The answer to raising wages at Walmart and McDonalds.

originally posted by: BO XIAN
a reply to: generik

Interesting.

So, in your opinion, would the cashiers deserve such handouts from customers?

I'm inclined given your post, to hand the stocking folks a 'tip.'

in reality they ALL need more pay, pretty much everyone excepting store managers and above (not sure about the pharmacists). even being one of the higher paid auto techs, i did not earn enough to live on. and with the way they set up schedules it is almost impossible to work a second job. especially when they fully expect you to come work at their call, and if you refuse they "get even" by reducing your hours, and/or screwing your schedule up even worse. seriously i got bitched at for not having a cell phone as i was away from home after work and they wanted me to come in. others were bitched at for not answering their phones (call display is their enemy), they would even do things like use the payphones or try to borrow a "friend's" cell phone so you would answer.

like i said earlier, accepting a tip is a firing offense. but if you want to do it there is a way management will let them. just start yelling and causing a scene if the tip is refused. i was actually ORDERED (from home office personnel) to take tips a few times due to this. but if they do accept a tip, and someone notices they start hounding you for theft, if they don't just fire you. they LOVE employee theft, people who are off sick/injured (both on the job or outside of work like a car accident) too long, get into DWI situations (even when not charged), allegations of domestic abuse, suspected drug use, consumption of alcohol during (even when off the clock and not doing anything company related except waiting for an awards banquet to take place) company events, getting nailed for street racing, and other things they don't like, have a bad habit of very soon afterwards being nailed for theft. when nailed for theft they then tend to blackmail you. they bring you in, make up an amount they feel you stole, then offer not to press charges IF you pay them back, it's a rather inventive scam they have to both get even and make some money into the bargain.

As an aside, y'all do know that minimum wage laws were put into force to make it a requirement that employers pay you anything at all don't you?

If it were left solely the decision of business, businesses would make all sorts of excuses to pay people less or nothing.

Right to work laws are a step backwards and have harmed the economy, and will keep harming it until it collapses or people go on general strike.

Be careful with that "general strike" talk though, because interruption of commerce is included in anti-terror legislation language.

You are so much "less-free" than you even realize, turn off the TV, masturbation is better for your mind than main stream media is, and it is so much more enjoyable and doesn't make you fat and broke from buying what they're selling.

a reply to: DelMarvel

We're already paying for the low salary structure at Walmart. Walmart employees are subsidized billions of dollars by the government because they're not earning a decent wage.

Really? And Walmart's pay structure is that much different than other retailers? I think not. Walmart just gets hammered for it because they are the most visible.

Bandwagon much?

a reply to: generik

SOUNDS HIDEOUS.

Perhaps enough . . . communications . . . from enough citizens could cause a change?

Though I'm not impressed with intrenched evil's willingness or even capacity to change, regardless.

I wonder . . . how many stores are like that? How much is corporate policy vs managers' nonsense?

I know an assistant pastor who used to be a store manager and he was a good guy.

originally posted by: BO XIAN
a reply to: generik

SOUNDS HIDEOUS.

Perhaps enough . . . communications . . . from enough citizens could cause a change?

Though I'm not impressed with intrenched evil's willingness or even capacity to change, regardless.

I wonder . . .

i seriously doubt communication would achieve any good. the only thing a company such as wal-mart pays attention to is the bottom line. and sadly it is doubtful enough people would do something like stop shopping there to make them listen. too many people believe that things at wal-mart are cheaper which isn't even true, which is why sams club FAILED in Canada. people went, they saw the prices were almost identical to costco, and so they stayed with costco seeing no value of switching over. wal-mart is the same, in most cases items if they are cheaper than other stores it may only be a few pennies different. but people have been conditioned to believe wal-mart is cheaper.

