wal mart SCs

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

My store is considerably more expensive than Wally World, but I shop at my store because I get a discount, it's closer to home, and in the end the prices aren't too much higher than Wally World's.

I try to avoid Wally World not only because of their abuses and employees and their browbeating companies into producing everything as dirt cheaply as possible, but also because it's a depressing place to shop. The stores are dirty and disorganized, the employees are generally as unhelpful as can be, and both the employees and the clientèle seem to absolute freakazoids.

Actually I shouldn't call all the employees freakazoids because I easily could've been one, and because my aunt worked there from the day the store opened until she retired recently. Also a former co-worker who used to work on third shift with me now works there in the bakery as a cake decorator. It was better hours for her and a chance to turn a hobby into a job.

[Pagan]

This may get me a Fratching warning, but why do you *have* to shop at Wal-Mart? Are there no other stores in your area left?

Half the reason Wal-Mart continues to survive in spite of treating its employees horribly and having less-than-ideal store cleanlieness is because Average Joe and Jane know all this and continue to shop there anyway instead of going an extra 5 or 10 minutes away to shop elsewhere.

For some people, it has nothing to do with convenience. It has to do with how much money you have....or don't have. I would love to be able to shop at Smith's and Albertson's and Trader Joe's, etc. all the time, but I can't afford it. Especially now that I've gone back to school and and am working part-time. Sorry, but sometimes having something to eat is going to over-ride my principles!

Hell, Sam Walton is credited for inventing the concept of "the customer is always right" which should be enough reason for anyone who posts here to never want to set foot in one of his stores ever again!

Ummmm, nope....that was Marshall Field. http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/106700.html

[Kogarashi]

This may get me a Fratching warning, but why do you *have* to shop at Wal-Mart? Are there no other stores in your area left?

I dunno, maybe I'm just lucky because I've never run into the "OMG Horrible Peoples!" Wal-Marts that so many other people talk about. The two that I've worked in were very clean and well-kept, and quite pleasant places to work (once you learned to ignore the 10% of the customers that were nutjobs or freakout-crazy, and if you don't count CSM S at the second store in question). The employees were happy, the management nice enough and willing to help out with getting certain days off for things like my sister's wedding, the work attitude conducive to self-improvement, etc. Both stores even had parties for various reasons. The first store would periodically have huge batches of freshly-prepared deli food in the breakroom for the employees to nibble on, whether or not it was a national holiday, and had an incentive program that netted me a pretty decent winter coat. The second store provided a cake and small party for any employee who was leaving the store for any reason (transfer, maternity leave, etc.). The second store also provided food for all the employees who had to work on Black Friday, and unlocked the Sam's Choice vending machine so we could basically use it as a soda-fridge for free.

Now, admittedly, some of the other stores in the area aren't so stellar. One that offered me a job that I turned down in favor of the second store, I call the Ghetto Wal-Mart. This is because it's dingier, less well-kept, and the employees less happy-looking. It's odd, because none of the other stores in the immediate vicinity have the same run-down feel, not even the overcrowded Once Upon a Child (consignment shop). The supercenter I currently shop at lacks in customer service, though the store itself looks okay, and I can't wait for the nearest Wal-Mart to finish its upgrade to supercenter status. One of the Wal-Marts down in Texas is similar to the Ghetto Wal-Mart in feel, partly due to the fact that it has warehouse ceilings without the necessary lighting to illuminate so much space.

I don't shop elsewhere because I've never liked Target as a store (no offense to any Target employees here), and thus shop there as little as possible (and I can't find the nearest Super Target). We don't have any K-Marts that I've seen, and the other supermarkets in the area are pricy enough that it's cheaper to drive half an hour to shop at the Wal-Mart Supercenter every other week. Hubby and I can only do so much on his graduate stipend, and I prefer to get more groceries for our money than to shop at "higher-class institutions."

I do think it varies depending on area how employee-friendly Wal-Mart is.

