WalMart - Good, Bad or Ugly?

[Don Boyer]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/22/business/at-wal-mart-in-mexico-a-bribe-inquiry-silenced.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&emc=edit_th_20120422

It seems that the company's dramatic expansion into Mexico - to the point that 20% of all its stores are now in Mexico - were largely the result of an extensive bribery campaign...  This, from a company that prides itself on its ethics while at the same time keeps its low-wage employees from getting enough hours to qualify for health care...

And the best part?  When they learned of the corruption at the Bentonville, Arkansas headquarters, they violated US laws and swept it under the rug!

[John B.]

yea walmart is just screwed, but they will find a way to get out of this. My friend works at walrmart and brag that he gets paid more and other things, such as they get a discount and i dont. So I can't wait to tell him this.

[Kanped]

I like big chain stores.  Better prices, good for the economy generally.  Obviously, I'm not happy about monopolies or corruption, though.

[Don Boyer]

I like big chain stores.  Better prices, good for the economy generally.  Obviously, I'm not happy about monopolies or corruption, though.

A big chain in a small-town setting can have a highly-disruptive effect on the local economy, to the point where quality of life actually drops because jobs that once paid a living wage get replaced by jobs that pay far less and with fewer benefits.  Local shops don't have the buying clout that a company like WalMart does, plain and simple, and can't do the price cutting that they do.


I wouldn't care less if WalMart was a genuinely ethical company that took care of its employees as well as its cusotmers.  But it's very clear after this they aren't, if it wasn't crystal enough before.

[John B.]

I work at a locally owned store and we are always fighting to stay in business because of places like wal-mart. also when they opened the "super wal-mart" they took out an area of town where people lived.

[Don Boyer]

I work at a locally owned store and we are always fighting to stay in business because of places like wal-mart. also when they opened the "super wal-mart" they took out an area of town where people lived.

If you haven't read this yet, I strongly recommend it.


http://www.amazon.com/Nickel-Dimed-Not-Getting-America/dp/0312626681/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335145864&sr=8-1

[ReaganM]

I work at walmart, the thing is they refuse to pay anyone but managers a full time wage. Probably so they dont have to provide health care or whatever. They just hire twice as many part time people. Its really a shitty company. If you want to live own and tyou work at walmart you are forced to work two jobs, and they start you off at minimum wage. Also the people that are customers there are generally jerks, and dont make the job worth 7.50$ an hour at all.

[Don Boyer]

I work at walmart, the thing is they refuse to pay anyone but managers a full time wage. Probably so they dont have to provide health care or whatever. They just hire twice as many part time people. Its really a shitty company. If you want to live own and tyou work at walmart you are forced to work two jobs, and they start you off at minimum wage. Also the people that are customers there are generally jerks, and dont make the job worth 7.50$ an hour at all.

My sister-in-law worked for them for a while when they were pretty much the only ones hiring.  Even working in management, she saw the writing on the wall and realized the job was doing little more than almost keeping her afloat and keeping her too busy to even think straight (she worked the '11/'12 holiday season there, missed a lot of family face time).  She quit for the sake of her health and sanity.

[eggman]

Not to say it is right, but this is standard practice in many countries. We (my wife and I) had a small business in China.  Although the Chinese government says it is cleaning up its act, it is impossible to conduct business without greasing palms. I know of one international company (I will with hold the name) that paid large bribes. It is the cost of doing business in many countries. I am surprised people are surprised about this.

[Don Boyer]

Not to say it is right, but this is standard practice in many countries. We (my wife and I) had a small business in China.  Although the Chinese government says it is cleaning up its act, it is impossible to conduct business without greasing palms. I know of one international company (I will with hold the name) that paid large bribes. It is the cost of doing business in many countries. I am surprised people are surprised about this.

Did you read the article?  When they discovered the corruption at WalMart HQ, they violated US Federal law by trying to cover it up. That's what some like to think of as going that extra mile...

[eggman]

Hec, might as well push it to the wall at that time. It is not the cover up that gets you, it is the cover up of the cover up. I leaned that when I worked for G.Gordon Liddy.

