Person of the Week: RiskMetrics CEO Ethan Berman

They sell these, another good thing: http://www.containerstore.com/browse/Product.jhtml?PRODID=71030&CATID=71798&searchId=2269946&itemIndex=1

How do we explain Wal-Mart’s early growth, with annual sales and profits growing 10%-20%, relatively low turnover and average retail wages?

If the flawed logic in this article is to be believed, the only way to achieve explosive growth is to spoil employees.

Wal-Mart is a mature company with more than 4,000 stores and more than 1.6 million employees in all 50 states and 8 countries. They are just beginning to saturate their market areas, they have numerous competitors and they keep their costs low.

Compare Wal-Mart’s contribution to the US ecnonomy with that of Container Store. Oh, Container Store is smaller and younger? Well then, that explains the “explosive” growth!

So, The Container Store treats their employees very well.  Therefore, they must be unionized, right?

They have 34 stores in 12 states or an average of less than 3 stores per state.  Sure sounds like this is a good comparison to Wal-Mart, isn’t it.  Especially, when they don’t mention how many employees per store, does it average 400 per store?  I guess what Wal-Mart could do, is fire half of their employees and pay what’s left higher wages and give them better benefits.  But, who gains from this really?  Customer service suffers, people lose their jobs, neither are good.  Guess we’ll see in the future, just how fast The Container Store grows, how many people they employ and if they continue to treat their employees as well, as their number of stores and employees increase.  I’m for anyone succeding in business and I wish them good luck, but, I’m afraid that they will experience the same problems as Wal-Mart is experiencing as they get bigger.

Just what exactly is Walmart’s net contribution to the economy?  We’ll never know, because who knows what stores would have flourished had they not come along.

It’s like saying the US is a bigger and better economy because of the Interstate Highway Act and the sellout to the auto, rubber, and oil companies.  Who knows what kind of companies would have formed and flourished if we had spent the hundreds of billions on tracks for trains instead?  Might we have had enormous train parts companies just as big as GM and Ford? 

If we had not blatantly encouraged the private auto, Walmart never would have become the monster it is today, at least not in the same form.

Some facts about Container Store, from their website.

-They were founded 27 years ago and have 34 stores in 12 states. (Wal-Mart was founded 43 years ago and has more than 2,000 stores in all 50 states, not to mention more than 1,000 more stores in 7 other countries).

“One of The Container Store’s core business philosophies is that one great person equals three good people. So, why not hire only great people?” (Fewer jobs created-wonderful)

“Most employees at The Container Store are college educated and most were customers first.” (So, to get a job stocking shelves at The Container Store, you may have to have a bachelor’s degree? If they are very selective in their hiring (and they are) that leaves out millions of Americans who do not have a college degree).

*Wages far above the industry average
*Generous 40-percent merchandise discount
*Full-time, part-time and flexible positions
*Security in a financially stable company
*An environment that ensures open communication throughout the entire company including daily store sales, company goals and expansion plans
*Extensive training programs, customized to the individual and job function
*Individual and team-based incentive programs
*Health and dental benefits and vacation for full-time and part-time employees
*401(k) savings plan, with dollar-for-dollar matching company contributions
*Flexible benefit spending accounts for medical and dependent care expenses
*Casual work attire
*Ample opportunity to create your own future within a fast-growing, fun company

Is this really that much different from Wal-Mart? Wal-Mart pays above the industry average, offers good benefits and has profit sharing and 401K plans. It also has merchandise discounts, casual work environments and an open door policy. And it has to manage these wages, benefits and relations with 1.6 million employees scattered around the world, including more than 1.2 million in America.

Is the Container Store unionized?

>Wal-Mart pays above the industry average.

Facts please, to back up this blatantly false statement.

Nick: Wal-Mart’s average hourly wage, $9.68, is $2.60 less than the national retail average.

The Container Store is NOT unionized.

Nick--you seem to be blasting this company simply because WMwatch has come out with this article and then you want to find similarities between the two in terms of good pay and benefits which is a bit of a reach.

Factchecker wrote:

“ Just what exactly is Walmart’s net contribution to the economy?  We’ll never know, because who knows what stores would have flourished had they not come along. “

And, we will never know what the outcome might have been if Wal-Mart had not come along.  You might just have to be posting on the K-Mart Watch web site, instead of this one.

