Brisk Holiday Sales : Heard on the News

[RoyGBiv]

Local news ... some OKC station I had on in the background at work today.

What made my ears perk was not, specifically, the note about brisk holiday sales, but the reason he gave. He said "economists" credit "brisk sales" to "lower gas prices, increasing corporate benefits, tax cuts, and a skyrocketing stock market."

I almost fell out of my chair.

I'll avoid mentioning all the details or going off on a rant about how the hell "corporate benefits" really help average people, but I'd like to talk about these tax cuts for a second.

My company in the last year changed its salary structure so that people in my position have a base, hourly wage complimented by commissions. For most of us this actually meant an increase in gross pay because we'd been in the position of selling for quite awhile without receiving much proportional compensation for it, but it also meant a decrease in hourly wage or base salary. That is, I get an hourly wage with a set number of hours per week, and I might sell 100 "units" in a given pay period, and from that I'd make my hourly wage plus a set amount per unit, somewhere around a dollar, depending on the unit in question. (Some were worth more due to a higher profit margin.) The change dramatically increased the "per unit" commission and created a graduated scale so that, for example, if I sold 100 units I'd get X amount per unit, 120 units, y amount, 140 units z amount, etc. But rather than get the traditional hourly wage increase, the company relied on these commission increases to meet the contractual obligation of a certain percentage increase in gross pay per year served. In the end, those of us who did our jobs well made more.

In theory ...

A part of the recent tax changes *increased* the tax rate on commissions. For example, if I were married and claimed four deductions, my hourly wage would be taxed at something close to 13%. However, my commissions are taxed at 25% regardless of any other factors.

Result.

Lower take-home pay. Higher tax burden come April 15th.

Where's this tax cut of which he speaks?

Now, in all truth, paying 25% doesn't really bother me, or it wouldn't if those taxes were being used for something other than to finance the debt on a multi-billion dollar war in which we're killing people for no damn good reason. What does bother me is the suggestion that these tax cuts that actually mean a person in my position (lower-middle class at best) is paying more as a percentage of disposable income are being touted as this so-called reason for these so-called brisk sales for this so-called Christmas shopping season.

Liberal media? Where???

Feh. Rant over.

I've been a very bad American this year. Almost all my Christmas presents are "made by me" to one degree or another or were purchases of pre-purchased items, i.e. used books for the daughter. My daughter, bless her soul, hand made everything she's giving this year. I think she spent about $20, and she made stuff that would be purchased in stores for hundreds of dollars total.

Sorry if I'm sounding like a Scrooge, but this just floored me.

[Monkeyman]

1. We where talking about this today

A lot of the folks I know are working a second job at the stores. What they said people are more or less just buying for their family.

[silverojo]

2. That's a great post

"Liberal" media, indeed! :mad:

K&R!

[RoyGBiv]

6. Thanks ...

We have a lone Bush die-hard in our office. (I told him the other day that what that Bush sticker on the back of his truck really meant was "I CAN'T GET THIS FUCKING STICKER OFF MY TRUCK!!!" and I think he wanted to hit me.) When we got the news about the taxes on our commissions (in an e-mail), you could see the entire office turn to look at him. I know I did, and I know I saw others do so as well.

Another guy in the office who is constantly at odds with this Shrub-man idiot (I thankfully work on the other side of the building and don't run across his path much) *demanded* to know why Bush would let that happen. We were all kinda in a group at the time, chatting about things. I knew one of us was gonna blow at some point, and I was afraid it would be me, but this other guy beat me to it.

I swear to you his answer was this, paraphrased...

Oh, that went through when Clinton was in office ... his idea. Bush just didn't enforce it until now and is only doing it now because he knows all the Democrats next year are gonna try to cut and run in Iraq.

Our boss, who is very smart and very good at staying out of this stuff, seemed to come unhinged. "That's idiotic," he said, and walked back into his office. We all laughed and went back to our desks.

The Shrubster hasn't been talking to many people lately.

[Warpy]

3. You're lucky they didn't put you on salary

fire half of everybody else, and expect you to work 60 hours a week with no commission. Any way they can screw you, they will. Merry Xmas.

Weekends may be brisk, but I was in a mall today and it was DEAD. It was noon and the food court was 3/4 empty. I was there pricing items to compare with post season prices, and every store featured a bevy of sales staff jumping at me as soon as I walked in, offering to locate things and bring them to me.

The guy chirping on the radio about how wonderful things are going is paid to do so. He knows he's lying. You and I know he's lying. Most of the people out there know he's lying.

You don't get brisk sales from a population facing a combination of falling wages and rising prices.

[RoyGBiv]

5. No kidding ...

That's almost exactly what they did to the managers, and by managers I don't mean the VP, suit types, but the people who do actual work. They're all now on salary, and some of them are working at least 60 hours per week. They do get a commission based on a strange calculation involving store/team sales I don't even pretend to understand. For example, *I* made more in commissions than my immediate supervisor, worked fewer hours, and took home about the same net pay.

I'm not complaining about that, mind you. I do more real work than he does, but I must admit he works harder than any manager I've ever had ... and I mean physical work as well. Good guy.

And on that subject of brisk sales, I've had the same observations. I'm not seeing it. My business is one not usually affected positively by holiday sales. We tend to remain stagnant from November through March. But this year, sales have gone down, dramatically. And I went to a Super Target last weekend, around 6pm, on a Saturday. There was no line at the checkout.

[dysfunctional press]

4. almost ALL the stores i've been in the past couple weeks...

seem to have more employees than shoppers- and the employees don't seem too cheery.

[Nabia2004]

7. Right, the stores seem more empty and fewer Xmas lights up

If people are spending briskly its not in my neighborhood, at least not yet - north of Seattle.

[screembloodymurder]

8. If you take the value of the US dollar into account,

the stocks market has been falling since 2001. We are in the midst of a prolonged contraction in stock prices when figured against a fixed, benchmark currency.

[bumblebee1]

9. I saw the same thing this past Monday at our local mall.

I went to Rita's to get gift certificates to give to the kids in our family (grand nieces and nephews). It was a pleasant experience finishing my shopping. It was also around dinner time when I went to the mall.