Judge Sends Coughlin to the Cooler

These top officials should be shown that they are not
above the law, and be given the same penalties as
everyone else in society.

If those at the top could see things as those of us on
the lower rungs of the corporate ladder, maybe they
would gain a better appreciation of what is going on
through out the entire corporate culture.

I’ve Met Tom Coughlin, and his brother Tim.
Tim I met on numerous occasions, and worked with him.
Both are very personable.
Both were really ‘down to earth’ men, part of the original ‘respect for the individual’ now dead culture of Wal-Mart, and were willing to give me their full attention and listen to a lowly associate.

I say this about them, because of the sharp contrast between ‘old school’ and newer management in the company.

The last VP I met was a total dickhead, barely willing to acknowledge I existed as a person.
All he did was rant about why he shouldn’t fire the whole lot of us.

Tom Coughlin did bad things.
However none of which I think deserve prison, an absolute absurd punishment.

Leave prisons to murderers, drug dealers, and child molesters.

Mr. Coughlin apparently served his community and company for many years, unlike the crack dealer on 52cd street.
Sometimes you have to temper mercy and justice together with good sense.
I agree wholeheartedly with the judge.

“Considering the worldwide ridicule and embarrassment, the worst punishment may have already been administered.’’

Wal-Mart: Always good for a laugh...Always!

This just in from West Bend, Wisconsin:  Some resourceful “associates” at the West Bend Supercenter, used shopping carts to corral a frightened emu, named Myron, just outside the store.

Apparently a coyote had chased the ostrich-like bird from his home at the Meadowbrook Market and Pumpkin Farm.  An Emu can run up to 40 miles an hour.

Eventually, Myron’s owner retrieved him from Wal-Mart and put him in a pasture so he’d feel safe.  At last report, Myron’s heart had stopped racing by late yesterday afternoon.

Hey Myron, don’t feel bad.  My heart would be racing too if I was coralled in a Wal-Mart parking lot.

Why oh why, can’t you Walmart Watch post an article without all of your prominent biases.

“Judge sends Coughlin to the cooler”

“Ex-Wal Mart Officer Coughlin may face prison sentence”

Now which is it:  Prison time or potentially prison time when
it is again argued in the Circuit Court??

What was the name of the Judge who “sends Coughlin to
the Cooler”?  Did such a judge exist??

Please, please print what happened, (No I have not read the appelate decision and WMW probably did not either) this
matter now goes back to the trial court.  No one (at this time) is sending Coughlin to the cooler.  Must have been a politican who wrote the article.

I will also admit, that I liked Tom Coughlin and what I read about him.  He was passed over by Rob Walton in favor of Lee Scott for some reason.  And yes he did make a mistake, a large fine is the best punishment.  What good would prison time do?  I agree with Cazar.

Since I am on my rant --- Screwed by please inform us as to what your post meant and/or had to do with this thread??

I don’t know Tom Coughlin. I do know that the punishment should fit the crime. With corporate scandals and the liberal media combining in an attempt to undermine the capitalist system, the courts must send a message to higher ups.

What would happen to an hourly associate who stole this amount of money? Straight to prison.

Tom Coughlin may be a nice guy but that is no excuse for a crime. Ted Bundy was, by all accounts, a nice guy with a brilliant mind. But his multiple rapes and murders kind of outweighed that, don’t you think?

I know, the crimes do not compare. I know that Coughlin has lost his job, his retirement package and his reputation. I know that he has already served house arrest time.

Coughlin should get the EXACT same punishment that Wal-Mart would demand for an hourly worker. If you do not support this, you have no credibility. How can you punish a poor worker and then let a rich executive skate? This undermines faith in our system. It must not be allowed.

We do have a two-tier justice system in this country. It is not a race issue. It is a class issue. Case in point, Mike Nifong, the Scumbag, disbarred DA from Durham. If those 3 Lacrosse players from Duke had not had the family resources to hire a decent lawyer, they would be someone’s girlfriend right now in the state pen. Money saved them. And it’s a good thing. Perhaps Nifong can be someone’s girlfriend now.

