They Don't Really Care About Us

Some of you might remember the words in that title as the lyrics to one of Michael Jackson's most successful songs--shouts out to Planet Jackson--well, the truth is H & M and WalMart apparently really DON'T care about the poor.  The New York Times reported this week its investigations undercovered a disturbing practice at the two mega-retailers:  instead of donating unsold clothing and items to charities to help the poor or taking them to sample sales or downmarket bulk discounters, WalMart and H & M THROW AWAY unsold clothing in the trash.  Just in case you get the notion to go dumpster diving behind their retail establishments, they slash and otherwise destroy the garments before they put them out.  They cut fingers off gloves, cut up the insteps of children's shoes, slash winter coats to expose the fiberfill, and cut off the sleeves of coats to make them unwearable.  With over one third of New York City residents living in poverty and poverty on a sharp rise across the country, really across the world, this is a terrible shame.

If you would like to express your displeasure with WalMart for their continuing practices that fail to uplift the poor and working poor (in my opinion), click HERE.  The link contains phone numbers, snail mail addresses, and a link to submit an electronic comment to the corporate offices.

H & M contact info to follow soon.