[Quinny]

I've just been asked to sign this petition:

https://www.causes.com/actions/1763748-a-petition-to-walmart-ceo-bill-simon?conversion_request_id=20357167&ctag=c0e15f620d6cea531e675441d17f48265a&ctoken=hJv_FZciwNU7tlqtdLyA_D8sPRq3sRtOjggfyby09M8BE1l437TGYs_BM92UKhYjcQnDJb9EWIUW71H50SLCXSY9uiQUHHay&recruiter_id=142561660&uid=182097491&utm_campaign=activity_invitation_mailer%2Factivity_invitation&utm_medium=email&utm_source=causes

Anyone think it's worth it?

[Plantagenet]

You'd probably have a better chance if you directly asked your supervisor at Walmart for a raise.

[Pops]

Better to shop at whatever mom & pop you have left.

[dinopello]

Better to shop at whatever mom & pop you have left.

Probably would scare Walmart more to shop at Costco (that apparently actually does treat workers better). I've never actually been in a Costco so I speak only from rumor.

[Pops]

Walmart is a small town killer. I saw it happen in Sonora, CA back in the '80s and it's about to happen now in our new hometown. Even though we are only 50 miles or so from Bentonville AR, the town "fathers" succeeded up 'till this year to keep the town alive. 2 years from now there will be nowhere else to shop except walmart.

[Lore]

Walmart has already killed the mom & pops in our county. If I want a decent set of clothes there is nowhere now within 60 miles, one way, to buy them. The closest town, about 7 miles, which use to serve the farm community and had quality everything, from grocery store, men/women's clothing, hardware, sports store, jewelry, ect, all three former big US auto dealers, is now a ghost town except for a run down bar, a part time restaurant, bank branch and a couple of gas stations.

[dinopello]

We don't have a Walmart in our entire county. But, that's because the government made them illegal. There is a Costco and I think a Target either in or just over the county line.

[AndyA]

The issue is essentially bigger then Walmart.
How can I resize that image?
Productivity per worker is growing, while incomes remain flat
A greater share of income is going to profits rather than wages. It's basically a falsification of the hypothesis that a growing economy raises the standard of living for everyone. It's an issue not addressed by policy. It's depressing that they would rather get their wage slaves to subsidise other wage slaves, rather then raise wages.

[Antaris]

Well the good thing is Walmart stands behind a food bank for their employees.
If you destroy the town and don't pay your employees enough to survive, maybe some of the other employees not as bad off, can contribute food to help get your not so good off employees, too show up for work.

[americandream]

Walmart essentially built China's reputation from scratch. Having said that, it should come as no surprise that they have grown to the degree they have. It is just about every businessman's wet dream to monopolise his or her market.

[Lore]

The issue is essentially bigger then Walmart.
How can I resize that image?
Productivity per worker is growing, while incomes remain flat
A greater share of income is going to profits rather than wages. It's basically a falsification of the hypothesis that a growing economy raises the standard of living for everyone. It's an issue not addressed by policy. It's depressing that they would rather get their wage slaves to subsidise other wage slaves, rather then raise wages.

That's something most people don't understand here. Take the image and scale it down in a photo editor and use that image in a link. You should not rob images directly from other peoples posts with a direct link to them, (you are stealing their bandwidth), rather the resized image should be uploaded to a free service like photobucket.com and then linked to the service.

As for wages, you are right, it's a race to the bottom. The problem though is the buying public wants to pay the least it can, while corporations and their investors have a mandate for capitalist growth. Making quarter over quarter returns.

When resources become constrained the expense factor of workers and wages is the goto relief valve to keep prices in check and cash flow positive. It's also the quick fix for any problems with the bottom line in general.

Walmart is in a desperate death spiral trying to keep that house of cards from falling. Why, because you can never be too cheap and there is always someone or something cheaper.

[dinopello]

Walmart is in a desperate death spiral trying to keep that house of cards from falling. Why, because you can never be too cheap and there is always someone or something cheaper.

Ain't it the truth !

[Subjectivist]

On the one hand if I want something cheap like a toilet plunger or simple like tires Walmart is a great bargain place to shop. On the other hand if I want a nice appliance hat will last I go to other places whenever possible.

