Pastor Jim Clarke Pastor Paula McCutcheon

Wal-Mart Revisited

Pastor Jim

If you were in worship on a Sunday in early January you will certainly recall that I said some disparaging things about Wal-Mart.  It turns out what I said touched a chord with many people.  I received feedback, mostly positive, but some negative too.  Since that time I have thought and prayed about this quite a bit.  I wonder whether I presented my thought in the best way.  One criticism is that I was too emotional about it.  I probably was, because it is very important to me.  If I sounded too vitriolic I apologize.  And I didn’t mean to pick on Wal-Mart unfairly.  At the same time, I stand by the content of what I said.

I believe that how we shop can be an extension of living a Christian life.  Furthermore, I know that corporations and companies will listen best when something affects their pocketbooks.  This should surprise us.  I have watched over the years petitions go through Annual Conference urging the government and corporations to change their ways, and once in a long while we suggest a boycott.  For the same reason, boycotting can be affective.  Petitions generally are not.  Recently I found in the General Rules of our Church (while I was preparing for a Confirmation class that John Wesley urged the new Methodists to patronize the businesses of fellow members of the nascent societies.  Does that mean that how we shop can have something to do with being a disciple?  I believe so.

I have since found a number of resources on the topic.  Most notably a web site called Shopping for a Better World.  (Google it and you’ll find it.)  It ranks companies based upon Human Rights, the Environment, Animal Protection, Community Involvement and Social Justice.  For example if we look up coffee companies it ranks Equal Exchange and other Fair Trade coffees as the best.  Starbucks actually ranks pretty well (Yeah!).  Maxwell House and Yuban both get Fs.  They list their sources, and one can look them up – and it is a matter of trust to accept their rankings.  Furthermore, the sources are not identifiably Christian – I would love to see that sort of web site (as I shared in January).  We must all make our choices on this, of course.  I would suggest that it is a good resource and encourage us to use it.

As it turns our Wal-Mart is not ranked the worst company in the world…. It is only 3rd worst:  Ahead of Wal-Mart are Exxon/Mobil and Kraft.  The Best Ten companies are in order:  Seventh Generation, Working Assets, Eden Foods, Organic Valley, Clif Bar, honest Tea, Patagonia, Tom’s of Maine, Ben & Jerry’s and Aveda.  Many of these companies I am not familiar with, although we do have a Working Assets credit card and have used their phone service for years.  And we buy Tom’s toothpaste too.  The Worst Ten companies are:  Exxon/Mobil, Kraft, Wal-Mart, Chevron/Texaco, Pfizer, Nestle, GE, ADM, General Motors and Tyson Foods.

As you can imagine me doing, I looked up beer and I was very disappointed to see that Henry Weinhard’s ranked very poorly.  I have been drinking Henry’s for years, and Blitz before that (does anyone remember Blitz?)  I’ve always thought of it as “Oregon beer”.  In truth, I know that they were bought out by some bigger corporation so I shouldn’t be surprised by the ranking.  Nonetheless, my little romance with Henry’s is over.  By the way, some of the best ranking beers are:  Sierra Nevada, Full Sail, Pyramid, Anchor Steam, Rogue and Widmer.  Oh and, by the way, half of those breweries are in Oregon.

Pastor Jim