You must apply the law equally in all cases. Otherwise, you run the risk of destroying our system of capitalism and law and order. The rule of law must be enforced or we will live in a state of anarchy.

If an associate would have gotten 2 years, Coughlin should also get 2 years..............

Stacy Driver, 30, of Cleveland, Ohio, a master carpenter and the father of a two year old son, died on Sunday, August 7th. from a heart attack, while lying face down in a Wal-Mart parking lot. Driver did not stumble or trip, he was pinned down on the burning hot pavement by several Wal-Mart workers who accused him of shop lifting a package of diapers, a pair of sunglasses, a BB gun, and a package of BBs.

The father of a shoplifting suspect who died while struggling with Wal-Mart employees wasn’t shocked when officials ruled the death a homicide.

District Attorney Chuck Rosenthal said a homicide ruling doesn’t necessarily mean a crime has been committed. He said the grand jury will have to determine whether deadly force was justifiable.

In another Wal-Mart case, a man died in September 2001 after employees in Las Vegas chased him off store property and into a neighborhood. Jan M. Burstein, 29, of Leawood, Kan., died in custody of employees who had pinned him face-down on the ground with his arms behind his back.

The Las Vegas-area coroner pronounced Burstein’s death a homicide, but no charges were filed because, according to the Clark County District Attorney’s Office, the store employees had not broken any laws.

Coughlin pleaded guilty in January 2006 to felony wire fraud and tax evasion charges after embezzling cash, gift cards and merchandise from Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (nyse: WMT - news - people ), where he worked for 28 years and served as Sam Walton’s protege. Wal-Mart estimated the loss at nearly $500,000.

The former No. 2 Wal-Mart executive faced more than 28 years in prison and fines of $1.35 million, but U.S. District Judge Robert T. Dawson handed down 27 months of home detention and 33 months of probation. Coughlin was fined $50,000 and ordered to make $411,218 in restitution.

If anything, the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said, Coughlin’s standing in his community made his crimes appear worse. It directed an Arkansas federal judge to resentence Coughlin - rejecting a term that included only home detention and probation.

The sentence “does not fall within the range of reasonableness,” Judge William Jay Riley wrote for the majority.

WalMart- Where Equal Justice Under Law and any sensibility of economic justice is total bullshit. Such is the way with the Bentonville love of money psychopaths.

Another one of the ‘Good Guys’ business leader goes down because he is a criminal. Conrad Black is the same scum bag that stole the Dominion grocery workers pension plan money and was forced to return 50% of it. A lot of people dislike this man.

Black’s lawyers file motion for a new trial
Updated Mon. Aug. 27 2007 11:12 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

Former media magnate and convicted white collar criminal Conrad Black has asked his trial judge to grant him a new trial or an acquittal.

In a motion filed with a Chicago court late Monday, Black’s lawyers argued that it “would be a miscarriage of justice to let the verdict stand.”

They want Judge Amy St. Eve to grant him a new trial, “taking into account the credibility of the witnesses.

“The Court must consider the weight of the evidence, and must grant a new trial if that evidence preponderates heavily against the verdict, such that it would be a miscarriage of justice to let the verdict stand,” the court documents said.

Black’s most high-profile nemesis on the stand during his nearly four-month trial was David Radler, his longtime business partner at Hollinger Inc. and Hollinger International.

Radler pleaded guilty in 2005 to one count of fraud. He agreed to a fine of US$250,000 and a 30-month sentence in exchange for testifying against Black. He will be sentenced on Dec. 10.

Black’s lawyers vigorously attacked Radler’s credibility during the trial, repeatedly calling him a liar during their cross-examination.

“The only evidence linking Mr. Black to the payments (other than his receipt of a cheque) is the unsupported, incredible testimony of the government’s co-operating witness, F. David Radler,” the filing said.

“The alleged telephone call on which the government’s case rests were undocumented, and even Radler himself could not remember them in detail.”

The documents also attacked the so-called ostrich instruction. St. Eve told the jury that a defendant could be convicted if they found he was consciously trying to avoid noticing evidence of illegal activity.

On July 13, a jury found Black guilty of four charges of the 13 he had been facing—three counts of fraud and one of obstruction of justice.

