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You get what you pay for, you don't go to Walmart expecting a premium shopping experience. I even expect going in the door to find empty shelves and stoned employees. Americans want rock bottom prices so this is the result.
Well if you are right, then maybe Walmart could save some more money by hiring prison labor and just throwing their crap on the floor rather than stocking the shelves
year round? Without companies like Walmart, you wouldn't...
Rubbish.
Since northern hemisphere growing seasons became redundant as being the controlling factor for seasonal produce availability (that happened when transportation and refrigeration advancements made counterpoint southern hemisphere growing season produce readily available to northern hemisphere consumers throughout the "off" season at reasonable pricing). You can get those things all over - take Trader Joes for example which is nothing "like" Walmarts in its business practices and employee pay and benefits. Which is also reflected in the attitude of its employees.
Well if you are right, then maybe Walmart could save some more money by hiring prison labor and just throwing their crap on the floor rather than stocking the shelves
Rubbish.
Since northern hemisphere growing seasons became redundant as being the controlling factor for seasonal produce availability (that happened when transportation and refrigeration advancements made counterpoint southern hemisphere growing season produce readily available to northern hemisphere consumers throughout the "off" season at reasonable pricing). You can get those things all over - take Trader Joes for example which is nothing "like" Walmarts in its business practices and employee pay and benefits. Which is also reflected in the attitude of its employees.
so... tell me, why can't I find Trader Joes in almost every small town in the US?
You can't compare a company with a limited market to one that is everywhere and say they are equal...
so... tell me, why can't I find Trader Joes in almost every small town in the US?
You can't compare a company with a limited market to one that is everywhere and say they are equal...
I didn't say they were equal. Walmarts have nothing to do with the fact you can now buy fresh out-of-season produce in the US. If your point was that Walmart is often the only game in town (not surprising seeing as its practices led to the other "games" going out of business) and if they weren't there now, then you wouldn't be able to buy these things - I'd agree to the extent no other national company would step in to fill the gap. Currently, no other company is going to comete on price with Walmart in the "small town" low density locations - so they have the whole market there. If some (unlikely) disaster happened to Walmart and they went belly up, within a few months there would be another chain there supplying the cilantro. Whether its ethics would be the same as Walmart... you may be right.
so... tell me, why can't I find Trader Joes in almost every small town in the US?
You can't compare a company with a limited market to one that is everywhere and say they are equal...
You can't find one in every small town because they don't want to operate in small towns, and they don't open stores in economically depressed areas. They are not engaged in a race to the bottom. They open stores where the demographics in terms of income and population indicate that they will have a good customer base. It's a different business model.
The reason some retailers like Costco pay people more because they have higher valued goods and they pay people a bit more to lower the risk of shrinkage. Studies show that places that pay people low, the risk of shrinkage goes up. By paying more Costco is hoping that will deter shrinkage as most of their merchandises are much higher value than Walmart goods. It's not gonna stop it but it can curtail shrinkage when people know they are taking a risk losing a good paying job and other workers at Costco also feels a sense of responsibility if they catch people stealing.
The reason some retailers like Costco pay people more because they have higher valued goods and they pay people a bit more to lower the risk of shrinkage. Studies show that places that pay people low, the risk of shrinkage goes up. By paying more Costco is hoping that will deter shrinkage as most of their merchandises are much higher value than Walmart goods. It's not gonna stop it but it can curtail shrinkage when people know they are taking a risk losing a good paying job and other workers at Costco also feels a sense of responsibility if they catch people stealing.
Huh? Shrinkage is shrinkage. The value of goods isn't what makes Costco's shoplifting rate lower, it's the fact that by requiring a membership card they are eliminating about 3/4 of professional shoplifters who would not buy a membership in order to steal. Walmart is heavily invested in apprehending shoplifters, they have cameras that cover every aisle and well trained plain clothes loss prevention staff. Almost half of all "shoplifting" involves theft by employees, and it is probably true that a Costco employee would be less likely to risk losing their job to steal than a Walmart employee would. Shrinkage in all stores, nationwide is around 1.5% but given the amount of Walmart sales, that ends up being somewhere between 3 and 4 billion a year.
Costco pays their employees more because they think it's the right thing to do and they realize the huge costs involved in hiring and retraining.
Fist Walmart is one of the best paying retail chains, including a lot of high end retail chains. Retail is not a high pay business for lower cost goods. Competition will not allow them to pay high wages, as labor is a big factor in the cost of doing business. Wages in retail, depend on the ability of the store to pay higher wages, and stay competitive.
I spent 10 years in Retail back in the 50s and 60s. I sold better quality furniture, and even managed some stores. One store I worked at for 4 years, was one of the finest department stores in the nation. I was considered a big ticket salesman, which included the Furniture department, major appliance department, electronics department, and carpet department. We were all on commission, while the rest of the employees were minimum wage employees. Commission salesmen were making between $125,000 and $150,000 per year in today's dollars, while the other employees were making $37.50 per week to start with small raises for longevity. Those departments made the store more than half the profit for the whole store and used very little of the entire sales floor. We were the best people they could find, and they paid us well. The rest were paid like Walmart employees, in fact worse than Walmart pays now as they got minimum wage.
It is not the class of workers that determines the pay rate, it is the bottom line and how much the store can afford to pay that regulates pay in retail and all other businesses.
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