WinCo: worker-owned grocery chain pays benefits, pensions, living wages, lower prices than Walmart

WinCo: worker-owned grocery chain that pays benefits, pensions, living wages -- and has lower prices than WalMart

boingboing.net

WinCo is a midwestern chain of worker-owned stores that consistently underprice WalMart, while still paying a living wage to their staff and decent prices to their suppliers. Their secret appears to be a smaller selection of goods, sourced directly from factories -- but surely the fact that they're not extracting billions in profits for a family of rapacious plutocrats also helps keep prices low.

Burt Flickinger III, a reputable grocery store analyst, called them "Walmart's worst nightmare."

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is the kind of change we need in the U.S. to counter the Corporate Fascist Oligarchy that is currently in place. Counter Walmart with WinCo, which is basically employee owned and pays living wages, lower priced than Walmart, and is a perfect example of a system/company that is for the People, by the People.

In the same vein, we can counter Monsanto/Dow/DuPont by the popularity in Organic veg and Organic farming, which is blowing up big time in the U.S.

Also counter the rising power/electric prices by owning solar and having decentralized power. Give it another 2-3 years and solar will be just as cheap as coal/nuc.

Now we need to figure out a way to counter all the spying on U.S. citizens as well as the Gov in general (since it is now a Corporate Fascism)

Soon as I find one of these stores, they will get the majority of my Business along with co-ops!!!!

boingboing.net
(visit the link for the full news article)

Costco and Winco, just two examples of successful companies that treat their employees well. So we know it can be done, just corporations choose to save money by screwing their own workers.

I shop winco very often, it and costco are two staples of my household.

Funny thing when I moved from So Ca to Oregon, I was surprised that the local Win-co was an exact copy of the one I had at home so much so I just went through my normal routine and everything was exactly where it would of been in So Ca, gotta love branding.

i miss shopping at WinCo.....


the one i used to go to always had fresh herbs and good produce....

I'm guessing they don't have one in MI yet? I would most certainly shop there.

Well, they have one up by 115 North of Cadilac, so I could hit it when shopping for the cabin, but that's it.

I think it's great if you can get to one. I wouldn't mind Costco or Winco at all for an option. Unfortunately, I don't live on the West Coast for Winco and Costco just doesn't compare on any level for scale yet... I was a little shocked to see the comparisons, actually.

Maps of Winco-Foods, Walmart, Costco, and Sam's Club. A final Summary Map has a location count in the side margin, although icons don't saturate the map the same way on that display.

It's incredible to see just how Walmart has captured nearly the whole market in places.

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I wonder how up to date your map is? Winco website showed one in MI, so maybe they are still growing?

Analysts are predicting Winco locations will double every 5-7 years.

It's going to take some time for them to spread pretty much all over the U.S.

Walmart was the cancer, Winco is the Chemo

Originally posted by benrl
Costco and Winco, just two examples of successful companies that treat their employees well. So we know it can be done, just corporations choose to save money by screwing their own workers.

I shop winco very often, it and costco are two staples of my household.

Funny thing when I moved from So Ca to Oregon, I was surprised that the local Win-co was an exact copy of the one I had at home so much so I just went through my normal routine and everything was exactly where it would of been in So Ca, gotta love branding.

edit on 13-8-2013 by benrl because: (no reason given)

First I want to say I love this thread. It's positive.

The issues addressed in this thread are the same issues addressed in many other threads. But the approach is different. It's not simply showing bad corporations and feeling angry about it, It's showing something better, that there is a way to make everyone happy.

benri,

One of the Wincos here in Portland used to be a cub foods back in the late 90s (maybe even more recently, I'm not exactly sure). I remember there used to be protesters out front of the cub foods on a constant basis, and I believe it was supposed to be something having to do with the employees not being apart of some union or something.

I looked up cub foods and evidently they have some connection with Winco. While I'm sure a lot has changed since the late 90s, I still find it odd that Winco/Cub would go from being the "enemy" to being a shining example of a decent company.

Has their business changed dramatically or have the rest of the corporations become so evil that winco/cub is now good by comparison? It just made me think.

I was reading around online and some guy said when Cub abandoned the NW some former employees got together and bought the locations, forming winco. That would sure explain the difference in the company, but the other information I've seen shows a more concrete connection between the two companies.

reply to post by dominicus


thanks! this made me smile. it seems true capitalism is at work. or at least it does to me. I wish them the best.

reply to post by dominicus


Well, that is great to hear. Good for them.

