Super-Walmart back on the table for Tunkhannock (Scranton, Wilkes-Barre: how much, college)

[NYRangers 2008]

Originally Posted by go phillies

Pittston was dying out long before Wal-Mart came to town. Wal-Mart hasn't even been in Pittston that long....maybe 10 years? Adn even with Scranton, downtown was dead long before Commerce Blvd and Viewmont Dr even existed....actually for how dead downtown Scranton is now, it was even worse before the area around the Viewmont Mall really built up. Until about the mid-90's, the area where all the stores are behind and around the mall was all woods.

Yes, you're right. These cities were dead before Wal-Mart came to town. Does anyone really think that a small Wal-Mart like they have in Pittston Township ruined the city of Pittston? I don't believe it for one minute. As for Scranton, I remember when I moved up here in 1986 and first stepped foot in Scranton and I can tell you it was dead then and it isn't much better now. Wal-Mart and so-called "urban sprawl" did not ruin these cities. Short-sighted, fiscally irresponsible elected officials did.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by go phillies

News flash...Wal-Mart isn't the only place that pays low wages for retail work....pick any store, from chains like Target, K-Mart, Penney's, Sears to local mom-and-pops, they all pay low wages. Actually Rite Aid is one chain that pays horrible...they pay minimum wage....WM at least starts at a dollar or so above minimum. I worked for Sam's Club (part of Wal-Mart) years ago when I was in college, and it really wasn't that bad for a part-time job...I was treated just fine, and the pay wasn't bad for the time....I worked there 2 years in the mid-90's, started at $6.50 an hour, and made $8.50 an hour when I left 2 years later. And this was almost 15 years ago.

I didn't say it was the only place that paid low wages, did I? But combined with their strong arm tactics, the way they conduct themselves, etc I won't shop there. Sorry. Additionally, Wal-mart's wages ARE lower than that of other Big Box stores - up to 16% lower.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by NYRangers 2008

Yes, you're right. These cities were dead before Wal-Mart came to town. Does anyone really think that a small Wal-Mart like they have in Pittston Township ruined the city of Pittston? I don't believe it for one minute. As for Scranton, I remember when I moved up here in 1986 and first stepped foot in Scranton and I can tell you it was dead then and it isn't much better now. Wal-Mart and so-called "urban sprawl" did not ruin these cities. Short-sighted, fiscally irresponsible elected officials did.

Why, yes...yes I do believe that. I've seen evidence of it here and in other parts of the country.

Surprising that so many don't care that small town America is being eaten up by the Walmarts and other Big Box stores of the world.

Why would you want all cities to be so homogenized? Why support that?

[theatergypsy]

When I moved to Scranton from Bucks County in 1968, downtown Scranton was a bustling city, with a variety of shops, and the Globe Store and Scranton Dry Goods thrown in for pretty much all the shopping you could want...Bus service was wonderful and the people were friendly, neighborhoods were clean and crime was low...At that time, the Viewmont Mall was the new kid in town, and there wasn't much gridlock on the highway...By the time I moved to Forty Fort in 1975, construction of new commerce had begun by the mall and more and more people were taking advantage of the free parking and the nationally known big boxes...The movie complex was the place to drop the kids off and shop until it was time to pick them up...The Steamtown Mall was supposed to be the saviour of the downtown commercial district...But the drug trade and the working girls came to town, crime rose, it no longer felt comfortable to be in town after dark...Eventually, the downhill spiral picked up speed and fiscal maneuvering such as KOZ's and defaulted Start-up loans only served to further erode the tax base...Outsourced jobs and increasing taxes led to a dispirited populace weary from trying to maintain, never mind progress...Those who could afford to fled the city for the suburbs..
At the time of the shoppers' flight to the Viewmont Mall and the decline of downtown, WalMart had not yet come to Dickson City.

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by Magritte25

Additionally, Wal-mart's wages ARE lower than that of other Big Box stores - up to 16% lower.

Do you have anything to back that up? I know for sure that K-Mart and Sears both pay less than Wal-Mart....the chain pet stores like Petsmart also pay less. They pretty much all pay around the same low wages, though. The only "big boxes" I know that pay a half-decent wage are Home Depot and Lowe's, but there's a little more expertise involved in working in home improvement stores, as well as more manual labor.