[Andara Bledin]

Grocery-wise, it's actually cheaper in my area to shop at Stater Bros or Food 4 Less. My area has about a dozen grocery stores within a 5-mile radius, so it's easy to find alternatives. And for other items, there's a Home Depot and a huge and very nice Target both at the mall only a mile away.

One of the local WalMarts was one of those understaffed, nasty-feeling places that I wouldn't set foot in ever again, it was so creepy inside. The other one was fairly clean, but really crowded, and a little understaffed. I haven't been in either for years, so I don't know what they're like, now.

^-.-^

[K245five]

The Wal-Mart closest to me is actually pretty nice, although a bit understaffed from what I can see.

The KMart right down the road is the s**thole. Horribly understaffed, rude associates, clueless Mgmt., the whole nine yards.

[blas]

A girl who worked as a temp at the factory who got fired got a job at Wal-Mart stocking shelves overnight. She makes more than I do.

I don't know about cashiers and managers, but I'd say they make more than minimum wage. They make more than K-Mart, I'll bet an entire paycheck of that!

[hotelnpa]

As someone who has worked at Wal-Mart and Target, the overall pay (atleast in my experience) was higher at Wal-Mart. Target did start me off more, but they were very strict with your hours. I probably only worked no more than 35 hours a week at Target. Wal-Mart's starting pay was lower, but they offered longer breaks and a 40 hour work week. Also, I was able to work overtime at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart gets a bad reputation. Target isn't that great of a place people seem to think it is.

I remember stores in my area before Wal-Mart came to town. Hills (then it became Ames) comes to mind. Employees there were paid at minimum also and the stores were not exactly nice.

[Andara Bledin]

This site (www.wakeupwalmart.com) has fairly comprehensive info about how WalMart treats employees on the national level, and some comparisons on how they stack up against their competitors. And they cite where they get their data from, too.

^-.-^

[Imogene]

Target isn't that great of a place people seem to think it is.

I worked for Target as an early morning flow person. I had applied to be a register jockey, and during the interview, it came up that I needed insurance to make my parents happy because of the stroke. So, they decided to stick me on the flow team.
Which was okay, but not great, particularly after the head of the flow team came back from his vacation. Every single day, it became, "Work smarter, not harder."
Alright. Dude, if I worked any smarter, my coworkers wouldn't f*cking understand me. I use, as reference, when we did our store walk-around during the orientation, when we got to the jewelry boats, the trainer said, "I don't know why we call them boats..." To which I said, "Well, they kind of look like Schooners (although I think I meant junks, now that I think about it)..." And she said, "Uh, yeah... boats."
Plus, I can only work so hard as it is. Kinda hard to work harder when I only use one hand for most things. Plus, once I got put into the new market area, I didn't want to go bowling everything in case of breakables, so I would walk boxes to the aisles they were meant to go in.
Why the hell did I constantly get stuck on doing the garbage. Every. Single. DAY?

[AKWalMartCartGuy]

This may get me a Fratching warning, but why do you *have* to shop at Wal-Mart? Are there no other stores in your area left?

Half the reason Wal-Mart continues to survive in spite of treating its employees horribly and having less-than-ideal store cleanlieness is because Average Joe and Jane know all this and continue to shop there anyway instead of going an extra 5 or 10 minutes away to shop elsewhere.



I personally have only set foot in a Wal-Mart maybe 3-4 tmes max in my life, and I have no reason to ever go in one. I do all my shopping at the major shopping chain in the SW PA area that's been around for 70 something years. They have comparible prices and *GASP* are even unionized. Imagine that.

wal marts vary greatly from store to store, my store is always kept clean, and all but 1 of our salaried managers treat us well at least most of the time, and he follows the policies so all he does wrong is be a condescending twat. i'm not saying they're the sharpest tacks in the box, but they could be worse and alaska wal mart's pay a lot better than most districts(minimum is $10.50). the open door actually works in most stores, but you will have the occasional jackass manager that messes it up, but the issues are a mix between whiny, lazy workers(we may as well be union as long as it takes for someone to get themselves fired from wal mart) who account for most of it(like the idiot who got fired for photoshopping pictures of her managers without permission) and jackass managers, but if company policy is followed it's not that bad. it is retail, so it's not great and the pay is low, but it's as good as any retail. the medical plan has also been referred to as very good for the retail industry with the recent overhaul to the plan

i bet there are no exemplary employees at the union store, but the ones who are there are lazy. and I bet i still make more than them, and i get to talk to my boss directly, not through a middleman, so i can say what i want to say, not some guy who should be unemployed saying his interpretation of what i said

