Walmart Realizes It’s Losing Billions Of Dollars By Denying Workers More Hours

[ProSense]

Walmart Realizes It’s Losing Billions Of Dollars By Denying Workers More Hours

By Alan Pyke

Walmart will begin adding worker hours this year as part of an effort to address complaints about empty shelves at the company’s understaffed stores. The retail giant’s top executives said that fixing the chain’s stocking problems could be worth $3 billion per year, a tacit acknowledgment that Walmart’s notorious efforts to wring productivity out of skeleton crews have hurt its bottom line.

Executives announced “plans to add labor hours as part of an effort to bolster ‘in-store execution’” at the company’s annual Year Beginning Meeting in March, Bloomberg reports. The news service did not offer specifics on how the plan will work, but Walmart has historically preferred scheduling workers for part-time hours to avoid paying them benefits required for full-time hours. Walmart workers around the country have gone on strike repeatedly in recent years, often listing the need for more staff hours among their reasons for protesting.

Regardless of how the company goes about staffing up, the decision to foreground in-store personnel issues at a major annual meeting confirms that Walmart is reconsidering the relationship between its workforce and its profits. Despite opening more than 600 new stores over the past five years, Walmart now employs 20,000 fewer people than it did in 2008. That aggressive decrease in staff eventually left stores unable to do the most basic thing for any retail company: putting merchandise on the shelves.

Stocking problems started to frustrate customers late last year, and Walmart cited concerns about empty shelves when it hired tens of thousands more workers for the holiday season. Months after making that temporary seasonal move, Walmart got downgraded by an investment research firm in a report that said the company’s “relentless focus on costs does seem to have taken some toll on in-store conditions and stock levels.”

- more -

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/03/30/3420798/walmart-staff-hours-3-billion/

[steve2470]

1. k&r nt

[bravenak]

2. This is why i stopped going to walmart. Couldn't find a thing or anyone to help me.

The last five years or so they only have one checkout lane open at a time usually and the most i have seen open was about five or six when the store was packed full of shoppers. And boy o boy are the cashiers surly and irritable. Yes they are.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

5. For me it was because the company is anti-union, pays women less than men,

locked janitors in at night, receives huge tax breaks, destroyed locally-owned businesses, dumps hazardous waste, etc.

I imagine we both would be "surly and irritable" if working part-time minimum wage jobs, forced to rely on public assistance just to survive.

[bravenak]

6. When i stopped going there i did not know they paid women less.

Around christmas a couple who are friends of mine got jobs at the new walmart in town. She had more than five years retail he had worked fast food before that. They started her at 10 and him at 13. WTF?
Yes. I would be surly and thats my point. Three checkers for a large crowd would make me throw my nametag at my manager and start a riot.
As far as locking janitors in at night, thats cray cray. Somebody should go to jail.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

9. You'd think they might have learned from the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire.

Or the Hamlet chicken processing plant fire in North Carolina. They don't care.

Check out some of the anti-Walmart documentaries if you haven't already. I forget the exact title, but the one I'm thinking of dates back to 2005. But for a hard-to-find vacuum filter, I haven't bought anything at Walmart for probably a decade. I'm not a big shopper, but it's amazing how much more pleasant BB&B employees are -- the one near me has had some of the same employees for years. Same with my local Ace hardware. I think that's a wingnut company, but it pays a decent wage, and the stores are clean and organized and the employees knowledgeable. Kroger is union and while the store close to me is a dump, I tend to buy the basics there.

It just makes me sick that in "the greatest nation on earth," God knows how many millions are trying to survive on $8-$10/hour.

[bravenak]

14. I'll look about and find one of the documenatries.

We have Kroger type stores up here that are union but they still get paid shit wages and the grocery stores are union but they also get crappy wages. We need a 15 dollar minimum wages adjusted yearly for inflation. The way things are right now, it feels like slavery. Barely enough to survive.

[winstars]

15. The doc I think you mean is "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Prices" link below...

[bravenak]

25. Gracias!

You saved me a google.