Ben wrote:

“ Wal-Mart’s average hourly wage, $9.68, is $2.60 less than the national retail average. “

Maybe Wal-Mart’s success is because it isn’t the average retail store.  Maybe it would never have passed up the others had it been average.  So, you are saying that the average wage in all other retail stores is $12.28 an hour and they all have better benefit packages, is that true?

A number of people post that other retail stores pay better wages than walmart.

Where are all these stores located, i can’t find any of them.

walmart has good benefits, and pay.

1. profit sharing
2. 401k
3. good bonus pay for hard work
4. sick hrs that build up
5. health ins at an affordable price
6. disability ins at a very low price
7. life ins, free
and many other benefits.....

You get more than just your wages, lots more.

merry christmas

To Bobby -

Ben didn’t say that EVERY retail store pays better, he was merely refuting the blatant lie that Nick had posted. 

To bry -

You probably can’t find any stores that pay better than Walmart in Arkansas, because Walmart has worked to put them all out of business and has pretty much been successful in monopolizing the Arkansas market.  Come out to California sometime - we have Costco, Target, Safeway, Ralph’s, Kohl’s, Mervyn’s, Macy’s, Fry’s, Albertsons, Von’s, as well as thousands of other stores that pay more than Walmart. 

On a side note - Walmart lost the right to sell firearms in California a few years ago (and still hasn’t earned the right back) after repeated violations of state law.  If they can’t get gun laws right (which are some of the easiest to follow), how can we expect them to follow other laws?  Guess we can’t.

I work for Wal-Mart.  I thank God I have a job, but it can’t be the best place to work.  At least I hope it’s not:

I make $7.70/hr.
I can’t afford the insurance (or rather the deductibles offered).
I work very hard (gained 2” on my biceps in 16 months-small frame), but get no bonus.
The favoritism is outrageous--and, no i’m not one of the favorites.
The sick hours??? yes, they build up because you can’t use them...and God knows my whole store is always sick-and working...because you have to be out 2 days to collect one sick day.  No one can afford that.

I appreciate having a job, but let’s be honest about the biggest company in the world...they are out for the bottom line, not their “associates”.

Here’s hoping that this time next year you’ll have found something better Looking for another job.

Factchecker said, come to california,

Do you live in arkansas, or california?

Well guess what, iv’e been to california and thought i was in another country.

If you live in california you will need a lot more money to live---- the cost of living is high----- the last time i checked we have a lot of states, california is only, one.

Walmart also pays more in california, and many people like working for walmart....(and some dont ) it’s a free country.

Why do so many want to do away with the very thing that made this country great--- if walmart builds a store and cant get employees or customers, they will go away.

Any business should get a chance.

merry christmas

This site is trying to censor me. They are removing legitimate posts because I am just too effective. They cannot believe that someone not in the employ of Wal-Mart (I am not) would actually defend Wal-Mart! I will try to post now but don’t be surprised if some hack earning the UFCW average of $76,000 deletes my post.

I was wondering about something earlier. I am not a lawyer (thank God) but I would like to know whether or not a tax-exempt organization can have a public forum but then discriminate in said public forum. Example, if the hide behind numerous names and entities shell game of an organization behind this site is tax exempt and they offer an open forum in which to post, is it discriminatory to restrict posts that are not profanity laced tirades? Is logic inadmissible here?

Grocery workers of the world-UNITE! While you are slugging it out through bad weather, angry customers, indifferent management and poor working conditions at your unionzed retailer and earning $12 an hour for 32 hours per week work, your “friends” at the UFCW are kicking back and sipping their coffee. There are more than 150 people in the UFCW office earning at least $100,000 per year + benefits and expenses. What exactly are they doing for you?

Small wonder that unions have lost so many certification and de-certification votes in recent years. Perhaps you can attribute the certification election losses to company threats, etc. (not really) but de-certification means the workers got together and voted their union out on their own. Which tells you all you need to know about the benefits provided by a union.

What do you mean by ‘just too effective’ Ellis-Nick? Why would they try to censor you? It’s true I’ve always kind of enjoyed your posts even though I generally don’t agree. This one seems to verge on paranoia. And you’ve had a few of those--but generally not. Maybe you should just go back to being Nick from Wheeling? Your anti-union rhetoric continues. It’s something that has always made me wonder. Life’s roads simply took you in one direction and me in another. Why do you think you need to analyze something you have little or no personal experience with--something that has for a long time been part and parcel of the natural work setting I’ve been working in? The union part came with the job and it’s something that I consider as good.

