Walmart moving in on Girl Scout cookie domain??

[queenofthehivemomof5]

I have to disagree here. Walmart does not pay decent wages, unless you consider below poverty level decent. And because people will always need jobs, they will take whatever they can get, livable wages or not.

UFCW | Wal-Martization and Wages

• Wal-Mart Wages
  
  • Wal-Mart pays an average hourly wage of $8.23 an hour, according to independent expert statistical analysis, which falls below basic living wage standards and even below poverty lines.
  • Wal-Mart claims an hourly wage of $9.68 an hour is its national average, though that still equals poverty levels for workers. Since “full time” at Wal-Mart is 34 hours a week according to company policy, full-time workers make a mere $17,114.24 a year—below the federal poverty level for a family of four.
  • The most common Wal-Mart jobs earn less.
    
    • A sales associate--the most common job classification--earns on average $8.23 per hour ($13,861 annually)
    • A cashier—the second most common job—earns about $7.92 per hour ($11,948 annually)
    • Sales associates and cashiers combined account for more than a third of all Wal-Mart jobs.
    
    
  • The world’s largest and richest retailer—with more than $250 billion in annual revenue--can afford wage increases. Wal-Mart could pay each employee a dollar more per hour if the company increased its prices by a half-penny per dollar. For example, a $2.00 pair of socks would then cost $2.01. This minimal increase would annually add up to $1,800 for each employee.
  • A Wal-Mart spokesperson told USA Today on 1/29/03 that their pay is close to or equal to union wages.
  
  Union Wages
  
  • Grocery workers are paid an average of $10.61/hour based on Bureau of Labor Statistics data.
  • The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) reported in 2002 that United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Union-represented workers in the supermarket industry earned 31% more than their non-union counterparts. Women have a 33% advantage with UFCW representation.
  • IWPR research showed that UFCW-represented supermarket workers are two-and-a half times as likely to have pension coverage than non-union workers and twice as likely to have health insurance coverage than retail food workers without union representation.
  
  The excerpt below is from the June 11, 2003 Wall Street Journal--New Recipe for Cost Savings: Replace Highly Paid Workers; In a Tight Market, Employers Are Finding Job Seekers Willing to Take Lower Salaries

laborcenter.berkeley.edu/retail/walmart_livingwage_policies07.pdf

My post said "Here" meaning in the town I live in. I know that I live in a unique economy but there is a shortage of employees in the town I live in. It is so bad that Burger King has had to close it's doors mid day because they have no one to work the shifts (really sucks when you get the kids excited about going and they are closed LOL) Entry level fast food pays $9+ an hour (for high school kids!) and starting wages at Walmart here are 11-15 an hour. This is a far cry from min. wage. This is because they have to pay a higher salary than min wage because no one will work there. You can make 9 an hour as a housekeeper at a larger hotel chain or at a fast food restaurant. My DH when he worked at Home Depot made $13 an hour (and supported his family of 7 on it). I am not sure why one would expect that an entry level retail job would support a family of 4 though. These days you need to be either really frugal or have a really good paying job to live on one income. Home Depot tried hiring here at $9 an hour and no one would work for that pay. And those that were willing to take that were not good employees and were gone within a few months time, something you cannot afford to do in an area with a shortage of workers.

If you live in a place where there are many min. wage jobs Walmart can fully expect to find employees that will work for min. wage. But where I live the lowest wage that anyone here is going to work for is around $9 an hour. And in a comparable job in retail they are going to have to pay a bit more than that.

I'm totally not saying that they are the best place to work nationwide..but where I live its not that bad. Someone has to employ folks that need retail associate and cashier jobs. Either because those folks don't have the skills yet for something else, that is what kind of job fits their lifestyle or that is the only job available to them at the time.

Now who can pass me a thin mint (Or "Great Value" mint)?"

[Torismommy]

I would not buy them from Walmart! I am a girl scout leader and unlike the HUGE majority, I do not have a child in GS. I do it simply to add to the community and help raise responsible, honorable children. Although there are cookies similar to what we sell already out there, I would hope that people would understand what an important month the cookie sale is to the girls and still purchase from them.

Do people truly understand how a troop works? I didn't! When we started out, we had 4 girls in our troop and your bank account starts at zero. Every pen, pencil, crayon, trip to the park, gas, games, community service project...every single thing we did came out of our pockets or the pockets of the parents. All of the girls in our troop came from divorced or single parent families. These parents did not have the extra to spend and it made it very difficult to do things with the girls.

Our cookie sale is a major help in making sure that kids who normally wouldn't have a chance to participate in fantastic opportunities, do. I'm not talking about hotel living...some people act like the money goes toward these amazing trips. We sent cookies to the military, participate in a coupons to the troops program, bought trash bags and cleaned up our community parks, made ceramic bowls and donated them to the food banks to serve the homeless. Sure, we went on some fun trips too, but we try really hard to make the money go toward bettering the community.