[winstars]

30. I think its also on Netflix if you have it...

[WorseBeforeBetter]

49. Thanks, that's the one I was thinking of. (n/t)

[Fla Dem]

48. I was never a real Wal-Mart shopper, would go in for garden tools and stuff like that. But, then

stopped altogether when their stores got dirty and I began to hear how they paid their employees. Have not stepped foot in throe store in over 5 years.

[Jackpine Radical]

3. Given that it's MallWart,

that phrase "in-store execution" brings a chilling image to mind.

[LiberalEsto]

11. That's exactly what I thought, JR

Another way to motivate the workers

[rurallib]

4. I buy little at Wally. But there are a few things only they hav

and now anymore when I make my once a month visit the stuff I want is gone. And there is the waiting in line to purchase what little I buy there.
I refuse to use one of those self checkouts. Cashiering at Walmart may not be the best job in the world, but it may be a start for someone.

[BumRushDaShow]

7. I stopped buying from there

It's obvious that they were going to cut as far as they could until it really started negatively impacting their business... Now that they have the bottom figure, they'll probably ease up on the cuts a notch and call that a "win", having "wrung out all efficiencies", or some other nonsensical business lingo.

[Politicalboi]

8. So are they going to give bonuses to those who

Kept the ship going? Yeah right.

[stuckinodi]

10. "in-store execution"

Sounds a little scary...

[Joe Shlabotnik]

12. Amazing that these economic gurus

and job creators, that we are supposed to admire, just came to realization now that empty shelves are bad for business.

[kentauros]

20. They sure do seem to be quite dense

when it comes to simple economic concepts.

But, you can't tell them that. They are so dense that they do indeed have to learn this stuff through experience.

[Sherman A1]

42. When one spends hours in an air conditioned office

looking at spread sheets, with the objective to cut costs, cut costs and then again cut costs. This is to be expected. Labor is usually the first and easiest cost to cut in retail, it's the low hanging fruit and there are programs that match expected sales with the "needed" hours to work the store.

Despite the "innovations" of vendor stocking and pre-built drop displays which shift the labor (and the associated costs) onto others, there still remains a level of necessary of hands and feet to get product ordered, received, sorted, stocked and maintained (properly tagged, straightened, put back when a customers leaves it somewhere in the store) on the store shelf.

They have simply discovered that by reducing labor to the levels they have chosen, that they are now controlling their sales through out of stocks. No matter how good a retailer is at their job, "it ain't gonna sell in the back room".

[aquart]

52. Have ANY of them ever worked in a store?

Fine, they hire the cheapest to open boxes and stock those shelves, but if no one is on the floor to pyramid those sales...for instance to show you how to make a cheap gift look expensive by presentation, wrapping, coordination...

[Liberal_in_LA]

13. more hours for existing employees or more employees with low hours?

[Philly Cowboy]

23. More employees not more hours

That noise you hear is Sam Walton rolling over in his grave.

Rumor in the heartland is that WM model for staffing new store is to use a churn turn and burn model, where they hire younger (18 to 22) folks with the expectations that the employees will leave on their own free will after a year or so.

[Historic NY]

16. Rarely if ever do I go there but a couple of weeks ago in the afternoon

I went in to look for a specific product they were said to carry. They had 2 cashiers on registers and one on the self-checkout. The place was packed.

[1monster]

17. I read an article saying the same thing three or four months ago, and it ain't happened yet...

When I told some Walmart employees about the article, they laughed. "Yeah, right," was their response.

[4dsc]

18. Do your part and boycott the Walmart.

best advice I could give on this. My shadow doesn't cross the front door of any Walmart.

[calimary]

26. Nor mine!

I learned during the Watergate era - don't buy books by crooks. Extrapolate that out a little and you come to the buying-green philosophy - support only responsible companies and retailers with your purchasing power. Buy local. Support the mom & pop stores in your neighborhood - the same ones that tend to get bulldozed by the big monsters. So I will NOT patronize an outfit like Walmart - that nickels 'n' dimes its employees while raking in obscene profits, serves its customers extremely poorly by offering almost NO help on the floor if you're unable to find something you're looking for, or you have questions, and undercuts all competition thus driving it out of business.

[awoke_in_2003]

46. Agreed...

Even if they give more hours, they pay their people shit, pay their female managers less than the men, and buy everything from China.

