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More like snob appeal. That's what keeps WF going in and out of the Bay Area.
The Whole Foods in Berkeley and Oakland are actually really friendly, and frequented by all types of people. Students, seniors, vegans, non-profit workers and well-off people. Whoever. Broad range of incomes actually. Snooty patrons are pretty rare in these 2 WFs.
No! Walmart has some the best salaries and benefits for employees in the industry. They have the most technologically advanced inventory management and distribution system. Walmart is also one of the greenest (energy efficient) business. If the mom and pop store owners were remotely as intelligent and efficient as Walmart executives, they would have built a much bigger enterprise. There is nothing wrong with Walmart as a business.
Whether you like shopping in Walmart or not is a different matter altogether!
It's not just those of us int he Bay Area forums who disagree with you:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Oerdin
I don't mind that they have low prices and in fact I rather like that. I do mind that they demand cities or counties give them subsidies because no private enterprise should get subsidies unless there is a very good reason and retail just doesn't fall into that category for me ever. I also hate how Walmart is extremely anti labor (closing stores rather then letting workers organize), I hate how they abuse their workers by refusing to pay fair wages and/or workers comp when workers are injured on the job, I hate how they literally tell American companies they have to move their factories to China or Walmart will stop carrying said products, I hate how Walmart literally offers really low prices until the competition goes out of business then they raise their prices, I don't like how Walmart tells their workers to sign up for welfare rather then offering decent compensation. In short, I believe Walmart is an extremely unethical company and I will never shop there if I can avoid it.
Editor's note: This article illustrates the challenges that face any corporate executives who attempt to resist market pressures to cut employee pay and, indirectly, why "corporate responsibility" initiatives have severely limited potential. Please see our article "Inherent Rules of Corporate Behavior (http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org/corporate_accountability/inherent_rules_of_corporate_behavior.html - broken link)" if you'd like to explore this topic further.
When it comes to workers, companies can be accused of not paying enough -- or paying too much.
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.'s parsimonious approach to employee compensation has made the world's largest retailer a frequent target of labor unions and even Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry, who has accused the Bentonville, Ark., chain of failing to offer its employees affordable health-care coverage.
In contrast, rival Costco Wholesale Corp. often is held up as a retailer that does it right, paying well and offering generous benefits.
But Costco's kind-hearted philosophy toward its 100,000 cashiers, shelf-stockers and other workers is drawing criticism from Wall Street. Some analysts and investors contend that the Issaquah, Wash., warehouse-club operator actually is too good to employees, with Costco shareholders suffering as a result.
"From the perspective of investors, Costco's benefits are overly generous," says Bill Dreher, retailing analyst with Deutsche Bank Securities Inc. "Public companies need to care for shareholders first. Costco runs its business like it is a private company."
Costco appears to pay a penalty for its largesse to workers. The company's shares trade at about 20 times projected per-share earnings for 2004, compared with about 24 for Wal-Mart. Mr. Dreher says the unusually high wages and benefits contribute to investor concerns that profit margins at Costco aren't as high as they should be.
Costco, which opened its first store in 1983 and now has 432 locations, disputes the contention that it takes care of workers at the expense of investors. "The last thing I want people to believe is that I don't care about the shareholder," says Jim Sinegal, Costco's president and chief executive since 1993, who owns about 3.2 million Costco shares valued at $118 million. "But I happen to believe that in order to reward the shareholder in the long term, you have to please your customers and workers." Costco vs. Wal-Mart
Comparing some workplace statistics, as reported by the companies.
Employees covered by company health insurance
Costco 82%
Wal-Mart 48%
Insurance-enrollment waiting periods (for part-time workers)
Costco 6 months
Wal-Mart 2 years
Portion of health-care premium paid by company
Costco 92%
Wal-Mart 66%
Worker pay, benefits and job quality have been hot topics in the retail industry. While employees in many fields are worried about generally stagnant job growth and spiraling health-care costs, already-meager retail wages also are threatened by retail-pricing pressure, partly fueled by Wal-Mart's growing dominance in toys, electronics, groceries and other categories. Grocery workers in California recently waged a brutal four-month strike (http://www.reclaimdemocracy.org/articles_2004/supermarket_union_failure_california.html - broken link) to protest health-care cuts that large supermarket chains were imposing to stay competitive with Wal-Mart.