Last I checked though, businesses are free to charge what they want, pay what they want and buy from who they want.

I love WinCo, I mean, I absolutely love it.

If you have a neighborhood WinCo around, go there and check it out for yourselves.

The only down side is that they are ... cash only I think. Or they take ATM debit cards, I'm not sure but I don't think they take Credit Cards.

But it doesn't matter, as their prices are very competitive and I don't really see a shorter selection problem.

The cool thing about WinCo is that they sell their products in large batches. Well, since they source directly from the factories, they get their shipments in bulk.

Not all of their products are like this of course but they do have a lot of items that are stored in gigantic containers and you use a plastic/paper bag to fill the amount you want to buy.

Now, mind you that this may not seem like a big deal to most but to me, it's added flexibility and freedom of purchase. I mean, I'm no longer restricted to purchasing set quantity or set volume in a single bag or container. For example, I saw bars of chocolates there in a big plastic container, I go there and pick out the quantity I want and I pay for them. I don't need to pay for the extra fancy packaging and it's not like one of those buy 4 for $5 deals.

There's honestly nothing bad I can say about WinCo other than they don't have enough locations for everyone lol

WinCo has always been one of my favorite stores. Everything about it is great because as a customer you get more for your buck!

I have been a long time member of Costco, and they do not always have the lowest prices. you do have to know what prices are in other stores, especially regarding content and weight, before buying the same brand in Costco. they do however, have high quality dry goods, just not much of a selection. plus, I have to pay a membership fee of 100 bucks a year for 2 cards (mine and my wives), so you need to go often to get any true savings.

reply to post by dominicus


If this is true.. .... then I need to study that model as it can become the next big thing. If enough people are unemployed you will have a great pool of people to draw from to make something like this work

reply to post by dominicus

The story is a bit misleading.

The boing boing article sources an article in TIME, which in turn sources an article from the Idaho Statesman.

I'm not seeing where they pay a "livable wage". Their retirement benefits seem ok but thats only if the employees have been with the company long enough:

Some of those employee owners have plump pensions. Especially those who got in on the ground floor. People who work at WinCo long enough will qualify for a pension that gives them a slice of WinCo's fortune. The company pours an amount equal to 20 percent of an employee's total yearly pay into a pension plan.

The store being "employee owned" is definitely misleading. Looks like the CEO and a few other wealthy "employees" negotiated a buyout:

Former CEO Bill Long joined the company in its early years... The chain as we know it today started in 1985. That's when Long and other employees negotiated a buyout, making it an employee-owned company.

And here they are complaining about GMO labeling:

Other possible legislative changes — labels having to say whether foods contain genetically modified products, for example — would add "an awful lot of costs" to WinCo's business, he says.

So are they "better" than Walmart, I guess so. Who knows?

Originally posted by chiefsmom
reply to post by Wrabbit2000

 

I wonder how up to date your map is? Winco website showed one in MI, so maybe they are still growing?

I'm sure it's not up to the minute current. One of Walmart from Bentonville showed roughly the same distribution for them in 2009. So, it varies. General scale and objective for markets is what they tend to show if not each individual location.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
I think it's great if you can get to one. I wouldn't mind Costco or Winco at all for an option. Unfortunately, I don't live on the West Coast for Winco and Costco just doesn't compare on any level for scale yet... I was a little shocked to see the comparisons, actually.

Maps of Winco-Foods, Walmart, Costco, and Sam's Club. A final Summary Map has a location count in the side margin, although icons don't saturate the map the same way on that display.

It's incredible to see just how Walmart has captured nearly the whole market in places.

Walmart recently started selling groceries in our town and closed up another supermarket in our town and the next 10 mins away. Our choices have narrowed and narrowed as they closed down everything from food to pharmacies when they came.

I have always seen my local WinCo as one step below Wal-mart. I have pointed out several health code violations at mine. I do, however, go there for bulk foods. Items like sugar, flour, beans ect. are way cheaper than Wal-mart. I wouldn't trust their rice to save my life because it has been reported that the rice has been tainted with lead, but that is a different story.

Prices are great, but my local WinCo is very unclean and the employees are wal-mart rejects who look fresh out of prison.

reply to post by dominicus


Winco - that's anarchy in the making

-- The only way of arriving at harmony of interests is by a society without exploiters and without rulers. It is precisely because men are not angels that we say, "Let us arrange matters so that each man may see his interest bound up with the interests of others, then you will no longer have to fear his evil passions." - Kropotkin.