anything you want most groceries, toilet paper, pajama. Like you could get the most for the least amount of money at Walmart. So they're just making more money. In recent years, Walmart made $13.5 billion in food stamp sales alone. And this isn't a discussion about food stamps being the problem. This is about Walmart making like double dipping. They're getting more profit. According to the reports from Americans for Tax Fairness, Walmart has successfully avoided paying billions of dollars in taxes each year. Are we surprised? Well, we should be. We should be. According to like some reports from courts, Walmart uses tax breaks and loopholes to get out of paying their own tax bill. They also saved around 3 billion in taxes by using specialized trusts to dodge certain transfer taxes. Look, Walmart, bajillion dollars, they're worth bajillion dollars. So of course they're going to get some great legal advice around them telling them, hey, if you transfer your money here, if you set up a trust here, blah, blah, blah. They're getting great advice on how to maybe not pay taxes. Do you know what I'm saying? How much money do you fucking guys need? Seriously? Have you pull up a picture? We need a picture right here of the Walton compound. I think it's in Bel Air. It's ginormous. Nobody needs a place that big, you know, that's just one of their places. I just want to say, look at like, they don't need all that. So they're jumping through hoops, they're doing all this wild stuff all in order to just not pay their employees more. Aren't you sick of it? Aren't you tired of it? Because I'm fucking tired of it too. Listen, there's more. I can go on and on and on and on and on and on about this because Walmart is also allegedly super involved in American politics. Like they are everywhere when it comes to lobbying. And I wanted to go more into it with this, this episode. But also I feel like lobbying could be its own episode because there's a lot to it. So I was thinking about doing a lobbying episode, but let me know down below if you think we should do an episode about lobbying. I would love to, but I'm here for you. Listen, we spent the first part of the episode talking about how great Walmart Discount City was, how they treated their employees in the 60s. They felt valued, they felt heard, they Took pride in working for Walmart Discount City, you know, and then you compare it to today, when you walk into a Walmart, it almost feels like you're inconveniencing everybody. You're like, oh, sorry. You know, they always seem unhappy, the workers. I don't blame them. I don't blame them. I don't blame them. A job is a job. They're just trying to get paid, right? But instead of being upset with the employees or the managers, be upset at the Walton family and how they're running this big business and what they're doing because they're cutting corners, we need to be mad at them, not the workers. Everyone's just trying to get paid so they can, like, make a living at the end of the day, right? Where do we go from here? I don't know. We all take one deodorant, we walk out the door with it and we watch it. Oh, who's with me? Sorry, I just had a light bulb moment because I'm thinking, you know, how everybody, all the, everyone, especially men, they love the Roman Empire and, like, how it just, it was so. It was amazing, incredible. And then one day just all fell. We can. Roman Empire, Walmart. One deodorant. Let's do it. I'm gonna get shot. Okay, I think we can all agree Walmart should be paying their employees more money. They should be able to unionize. I just wish. The one thing I hate about doing dark history stories, it's like you learn all this awful. Not awful, but hard truths, and sometimes it can leave you feel a little helpless. Like, of course I want them to get paid more. I think they should unionize. And I want everyone to just be happy. But how do we actually make that happen? I need your help. Let's come up with some ideas in the comments section. How do we actually get change? Right? I will say, to be fair, because Walmart does, like, a lot of charity work and stuff because they get tax cuts or whatever, but, like, you know, they do give to charities and stuff. And also it's been said that allegedly the working conditions at Walmarts, like in the stores for women in general, have improved over the last 15 years because of Walmart CEO Doug McMillan. His last name is very close to McMillan, but whatever, I hope it's true. If you work at Walmart, let me know. Ooh. If you work at Walmart, in the comment section. Go off, let me know. Is it better? We do know that in the last 10 years, Doug raised Walmart's wages in 2015. The minimum wage for Walmart employees was $9 an hour. As of the end of 2024, the average wage for store employees was $18 an hour. Demand more. Steal the deodorant. And no, I will not back down. One