I think mega shops are awesome they remove allot of pointless jobs with more efficient jobs. The problem is that we for some reason don't demand quality but always focus on price.
If we demand knowledge about meat and demand quality we will get it. Wall mart and others just deliver what we are demanding...
The removal of jobs with low added value is why we are getting richer. Hopefully automatic drivers will remove the need for truckers. Another unhealthy poor job.
Who's "we"?
As a developer, I get where you're coming from. I look around and I see how many jobs could be automated with some kind of program, and how that would free up resources to spend against other things. The problem with this kind of 100% efficiency driven thinking is that it strips humanity from the equation and treats us as nothing more than the output we produce according to some kind of hyper-capitalism algorithm devoid of moral and ethical compass.
But the truth is most people aren't getting richer. They're getting much, much poorer as wages have been stagnant for decades and costs have risen drastically over the same period of time. Its precisely because of that kind of 100% efficiency driven mentality that we've fallen this far and seen wealth centralize this much.
Without a basic-income, the west will be swimming in poverty within the next 10-15 years as people become trapped in unemployment lines due to automation. If we had a basic income, people could fall back on that and re-train for new fields to stay competitive in the changing job market. But without it, people will instead become trapped by their debt and lose everything as capitalism stomps out the last breaths of the economy. Its an unsustainable trajectory and it will have its blowback sooner or later.
We are doing a basic income "experiment" in different parts of Canada. It will be interesting to see the results in a few years. Maybe the economy will one day be like "Star Trek" - but I think we are living in a time where there are only Kings and Peasants with nothing in between.
Walmart lobby's governments to get what it wants like all the other mega corporations. Its shifting the labor market from the west to the east - taking advantage of poor human rights and scant environmental restrictions.
Take a look at the Palm Oil industry.. Its slowly destroying our planet and there's little we can do about it as consumers - except make responsible changes.
Small business has to work hard to compete - many of them offer alternatives to some of the problems mega corporations are creating (like pollution). You are right - its ultimately up to the consumer to make a choice and it seems like in 2018 we are still buying from the same people who give us the lowest price.
Low prices dont increase wages they increase your buying power in a particular area. In many areas around the world - you might be able to afford all the trappings at WalMart - but good luck buying a house. The impact of these companies is huge and the damage is usually impossible to fully quantify.