REAL WORLD EVENT DISCUSSIONS

How you can tell wages are too low

POSTED BY: NEWOLDBROWNCOAT
UPDATED: Tuesday, November 19, 2013 13:53
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 1032
PAGE 1 of 1

Monday, November 18, 2013 1:59 PM

NEWOLDBROWNCOAT


http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2013/11/18/walmart_food_drive_reta
il_giant_is_raising_money_for_its_own_employees.html


Yepper, WalMart is running a food drive to benefit its own
employees who are too poor to buy their own groceries.

What's wrong with this picture?

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Monday, November 18, 2013 3:07 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Makes my stomach churn.




NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 3:57 AM

ELVISCHRIST


God forbid they pay a fucking living wage.


Anybody who still shops at WalMart is directly responsible for this.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 4:27 AM

FREMDFIRMA



Oh if only it were that simple....
Which it is NOT.

What about the poor bastards who have the option of buying three weeks of food (to cover a MONTH) from Walmart, or 1-1/2 weeks of food somewhere else ?
What about the poor bastards in the backwoods where the nearest Walmart is 28 miles away and the nearest competitor 40+ miles away ?
Or the places they've successfully "Conquered" thanks to tax-abatements and other chicanery, and they're the only game in town ?

ESPECIALLY with the recent SNAP cuts, for some people to shop elsewhere is to freakin STARVE, and not just them but their children too - so perhaps casting blame down on folks who have been backed into a corner with no other goddamn choice is a bit beyond the pale.
Honestly, you think they don't KNOW they are by lack of choice supporting the very economic conditions which are screwing them ?

When you delve beneath the artificially low (thanks to sweetheart land deals, tax abatements, and the like, by politicians who get nice kickbacks for it) prices, factor in the union busting and poverty wages, as well as other abuses, you know what this REALLY is, when you strip the gloss off ?

THE COMPANY STORE.



And this wouldn't work without the goddamn Government, local and federal, helping it right along because it keeps the populace in check, caught in economic trap, a setup from the get-go, and once hooked there's little chance of escape, especially when you throw the join-the-club fee of a fairly useless "education" and the massive debt THAT dumps on them into the mix, and then there's the car loan, the mortgage, etc etc etc.

Just because the chains are made of debt instead of steel doesn't mean they ain't there.
So IF you have a damn choice, consider yourself some kind of lucky.
Quote:

It's a joke, it's all a joke...
-Edward Blake



-Frem

NOTIFY: N   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 8:55 AM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Although I understand the argument, my heart is more with E.C. I walked into a WalMart once (we don't have any of them around here, have to drive North or go across the Bay) just to see what they were about. Obviously I didn't buy anything...but, like Target and Costco, one of the things I noticed was how FAT so many of the people were. Which is not about anything particular, I just was struck by it.

The argument is valid nonetheless, the problem is that places like Walmart INCREASE everything Frem spoke about. I have shopped in Target a couple of times long ago, and for a year we had a Costco membership purchased by Jim's employer, but I avoid them whenever possible. I work pretty hard at shopping in small, local businesses--it ain't easy, in a county with one of the highest costs of living in the nation. We slipped out of the "middle class" years ago, tho' given the increased divide between rich and poor, I'm not sure "middle class" hasn't caught back up with us again these days.

But excuse the threadjack, here's a gripe/rant. I've made a point to shop in a local pet store for my dog food, in order to support them over Petco (which I have other issues with, too, admittedly). But the last three times I went, they were closed...twice with a "be back..." sign, and once I got there at opening time and nobody showed for 20 minutes. Now, I organize my shopping carefully because of my back, gas costs, etc., so that's pretty inconvenient for me.

So the last time it happened, at 2:45 in the afternoon, I mentioned the problem when the woman showed back up to open the store. Her reply? "We're human beings, we gotta eat too, you know". I found that strange, given my husband and I owned a store and worked it ourselves 'cuz we were on a shoestring budget, so of course we packed lunches from home...we never would have dreamed of closing the store to eat. In fact, I've packed a lunch at every job I've ever had, from secretarial on. And 2:45 in the afternoon isn't something I could plan for--given I only buy dog food once or twice a month, having it happen three times in a row says to me it's a pretty common practice for them.

Recently when I was in, the woman was complaining about a new, fancy pet store opening up down the road, saying they already had like four pet stores within a mile, etc., etc. So there's obviously competition, and to respond to a customer's concerns that way, I admit, irked me. So I wrote to them and explained the problem, because I didn't feel it was right to just stop going there without trying to work it out, given the woman who spoke to me might have been just an employee and the owners might not even know what was going on. I never heard back from them. I spend almost $200 a month there--not a lot, certainly, but an important amount to my budget. Not to even hear back from them sent me a clear message, and I will be shopping elsewhere.

