Wal-Mart to Employees: Donate Food to Coworkers w/o Enough to Eat

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They have more wealth than can be spent in a lifetime and they can't pay their employees enough to survive without federal assistance
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That's WHY they have their wealth.

Welcome to free, un-regulated capitalism...where people slave for $6/hr at Walmart to amass MORE wealth for single individuals - and need to beg for food regardless of their 8+/hr days at work.

The US...supposedly the most advanced and one of the wealthiest nations ...where people need to beg for food so they don't starve...and where "medical crowd funding" websites exist where people openly beg for money to pay for their healthcare, surgeries etc. The amazing thing here is that people see this as "normal" and actually support this system.

MystikMushroom
An ironic thing is, how many of us complain about how evil Walmart is, yet still find ourselves shopping there anyway?

I have no choice

Metallicus

bloodreviara
reply to post by Metallicus

 

I see this opinion allot, what most who share this opinion cannot
tell me is where all these high paying high skilled jobs are at.

Even if only say 50% of the min wage workers were to attempt what
you suggest it would destroy the market for those higher skilled jobs
anyway, higher supply of high skilled workers means less demand and
as we are already in a high supply of unemployed college graduates
with debt i really don't think adding more is a good idea.

Another thing that has been bugging me lately, how can any human
being be worth millions or even billions of dollars. Like how could
one human being ever do enough work to justify that cost. The
honest answer is they cannot. We really need to open our eyes
to the fact that we are expected to shoulder the burden of the work
and give the majority of credit to someone who helped but was
not the majority contributor to the success of the business.

I think that this is a fundamental flaw with the idea of corporations.

edit on 19-11-2013 by bloodreviara because: (no reason given)

If the minimum wage isn't high enough then raise it to the level you want, but don't blame Wal-Mart for paying entry level wages for an entry level position.

Most of those higher paying jobs went oversees, but again it is the fault of Government not penalizing companies for shipping jobs over-seas or alternately rewarding US based hiring and manufacturing. The problem is that someone will move those jobs over-seas even if it isn't Wal-Mart as long as it is financially advantageous which in turn starts a chain reaction. It should have been fixed or addressed years ago and could have been easily IF government actually cared about the American people.

The real question is why hasn't this been addressed by our leaders? Ultimately that question opens up a whole big can of worms that would be off-topic here, but must be addressed.

edit on 2013/11/19 by Metallicus because: clarity

I think you're dancing around the issue here but maybe missing the forest for the trees.

You blame our government but our government is funded by corrupt corporations like Wal-Mart. You act as if Wal-Mart is simply enterprising and taking advantage of the system. The reality is that companies like Wal-Mart rig the system to their own benefit and to the detriment of most of the rest of us.

reply to post by NoRulesAllowed


Unregulated Capitalism? Are you kidding me? It's overregulation that's been killing the small businessman because he can't afford to compete with the higher cost of running a business when the big guy can. Regulations are one of the main tools Corporate America uses to create monopolies. Who do you think pays when corporate taxes are raised? The businessman? No. You eat that tax through lower wages. Now Obamacare will destroy even more small to mid-sized companies who are unable to compete with the big boys. Who will also pay for that?

The argument that companies are not paying a living wage is also foolish. Go ahead and raise the minimum wage to $15 / hr. What the heck do think will happen? You'll run whatever small and medium business that are left right into the ground and it'll make the big boys even more powerful while they just reduce staff, benefits and raise their prices to offset costs!

Stop blaming capitalism. We haven't had true free-market capitalism in this country in years! Free-market capitalism mean NO intrusion by the government in business. We've had exactly the opposite. Corporatism or Crony Capitalism. Guess who lobbies the politicians for regulations? The big corporations do! And they pay millions to get this done! And what does the typical american do? They cry to government for more!

I'm no fan of Walmart. Screw them. But understand what's happening and how we've gotten here. The banks own the Federal Reserve who controls inflation. The banks and corporations control the politicians who write all those laws and regulations you love so much.

Capitalism?...lol

reply to post by maddog99


US market is not overregulated... rather underregulated. Competition laws are weak letting a handful of companies hold vast majority of market share. The big ones have become simply too big. The corporations should have been limited decades ago so they would not start limiting small businesses. US small business sector is near to inexistent compared to most European nations, while over 50% of people work for corporations, which is significantly higher than in any other advanced nation...

It is not taxes that lets Walmart sell stuff at lower price.

The more you buy in at once, the cheaper the products. Walmart buys products in in extreme bulks, while their revenue is extreme. Due to that they are able to sell products at cheaper cost than majority of other companies buy these in at.

Large businesses earn from revenue, while small businesses earn from price. If you buy 10,000 products at once, it costs significantly more than when buying 1,000,000 products at once. You can sell 10,000 products earning 10 dollar from each or 1,000,000 products earning 0,1 dollars from each. Profit is same 100,000. What do you think customers prefer?

Nearly no retailer in US is able to sell products at as low cost as Walmart, as that would mean selling products cheaper than they are bought for the company. It is not economally worth it buying a product for a dollar and selling it for 90 cents... Walmart can sell the same product at 70 cents and still earn billions.