something many people don't know is that there are shareholders (one is a group of nuns if i remember right) that have been trying for years to get the company to listen and change. the thing is they have nowhere near the holdings they need to force change through voting themselves. they make proposals that have to be voted on at the annual meetings. then the board of directors when they put out the meeting information recommend voting against those proposals. now most shareholders can not make those meetings, in fact each store sends a couple representatives (a lot of employees have stock, something sam walton put in place), as they get 10% i believe it is extra added by the company for what they spend buying stock. so of course they buy it, some even sell off every year to gain that 10% extra money. now since they all can't go to the meeting when the cards and information come out most people just sign the proxy which lets the company vote for them, sure they can specify how they want to vote on each proposal, but most just choose to let the company do what they think is right. especially since in the information they get there are all sorts of "logical" reasons put forth to vote for what the company wants and against proposals the company does not like. add to that that there is a feeling that since they don't own much stock, their votes really don't count anyway (which to a large extent is true when you consider how much stock is owned by both the waltons and the board of directors who have very large stock options as part of their perks, and when you get paid A FEW MILLION A YEAR, you tend to take advantage of).

how many stores are like that? How much is corporate policy vs managers' nonsense?

that is a good question. some of it like the scheduling issues is the store manager and those below him who he lets do it, in fact pressure would even be applied from both the store manager and home office on who and how to schedule certain people. it is likely even store manager's choice who to "hound" for theft as a revenge, possibly depending on the reasons for it. but when it comes to the blackmail scheme that is definitely corporate, since there always seems to be a security person from home office there directly involved in the proceedings. having worked at multiple locations, and working extra hours at many more as well as being in fairly constant communications with other stores (we were always needing to call each other for all sorts of reasons), most problems seemed to occur across the board. some stores depending on their management were worse than others just as store manager and other management changes seemed to effect some of the issues in a store as well.

of interesting note, just after coming back from a long time off due to injury, my direct supervisor (who i got along with well before and after the transfer), was rather insistent that i apply for a transfer to another store that was looking for staff (to be frank about it, it had been set up between him and my new supervisor that i would go, all wheels were greased for it to happen), "for my own good", and that i should watch my back and keep being "mr follow the rules to a T" and "CYA" as i was known for. it was also an interesting thing when my last shift before transfer when i was opening up i just happened to find our till's cash bag from the night before in our washroom, of course i smelled rat and took it straight to the cash office who had "just" started to look for it and getting ready to call it in as stolen. interesting coincidence don't you think? i also found it rather interesting that just before i was layed off and having been off due to a work injury and having serious issues with the so called light duties they were assigning me, in which i called the proper government authorities to help try to deal with it. that i kept finding security tags hidden in my belongings (including tearing a small hole in a jacket and one placed inside), and then after marching in to the store manager's office freaking out about that a few times, i started finding merchandise i did not buy hidden in my belongings? another set of interesting coincidences don't you think?

I know an assistant pastor who used to be a store manager and he was a good guy.

i knew a few good guy managers, and other store management, as well as home office people. people who did their best and tried to keep associates happy and content. some were just plain awesome people who would try to do what they could for everyone. others on the other hand were the extreme opposite, those that would force you to break laws if you wanted to keep your job. those who would make decisions that didn't work and then feed someone to the wolves for doing it, placing the blame on them. those who would back-stab others in order to take their position. those who had no clue what they were doing or talking about (not really their fault since they shouldn't have been put in a position to manage something they knew nothing about in the first place due to combining departments like pharmacy and automotive shop under the same district manager), yet acted like they did causing chaos as they told people to do the wrong (sometimes even dangerous) things, and paying no attention to those who did know because they are in charge. telling associates to lie to customers and hard sell them services they didn't need. those that would try to force managers into getting rid of long time employees, to replace them with new hires they could pay less (yeah that 25 cents a year raise was too much money to pay after a few years), then cutting the wage budget, and then freaking out about not having enough staff AND going over budget on wages. yup some of them are real gems, and guess which are the ones who seem to get promoted especially those promoted to home office jobs?

Sounds like a terrible idea. It really does sound well intentioned but then all I can think of is the corporate management seeing this happen and they say "hey, we don't need to raise their wage since they are receiving tips" even those places who have strict rules against tip collection may be moved enough to let us pay the extra wage out of the goodness of our hearts and then nothing will be resolved with the exception of those who receive tips often enough may come to expect it.

It would be hard to execute a tipping scheme that does, in fact, provide positive action from corporate management.

a reply to: generik

Thanks tons for your meaty reply with many excellent points.

Sounds like you've analyzed the realities and assessed them rather fittingly, sadly.

The only thing I know that can impact such impossible situations is earnest prayer and fasting.

Sigh.

Thx.