Editor's note: We're pleased to see many large corporations contributing to the relief effort and are happy to give Wal-Mart due credit, but while it's donations to the overall relief effort have generated favorable headlines, the corporation is doing little to help employees. Wal-Mart has offered just three days pay to employees whose cannot work due to stores being closed (many of whom have lost their homes and belongings) -- far less than many less wealthy businesses.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. marshaled its massive distribution network to have its shelves stocked and its store inventories bolstered, prepared for tremendous demand for supplies needed before and after Hurricane Katrina struck.

The world's largest retailer has struggled on numerous public relations front in a prolonged battle with critics who say the company represents the worst of low-cost retailing. But Wal-Mart's response to the catastrophe - seen as far more effective than government efforts - has drawn praise from nearly all quarters.

Further, Wal-Mart donated millions in cash and goods for relief.

Burt Flickinger III, managing director for Strategic Resource Group in New York, noted that Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott was groomed as a trucking manager and said Scott used his expertise to make sure the company was ready for the crisis.

"Wal-Mart was at work around the clock before Katrina even hit land to have the stores fully stocked with full pallet positions of water, flashlights, batteries, canned soup, canned meat," Flickinger said.

The company drew a prominent mention when it sent trailerloads of goods to New Orleans that were turned away early on by Federal Emergency Management Agency officials.

The company pledged $15 million to the relief fund being promoted by former presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W. Bush, and gave another $2 million for other relief. The company donated $3 million in merchandise, including more than 100 trailer loads to emergency relief organizations, services and shelters.

Gerald Celente, director of Rhinebeck, N.Y.-based Trends Research Institute, which publishes a journal on economic trends, said Wal-Mart could shake the effect of recent negative impacts to its image from union attacks, lawsuits alleging bias against women and other court actions.

"Wal-Mart stepped to the plate," Celente said. "They didn't have to do that."

"We try to refrain from making value judgments - what the motive is. But the fact is that (Wal-Mart was) there with trailer trucks being turned away. Amazing, isn't it?"

Celente and Flickinger have been frequently critical of the business side of Wal-Mart, and Barnard has said of late that Wal-Mart's sales troubles run deeper than customers struggling high gas prices.

The company will face tough times if the price of fuel stays high, the analysts said. And Barnard said the company will have to solve its difficulties in attracting more affluent shoppers to its general merchandise sections, particularly apparel.

"This (fuel) price shock is real," Celente said. "Wal-Mart recognized it before Katrina. They were one of the few companies that made the announcement that these gas prices are hurting us."

As Wal-Mart answers its critics in the time ahead, Flickinger said the company would do well to remember "consumer and community support in these tough times rather than (taking) a scorched earth approach to organized labor."

© 2005 Associated Press

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