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Personally, I believe that customers should take a philosophical stand, when it comes to these things. Walmart business practices is one of the main reasons income inequality is so bad in this country. I have a walmart 2 minutes from my house and Costco about 15 miles away. But I prefer to drive the extra miles to support Costco with my $$$, because I truly believe in what they doing. But, it is a personal decision.
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Originally Posted by warren zee
I am more inclined to shop at Costco - not only because I like their merchandise more, but because of their labor practices.
If Walmart paid every employee just two dollars more per hour - tell me how they would still not make a healthy profit. They are greedy.
Not sure this theory totally applies. There were a lot of stores and stuff available in most parts of the country prior to Walmart. Most towns had Sears or Wards or Roses as well as several other clothing and such stores. As well as groceries. Small town where we bought everything, when I grew up, had three lumber yards, five grocery stores, five gas/oil jobbers, two 5/10, two jewelers, two shoe stores (plus a cobbler), three furniture stores, and a half dozen or so clothing stores (in all price ranges). This doesn't count banks, restaurants, gas stations, car dealers, etc. What they didn't have was parking since everything was down town. Walmart came out so you could buy everything in one place and park your car while doing it. Heck Walmart even had a cafeteria where you could buy lunch to keep you in the store while shopping.
so... where are they now? Most of them are gone/in decline.
I'm not saying that it isn't possible for small towns to have other stores... I'm just saying that to operate on a national basis which includes rural areas, Walmart has a different business model... And times have changed too, small towns did do well but then globalization happened, Walmart came after that but it didn't really cause the small towns to decline by itself. Just that Walmart saw an opportunity to do business from the gap that the other stores left, so they took it and developed a business model that worked.
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Walmart business practices is one of the main reasons income inequality is so bad in this country.
yes because one company can change an entire country? I acknowledge that they are the biggest employer world wide (outside of the US and Chinese military) but Walmart only operates inside the laws that they are given...
You guys can't expect the Waltons to actually "give" away their money to their workers or do you? If the stores can only afford their employees at whatever rate it is, then regardless of them having billions of dollars is irrelevant. That is their money, not the company's. Do people expect small business owners to over pay their employees and go into bankruptcy? Why does it matter how rich the owners are? Once the business operates in the red, it closes shop. It's all rather easy to spend someone else's money isn't it?
basically, don't like Walmart, then don't shop there... but not shopping at Walmart does nothing for the minimum wage... you have to lobby for that separately.
Different business strategy....Costco is known to be great to their employees relative to most other retail chains...Walmart (despite the negative stereotypes) is actually not that bad to their employees either....atleast compared to other retailers like Kmart...
so... where are they now? Most of them are gone/in decline.
I'm not saying that it isn't possible for small towns to have other stores... I'm just saying that to operate on a national basis which includes rural areas, Walmart has a different business model... And times have changed too, small towns did do well but then globalization happened, Walmart came after that but it didn't really cause the small towns to decline by itself. Just that Walmart saw an opportunity to do business from the gap that the other stores left, so they took it and developed a business model that worked.
yes because one company can change an entire country? I acknowledge that they are the biggest employer world wide (outside of the US and Chinese military) but Walmart only operates inside the laws that they are given...
You guys can't expect the Waltons to actually "give" away their money to their workers or do you? If the stores can only afford their employees at whatever rate it is, then regardless of them having billions of dollars is irrelevant. That is their money, not the company's. Do people expect small business owners to over pay their employees and go into bankruptcy? Why does it matter how rich the owners are? Once the business operates in the red, it closes shop. It's all rather easy to spend someone else's money isn't it?
basically, don't like Walmart, then don't shop there... but not shopping at Walmart does nothing for the minimum wage... you have to lobby for that separately.
The poster was stating that the Walmart that opened in her rural area probably was the catalyst that caused those mom and pop grocery,jewelry, liquor, lumber mills, tool stores to go out of business or be on the verge of going out of business. I doubt Walmart hired all those unemployed people in that town and those folks probably had no where else to go. As for the waltons refusing to spend their money to give the workers a raise, how about the CEO cut his pay. The Walmart CEO made 26 million dollars last year yet the Costco CEO made 350,000 dollars last year. If the Walmart CEO said I will cut my salary to $ 1 million dollars so all 2.1 million Walmart workers can make at least $15 an hour. This you be great public relations remark and many patrons that refuse to shop at Walmart because the way they treat their employees would start shopping there again so more profits and the theft from Walmart employees would be significantly reduced also increasing their profits because all their workers are making a decent wage. Why can't the Walmart CEO be like this CEO of this Seattle company. Seattle Company Raises Minimum Wage to $70,000 a Year For All Employees! | Dimensional Bliss. Of course don't offer all Walmart employees 70,000 a year but offering all at least $15 an hour seems reasonable.
Different business strategy....Costco is known to be great to their employees relative to most other retail chains...Walmart (despite the negative stereotypes) is actually not that bad to their employees either....atleast compared to other retailers like Kmart...
Yeah Kmart is dreadful to its employees but that is karma on them as pretty much all their stores have closed down across the nation. Pretty soon Kmarts are going to be non exsistant.
You learn something new everyday, I had no idea Costco employees made that much, quite a good wage for that type of work. I would gladly work there if I am down on my luck.
You learn something new everyday, I had no idea Costco employees made that much, quite a good wage for that type of work. I would gladly work there if I am down on my luck.
I didn't know Costco's employees made that much until I saw an article about it. Heck they almost make as much as I do as an entry level bench chemist with a degree in chemistry. If I ever get laid off of my job, Costco will defiantly be the first place I apply to and I have several years of retail experience under my belt. It's great to know that there are some companies that even value their low skill workers and even pay them a decent wage.
I didn't know Costco's employees made that much until I saw an article about it. Heck they almost make as much as I do as an entry level bench chemist with a degree in chemistry. If I ever get laid off of my job, Costco will defiantly be the first place I apply to and I have several years of retail experience under my belt. It's great to know that there are some companies that even value their low skill workers and even pay them a decent wage.
I agree with your statement. Walmart wants them to work like dogs for $9 an hour but they want to know why half of their employees steal merchandise from them and they have such a high turnover rate. Pay your employees a decent wage and you have more loyalty. All of the Walton kids were born with a silver spoon in their mouth when daddy Sam Walton left the company to them. The Walton's fourtune is about a 145 billion dollars with each child being worth 35 billion dollars on average. You can't tell me that can't afford to pay their employees an effective wage even Kroger, Publix, and Aldi start their cashiers and associates of at $10-11 an hour. My aunt worked for Walmart for 20 years and what she got from them was a whopping wage of $13 an hour as a department manager. I don't blame you from not wanting to shop at Walmart/ SAMs because who wants to support a company that treats their employees like dirt because the Walton kids are greedy and selfish and want all the profits for themselves.
Work like dogs? Putting stuff in bags and pressing keys is working like a dog? They don't even ring up things fast either they take their good ole time. All this in a climate controlled environment too.
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