there are still an acknowedged 93 million Americans without regular work
Investors will get over the rise in income. Where else are people going to shop in small town America?
Cue the Walmart-hating liberals: “It’s not enough!!!”
It never is ...
An IMPROVING job market and the QUALITY of JOBS and PAY available are two different worlds.
Thought you might like to see this.
”… the federal minimum wage of $7.25, ..."
FR: Never Accept the Premise of Your Opponent’s Argument
Note that the states have never delegated to the feds, expressly via the Constitution, the specific power to regulate intrastate minimum wage. The so-called federal mimimum wage is evidence that corrupt federal politicians are exploiting low-information voters by promising to raise national minimum wage regardless that the feds have no constitutional authority to address such issues.
Most likely Walmart is being forced to raise pay rates to complete with unemployment “insurance” payments and other permanent welfare entitlements.
WalMart, the Company Store
Walmart is buying time. The left hates Walmart for the wealth of the Walton family, the Sam Walton’ uniquely American success story, it’s nonunion workforce, and it being a living monument to capitalism. It is a favorite target of leftist groups for what the left portrays as its exploitive wages, discriminatory promotion practices, lack of social conscience, and the size of its profits.
It may be management knew Obama and the media were gearing up for an all out assault on the company during Obama’s last two years in office. By paying tribute in the form of higher wages, Walmart is making a preemptive against the coming income inequality and worker exploitation attacks, rather than stand by and get the Koch brothers treatment. The company gets to take credit for the wage increase rather than appear to be giving in to the attack machine a year from now.
The left doesn’t see technology is soon going to allow Walmart to eliminate hundreds of thousands of cashiers from its payroll. The company has been working with vendors for two decades on RFID technology which will soon replace bar codes on every product. Instead of a bar code, a tiny RFID chip will be embedded in every product, giving every single item in the store a unique identity that will be tracked electronically. No need to take inventory, the store’s computer will perpetually be updating the identity and location of every item whether it is on a shelf, in the back room, in a customer’s cart, or concealed in the customer’s purse. The major obstacle to implementing this technology has been the cost and size of the chips and the development of the tracking technologies. The cost and size of chips has been shrinking and the IT work has been done and proven. At the same time we are within 2 years of every credit and debit card bearing a similar chip giving the customer the ability to pay without presenting a card to a customer.
Effectively Walmart will be able to eliminate the checkout process. As the customer leaves the store every item in the cart will be scanned and the customer’s credit or debit card charged. If the customer has pilfered a product, hiding it in his pocket or concealing it in her purse, the product will still be scanned and charged. The consumer will have the ability to see a list of what is in the cart and affirmatively validate the purchase before leaving the store thereby eliminating claims she was charged erroneously for items. Five years from now Walmart will have effectively eliminated most humans from the checkout process just as the airlines eliminated humans from the fight check in process a decade ago.
RFID will allow Walmart to dramatically reduce its payroll costs, improve its inventory management, and reduce the cost of shoplifting. Also with RFID technology Walmart will have the ability to change its relationship with suppliers. Once it has achieved perfect control over every unit of inventory, throughout its system, it can dictate stricter payment terms with suppliers. Instead of paying for goods upon shipment from a factory, or receipt at a warehouse, Walmart will be able to tell its suppliers going forward they will be paid daily for items when Walmart is paid by its customers. When it pulls off this transformation, Walmart can eliminate completely the cost of carrying inventory. Instead of a customer, Walmart will become a landlord and warehouse for its suppliers. Walmart will essentially be providing value added distribution services, giving suppliers direct access to consumers for a fee. By eliminating the cost of carrying inventory, Walmart will be able to lower prices, allowing it to compete more effectively with Amazon and other emerging 21st century technology enabled retailers.
In Walmart’s future world it will require fewer but more highly skilled associates on the floor. These associates will need to be able to serve customers on the floor using technology. Ask an associate anywhere in the store if Walmart carries a purple Rival brand two slice toaster. The employee can look up on a hand held device where the item is located and take the customer to it. If the store is out of stock the employee will be able to order it from a warehouse, or even directly from the manufacturer and have it shipped to the customer’s home in one to two days. The customer will be able to pay for the ordered item while talking to the employee.
Perhaps Walmart is killing two birds with one stone. Getting the government off its back today while beginning to put in place the higher paid, higher capability employees needed for tomorrow.