And like I said, I have experience working for a Walmart-owned store, and it wasn't a bad experience....I was treated well, paid OK wages for the time considering all I was doing was running a cash register....I wasn't doing slave labor for pennies a day and getting daily floggings from management like the Wal-Mart bashers would lead you to believe.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by go phillies

Do you have anything to back that up? I know for sure that K-Mart and Sears both pay less than Wal-Mart....the chain pet stores like Petsmart also pay less. They pretty much all pay around the same low wages, though. The only "big boxes" I know that pay a half-decent wage are Home Depot and Lowe's, but there's a little more expertise involved in working in home improvement stores, as well as more manual labor.

And like I said, I have experience working for a Walmart-owned store, and it wasn't a bad experience....I was treated well, paid OK wages for the time considering all I was doing was running a cash register....I wasn't doing slave labor for pennies a day and getting daily floggings from management like the Wal-Mart bashers would lead you to believe.

You can use this table to compare Walmart's wages with others:

Table B-3. Average hourly and weekly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers (1) on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail

And can you debate what I actually wrote instead of making hyperbolic statements up? Please?

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by Magritte25

You can use this table to compare Walmart's wages with others:

Table B-3. Average hourly and weekly earnings of production and nonsupervisory workers (1) on private nonfarm payrolls by industry sector and selected industry detail

And can you debate what I actually wrote instead of making hyperbolic statements up? Please?

There's nothing on that link that says specifically what Wal-Mart pays. Plus, wages differ from area to area....Wal-Mart may pay $7.50 an hour or whatever in Scranton, but probably pays much more than that in California, DC, or New York City, depending on cost of living. And like I said, other similar "big box" stores pay similar wages as Wal-Mart, so I don't know why WM is always singled out? Why don't people gripe about K-Mart, Target, Big Lots, or Sears the way they do about Wal-Mart? Plus, the days are long gone when you can just get you high school diploma and walk into a good-paying unskilled job. You need further education these days, whether it be college or trade school. Its not like the old days when even supermarket jobs were decent-paying union jobs, or you could have your father or your uncle get you into the local factory and make good wages. Unskilled work just doesn't pay a living wage these days, and that's not just Wal-Mart.

And I did debate what you said....not sure what you're talking about there.

[Magritte25]

Originally Posted by go phillies

There's nothing on that link that says specifically what Wal-Mart pays. Plus, wages differ from area to area....Wal-Mart may pay $7.50 an hour or whatever in Scranton, but probably pays much more than that in California, DC, or New York City, depending on cost of living. And like I said, other similar "big box" stores pay similar wages as Wal-Mart, so I don't know why WM is always singled out? Why don't people gripe about K-Mart, Target, Big Lots, or Sears the way they do about Wal-Mart? Plus, the days are long gone when you can just get you high school diploma and walk into a good-paying unskilled job. You need further education these days, whether it be college or trade school. Its not like the old days when even supermarket jobs were decent-paying union jobs, or you could have your father or your uncle get you into the local factory and make good wages. Unskilled work just doesn't pay a living wage these days, and that's not just Wal-Mart.

And I did debate what you said....not sure what you're talking about there.

I said you can compare the wages at Walmart to the table.

Can you point out where I said this:

I wasn't doing slave labor for pennies a day and getting daily floggings from management like the Wal-Mart bashers would lead you to believe.

[Mr Yuk]

Originally Posted by Magritte25

Can you point out where I said this:

I wasn't necessarily saying that it was you who said that...just the Wal-Mart bashers in general.

[NYRangers 2008]

Originally Posted by go phillies

I wasn't necessarily saying that it was you who said that...just the Wal-Mart bashers in general.

Wal-Mart pays what the market bears. It doesn't matter how much a company makes, they are not going to pay employees more than $10 to $12 an hour to run a cashier or stock shelves. The DC in Tobyhanna pays a little more because it's more manual labor and you have to bust your butt. I think WM is in line with other retail stores in terms of wages. If they paid everyone $15 an hour, they would not be able to keep their prices low. And I don't believe that anyone would want to make a career out of being a WM cashier, greeter or shelf stocker. It's a great job for supplemental income for a college kid, a wife who wants to make a little extra money or an older person who wants to get out of the house for a bit, it's not a career.