Sparse employees in shops

[GagHalfrunt]

The US problem resulted from both parties (and still does) and started long before Bush or Obama took office. Business is running the show (ignore the man pulling the strings behind the curtain).

Business SHOULD be running the show. Business is what creates jobs, exports, and a healthy economy. No country was ever strengthened by creating a hostile environment for businesses. You don't help the wage earner by screwing the wage payer. The problem is that the politicians let Wall Street run the show and while at one time that might have been okay as investment stimulates business, it's not okay anymore. The model changed and the money getting funneled into investments went to the people on Wall Street, not to the businesses.

Which of course is also a factor in "sparse employees". CEOs have to be fixated on stock prices and they have found that they can make the balance sheets look good by laying off lots of people. Even if it hurts business a little it can help the bottom line a lot which in turn ups the stock price and the CEOs bonuses/options.

 

[Jeff7]

Business SHOULD be running the show. Business is what creates jobs, exports, and a healthy economy. No country was ever strengthened by creating a hostile environment for businesses. You don't help the wage earner by screwing the wage payer. The problem is that the politicians let Wall Street run the show and while at one time that might have been okay as investment stimulates business, it's not okay anymore. The model changed and the money getting funneled into investments went to the people on Wall Street, not to the businesses.

Which of course is also a factor in "sparse employees". CEOs have to be fixated on stock prices and they have found that they can make the balance sheets look good by laying off lots of people. Even if it hurts business a little it can help the bottom line a lot which in turn ups the stock price and the CEOs bonuses/options.

And either way, they get to leave the company with one or both of a large severance package and pension, so they don't really need to care about their company's long-term health.

 

[Pray To Jesus]

Yeah, That Wally World Great Value line are easily the worst products I've ever seen. Everything is uniformly shockingly bad.

I love the nitwits that run these companies. Years ago, Best Buy had salesmen that were making $60k+ a year on fixed commission %. The CEO said they were making too much, and got rid of them. HELLO? Fixed commission % means that the more they make, the more you make! Store sales and profit plummeted.

Home Depot got rid of their knowledgeable sales staff, and their profit took a dump, too.

LoL

 

[Mai72]

Can you buy a 60" TV in Bangkok for what a fast food employee earns in a week?

They had the new curved flat screen TVs. I don't remember the size. I do remember that they were huge. The price was $170k baht which is a little over $5,200 USD.

The technology in Thailand is about what you would expect to pay in America. The sane in Korea. It is not cheap

Internet is cheap. Paid $15 USD for one month.

 

[Mai72]

The Bangkok mall is frekin huge! 4 floors with about 500 stores. People are all fighting for the cheap items. Clawing and screaming "its mine!!"

Well at least I thought that's what they were saying.

 

[OverVolt]

Business SHOULD be running the show. Business is what creates jobs, exports, and a healthy economy. No country was ever strengthened by creating a hostile environment for businesses. You don't help the wage earner by screwing the wage payer. The problem is that the politicians let Wall Street run the show and while at one time that might have been okay as investment stimulates business, it's not okay anymore. The model changed and the money getting funneled into investments went to the people on Wall Street, not to the businesses.

Which of course is also a factor in "sparse employees". CEOs have to be fixated on stock prices and they have found that they can make the balance sheets look good by laying off lots of people. Even if it hurts business a little it can help the bottom line a lot which in turn ups the stock price and the CEOs bonuses/options.

Its not like you ever see any of that money so why do you apologize for them.

 

[shortylickens]

Its not like you ever see any of that money so why do you apologize for them.

We do see that money.

Its called "taxes".

And up until the government started ass raping businesses they used to pay the majority of taxes in this country.

Dont get me wrong, I dont believe in corporate bailouts. But I dont believe in making life difficult for the value generators either.

 

[Engineer]

We do see that money.

Its called "taxes".

And up until the government started ass raping businesses they used to pay the majority of taxes in this country.

Dont get me wrong, I dont believe in corporate bailouts. But I dont believe in making life difficult for the value generators either.

Link to that? Personal income taxes far outweigh business taxes and always have as far as I know (but I could be wrong).

 

[OverVolt]

We do see that money.

Its called "taxes".

And up until the government started ass raping businesses they used to pay the majority of taxes in this country.

Dont get me wrong, I dont believe in corporate bailouts. But I dont believe in making life difficult for the value generators either.

