Walmart raises their starting wage to $11 an hour

[OVERKILL]

Originally Posted By: IndyIan

Employers will have to raise prices, which in the service sector is still a relatively even playing field. No off shoring or importing coffee pouring or burger flipping... And the modest increase in prices probably will be absorbed without much loss in volume. A dime more or less for a cup of coffee isn't going to make a difference with most of their customers.


Hours are already being cut back at my wife's work and prices are going up. I think it depends on the business as to how hard the hit is. The small family-owned stuff is going to feel it more than the big chains IMHO.

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted By: SevenBizzos
Wal-Mart also closing 63 Sam's Club stores. This will result in "thousands" of workers losing their jobs. Must be a reorganization/refocus of some kind.

So both good and bad today.





I believe this is part of a bigger plan for online shopping. The Sam’s Clubs were started as competition against Costco which was and still is doing well. However the circumstances have changed and Amazon is now the gorilla in the room. Many of the closed Sam’s Clubs will become regional distribution centers hence my thinking of furthering WalMarts online presence.

Walmart owns Jet.com which I think will be their entry portal to online shopping. They are way behind Amazon at this stage though. Amazon has had phenomenal growth these past several years and with no end in sight.

 

[pandus13]

Originally Posted By: PimTac
Originally Posted By: SevenBizzos
Wal-Mart also closing 63 Sam's Club stores. This will result in "thousands" of workers losing their jobs. Must be a reorganization/refocus of some kind.

So both good and bad today.


I believe this is part of a bigger plan for online shopping. The Sam’s Clubs were started as competition against Costco which was and still is doing well. However the circumstances have changed and Amazon is now the gorilla in the room. Many of the closed Sam’s Clubs will become regional distribution centers hence my thinking of furthering WalMarts online presence.

Walmart owns Jet.com which I think will be their entry portal to online shopping. They are way behind Amazon at this stage though. Amazon has had phenomenal growth these past several years and with no end in sight.


...and something something about who of the good web developers and architects would want to work in Arkansas....

 

[28oz]

Originally Posted By: PimTac
Originally Posted By: SevenBizzos
Wal-Mart also closing 63 Sam's Club stores. This will result in "thousands" of workers losing their jobs. Must be a reorganization/refocus of some kind.

So both good and bad today.





I believe this is part of a bigger plan for online shopping. The Sam’s Clubs were started as competition against Costco which was and still is doing well. However the circumstances have changed and Amazon is now the gorilla in the room. Many of the closed Sam’s Clubs will become regional distribution centers hence my thinking of furthering WalMarts online presence.

Walmart owns Jet.com which I think will be their entry portal to online shopping. They are way behind Amazon at this stage though. Amazon has had phenomenal growth these past several years and with no end in sight.


This just means more pricing "mistakes" on 3-packs of oil jugs!

 

[Mr Nice]

PimTac,

I bought all Amazon shares last week for my IRA.

Added mores shares in another account. I do also believe Amazon has lots to keep growing.

 

[eddy21]

Originally Posted By: andrewg
Originally Posted By: bigj_16
Originally Posted By: PandaBear
I hate to see this simple thread goes political but it looks like everything is political these days.

Self checkout and ship to store is really going to eliminate a lot of jobs. You can debate whether $11/hr is a ripoff or good money, but in the end of the day it is still $11/hr and employers and customers will do anything to save even 20c on each item sold.

And we haven't even talked about online only retailers like Amazon bankrupting many retailers like Toysrus and Sears.

Walmart is really pushing to go to scan and go only cashiering nationwide. Already have at some stores. They are also working on the stocking robot. Just these two things alone will eliminate jobs. They are also pushing their "Customer First" scheduling, which sounds good, but will really just cut employee hours, in many cases.
There are really only two major things which drive corporations in America these days. Stock prices and liability. Employees are a liability to most corporations. If they can raise stock price by showing a loss, they will do it. And I am not being negative, necessarily. It is just the way it is.


Robotics and automation will be replacing many low skill jobs in the near future. Most likely, including what I do.