The same applies to nearly every other sector. Large ones earn from revenue, while smaller ones have to raise price to earn profit in the same field. In the long run smaller ones are not able to survive due to not being able to compete with the low prices and are simply "eaten" by the large ones. The revenue of large ones even grows and they are able to lower the prices even more, so for the next small ones it is even harder. At the end there are only monopolies or a couple of companies dominating the sector.


Corporations must be limited up to the point where for no corporation their size gives significant advantage over other ones. Otherwise it will stop innovation and even free market is never able to balance itself as the others simply can not sell at loss, they do not have enough customers to buy in extreme bulks to be able to sell at cheaper cost than the large corporation.

reply to post by Bassago


That is complete BS what Wal-Mart is doing to their own employees!

I myself have gone to Wal-Mart a few times recently, but only because they are the only place open for what I need sometimes, after I get out of work. ie: Check oil light came on, at 11pm, go 2 miles from work to WM omw home. But besides those few times, I have been avoiding that piece of litter on the man made hill since it was built. Actually they literally destroyed a huge hill/small mountain, they took the mountain, and leveled it into a huge "platform" about 30ft tall by a square mile. I wish someone would go Rampage on their corporate headquarters.

nixie_nox

MystikMushroom
An ironic thing is, how many of us complain about how evil Walmart is, yet still find ourselves shopping there anyway?

I have no choice

Go to Dollar General instead. Go to Target, you have a choice. Yea walmart is cheap and puts everyone out of business, but there are still other stores. DG is actually a great place to go for everyday products such as TP, paper towels, ect. I got a 9 pack of TP for 5 bucks, at Weis or Giant it would be 9-11 bucks.

I feel like i'm at an occupy wallstreet rally. The user base of ATS has gotten younger and younger as well as more immature over the years. I'm going to say this one time, and one time only, hopefully it sticks:

MINIMUM WAGE ISN'T MEANT TO BE LIVED OFF OF YOU COMPLETE AND UTTER IDIOTS. YOU DON'T DESERVE MORE MONEY FOR DOING A COMPLETELY MENIAL JOB THAT A TODDLER CAN DO WITH LITTLE OR NO TRAINING.

If you work minimum wage you need at least one other job to compliment that, do you want to know why? Because you haven't completed the training required to get a better job. PERIOD. Get better at what you do, or sit down and shut up. You people pretend Wal-Mart's employees are their only overhead, no, they have a lot more to take care of before they get to you crying bunch of children. Executives and investors make more money than you because they do thousands of times more for the company than your shelf stocking ever will. Deal with it.

Several places I have worked have had food donation bins for fellow employees. It's not uncommon. Just because you have a job somewhere doesn't mean you don't need help making ends meet. I'm not trying to stick up for Wal-Mart but this post and story is a dog and pony show about nothing.

The situation is not going to get better for anyone at walmart or working elsewhere, it’s only going to get worse and worse. Do your best to save as much money as you can, purchase assets that will not lose value, buy storable food and water. This collapse was 100 years in the making. There is not light at the end of the tunnel, it’s a fright train.

pavil

solongandgoodnight
Blood sucking, greedy, heartless b@st@rds. They probably don't have a clue as to why this is wrong they are so blinded by their own greed.

Look in the mirror...... the profit margins at Walmart are not obscene, in fact they are pretty low for a business. The reason they are successful is that they offer the lowest prices around. YOU, the public, have had as much of hand in determining Walmart employees pay scale as their management does. You are fueling the machine that you rail against every time you shop at Walmart as opposed to a higher cost store. You can even take it a step further, anyone who owns a mutual fund that has Walmart inside of it, is doing the same thing. Walmart is delivering what A LOT of Americans want, products at the lowest possible prices. If it wasn't Walmart, someone else would be doing the same thing and be as dominant as Walmart is. You have gotten just what you asked for.

you are king of open mouth and insert foot. I avoid wal mart like the plague. go preach to someone else.

reply to post by Bassago


Walmart Heirs Hold More Wealth Than 42% of Americans Combined.

You'd think they'd pitch in a few bucks. Maybe buy their employees dinner.

www.motherjones.com...

NthOther
Calm down, everyone. This was done by one store (read the article before you have a rabid foamfest over anything Walmart). One store manager didn't think things through as to how this could be perceived by employees.

He has no control over how much Walmart pays anyone, and was simply asking everyone to be charitable during the holidays. Like every other business in the western hemisphere does. But, it's Walmart, so...

..."AAAAARGH! WALMART (expletive, expletive, etc.)!" Pavlov would have a field day with you guys.

edit on 11/19/13 by NthOther because: (no reason given)

he wouldn't have had to try something like this if the employees were paid enough to feed themselves.

so yes..........."AAAAARGH! WALMART (expletive, expletive, etc.)!"

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I used to work in the produce department of a large supermarket chain. Every night after closing, we would throw away boxes of fruit and vegetables which didn't meet 'quality standards' yet would have been just fine in anyone's refrigerator. It was also forbidden to give it away.