[Primer]

About the only reason I go to Wally World is that it's about 30 miles closer than Target, 40 miles closer than Sears, and 150 miles closer than K-Mart. I do prefer HEB for groceries, though; and they are the same distance as WM--8.5 miles.

[AKWalMartCartGuy]

With WalMart, it seems to vary by region. Some of the regional managers are decent sorts, but that seems to be very much the exception.

I won't shop at WalMart for the simple reason that on a national level, as compared to any other big chain store such as Target or the like, when considering only hourly employees, WalMart pays notably less (something like over $1/hour less) on average, has much less in the way of benefits, and also has a notably lower percentage of their hourly workforce even eligible for benefits.

Well, that, and the practically yearly huge lawsuit/fine the corporation gets for labor violations, which have included the breaking of child labor laws, unpaid overtime, forced overtime (paid and unpaid, by locking people in the store), illegal workers, and hiring fewer full-time staff than is legally allowed.

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umm the benefits part is just a lie, the plans have recently been overhauled, and wal mart actually pays more than the other large chains

the child labor laws are bullshit. first off, is a 16 year old really a child? can you give me one good reason that it should be against federal law for a 16 or 17 year old to turn a knob? they can get their driver's license, and drive a 5000 pound car, that can go well over 100 MPH, yet they can't drive a 500 pound cart machine with 1000-1500 pounds of carts that can only go about 2 MPH? IN A PARKING LOT? or why they can't throw a bag of trash in the trash compactor, they can't even load the compactor or cardboard baler and leave it for the next person to smash. and they have cameras on both of those, as well as the parking lot, and any minor caught doing those things(the only things involved in a job any minor would have in wal mart) will be instantly terminated. furthermore the relentless slander of wal mart by people painting the picture that they are some giant evil company has caused them to only allow minors to work 20 hours a week during school and only between 3 and 10 on school days. what about the ones who are home schooled? working 9-6 would really fuck them up wouldn't it? having a 80 hour pay check would be horrid wouldn't it? I find it hard to believe that there is unpaid overtime, unless it's just a misplaced time adjustment(most are just done electronically now) as everything is in the timeclock, and the only one who can do a time adjustment is the associate. Wal Mart does not lock people in the stores, they used to do that in the warehouses, but have stopped, at the stores if you want out you will get out, it's extremely easy to just push the doors open, anybody who can't do that has probably been mentioned on this site. working off the clock is another thing that if you do it you will be instantly terminated, as well as anyone who knowingly asks you to work off the clock. saying "when you clock in can you XXXXXX" will not get you in trouble, and really is that an issue? most of the time it's easier to just talk to the manager when you see them. the illegal workers were with a contractor, not with wal mart itself.

[Broomjockey]

the child labor laws are bullshit. first off, is a 16 year old really a child? can you give me one good reason that it should be against federal law for a 16 or 17 year old to turn a knob?

I believe that it's two fold: securing jobs for the older people, as the population was steadily increasing, and to give insentive for kids to stay in school, as they won't gain much by dropping out to get a full time job.

they can get their driver's license, and drive a 5000 pound car, that can go well over 100 MPH, yet they can't drive a 500 pound cart machine with 1000-1500 pounds of carts that can only go about 2 MPH? IN A PARKING LOT?

Probably to do with insurance, and things like Commercial drivers licences.

or why they can't throw a bag of trash in the trash compactor, they can't even load the compactor or cardboard baler and leave it for the next person to smash.

Again, insurance, liability, and age of majority play a role there.

and they have cameras on both of those, as well as the parking lot, and any minor caught doing those things(the only things involved in a job any minor would have in wal mart) will be instantly terminated.

