This blog contains posts and comments written by students in Dr. Tufte's economics classes at Southern Utah University.
10/30/2005
Wal-Mart Seeks to Save Energy
Wal-Mart's chief executive announced specific environmental goals to reduce energy use in its stores. Their goals are to increase the fuel efficiency of the truck fleet by 25% over the next three years and double it within ten years, invest $500 million in technologies that will reduce greenhouse gases from stores and distribution centers by 20% over the next seven years, and they also want to design a new store within four years that is at least 25% more energy efficient. Wal-Mart is also pressuring thousands of companies worldwide to follow their lead. Most critics said that while this is an admirable gesture to save energy Wal-Mart is just trying to divert attention away from their image problems. I think that they really do care about the envoronment, but maybe they are trying to divert attention away from the lousy wages they offer.
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I think Logan and Savannah have this right: maybe they're just trying to save money, because that's what Wal-Mart strives to do across the board.
The problem with Bob's comment - that Wal-Mart is sucking other firms dry - is that it's meaning is different if we put it in context. Suppose Wal-Mart didn't suck those vendors dry: the vendors would be better off. Would Wal-Mart? Probably not, but we can't say for sure. Would consumers be worse off? Definitely. In sum, I think it is perfectly legitimate to accuse Wal-Mart of this behavior, but it has to be joined to the idea that consumers get most of the benefit of that. Wal-Mart is the wingman for the consumer.
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