D.C. Council votes to Force Walmart to pay "living wage"--50% over minimum wage.

reply to post by SilentKillah


Very simply. Why would Target build there, if they have about the same profit margin as Walmart, and would be forced to pay employees above what the market dictates.

reply to post by macman


I'll ask again then ...

Do your employees have medical insurance? Are any on government assistance?

Originally posted by OpinionatedB
reply to post by SilentKillah

 

DC Has a minimum wage that is $1.00 an hour higher than where I am. And you CAN find inexpensive apartments anywhere if you look. No, wont be the best part of town, but you can live there cheaply enough....

www.apartmentcities.com...

If you want to have your kids living next door to someone cooking dope, go ahead and move in one of those apartments. Very few people actually use those to live in especially Oxford Manor. Those are places drug dealers use to cook dope. But... you've proved me wrong with that factor. Yes, you can live in DC for almost $400.00 dollars. Who would do it without worrying about apartment raids every week however, I don't know.

Originally posted by macman
reply to post by SilentKillah

 

Very simply. Why would Target build there, if they have about the same profit margin as Walmart, and would be forced to pay employees above what the market dictates.

Because adding a new store with considerably more customer potential than they receive at surrounding stores would increase their profit margin.

reply to post by Rocker2013


:shk: I love the eternal optimism but it's crossing into pure naive at this point in time, as someone else here posted very similarly. When 10 businesses close, in THIS current economy? Walmart can close and leave and it won't help anyone for anything. Those 10 businesses aren't sitting on the sidelines, bank loans and financing sitting on 'Go', just waiting with baited breath for Walmart to leave. No, when business is closed and gone these days? It's CLOSED...AND...GONE, in most cases. Forever. Period. Never returning. That lesson is clear in block lettering across every downtown and business district the United States has to see right now.

Empty store fronts.... abandoned buildings... empty 'big box' store facilities... All these are sitting in every major city in America right now. Every last one of them. No exception. This is the face of "when business closes".

So... Aside from the fanciful "Well, gee, they'll all come back when walmart leaves... cuz... uhh... it makes sense to say it!", is there any EVIDENCE in a viable form to show that, during this economic situation, Walmarts ever leave a vacuum which is refilled by past business they BANKRUPTED and destroyed?

......I don't meant to hit hard on this point, but to be blunt. it's ignorance on a level dangerous to everyone in a community, economically speaking. You have Walmart and you have the destroyed business they always put down in opening.... Do you want A). Walmart with closed business around it or B). Closed Walmart *AND* closed business around?

I'll bet the soccer mom trying to raise a couple kids with money that never makes it to the end of the month as it is? .....really wants the damn Walmart to stay and not see Anti- Corp people screw her out of the ability to shop for her family.

Originally posted by MuzzleBreak

Originally posted by JohnPhoenix

Originally posted by MuzzleBreak


Forget supply and demand. Typical childish thinking from Usual Suspects. Some jobs that require little skills or knowledge simply aren't worth even minimum wage. No one should expect to be able to live independently on minimum wage jobs. Without incentive, motivation, our society will be more screwed than it is.

Horse hockey. I hate wal-mart and how they treat their employees but anyone can live comfortably on a good minimum wage job now that it's up to what.. 9 dollars and something an hour. Are you saying a Wal-Mart Greeter's job is so simple they don't deserve minimum wage? You seem to contradict yourself in your statement, so i'm confused.

I make less than minimum wage and I own my house outright, own cars paid for, own computers and other nice things. I only work when i want to or need to. I personally make no more than 6 thousand dollars a year. It all depends on your spending habits and how thrifty you can be and how smart you are with the money you do have.

Communities for years have tried to stop Wal-Mart from going in and taking over th town forcing all other business to close down - this is one way that community can fight the giant and win it seems.

edit on 30-7-2013 by JohnPhoenix because: sp

Congratulations on living "independently" on $6K/yr Do you have a car?, a dog? health insurance? wife or kids? Do you have city water, electric, gas? Do you buy food, or find it? take any medicine? Start out with a big nest-egg??Just curious!

full time is about 2000 hr/yr. at $8/hr, that $16000/yr.

edit on 30-7-2013 by MuzzleBreak because: (no reason given)

I was thinkin the same thing. Where do you live that you can do it so cheaply? Only work when you want or need to? Im call BS. Unless you bought everything when you had a job and paid it all off. But theres still property taxes. Youre saying that you live on 115 bucks a week? How? Ultilities cost that much.

reply to post by Garkiniss


What matters is the buying power of the dollar.

IMO raising the minimum wage only hurts the middle class and does nothing for the lower class.

Once the minimum wage goes up so does the cost of good and services . So the middle-class made a little more money but now the cost of things cost a little more money as well ,so its a wash. However for the middle class, most likely their income stayed at or near the same so their buying power went down.

