Rob Walton, Chairman of the Board
Walmart
702 SW 8th Street
Bentonville, Arkansas 72716-8611
Dear Mr. Walton,
Please bring your greeters back.
I just finished reading your father's "Made in America," which gave me a greater appreciation for not only the man, but for the company, and for the Walmart store I visit almost every day.
About the same day I heard greeters would be leaving the front doors from 10 p.m. to 7 a.m., I picked up "Made in America" for 50 cents at a Salvation Army thrift store. (Talk about a low price!)
Since the news broke, at my Supercenter #29, I don't think I remember seeing a greeter at all – at any time – and that disappoints me.
As Sam Walton wrote on Page 217, "… the bigger Wal-Mart gets, the more essential it is that we think small." And went on: "If we ever forget that looking a customer in the eye, greeting him or her, and asking politely if we can be of help … then we ought to go in to a different business because we'll never survive this one."
Walmart is the only place (except Waffle House) where I get greeted at the door, and I really like it. Here I am, going into this great big store, but there's always somebody there to greet me. I always reply. It makes me feel good.
I go to Walmart regularly, here, up in Columbia, or to any I find when I travel, and I always know when I cross the parking lot that I'm going to get that big greeting from the company that thinks "small."
I remember years ago when I lived in Northeast Missouri and patronized the Kirksville Walmart, I wrote the manager and suggested a fishbowl where folk could get a chance at a Walmart gift card for bringing in a shopping cart, and I'll be darned if that store didn't do it! Now, they went big, with a glass aquarium, which broke – but that didn't stop them. They went to a smaller bowl on a stool, and the greeter would give you a slip to put your name and address in for the drawing, and thanked you.
I'm still impressed with the response to my suggestion.
Anyway, I hope you consider bringing back the greeters. I always see the kids smile when they get a sticker placed on them. (Now there's just a big roll up by the entrance, but that's like having to award yourself a medal.)
Sincerely,
John
Loyal Walmart customer
PS: Go Hogs!
PSS: The book I'm reading now? Jules Verne's "Journey to the Center of the Earth." On the cover is a big orange circle that reads, "Wal*mart, 2 for $1." Now that was a great idea!
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
New Madrid Earthquake Return? Don't Bet on It!
"ST. LOUIS — Just days after the 200th anniversary of a series of massive earthquakes in southeast Missouri, residents woke up Tuesday to a rumbling reminder that they live in one of the continent's most active seismic areas.
"The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of a magnitude-4.0 earthquake at 3:58 a.m. was located near the town of East Prairie, Mo., roughly midway between St. Louis and Memphis. Several people in five states — Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee — felt the quake, along with scattered people in four others, as far away as North Carolina and Georgia, according to responses to the U.S. Geological Survey website.
"Only minor damage was reported, such as items falling from shelves, broken windows, minor cracks in walls and sidewalks, said Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist for the Geological Survey office in Golden, Colo. No injuries were reported." — Associated Press, 2/21/2012
List this Missouri resident in the "Not Concerned" column, please. After attending "It's Your Fault: A Conference Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the New Madrid Earthquakes" on February 18 at the University of Missouri, I'm confident today's "rumbling reminder" was simply an aftershock from one of the most unusual earthquakes ever recorded.
Allow me to elaborate.
First to the dais at the conference was Walter Schroeder, MU associate professor emeritus of geography, who gave some historical background on the series of massive (8 or more?) earthquake which generated out of the New Madrid area between December 1811 and February 1212.
At the time, the area was a swamp, populated by maybe 1,500 folk. The state's last wild bison were found there in 1847, and bear and elk were there as late at 1867, so there was not a lot of manmade stuff to be damaged.
The folk who did live there had already experienced the arrival of Haley's Comet in September, and the Aurora Borealis was seen a few days before the first quake, so they were primed for "a time of extraordinaries" and "a terrible visitation of Providence."
Per recorded history cited, bottoms of lakes elevated and were later planted with corn. The muddy Mississippi changed to a reddish hue and produced a great deal of foam. Sparks sprung from the earth and whole forests were found fallen flat.
Men who make it their life's business to study earthquakes — Mian Liu, MU professor of geology, and Eric Sandvol, MU assistant professor of geology — made it pretty clear to me that the earth is made up of tectonic plates, along the edges of which most earthquakes occur. New Madrid is in the middle of one of these plates, which makes it unusual.
Unusual, but not exclusive. As Professor Liu pointed out, China has also had earthquakes at locations in the middle of tectonic plates, and they have recorded history of earthquakes that go back 3,000 years. The Chinese actually appoint individuals to record the effects of earthquakes.
For example, the Shaanxi earthquake of 1556 is the deadliest on record, killing 830,000 people and destroying a 520-mile-wide area. The Tangshan quake of 1976 killed a quarter of a million people. And on a lesser scale as far as strength and human loss – but far closer to home and our own time – there was the November 9, 1968 quake that originated in Illinois and was felt in 23 states.
Earthquakes are a fact of life, but another earthquake happening on the New Madrid fault, where the MU professors theorize the trembling like that today may be unique aftershocks 200 years after a most unique earthquake? Well, I put my money with Professor Liu:
"If you bet an earthquake will happen in the same place, the odds of winning are zero."