of the reasons I wanted to do this episode because, well, a lot of reasons, a lot. Walmart doesn't care about politicians, hit pieces in the media, or even protesters outside their store. They don't give a crap. They are untouchable. The only thing they care about is one thing, the customer. Right? Because remember Sam Walton's number one rule, the customer is always right. Well, you and I are the customers and we have the power. I know, I hate saying that. I hate when people are like, you have the power. Just stop shopping there. And it's like, you try living in the middle of nowhere when there's no other options except for a Walmart or Amazon. Like, shut up. You know, don't tell me I have the power. I'm not gonna drive probably in an hour so I can go to a different store, you know, and even when you go to a different store, everything is. There's Walmarts everywhere. You can't avoid it. We are trapped. I would love some suggestions in the comment section down below. How do we. What do we do? We need a plan. I feel like we talk about problems all day, every day, but we don't come up with a plan of what we're going to do. So let me tell you something I don't feel bad about. Anytime someone brings up Walmart. The only thing I think about is honestly, one Walmart, Walmart kind of helped me survive because I learned how to scam them. Listen, at the time I was working at another company, I was working retail. I was living paycheck to paycheck. I was going to school. I also was. My wages were getting garnished due to me not paying a credit card. I didn't know. I was 18. I was dumb, you know? Anyways, it was all biting me in the ass and I fucking had no money and I just needed basic shit. Toilet paper, tampons, right? Maybe a barrette, I don't know. So I was like, let me try something. So at the store I worked at, Smash my. I would get discounts, okay? I would get anywhere from 10 to 40% off of something. So I would buy DVDs with my employee discount and I wouldn't open them, right? Then I would make sure. No, no tags on. No tags on them. Take the tags off, but make sure they're still sealed because they won't accept it if it's unsealed. So I'd go to Walmart and be like, my grandma gave me these DVDs for my birthday. And it's just like. So I just like, I'm not gonna watch them. I'm just a silly woman. Also, I don't have a receipt because it was a gift. Is there anything I could do? So then give them. And if you don't have a receipt at this time, they've changed their customer servicing. But at this time, they would give you a store credit because the customer is always right. So go me. You know, I don't know how I thought of that. Go me. Anyways, am I getting out of trouble? It doesn't matter. I didn't do it anyways. I'm making this all up. So I would return it and then they would give you, like, the lowest price or whatever. I didn't care. Like, it was a credit that I needed. I needed toilet paper. Like, you know, so they'd give me a store credit. And then, you best believe it, I would get the stuff I needed. And I used to feel kind of bad about this, and now, honestly, I don't. I'm sorry. I mean, if they want to play us as fools, well, guess what, I'm gonna play too, bitch. What I've learned here on Dark history, especially with, like, these large corporations and stuff, they all know how to play the game. So guess what? Get in on it and play the game. We know. If we steal one deodorant, I will not let this go. If we steal one deodorant, we could probably take down all at Walmart. And with that in mind, what you do on your free time is your own thing to do. It's just, you know, I'm definitely, you know. Oh, dear. Anyways, Walmart, huh? On another note, have any of you been to the Walmart museum? Yeah, I guess there's a Walmart museum. I just heard about it. I kind of want to go. I want to know what's in there. Is the happy face in there? Remember the happy face? What's in there? I want to go. Have you been? Let me know if you have a Walmart story or, you know, anything you want to say. I'd love to hear from you down below in the comments section. I love hearing from you. I know. Sorry, you guys. I haven't acknowledged Paul or Joan. Paul's dressed up as a Walmart employee. Okay, I could see that. I guess he looks more like you know when you go to church and there's always a man who's wearing, like, a vest like that over his normal clothes? It's giving church. Church, dad. Yeah. And then we have cute little Joan here. She has this cute shopping cart that I kind of want to know where you. Where'd you get this? I want it. It's so cute. I like it. Moving on. So the other night, I was laying in bed, minding my own business, watching television, as one does. You know what was on San Andreas? Have you seen that movie? It's a movie where the rock is out there saving people from collapsing buildings, outrunning