Raising the minimum wage in essence causes a type of inflation effect that devalues the dollar. If the minimum wage goes up wouldn't the cost of things go up as well? Hence, the lower class buying power would stay the same .

So you raise the minimum wage again and the cycle repeats until eventually their is no middle-class, which is the trend we are seeing.

Originally posted by macman
reply to post by SilentKillah

 

Very simply. Why would Target build there, if they have about the same profit margin as Walmart, and would be forced to pay employees above what the market dictates.

because they would still be making a good profit and if the rest of the country got their %*^( together and sacked up they wouldnt be able to just move a few miles down the road and continue to rape and pillage the economy as badly as they have been
if they dont want it someone else will

Imagine, America boycotted Walmart and small businesses broke out. All the walmart employees are hired by these small business owners. Competition! Better pay for workers. Owners and workers would be working side by side. Unlike the Waltons who are able to separate themselves from seeing what their greed does to its workers. Wages haven't increased since the 70's. Yet inflation, cost of living, corporate profit is up. Pay your workers. If not who's going to be left to buy your products to increase your profit. No one.

Originally posted by interupt42
reply to post by Garkiniss

 

What matters is the buying power of the dollar.

IMO raising the minimum wage only hurts the middle class and does nothing for the lower class.

Once the minimum wage goes up so does the cost of good and services . So the middle-class made a little more money but now the cost of things cost a little more money as well ,so its a wash. However for the middle class, most likely their income stayed at or near the same so their buying power went down.

Raising the minimum wage in essence causes a type of inflation effect that devalues the dollar. If the minimum wage goes up wouldn't the cost of things go up as well? Hence, the lower class buying power would stay the same .

So you raise the minimum wage again and the cycle repeats until eventually their is no middle-class, which is the trend we are seeing.

edit on 1-8-2013 by interupt42 because: (no reason given)

Why would prices need to be adjusted by going up? Corporate greed! Walmart would still make a profit. So raising prices doesn't reflect inflation or product increase value through supply and demand but by greed.

reply to post by Tazkven


I do believe I will answer those questions, once mine are answered, as I asked first.


I will wait.........................................................................

reply to post by SilentKillah


It won't, that is the thing.

If there are 3 stores, surrounding the area in question, and they operate with say monthly overhead of 1m, and have a profit margin of 10%, why would they open a new store, which doesn't guarantee nor really have a new customer base, with monthly overhead of 2m, thus dropping the profit margin to 5% or less.
Now, I have no clue as to what their margins are, but as a company owner, I wouldn't do that.
The customer is already there, at those surrounding stores. it is not like the new store will create a new customer base, as those people are already traveling to existing stores.

reply to post by sirhumperdink


Oh, so you get to define as to what is a good profit...

You must be the big share holder for them.

Or, you are just a person that thinks you get to dictate to others, as to what they can earn and keep.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
reply to post by Rocker2013

 

:shk: I love the eternal optimism but it's crossing into pure naive at this point in time, as someone else here posted very similarly. When 10 businesses close, in THIS current economy? Walmart can close and leave and it won't help anyone for anything. Those 10 businesses aren't sitting on the sidelines, bank loans and financing sitting on 'Go', just waiting with baited breath for Walmart to leave. No, when business is closed and gone these days? It's CLOSED...AND...GONE, in most cases. Forever. Period. Never returning. That lesson is clear in block lettering across every downtown and business district the United States has to see right now.

Empty store fronts.... abandoned buildings... empty 'big box' store facilities... All these are sitting in every major city in America right now. Every last one of them. No exception. This is the face of "when business closes".

So... Aside from the fanciful "Well, gee, they'll all come back when walmart leaves... cuz... uhh... it makes sense to say it!", is there any EVIDENCE in a viable form to show that, during this economic situation, Walmarts ever leave a vacuum which is refilled by past business they BANKRUPTED and destroyed?

......I don't meant to hit hard on this point, but to be blunt. it's ignorance on a level dangerous to everyone in a community, economically speaking. You have Walmart and you have the destroyed business they always put down in opening.... Do you want A). Walmart with closed business around it or B). Closed Walmart *AND* closed business around?

I'll bet the soccer mom trying to raise a couple kids with money that never makes it to the end of the month as it is? .....really wants the damn Walmart to stay and not see Anti- Corp people screw her out of the ability to shop for her family.

I don't understand why you assume that people will just sit around crying and withering away just because Walmart flounces it's tight-wad arse out of town in a huff.

Yes businesses will close forever as soon as Wal shows it's face, but once it's slung it's hook to inflict itself elsewhere I reckon folk will begin to see a future in opening NEW businesses, rather than cry and die as you seem to think.

