Mall-Wart

Unfinished business...
There will be some answers to the Mein Kampf / Omro item in my column later this week, possibly Thursday or Friday. Stay tuned.

I heard this next story on the streets downtown Saturday. Funny how little it takes to amuse me. A mentally challenged man who wanders around downtown is the focus of this. He has a beard and a large belly which precedes him by quite a distance. OK. He looks quite pregnant. He needed to do some shopping Friday and found an individual who would take him out to the bright lights and sounds of the frontage roads of Hy. 41. While going down Koeller he remembered he needed a 12-pack of Pepsi. Copp's being handy the driver offered to stop there. "No, no", was the reply. "Take me to Mall-Wart. It's cheaper there." The driver navigated over '41 at 9th St. and pulled into the parking lot. A 1/2-mile walk later they arrived at the Pepsi display and trudged back toward the checkout. Nearing the van he exclaimed what a rip-off it was...over 4-bucks for a 12-er of Pepsi with tax. The driver looked over the receipt: $3.88 plus tax. They sat in the van for a few minutes and having no where to go---and all day to do it in, got out and trekked the 1/2-mile back to the Pepsi display, receipt in hand. Sure enough the sign said $3.88 and not the $2.88 they imagined. They left Mall-Wart. The mentally challenged man has pretty good control of his wallet and knew he had paid far too much for the soda. He's not so sure he'll go to Mall-Wart anymore.

The moral: Even folks with half a brain know they aren't getting any deals at Mall-Wart.

A quick check of this morning's Northwestern shows those Pepsi 12-packs are $2.50 over at Target. Don't get trampled in the rush.

Those of us with slightly more than half a brain, (I hope this includes me), realize that when the Mall-Wart supercenter opened, about 250 local people lost their health insurance, i.e. the employees of Cub Foods and the Pig by the airport. At Wal-Mart a very low percentage have their high-priced, low payout health plan.

The net result of this is that some folks are not receiving needed health care and the ones that do are unable to pay. This forces health costs upwards.

Remind a Wal-Mart employee that changes are possible. Have them contact Grant Withers at the local office of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW). It's in the phone book.