Walmart Stores Once Again Asking Employees To Donate Food To Co-Workers In Need

[Sonikku]

I only make 6 figures a year

You poor soul. Let's start a ATOT hooker and blow drive to help our fellow poster in need.

 

[BUTCH1]

The funny thing is Walmart is being out-Walmarted by Amazon. Amazon's low wage workers at the warehouse are super productive because of the cheap robots. And perhaps eventually the low wage workers will be gone and it will just be the robots.

Unpacking product from trucks and re-stocking shelves are labor-intensive and I don't think automation would be affordable in a B+M store.

 

[Jeff7]

Unpacking product from trucks and re-stocking shelves are labor-intensive and I don't think automation would be affordable in a B+M store.

Not yet it isn't. Maybe Asimo will go through a few more generations though and become capable of stocking shelves efficiently.


For many products, assembly lines have changed from one style to another:

Vision systems continue to improve in speed, resolution, and capability. Motion control systems can be made very small now. Automation is making us increasingly obsolete. Theoretically, that leaves us either with a higher standard or living and more free time. In practice, the tendency is that all the gains, at least in the US, get shoved right to those who already have most of the wealth.

 

[lxskllr]

Theoretically, that leaves us either with a higher standard or living and more free time. In practice, the tendency is that all the gains, at least in the US, get shoved right to those who already have most of the wealth.

Automation allows fewer people to do more work; usually for longer hours(an extra person is a needless expense). That frees up everyone else to serve each other burgers and Slurpees. Robots and computers making things easier is a fantasy.

 

[Sonikku]

Man the next 50 years are going to be absolute hell.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Walmart Stores Once Again Asking Employees To Donate Food To Co-Workers In Need

http://consumerist.com/2014/11/20/w...ployees-to-donate-food-to-co-workers-in-need/

Another year another time for walmart to tell its employees to support other employees as they don't make enough to live off what they make... at walmart.

My company asks people to donate hours to people that need them for emergencies (IE: Unexpected family death/illness, etc..). There is also another program my wife's company runs for money as well (IE: Donate $x/month to the program, and if you run into a situation down the road you can pull money from the program if you run into an emergency involving money)

Is my company and my wife's company evil too?

 

[PlanetJosh]

Can I get a job? So I can get food donated by that means. Does getting a job mean I have to get off this chair first in front of the pc?

 

[Engineer]

The funny thing is Walmart is being out-Walmarted by Amazon. Amazon's low wage workers at the warehouse are super productive because of the cheap robots. And perhaps eventually the low wage workers will be gone and it will just be the robots.

and the robots will never buy a damn thing from the company that they are doing the work for.

 

[Jeff7]

Automation allows fewer people to do more work; usually for longer hours(an extra person is a needless expense). That frees up everyone else to serve each other burgers and Slurpees. Robots and computers making things easier is a fantasy.

I don't know.....you're here using a computer that you wouldn't have without other computers and robots, unless you are making an insane amount of money.

You've benefited from automation if you have bought:
- A toothbrush for less than $10.
- A car for less than $200,000.
- A microwave for less than $400.
- A computer.
- A screwdriver for less than $20.
- Nails for less than $1 each.
- Food.

And so on. So much of our society and economy is dependent on sophisticated automation and computerized machinery.
It's what we've sought since our species appeared: Cheaper labor. In the past, we've been willing to murder and enslave people in order to get it.
Now we've got the luxury of using machines and, for the moment, a cultural mindset that it's usually not a good thing to enslave others.



So far as allowing fewer people to do more work, that's been a problem for a very long time.
A lever or pulley allows one person to do work that would otherwise require many.
A waterwheel takes the place of many people grinding grain or moving machinery.
A printing press does the work of many scribes.
Horses can do the work of many people.

 

[lxskllr]

I don't know.....you're here using a computer that you wouldn't have without other computers and robots, unless you are making an insane amount of money.

You've benefited from automation if you have bought:
- A toothbrush for less than $10.
- A car for less than $200,000.
- A microwave for less than $400.
- A computer.
- A screwdriver for less than $20.
- Nails for less than $1 each.
- Food.

And so on. So much of our society and economy is dependent on sophisticated automation and computerized machinery.
It's what we've sought since our species appeared: Cheaper labor. In the past, we've been willing to murder and enslave people in order to get it.
Now we've got the luxury of using machines and, for the moment, a cultural mindset that it's usually not a good thing to enslave others.

That just means there's more time to do more work. Nothing got easier, just faster. Instead of "Yea, I can get that computed for you in a week or two." You get to do it by the end of the day, along with the 10,000 other things people expect cause "computers are fast". "Easy" to me means I can get my two weeks of comps done by the end of the day, and get thirteen days of fuck off time til the next task. Pencil and paper, or computer doesn't matter to me. I get paid the same either way, and having a robot as a partner has made my job objectively harder.

 

[alkemyst]

Unless they are salary then its 80-100 a week.

No not a joke either.

Walmart doesn't make most of its hourly people full-time to avoid benefits.