I think during the one year I worked there, we must have tossed about roughly 8,000 lbs of healthy and perfectly edible food. That's just ONE store and I'm being very conservative. Do the math.

Micheal Jackson said it best 'All I want to say is that they don't really care about us!'

grey580
reply to post by Bassago

 

Walmart Heirs Hold More Wealth Than 42% of Americans Combined.

You'd think they'd pitch in a few bucks. Maybe buy their employees dinner.

www.motherjones.com...

That's what I was thinking as well. Considering their known greed you'd think they would do it just to avoid the bad press something like this happening could cause. But frankly I just think they really don't give a rip.

Sad thing is when you look at a corporation like Wal-Mart, with all it's efficiencies and mega wealthy owners you'd think they would want to improve their internals as well. Boost their employee standards of living, get good press, improve the economy, etc. Guess not.

SixX18

nixie_nox

MystikMushroom
An ironic thing is, how many of us complain about how evil Walmart is, yet still find ourselves shopping there anyway?

I have no choice

Go to Dollar General instead. Go to Target, you have a choice. Yea walmart is cheap and puts everyone out of business, but there are still other stores. DG is actually a great place to go for everyday products such as TP, paper towels, ect. I got a 9 pack of TP for 5 bucks, at Weis or Giant it would be 9-11 bucks.

This could be an eyeopener for some.

Target vs Walmart

Dollar General isn't any better...... Source

People pick on Walmart, not that they are angels, but everyone else in the biz is pretty much the same......

Getting a lot of "Rage against the Machine" rants here........

I've said it before here, some jobs ARE only worth a certain amount. Sucks if you happen to be in one of those jobs and you want to make more. There is a limit to what a job is worth in ANY field.

WeRpeons
reply to post by Bassago

 

Considering the Walmart family is the richest in the world whose estimated worth is around 93 billion, you would think they would have some heart and increase the salaries of their workers who are adding to their billions. It's not only Walmart, all you have to do is look at how many U.S. corporations have taken their production facilities overseas for cheap labor and higher profits.

you think the Waltons give a crap about their employees?.....how do you think they got 93 billion in the first place...take a look at the people who make up the Forbes 400 wealthiest people, and see how many are generous to their employees, even with billions in personal wealth....1% simple interest on 1 billion dollars, is an income of 10 million dollars a year

solongandgoodnight

you are king of open mouth and insert foot. I avoid wal mart like the plague. go preach to someone else.

I don't claim to be anything other than who I am. Not preaching, simply stating overall demographic facts. If everyone hated Walmart and didn't shop there, they would be hurting big time. That simply isn't the case. You are free to shop wherever you want and spend your income however you see fit. I could care less. Anyone who owns almost ANY of the 10 most bought mutual funds......owns Walmart stock to an extent. If you own them or your pension fund owns them, then "You da Man", you rail against in a way. Kinda funny the self loathing that goes on.

I have no problem with Walmart paying wages that meet and exceed Minimum wage guidelines as currently in the laws. They pay what the market will allow them to pay. No less, No more. Mandate an increase in the Minimum wage and trust me, every industry that bases their pay scale off of the minimum wage will pass that cost on to their consumers. Other industries will then follow suit. Everyone will earn more, Great News! Also everything will COST MORE, not so great news. The discrepancy between entry level workers and those who aren't entry level will stay the same.

POP!!! Sorry I did that to your balloon.

reply to post by pavil


who said anything about mandating? it's about what's right and what's wrong. and what makes you think they pay what the market allows? they pay what gives them record profits every year. stop kidding yourself.

solongandgoodnight
reply to post by pavil

 

who said anything about mandating? it's about what's right and what's wrong. and what makes you think they pay what the market allows? they pay what gives them record profits every year. stop kidding yourself.

You are the one kidding yourself. Walmart pays what people are willing to work for...... It's basic supply and demand. If you want to raise the baseline wage a business can offer, then you are mandating it outside of market forces. If Walmart couldn't find enough employees of a set skill level, then they would necessarily have to increase their wage to meet their needs. For example, Walmart on average pays it's Truck drivers very well, why? Because they are VITAL to the whole process. A stocker at a store isn't as valuable.

Record profits on 3.23% profit margin is hard. You try to run a business on such a lean margin. It's very hard to do unless you run a VERY lean ship. Source

Walmart is immoral yet every other business that has low or minimum wage jobs is somehow better????

Many people here think the minimum wage is equivalent to a "Living wage" or "Fair Wage". It's not. It's the legal required minimum enforced by a Government. If you don't like it, then campaign to get the LAW changed. Till that happens, all you can do is not shop at places that don't fit your morality code. Better turn that IPHONE in, since is was built on slave wages.

And regardless of that arguement, raising the minimum wage will not have the intended result. There will still be the gap in pay rates and things will just cost more over all. There will still be poorer people at the lower end of the pay scale, who STILL make less than other groups.

Sorry you don't see it that way.