Hourly retail pay grew only 1% in the 12 months ended last month, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, compared with a 1.7% gain for private-sector jobs overall.
Wal-Mart last year added 99,000 jobs in the U.S., making it the country's biggest job creator, and nearly all those positions pay by the hour. And since Costco and Wal-Mart's larger Sam's Club warehouse chain increasingly are competing head-to-head on everything from turkeys to tires, the companies have to pay close attention to each other. Editor's note: Numerous studies show nearly the same number of jobs are eliminated as are created by Wal-Mart. To call the company a "job creator" requires counting only one side of the ledger.
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Mona Williams says the company's "entire package of wages, benefits and career opportunities is at least as good as that offered by Costco," including bonuses, company-paid life insurance and a discounted Wal-Mart stock-purchase program. Sam's Club has a "cost advantage" over Costco, she adds, because it can "leverage efficiencies" from Wal-Mart in areas such as merchandise sourcing and logistics, keeping basic membership fees a third cheaper than Costco's.
Costco has won a reputation for having the best benefits in retail, a sector where labor costs account for about 80% of a typical company's total expenses. [Editor's note: we're unsure of the source for this claim, but we question its accuracy] Costco pays starting employees at least $10 an hour, and with regular raises a full-time hourly worker can make $40,000 annually within 3½ years. Cashiers are paid $10.50 to $17.50 an hour.
Wal-Mart doesn't disclose its wage rates, since they vary by location. According to a recent study funded by Wal-Mart, cashiers at its Supercenters in Las Vegas were paid $7.65 to $11.45 an hour. Supercenters are Wal-Mart's discount grocery and general-merchandise stores.
Costco also pays 92% of its employees' health-insurance premiums, much higher than the 80% average at large U.S. companies. Wal-Mart pays two-thirds of health-benefit costs for its workers. Costco's health plan offers a broader range of care than Wal-Mart's does, and part-time Costco workers qualify for coverage in six months, compared with two years for Wal-Mart part-timers.
"From day one, we've run the company with the philosophy that if we pay better than average, provide a salary people can live on, have a positive environment and good benefits, we'll be able to hire better people, they'll stay longer and be more efficient," says Richard Galanti, Costco's chief financial officer.
Costco has several advantages over Wal-Mart that help it extend such unusually generous pay and benefits. Costco has a more-upscale reputation than Sam's Club, helping it attract shoppers with higher incomes. The average Costco store rings up $115 million in annual sales, almost double the Sam's Club average. And Costco, which charges $45 to $100 for yearly memberships, doesn't spend any money on advertising.
Costco says its higher pay boosts loyalty: Its employee turnover rate is 24% a year. Wal-Mart's overall employee turnover rate is 50%, about in line with the retail-industry average. Wal-Mart doesn't break out turnover rates at Sam's Club. High turnover creates added expense for retailers because new workers have to be trained and are not as efficient.
Some critics still aren't convinced that lower turnover is worth what it costs Costco in higher wages and benefits. "Their benefits are amazing, but shareholders get frustrated from a stock perspective," says Emme Kozloff, a retail analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein LLC.
Surging health-care costs have forced Costco to make more aggressive moves to control expenses. Moreover, Costco last year raised employees' contribution to about 8% of their health-care costs, up from 4.5%. It was the company's first rise in employee health premiums in eight years. Mr. Sinegal, the Costco CEO, said the company held off from boosting premiums for as long it could, and didn't give in until after it had lowered its earnings forecast twice last year.
Costco also is looking to employees for ideas that could improve efficiency. One suggestion that Costco implemented at stores was to install pneumatic tubes at check-out areas to speed the movement of cash to a store's back office.
