Just the facts.

In regard to May's Sounding Board ("Don't shop till they drop") by Robert Senser, please get off Wal-Mart's back. I don't think most people know the facts. My wife started a part-time job at Wal-Mart last year. With no experience, she started at over $10 an hour, and after a year she gets better health care benefits than I do from my full-time job.

She just got a $50 bonus and she only works 20 hours a week. They also have meals for the associates at least twice a week, and they can buy stock at bargain prices.

Dave Engel

White Hall, Md.

I am trying to answer this question: How does my refusing to patronize Wal-Mart or buy Nike footwear in any way do justice to, or lessen the suffering of, a young child in Bangladesh now working for 6.5 cents per hour?

Would the child be better off with no wage at all? That would seem to be the outcome if all of us went on a buyers' strike. Of course the child would benefit if his parents earned a living wage, but how can our decision where to shop, or not to shop at all, bring this about?

In my own feeble way, I take some steps to alleviate poverty in the world. Yes, I could be doing much, much more--most of us could.

However, I can't comprehend how shopping at an upscale store or buying a more expensive product has any beneficial effect at all.

Bill Cahill

Wheaton, Ill.