[blue neen]

19. Can't stand the place.

I feel sorry for the people who work there.

[Cha]

21. Simple math, walmart. duh

[Control-Z]

22. I've been boycotting Walmart, proudly,

since 2004. It's been working well for me.

[Mr.Bill]

24. 1st rule of retail:

There is no cash register in the warehouse.

[gelsdorf]

38. Actually, the first rule is

you can't sell air, the 2nd rule is no cash register in warehouse. However, they work hand in hand

[Mr.Bill]

39. I had a job selling air.

I worked for a medical equipment company that specialized in Oxygen and Oxygen supplies.

When people asked me what I did for a living I used to say "I sell air."

[gelsdorf]

41. I stand corrected :) n/t

[aquart]

51. First rule is Tend to the customer first. He won't wait till you restock your shelves.

And anything you have to do or anyone you have to hire is in service of that. This is retail. If the customer walks out, it doesn't matter what you have on the shelves.

[tblue37]

27. Blithering idiots. nt

[spanone]

28. well, duh.

[DesertDiamond]

29. Also maybe a clerk here and there for questions. And a little training? I have never ever been to a

store in my life where employees didn't know where things were. I only go to Walmart when I have no other choice, but it's always hell trying to find anything, and that is WALMART's fault, not the employees'.

[Populist_Prole]

31. Hocking the seed corn then lamenting the dwindling crop yield

All too common a business model, including the evil empire known as Walmart. These mooks are so short-term greed oriented that if they could earn a million in 6 months by spending 10 grand now; they wouldn't for fear of next quarter's bottom line.

[colsohlibgal]

32. Haven't Been In One For Six Years

Same for Sam's Club. I just won't do it because of the greedy people who run it all. People who pay employees and employees of suppliers like dirt, all so they can keep accumulating cash they don't need, like Scrooge McDuck.

[JCMach1]

33. Their customer service is non-existent in their electronics section...

[kydo]

34. Walmart stinks. No really.

Even back in the day when they sold USA made products the place always smelled of bad popcorn. The last time I bought something from them was late Sept 2001. We had just moved into our house and our tv died so we got a new tv. Strangely we still have the said tv. But as soon as it crocks its off to Costco for a nice flat screen.

Now while I have not purchased anything from them since 2001 and about two years later we paid off the credit card (we had already cut it up before we bought the tv - paid cash for that), I have not had the luxury of avoiding those stores.

Every now and then they donate tiny sums of money to the high school band I do lots of work for and I have to enter their stores to take pictures of them giving us money.

And yet they still stink of bad popcorn even in new stores.


Of course their general business model totally stinks if you don't happen to be rich.

[d_legendary1]

35. I never shopped at the Evil Empire until

The company I worked for went under. Now I gotta shop there to make ends meet. This is bullshit!

[SunSeeker]

36. Walmart is no cheaper than the well-stocked and cleaner Target.

I don't know why anyone would go to Walmart if they have a Target nearby.

[durablend]

37. And they're freaking expensive on many things

Meat is usually more than the local supermarkets charge and a lot of other things are creeping up (this of course assuming they have whatever it is and not an empty shelf)

[MADem]

43. Well of COURSE the meat is more expensive!!! They've added an extra-special ingredient!!!

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/03/07/fla-family-falls-ill-afte_n_4922728.html

Family Gets Sick From LSD-Tainted Meat From Florida Wal-Mart: Police

[Heather MC]

40. Sooo basically, they still don't give a fuck about their workers

Just their money
How nice of them
#TeamCosco

[Arugula Latte]

47. Yeah, big surprise there, huh?

Scumbucket exploiters run that company.

[cynzke]

44. So much for the claim....

that employers are going to cut hours to avoid Obamacare. Might work for some but if cutting undermines customer service the business is going to suffer.

[niyad]

45. have not set foot in wally world in nearly 18 years, would not care if they were giving the store

away. i do not support blood goods.

[loudsue]

50. It's not just the stocking: they never have anyone checking out at the registers.

They are so cheap with their employees, the whole company needs new ownership and management. But then again, all the retail establishments of any size in the entire country need to get a clue. I'm sick of their ugly, cheaply made, overpriced stuff.