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Wal-Mart Asks Workers To Donate Food To Its Needy Employees

The cost of living varies greatly in various regions. To some degree, state minimum wages adjust for that, but not enough in many cases. For example, I heard you can get a one bedroom apartment for $700 per month in Memphis. That would cost at least $1700 in San Francisco. $700 won't even get a room in an SRO in SF.

Based on your numbers for 1975 a minimum wage worker earned 145% of the poverty level.

Based on your numbers for 2013 a minimum wage worker earned 126% of the poverty level. That shows that minimum wage workers are worse off currently, and by enough to hurt.

I said that there has been 'some erosion'. But it is still nowhere near below the poverty line.

Most skilled trades could barely/not afford to live in Manhattan or many parts of San Fran or other major cities - but you are saying that a minimum wage worker should be able to?

Come on now.

Obviously, if you live in those areas and the best job you can get is at Walmart - then you are going to have to live outside of that area.

The point is that working at Walmart can provide you with a living wage in most regions of the lower 48.



And that is totally besides my point anyway - which is that Walmart has ZERO moral obligation to provide a 'living wage' to anyone in it's employ. And NO well-respected international organization (that I am aware of), like the UN, disagrees.



You and others have this utopian fantasy that a place you work for owes you a living - which is not backed up by ANY well-respected, international organization (that I am aware of - like the UN) or even the definition of the word 'job'.

Then when I show that Walmart does in fact provide a living wage for most areas of America - then you infer that it has to apply to wealthy neighbourhoods with $1700 rents as well.

Clearly, there is no reasoning with you on this subject - so I will not waste any further energy trying.


Have a nice day.
 
Far be it for me to give Wally World any advice, I personally hope it shrivels up and dies, but, I'd have fired.... as a matter of fact, I'd have fired anyone with the initials PR like,....yesterday.
 
Good points. It should be their employers, not the taxpayers, who are responsible for providing for their basic needs when people work full-time.

Hi. I responded your post and asked you a question in #592. Any response?
 
You would be wrong. Here in our relatively poor rural county what WalMart pays is a working wage because of a relatively low cost of living. I was there yesterday, the woman checking us out told us that employees get a 10% discount there all year, and during the holidays get another 10%. A very nice lady, happy with her job, and wished us a "blessed" day, something we can still say and appreciate here without people getting all pissy about it.

I have customers who used to have higher paying jobs, when those went away with the economy they took jobs at WalMart and for the most part are happy with them. The 200 or so members of my CERT team (in a county of 28,000) are putting together a food drive that has already disbursed once and will again after the holidays, designed to extend the help to those who need it around the holidays instead of during it like the rest. Several of our members work at WalMart and a large number of the WalMart employees are contributing. How do I know? Because I know them personally. I made it a point to meet the management before the store was even open and we helped a lot of people line up jobs before the store was even open. Guess who's auto shop gets the most referals from their oil and tire center? Mine. :lol: Did you know that WalMart will match employee charitable contributions? Yup. I've been on the organization end of many of these projects. Our local WalMart has contributed over $300,000 this year alone to local projects.

I understand it is easy to point to the giant chain and make accusations, it is probably a better tactic to treat WalMart employees as the individuals they are and look at what they do off the clock. What I find is that particularly those who used to make more at different jobs are happy to be there and among some of the most charitable people in our community. Something to keep in mind is that every step forward may not be an increase. A lot of people have figured that out in this economy. Moreover it is not always as negative as some might expect. As a good friend of mine (he is a youth pastor) says, "All progress is the result of negative circumstances. What is first seen as ruin is the first step to rebuilding". And he is right.

Man, I sure am glad I left the suburban rat race and moved here. My friends in the Chicago 'burbs all seem to be stuck in the same cycle of work, failed relationships and selfishness. I have never met people so willing to help as those who have needed help themselves. Including me.

Amen.:peace
Loved this post man. So many in America are of the belief that more money equals more happiness. But as a great philosopher once said, "Mo money, mo problems". :2razz:

For instance, when I retire, I know my "quality of life" is going to drop dramatically. As of now, I make approximately 60K a year including entitlements. When I retire, hopefully with at least an associates in accounting (yes, total opposite of my current occupation lol) I will make about 25K-28K plus my retirement pay (if the gub'ment doesn't renege on it). You know what? I'm totally looking forward to that. No more deployments, no more week long to month long training exercises, and normalcy will ensure. I can't wait.

To all of you bored with your life and the everyday grind of your 8-5 job, I can't wait to have what you have. I can't wait to be able to plan a vacation a year out because I know I'll be home for it. I can't wait to know that I won't miss milestones in my kid's lives. I can't wait to know that I won't miss another wedding anniversary (I've only been home for 3 of 12).
 
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