Walmart has been a success for two reasons, hey have aggressively expanded into every town that would let them in, and hey carry a lot of cheap goods that dominate the market in there category. But when you talk quality complex goods, like electronics or appliances, if its not a trusted name brand I no longer buy it from Walmart.

The ones around here also carry limited grocery items and some generic brands are fairly palatable and cheap. Good for stocking the emergency supply set.

[Pops]

Walmart is not necessarily that cheap - except that they made it a point to be cheaper than everyone else. In the end Sam changed the game, practically inventing inventory control and switching the dynamic of retailers selling what manufactures want to make; to manufacturers making what Sam wanted to sell. Not in itself a bad thing, until you get 50 years down the road and they monopolize retail to the exclusion of independent retailers making a living and recycling profits locally. Trickle up.

The reason to pay more to the local guy for tires, lawn mowers, whatever is that you support your local economy with jobs for tire guys and lawn mower repairmen rather than shelf stockers and greeters.

[yellowcanoe]

Another example of sabotaging your local economy would be Canadian border towns where the majority of people shop in the US because prices are lower. We really get that sense when we visit family in Fort Frances, across the border from International Falls, Minnesota. Even people who just want a fast food meal prefer to drive over to International Falls -- there were only one or two other groups at the restaurant we stopped at on our way out of town even though it was supper time. Another restaurant across the road was also mostly empty and there was an abandoned restaurant (I'm guessing it had been a Pizza Hut) next door. Then people wonder why they children can't find jobs.

[Lore]

Needless to say, I don't shop at Walmart either and buy local when ever I can. I purchase good stuff, that I hope will last, which in general cannot be found at Walmart. Therefore, I never feel that cheated for paying more for value and service. For instance, I just bought a pair of hiking shoes for my trip to Spain this spring at the only remaining locally owned shoe store located in our county seat some 17 miles from me. I drive right by Walmart to get there confidently knowing they won't have anything to compare in quality and function. The store's knowledgeable sales person let me try on a half dozen types and even pulled a new pair of expensive SmartWool hiking socks off the shelf just to make sure I got the right feel. Then suggested I take them home and walk around in them for a while and if I felt the fit was wrong bring em back. Now, I could just as easily returned Walmart shoes, but I really doubt the sales assistant there would have suggested I do so.

[dinopello]

Shoes are tough. We have one remaining independent shoe store in my neighborhood and it happens to be the oldest retailer in the neighborhood (1930's). Public Shoe Store. The owner who is there all the time is also a podiatrist, so yeah he knows a bit about outfitting troubled feet.

I had a friend who had a really popular women's shoe store (ShoeFly). It was really busy and popular because she was really into women's shoes and would refresh her lineup with the latest fashions, offer advice on what goes with what, etc. But, she wasn't selling and determined that the young women that would use her store for advice and fit would then go buy the shoes at Zappos at a discount. Well, now they have nowhere to go to try on the shoes because she is out of business.

We've been losing our Hardware stores but still have a few left. Ayers Variety and Hardware has been around for a long time and people would be devastated if it ever closed. It's one of those stores (probably like the original Walmart) that has all sorts of stuff from knitting to cast iron pans and a great hardware and garden center. I think they are in no danger from a sales perspective but possibly from redevelopment of their valuable property site.

[Lore]

Walmart's stock plummets. Blames higher wages and competition from online retailers, like Amazon.

The chink in the retail armor is growing. Expect cutthroat sales this Christmas.

Wal-Mart Stock Hammered as Profit Warning Triggers Price War Fears

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. warned on Wednesday that higher wages as well as spending on e-commerce and lower prices would cut earnings per share as much as 12 percent next fiscal year, sending its shares down 10 percent.

Wal-Mart faces tough competition on multiple fronts, from the relentless expansion of online leader Amazon.com Inc. to dollar stores and supermarkets fighting for a piece of its grocery business. Its international operations are also under pressure with a stronger dollar eating into sales.

Wal-Mart Chief Executive Doug McMillon said at an investor meeting in New York that a $1.5 billion investment in wages and training, including raising the minimum store wage to $10 an hour from $9, were needed to improve customer service and would account for three-quarters of the expected 6 to 12 percent drop in earnings per share next year.
http://www.nbcnews.com/business/markets ... rs-n444706

[Sixstrings]

We don't have a Walmart in our entire county. But, that's because the government made them illegal. There is a Costco and I think a Target either in or just over the county line.

