I live in a 100 year-old house w/o central heat and air. I drive a 10 year-old car and ride the Greyhound on occasion. The state of materialism in the US has driven a world-wide frenzy of consumerism. The oligarchy continues to be the only group to profit while the majority of the population seek the "American Dream. " If my father, a smoker, had invested in Phillip Morris, instead of buying a new Chevy every two years he would have been a wealthy man when he died of Emphysema. I, for one,am off the treadmill and feel much better about my lifestyle.

I'm from Rochester, NY, where Wegmans started, and have shopped at many other stores across the country. Wegmans is by far the best. Since it is privately owned, Wegmans does not have to answer to shareholders - they put their profits back into the stores. Prices are competitive, and often beat discount prices at other stores. Of course, you could spend a small fortune if you wanted to, on high-end prepared foods and other specialty items. I know that employees at Wegmans are treated better than at other stores, and I appreciate their commitment to buying from local producers. They are not perfect, but they always seem to be striving to improve.

I have a table made by my grandfather. The wood he used, south Georgia wormwood cypress, is gone. [There may still be a little bit in Louisiana.]

My other grandfather had this old grand north Georgia ante-bellum french provincial house with huge magnolias [and no heat], heartwood pine floors, 12 foot french doors and windows. He sold it move near his children when he retired. The club that bought it destroyed it in two years, tacking plywood over the floors for dancing and replacing the cast iron front porch with a purple concrete block entrance with neon sign.

What does this tell us? I don't like the answer and neither will you. Americans have no class. Only money matters to them. That is why we have become rats trained to consume. We don't make anything with our hands anymore and have no appreciation for quality. The land of the free and the home of the brave has become the kingdom of the capitalist overlords and the wage slaves.

Americans - we blew our inheritance - dad's money - and never came home. Now we live in a pig sty. - - - We have met the prodigal son and he is us.

Despite a personal connection to IKEA (my dad works there in a blue-collar position), I usually try to buy housewares and furniture used instead of new wherever possible, for precisely the reasons mentioned. We do live in a consumer culture of "disposability," and I try not to perpetuate that. I might buy a product from IKEA if it has an unusually clever/practical design.

I don't really understand, however, how Wegmans is so much better because of their employee benefits. The article didn't even mention IKEA's benefits (which, due to its Swedish social-democratic roots, are quite good and not at all on the level of Wal-Mart). Show me ethical sources for Wegmans' staggering displays of paper towels and cream cheese, and maybe I'll be impressed. If one is to make a comparison of ethical practices, it stands to reason that one should compare similar practices and not just any aspect that can be deemed ethical or unethical according to convenience.

Social consciousness comes in many different forms. It's good to take a critical standpoint, but we need to remember to compare apples to apples.

WM has mastered the oldest retail scam in the world - the "bait and switch."

They get you into the store with some stripped down piece of garbage priced lower (because it doesn't have features you take for granted or will fall apart after a few uses) and while you are there, they know you will buy crap you could get cheaper elsewhere because:

A) It's more convenient than going to another store, and

B) Because you have bought into the "lower prices" con job and don't have time to comparison shop, you probably think you are getting real bargains.

Anybody who knows me would heartily attest that I squeeze a penny until it is the size of a quarter and I know whereof I speak. Former WM executives have written books explaining exactly how the scam is worked and I myself have done my own comparison shopping (if by "shop" you include simply comparing prices without buying).

I have no doubt that there are millions who would argue this point and provide examples of some bargain or other they have obtained there - just like gamblers all have stories about they won bunches of money in Vegas - before they lost their shirts.

THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS, FOLKS!

Fine if you don't give a crap how they treat their workers, if you don't care about their thousands of predatory business practices, if you don't mind your taxes being used to directly subsidize the bastards and indirectly (by pushing their "gainfully employed" workers into the welfare system) or the damage they are doing to the American way of life overall. We live in a psychopathic society that thinks being part of a crowd is all the ethical justification they need.

You deserve to be ripped off.

But I have to live in this country - and this world - and the consequences of your actions affect me too, so I am going to run this down for you a bit.

You probably don't care that WM shuts down any store that unionizes or that they started cutting and packing their meat in central plants after the butchers unionized to keep the union out. But do you care that they fought for - and won - the right to pack their meat in a nitrogen atmosphere to assure that it remains fresh looking even after it begins to spoil? I am a guy who buys meat from the "reduced for quick sale" bin at my local Kroger and other stores - and I would sincerely be afraid to eat the WM crap.

The "value aisle" and the scattered, shoddy, cheap, items around the store are the "bait". The odd pricing adds to the illusion, and the relentless advertising seals the deal. I'd wager 95% or more of the commenters on this thread - even the ones who hate WM - accept that "lower prices overall" big lie as a given, BUT IT IS A LIE!

Most of what they sell is scientifically marked up to exactly what the market will bear - and not a penny less. If you excluded a small percentage of their products, and continued to shop there, you'd be paying 10 to 20% MORE for what you get - not less; or you would find you could have paid the exact same price for a higher quality product elsewhere.

You who shop there deserve the consequences of your actions. Unfortunately those consequences really affect me too.

So I really wish you would take a little time, do a little research, and wise the eff up.