It’s time more people realized they can live without handing their money over to Wal-Mart for a bunch of stuff they probably don’t need anyway.

The movie by Robert Greenwald was released last month and went on sale a week ago. Since then, groups in numerous communities, including Oneonta, have been airing the film.

What’s it about? According to the flick’s website, www.walmartmovie.com:

"Everyone has seen Wal-Mart’s lavish television commercials, but have you ever wondered why Wal-Mart spends so much money trying to convince you it cares about your family, your community, and even its own employees? What is it hiding?

"`WAL-MART: The High Cost of Low Price’ takes you behind the glitz and into the real lives of workers and their families, business owners and their communities, in an extraordinary journey that will challenge the way you think, feel ... and shop."

But what’s so bad, you may ask, about feeling good, which is exactly how a lot of people feel when they make their weekend outings to the local Wal-Mart on Oneonta’s Southside? What’s wrong is that their bliss is based on a convenience of apathy that ignores the big picture.

Wal-Mart has been increasingly under fire for the way it treats employees, child labor and overtime violations, union busting, use of sweatshop-produced merchandise, and the fact it drives competition out of town (as happened to K mart at Southside Mall and several other local businesses).

According to Alan Murray of the Wall Street Journal, "Sam Walton would be stunned to learn the company he founded in 1962 now ranks with the war in Iraq, prayer in the schools and gay marriage as one of the polarizing public issues of our times."

Before the Wal-Mart movie, there were Wal-Mart Watch and Wake Up Wal-Mart, labor-based groups formed to lobby against the retail giant. With very limited success, the latter group last summer called for a Wal-Mart boycott by back-to-school shoppers.

I have boycotted Wal-Mart for about seven years, though the initial reason was not as lofty as those mentioned above.

I was leaving the store after having made a purchase at an internal checkout when two human watchdogs came charging from their posts.

"Hold on," one commanded as she grabbed my bag, which was stapled shut, ripped it open and compared the receipt with the contents.

"What are you doing," I asked, much too politely. But by the time I realized that I was a victim of customer abuse, they were satisfied I hadn’t stolen anything, handed my bag back and rushed back to their perch.

It all happened so fast. All I could do was go over to them and ask them to tell their manager that at least one searched customer said he would never again set foot in the store.

And I haven’t. I’ve avoided all 1,471 Supercenters in the United States, and additional ones in Canada, too.

The boycott was more inconvenient after K mart closed in Oneonta. There’s still a K mart in Sidney, though, and there’s BJ’s here. Besides, if you put your mind to it, you can get just about anything you need at other stores, many of them locally owned.

But some people just don’t understand. I was looking to buy some tires recently and stopped in a store that didn’t have the size I needed.

"Just go down the road to Wal-Mart; they’ll have them," the salesman said.

"I don’t go to Wal-Mart; you know anywhere else that’d have the size," I replied.

He looked at me kind of strange. "You don’t go to Wal-Mart?"

"No. I’ve been boycotting it for years," I said.

Puzzled, he repeated, "boycotting it?"

"Yes. Don’t worry, I’ll find a place that has those tires. Thanks."

I can tell a lot of people reading this are getting interested in joining my boycott. The best way to do a boycott of Wal-Mart would be to start slowly and declare a personal boycott for next Friday.

That day, Nov. 25, is Buy Nothing Day this year. It’s the time, for 24 hours, millions of people worldwide refuse to participate in the consumption and commercialism that mark the season now upon us. They don’t buy anything that day because they don’t go shopping.

But you don’t have to be so hard-core. Why not try weaning yourself only from Wal-Mart for the day? Just say no to that urge. The parking lot and store will be too crowded, anyway.

Boycotts can feed off themselves. Who knows, maybe you’ll never go back.

Cary Brunswick is managing editor of The Daily Star and can be reached at cary@thedailystar.com or 432-1000, ext. 217.