"The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of a magnitude-4.0 earthquake at 3:58 a.m. was located near the town of East Prairie, Mo., roughly midway between St. Louis and Memphis. Several people in five states — Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee — felt the quake, along with scattered people in four others, as far away as North Carolina and Georgia, according to responses to the U.S. Geological Survey website.
"Only minor damage was reported, such as items falling from shelves, broken windows, minor cracks in walls and sidewalks, said Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist for the Geological Survey office in Golden, Colo. No injuries were reported." — Associated Press, 2/21/2012
List this Missouri resident in the "Not Concerned" column, please. After attending "It's Your Fault: A Conference Commemorating the 200th Anniversary of the New Madrid Earthquakes" on February 18 at the University of Missouri, I'm confident today's "rumbling reminder" was simply an aftershock from one of the most unusual earthquakes ever recorded.
Allow me to elaborate.
First to the dais at the conference was Walter Schroeder, MU associate professor emeritus of geography, who gave some historical background on the series of massive (8 or more?) earthquake which generated out of the New Madrid area between December 1811 and February 1212.
At the time, the area was a swamp, populated by maybe 1,500 folk. The state's last wild bison were found there in 1847, and bear and elk were there as late at 1867, so there was not a lot of manmade stuff to be damaged.
The folk who did live there had already experienced the arrival of Haley's Comet in September, and the Aurora Borealis was seen a few days before the first quake, so they were primed for "a time of extraordinaries" and "a terrible visitation of Providence."
Per recorded history cited, bottoms of lakes elevated and were later planted with corn. The muddy Mississippi changed to a reddish hue and produced a great deal of foam. Sparks sprung from the earth and whole forests were found fallen flat.
Men who make it their life's business to study earthquakes — Mian Liu, MU professor of geology, and Eric Sandvol, MU assistant professor of geology — made it pretty clear to me that the earth is made up of tectonic plates, along the edges of which most earthquakes occur. New Madrid is in the middle of one of these plates, which makes it unusual.
Unusual, but not exclusive. As Professor Liu pointed out, China has also had earthquakes at locations in the middle of tectonic plates, and they have recorded history of earthquakes that go back 3,000 years. The Chinese actually appoint individuals to record the effects of earthquakes.
For example, the Shaanxi earthquake of 1556 is the deadliest on record, killing 830,000 people and destroying a 520-mile-wide area. The Tangshan quake of 1976 killed a quarter of a million people. And on a lesser scale as far as strength and human loss – but far closer to home and our own time – there was the November 9, 1968 quake that originated in Illinois and was felt in 23 states.
Earthquakes are a fact of life, but another earthquake happening on the New Madrid fault, where the MU professors theorize the trembling like that today may be unique aftershocks 200 years after a most unique earthquake? Well, I put my money with Professor Liu:
"If you bet an earthquake will happen in the same place, the odds of winning are zero."
Wednesday, February 01, 2012
You're No Gold Dollar, Joe Biden
Quoted in one of his noted ramblings regarding "government waste" and the scaling-back of production of the dollar coins, Vice-President Joe Biden is quoted as saying: "Nobody wants them."
Hello, Mr. Biden. I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Nobody.
As I've blogged previously, I love the gold dollars. I'm not a collector, I'm a distributor. I use them to stimulate the economy with purchases, tips, and as gifts to kids and panhandlers.
Just because the government is afraid to offend the single company that makes the currency paper and a few vending machine folk, we have a true snafu - there is law in place that the coins be produced, but there appears to be little interest in them.
Well, it would help to 1) PROMOTE them and 2) follow Canada's lead and do away with the $1 bill.
We won't be breaking new ground here. Canada has done it. Major European countries have done it. The USA needs to do it, too.
I'm still mad at the frequent-flyer-mile addicts for queering the whole deal with their greed and bringing one of the simple joys of my life before the attention of the HOG that is government that occassionally will do a gas-passing on something they say will "save" the people money ... but I'll survive.
Meanwhile, Mr. Biden, Nobody plans to vote for Anybody but you in November.
Hello, Mr. Biden. I'd like to introduce myself. I'm Nobody.
As I've blogged previously, I love the gold dollars. I'm not a collector, I'm a distributor. I use them to stimulate the economy with purchases, tips, and as gifts to kids and panhandlers.
Just because the government is afraid to offend the single company that makes the currency paper and a few vending machine folk, we have a true snafu - there is law in place that the coins be produced, but there appears to be little interest in them.
Well, it would help to 1) PROMOTE them and 2) follow Canada's lead and do away with the $1 bill.
We won't be breaking new ground here. Canada has done it. Major European countries have done it. The USA needs to do it, too.
I'm still mad at the frequent-flyer-mile addicts for queering the whole deal with their greed and bringing one of the simple joys of my life before the attention of the HOG that is government that occassionally will do a gas-passing on something they say will "save" the people money ... but I'll survive.
Meanwhile, Mr. Biden, Nobody plans to vote for Anybody but you in November.
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