The other day we loaded up the T-Boone-Express and headed up to Bentonville, Arkansas to visit with the chairman and CEO of Wal-Mart, Lee Scott and about 3,000 Wal-Mart associates.
Lee and his senior folks host a monthly meeting for associates—some are there in person, some attend on a video conference deal, and some dial in and listen by phone. The idea is to keep everyone who is interested up-to-date on what Wal-Mart is up to.
If you wonder why Wal-Mart is the largest non-government employer in the world, with more than 2 million associates in nearly 7,400 stores, here’s an example: You know how when you buy a lampshade you have to unwrap about 27 layers of cellophane just to get to the shade itself? Haven’t you wondered why? So did the Wal-Mart folks. So they told their suppliers, cut down the cellophane to one—just ONE—layer. It saves the customer money, and it saves the environment millions and millions of yards of discarded cellophane.
Seems so easy you wonder why no one had done it before. It’s that kind of thinking which has made Wal-Mart the largest retailer in the history of the world.
After the shop talk, Lee opened a line to the Wal-Mart Emergency Operations Center, which handles decisions about stores, stock, associates and assistance in times of emergency. The emergency they were talking about was Hurricane Ike, which had swept through southeastern Texas a few days earlier.
In addition to deciding which stores to open when, Lee was told that Wal-Mart had committed three tractor-trailers and drivers to assist the State of Texas to delivering relief supplies. Wal-Mart is also assisting in providing prescriptions to folks who were evacuated to sixteen different centers in the Dallas area as well as Monroe, Louisiana.
And here’s something you won’t read about: Wal-Mart associates who were evacuated can report for work in ANY open store or distribution center in Texas to maintain their paycheck.
This is a culture I understand. I told the folks, “I could have made it here.” They thought that was OK and gave me a big cheer.
Lee Scott gave me the chance to stand up and tell the associates about the Pickens Plan and why it was so important to the future of America. When you read about the Wal-Mart culture you see that they got it immediately.
When I got to the part of the plan about changing over-the-road truck fleets from running on diesel fuel to running on natural gas, Lee looked over at the guy who runs the Wal-Mart fleet and asked how many trucks they have.
About 8,500 tractors, he was told. Lee told him to pick on distribution center—a typical one—and study what would be involved in replacing diesel tractors with natural gas. He wanted a report back to him in a month.
I was feeling pretty good about Wal-Mart and America when we went over to Stillwater, Texas for the football game between the Oklahoma State University Cowboys and Missouri State.
OSU won the game 57-13, so it was a pretty good day all around.
— Boone
