Wal-Mart - friend or foe to it's "associates"?

[Littleman]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/latimests/20...NlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[nascarnation]

If Wal-Mart is so nasty, why don't all their emps all go to Target, Meijer, and Kroger where obviously they will be treated so much better?? You can never walk into one of those stores with seeing a help wanted sign??

[badart]

well, if they really wanted "big-box" corporate retail employment, they should go to Costco, where they do take care of their employees.

[jkg]

Just another example of the Big Corporations screwing the workers. I can't imagine a bigger for to "associates" than Wal-Mart, the biggest employer in the country.

[rex]

If Wal-Mart is so nasty, why don't all their emps all go to Target, Meijer, and Kroger where obviously they will be treated so much better?? You can never walk into one of those stores with seeing a help wanted sign??

Walmart jobs are certainly, by far, the most readily available retail jobs.

Kmart has roughly 1,479 stores in the US and 133,000 Kmart associates. For an average of 90 associates per store.

Walmart Stores Inc has approximately 3,600 stores in the US (1,500 worldwide). They have about 1,600,000 million associates worldwide. That's 313 per store.

So the have a higher penetration in the marketplace, and have by far more employees per store.

And outside of the Major Metro areas, Walmart doesn't really have near as much employment competition. I live in Terre Haute, where the population is right around 60,000. There is a Sam's Club, a Super Walmart and another Super Walmart on the way. The next closest, and only, all-around competitor is a dwindling Super Kmart. No Target, No Meijer, etc. The rest are specialty dept. stores which operate on a completely different playing field than those mentioned above.

I'm not really here to say "Walmart is bad" or "Walmart is the Man ... keeping the populus down." I mean, they certainly could treat people a lot worse, by not employing so many people. I'm just saying, you are simplifying an issue that is not so simple.

[Frank Capua]

If Wal-Mart was so great they wouldn't always be hiring. If you are a young person who need a job in my town you apply where you would like to work but when that doesn't pan out you give up and go to work for Wal-Mart... until you get sick of it or another opportunity has opened up.

Not very many people walk into their H.S. counselors office and answer the question "what goal do you want to work towards?" with... I want to be a clerk at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is always hiring because of the turnover.

[nascarnation]

Wal-Mart is always hiring because of the turnover.

As is McDonalds, Burger King, Costco, the local gas station and car wash.

Who established the premise that stocking shelves and running a cash register was a career justifying a salary and benefits appropriate to a middle class standard of living?

[jkg]

As is McDonalds, Burger King, Costco, the local gas station and car wash.

?

Sadly, that's true. That's another reason we need to raise the minimum wage to about $25 / hour.