Published CommPro.biz 2014.03.04

Walmart And The Tax Creators
 

Are you sure you are getting a bargain when you shop at Walmart? Are you sure that your Big Mac doesn’t cost more than the price on the menu board? Are you sure that the upfront low prices you pay wherever minimum wage jobs are part of the picture are all you pay? Don’t be too sure.

If you pay taxes of any sort, you probably help pay for food stamps. You definitely help pay for Medicaid and subsidized housing; even welfare might soak up some of your tax dollars on their way to help the working poor. So when, the working poor are paid minimum wage, you help make up the rest of their income. They are on your payroll. So even if you don’t shop at Walmart or eat fast food, you are still not only picking up part of their workers’ paychecks, you are cutting their customers’ bill.

The largest recipient of welfare in America is Walmart. It’s their business model, along with reported bribery, to smooth out their growth. Walmart is America’s largest employer, so you are not just subsidizing some mom and pop outfit; you are subsidizing a huge enterprise controlled by the Walton family. They own a little over half the stock in Walmart, so whatever happens at Walmart is under the full control of these unbelievably rich folks. How rich are they? The Walton family riches equals the total riches of everybody in the bottom forty percent of Americans.

The first argument against raising the minimum wage is that it will cost jobs; that businesses paying minimum wages will lay people off. That assumes that these organizations have too many employees, or that they don’t want to give their customers quick efficient service. Or that they will have to raise their prices so much that they won’t have as many customers. Of course that falls apart if the competition has to raise their wages and prices too.

Then there’s the teen argument. That most of these jobs are filled by teens who are learning how to work and therefore should be paid a bit less. If that was ever true, it isn’t true today. Yes there are teens in minimum wage jobs, but the vast majority of those at this pay level are adults, most trying to support a family. So how about the teens? Perhaps a case could be made for a two tier minimum wage that would allow for a lower pay scale for teens during their first few months on the job until they become as productive as the adults.

In the end all the arguments against a decent wage level fall apart. And by the way, Walmart doesn’t skimp on payroll to offer lower prices; they do it to make the Waltons richer. In the end that’s what it’s all about, save on payroll, keep the extra bucks and let the taxpayers make up the difference with food stamps, Medicaid, and anything else it takes to help your workers scrape by.

"Am I wrong?"--"Am I crazy?"

"What do you think?"--"Do you agree?"

Published 2012.01.24 in CommPRO.biz 

http://www.commpro.biz/news/thursday-january-24-2013/

Do The Math

Those of us who have spent time in communications, be it journalism or public relations, are familiar with what we call a “Grandstand Move.” That’s when an outfit with a well-deserved lousy image will roll out some event or policy designed to make them look good. With luck they garner a ton of positive media attention. So it is with Walmart. Their latest is a pledge of a job for every returning veteran during their first year out of the service. It got Walmart more positive media than they’ve seen in years. Even we were impressed until we got to thinking about it.

The majority of jobs in the Wonderful World of Walmart are low-wage, part-time with zilch benefits. When you’ve served in the workplace culture prevalent in our military, who wants that kind of job?  Bill Simon, who runs the Walmart stores in the United States, joined the company less than ten years ago. He was paid about $8.5 million last year. Our guess is that not many of the hundred thousand vets Simon estimates Walmart will hire over the next five years will take home even the average US paycheck, let alone much above that figure. A hundred thousand hires over five years is just 20,000 a year, roughly four or five a year per Walmart store. So if you do the math Walmart’s offer to our veterans doesn’t add up to all that much.

Ironically, Bill Simon’s big announcement came just a few days before Fortune magazine rolled out their 2013 listing of the 100 best places in America to work. It’s no surprise that Walmart didn’t make the list. It was dominated at the top by Google and other enterprises that employ mostly high-skill, high-wage people. Except for the one in fifth place, Wegmans, a family owned supermarket chain.

Wegmans is one of only thirteen companies that have been on the Fortune list since its debut. They have more employees than any other company in the top forty on the list, and while they pay well, the majority of their people are not in the upper brackets. The Fortune research model includes a scientific sample drawn from all full-and-part time employees. In Wegmans’ case that includes the young people who round up shopping carts from the icy and snow-covered parking lots in the northeast where their stores are located.

The message is pretty clear, it’s the culture. Walmart can roll out all the PR events and policies they can come up with, it won’t change their culture. Their people on the front line do not create the culture – that comes from the top. Wegmans is in the hands of the fourth and fifth generations of the Wegman family who carefully guard their culture. Walmart is controlled by the Walton family. Their wealth is close to a hundred billion dollars; sadly that’s about all they have to show for it.