His three co-defendants were also found guilty on various fraud-related charges relating to the sale of various newspapers owned by Hollinger International. The men skimmed off “non-compete fees” from the deals, money that the prosecution contended should have gone to Hollinger International shareholders.

Two of those defendants, former Hollinger executives Jack Boultbee and Peter Atkinson, filed motions of their own on Monday asking for new trials or an acquittal.

In a post-verdict interview with the Toronto Star, juror Monica Prince said she considered Radler’s testimony to be a farce.

Fellow juror Tina Kadisak told The Globe and Mail that the jury came close to finding Black guilty on all counts, but a minority persuaded the majority there wasn’t enough evidence to convict on nine charges.

Juror James Kirby told a CTV News producer the following about Radler in an e-mail: “DR’s testimony, obviously, was important, as was the testimony from all witnesses. I evaluated his testimony fully aware of the circumstances noted during the trial under which it was provided, as well as on the pertinent section of the detailed Jury Instructions.”

He said the “totality” of evidence led to guilty verdicts on the four charges.

CTV legal analyst Steven Skurka told Newsnet on Monday that he thinks this manoeuvre is mainly posturing on the part of the three men and that it won’t succeed.

However, “(lawyer) Eddie Greenspan is nobody’s puppet, and he wouldn’t have brought this motion if he didn’t think there was some merit to it,” he said.

St. Eve is to sentence Black on Nov. 30. The prosecution wants a federal prison term in the 15 to 20-year range.

Black, 62, has been granted bail until then, but the British citizen cannot leave the United States. He owns a Florida mansion and is renting a place in Chicago. He told CP by e-mail that he is “enjoying my house in Palm Beach.”

Black has always maintained his innocence and has proclaimed the four guilty verdicts will be overturned on appeal.

With files from The Canadian Press

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

I agree with you, Sage.  Judge Sends Coughlin To Cooler shouldn’t have been written, at least not yet.

I’m not sure whether it’s an indication of “prominent biases” or merely a lack of headline-writing skills on Mr. Goldschmidt’s part. The tense is wrong and it’s factually incorrect. Alex should have used something like Bloomberg’s may in there somewhere.

How about this one:

COOLER FOR COUGHLIN?

No other entity on earth has done more to divert the American consumer’s focus from quality to cost. Despite what Wal-Mart and it’s Sino-suppliers would have you believe, there is a quality component to value.

Ken V,

“I’m not sure whether it’s an indication of “prominent biases” or merely a lack of headline-writing skills on Mr. Goldschmidt’s part. The tense is wrong and it’s factually incorrect. Alex should have used something like Bloomberg’s may in there somewhere.”

This is nothing “NEW” here, that is why we constantly call it ‘spinning’!!  But, without those factually incorrect statements, where is the ‘shock value’, that drives the ‘perception’, that you claim to be more important than ‘reality’?  This has nothing to do with Mr. Goldschmidt’s headline-writing skills, it has mostly to do with misleading the reader at step #1!!  It goes along with his ‘buts’ and ‘what abouts’, anything to slant the article to the WMW position!!

You’re sounding paranoid again, RDS.

No one has to spin the Coughlin story. It reeks of it’s own accord.

“Our size causes us, when we do something inappropriate, which is usually done out of stupidity, to come across as being done out of arrogance.” ~ H. Lee Scott

RDS,

Go easy on young Mr. Goldschmidt...if you Google up his name, you’ll see that he is barely out of college and is using WMW as a stepping stone to advance to bigger goals in life…

You know, kind of like WMW alum Philip de Vellis did with his YouTube video ;-)

Bill

Bill,

I know, I know, we have to be understanding of these people who think they are on a path to some future glory!!  Much like another here, Tom Boese, who thought his career in film was going to take him somewhere, but now he had to change his handle to ‘ScrewedbyWal-Mart’, because his efforts failed!!  You know you’ve an uphill battle, when you can’t even convince your family members to listen to you!!

Some people can’t see when they are fighting a losing battle, because even if they somehow were to succeed with destroying Wal-Mart, they would then have to take on Target next and others after them, a never-ending fight!!

“..... because even if they somehow were to succeed with destroying Wal-Mart.....”

