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Yeah, don't care. Of course CEOs get paid. Cashiers don't deserve $15 an hour...this is coming from someone who was one at one time. If Walmart employees don't like their jobs, then they should go find a better-paying one. Oh wait, they can't...because they don't have any skills, and people with no skills can't get good-paying jobs...even if they work for companies other than Wal-Mart.
Yeah, don't care. Of course CEOs get paid. Cashiers don't deserve $15 an hour...this is coming from someone who was one at one time. If Walmart employees don't like their jobs, then they should go find a better-paying one. Oh wait, they can't...because they don't have any skills, and people with no skills can't get good-paying jobs...even if they work for companies other than Wal-Mart.
These same people that are whining about needed $15.00 an hour are the same ones raised on the idea that everyone gets a trophy. I learned a long time ago in elementary school that losing sucks, so I did something about it.
Yeah, don't care. Of course CEOs get paid. Cashiers don't deserve $15 an hour...this is coming from someone who was one at one time. If Walmart employees don't like their jobs, then they should go find a better-paying one. Oh wait, they can't...because they don't have any skills, and people with no skills can't get good-paying jobs...even if they work for companies other than Wal-Mart.
Or is it that they can't find a better paying job because of the number of grocers that Walmart put out of business...working in Grocery used to be a respectable well paying job.
Or is it that they can't find a better paying job because of the number of grocers that Walmart put out of business...working in Grocery used to be a respectable well paying job.
Ummm, the grocery stores still in business don't pay all that great as a rule either. The days of checkers getting a ton of $$$ per hour ended long ago, meat cutters/butchers were replaced for the most part by pre-packed meat putter outers.
One butcher I know that works at Safeway for the last 20 years or so was telling me that he's one of the few left and that Safeway will be going to pre-packed meat soon like many other stores. He's retiring from his $30 hr + serious benefits leaving behind those that make well less than half that.
Could it have been the direct result of strikes and constant union demands for more and more? Mayyyyybe so?
The point is business adjusts to market conditions. Demand $15 and your cashier job may just go the way of the $30 hr butcher if the store cannot raise prices enough to cover it.
Technology has made huge strides over the years and could easily replace many unskilled service industry workers. Look for that IPad cashier soon to be at a McDonalds near you.
Did you even read my post? I never said it was their 'responsibility', this is what I said:
"oh my yes, it's completely unrealistic to think that a chain whose gross profit was 129 billion in 2014 might just put a little of that into their employees wages in order to encourage other employers to raise their employees wages...why should they; there is no law requiring them to be socially responsible and the race to the bottom is fun"
I get it that you think Walmart is the best thing since sliced bread, I won't criticize you for that, or argue about it. But just think what the impact could be if a company as big as Walmart decided to be the leader in raising employees wages so that people could actually earn enough money to live on.
As far as this silliness "why would the CEO not make more than the cashiers?" again, not something I even hinted at, but since you brought it up, the CEO of Walmart makes an astonishing 1,034 times the salary of the median wage of Walmart employees.
Have you realized that the CEO of Target makes even more than that, or the CEO of Best Buy....etc. Its the reality of how things work in retail, these stores rely a lot on low skilled workers with little leverage in the job market. If someone doesn't get a job with Walmart, with the same skillset, where are they going to go and get paid more? People who are overly qualified to earn a lot more money generally don't start their careers at Walmart. If Walmart wasn't there, then whether they were working for Target, K-Mart, Kroger, Safeway or most other retail big box stores, would it really make a difference. If anything they might have better opportunities at Walmart considering the high level of promotions from within the company while many other companies seem to prefer to bring in management candidates from the outside.
The CEO and executive pay is certainly out of balance but Walmart is far, far from being the only culprit. Your gripe is with the state of retail business as a whole.
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Target now employs over 340,000 workers in the United States. According to IBIS World, an independent market research company, the average wage for Target employees is in fact less than the average wage for workers at Walmart. And while many of these Target "team members" are paid a poverty-level wage, the compensation package of Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel amounted to over $28 million in 2012. That's almost $14,000 per hour! Shockingly, that's even more than Walmart's CEO, Mike Duke, who makes approximately $11,000 per hour.
I get it that you think Walmart is the best thing since sliced bread, I won't criticize you for that, or argue about it. But just think what the impact could be if a company as big as Walmart decided to be the leader in raising employees wages so that people could actually earn enough money to live on.
Ask and ye shall receive, since Walmart offered an increase to all employees, stores like TJ Maxx, Big Lots and Target have followed suit.
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The company said 500,000 full-time and part-time associates, more than a third of its work force at Walmart (WMT) U.S. stores and Sam's Clubs, will receive pay raises in April to at least $9 an hour. That will be $1.75 above the federal minimum wage.
By next February 1, their pay will go to at least $10 an hour.
When Walmart announced in February that nearly 500,000 of its workers would be getting a raise, it started a minimum wage arms race.This week, Arkansas Business looks at how other companies including McDonald's, T.J. Maxx and Target followed in Walmart's footsteps.
Since Walmart CEO Doug McMillon announced that the retailer would raise starting pay for store workers to $9 per hour this year and $10 next year, others quickly followed suit.
That includes Walmart rival Target Corporation, and another big employer of minimum wage workers, McDonald's.
The fast food chain said last week that starting wages at company-owned restaurants would soon be one dollar more than whatever the locally mandated minimum wage is.
