Let me tell you a little story.....
A long time ago in a far away land, lived a little old man named Sam. Sam had a dream of opening a store that offered not only competitively low prices but also the highest level of customer service. How was he to do this? By involving his store associates in everyday decisions effectively making the store belong to it's workers and sharing quarterly and yearly profits with those associates.
This is no bedtime story, it really happened. Sam Walton started the world's largest retail business with one little store in Arkansas. The realization of Mr. Walton's life-long dream came before he passed away. As few do nowadays, this man saw his own dream come true. However, if this great man knew what those at the helm of his great dream were doing, he would be rolling in his grave!
Someone very near and very dear to me informed me recently of a sinister plot already being carried out at other stores in the country by this evil empire. What is this plot? We will get to that in a minute. First let's lead into that with a little bit of info about Walmart's economic position during these hard times we are currently undergoing.
"Wal-Mart recorded the strongest sales result in its history in the fourth quarter, with $108 billion in sales," (Mike Duke, chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores).
As this recession continues and worsens by the day, Walmart's bottom line had done nothing but grow. The growth is largely in part to Americans having less to spend flocking to the discount giant in an effort to stretch their hard earned dollars as much as possible.
CEO Mike Duke also stated that during the year 2008, Walmart created over 33,000 jobs in the United States alone while throughout the rest of the country over two and a half million people lost theirs.
"We will work even harder this year to save people money so they can live better. I do believe this is Walmart's time." (Mike Duke, CEO of Walmart Stores)
Now onto the affore mentioned sinister plot......
The little detail of which I have recently become aware is that Walmart desires to be merely a part-time employer for the most part. What this means is that while the company is producing its largest sales out of the company's entire history, the greed does not end.
Walmart Associates who wish to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, have attended store meetings where they would be notified that the majority of them would be offered fewer than a handful of hours per week from here on out. We are talking about full time employees who have done nothing wrong other than go to work for the wrong company. These people have husbands, wives, and children who during these tough economic times count on their full time income and benefits.
A long time ago in a far away land, lived a little old man named Sam. Sam had a dream of opening a store that offered not only competitively low prices but also the highest level of customer service. How was he to do this? By involving his store associates in everyday decisions effectively making the store belong to it's workers and sharing quarterly and yearly profits with those associates.
This is no bedtime story, it really happened. Sam Walton started the world's largest retail business with one little store in Arkansas. The realization of Mr. Walton's life-long dream came before he passed away. As few do nowadays, this man saw his own dream come true. However, if this great man knew what those at the helm of his great dream were doing, he would be rolling in his grave!
Someone very near and very dear to me informed me recently of a sinister plot already being carried out at other stores in the country by this evil empire. What is this plot? We will get to that in a minute. First let's lead into that with a little bit of info about Walmart's economic position during these hard times we are currently undergoing.
"Wal-Mart recorded the strongest sales result in its history in the fourth quarter, with $108 billion in sales," (Mike Duke, chief executive of Wal-Mart Stores).
As this recession continues and worsens by the day, Walmart's bottom line had done nothing but grow. The growth is largely in part to Americans having less to spend flocking to the discount giant in an effort to stretch their hard earned dollars as much as possible.
CEO Mike Duke also stated that during the year 2008, Walmart created over 33,000 jobs in the United States alone while throughout the rest of the country over two and a half million people lost theirs.
"We will work even harder this year to save people money so they can live better. I do believe this is Walmart's time." (Mike Duke, CEO of Walmart Stores)
Now onto the affore mentioned sinister plot......
The little detail of which I have recently become aware is that Walmart desires to be merely a part-time employer for the most part. What this means is that while the company is producing its largest sales out of the company's entire history, the greed does not end.
Walmart Associates who wish to remain anonymous for fear of reprisal, have attended store meetings where they would be notified that the majority of them would be offered fewer than a handful of hours per week from here on out. We are talking about full time employees who have done nothing wrong other than go to work for the wrong company. These people have husbands, wives, and children who during these tough economic times count on their full time income and benefits.