RDS in

Walmart is doing good job destroying itself by its behaviour.
I think that the news media is only reporting it.

R E M E M B E R
J O N Q U I E R E
Q U E B E C
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

R E M E M B E R
J A C K S O N V I L L E
T E X A S
Home of Walmart Worker Abuse

Some people can’t see when they are fighting a losing battle...

Losing? You want to know about losing ask Wal-Mart investors.

Was that 4F deferment for lack of spine, RDS, or did you fail the GCT?

RDS,

Fascinating.

“You know you’ve an uphill battle, when you can’t even convince your family members to listen to you!!”

That would explain Screwed’s cyber-handle…

“Some people can’t see when they are fighting a losing battle, because even if they somehow were to succeed with destroying Wal-Mart, they would then have to take on Target next and others after them, a never-ending fight!!”

True - but what has baffled me about the two chief critics of Wal-Mart (SEIU and UFCW), is why don’t these two go after some of the smaller, well-known chain stores, first?  Last time I checked, those guys weren’t paying any more than Wal-Mart or offering any “big” bennies. 

I recall stmbling-across a website where Barnes & Noble employees were wanting SEIU represenation (but, for some reason, it never happened).

Seems to me setting up a union shop at B&N;would be a helluva lot easier than at Wal-Mart.  And, it just might give the WM critics a chance to “put their money where their mouth is”.

Don’t let Ken V get under your skin.  You obviously struck a nerve, somewhere…

Bill

Bill,

“True - but what has baffled me about the two chief critics of Wal-Mart (SEIU and UFCW), is why don’t these two go after some of the smaller, well-known chain stores, first?  Last time I checked, those guys weren’t paying any more than Wal-Mart or offering any “big” bennies.”

That is one thing I have also wondered, isn’t it ‘best’ to take the path of least resistence?  If Costco, is the example of how a unionized company can out perform a non-union company, wouldn’t it be ‘best’ to go after the smaller chains and unionize them FIRST and therefore motivate the Wal-Mart employees to see first hand how unionization will benefit them, instead of having them see the others as non-union competitors?  Isn’t it easier to move a mountain ‘one stone at a time’, rather than trying to move the whole mountain at once?

As for the union’s ‘pay’ and ‘bennies’, are you saying that they should set an example and ‘practice what they preach’?  How can you complain about workers ‘living wage’ and pay $6.00 an hour to walk a picket line?

Bill,

Sorry, I misunderstood, that you were talking about the other stores, not the union, when you said “those guys weren’t paying any more than Wal-Mart or offering any “big” bennies.”, but like I said, what are the unions doing?

RDS,

Regarding Costco—most folks don’t realize they went union because “they wanted to”.

It was something Costco inherited when they merged with competitor Price Club (San Diego, CA) in the mid-90’s (which explains why the teamsters are in-place only at those leagcy Price Club stores on the East and West Coasts).

Yes, that same Price Club which was Sam Walton’s inspriation for Sam’s Club…

It’s OK on the misunderstanding—you still got the point, which is more than I can say for others, around here…

Bill

Get a room, you two! :o)

“ I am so damn tired of you people coming in here with other Wal Marts garbage.” ~ Stella (on returns)

Found these two earlier photos of a younger thinner Tom Coughlin climbing up through the ranks-

http://thesoapboxroadshow.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_18024/schultz.jpg

http://www.historia.org.pl/image/siatka/goering.gif

A little refresher course on Sol Price and the formation of unions at FedMart/PriceClub/Costco-

“Sol Price actually invited unions in to represent Fed-Mart and Price Club workers.”

<http://www.teamster.org/04news/hn_040211_6.htm>

Founded by James Sinegal and Jeffrey Brotman, Costco opened its first warehouse in Seattle, Washington
on September 15, 1983.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Costco

“We always want a wide gap between us and the competition,” Coscto’s CFO Richard Galanti told the Seattle Post Intelligencer. “It shows in the quality of our employees…It’s what our founders want to do in paying a family wage.”

Indeed, Costco’s pay is much, much, much better—a full-time Costco clerk or warehouse worker earns more than $41,000 a year, plus getting terrific health-care coverage. Wal-Mart workers get barely a third of that pay, plus a lousy health-care plan. Costco even has unions!