[ReaganM]

I work at walmart, the thing is they refuse to pay anyone but managers a full time wage. Probably so they dont have to provide health care or whatever. They just hire twice as many part time people. Its really a shitty company. If you want to live own and tyou work at walmart you are forced to work two jobs, and they start you off at minimum wage. Also the people that are customers there are generally jerks, and dont make the job worth 7.50$ an hour at all.

My sister-in-law worked for them for a while when they were pretty much the only ones hiring.  Even working in management, she saw the writing on the wall and realized the job was doing little more than almost keeping her afloat and keeping her too busy to even think straight (she worked the '11/'12 holiday season there, missed a lot of family face time).  She quit for the sake of her health and sanity.

Im pretty sure this is the same thing with a lot of retailers, but another problem with walmart is the jobs you get are endless monotony, that you are forced to work at high speeds. At the end of the day I cannot have a full conversation with anyone ( even best freinds ) for at least a few hours, because my brain has had the life sucked out of it.

[Don Boyer]

Im pretty sure this is the same thing with a lot of retailers, but another problem with walmart is the jobs you get are endless monotony, that you are forced to work at high speeds. At the end of the day I cannot have a full conversation with anyone ( even best freinds ) for at least a few hours, because my brain has had the life sucked out of it.

WalMart is worse, trust me.  They expect a full-time commitment, but pay a part-time wage, they want everyone to be a happy, perfect employee and they'd sooner kill you than let you sign a union card.  There's a reason why a lot of people nickname the employees there "WalMartians"...  The company exemplifies everything that's wrong with monopolies and concentrating too much power in one place.

[John B.]

So since I now work with walmart I just wanted to say this. They are not super horrible. Though I am "part time" but still get 40 hours. So they don't want to consider me full time and give me benefits. Few positions are actually considered full time most of the employees are part time which means they can cut your hours when the feel fit. I went from 40 to 16. I am finally getting them to start getting me back to my standard.

[Nurul]

We don't have walmart , but we do have Asda who are part of Walmart .. I know some of the staff, went to school with some of them, they say they like working there.

[Don Boyer]

So since I now work with walmart I just wanted to say this. They are not super horrible. Though I am "part time" but still get 40 hours. So they don't want to consider me full time and give me benefits. Few positions are actually considered full time most of the employees are part time which means they can cut your hours when the feel fit. I went from 40 to 16. I am finally getting them to start getting me back to my standard.

So, getting your paycheck slashed by 60% because of the store's perceived "scheduling requirements" makes them "not super horrible"?  How about the lack of health benefits?  The kind of crap that chain does really should be illegal and most certainly is immoral.

We don't have walmart , but we do have Asda who are part of Walmart .. I know some of the staff, went to school with some of them, they say they like working there.

What kind of wages and benefits do they make, and how many hours per week?

I suppose it's different in Britain because you have socialized medicine, rendering the need for health care benefits a moot point.

[Nurul]

Not too sure about the benefits , although I know they get free groceries lol wages for regular staff ( as opposed to managers and team leaders) was £7.94. That was last year. I'm pretty sure it's gone up since. Full time staff work a minimum of 37.5 hrs per week and part time staff tend to work 20 hrs per week.

[John B.]

Most people dont lose the hours. And if you get 40 hours on average after a year, you can get benefits, or so I am told. I have not been there long enough to know.

[Rob Wright]

WalMart definitely could do things better. The truth of the matter is, they are not the only corporation that is giving it's employees the shaft. They just have the biggest target. With over 2.1 million employees, they beat the next highest employer by almost 5 times. With that many people, a small change in wages would be major for the company . If you gave everybody a $1 raise, and the average person worked 25hrs a week. That would be over 2.7 billion a year. I pay over $250 a month towards health insurance were I work. My employer pays over $400. If only half of the workforce was eligible. That would be another 3-4 billion. Could WalMart afford it? Yes, but that would cut into investor profit.
My stepson worked at Home Depot for a while. They would not allow him to work over 25 hours a week. They were doing this to all part time employees. Only management was full time. All thanks to the affordable health care act. This is going on all over.

[kdklown]

I don't want to get us too far off topic but I have to chime in real quick.  I have been employed by Home Depot for over 16.  While the new health care program does limit the number of hours part time associates can work from a business standpoint.  I assure you that over half the hourly associates in the company are full time.  Some companies such as Walgreens have elected to dissolve all full time, hourly positions, Home Depot has not.  No big deal, I just wanted to correct that particular bit of misinformation. 