No they just do tax evasion by inversion. Or like GE who filed 47,000 pages of taxes and literally paid less than me ($0.00)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

and I guess in support of engineer

Such strategies, as well as changes in tax laws that encouraged some businesses and professionals to file as individuals, have pushed down the corporate share of the nation’s tax receipts — from 30 percent of all federal revenue in the mid-1950s to 6.6 percent in 2009.

Guess you guys can donate like 40% of your income next year to apologize for that, too? If you still have time to do it after waiting in line at walmart for 30 minutes anyway. :awe:

 

[phucheneh]

Can you buy a 60" TV in Bangkok for what a fast food employee earns in a week?

60" TV's have gotten down to $250?

 

[BoberFett]

So which is it ATOT? Is lots of employees a good thing or bad?

"Circuit City has too many sales people coming up to me every two minutes asking if they can help, leave me the hell alone!"

"Hey, where'd all the salespeople go?"

 

[BoberFett]

Corporate boardrooms hate workers. They eat into profits and as a result their bonuses. My company won't spend a dollar to make ten.

Your company turns down 90% margins? Somehow I doubt it.

 

[lxskllr]

So which is it ATOT? Is lots of employees a good thing or bad?

"Circuit City has too many sales people coming up to me every two minutes asking if they can help, leave me the hell alone!"

"Hey, where'd all the salespeople go?"

I think a middle ground is in order. In my magical wonderland, I'd like a few well paid knowledgeable employees. You might have to wait occasionally, but the pay off is getting the best solution to your problem when you're waited on. I call it the 1956 plan.

 

[BoberFett]

I think a middle ground is in order. In my magical wonderland, I'd like a few well paid knowledgeable employees. You might have to wait occasionally, but the pay off is getting the best solution to your problem when you're waited on. I call it the 1956 plan.

So in your wonderland, there are a few well-off middle class workers and those other idiots can DIAF.

Just so we're clear.

 

[lxskllr]

So in your wonderland, there are a few well-off middle class workers and those other idiots can DIAF.

Just so we're clear.

Those brooms aren't gonna run themselves :^D

 

[Cerb]

So which is it ATOT? Is lots of employees a good thing or bad?

"Circuit City has too many sales people coming up to me every two minutes asking if they can help, leave me the hell alone!"

"Hey, where'd all the salespeople go?"

Commissions and quotas for small scale sales are bad. That's what makes Best Buy annoying sometimes, and did make Circuit City annoying. Pressuring the employees to make more sales of certain kinds causes them to be pushy about those, which annoys potential customers.

 

[1prophet]

We do see that money.

Its called "taxes".

And up until the government started ass raping businesses they used to pay the majority of taxes in this country.

Dont get me wrong, I dont believe in corporate bailouts. But I dont believe in making life difficult for the value generators either.

Except those so called value generators help influence the creation of the laws and regulations through their paid lobbyists while crying poverty and how bad the government is for business,

no different than warren buffet complaining about how his secretary is paying a higher percentage of taxes than himself and the liberal fools fall for it thinking he is a great guy when in reality he is no different than the rest of the 1%.

The last billionaire that actually gave a damn about the working middle class and this country and warned us of the dangers of outsourcing and the effects on the middle class paycheck and the country as a whole,

and told us exactly what will happen if the only thing you care about is making money at the expense of everything else, and here it is today

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rkgx1C_S6ls

 

[Jeff7]

No they just do tax evasion by inversion. Or like GE who filed 47,000 pages of taxes and literally paid less than me ($0.00)

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/25/business/economy/25tax.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

and I guess in support of engineer

Such strategies, as well as changes in tax laws that encouraged some businesses and professionals to file as individuals, have pushed down the corporate share of the nation’s tax receipts — from 30 percent of all federal revenue in the mid-1950s to 6.6 percent in 2009.

Guess you guys can donate like 40% of your income next year to apologize for that, too? If you still have time to do it after waiting in line at walmart for 30 minutes anyway. :awe:

While the financial crisis led G.E. to post a loss in the United States in 2009, regulatory filings show that in the last five years, G.E. has accumulated $26 billion in American profits, and received a net tax benefit from the I.R.S. of $4.1 billion.

They're sure getting a hell of a return on their privately-held legislators.