Yet, Costco’s labor costs are only about half of Wal-Mart’s. How’s that possible? One reason is that Costco workers feel valued, which adds enormously to their productivity, and they don’t leave—employee turnover is a tiny fraction of Wal-Mart’s rapidly revolving door.

While Wal-Mart makes twice as much profit as Costco, Sinegal believes its better business to make a nice profit, but not a killing, and to invest more in Costco’s 92,000 workers. “I don’t see what’s wrong with an employee earning enough to be able to buy a house or having a health plan for the family,” he says.

Costco CEO Says Higher Minimum Wage Means ‘Better Jobs and Wages’
by Mike Hall, Jan 31, 2007

The Costco chief certainly knows what he’s talking about. His successful venture, launched in 1983, now has 130,000 workers and operates 504 stores, where the average worker makes $17 an hour and the lowest-paid earns $11 an hour. It’s good business sense says Sinegal.
http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/01/31/
costco-ceo-says-higher-minimum-wage-means-better-jobs-
and-wages/

Sam Walton of Wal-Mart dined with Sol Price in 1983. Later that year, the first Sam’s Club was opened in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sol_Price>

“ Another was Sam Walton, who visited a Price Club in 1982 and opened his knockoff, Sam’s Club, a year later.”

<http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3092/is_n2_v30/ai_9353044>

“It was Price’s first brainchild and, as Sam Walton freely admitted in his autobiography, the inspiration for Wal-Mart: “I guess I’ve stolen-I actually prefer the word ‘borrowed’-as many ideas from Sol Price as from anybody else in the business.”

<http://www.teamster.org/04news/hn_040211_6.htm>

Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton once said, “I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. We’re going to be successful, but the basis is a very low-wage, low-benefit model of employment.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Wal-Mart#_note-
iswalmartgood

“Is Wal-Mart Good for America?” PBS. November 16, 2004. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.

WalMart- So what if we megabetrayed American workers by shifting their manufacturing jobs to China. It’s not as if we Bentonville ‘low wage’ ‘love of money’ psychopaths are going to share out a ‘living wage’ from the huge Global Labor Arbitrage profits with our ‘associates’ like those bastards over at Costco do paying an average of $17/hr and 92% paid health care benefits.

SDV,

Do you have any figures on approximately, how many High School students, College students, and elderly (people over 60), work for Costco (not counting management)?  And, what is the age range of the people who work there?

SDV

Costco pays an “average” of $17 per hour, correct? Well, we are told that employees with 4 years experience earn $40,000 per year, which is $20 per hour full-time. This must mean that Costco has quite a few employees with less than 4 years experience AND/OR who earn less than $17 per hour.

Does Costco source from China? Just curious.

Does Costco pay salespeple as well as Nordstrom’s pays salespeople? Just curious.

Does it matter to Wal-Mart what Costco pays its employees? Just curious.

Are you aware that Costco’s turnover rate is 24% and only applies to employees who have been with Costco for at least 1 year? What is the rate for employees who have worked less than 1 year? Wal-Mart’s total turnover might run 60% but the national retail average is 65%. Are you aware of that?

Without getting into industrial psychology and making assumptions about worker productivity at higher wage rates, lets focus on costs. I have heard that it costs $2,500, on average, to hire and train a new retail employee. Wal-Mart has 1.3 million US employees. Let’s assume turnover of 60%. This comes to $1.95 billion per year in training costs. Now, we know that Costco employs roughly 90,000 US workers. If they turnover 24% per year, that is a cost of $544 million to Costco. This puts Costco’s turnover cost at about 28% of Wal-Marts cost. However, Wal-Mart’s sales are about 5.5 times larger than Costco’s and profits are about 10.25 times larger. Even if Wal-Mart did not turnover a single employee, they would save just $1.95 billion. Divided by 1.3 million US employees, this comes to $1,500 per employee. Assuming no changes in benefits and full-time work for every employee, Wal-Mart’s average wage would go from about $10 per hour to about $10.72 per hour.

