I was just watching a mini documentary here which was mainly about Wal-Mart and its battles with the UFCW (United Food and Commercial Workers) here in Canada. The documentary went over about Wal-Mart’s business philosophies and what appears to be a very anti-union business approach. The documentary revolved around a store located in Weyburn Saskatchewan as it is a store that has a good chance in becoming a unionized store.

It was a fascinating documentary I thought as it showed how that small town really wanted a Wal-Mart in their community and how much of a positive impact it has had for them in terms of enabling people to buy things for less at one place. As a result this also attracted more people and business into the small community. On the flip side, the business needs to keep expenses at a minimum to be able to offer low prices and obviously one source of that is employee wages which is something the company has been consistently criticized about.

The documentary showed some events that I was already aware of such as how there actually was one store here in Canada which was successfully unionized and it was quickly closed down shortly after which created a lot of controversy and fear for others who attempted to do the same. That part about Wal-Mart having internal staff members to specifically alert higher ups on people who want a unionized environment was interesting to say the least. I’ve seen certain large companies do this just for general wages as well where they plant someone to try and find out who wants a higher wage. They then dubiously give that person a hard time until they voluntarily quit which hides the company’s true intentions in wanting to get rid of the person while showing no wrong doing on their part.

Maybe it is just me, but for some reason with the way the documentary was presented it looked like the union battle was more about a power struggle between two organizations rather than focusing on what’s best for the people and the community. The main topic that comes up for me after seeing this is when it comes to our careers and how much we make, in the end shouldn’t it be more about your own decisions to be where you are as oppose to trying to force a company to cater your wants? Whether you favor an anti union or pro union type of working environment, I think it is important to always think about the ramifications for both parties in a bigger picture type of way.

In the end of the documentary, it showed how the mayor of Weyburn was worried at how much of an impact it would have in the small town if the store was to close down as a result of it be unionized. When the store opened up, it pretty much forced a lot of its competition to close its doors as well. This means closing that one store would be hundreds of lost jobs while also extremely diminishing the town’s ability to buy goods/services. That’s kind of frightening when you think about it on how one company can have that much of an impact whether it be positive or negative.

Most people tell me that the prices are almost the same compared to many other places here. After watching this, it kind of makes me interested in wanting to go to a Wal-Mart store to seriously see if one really saves that much money from shopping there. Guess it will be interesting to see how that whole union issue turns out too.

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One of my friends told me today on how when it comes to certain things he will always buy something new as in the long run he saves more money that way. One example he gave me was for a laser printer where he bought it initially for about $80 and that the toner alone for the printer is well over $100. So instead of buying a new toner, he just buys another laser printer which is cheaper than replacing the toner and on top of that he gets a printer that was better than his old one while selling it as well for a cheap price.

I guess for some things it can make sense as for items that require maintenance, part replacements or add-ons it can often be more expensive as for some things that is actually a business strategy that many companies use to make profit. I remember that certain MP3 players were kind of like that where the batteries literally required you to send it back to the manufacturer to replace and for many it was just cheaper and less hassle to buy a new player.

I’m pretty sure most people don’t exactly do a thorough job researching about a product in regards to determining the current and future costs associated in owning something. As usually, it is better to research first as if you buy the product that is right for your needs the first time through you can end up saving way more.

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Earlier in the month I decided to acquire the services of a company to do a simple printing job as I wanted to display my company’s name on the outside of the office entrance window along with the lobby listing in the building. There was a place nearby that just happened to do this and so I went and paid for the printing to be done and was told it would take about five days as they just needed to get the right paper to do so and from there it would be fast to simply type and print it out. The good thing too I thought was that I talked directly with the owner who gave me a run down about his business in general and the other things he was able to do in-house as well which made me more confident about the purchase.

The interesting thing too afterwards was that I found out that a person in my company actually knew another person that worked at that place. I thought that was even better as that should be even more of an incentive for them to do a good job. A week went by and still there was no sign of the job being done. Apparently, the reason was that the company who they originally got the paper from was charging them more than usual and so they had to find a new vendor. Now normally I would be a little less patient considering they did take my money already, but since the person in my company knew them I was more understanding.

Weeks went by again and still there was nothing. My worker then found out the real story where that company actually outsourced that type of printing job entirely and that they were being charged more than usual by their original provider where they would have to do it at a loss now as they already charged me a certain amount to cover the expected cost while making a profit. Since I paid with a credit card and still till this date the job has still not been done, I’m almost thinking of just doing a chargeback.

What amazes me is how they don’t realize that them trying to save say a measly $20 can end up costing them thousands. For myself honestly, I can’t ever recommend them to anyone else within the business community after this incident. While the situation is understandable in some ways, it’s not really excusable I’d say and the customer shouldn’t have to be the one to pay for it. That is an important lesson too I think for anyone who runs a business. It can be less expensive in the long run to just take the loss in a situation where you promised to deliver something but could not because at the end of the day it is your reputation that will continue to generate business for you and trust is not something that you can just buy back.

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So there is a new TV show called On The Lot that started yesterday which is basically a reality show about aspiring film directors who are going against each other to win a million dollar contract with Dreamworks to make a movie. The theme interests me very much personally since I have a background in film.

Aside from all of the technical and production aspects of the show, one thing that stuck out to me was how there was a part where everyone had a limited amount of time to come up with a film story and then pitch it to three judges as if it was a real person pitching a film idea to an executive producer. You know, a lot of the events and advice that were shown at that part were so true in a general sense for anyone who has ever had to sell anything.

It kind of showed where if you don’t really believe in what you do that it is kind of hard to mask that as you are basically projecting your lack of confidence in what you are saying to everyone as well. I always like these kinds of examples as people are usually so caught up in doing a task as oppose to focusing on themselves first and asking if they are truly prepared mentally on what they are doing. For example, it’s kind of like people that want to make money by starting a business who then simply focus on ways to do that when really I’d say you first need to make sure that you have the right attitude and mindset.

I think I am going to enjoy this show and it should be fun to watch.

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I thought this was an interesting event that is occurring. I guess like most people who use the Internet a lot, you have most likely come across some kind of advertisement about that Rich Jerk site or e-book where it is suppose to teach you ways on how to make money. It is basically presented in an arrogant way with a character implying that he makes so much money through these techniques that he rightfully can look down on others and so fourth. It now appears that the business is being sold on the Bizquest.

After reading some extra details about this, it appears that the business spent a lot of money advertising in places such as the Howard Stern shown. Now apparently, the main reason that it is being sold is a result of it almost going bankrupt. While I don’t know the exact details, I thought this was interesting in the sense that regardless of how much money you may have, this just kind of reminds me of all those other stories of people simply blowing all of their money due to their financial decisions.

Another thing this kind of reminded me of is all these boasters that I have met that say they have so much money while flaunting it everywhere they go. In many cases, those people end up being broke and I can only imagine how embarrassing that can be in trying to ask for help afterwards from the same people that they were antagonizing before.

As mentioned before, from my experience most financially established people don’t really want to mention that they are say wealthy. Not only that, but they try to help others while trying to make a positive impact to the people around them. In that sense, it kind of surprises me in some ways on how this rich jerk approach has generated a lot of business obviously.

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