Just remember, when it's 20 degrees, snowing and 4 girls are shouting, "Would you like to buy some girl scout cookies...$3.50 a box?!?" that what you do in that moment might change someone's life. I saw a little girl with no confidence smile to light up a room when she sold 4 whole boxes to one customer! What is a few dollars to us means the world to them!

Hope my input helps you this upcoming GS Cookie Season!

[Smee]

Now who can pass me a thin mint (Or "Great Value" mint)?"

I have some toothpaste and chocolate Pop Tarts I'll be glad to share. It's pretty much the same thing (to me).

[bigsweetie]

I get what you are saying. But there can't be too many other companies though who follow this statistic:

8 percent: The amount of total U.S. retail sales, excluding automobiles, accounted for by Wal-Mart.

frontline: is wal-mart good for america?: secrets: wal-mart at a glance | PBS

Walmart is the largest employer in the US, and as such, ought to be held to higher standards.

I also understand your POV, but I have to go back to... IT'S UNSKILLED LABOR!!! I'm sorry, but i've been a cashier. It's not exactly brain surgery. While I wish that everyone on earth could make enough money to have everything they need, it's just not the way it is. If you don't want to shop there because you think their profits are too high and wages too low, that's commendable. I'm a proponent of the free market. But I think it's hypocritical to single out ONE employer, simply because they "top the charts" and end your stance there.

Do you still go to McD's, CVS, Walgreens, fly on commercial aircraft??? I'm sure their top management aren't hurting for money these days! Why stop at Walmart??

[queenofthehivemomof5]

I have some toothpaste and chocolate Pop Tarts I'll be glad to share. It's pretty much the same thing (to me).

I'll pass on the toothpaste...but pass me a chocolate pop tart. All I have right now are blueberry....

[bigsweetie]

Man... I wish we could edit!!!

I just wanted to say that I don't understand this hatred for WM, it's "low" wages, poor working conditions, etc. When if people took the time to do some research would realize that there are lots of other industries who are MUCH WORSE!!

I just have to get this out there because I live it and it's why this topic sometimes ticks me off.

We get all riled up about the person who rings up our groceries and how they're not paid enough but we have NO CLUE that the person who is flying us and our family around in big planes over many cities is making only slightly more than they are (and sometimes it's less). Why aren't people boycotting airlines? Let me tell you from first hand experience, not only is the pay crappy (despite the salaries the news likes to quote) but the working conditions SUCK!! If anyone wants further clarification send me a PM cause I got so much to say about it it would be too long of a post.

You think WM is bad? Go work for an airline... you ain't seen nothing yet! I think it's only been since the Colgan crash that people are starting to notice, but it's frustrating to me. Not because I want my husband to come home with a huge paycheck, but because people choose to look in one direction... whatever direction the media points them in and assume that that covers it all.

I encourage everyone to start looking around you and asking some questions and/or doing some research. You'd be surprised at all of the skilled labor that is grossly underpaid... even below poverty level.

[HelenPooh]

hate Walmart!

[wvmommy]

Well, I voted maybe.

Girl Scout cookies only come around once a year. When I get that first box in my hands, as silly as it sounds, it's magical to me. (Maybe cause I used to be a girl scout, I don't know.) I remember when I was little, I looked foward to the carnivals and fairs so I could buy cotton candy. When Walmart started selling cotton candy, the magic of that went away.

On the other hand, If I were pregnant and having a severe craving for GS cookies, I might have to cave and buy a box.

[meems]

OH good God..another reason to bash Walmart! We ONLY bought GS cookies because we had a GS's participating...if not DD's then friends DD'S, otherwise, if we want cookies, we got the keebler! People will buy to support GS, if they can't, you should not have anything available the rest of the year? Last year we never did open the boxes & ended up giving them to the family of the troop we bought them from, I'd rather just hand them cash.

[meems]

Or how about CVS, Wags, Rite aid cashiers? Are they rolling in the big bucks? Same skill level...

Man... I wish we could edit!!!

I just wanted to say that I don't understand this hatred for WM, it's "low" wages, poor working conditions, etc. When if people took the time to do some research would realize that there are lots of other industries who are MUCH WORSE!!

I just have to get this out there because I live it and it's why this topic sometimes ticks me off.

We get all riled up about the person who rings up our groceries and how they're not paid enough but we have NO CLUE that the person who is flying us and our family around in big planes over many cities is making only slightly more than they are (and sometimes it's less). Why aren't people boycotting airlines? Let me tell you from first hand experience, not only is the pay crappy (despite the salaries the news likes to quote) but the working conditions SUCK!! If anyone wants further clarification send me a PM cause I got so much to say about it it would be too long of a post.

You think WM is bad? Go work for an airline... you ain't seen nothing yet! I think it's only been since the Colgan crash that people are starting to notice, but it's frustrating to me. Not because I want my husband to come home with a huge paycheck, but because people choose to look in one direction... whatever direction the media points them in and assume that that covers it all.

I encourage everyone to start looking around you and asking some questions and/or doing some research. You'd be surprised at all of the skilled labor that is grossly underpaid... even below poverty level.