The city south of me is more snooty than my more blue collar town.

So they always banned walmart, but the county allowed a limited number of walmarts outside of the city center area.

Then a few years ago, Walmart asked to put in their more upscale "Walmart Neighborhood Market" and the city agreed to that:



The neighborhood market walmart is a bit "costco-ish." I actually do like it and drive down there to get this certain big huge back of frozen flounder, that's only sold there.

It's a nice store, more variety and nicer to look at. Prices are still low.

Otherwise though, I still shop at the regular supercenter walmart because that's closer to me.

Upshot: it can work out, when a local government does things right and stands up to a corporation. They can work things out and it be okay, for the whole community. Walmart's a business, their job is to figure it out and how to compete even if they can't get the rules they want.

Other walmart news --

They just did a warning on earnings and their stock crashed 10%. It's being blamed on them raising wages to $9 this year, $10 next.

Their "investing in our employees" plan adds up to $1 billion. So they say that's gonna hurt profits. YET -- they are also doing a $20 billion stock buyback so wtf! A billion is a lot of money, but 20 billion is a HECK of a lot of money. How can someone cry poormouth, yet be doing a $20 billion stock buyback.

Overall --

Walmart's in some trouble, and it's not the wages' fault. They're raising wages really to be competitive with Costco, that's starting to dig into their market share a bit. Walmart knows they need to change, they need better quality and better looking stores and better quality employees. That's why they're raising wages a little, to try to compete with Costco and Target's more enjoyable shopping experience.

Also -- walmart is an aging retailer, at this point. Their sun is just setting, that's how it is. They'll have to adapt and change, or eventually go the way of Montgomery Ward etc.

They're having an identity crisis now, caught between being the good old cheap barebones Walmart versus trying to go more upscale like a Target or Costco.

About the petition in the OP -- yep, all the bad press for all these years now, is finally wearing on walmart. None of the other store chains have all this bad press and negativity about them, it has an effect on market share after a while.

Personally -- having said all the above, I actually like superwalmart stores how they are. It's utilitarian, fast efficient shopping. It's cheap. I know where everything is at. If I want to go to Target or somewhere else, I'll go there, if I want walmart then I'll go to walmart. (I actually don't shop at Target, prices there seem too high to me!)

[Sixstrings]

Walmart is in a desperate death spiral trying to keep that house of cards from falling. Why, because you can never be too cheap and there is always someone or something cheaper.

Ain't it the truth !

But you know guys, it's also internet and online business that's hurting main street brick and mortar retail.

Amazon.com is actually hurting walmart a lot, and is part of the problems walmart's having lately, along with trying to compete with costco and target etc.

I think walmart executives are making mistakes.

The stock buyback -- $20 billion -- is a waste of money. Better to invest that twenty billion in remaking the business, instead.

They should have got out front with online stuff early on -- they could have been the "amazon" of the world. They still could, they should have a phone app and online ordering and all that and really go for it. People do their order on the phone or computer, and then have a drivethru at walmart to just pick the stuff up.

It's a mistake for walmart to try to convert the supercenters to something too much like a target, though a sprinkling of higher quality / more interesting items is a good idea. The walmart neighborhood markets are nice -- they could just put those into places where a "costco" or "target" would do well. In the end though, mixing brand concepts like this -- with the same brand name -- usually does not work out.

If I were in charge of walmart -- I'd keep the payraise they've done, but then I would stick with the "cheap big box" concept and then integrate totally with phone app and online stuff and really push that.

And then, I would add a new concept to walmart stores -- a "everything's a dollar" section. Because actually dollar tree and other dollar stores have been nicely profitable for years now.

Something like that would drive more traffic into the store. Really, instead of a stock buyback walmart should take the $20 billion and buy out dollar tree and combine their distribution / supplier networks.

(I get all my toiletries and odds and ends at dollar tree.. why pay $3 for toothpaste or mouthwash, if you can get it for a dollar? Soap, razors, shaving cream, bleach and detergent and TP and paper towels and cleaning products, pens and envelopes and office supplies and household odds and ends, I get all that at dollar tree. And then I go to walmart for things like the best quality dish washer tablets, those expensive ones, the quality difference is worth it on that.)