That's technological progress. Would you expect any business to NOT take advantage of cost savings....or should they just fall behind other retailers and go bankrupt? Yes, it's scary to think that many low skill jobs will soon be gone, but people will need to adapt.


If they ever figure out how to get robots to spend money were through .

 

[PimTac]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
PimTac,

I bought all Amazon shares last week for my IRA.

Added mores shares in another account. I do also believe Amazon has lots to keep growing.



Amazon has a great outlook for the future. With that said however, with over 30+ years of investing experience my rule is never more than 4-5% of total financial assets in any one stock. That can go higher if you are working for that company but try to stop at 10%. It’s another version of not putting all your eggs in one basket.

I do expect AMZN to go higher. They are running on all cylinders at the moment.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: double vanos
The low tax environment always produces good results. But it needs a second step in the process to guarantee long term success - that is, balance the budget. And keep it that way. Now, having said that, let’s see, where could we cut to get to a balanced budget? We might as well do it, as the turnips in congress have no clue...

Start discussion now....


All you need to do is look at many local government that give huge tax incentives with trickle down logics to lure new businesses or ball parks, and then 10 years down the road employment and tax base increase didn't materialize, and watch the local debt increase to a point they have to cut services, ruining the local residents life, ruin schools, ruin home prices, and turn it into a slum.

Cutting taxes or handing out freebies to stimulate businesses only works if you can borrow money you print. It works only on a federal level because USD is circulated around the world and the QE effect is diluted and shared across the world, and it is supported as a commodity trade currency (i.e. oil).

Thinking that tax cuts "always" work is naive.

 

[ZZman]

Funny, when the middle class grew the most in this country taxes were higher and unions fought for better wages and benefits for workers. Corps weren't outsourcing jobs to other countries and skirting U.S taxes in tax havens and using inversions.

What has big tax cuts got us? A big national debt, crumbling infrastructure etc.

 

[PandaBear]

Originally Posted By: pandus13
...and something something about who of the good web developers and architects would want to work in Arkansas....


Their "lab" is in Sunnyvale last time I check, not sure about where the Jet.com team is at, but that's the guy who gave Jeff Bezo a huge headache and I'd imagine he will do well for Walmart as long as internal politics weren't handcuffing him.

Walmart.com still has a long way to go. Just last week I got one of my in store pickup "returned" prior to the pickup deadline by their HQ and the store rep can't do anything about it and the HQ customer service rep can't either. Another one last month ship 5 single qt oil in 3 boxes on 2 pickup trips that are more than 1 week apart, so if I don't make 2 trips I will get part of it "returned". The local store rep opened one of the box and misplace it somewhere, and I was not able to pick up and the rep said I "have to accept a return". I end up making 3 trips for 3 boxes with 5 qt of oil inside. This would have been fixed in 3 mins of chat session if it was Amazon or Target.

I do wish Walmart will eventually fix it though, not having competition and let Amazon be a monopoly is not good for anyone.

 

[bbhero]

What did your former big earred non basketball playing Champion get us in his time??? Oh wait minute it was another $10,000,000,000,000 in debt... And why didn't that Champion raise revenue when he and his jack donkey party was in control of the circumstance?? Just curious.....

Having said that... The deficit did grow from 1 trillion to 3 trillion under our president in the 1980s. Which was when revenue sourcing was cut dramatically. However, on the flip side job creation was very high during that time as well. When the Champion from Arkansas came in and raised rates a bit again. Which was not an all together wrong decision in my opinion. Even the person before him went back on a famous phrase he ran on for the same reason.

There needs to be a balance of things. And this nation has not had that in a very, very long time now... Both sides have their hand prints all over this foolish circumstance.

 

[ZZman]

Both sides can't claim to be fiscally responsible period.

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted By: ZZman
Funny, when the middle class grew the most in this country taxes were higher and unions fought for better wages and benefits for workers. Corps weren't outsourcing jobs to other countries and skirting U.S taxes in tax havens and using inversions.

What has big tax cuts got us? A big national debt, crumbling infrastructure etc.

Union membership is shrinking.

 

[dnewton3]

we're done here. P.