Working for no pay at Walmart

[Earl Brasse, SASS #3562]

Self checkout most of the time, at least you always get to double back the heavy stuff & things in pointy boxes.

You don't end up with canned goods & heavy stuff in the same bag as cookies & eggs.

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

5 hours ago, Subdeacon Joe said:

 

No, I haven't.  Nor do I want to.

 

Ok, if we are going to get that picky,

 

I don't think anyone here, in the Saloon, on this specific thread, had mentioned "big profit" until you, yourself, out of the blue,  brought it up in such a way as to suggest that someone posting a comment on this specific thread here in the Saloon had used that phrase.

 

Better?

 

I never suggested any such thing. To bring it up in no way can have been construed to have suggested that anybody had previously used the phrase in the thread. I believe that the large companies who follow these practices indeed do so to maximize profits, and that was my point. They do not think in terms of modest profits. I have been in a number of corporate boardrooms, though not those of the big companies. Their discussions do not turn on the welfare of the employees, by and large.

 

When a conversation begins, each contribution to the discussion is not constrained by the previous remarks. I think you have read too much into this.

 

The "usual spin" of which I spoke is the spin of the corporations, and it is usual indeed.

Edited February 27 by Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

My attitude on visiting places like Walmart is “what is the fastest way out of here?”  If it is self checkout, that’s it.

[Kid Rich]

It maximizes space needed for registers, most of the ones I've seen can fit 8-10 stations in about the same space that a couple of  clerk operated registers would fit.

kR

[Chicken Rustler, SASS #26680]

Which is worse, having to do something as strenuous as swiping a bar code instead of standing in line and complaining about slow cashiers, or adding another frivolous lawsuit to our brilliant legal system? 

[ShadowCatcher]

If I only have a few items I use self check-out.  If I have a full cart I use the cashiers.

When I have only a few items and one of them is age-verification required, then I

usually get the assistant to finish checking things out with their space gun.

 

Clerks cost money, both in salary and in overhead and other HR aspects.

Going to self-check kiosks is money saving and profit enhancing for many companies,

which have a fiduciary responsibility to do that for the share holders.  It is

exacerbated by states and unions that argue for a larger hourly pay than the position

justifies or even generates in revenue.  Employee work product has to generate it's own

salary, it's overhead, and it's profit, or the employee is a burden not an asset.

 

McDonald's is fighting back by going to robot ordering kiosks, which at least assure you

that you have a much higher chance of getting what you order, versus what someone heard.

They also don't have to pay someone $17.50 per hour to type the same buttons that you

could type to order a meal.  Nor do they have to deal with employee attitudes and issues.

 

Many of these type of jobs are not intended to be "buy a house and a car, raise a family of 4"

type incomes, they are for folks starting out in a working career, or taking a second perhaps part time

job to increase household income.  What ever each of these employees costs, including

overhead, is directly passed to the consumer - me in my case!  I'm okay with reducing overhead

expenses in many cases.

 

As I have gotten older I have also developed more patience, but long lines with full carts do test it a bit!

 

SC

 

 

[J.D. Daily]

Unless the availability of low skilled labor goes back to pre-pandemic levels there will be a time when there will be only Kiosks, drive-up windows &/or smart phone order apps.  This will probably happen as us boomers pass.

There will be a time when all the produce grown in the US will use EU built machines to cultivate & harvest.  With the labor cost in the EU are so high it is cheaper to use very expensive machines to eliminate the processes done by humans in the US.

[Rip Snorter]

Business Models change.  When I was a Teen, there were still neighborhood grocery markets where the store clerks picked your order.  You could even call an order in and have it delivered.  Even today, my small town supermarket will take a large called in order and have it packed for pickup upon payment or charged to your account. There will always be change, but the world can only come to an end once.  

[July Smith]

I don't shop at Wal-Mart much any more mainly because of Amazon.  When I do go into WM I rarely see more than one standard register open and its always got a long line of people.  I'll do the self check out any day to save time.  

[Forty Rod SASS 3935]

On 2/26/2023 at 11:38 AM, Abilene Slim SASS 81783 said:

If there are 3 people in front of me, each with full carts and I have one item, I’m using self checkout. I won’t stand in line for 15 minutes on principle. 

Neither will I.  I found it better to just walk away from my cart and leave the store.

 

I told a manager that if I wanted to bag purchases I'd apply for a job with union guarantees at the rate I was paid when I was working (about $121.00 an hour.) with a minimum day of four hours, and that I'd be a damn site better employee than anyone in his store.

 

He responded with "well in another three years we'll only have self check out and some people to help you if you need it.  You'll just have to used to it."

 

I smiled and left a full cart there for him to take care of.