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posted by Fnord666 on Thursday January 11 2018, @10:11PM   Printer-friendly
from the what's-the-catch dept.

Walmart is boosting minimum pay across all of its stores and handing out bonuses. The CEO says that it's thanks to tax reform:

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is boosting its starting hourly wage to $11 and delivering bonuses to employees, capitalizing on the U.S. tax overhaul to stay competitive in a tightening labor market.

The increase takes effect next month and will cost $300 million on top of wage hikes that were already planned, the world's largest retailer said Thursday. The one-time bonus of up to $1,000 is based on seniority and will amount to an additional $400 million. The company is also expanding its maternity and parental leave policy and adding an adoption benefit.

"Tax reform gives us the opportunity to be more competitive globally and to accelerate plans for the U.S.," Chief Executive Officer Doug McMillon said in the statement.

The move comes three years after Wal-Mart last announced it was raising wages, spending $1 billion in 2015 to lift starting hourly pay to $9 and then to $10 for most workers the following year. The increase cut into profit and was criticized by some longer-tenured employees as unfair to them. Since then, many states have enacted minimum wage laws, meaning that a "sizable group" of its 4,700 U.S. stores already pay $11 an hour, according to spokesman Kory Lundberg.

Walmart is expanding a "Scan & Go" program from 50 to 150 stores. "Scan & Go" would allow customers to use a smartphone app to scan items and then walk out of the store with them. Kroger is experimenting with a similar "Scan, Bag, Go" program. These are seen as a response to Amazon, which has been trialing delivery of fresh foods and same-day deliveries. Amazon revealed an "Amazon Go" concept brick-and-mortar store in 2016, with no cashiers in sight.

Maybe Walmart's big plan is to give better pay to a dwindling amount of employees.

CEO letter to employees. Also at CNBC and USA Today.

Related: Walmart Wants to Deliver Groceries Directly Into Your Fridge
Walmart to Deploy Shelf-Scanning Robots at 50 Stores
Walmart is Raising Prices Online to Increase in-Store Traffic


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 12 2018, @03:47PM (9 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday January 12 2018, @03:47PM (#621405)

    All good if you have a functional family, or even any family at all. But with the trend to smaller families the traditional means of support for disabled & aged has broken down.

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  • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday January 12 2018, @04:23PM (7 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Friday January 12 2018, @04:23PM (#621424) Journal

    Don't bother trying to reason with Uzzard. He's another fucking Randroid who couldn't pass a high school economics class if Adam Smith were reading him the textbook and having him follow along with a pointing finger.

    This is not due to lack of intelligence, but lack of wisdom. Simply put, he doesn't WANT to know, because that would require changing his worldview and admitting that he is wrong. SN is infested with his kind, and unfortunately for us, he's one of the staff...

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 3, Touché) by Marand on Sunday January 14 2018, @05:03AM (6 children)

      by Marand (1081) on Sunday January 14 2018, @05:03AM (#622097) Journal

      SN is infested with his kind, and unfortunately for us, he's one of the staff...

      He's also a lot more tolerant of people having opposing views here than you are. Regardless of what his opinions are, least he's making them as a commenter and debating with people rather than taking a "my way or the highway" attitude and waving admin powers around over people he disagrees with, or just being dismissive and insulting like your comment was. Although I also don't agree with his extreme "I got mine, fuck everyone else" view on the topic, I don't think the insults and name-calling over it were warranted. Sure, it's unlikely you'll change his mind being respectful and civil, but at least then you won't be doing a disservice to your own views and others that share them, like you do by taking juvenile snipes at him as a person.

      (Also, seriously, "infested with his kind"? That's some over-the-top hyperbole there, equating people you disagree with to vermin or insects.)

      • (Score: 1, Flamebait) by Azuma Hazuki on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:04PM (5 children)

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Sunday January 14 2018, @07:04PM (#622235) Journal

        Tone trolling is the last refuge of the scoundrel.

        You're pulling the same "fair and balanced" bullshit Fox does, and it's just as wrong here.

        Listen to me and listen well: some things simply are not up for debate. Oh, you CAN debate them, but the kind of people who usually claim they want to are here for proselytizing, rather than actual debate. I place Uzzard's libertarian horseshit in precisely the same category as I place NAMBLA's pedophilia apologetics and for nearly the same reason. You can "debate" it all you want, but the plain facts are 1) they're bad for society as a whole and 2) they have no real arguments to back them up; they collide with the genetic, evolutionary, and societal makeup of humanity as a whole.

        Do you get it now? I'm all for honest debate, but that's not what people like him pull. I am sick and fucking tired of people polluting the noosphere with this shit.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 2) by Marand on Monday January 15 2018, @12:12AM (1 child)

          by Marand (1081) on Monday January 15 2018, @12:12AM (#622332) Journal

          "Tone trolling"? No, I was trying to politely tell you that you're being a jackass while contributing nothing, and in the process making him look good in comparison. It seems like the majority of what I see you post on SN is combative and insulting, and doubling down on it by insulting me over mentioning it doesn't really help make you look like less of a jackass.

          I believe arguments should be civil rather than devolve into name-calling shouting matches, because once it turns into a flamewar it's all noise and no signal. Arguing with someone almost never changes their opinion, but IMO the real point of debating something contentious is the audience to the argument. Being reasonable and making good points does a much better job of convincing others of your point — or at the least, not pushing them to the opposite side — than being an asshole.

