The 2.6 Billion Dollar Welfare Payment That The U.S. Government Gives To Wal-Mart

If they could get a better job I doubt they would be in retail at Walmart or any of the other box stores.

So you are saying they are probably doing the only job they are capable of doing? There are many out there in the same situation only they don't have a job and would be willing to replace them. I had a better job than Walmart but my salary was tied to industry standards. If they could get the same production from someone cheaper, they would have taken that option. Supply and demand. Walmart isn't a welfare program. Nobody forces anyone to work there,

I’m not pro or con WalMart* but the statistics are very interesting. I like to know these things. I like to observe consumers, what they buy and where they shop, and try to figure out the reasons they do what they do.

I have observed a herd mentality (some call it customer loyalty) behavior develop over the years in favor of WalMart*. The general masses always head to WalMart* for any and everything convinced (at least in their mindset) that WalMart* has the lowest prices. Me, I’m a tightwad and am driven by the lowest price. I am a comparison shopper and I’ll drive cross-town to save 10 cents on a pound of coffee.

Watching the WalMart* shoppers, I have noticed people of various socio-economic backgrounds with carts filled to the brim with many items that I could purchase elsewhere for less than the posted WalMart* prices. By comparing prices, I know where I can get the same quality item at the lowest price. I only purchase items from WalMart* if they are the lowest price. I think there are a number of reasons WalMart* shoppers willing pay the higher price:

Store employees are probably given some discount on their purchases. They spend their money in the company store and they get a discount. I notice their carts contain maybe one big ticket item (not too extravagant) and/or the usual things I would purchase in my economic class. And some probably pay with and EBT card. WalMart* profits nicely from this group.

And there’s the hardcore non-working EBT people. I know because their carts are loaded with lots (not a few) of the highest priced groceries (steaks, hams, rare fish, caviar etc.) and appliances or toys that my economic class would call extravagant. Obviously price and quantity is not a consideration to them. WalMart* profits a whole lot from this group.

My economic group (the tightwads, retired little old men and ladies, etc.) who comparison shop and have already stopped by the dollar store and maybe one or two other competitor stores to purchase those items on our lists at the lowest price before venturing into the zoo at WalMart*. Then we shop for the remaining items on our lists. Our carts usually contain fewer and less extravagant items than the average WalMart* shopper and we usually pay cash or with debit cards. WalMart* does not profit a lot from our group.

The bottom line is WalMart* should not be criticized for using a legal legitimate business strategy to maximize their profits. Whether it is moral and in the best interest of a segment of our society is another issue. I stand somewhere in the middle and as a consumer I just want the lowest price and best quality for the items I purchase.

When I was a 16-year-old kid, I worked part-time at a supermarket sacking groceries and shagging carts for $2.65 an hour. The girls put on pink smocks and worked the registers. After a few months of that, I got "bumped" inside to stock shelves for a 15 cent per hour raise. After a few months of that, I moved on to something even better. Then I worked in a restaurant bussing tables and washing dishes for about a quarter more per hour then I was making at the supermarket. Then I started waiting tables and cleaned up on tips. When I was still in high school, I was working six to eight table-tops a shift (part time) making $150 to $200 a week and this was in the late 1970s.

Point I'm making here is that when I was sacking groceries, I never considered that to be my "career." I was always looking for the next rung on the ladder. It never entered my mind that I would expect to earn a "living wage" to chase down shopping carriages in a parking lot or shove dirty plates into a dishwasher at a restaurant. Or put product on shelves.

Now waiting tables, there was a career if I wanted it. Waiters in five-star restaurants can be big earners. But you typically need to spend a few years at places like Dennys and Applebees working your way up to that and you also need to develop a little class and excellent customer relations skills. Skills that can be developed and refined at the lower levels.

The lower skill jobs are for ENTRY LEVEL workers!

Always be looking for the next promotion or opportunity and put yourself in position to take advantage of it when it comes. If you sit around whining about making a "living wage" while doing a low skill job, well that's the problem right there.

Anyone in this country with anything approaching normal intelligence could be taught to make six figures in sales within 2 weeks to 2 months. The fact that most people reject that option on its face makes me pessimistic about the US.

My company has had open sales positions ever since I started working there. Our sales force is constantly understaffed. We just can't hire them fast enough. Every salesperson who has been with us for at least two years makes six figures. They pretty much have to as we set their quotas accordingly.

Yes, it's hard work, and our typical sales cycle is 1-2 years so you need to stick it out a year or two to start earning. But it's virtually a guaranteed ticket to the upper middle class and you don't need a college education - just work ethic and persistence.

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