Mr. Galanti says company officials want to boost Costco's pretax income closer to 4% of sales, compared with 3% now and 5% at Wal-Mart, without cutting pay. In its fiscal second quarter ended Feb. 15, Costco's net income rose 25% to $226.8 million, or 48 cents a share. Revenue rose 14% to $11.55 billion.
Some longtime Costco fans say the company should stick to its generous wages and benefits. "Happy employees make for happy customers, which in the long run is ultimately reflected in the share price," says John Bowen, an investment manager in Coronado, Calif., who has held Costco shares for eight years.
There are reasons why the Bay Area, and not just the Bay Area as (these posts were taken from the San Diego forum, SD too is a city that isn't pleased with Wal-Mart) have issues supporting companies like Wal-Mart but not some others, such as Costco and some of the others mentioned.
I don't understand the Wal-Mart angle as it's often brought up here. It's not just a Bay Area thing for those of you hell bent on trying to make it seem that way just so you can bash the Bay Area.
I've seen some threads where people are gleefully proclaiming "we're getting a Walmart!!!!" and used to think they were semi-joking. I mean come on...if that's your idea of excitement and good shopping I feel bad for you. But I guess something is better than nothing in some parts of the country but not in the Bay Area. I go to one occasionally because it's literally 3 miles away and good for cheap stuff. My daughter goes there to feel better about herself. I wouldn't miss it if I never saw it again.
^They literally just hate it... there's nothing you can do for them.
Anyway, you been to a mexican joint in RWC? lol
haha dude I haven't been back to the Bay yet. I was supposed to go up for Christmas but that fell through. Haven't been there since March and that's a long time for me.
I've seen some threads where people are gleefully proclaiming "we're getting a Walmart!!!!" and used to think they were semi-joking. I mean come on...if that's your idea of excitement and good shopping I feel bad for you. But I guess something is better than nothing in some parts of the country but not in the Bay Area. I go to one occasionally because it's literally 3 miles away and good for cheap stuff. My daughter goes there to feel better about herself. I wouldn't miss it if I never saw it again.
Yeah, I never understood that either. For some I guess, Wal-Mart is the end of all ends, the thing to have.
This recession has hit people hard. People need to save money and shop wisely. Wal mart is great for that. Just because you are rich doesn't mean you need to get all snobby about it.
I don't understand how buying 100 dollar pants and 200 dollar jackets and 50 dollar sunglasses is beneficial to anyone but the rich/yuppyfied and it makes no sense economically. TAX THE RICH. Then maybe they will stop wasting on stupid stuff.
No one is being snobby Socalbrad, Footballfreak, and now BacktoBlue. We understand that the economy is bad. We get that, we really do but thanks for attempting to enlighten us. These remarks were not about the economy. They were in reference to how some use Wal-Mart as a crutch when wanting to speak disparagingly about the place I love (the Bay Area) and, as my post pointed out, the place you love (San Diego). You just don't get it do you? This has nothing to do with Wal-Mart really. These trolls are using Wal-Mart as they have nothing else to hinge their arguments on.
If you are still confused, please refer to the post I have here which was taken, as I mentioned, from the SD forum.
No one is being snobby Socalbrad, Footballfreak, and now BacktoBlue. We understand that the economy is bad. We get that, we really do but thanks for attempting to enlighten us. These remarks were not about the economy. They were in reference to how some use Wal-Mart as a crutch when wanting to speak disparagingly about the place I love (the Bay Area) and, as my post pointed out, the place you love (San Diego). You just don't get it do you? This has nothing to do with Wal-Mart really. These trolls are using Wal-Mart as they have nothing else to hinge their arguments on.
If you are still confused, please refer to the post I have here which was taken, as I mentioned, from the SD forum.
Ok I understand, but I have no idea who either of those two people you mentioned before my username are. You must have me mistaken for someone else.
And the mon and pop junk shops offer their employess good benefits unlike Walmart? Walmart is not perfect but it became so big because they are doing things right!
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You must have me mistaken for someone else.