          Anyway, I figured I'd try saying, basically, "calm the fuck down" (but not as rudely) in case you're just letting emotions get in the way of reason, but I guess it's more of a vendetta against him, since you know he's most likely not going to ban you no matter what you say so you can get away with it. In that case, it's between you and him and I don't particularly care beyond annoyance at having to read or scroll through the bullshit to look for useful discussion, but that's easily fixed by giving you a negative karma bonus so your comments are collapsed by default. (Don't take that the wrong way, it's nothing personal, I just mark a few people 'enemy' so their replies to people start collapsed because their posts feel like I'm wasting time reading them, and your perpetual flamewar with TMB is a waste of time to me.)

          • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Azuma Hazuki on Monday January 15 2018, @03:21AM

            by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Monday January 15 2018, @03:21AM (#622395) Journal

            Marand, listen...I've been here almost since the site's inception. I've come to accept the fact that 1) there are around half a dozen truly diseased, evil people on here, 2) Uzzard's one of them, and 3) unfortunately for us he's one of the staff.

            After the last year-plus of political horror, I made a promise to myself: no more bargaining with terrorists. Because that's what shitheads like him and J-Mo and Runaway basically are: memetic terrorists. They are every bit as fanatical about their beliefs as a Muslim suicide bomber with a dynamite corset, though far less willing to put life and limb on the line for them. But they're exactly as beyond reason and faith-motivated; it just so happens their main article of faith is "Fuck you, got mine (and even if I don't I'd rather we both die than see you get something I don't think you deserve") rather than "There is no God but Allah and Muhammed is his prophet."

            I know you don't want to face this. I don't either. But some people are beyond redemption, through a specific and consciously-made choice, and NOTHING is going to change them short of horrible personal suffering. And even then, that's not a given.

            They see civility, compromise, and stopping to think as weaknesses, do you understand that? They look at people like you and me with contempt at best, and at worst, believe we do not deserve to live. They game the system. They demand their opponents not step over certain lines while making it a point not only to cross them themselves, but to laugh about it and pat themselves on the back for it, for not being stupid sheep who play by the rules.

            There are a lot more sociopaths out there than you want to acknowledge, and they've reached a critical mass in this country, both in terms of population and in terms of reach. And I am done trying to reach them. If they will not abide by basic human decency, I will not treat them as humans any longer, but rather the dangerous animals they pretend themselves to be.

            --
            I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Marand on Monday January 15 2018, @12:54AM (2 children)

          by Marand (1081) on Monday January 15 2018, @12:54AM (#622341) Journal

          Meant to add this to my other comment and forgot before submitting, sorry for double post:

          Since I'm guessing by the "tone trolling" remark that you think I agree with TMB and was using my comment to try shutting down opposition, I figured I should add that I'm a supporter of universal basic income, which I believe strongly clashes with his "fuck social programs, I got mine why should I help anybody else" viewpoint. I think it's the only reasonable way forward long-term, because automation's eventually going to eat the majority of jobs, leaving a lot of people without options. Better to consolidate all the various programs, try to give everyone a livable wage, and let those that can work for more do so without hurting the ones that can't. I know there's the "everyone will be lazy!" argument, but I don't think it's the case; people tend to want more, and most will either look for work (for supplemental income) or be driven to create things, which they didn't have time to do when working 2-3 part-time jobs to barely pay bills.

          Minimum wage + various programs is just a kludge that I hope is temporary.

          • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 15 2018, @09:49AM (1 child)

            by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Monday January 15 2018, @09:49AM (#622503) Homepage Journal

            You've been listening to looters too long. Compassion does not require robbery and help does not require the government.

            --
            My rights don't end where your fear begins.
            • (Score: 2) by Marand on Monday January 15 2018, @11:25PM

              by Marand (1081) on Monday January 15 2018, @11:25PM (#622839) Journal

              help does not require the government.

              Except that's supposed to be part of the government's job, otherwise we wouldn't bother with government at all. I'm generally pretty cynical, so this is somewhat out-of-character to say, but I've noticed that most people are fairly well-meaning and helpful to others. However, individual helpfulness doesn't scale, which is where government comes in. That said, I don't think complete wealth redistribution (communism style) will work because, while generally helpful, people still want goals and self-improvement, which is why I think UBI is a good middle ground between that extreme and the dog-eat-dog nature of extreme, absolute capitalism. People get a base income, and anything extra they earn is based on what they contribute rather than some government-mandated minimum that pushes people to take busy-work jobs instead of finding meaningful work.

              Minimum wage and existing programs are sort of trying at the same thing as UBI, but in a way that, for the employee, encourages taking busy-work jobs because they have to have anything in a pinch, and for the employer, discourages employment and enriches the selfish assholes that find ways to employ fewer people and work the remaining ones until they drop. Successful businessmen often have sociopath tendencies, and the larger the business the more likely this seems to be, so despite most people being helpful to others, businesses can't be expected to do the right thing for society without "nudging" them in that direction. Hell, I'm still trying to get medical benefits from my full-time job because my employer does anything it can to stall; and based on how lax they are with paying bills, I doubt they'd pay their employees if they thought they could get away with it.

              Of course, this kind of topic opens up a whole other can of worms, because it leads into discussing issues with the government itself. There's plenty that can be said about the US government's failure to represent the interests of the citizens in favour of big business, government bloat, and any number of other topics, because it's all linked in some way. That's why I try to avoid political discussions, it's too easy to get caught up in them and never get anything else done. :P

  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday January 12 2018, @07:47PM

    by The Mighty Buzzard (18) Subscriber Badge <themightybuzzard@proton.me> on Friday January 12 2018, @07:47PM (#621510) Homepage Journal

    Actually, no. The trend towards smaller families means there is more disposable income sloshing around in each of your children's households.

    --
    My rights don't end where your fear begins.