Posted on 04/15/2015 12:01:28 PM PDT by FR_addict
BRANDON FL (WFLA) - Walmart customers can't understand what's plaguing the "plumbing problems" of Walmart stores from Brandon to California.
"Must be a major plumbing problem is all I can say," would-be customer Dale White said as security guards turned him away from the Supercenter on Brandon Boulevard in Brandon.
The retail chain announced Monday that five stores are shutting down - one in Brandon, two in Texas, one in Oklahoma and one in California - due to clogging and drainage problems. ...
The shutdown blindsided about 400 Brandon Walmart workers who must now find another store to transfer to or receive 60-days pay for the loss of their jobs.
However, 8 On Your Side has found no paperwork and no work done on the plumbing. According to Hillsborough County, Walmart didn't notify the county's permit department either. No one there has heard a peep from Walmart about any major repairs. ...
(Excerpt) Read more at wfla.com ...
I just hope then that you use zero stores like it then.
I think you may have misconstrued my meaning. What I mean is that if it does more good than harm, don't tamper with it.
I sure did, sorry about that.
I made one of those mental reversal things.
Been there myself. :)
Local contracts awarded under LPTA (Lowest Price Technically Acceptable) and this what your get. If the people writing the SOW (Statement Of Work) for the contract are not spectacular people with checks and balances, many sets of eyes with many iterations of run-throughs, each with extensive qualifications for plumbing, electrical, cooling, lighting, traffic, etc., then LPTA contracting blows up on you just like this.
Best Value contracting also requires spectacular people for the SOW but there is some give to ensure a good, long-term outcome.
A 10,000 psi water jet will punch a hole thru any piping obstruction. Fires a center jet forwards, and three jets aft. Biggest problem in its use is not obliterating the pipe itself.
Last Friday the Walton family, heirs of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT) founder Sam Walton, announced that the family business, Walton Enterprises LLC, would would distribute about 6% of its holdings to a newly created Walton Family Holdings Trust. The Walton family’s stake in Wal-Mart has risen to about 50% as a result of share buyback programs, and the family is satisfied to control the company’s biggest stake without actually owning enough stock to give them actual control.
In the press statement Walton Enterprises said:
Given the prospect that Walmart may continue to buy back shares, the Walton family has informed Walmart that it currently expects to sell Walmart shares from time to time in order to help offset possible further increases in its ownership percentage and to help fund charitable contributions. The family believes that this is consistent with an appropriate balance of family and non-family ownership that supports the goals of all Walmart shareholders and long term business success.
This was inevitable given the share buyback programs at Wal-Mart, and for the Walton family to act as if it just noticed is disingenuous. The share buybacks, all along, have provided outsized benefits to the Walton family and the distribution of shares to a charitable trust doesn’t really change anything.
Earlier this year when Wal-Mart announced that it was raising employees’ wages to $10 an hour, CNBC estimated that the move would cost the company $1.5 billion a year.Walton Enterprises currently owns 1.42 billion shares of Wal-Mart stock, of which 6% is about 85 million shares. At Friday’s closing price of $80.65 a share, the Walton Family Holdings Trust is receiving about $6.5 billion in Wal-Mart stock.
Maybe the employment laws are such that if workers are laid off for 6 months, you do not need to rehire them when re-opening the store.
Maybe just a way to fire everyone and be able to hire all those "new" immigrants at lower pay.
Of course it could be also...those are poor performing stores. And Walmart exec's don't want to admit that. If they are hiding something...the FEC might want to know...along with their stock holders.
There's more to this than plumbing issues....
But what do I know?
“Jones said when the store does reopen, all employees will have to reapply.”
—
This is just a good,old fashioned shake-up.
.
We shall see...........................
I agree. I used to work at a "Super Center" and half the time we were on a skeleton crew. I routinely had to cover automotive, the tire shop, sporting goods, Hardware, and Pets by myself (and in violation of company policy btw.) I was told my shop was to be open 7am to 8pm 7 days a week and under no circumstances would that schedule be deviated from. I had to keep a minimum of 2 guys in the shop at all times and there was no overtime allowed and no hiring was going to take place until I met the sales of when they had a full staff.
Oh and the employees of the store couldn't afford to shop there. Almost all of them, myself included, shopped at Market Basket for a better quality and lower price.
Walmart will become Kmart before long and this may just be the first wave of closings.
A food store chain closed recently and moved to a better location. They gave their employees and customers plenty of time to shop elsewhere. As it got closer to the final days, everything went on sale. It just seems like a very strange way to handle closing stores across the country for 6 months. And their plumbing problems explanation isn't holding up.
Sounds fishy. Wonder if Wally World was just trying to temporarily cut operating expenses by closing unproductive stores and encouraging unproductive employees to move on. They’ll remodel and reopen with a new, cheaper workforce.
“The employees were not given any prior notice.”
I think that’s SOP any more to keep the employees from looting the merchandise on their way to the unemployment line.
I had a woman come in that had purchased road hazard protection seven years before and in that time she put 1500 miles on those tires and now they were completely dry rotted and the car wouldn't pass inspection. I wasn't going to replace them because there was no road impact damage as is stated in the policy and the tires were seven years old. Management gave her a full set of tires for nothing.
All the while I was down to one four point lift because fixing my other two wasn't in the budget -- Neither was hiring more guys even though people were waiting four hours to get in the shop for an oil change.
Management decisions that don't make sense is nothing new at Wal Mart
If they were all of similar size and features and built around the same time it is very likely the plans were recycled form one store to another. Could be a major engineering mistake.
...and Wal-Mart wonders why they just gained more unwanted attention and criticism. Even the “technically legal, but dirty” approach has its limits.
This kind of stuff would have Sam spinning in his grave.
I wonder if these stores had employees agitating for unionization and were on the brink of success. If/when they reopen, making them reapply is one way to get rid of them.
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