I just don’t know where WMW gets this idea that a lower turnover rate would bring higher wages. Higher profits, yes, but barely $1 per hour more in wages. Costco, however, could increase base wages by more than $2.60 per hour or increase profit by about 54% if they had zero turnover. Because they have 1/13 the number of employees that Wal-Mart has!

In any event, why should Company A have to match the compensation at Company B? Who decides that? And if you make less at Company A then quit and go to Company B. Pretty simple, eh?

If you look at the numbers, they will tell you all you need to know.

Nick,

“If you look at the numbers, they will tell you all you need to know.”

That is probably why the anti people don’t want others to HEAR and SEE the numbers, it invalidates their arguments!!

Here is the documentation again for you Nick. Where is yours? You claim a 24% turnover rate at Costco. Back it up. You make false and various claims and then attempt to produce financial math based on falsehoods. Typical of you.

Economic reality at Costco that makes a profit without paying impoverishment wages and treating employees ruthlessly like the WalMart anti-living wage business practice.

The Costco model is not a theory. It has been in practice for 24 years after the FedMart/Price Club success and today looks like this-

Costco CEO Says Higher Minimum Wage Means ‘Better Jobs and Wages’
by Mike Hall, Jan 31, 2007

The Costco chief certainly knows what he’s talking about. His successful venture, launched in 1983, now has 130,000 workers and operates 504 stores, where the average worker makes $17 an hour and the lowest-paid earns $11 an hour. It’s good business sense says Sinegal.
http://blog.aflcio.org/2007/01/31/costco-ceo-says-higher-minimum-wage-means-better-jobs-and-wages/

Costco worker makes about $42,000, and the company foots 92% of its workers’ health insurance tab.
http://www.laborresearch.org/print.php?id=391

“When the raises kicked in March 8, scale for service assistants, such as parking lot attendants, was bumped up to a range between $11 and $18.30 an hour from the $10 to $17.50 previously paid. For service clerks, including cashiers, the scale range increased to between $11.50 and $20 an hour compared with $10.50 to $19.17 before.
At the top of the scale, which typically takes about four and a half years, employees will receive an “extra check” of at least $2,200 every six months.
The last time Costco raised entry-level wages was six years ago. “We always want a wide gap between us and the competition,” Coscto’s CFO Richard Galanti told the Seattle Post Intelligencer. “It shows in the quality of our employees…It’s what our founders want to do in paying a family wage.”

Apparently, Jim Sinegal has been going to the wrong church. He’s CEO of Costco, the profitable warehouse club retailer that’s fast growing across the country. He takes a shockingly heretical view of his job, boasting of his company’s fair treatment of employees: “We pay much better than Wal-Mart,” Sinegal says. “That’s not altruism. It’s good business.”

Though only about 18% of Costco’s total workforce is unionized, union representation creates a ripple effect and helps determine labor standards in all stores.”

“Costco passes on similar compensation packages to its non-union workers; the contracts act as templates for other stores’ employee handbooks.”

“...all stores.” “...to its non-union workers...”

In fact, Costco has outperformed Wal-Mart on the stock market over the last five years. The real reason for the difference in compensation and benefits is that Costco employees have much lower turnover, better interaction with customers and are more productive than Wal-Mart’s workers.
For example, Costco Wholesale pays its workers $17 an hour on average, while its competitor, Wal-Mart’s Sam’s Club, pays only $10 an hour on average

James O’Toole and Edward E. Lawler III are professors at the University of Southern California’s Marshall School of Business and authors of The New American Workplace (Palgrave-MacMillan, 2006).
http://www.forbes.com/2007/04/24/corporate-layoffs-costs-oped-cx_jot_0425jobs

continues-

Generally speaking, I have never seen Nick or RDS produce a valid argument yet at this site-

Facts and numbers (documented) that have never been disproved. While the WalMart/Edelman ‘war room’ crowd produces unsupported propaganda and evasions at best.

“Given Costco’s performance, the question for Wall Street shouldn’t be why Costco isn’t more like Wal-Mart. Rather, why can’t Wal-Mart deliver high shareholder returns and high living standards for its workforce? Says Costco CEO James D. Sinegal: “Paying your employees well is not only the right thing to do but it makes for good business.”

