Friday, January 14, 2005

Do shoppers really care what Walmart pays its employees?

Mad anthony offers some interesting thoughts on whether criticism of Walmart's labor polices has caused people to shop elsewhere. His post is based on a Bloomberg article in which a Wall Street analyst told Bloomberg that "consumers may also have turned to other retailers after reading criticism of Wal-Mart's labor issues."

Remember, Wall Street analysts told us how great a buy the NASDAQ was in 2000, so we should be careful about believing what they say.

I tend to agree with mad anthony on this one. Not only do I think that people don't care about the labor practices of companies they purchase from, I also think that most people don't pay attention to the news so don't even realize there's a controversy.

Most companies operate on the principle that they want to pay their employees the lowest amount of money that the market will bear. Walmart is far from unique. Mad anthony writes:

Does Target and Kohls pay all their employees $30 an hour with full benefits? I doubt it. So it seems unlikely that customers are going to pass up Walmart to shop at Target for moral reasons. I think the impact that Wal-Mart felt is a reaction against Wal-Mart's quality and shopping experience, not against their employee benefits.

I personally would never shop at Walmart, it's a pretty awful store and there aren't any in DC anyway.

20 comments:

Mexigogue said...

I don't care how Walmart treats their employees. They work there of their own free will, who am I to protest if they choose to be abused? Just give me the everyday low prices! I leave the boycotting to the socialists and their wrongheaded collectivism.

R said...

I think a lot of people are misguided when it comes to what Wal-Mart actually offers. They run commercials about "Oh, I get everything here!" and that's simply not the case.

The discriminating shopper knows what products are good to get at Wally World and which they have to shop for elsewhere. I mean, I sure as fuck don't buy my clothes from Wal-Mart, but if I need groceries or a light bulb or a pen, etc., generic shit that I don't particularly care about the quality (to some extent), the prices are simply better at WM.

And Mexigogue is right. The employees work there of their own free will.

mikeca said...

There are some people that avoid shopping at stores because of their labor practices, but it is a small percentage. On the other hand, it only takes a small percentage of people changing their shopping habits to cause a small drop in Wal-Mart’s revenue.

The more important question for Wal-Mart is how happy are its employees with working there? Unhappy employees in retail, can lead to unpleasant experiences for customers, which is a much bigger threat to Wal-Mart.

HarryDisco said...

Interesting. If employees are mad, they take it out on shoppers, shoppers shop elsewhere, shop closes, employee has no job.

I think employees, who abuse customers are scum. It happens, but you should also realise that that is the reason people shop at Amazon. nobody there to humiliate you. It does mean that a lot of service jobs disappear. See, you want a computer, you can go to wal-mart, that means the employees got a job. If you don't like the service, you buy the computer at Amazon. Amazon orders it from China. It arrives at the US distribution hub, fed ex brings it to your house. It means less American workers handle it, less American jobs. This is what outsourcing does.

I think a lot of the economic downturn and dip in consumer spending has to do with the lousy behavior of shop employees. But then again, it's their job, not mine that's at stake.

The New Democrat

Old Blind Dog said...

The complaints are made up. How do I know? My son works for Wal-Mart. I asked him.

Lefties don't like Wal-Mart because they are successful. Mom & Pop stores don't like Wal-Mart because when Wal-Mart comes along they can't charge huge prices anymore and go out of business. It's called capitalism. It worked for Sam Walton and it can work for anyone.

Unknown said...

I've got a lot of generally lefty friends and relatives and they definitely avoid Walmart. I suspect it's a movement you'll see gain steam in coming years, though probably not enought to have any effect.

Old Blind Dog said...

Does the "lefty" disdain of success apply to successful "lefties" as well?Amazingly enough, those are exactly the ones it applies to.

Anonymous said...

I personally will pass Walmart to shop somewhere else for the simple reason that most of the time, they only have 4 or 5 check out counters open and it takes for ever to get out of the place! Why do they have 40 check out counters?

But as far as how much they pay the people that work there, I think that's the people that work there business. People need jobs and some are willing to work for minimum wage or what ever it is they pay. I mean, be real, how much should a job at Walmart pay? It ain't like brain surgery or rocket science! No offense to anyone that works there.

Libertarian Girl said...

Ugly American, I never understood why stores allow long lines at cash registers. Some people will go elsewhere when they see a long line. Don't they realize they are losing business by allowing long lines?

Old Blind Dog said...

People need jobs and some are willing to work for minimum wage or what ever it is they pay.My son works at a Wal-Mart in the Houston area. Minimum wage is $5.15/hr. He has been working for them since last June and makes $9.00/hr. He says no one there makes minimum wage.

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