In. Sure. Ance. Insurance. They get caught violating it, they can lose it.

furthermore the relentless slander of wal mart by people painting the picture that they are some giant evil company has caused them to only allow minors to work 20 hours a week during school and only between 3 and 10 on school days. what about the ones who are home schooled? working 9-6 would really fuck them up wouldn't it? having a 80 hour pay check would be horrid wouldn't it?

And if exceptions were to be made, people would try to lie to the system in order to fit in to the exceptions, removing the whole "trying to keep kids in school" and "having jobs available for the older people" angles they were going for. Sorry that you're non-standard, but the more possible exceptions that are made, the weaker the protection of the rules gets, and I'd prefer kids stay in school and learn rather than get forced by their parents to pretend to be homeschooled and work an 80 hour paycheque. Face it, North America is socialist, which means that some personal rights are limited to ensure that the rights of the majority are protected that bit better.
P.S. Slander is spoken. In print, it's libel. Also only if it isn't true.

[AKWalMartCartGuy]

This site (www.wakeupwalmart.com) has fairly comprehensive info about how WalMart treats employees on the national level, and some comparisons on how they stack up against their competitors. And they cite where they get their data from, too.

^-.-^

i'll be dissecting that, it's all half truths

wages: they say the average wal mart sales associate in 2001 made $8.23 an hour while only making $13861. 8.23X2080=17118, they did not quote a full time worker's pay. so that means the retiree who only works a 10 hour week? included in the average. the students who work 20 hours? included, you get the picture, and they also quoted the poverty line for a family of 3, retail is not supposed to support a family of 3, executives from multiple retail chains have said this, it's no secret

they say cashiers earn $7.92 and work a 29 hour week. virtually every female under 18 is a cashier, working part time(mostly 20 hours), and in many cases temporarily, temps don't get raises.

they also say raising price .5% would be able to give every associate a dollar raise. just because you raise prices doesn't mean you will increase revenue, if that was the case they would double prices and give us all $100 an hour, people would just buy .5% less and it would take away over 30% of their profits

they also like to quote internal audits, internal audits are done to correct the problems.

while wal mart insurance only covers 43% of employees, many of them have insurance through their parents, their spouse, or another employer, so over 80% are insured. this number will likely climb with the recent changes, and they have reduced waiting periods, with many other things, i haven't looked at the disc with the info on it yet

the fact that they say wal mart costs taxpayers money through their employees using government programs should be taken as an insult to your intelligence, without wal mart they wouldn't have a job at all, so they would still be on these programs, and be using them more.

[AKWalMartCartGuy]

I believe that it's two fold: securing jobs for the older people, as the population was steadily increasing, and to give insentive for kids to stay in school, as they won't gain much by dropping out to get a full time job.

Probably to do with insurance, and things like Commercial drivers licences.

Again, insurance, liability, and age of majority play a role there.
In. Sure. Ance. Insurance. They get caught violating it, they can lose it.

And if exceptions were to be made, people would try to lie to the system in order to fit in to the exceptions, removing the whole "trying to keep kids in school" and "having jobs available for the older people" angles they were going for. Sorry that you're non-standard, but the more possible exceptions that are made, the weaker the protection of the rules gets, and I'd prefer kids stay in school and learn rather than get forced by their parents to pretend to be homeschooled and work an 80 hour paycheque. Face it, North America is socialist, which means that some personal rights are limited to ensure that the rights of the majority are protected that bit better.
P.S. Slander is spoken. In print, it's libel. Also only if it isn't true.

i wasn't questioning wal mart having these policies, i was questioning the laws, the laws don't care about insurance

if you are home schooled you will have proof. hell, wal mart could even have requirements for what you have to do, i'd definitely be doing more(than the nothing i do now) and that would "keep me in school" better, i'm not going to drop out, but i'm certainly not hurrying. there are no time laws for those who are over 16, i could legally work 120 hours a week, and certainly during regular school hours as my store has no one to push carts before 1 on school days

there is no certification required to use the cart machine and compactor, and i'm not sure about the baler, I've trained people on the cart machine before