SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
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
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 15 2018, @12:55PM (9 children)
Yeah, that's 100% voluntary exchange. Those in that situation are contributing fuck-all, so they're making fuck-all. Which they should. If your value in your job is no better than that of some dipshit kid just entering the workforce, you absolutely deserve to be paid the same shitty wages. If you think you're more valuable but nobody will pay you more, you're simply incorrect.
As for shitty products, that corrects itself barring monopoly powers or regulatory capture; just not instantly.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday January 15 2018, @02:43PM (8 children)
Of course there's some link between a wage and the value to the employer. Or at least a theoretical upper limit to that wage. However it's widely recognized that generally speaking, if you're not someone like a director or investment banker, wages in the western world have been stagnating for years. That doesn't mean that the work being done has become less valuable over time. Wages for the same work (or in many cases, an expanded work load) have fallen in real terms, year after year, for the overwhelming majority of people. So are you saying that the vast, overwhelming majority of people are dipshits, oh mighty feathered scaly footed one? If so, I suppose it's possible you may be onto something but I think the mob may beg to differ when they arrive with their pitchforks.
Well it best get a move on. I've seen a gradual decline in the durability of most products over the last 20 years. The old "They don't make them like they used to!" meme was definitely on to something!
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 15 2018, @03:52PM (7 children)
I'm saying their work is less valuable to their employer if the average wage for their position is falling, yes. Look, wages aren't ideally valued correctly, they're always valued correctly. If you accept less, it's because you don't believe you can go out and find better. Which means that nobody is willing to pay you more. Which means the market has correctly valued your industriousness.
The solution to having a shitty paying job is either A) go get the same job for more elsewhere or B) go get a different job that pays better. Wanting or needing more money does not entitle you to more money. Need and desire are not valuable characteristics.
That there is what them of us with a wee bit of vision like to call an "opportunity". Toyota understands that, which is why their vehicles could be expected to run over a quarter of a million miles since the 90s. Mind you, it has to be done in an area where people have a significant amount of give-a-shit about the durability to price ratio for the item in question.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday January 15 2018, @04:30PM (6 children)
If as the statistics seem to suggest, most wages are stagnating, that implies that in most cases there simply isn't anything better out there. What you're saying seems to suggest that people in such situations should seek a promotion or acquire new skills for a higher paid job. The trouble is, there are far fewer of the higher paid positions available than lower paid. That's why, on average, people are screwed.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 15 2018, @04:34PM (5 children)
Only if you come at it from a "Average people are incapable of creating jobs, only of performing them" point of view. Which is quite shitty to average people and also untrue.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday January 15 2018, @04:44PM (4 children)
Yeah, I did think of the "create your own job" option for people and it's certainly still very possible for many people. It's a fair point. Of course it's harder than it used to be in the west due to globalization (which can bring advantages but brings increased competition), monopolies, increased regulation and of course the widening wealth inequality meaning less consumers are available to afford a high price for your product.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 15 2018, @05:03PM (3 children)
It's mostly harder because people have been conditioned to not think for themselves.
Drop the wealth inequality line entirely though. The only people wealth inequality is a bad thing to are those whose personal happiness is rooted in greed. Having a large spread between the super wealthy and Average Joe does zilch to consumer prices. The only prices it has an effect on are things that are only marketed to the uber-wealthy; like gold-plated swimming pools.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday January 15 2018, @05:21PM (2 children)
I think easy credit for the Average Joe masked the true long term effects on prices.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Monday January 15 2018, @07:24PM (1 child)
Oh it fucked up a hell of a lot of things. Credit cards should only ever be used to build your credit score; put normal expenses on them and pay them off in full at the end of the month. Average people using them any other way is fucking retarded.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2) by acid andy on Monday January 15 2018, @07:48PM
Although I would have worded it more charitably, you've found something we can agree on.
If a cat has kittens, does a rat have rittens, a bat bittens and a mat mittens?