None of this has anything to do with Walmart or places like it, it just struck me that, in economic hard times, up against newly-increased competition, it's strange that there are those who still don't put the customer's concerns at least high enough in their priorities to respond.


NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 12:16 PM

NIKI2

Gettin' old, but still a hippie at heart...


Meanwhile, back on the subject at hand, I just saw this opinion piece:
Quote:

Walmart Sales Dropping Thanks to Low Walmart Wages

Walmart just reported shrinking sales for a third straight quarter. What’s going on? Explained William S. Simon, the CEO of Walmart, referring to the company’s customers, “their income is going down while food costs are not. Gas and energy prices, while they’re abating, I think they’re still eating up a big piece of the customer’s budget.”

Walmart’s CEO gets it. Most of Walmart’s customers are still in the Great Recession, grappling with stagnant or declining pay. So, naturally, Walmart’s sales are dropping.

But what Walmart’s CEO doesn’t get is that a large portion of Walmart’s customers are lower-wage workers who are working at places like … Walmart. And Walmart, not incidentally, refuses to raise its median wage (including its army of part-timers) of $8.80 an hour.

Walmart isn’t your average mom-and-pop operation. It’s the largest employer in America. As such, it’s the trendsetter for millions of other employers of low-wage workers. As long as Walmart keeps its wages at or near the bottom, other low-wage employers keep wages there, too. All they need do is offer $8.85 an hour to have their pick.

On the other hand, if Walmart were to boost its wages, other employers of low-wage workers would have to follow suit in order to attract the employees they need.

Get it? Walmart is so huge that a wage boost at Walmart would ripple through the entire economy, putting more money in the pockets of low-wage workers. This would help boost the entire economy — including Walmart’s own sales. (This is also an argument for a substantial hike in the minimum wage.)

Walmart could learn a thing or two from Henry Ford, who almost exactly a century ago decided to pay his workers three times the typical factory wage at the time. The Wall Street Journal called Ford a traitor to his class but he proved to be a cunning businessman.

Ford’s decision helped boost factory wages across the board — enabling so many working people to buy Model Ts that Ford’s revenues soared far ahead of his increased payrolls, and he made a fortune.

So why can’t Walmart learn from Ford? Because Walmart’s business model is static, depending on cheap labor rather than increased sales, and it doesn’t account for Walmart’s impact on the rest of the economy.




NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 1:04 PM

ELVISCHRIST


You can CHOOSE not to shop at WalMart. I consciously make that choice, which often involves paying more elsewhere, and it's not like I can really afford to do that; I have to make sacrifices in other areas in order to do so.

Stop enabling them and they'll be forced to change.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, November 19, 2013 1:53 PM

SHINYGOODGUY


Walmart has been kept out of my area because, once people hear they want to come into the neighborhood, small business owners and activists alike join forces and campaign against it. Walmart uses the same tired old rhetoric, more jobs, lower prices. What they really mean is more cheap labor, more money for them to grease the wheels. They were defeated handily.

But in some corners of this country, it is the only game in town, like Frem stated. So, we do what we can to stem the tide.

It's funny, republicans talk a good game about personal responsibility and BIG government, yet BIG corporate greed machines like Walmart, they can have the run of the place. Yet it flies in the face of what they claim they believe in (he said as he scratched his head).

Oh wait, I forgot their mantra - it's Obama's fault.


SGG

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

YOUR OPTIONS

NEW POSTS TODAY

USERPOST DATE

OTHER TOPICS

DISCUSSIONS
Kamala Harris for President
Mon, November 4, 2024 13:06 - 633 posts
Elections; 2024
Mon, November 4, 2024 12:15 - 4487 posts
The predictions thread
Mon, November 4, 2024 10:48 - 1181 posts
South Korea
Mon, November 4, 2024 10:41 - 3 posts
Paris traumatises Japanese tourists
Mon, November 4, 2024 10:33 - 8 posts
Japanese Culture, S.Korea movies are now outselling American entertainment products
Mon, November 4, 2024 10:07 - 48 posts
Russia Invades Ukraine. Again
Mon, November 4, 2024 09:24 - 7419 posts
Favourite Novels Of All Time?
Mon, November 4, 2024 09:14 - 43 posts
Futurist movement, Techno Science Optimists
Mon, November 4, 2024 06:45 - 64 posts
Disgruntled Tepublicans vow to move to Australia
Mon, November 4, 2024 06:27 - 75 posts
The Yemen Thread
Mon, November 4, 2024 05:38 - 43 posts
Belorussia, Belarusian news...
Mon, November 4, 2024 05:29 - 62 posts

FFF.NET SOCIAL