tsunamis. The world's ending and the woman in the movie are, for some reason, wearing heels through the whole thing. I'm like, yeah, if the world's ending, I want to look like her. But it got me thinking about earthquakes. You know, they've been happening for as long as Earth has existed. And there have been some pretty gnarly ones, huh? I'm talking cities swallowed by tsunamis, quakes that triggered nuclear disasters, and in one case, they caused so much devastation that people turned to human sacrifice. I'm not kidding. I know it sounds very Hollywood, but this stuff happened in real life. Listen, next time we're digging into earthquakes, the most powerful, the most deadly, and the big one that scientists believe will change the entire west coast of America. When will it happen? No one knows. That's the fun part, you know? But if you want to be prepared, join me next time for the Dark history of earthquakes. Oh, by the way, we're dark next week, which means there won't be an upload. But I'll be back on June 11th with the earthquake episode. Okay, now, I'd love to hear your reactions to today's story. Make sure to leave a comment down below so I could see what you guys are saying. And your comment might be featured in a future episode. Now let's read a couple of comments. You guys have left me. Julie Gemmel Lawson left me a comment saying I was wearing my Dark History sweatpants and my dad was like, what's Dark History? So we watched the Match Girls and the Radium Girls episodes together. Let him know any book wrecks you have. Julie. I love that. I love that. I listen on my resume, I'm gonna put, like, bringing people together, bringing families together, bringing couples together. The amount of comments I see from people who are like, I watch this with my mom, I watch with my dad, my boyfriend, my girlfriend, my cat, my dog. It makes me so happy. I Love that you guys are watching and interested and I appreciate that so much. And the fact that I can reach you, Julie, and also your dad, I think that's really cool and powerful and I think you guys should each steal one deodorant from Walmart. I'm just kidding. Don't do that. Anyways, should I recommend Mao to her dad? I don't know if I could throw him into that. I don't. First of all, say hi to your dad. I appreciate you guys so much for watching. It means a lot. Do I have any book recommendations for your dad? Well, it depends. I kind of need more information. What is your dad interested in? Can he read good or like, you know, like. Because I read, I read a lot, but it's always like really dense history or true crime related stuff. And it's also really depressing. So in a way, I don't want to, like, put that onto your dad, you know? Oh, you know what? You should read the Giving Tree. Yeah, that's a good one. Or. Oh. Oh, duh. I also have a Goodreads account. I know. Amazon. Fuck me, I know. But I have a Goodreads account where I list, like, books I've been reading and stuff. They're all snooze fest. Anyways. Okay, sorry I didn't give you an answer, but I really appreciate you and your dad watching. Like, it really means a lot and I love that, like, I can bring you guys together a little bit. Like, that's special. I appreciate you. Thank you. Sci Fi. Great name. Left me an episode. Suggestion. Hi, Bailey. Hi, Syfy. I've been watching your videos for quite some time now and I've yet to see a dark history on prescription eyeglasses. I'd love to see a video sometime soon. Prescription eyeglasses. Honestly, you just came out of left field with that. And I love this. I love an unexpected, expected suggestion. Because you're right. I've never thought about glasses or prescription eyeglasses. Or I'm. You're right. I would love to know, like, one. What did people do before they needed prescription eyeglasses? I think would be a fun place to start. Could you imagine people are walking around like, oh, sorry, just all the time. Or maybe it's something that evolved, like with our diet and our stress and our lifestyle over time to where we needed more prescriptions. I don't know. But I would love to actually get digging into this. Thank you so much for the suggestion and please keep them coming. I love them. Thank you for watching. I appreciate you. Hey, did you know? You can join me over my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. Yeah, and while you're there, you can also catch my murder mystery and makeup. Hey, don't forget to subscribe because I'm here all the time for you. And if you don't know, Dark History is an audioboom original. A special thank you to our expert, Charles Fishman, journalist and author of the Walmart Effect and one Giant Leap. Appreciate you so much for all your help, and I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good day. You make good choices and I'll be talking to you soon. One deodorant. Goodbye, Sam.