4.12.2007

Wal-Mart is not Evil, and Not Innovative Either

Wal-Mart is using a "new" software to do their employee schedules, and people are pissed off about it. Those people need a history lesson because Wal-Mart didn't invent this... they were just dumb enough to ignore the potential of it, for nearly 20 years. This is nothing new and I don't know why people are suddenly all upset about it. I suspect it's because some people out there hate anything Wal-Mart ever does and would really like them to go out of business, but I like getting toilet paper for 97 cents, and it's customers like me that drive the business, not the people who *don't shop there* - who cares about them? Screw them. I want my low prices everyday.

McDonald's was using this system as far back as 1988... nearly 20 years ago. It doesn't give employees 'random' schedules. Not unless the customers as a whole, start behaving very randomly. At Wal-Mart, they have a ton of customers, so the law of averages means that this software will probably make the schedules LESS RANDOM than they would be if the schedules were made by human beings. It also does not 'disregard' family and other life. Employees have always been responsible for making management aware of the days off they need, special events, and whatever else goes on in their lives. This software streamlines that process as well, with availability becoming a data point used by the machine, and the machine is much more likely to get it right, than someone who has to keep all those variables in their head. I've seen numerous occasions of people being scheduled accidentally on their kid's birthday or something, when the manager knew about it (usually in writing). This software should eliminate that very common mistake, and if the employees have access to it, it could streamline the process they use to ask for days off.

This software, when used correctly, greatly reduces the possibility of last-minute schedule changes. Last-minute schedule changes are *almost* always due to the actions of unreliable employees. "Jimmy didn't show up today, I need someone to cover, let's hit the phones and see who wants extra hours"

And to the people out there who claim to care so much about Wal-Mart's employees. There's one thing you can do to improve the situation. SHOP THERE! As much as possible. Your boycotts and bitching only makes the problem worse. More customers, more hours for the employees... and this new software helps that situation! You motherfuckers who are giving Wal-Mart hell for everything they do - YOU are the problem. Get over yourselves and save money like the rest of us.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wal-Mart is not evil? Please. Sub pay, forcing companies to outsource their manufactoring to other countries, and telling companies what they will sell items for. So tell me with the middle class becoming a smaller group everyday, How are you gonna buy your 97 cent toilet paper that was made in china? Wal-Mart does not want to sell you a quality product just something cheap that can be marked up 100 times.

Jasmine said...

That's not evil. That's capitalism at it's best. Driving prices down so that my dollar goes farther is good for everyone, especially the people who make minimum wage. Wal-Mart doesn't price-fix - you are under no obligation to do business with them and are free to sell your products on your own. They know what things are worth and they won't sell items for more than that. I don't see the problem with demanding that companies charge what their products are worth. In almost all cases, companies who do business with Wal-Mart make massive profits, even if it means a reduction in the sale price of their item. This is GOOD... not bad. If the items were not quality, consumers would not buy them.

Are you suggesting that non-skilled people should make more money than their skills are worth, simply because the company is large? Wal-Mart pays a fair wage for the job, in many cases higher than the local average for that same job. Almost all the jobs at a Wal-Mart store are un-skilled jobs, meaning Wal-Mart does pay a lower AVERAGE wage than places who hire a higher percentage of skilled workers.

People are making the following fallacious argument:
I hire two guys to sweep the floor for $5/hour, and someone else hires one guy to sweep the floor at $5/hour and another guy at $25/hour to work the computer system. We both have two employees, but my average wage is $5/hr, while my competitor's average wage is $15/hr. I am Wal-Mart in this example... am I really paying a lower wage? No. I'm paying what's appropriate for the job.

If you have a link to a reliable story about Wal-Mart forcing anybody to do anything, post it. They can't force anybody to do anything unless they have a prior agreement, in which case I'd say it's an issue of contract law, not corporate strong-arming.

Jasmine said...

The article wasn't about that anyway. It was specifically about the software.

Unknown said...

Wal-Mart isn't evil. There is nothing wrong with it. And I'm sure that if any of you out there were to hit success out of no where like they did you would be pretty damn happy. Wal-Mart is a great business that helps the community. And people don't understand that. It doesn't take business away. It creates more business. In a sense that it brings jobs to the economy, in doing so the people have more money to spend at other businesses, not just Wal-Mart. In another sense, it has helped the economy of my town ever since the new Supercenter moved in. They even did a special on the news about how Wal-Mart was helping the crashing downtown business district come back to life. Wal-Mart also brings in people from rural towns to shop. Where I live there are rural towns everywhere and people come to my town to shop when they go to Wal-Mart, they also pass all these other small businesses. And if you think about it. They may pay the people that are making the toilet paper a low wage. But you have to consider to them that low wage is like striking a gold mine. It has different value in the Oriental countries then it does in the United States. So that it works out for us and them. For example they may be making 5 cents an hour compared to your 5.85 minimum wage. But that five cents will go a lot farther then that 5.85 will for you. They can make there rent off of that. Buy food, and lead good lives. Where if we were payed those wages we would slowly die. And they may be taking jobs away from the United States. But we don't need those jobs as much as them. Most of our poverish people are surviving just fine off of food stamps and the WIC program. Nowhere in China can you acquire those things.
Geoff.

 
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