Minimum wage goes up, employees get laid off

To coincide with Walmart's recent announcement that they will bump minimum wage up to $11 an hour, Walmart has also announced the closing of 63 Sam's Club locations. Most employees were given zero notice.

I only mention this because when Trump announced his list of companies that were raising minimum wage as a result of his tax cuts, Walmart was mentioned as one of those great success stories for the President. Then, Walmart proved that they are still the economy killing evil empire that they've always been by turning around and 'making room and then some' for those raises.

http://www.businessinsider.com/walmart-suddenly-closes-sams-club-stores-2018-1

 

That was brought up by the "supportive" White House press media at the press conference today, and I have no statistics to back up the following, but I wish Sarah Sanders had said something like this;

I believe that much of the closing of the "warehouse stores" has to do with changing technology and how all of us shop.

Walmart is trying to compete with Amazon by increasing it's online footprint, and I suspect that Sam's Clubs in poor locations have been hurt more by online Amazon shopping than smaller Walmart stores.

Also as Walmart tries to transition from physical stores to online, some jobs will be lost and some will be created...if not by Walmart then by those who put them out of business. Life goes on.

I still prefer to look at the wage increases as a great thing and as a byproduct of the improved business environment.

 

FWIW I agree with Stu. Opponents of the increase will attempt to portray a connection where none exists. There are multiple reasons unrelated to wages why minimum wage jobs are being lost, as Stu illustrates above.

 

I assume that the decision to close these Sam's Club stores was made months ago, long before the tax bill passed. The timing was a week after the holidays and not before for public good will reason. Of course some will always call them the evil empire (these are usually the same ones who shop their because they want to pay less.)

 

If the decision was actually made months ago, and the employees didn't find out until the day the stores were actually shut down, that doesn't exactly put them up for employer of the year either.

This is also the same employer that slashes employee hours/wages and banks on their employees using state and federal subsidy programs just to survive. The same employer that destroys local economies and then charges whatever they want after they've established a monopoly.

But I'm sure this one time, they are actually the good guys.

 

You're touching on one of the reasons why governmental units are raising the minimum wage. What they are trying to do is force employers to pay higher labor costs in order to raise the income of workers to get them off of government subsidies. The ******** reason is to make every job carry a "living wage" and to give the appearance of compassion. In reality you find that areas where governments are most generous with their government goodies they tend to force employers to pay higher minimum wages because they learned that the golden goose can only lay so many eggs.

 

I'm no economic expert but I don't have much belief in the Walmart criticisms.

Funny time to be criticizing their wage policies when they just raised them for the second time.

Are they abusing their part time employees or providing them with the kind of part time jobs they are seeking?

I don't have much belief that too many local economies have been destroyed by Walmart. Yes they have put some other local stores out of business.

It seems to me the way of the world...CVS and Walgreens have put most independent pharmacies out of business. There still are jobs and it hasn't killed local economies. Now mail order pharmacies are forcing CVS and Walgreens to adapt.

Kroger and Publix have put most local groceries out of business...but haven't killed jobs or economies. Now online grocery suppliers are forcing them to adapt.

Walmart and Costco have put some stores out of business I'm sure...but I don't see that as destroying the local economy. And now they are coming under pressure from Amazon and having to adopt to online sales...and perhaps having to close stores.

https://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/myth-busted-taxpayers-are-not-subsidizing-wal-marts-low-wages/

 

Union is profane language in these parts and in the 18 years I've lived here, I've watched Walmart destroy the local economy. Kroger barely struggles to survive and it's customers are mostly people who simply refuse to shop at Walmart because of what it's done to the local economy.

There's a good documentary from 2005 about Walmart. I believe you can watch it on Netflix. It's something about 'Walmart, the high cost of low prices' and it's quite an interesting watch.

I've watched Walmart destroy every single grocery store in this town, except Kroger, only to replace them with 'Neighborhood Walmarts' which are essentially small grocery stores that are similar to the ones they replaced. The biggest difference is the employees don't get the same hours, benefits or pay.

 

You’re a smart man and I respect your opinions, so I will consider that they may have some validity. I remember the 2005 documentary. I have never thought and do not think that Walmart is the Evil Empire and Destroyer of Civilization.

 

thanks Stu, I feel the same way about you.

 

I just ran across this...interesting that Sams Clubs apparently may be beneficial for small businesses;

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/on-small-business/wp/2018/01/15/the-closing-of-63-sams-club-stores-has-big-implications-for-small-business/?utm_term=.7d9a7f19a6af

 

The WARN act requires big employers to give 60 days notice to employees before closing a plant.

From CNN:

Now, this is a big assumption, but I'm assuming a majority of the employees would be eligible for the 60 days' severance. If that is the the case, then 60 days' pay I would imagine satisfies the WARN act requirement, as well as freeing up the employees to search for new employment for the next two months without having to go to work. That doesn't look as bad a deal as is being reported in most outlets where it sounds like employees aren't going to be getting paychecks starting immediately.