President Obama has said he is considering an overhaul of the corporate tax system, with an eye to lowering the top rate, ending some tax subsidies and loopholes and generating the same amount of revenue. He has designated G.E.’s chief executive, Jeffrey R. Immelt, as his liaison to the business community and as the chairman of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, and it is expected to discuss corporate taxes.

:hmm:

 

[BoberFett]

Commissions and quotas for small scale sales are bad. That's what makes Best Buy annoying sometimes, and did make Circuit City annoying. Pressuring the employees to make more sales of certain kinds causes them to be pushy about those, which annoys potential customers.

So do you believe there exists some form of business which could/should/would hire people to stand around that add no value? This country has been increasingly sales people for the last several decades. As actual work is being down by fewer and fewer Americans, the rest of us just sell shit to each other that somebody in China made.

 

[Engineer]

So do you believe there exists some form of business which could/should/would hire people to stand around that add no value? This country has been increasingly sales people for the last several decades. As actual work is being down by fewer and fewer Americans, the rest of us just sell shit to each other that somebody in China made.

Many road crews seem to do that....

As for the rest of your post, absolutely. We have went from a nation of makers to a nation of sellers. Nothing value added....just people selling 'shit' made in China back and forth to each other. But, as you know, a big part of the 'fewer and fewer Americans' is the offshoring of those jobs to the very Chinese that we're now selling stuff for (yes, I know automation and other things are in there too).

 

[Sonikku]

Wait, some walmarts have self checkouts? That would be so awesome. Well, for customers. I have a mixed feeling on them because they do take away jobs.

Well, yeah. That's the thing. Self check outs aren't a "bonus", nor are they in addition to the same number of people checkouts. They're just a straight up replacement. 4 new self checkouts seems to mean 3-5 fewer people cashiers. The sad thing is the 10 self check outs always have a mile long line themselves and wait times over all have never been longer.

 

[Cerb]

So do you believe there exists some form of business which could/should/would hire people to stand around that add no value?

Nice strawman. If someone isn't trying to get help, 5 people asking them if they need help is just silly, but that's what CC was like, towards the end (a bit before they fired everyone and offered to rehire them at lower wages). There's no value added, there, just an increased stress level for everyone involved. More like I believe that's exactly what pushy retail salespeople are: people adding no value, and possibly reducing it. Whatever the likes of Ace, Publix, or Target are doing to manage their floor employees, it is quite preferable to how CC was, how RS has been for years now, and how BB often is.

Employees keeping the shelves well-stocked, keeping the store running well, and being helpful when needed (including when a sucker walks in ), add value to a store. But when the business model becomes a problematic, they tend to overdo it on the sales side, but have partially empty shelves, poorly staffed registers, cleanlines smay take a hit, etc.. It doesn't show up as a direct value problem, because what happens is we'll buy something at store X, but prefer to go to store Y if they might have it, or store A if we don't need to see it person, and can wait a week or two.

 

[OverVolt]

So do you believe there exists some form of business which could/should/would hire people to stand around that add no value? This country has been increasingly sales people for the last several decades. As actual work is being down by fewer and fewer Americans, the rest of us just sell shit to each other that somebody in China made.

Alright so what I think about that ties into "doing things right" vs "doing the bare minimum."

I want adequately staffed stores so they get the fresh produce out in time, so the cashier doesn't feel pressure from a long line and squish my bread, etc. etc.

Everybody is getting by on the bare minimum and I'm really sick of sub-par quality everything.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yep you go everywhere and it's always short staff. Every single place I worked at we could have used at least one more tech, but never. Always running on short staff and doing extra work to keep up. In fact it's pretty much become the norm now. People are overworked and underpaid, and now it's even at a point where keeping your job is hard because there's always talks about company restructuring, or getting bought out etc... it seems job security really no longer exists and if you do lose your job good luck trying to find another.

 

[Jeff7]

Alright so what I think about that ties into "doing things right" vs "doing the bare minimum."

I want adequately staffed stores so they get the fresh produce out in time, so the cashier doesn't feel pressure from a long line and squish my bread, etc. etc.

Everybody is getting by on the bare minimum and I'm really sick of sub-par quality everything.

Like having someone on-call: Maybe they don't have much to do when there's no emergency, but good god, when something does go wrong they can be worth $10,000 on the spot if they fix it in under an hour.