“By raising the base pay, IMO, will raise the cost of their products. Pls correct me if I am wrong.”
You’re wrong, consider yourself corrected. The labor costs for a box store like wally world are not that significant a part of the cost of the products sold there. To wit, costco. They manage to sell stuff cheap and still treat their employees decently and pay a living wage. Also, Kroger has started to compete with wally world more directly. They’re a union shop and presumably pay their employees reasonably.
The very use of the phrase “living wage” is flawed at its premise. I understand what you are trying to say, but use of the phrase imbues your argument with an element that is loaded by its nature.
So how many stores does Kroger have in DC?
You’re wrong, consider yourself corrected. The labor costs for a box store like wally world are not that significant a part of the cost of the products sold there.
Labor is a very significant cost to Wal-Mart, or any other retailer.
You can go to the store and easily see that for yourself.
First look for the 'double' packages of products, two aspirin bottles shrink wrapped together for example, and notice the price. Compare that to two separate bottles and you’ll find the double is lower, and often by a significant percentage.
The reason for that is the cost of labor. The single bottle is handled as often as the double package, all the way from the manufacturer to the shelving and the final checkout, but they only get to sell one, not two, and that second one is sold at a discount which reflects the lower cost of handling (labor).
Then go to the ‘super large size’ section of a Wal-Mart store and compare the prices found there against the same product found the other part of the store where the normal sizes are kept.
By way of example, I buy a larger 63oz bottle of BBQ sauce for about $9, while the regular 24 oz size is $6. The difference again is labor. It costs Wal-Mart the same labor cost to put a 24oz bottle on the shelf as is does the 63oz bottle, and the lower price per oz for the large bottle reflects the lower cost of labor.
Unless they've changed greatly since my wife worked there they are a split tier shop. They have been gradually phasing out “full time union” employees and replacing them with part time.
The realities of excessive union demands and government edicts like obamacare are driving retailers and everyone else to dump full time employees.
Congratulations, they now have time to work several part time low skill jobs.
Who exactly is in charge of deciding what “reasonably” is?