By the end of 2016, average hourly wages would be more than $10.
New York Times columnist and Nobel economist Paul Krugman certainly thought it was significant: “There will be spillovers,” he wrote. “Walmart is so big that its action will probably lead to raises for millions of workers employed by other companies.”
Walmart’s wage increase is expected to have a ripple affect in other large retailers across the nation. Edward Jones analyst Brian Yarbrough expects restaurants will also be affected by this change. As noted in Biztimes.com, “Wal-Mart is trying to reduce turnover among its 1.3 million U.S. workers, which would in turn cut training costs and improve service at its 4,400 domestic stores. With the unemployment rate dropping and jobs more widely available, Wal-Mart’s move may ripple through the retail industry.”
Or is it that they can't find a better paying job because of the number of grocers that Walmart put out of business...working in Grocery used to be a respectable well paying job.
Nah. That was back in the day, when fewer people had an education, etc.
I used to work for a tiny mom and pop store that was a good 30 minutes away from any Wal-Mart or large chain.
I got paid right at minimum wage when I first started. I did get fifty cent raise a year after that. The "manager" there only got paid a quarter more than I did, and she'd been working for them for 9 years.
Or is it that they can't find a better paying job because of the number of grocers that Walmart put out of business...working in Grocery used to be a respectable well paying job.
I haven't noticed any shortage of grocers and we have Walmart's popping up left and right out here, yet that still hasn't stopped from companies like Winco opening up, as well as Kroger building new stores constantly, it hasn't stopped Sprouts from expanding, there's a ton of room in the retail market but only if you offer the right value for customers. If you can't beat Walmart on price then you've got to differentiate yourself in some fashion, either through offering better service, superior products or a combination of everything.
If someone wants to work in retail, particularly in the grocery industry, there's plenty of job offerings for them, they all just pay pretty much what you would expect retail to pay, the unionized stores certainly don't pay anymore than Walmart does.
Nah. That was back in the day, when fewer people had an education, etc.
I used to work for a tiny mom and pop store that was a good 30 minutes away from any Wal-Mart or large chain.
I got paid right at minimum wage when I first started. I did get fifty cent raise a year after that. The "manager" there only got paid a quarter more than I did, and she'd been working for them for 9 years.
Which is the truth ultimately. As much as people reminisce about "mom and pop" stores and how great they were, creating a legend that only exists in their own minds, I grew up in the stereotypical small town with "mom and pop" businesses as the majority of stores in town. The nearest Walmart was probably a good 70 or 80 miles away. The largest store was a Safeway grocery store about 15 miles away.
Having had that experience, I don't get what people have to be so fond of. The smaller businesses had much shorter hours, usually closing at 5, 6 or 7 at the latest. We had two small local grocery stores, a pharmacy and a fruit market. There were few employees, the pay was universally low across the board, the overall selection was lacking and the prices were quite a bit higher than you might find in your regular grocery store.
Its great that people want to buy "local" but we have all these big box stores and grocery chains for a reason....there was demand for them, people wanted more of a selection for a lower price and more flexible hours. It isn't some sort of conspiracy, its just overall changes in the economy, filling what the market is demanding. Much as we don't have dealerships selling horse buggies, a lot of these smaller businesses simply couldn't fill the demand of what people were looking for at the time.
Have you realized that the CEO of Target makes even more than that, or the CEO of Best Buy....etc.
You don't even understand the difference between CEO pay and the ratio between it and worker pay do you? Let me break it down for you:
Walmart CEO earns around 23 million a year, the average Walmart worker earns 22,000 a year so the ratio is 1034:1, that means the CEO makes 1034 times what the average worker earns.
Target CEO makes around 18 million a year, the average Target worker earns 29,900 a year, so the ratio is 598:1
Best Buy CEO makes around 1.8 million a year, the average Best Buy Employee earns around 24,000 a year so the ratio is 75:1
and by the way, thanks for making the point that a number of others have brought up and been promptly shot down- that Target apparently does pay better, average wage of 29,900 vs 22,000 for Walmart. In fact if you look at the chart you will see that Walmart is the 2nd lowest paying fortune 100 firm, with McDonald's getting the honor of being the lowest paying employer.
lion a year, the average Best Buy Employee earns around 24,000 a year so the ratio is 75:1
and by the way, thanks for making the point that a number of others have brought up and been promptly shot down- that Target apparently does pay better
Not sure where you got your numbers but they are incorrect. Right off the bat you put the Target CEO as earning $18 million but in reality he earned over $28 million in 2012.
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the compensation package of Target CEO Gregg Steinhafel amounted to over $28 million in 2012. That's almost $14,000 per hour! Shockingly, that's even more than Walmart's CEO, Mike Duke, who makes approximately $11,000 per hour.
According to data provided by IBISWorld, an independent market research group, sales associates or cashiers at Target, Kmart, Barnes and Noble, Kohl's and BJ's Wholesale Club all make less on average than a Wal-Mart associate. At Target, according to IBISWorld, a cashier makes $7.96 an hour on average, while a Kmart cashier makes $7.59.
According to IBIS World, an independent market research company, the average wage for Target employees is in fact less than the average wage for workers at Walmart.
If Target had higher wages to begin with, they wouldn't have been following along months after Walmart raised their wages.
Once again, your gripe is with the retail industry as a whole, not Walmart.
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