How to Boycott a Billionaire, Issue #1 - The Walton Family
You can impact 20 percent of the richest 15 people in world with one boycott
There are three Waltons in the top 15 on the Bloomberg Billionaires Index (December 2024). Jim, Rob, and Alice Walton (and their families) share a total wealth of more than a third of a trillion dollars, with each being worth about $111B. This doesn’t even include two other heirs of the Walmart Empire (Lukas & Christy) who reside in the top 125 list.
Where the Money Comes From
Jim, Rob, and Alice are three of Walmart founder Sam Walton’s four children. John, the fourth child, passed away in 2005. Walmart, for those of you who haven’t been to an American city larger than a small basketball arena, is a ubiquitous retail chain that specializes in selling cheap, short-term products at bargain basement prices.
Why it is important to boycott the Waltons
The Walton path to centibillionaire-hood follows a multipronged approach that includes but is not limited to the following key principles:
Pay non-management employees as little as is corporately possible. According to a ten-year-old study from the group Americans for Tax Fairness, Walmart costs the American taxpayer more than 6 billion dollars annually in welfare and healthcare costs for underpaid employees.
Source Low-Cost / Low-Quality goods from overseas suppliers. This benefits the retail behemoth in a couple of ways. First, it keeps prices low because health, safety, standard of living, and environmental laws do not apply to many of their manufacturers. And second, low-quality goods need to be replaced far more often than their higher-quality, more expensive counterparts. This brings back repeat customers and sends disposable goods to landfill at an alarming and not even close to a sustainable rate.
Become a one-stop shop for all consumer needs. Many, if not most, Walmarts are what they term supercenters. These giant concrete boxes don’t stop at cheap t-shirts and toys they have expanded into nearly everything a time-crunched consumer might need. Groceries? Check. Car Care? Check. Haircut? Check. I could go on and on, but you get the picture. At first, this seems like a win for the customer, but it is actually a vital element of the fourth and perhaps most damaging aspect of the Walmart Method.
Drive as many local competitors as possible out of business. Just like the effects of climate change, the Walmart effect happened just slowly enough that it was possible to miss it. Not that long ago, towns used to have general stores, local department stores, and local grocery stores. These have largely disappeared, replaced by Walmart and a handful of other corporate behemoths. At our current pace, it won’t be long before people say the same thing about hair salons, auto shops, and outdoor outfitters.
Why it is difficult to boycott Walmart?
For the reasons listed above (and more than a few others), it is very difficult to cut large, big-box retailers like Walmart out of our retail models. When discussing boycotting Walmart, many questions arise, such as: Where else can I get affordable clothes? I only have a few minutes, and I need orange juice, a pair of shoes, and an oil change, where else can I get all that? They are the only place in town to buy a _______, where else can I go?
These are difficult and sometimes impossible questions to answer. And that is by design. But we have to try. It is not hyperbole to say that corporations like Walmart are killing us.
How do I start boycotting Walmart?
Just like quitting smoking, there are two ways to kick the Walmart habit: the cold turkey method and the gentle separation method.
Cold Turkey
I went the cold turkey route. I found myself feeling uncomfortable every time I entered the cavernous temples of fluorescent-lit consumerism, and I just couldn’t do it anymore. This was in 2011, and I’ve been inside a Walmart once since, and that was to use the restroom while my car was charging. If you live in a place with other options, this cold turkey isn’t a bad idea, and it’s not as difficult as it sounds.
What I did was switch to Target for my easy big-box retail shopping and began looking for other more sustainable, more local options from there. This way, even though I was still supporting a big Multinational corporation, I was only supporting one big Multinational corporation. In addition, I really felt the accomplishment of successfully, and for the long-term, removing my money from the Walton Family fortune.
It’s important to note here that, in reality, Target isn’t inherently any better than Walmart. But by eliminating one big box retailer, I started to build momentum on my journey to boycott billionaires.
Gentle Separation
If, for whatever reason, you find that you can’t go the cold turkey route, that’s okay. Try gently separating instead. With this method, you pick a few items or categories of items (or services) that you usually purchase from Walmart and start to look elsewhere for them.
For example, maybe you usually go to Walmart for footwear. See if you can find a local retailer who can meet your footwear needs and shop there one time. The trick here is that whatever category you decide to boycott, you need to find a better option, not just a different option. So, for the footwear example, just switching to Famous Footwear isn’t really helping all that much (if at all). But switching to Bob’s Local Shoe Store is.
Once you have successfully cut one product from your Walmart trips, you will begin to find that it is easier to cut others out as well. And I think that over time, you will find yourself going to the big blue box less and less.
Taking your Walmart boycott to the Next Level
The good thing about boycotting retailers like Walmart is that once you start seeking out better alternatives, you can’t help but see them everywhere. This is where you can start taking your boycott game to the next level. Share your knowledge with others in your circle.
The trick here is, just like I am trying to do here, to avoid the shaming route. People aren’t bad because they shop at Walmart, and you should make sure that they understand that. Making the type of change that Boycotting Billionaires will make isn’t about shaming people it’s about educating them on the power that their money has to make positive change in the world.
With that in mind, once you have found your pathway to a Walmart-free life, share it with others, not as a braggart but as a teacher.
The Final Step
Just like most (if not all) of the other billionaires on the list, the Waltons are billionaires for two reasons. One, they own a business that rakes in money. A boycott addresses this. And two, people want to buy the shares of that business, driving up its value. The way to address this is actually relatively simple. The word here is divest, and it basically means that in your investment portfolios (regardless of how small they may be), look for funds that align with your values. These investment approaches do no worse than regular funds and come with the benefit of knowing that your money is acting in your best interest.
One last thing…
I can’t stress this enough. The Walmart Billionaires are bad for the planet, and for society, Walmart shoppers are not. Boycotting Billionaires isn’t about tearing each other down; it is about exercising our power as a community to support, with our dollars, businesses, and people who strengthen our society and to undercut the oligarchic power the few hold over the many.