[ARCADIA]

Retail never did pay good wages

They use to pay professional level wages back during the 50 and 60s. Back then, your appliance salesman was expected to be knowledgeable enough to assists his customers, and retail sales people were expected to study product manuals and other publications to stay current. The paradigm that the average retail sales clerk should be just a notch above a trained chimp has not always been the case. It started going that way when store hours were first extended during the 1970s.

[Abby4116]

I worked for one of the better department stores during the 60s. Started at $1.10 per hour plus 1% commission. (Minimum wage at that time was $1.25 an hour.) I took a job in the store manager's office and when I left I was making about $47 a week take home pay for a 37.5 hour week.

Appliances, shoes, men's suits and furniture all paid commission after they went to an hourly wage, but the average sales associate was still making low wages.