 

[alkemyst]

That just means there's more time to do more work. Nothing got easier, just faster. Instead of "Yea, I can get that computed for you in a week or two." You get to do it by the end of the day, along with the 10,000 other things people expect cause "computers are fast". "Easy" to me means I can get my two weeks of comps done by the end of the day, and get thirteen days of fuck off time til the next task. Pencil and paper, or computer doesn't matter to me. I get paid the same either way, and having a robot as a partner has made my job objectively harder.

For many folks, work indeed got easier and allowed them to have lives after work instead of being so tired it was just a quick meal and bedtime to get up for the next day.

The big fear is when robots can make robots that can replace humans for a low enough cost.

In the next decade or so it's been stated when will have the technology to replace even professionals like doctors, engineers, and lawyers with computers/robots.

 

[Carson Dyle]

The funny thing is Walmart is being out-Walmarted by Amazon.

Hardly. Walmart makes tens of billions of dollars every year. Amazon hasn't made a dime yet.

 

[alkemyst]

Hardly. Walmart makes tens of billions of dollars every year. Amazon hasn't made a dime yet.

This is not true, but based on early loses Amazon had.

Walmart's profits: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/08/14/walmart-q2-earnings/14015873/ $4.09B in net income for Q2 2014

Amazon's: http://www.investopedia.com/stock-a...kes-money-no-one-cares-amzn-aapl-wag-azo.aspx only about $274M

Buying Amazon in 1997 would have turned $1000 into about $69k in 22 months, 22 months later it was only work $56.00, if you ignored that and reinvested another $1000 you'd be at about $63k today...not a bad return.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Walmart's net income in 2013 was $17 billion dollars.

 

[alkemyst]

Walmart's net income in 2013 was $17 billion dollars.

I was referring to Amazon. I wouldn't call 17 billion, ten's of billions. really. It's an insane amount of money though.

 

[CrystalBay]

There's nothing wrong with helping fellow humans with food and unused clothing, etc !

 

[Jimzz]

Alice Walton gets a "donation" box setup outside her home, will she "donate"...

http://consumerist.com/2014/11/24/w...od-donation-bin-outside-home-of-alice-walton/

 

[Fritzo]

I guess my feeling on this is jobs like Walmart and other retail/fast food jobs are meant to be "starter" positions or secondary jobs, not careers. If you are not going to follow through on an education or a skill set to allow yourself to be gainfully employed, it's your own fault. There are so many programs that allow you to get an education if you can't afford it, and it's sickening to think they're not being taken advantage of.

 

[alkemyst]

I guess my feeling on this is jobs like Walmart and other retail/fast food jobs are meant to be "starter" positions or secondary jobs, not careers. If you are not going to follow through on an education or a skill set to allow yourself to be gainfully employed, it's your own fault. There are so many programs that allow you to get an education if you can't afford it, and it's sickening to think they're not being taken advantage of.

They employ about 2,000,000 people...not everyone can be making fat stacks.

They start at around $9/hr (at least around here), but the main problem like almost all food store type jobs, no one is giving more than 30-35 hours to keep everyone part-time and not need to pay benefits.

The crappy thing is almost all these stores have a do-not-compete type clause that prohibits you from picking up hours at another store of a competitor and most will not let you also work at another one of their stores.

Our daughter is working for Publix, she recently started in the Bakery now. If she can go and become a manager it actually pays pretty nicely plus you get a cut of the profits (usually $10-15k a year)...you gross around $60-65k with a pretty good benefits package.

Just being a cashier you will cap out around $10/hr. Unless you want to go Customer Service and then into management there is no room to move up. Same as at WalMart.

 

[Jeff7]

Alice Walton gets a "donation" box setup outside her home, will she "donate"...

http://consumerist.com/2014/11/24/w...od-donation-bin-outside-home-of-alice-walton/

She has to feed her own family first, you heartless ass.

A billion dollars doesn't go nearly as far as it used to.

 

[alkemyst]

She has to feed her own family first, you heartless ass.

A billion dollars doesn't go nearly as far as it used to.

IMHO they are paying a fair wage in line with other stores.

 

[Phoenix86]

IMHO they are paying a fair wage in line with other stores.

Just because other stores are paying similar doesn't mean it's a fair wage, nor does it mean the store can't afford to pay more.

 

[alkemyst]

Just because other stores are paying similar doesn't mean it's a fair wage, nor does it mean the store can't afford to pay more.

I am sure all businesses can afford to pay more, if everyone just pays more; supply / demand theory shows prices go up in scale.

How much do you think a cashier at a grocery store should make?

Would you rather have 2,000,000 employed at $10/hr or 1,000,000 at $20/hr?

 

[Jimzz]

IMHO they are paying a fair wage in line with other stores.

You have it backwards, others are paying what Wal-Mart pays.

When I worked at walmart they did not have a total hold yet so they lowered prices at the one I worked at till the Kmart, and some other small business's, near it went bust. Kmart paid better but when prices dropped so did the customer base. As soon as they closed paint and some other items went back up to match the other walmart that had less competition across town.