It is not considered an argument that Costco, No. 28 in the Fortune 500, is the fourth-largest retailer in the country and the seventh-largest in the world.
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/10/30/8391725/index.htm?postversion=2006102515

WAL-MART’S GIANT SUCKING SOUND
That’s what one hears as the giant retailer sops up the vitality from middle-class families, local communities, and the national economy

Wal-Mart founder Sam Walton once said, “I pay low wages. I can take advantage of that. We’re going to be successful, but the basis is a very low-wage, low-benefit model of employment.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Wal-Mart#_note-
iswalmartgood

“Is Wal-Mart Good for America?” PBS. November 16, 2004. Retrieved on February 24, 2007.

Economic reality at Costco that makes a profit without paying impoverishment wages and treating employees ruthlessly like the WalMart anti-living wage business practice.
Sinegal is unfazed by his critics. “Wall Street is in the business of making money between now and next Tuesday,” he said. “We’re in the business of building an organization, an institution that we hope will be here 50 years from now. And paying good wages and keeping your people working with you is very good business.”

While Wal-Mart makes twice as much profit as Costco, Sinegal believes its better business to make a nice profit, but not a killing, and to invest more in Costco’s 92,000 workers. “I don’t see what’s wrong with an employee earning enough to be able to buy a house or having a health plan for the family,” he says

http://www.alternet.org/story/19014/

What Sinegal has proven is that a company doesn’t have to be ruthless. Being humane and ethical can also make you money.
<http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Business/story?id=1362779>

WalMart- Stop talking about Costco. It embarrasses the hell out of us. And we don’t want to ‘know’ about ‘living wages’ anyway.

Few things are harder to put up with than the annoyance of a good example. Mark Twain, Pudd’nhead Wilson (1894)

“Are you aware that Costco’s turnover rate is 24%...”
Nick needed a desperate number here.

And Sinegal says he’s also built a loyal work force. In fact, Costco has the lowest employee turnover rate in retailing. Its turnover is five times lower than its chief rival, Wal-Mart. And Costco pays higher than average wages—$17 an hour—40 percent more than Sam’s Club, the warehouse chain owned by Wal-Mart. And it offers better-than-average benefits, including health care coverage to more than 90 percent of its work force.
<http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Business/story?id=1362779>

“In fact, Costco has the lowest employee turnover rate in retailing. Its turnover is five times lower than its chief rival, Wal-Mart.”

“I worry that the person who thought up Muzak may be thinking up something else.”
Lily Tomlin

“Are you aware that Costco’s turnover rate is 24% and only applies to employees who have been with Costco for at least 1 year?”

It is 6% after 1 year according to Costco CEO Jim Sinegal-

Jim Sinegal: Well, first of all, we have a very low turnover in our company. Our turnover is something in the 20% range, and that is including a lot of seasonal hires that we have both in the summer and at Christmas. After employees have been with us for more than a year, that turnover rate goes below 6%, so we take great pride in the fact that people join us and they stay with us. Our attitude has always been that if you hire good people and provide good wages and good jobs and more than that—if you provide careers—that good things will happen to your company. I think we can say that that has been proved by the quality of people that we have and how they have built our organization.
http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2006/06/14/costcos-competitive-secret.aspx

SDV

Thanks for providing my documentation for me! To quote Jim Sinegal “our turnover is something in the 20% range”. Well, I said 24% and you accused me of making up a number! People on this site have said that Costco has a 6% turnover rate and Wal-Mart has a 70% rate. Did you break down the figures for Sam’s Club itself? Did you break down the figures for Sam’s Club employees who have been there at least a year?

All we hear is “6% vs. 70%”! Compare Apples to Apples. What is the turnover rate of full-time employees at Sam’s and Costco who have worked at least 1 year? Until I see the FACTS, Sinegal himself makes my point. 24% turnover. FACT.

“Costco’s average hourly wage is $17.25, employees contribute 10 percent of their health insurance premiums, and the turnover rate is 17 percent."-From Consumer Reports.

