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Wal-Mart is one of the few remaining places where a someone with just a HS diploma has the potential to earn a decent wage. Sure, you can start out at $9, but if you are smart and get promotions you can do pretty well. I don't recall there ever being a time where an entry-level retail clerk made a high wage.
I watched the documentary on TV entitled "The Costco Craze" and it went into detail about the philosophy that guides Costco. They said the average employee makes about $20 an hour and they do that to keep loyal employees for years and years. Many of their people have been there for upwards of 20 years.
The also promote from within, and the former CEO, who just retired, started out as a bag boy and worked his way up through the grocery/retail business.
A lot of their views on business differ from what most companies think is right. For example, the CEO said most companies look at a product and ask how they can charge more for it. He said Costco looks at a product and asks how they can get the price down even more.
They are definitely a different kind of company for sure.
While at Costco, management/CEO made the decision that employees are an asset, at Walmart/SAM, employees are seeing as disposable resources. But, it is even worse than that. Walmart has an army of lobbyist, whose job is to consistently weaken American labor laws. The only thing that matters today is how much blood the shareholders can squeeze from employees. It is fantastic to be a shareholder of Walmart, but it is a sorry situation to be a Walmart "employee". And that's how the income inequality in America is slowly but surely converting this great country into an oligarchy.
Publix is another example of a company that seems to have happy employees that are treated well. That, in turn, makes the employee/customer interaction much more positive.
I will gladly pay a bit more to shop at Publix and Costco, where I interact with pleasant, helpful employees who are treated well by their employers. Selfishly, it makes my time spent shopping much less frustrating!
Agree! Costco has more friendly employees over Walmart/ SAMs. Publix had happier and more friendlier employees than Kroger in my area. I prefer shopping at Publix because of the friendly staff even though their prices are little bit higher than Kroger. It's the culture at these companies that makes them a great place to work. Publix pays it cashiers an $1 more per hour than krogers cashiers and it shows. Chick-Fil-A has friendlier staff at their restaurants over McDonald's and their workers get paid more and offer all their employees full benefits even to part time workers. All these companies are smaller scale companies but they seem to value their employees more than the top dog companies.
Shouldn't this be a comparison between Sam's club and Costco?
That would make more sense since they are both wholesale clubs. I wonder if Walmart breaks down the profit earnings of their SAMs club operations and I curious if the profit margins are similar to Costco wholesale. Maybe then we can justify why a cashier makes more at Costco over SAMs and why a fork lift driver at makes more at Costco than SAMs.
The first reaction to OP is---- then, why don't you people try to get a job at Costco, if they pay as twice as WalMart does, for the same work being done. Why would you work for WalMart?
I guess restrictions in geographic location may be a part of this, but just look at major metropolitan areas where both WalMart and Costco are around, why would some people ever work for WalMart?
It's simple. It's easier to get a job at WalMart. Period. Anyone can get a job at WalMart. Pay is low. They don't treat you well. There are A LOT of turnovers, as a result. They don't care whether you leave after a few weeks, of course.
But it's not as easy to get a job at Costco as WalMart. Especially now Costco is well known for good salary and benefits, more people are competing for the job. As a result, better quality people are coming. The culture is more employee-centered. Pay is good. If someone is not good at their job, they may get fired, but once they settle in job and keep showing good work, they tend to hang on to the job longer and don't just quit. Because they are more efficient, productive workers, they can justify their higher-than-industry-average salary. No magic about this.
It's not like, for exactly the same work, WalMart workers are paid $9.50 and Costco workers are paid $16... Shouldn't frame it like that. They are people with different qualifications performing different tasks.
Poor Chemist wonders how it is that Costco pays their cashiers more than WalMart.
It's simple. Costco locates their stores in more prosperous areas and they charge higher prices for the same products. The customers at Costco prefer to shop in such places. WalMart customers need to shop in Walmart. In fact. the several new chains with the word 'Dollar' in their names are cutting in to WalMart's business to such an extent that WalMart is laying off thousands of people and closing stores where they don't break even.
I bet the Dollar Store cashiers make less than Walmart cashiers. I bet that Macy's and Nordgren Cashiers make more than WalMart cashiers.
Now I'll go back and read the other comments to Poor Chemist 's question. I'm interested in that handle. There is an old saying in industry. A chemical engineer is a chemist's plumber.
According to glassdoor Costco's average cashier makes $16 an hour but Walmart cashier makes $9.50 an hour. Walmart has more capital, has more revenue, and makes more profit than Costco. How can Costco afford to pay almost double what Walmart pays if their revenue is lower than Walmart. Is because they have different business practices?
Walmart has many, many more employees than Costco.
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