Originally posted by olaru12
WalMart and SamsClub should be replaced by companies that actually make a profit AND treat their employees fairly.

Like this one where I shop, Although I prefer mom and pop operations but most of them have been forced out of business by the like of Walmart.

www.businessweek.com...

The Walmart greedy corporate model is obsolete and unnecessary.
money.cnn.com...

edit on 30-7-2013 by olaru12 because: (no reason given)

These places are popular because we (consumers that is) demand the product they give us. If we honestly didn't like Walmart, they wouldn't be as big as they are and mom and pops would be more vibrant than they are today. It is the consumer who continues to throw money at Walmart and it's Walmart that is answering the consumers needs. What is so damn wrong with that?? Sam was an entrepreneur that built a business model people enjoyed. The kids took it to the next level by giving exactly what the consumer wanted even though that meant going to China. It's not Walmarts fault we are greedy but the consumer!

If you don't like cheaper goods, support the mom and pop stores. That's the only thing that will force places like Walmart to adopt different policies. Continue to shop there and there is no reason for them to change their model!

Originally posted by macman
reply to post by SilentKillah

 

It won't, that is the thing.

If there are 3 stores, surrounding the area in question, and they operate with say monthly overhead of 1m, and have a profit margin of 10%, why would they open a new store, which doesn't guarantee nor really have a new customer base, with monthly overhead of 2m, thus dropping the profit margin to 5% or less.

Because they can afford to. It's no longer about "business" for them. It really is about corporate dominance via saturating the market.

There are 3 Wal-Marts within a 6 - 10 mile area where I live, 5 if you include one Walmart Express and a Sam's Club. They just closed one of the Walmarts, and moved 1 mile down the road to open a newer/bigger Walmart closer to Main Street.

I guess they weren't finished killing off the local independent businesses yet.

That's what they do. It really is the old "company store" song all over again. Wal-Mart moves in and takes control of these communities, providing nearly all the jobs, and then absorbing the local profits, fleecing the economy. People keep saying "shop somewhere else." In many instances that isn't an option. There is no where else.

Originally posted by Bearack

If you don't like cheaper goods, support the mom and pop stores. That's the only thing that will force places like Walmart to adopt different policies. Continue to shop there and there is no reason for them to change their model!

Sorry, but the economy doesn't support that kind of rationale.
People can't afford to spend double/triple for an item, and mom and pop stores can't afford to sell their items for cheaper, as they can't afford to buy or store the same amount of units that Walmart can.

People don't seem to understand that Walmart has such strong buying power that it can damn near name its price for the goods it buys.

reply to post by Garkiniss


But you don't realize that our demand for cheaper items have created this monstrosity. The ole adage when Walmart first started was "They'll never buck Woolworth as Woolworth has better goods" and is exactly what happened.

People saw items vastly cheaper at Walmart and gave up quality for quantity. Go to the farmers market to get your produce. It's just as cheap, if not cheaper and actually taste better. The problem is, people don't because Walmart's cheap but also provides one stop shopping!

People need to get off their lazy ass and support local food. To this day, I buy my meat from Hi Lo's which only gets meat from Local farmers. Packaged, the meat is cheaper and taste a HELL of allot better but I have to go there and for just this product. Yes, it takes more time but the quality is better and overall is cheaper.

Walmart isn't just bad in America. It's downright criminal abroad. I'll use China as an example.

Here are the conditions workers face over there:

The daily work shift at the Qin Shi Walmart Factory is 12 to 14 hours, seven days a week, 30 days a month. At the end of the day the workers return “home” to a cramped dorm room sharing metal bunk beds with 16 other people. At most, workers are allowed outside of the factory for just one and one half hours a day. Otherwise they are locked in. Literally.

Working up to 98 hours a week, it is not easy to find the time to go out. But the workers have another fear as well. Before entering the Qin Shi factory, Walmart management confiscates the identification documents of each worker. When someone goes outside, the company also takes away their factory I.D. tag, leaving them with no identification at all. If you are stopped by the local security police you could be detained and deported back to your rural province as an illegal migrant.

When you need to use the bathroom the company again confiscates your factory I.D. and monitors the time you spend. If you are away from your workstation for more than eight minutes you will receive a severe fine.

All new employees are illegally charged a deposit of 80 rmb ($9.64 U.S.) for a three year work contract, along with another 32 rmb ($3.86) for the first 10 days living expenses, which includes two dismal meals a day.

Further deductions from the workers’ wages are made for the temporary residency and work permits the workers need, which the factory management intentionally delays applying for for several months. This also leaves the workers trapped and afraid to leave the factory grounds, since without these legal permits they can be deported at any minute.