From Reclaim Democracy’s Website:

Costco

Percentage of employees covered by health insurance: 82%
Waiting Period for part-time workers: 6 months
Annual Worker Turnover Rate: 24% (Wal-Mart: 50%)

“On March 8th Costco announced its own wage management initiative. Under the initiative, entry-level wages would rise by by 10 percent to $10.50 an hour and its top pay range by 4.3 percent to $20.00.” - From PA Policy Blog

So Costco has a cap? If the AVERAGE wage at Costco is $17.50 per hour after 4 years, this means that a cashier with 20 years experience earns just $5,000 per year more than a cashier with 4 years experience! They are trying to get rid of long-term employees!!!!

From Liberal Order:

“But I disagree with Greenhouse’s comparisons of Costco with a) Sam’s Club and b) Wal-Mart. Right off the bat, Wal-Mart’s business model is not comparable to Costco; it’s a completely different model with a totally different customer base.

Although Sam’s Club and Costco are both warehouse stores, they too are different business models. Costco builds in high density and wealthy suburban metropolitan areas where household incomes are generally higher. Sam’s Clubs tend to be located in less densely populated and less wealthy areas. They serve a less upscale clientele.”

The FACTS are out there...................

The Costco turnover rate is 6% after one year, not the 24% you claimed.

“Are you aware that Costco’s turnover rate is 24% and only applies to employees who have been with Costco for at least 1 year?”
Nick in
Sunday, September 02 at 01:09 PM

Lying won’t get you off the hook Nick. How many times have we caught you at this? Was this why you were banned at the other site?

“All propaganda has to be popular and has to accommodate itself to the comprehension of the least intelligent of those whom it seeks to reach.”
Adolf Hitler

SanDiegoView,

Where is Fed-Mart, today???????

Like it or not, Nick speaks some truth—Costco, just like everyone else, has their fair share of part-time, low-wage, no-benefits workers.  You just don’t hear about them because during the ‘04 elections, someone in the media got the bright idea to align Costco with the blue states, and Wal-Mart with the red.

To read your drivel, you would have the casual passer-by thinking that every Costco store employee is making (at least) $17 an hour with a suite of benefits.

More truth from Nick - Costco’s company policy says they will not build warehouse store in any community where the average household income is less than $50K per year.

You are truly a blind fool.

Bill

SDV

WMW bashed Wal-Mart for so-called “wage caps” and yet, not a word about the “wage caps” at Costco. Care to address this one issue?

Like it or not, Nick speaks some truth-
Bill in
Tuesday, September 04 at 10:13 AM

Apparently just conveniently enough for you psycho brown noser Bill. Your effort to come to the rescue of liar Nick shows just how desperate you Edelman slobs really are.

To read your drivel, you would have the casual passer-by thinking that Bill, RDS and Nick et al. are auctual regular people instead of the internet frauds that work the WalMart ‘war room’ casting pixie dust upon the American culture believing they can save WalMart’s in the toilet reputation.

WalMart/Edelman- We treat people like crap. We are ‘love of money’ psychopaths. We hire propaganda frauds to lie, evade, distort, misrepresent, change the subject and do anything to cover for the aroma stink therapy business model that comes from Bentonville. What’s wrong with that?

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Average US Income Falls Since 2000

Americans earned a smaller average income in 2005 than in 2000, the fifth consecutive year that they had to make ends meet with less money than at the peak of the last economic expansion, new government data shows. While incomes have been on the rise since 2002, the average income in 2005 was $55,238, still nearly 1 percent less than the $55,714 in 2000, after adjusting for inflation, analysis of new tax statistics show.

http://www.drudge.com/news/97717/average-us-income-falls-since-2000

WalMart- We are not just impoverishment wages. We are where your dreams of advanced payday loans can come true. We hire blind fools.

“You are truly a blind fool.”~myself to SanDiegoView

<i>"We hire blind fools."</1>~SanDiegoView’s take on Wal-Mart

Hey, SDV—here’s a weblink you may find useful in the future…

http://www.walmart.com/careers

Bill

Help Nick!! RDS?? Someone!! Anyone?? I’m drowning in my own pitiful delusions of self aggrandizement! Throw me another fraudulent WalMart/Edelman lifeline and hurry!