Let me also state that I am not just listening to disgruntled employees and as a result spewing sensationalist claims. During the year 2008 I personally managed the overhaul of the communications infrastructure during three general remodels at Walmart stores across the state of Kansas. Each of these stores spent well over $1 million to remodel their store, at least one of which had no need whatsoever. Throughout the course of these projects I noticed quite quickly that treating associates like dogs is common practice for Walmart management throughout the country. The poor treatment did not end their either. Not only did store management treat their employees poorly but the special management team, (comprised of Walmart management from stores all over the country), that is brought in to handle just the remodel was guilty of this too. Now one could surmise that the associates of the store, especially the management, would be happy that we (Remodel Contractors) were there bettering their store. No! I was specifically told by an assistant manager at one of those stores (the one in the worst shape out of the three) that "It was a nuisance that we were in their store" and "We were not wanted there". I replied "Fine" and promptly walked out of the store leaving half of their department phones throughout the store inoperable. (this did not make management too happy to say the least!!)
Now as awful of a thing as it is to accept, layoffs due to a company's drop in sales and performance I can understand. During tough times as these, a financially struggling company must cut expenses or whither and die as a result of their debts. However, for a company in the situation that Walmart finds itself in to behave this way is inexcusable and should be considered criminal.
As mentioned before they are putting up their best sales in history! Why therefore would cutting jobs and benefits be necessary? This question can be answered by one little five letter word..... GREED! For a very long time now Walmart nationwide has been making their full time employees shave 1 hour per week off of their 40 hours. All this does is pad the management's bonus checks. Speaking of bonus checks, I know of one store in particular that was told their 2008 Year-End Bonus would be around $800.00 per full time associate. Next time the bonus was brought up it had shrank, this happened several more times until the bonus was less than $100. While management got their bonuses, which for an assistant manager what just shy of $5,000 the regular full time associates have still not seen their year end bonus. To make matters worse, it has been reported to me that the last associate who questioned management about this was sent home from work!
Stealing bonuses from he hard working associates who make each store what it is, taking away their benefits, and abusing the hard work of people in the worst financial crisis since the great depression. If this is how Walmart needs act to provide "Everyday Low Prices" then maybe the American consumer should show them how we feel about exploitation. Boycott Walmart!! Shop at Target, Kmart, Big Lots, etc. Despite what you may think there are plenty of alternatives to shopping at walmart. They are not number one because of their prices. They are number one because they have stores everywhere and their marketing. Ignore them and take your dollars elsewhere! You had better believe I will!
As mentioned before they are putting up their best sales in history! Why therefore would cutting jobs and benefits be necessary? This question can be answered by one little five letter word..... GREED! For a very long time now Walmart nationwide has been making their full time employees shave 1 hour per week off of their 40 hours. All this does is pad the management's bonus checks. Speaking of bonus checks, I know of one store in particular that was told their 2008 Year-End Bonus would be around $800.00 per full time associate. Next time the bonus was brought up it had shrank, this happened several more times until the bonus was less than $100. While management got their bonuses, which for an assistant manager what just shy of $5,000 the regular full time associates have still not seen their year end bonus. To make matters worse, it has been reported to me that the last associate who questioned management about this was sent home from work!
Stealing bonuses from he hard working associates who make each store what it is, taking away their benefits, and abusing the hard work of people in the worst financial crisis since the great depression. If this is how Walmart needs act to provide "Everyday Low Prices" then maybe the American consumer should show them how we feel about exploitation. Boycott Walmart!! Shop at Target, Kmart, Big Lots, etc. Despite what you may think there are plenty of alternatives to shopping at walmart. They are not number one because of their prices. They are number one because they have stores everywhere and their marketing. Ignore them and take your dollars elsewhere! You had better believe I will!
I worked at WalMart for almost 4 years. I was in a variety of pos. incldg a supervisory one. I will tell you right now why the management can be so awful... they hate their jobs as much as us peons did. The higher ups, most of which have never spent time working in an actual store, create these rules and regs that waste time, are counterproductive in every way, and have led to a general atmosphere of mediocrity. The home office in Ark even controls the temp in the stores, you have to call them and beg them to adjust it if it's not right. In the winter it would stay at about 60* which was NOT WARM ENOUGH! Yes, Sam would be rolling in his grave right now. It's no longer about being a family and cust service. I was lucky to be in a store where I had mngmt. care when I needed them to but I'm pretty sure most are not that way.
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