[Don Boyer]

The thing that's really galling to me is that these companies are putting a few extra dollars over the welfare of their own people, their own employees.  They consider people less important than money and certainly much more disposable.  It's a very callous attitude to take and it's why there's not much of a middle-class left in this country.  The gap between haves and have-nots not only widens, but the ability to cross that gap diminishes.

The top one percent of Americans measured by wealth own 40% of all American wealth.  The bottom 80% own only 7%.

The top one percent of Americans take home 24% of the national income.  In 1976, they only earned 9%.

The top one percent of Americans own just over 50% of all the stocks, bonds and mutual funds.  The top 10% own 90%.  The bottom 50% own just 0.5%.

The top one percent of Americans have only 5% of all the personal debt.  The bottom 90% have 73% of it.

The top one percent of Americans are taking home more of the country's income than at any time in the past 80-plus years - not since the years just prior to the stock market crash of 1929.

So forgive me if I don't cry a river because a company thought it was better to please the stockholders just that much more than to provide decent wages and benefits to their employees.  These people and these companies are as wealthy as they are because they're taking the money out of the pockets of the people below them and no one is stopping them.  They started to care more about their own greed and stopped giving a shit about the people who got them where they are in the first place - because not a single one of those one percenters got where they are all by themselves.

[ronyo_faukx]

I'm just gonna leave this here:

[Rob Wright]

I don't want to get us too far off topic but I have to chime in real quick.  I have been employed by Home Depot for over 16.  While the new health care program does limit the number of hours part time associates can work from a business standpoint.  I assure you that over half the hourly associates in the company are full time.  Some companies such as Walgreens have elected to dissolve all full time, hourly positions, Home Depot has not.  No big deal, I just wanted to correct that particular bit of misinformation.

Sorry if it seemed like I was blasting Home Depot. I was just making a point that WalMart is not the only company that isn't treating employees right. I know HD pays more, but they could step up and let part timers work more hours and offer health insurance as well. As far as my local HD- they are no were near your 50/50 ratio.

My kids can't pay there bills because they do not get enough hours (my kids are all over 18) My 1 stepson only got a full time job because his father was able to get him hired were he works.

I'm also not defending Walmart- just playing devils advocate. With the Walton family worth well over 100billion, they could afford to do a lot more.

[kdklown]

No worries Rob.  All understandable viewpoints in this thread.

[Don Boyer]

I don't want to get us too far off topic but I have to chime in real quick.  I have been employed by Home Depot for over 16.  While the new health care program does limit the number of hours part time associates can work from a business standpoint.  I assure you that over half the hourly associates in the company are full time.  Some companies such as Walgreens have elected to dissolve all full time, hourly positions, Home Depot has not.  No big deal, I just wanted to correct that particular bit of misinformation.

Sorry if it seemed like I was blasting Home Depot. I was just making a point that WalMart is not the only company that isn't treating employees right. I know HD pays more, but they could step up and let part timers work more hours and offer health insurance as well. As far as my local HD- they are no were near your 50/50 ratio.

My kids can't pay there bills because they do not get enough hours (my kids are all over 18) My 1 stepson only got a full time job because his father was able to get him hired were he works.

I'm also not defending Walmart- just playing devils advocate. With the Walton family worth well over 100billion, they could afford to do a lot more.

They have the hundred billion they have because of the greed they apply in creating their corporate policies.  To them, anything that costs the company money is anathema, regardless of whether it improves the lives of their employees.  Is it any wonder why Sam Walton's company is deathly afraid of union organizers?  Or that WalMart donates to politicians who will change a closed-shop state to a right-to-work state?  "Right-to-work state" sounds like a good thing (a good name can make the most evil things sound wonderful), but it means that unions can't create contracts requiring all employees to be in the union, shattering their collective bargaining power when dealing with management.  I'm in one of the few unions in the country that's actually growing right now, and it's all service workers.

I live in New York - a big city, not easily "crushed" by big-box discounts stores.  Many neighborhoods petition against them because of the traffic they would create.  But I've seen smaller towns all over the country where all kinds of shops just vanish right off the map, shops and even chains that provided not just goods and services to the community, but also a decent, livable wage to their employees with benefits that offer at least some measure of security in an uncertain world.