[MD] From the Forest to the Free Market

[Case]

Platt, SA and Arlo,

Gentlemen thank you for your kind words but I would like to clear up what
appears to be a bit of misunderstanding. You guys said in turn:

[Platt]
The power and the glory of the free market has never been better expressed.

[SA]
To be able to bring beauty into Wal-mart.

[Arlo]
With apologies to worshipers of BoxMart.

I think the misunderstanding stems from my reluctance to name the store.
Publix Supermarkets started in a town near where I live in 1930. Until about
a decade ago they only had stores in Florida but were among the five largest
grocery chains in the United States. Because of them Florida has the best,
cleanest and nicest grocery stores that I have seen in any of my travels.
Kash 'n Karry, Winn Dixie, the bygone A&P and even WalMart are forced to
adjust their business models and personnel standards just to stay in
business in my state. I escaped from Florida for a time and during the seven
years I lived out of state, the thing I missed most about home was Publix.

The company's motto is: Publix, Where Shopping is a Pleasure. I don't know
how they do it but their employees generally speaking have IQs at least a
standard deviation higher than you see in most businesses. And nearly every
corporate vice president began his or her career serving in the checkout
line. It is not uncommon to see store managers still bagging groceries and
stocking shelves. I have had store employees spend 15 mins helping me track
down frozen blueberries or the special carrot muffins my wife loves. Once
when I could not find the particular variety or Duncan Hines cake mix my
wife insisted she needed, I got a stock boy to sign a statement that read.
"This man is not a fool. We are out of white cake mix." Because I knew she
would not doubt the word of a Publix employee.

Publix prices are not always the cheapest on every item but they are always
competitive. I could name ten different kinds of products from can goods to
yogurt were I always seek out the Publix brand name. Not because it is the
cheapest, although it is, but because it is the best. But I run on.

Let me tell you a bit about the company. I don't know the politics George
Jenkins, the founder of Publix. But for a time I was associated with a local
chain of auto parts stores that operated on principles lifted directly from
the Publix playbook. Their motto was: "First you build the team then the
team builds the business. There is no other way." Up until the 50s and 60s
before the company's expansion went geometric I believe "Mr. George" knew
every employee by name and old timers still tell stories about him stopping
in to sweep floors or look up prices for customers or chat with the
butchers.

Publix is a privately held corporation. Although the majority of stock
remains in the hands of the Jenkins family the rest of the company is owned
by the employees. It is one of the largest privately held companies in the
United States. Only employees can buy stock and I know truck drivers who
have retired in their mid '50s with a million dollars in the bank. 

What Jenkins did was inspire and instill a corporate culture that valued the
workers, gave them a sense of pride and place and purpose. And he did it
long before the term "corporate culture" was coined. His focused on value.
Not price but Value.

As for commitment to the community... There are at least four foundations in
the town where I live that were started by Jenkins personally, Publix as a
company or by the families of the people that helped start the company.
Earlier this year the Publix Foundation gave a million dollar to each of two
local homeless shelters to help them retire their mortgages. And any
organization with a legitimate need can count of Publix for a $1,000
donation to do just about anything if it sounds worthwhile. While the
company's philanthropy is nearly legendary locally, I know that for many
years the only strings attached to Jenkin's donations were that you weren't
supposed to tell anybody where you got the money.

Neither his name nor the company name is attached to any of the many
buildings, parks, summer camps or even events that he helped to sponsor.
There is a street and a high school named after him but I am sure that was
not his doing.

Jenkins died in 1996 and there have been grumblings since the late 80s that
the bean counters are taking over. Real estate prices in South Florida
forced a new store design that is smaller and in my view less Customer
friendly. 

I hear Platt waxing poetic about Sam Walton but still when I think of
WalMart I think cheap convenience. They do nice things for sure but it is
still all about money. In my earlier post I tried to contrast Publix as a
trusted companion with WalMart as a cheap hooker. 

To be sure money is a big deal Publix. A friend who works in their real
estate department tells me they have a billion dollars in cash. But money is
not the only Value at Publix. And if all or even most companies operated the
way the Publix does I would be shouting "whoooohah" for capitalism but sadly
this is not the case. Publix is or was what capitalism should be or could
be, not necessarily what it is.

A fifth grader with wheels in his tennis shoes glides past the cantaloupes.
A young woman, old enough to know better giggles as she wiggles a cucumber
at a friend. Later I find them sharing some private joke near the chilled
sausages. Ah to be bathed in the warm rush of hormones. 

The skater holds the hem of his mother's blouse as she distracts his younger
sister, sitting cross legged in the grocery cart teething on a pack of
pretzels. 

Is that Jim Carrey pricing soup? 

Back near the paper towels I saw an apparition whom I swear was Miss Blonde
Month. I just can't place the year. 

I think I will take the checkout line with the exotic teen of uncertain race
and pale green eyes. I bet she has her own show one day...