Qin Shi management also illegally withholds the workers first month’s wages, so it is only at the end of the second month that the workers receive, or may receive, their first pay. Because of all of the deductions and fines, many workers earn nothing at all after two months work, and instead, are actually in debt to the company.

Fines for violating any of the strict company rules are severe, a practice made even worse by the fact that armed company security guards can keep 30 percent of any fines they levy against the workers.

The workers making Wal-Mart Kathie Lee handbags report being subjected to body searches, as well as physical and verbal abuse by security guards and quality control supervisors.

The workers are charged 560 rmb ($67.47 U.S.) for dorm and living expenses, which is an enormous amount given that the highest take home wage our researchers found in the factory was just 10 cents an hour. There were others who earned just 36 cents for more than a month’s work, earning just 8/100th of a cent an hour. Many workers earned nothing at all and owed money to the company.

Lacking money and with constraints on their freedom of movement the Qin Shi workers were being held in conditions resembling indentured servitude.

In a vicious trap, they did not even have enough money to travel to look for other work.

Originally posted by Garkiniss
Walmart isn't just bad in America. It's downright criminal abroad. I'll use China as an example.

Here are the conditions workers face over there:

The daily work shift at the Qin Shi Walmart Factory is 12 to 14 hours, seven days a week, 30 days a month. At the end of the day the workers return “home” to a cramped dorm room sharing metal bunk beds with 16 other people. At most, workers are allowed outside of the factory for just one and one half hours a day. Otherwise they are locked in. Literally.

Working up to 98 hours a week, it is not easy to find the time to go out. But the workers have another fear as well. Before entering the Qin Shi factory, Walmart management confiscates the identification documents of each worker. When someone goes outside, the company also takes away their factory I.D. tag, leaving them with no identification at all. If you are stopped by the local security police you could be detained and deported back to your rural province as an illegal migrant.

When you need to use the bathroom the company again confiscates your factory I.D. and monitors the time you spend. If you are away from your workstation for more than eight minutes you will receive a severe fine.

All new employees are illegally charged a deposit of 80 rmb ($9.64 U.S.) for a three year work contract, along with another 32 rmb ($3.86) for the first 10 days living expenses, which includes two dismal meals a day.

Further deductions from the workers’ wages are made for the temporary residency and work permits the workers need, which the factory management intentionally delays applying for for several months. This also leaves the workers trapped and afraid to leave the factory grounds, since without these legal permits they can be deported at any minute.

Qin Shi management also illegally withholds the workers first month’s wages, so it is only at the end of the second month that the workers receive, or may receive, their first pay. Because of all of the deductions and fines, many workers earn nothing at all after two months work, and instead, are actually in debt to the company.

Fines for violating any of the strict company rules are severe, a practice made even worse by the fact that armed company security guards can keep 30 percent of any fines they levy against the workers.

The workers making Wal-Mart Kathie Lee handbags report being subjected to body searches, as well as physical and verbal abuse by security guards and quality control supervisors.

The workers are charged 560 rmb ($67.47 U.S.) for dorm and living expenses, which is an enormous amount given that the highest take home wage our researchers found in the factory was just 10 cents an hour. There were others who earned just 36 cents for more than a month’s work, earning just 8/100th of a cent an hour. Many workers earned nothing at all and owed money to the company.

Lacking money and with constraints on their freedom of movement the Qin Shi workers were being held in conditions resembling indentured servitude.

In a vicious trap, they did not even have enough money to travel to look for other work.

Just an FYI, Walmart doe snot control the conditions in the work place in China. All facilities are government run. They can use oversight of product, but have little control on conditions. Not condoning it, just stating a mere fact.

Originally posted by Bearack
reply to post by Garkiniss

 

But you don't realize that our demand for cheaper items have created this monstrosity. The ole adage when Walmart first started was "They'll never buck Woolworth as Woolworth has better goods" and is exactly what happened.

People saw items vastly cheaper at Walmart and gave up quality for quantity. Go to the farmers market to get your produce. It's just as cheap, if not cheaper and actually taste better. The problem is, people don't because Walmart's cheap but also provides one stop shopping!

People need to get off their lazy ass and support local food. To this day, I buy my meat from Hi Lo's which only gets meat from Local farmers. Packaged, the meat is cheaper and taste a HELL of allot better but I have to go there and for just this product. Yes, it takes more time but the quality is better and overall is cheaper.

edit on 1-8-2013 by Bearack because: (no reason given)

This is true. However, our local farmers market will not sustain the needs of the entire community, it is too small, it doesn't even sell meats, rices, breads, or other essentials, and the nearest full scale market is 25 miles away. Many can't make that trip, especially on stripped salaries due to thinned hours.

The problem is, we're in this situation now, and hindsight is 20/20.