Ellis, you wrote this:

“ was wondering about something earlier. I am not a lawyer (thank God) but I would like to know whether or not a tax-exempt organization can have a public forum but then discriminate in said public forum. Example, if the hide behind numerous names and entities shell game of an organization behind this site is tax exempt and they offer an open forum in which to post, is it discriminatory to restrict posts that are not profanity laced tirades? Is logic inadmissible here?

Grocery workers of the world-UNITE! While you are slugging it out through bad weather, angry customers, indifferent management and poor working conditions at your unionzed retailer and earning $12 an hour for 32 hours per week work, your “friends” at the UFCW are kicking back and sipping their coffee. There are more than 150 people in the UFCW office earning at least $100,000 per year + benefits and expenses. What exactly are they doing for you?”

Ok, let me stop laughing for a second…

A website is not a “public forum” any more than the Food Court in a mall is.  The owners of the website can restrict anything and everything they want to

Second, who do you think should be more mad - the person making $12 an hour while the union bosses wine and dine, or the person making $9.68?  Do you think the Walmart employees feel better because, “I might be making zilch, but damn it, everyone else is too!”

Just recently, I heard of an employee was grabbed by her supervisor and she didn’t even say anything to them. That is the point, she didn’t say a word to him and he grabbed her. She has three bruise marks and a scratch mark on her arm from where he grabbed her. She is thinking about quitting because she is getting hit with so many questions about the issue of “did he really grab you?” or “she is making it up.” She reported it to the management at her store and reported it to the police, but hasn’t file a complete charge against the supervisor. The other supervisors won’t really speak to her other then to tell her what to do next and watch her like a hawk so to have a good reason to fire her over. She really likes her job at Walmart, but she doesn’t want to stay if they don’t want to keep her. No one is sure where the supervisor is now that grabbed her, but I hope he doesn’t come back.

A friend to the troubled employee

Get over yourself Ellis they delete my posts all the time and for some reason it doesn’t bother me in the least. I figure I’m just too intense for walmart.watch, but hey being raised by a single dad who is a native american vietnam vet will make you that way. What’s your problem...jeez you have absolutely no sense of humor. Typical.

Lawyer

Some math for you:

Kroger Employee: 32 hours per week x 52 weeks @ $12 per hour equals gross annual income of $19,968.00

Wal-Mart employee: 38 hours per week x 52 weeks @ $9.68 per hour equals gross annual incomg of $19,127.68.

Subtract $50 per month in union dues (yes, this is what the average clerk at my local Kroger pays) and that puts the difference to less than $300 over the course of a year. Wal-Mart made more than $10 billion last year. Kroger lost more than $100 million last year and closed stores. If you had to choose from the above two jobs, which would you take?

Of course, I forgot the mention the 10% employee discount, the profit sharing, the health, dental and vision benefits, the stock purchase plan, the sick days, the disability insurance, the management opportunities and the 401K.

Wal-Mart saves consumers anywhere from 8%-18% when they open so if we assume that both clerks above spend $4,000 per year on personal items, clothing and groceries, the clerk shopping at Wal-Mart saved an additional $320, thereby making Wal-Mart the slightly more profitable place to work.

Let’s hear it...............

If it sounds so good to you why don’t you work there? Because yeah you probably have something a lot better and you also know as well as the rest of us that their benefits really aren’t very good at all no matter how you try to mask it. For a company making 10 billion in profit last year they do very little profit sharing with their rank and file and any plans for that will have to take a backseat to the Walton family, to wealthy shareholders and to expansion plans. Not a good company to work for IMO.

Ellis,

I’m a UFCW member at Kroger’s and must dispute your ridiculous claims.  I haven’t the time to respond to your lies and misstatements but here are some of benefits that I have, and Wal-Mart does not offer.

1) pension 2) time and one-half pay for all major holidays 3) eight hours extra pay for major holidays 4) 6th day premium pay 5) $5.00 a week medical coverage (including dental and vision) 6) grievance procedure to ensure due-process for all employees.  The list goes on and on, but I’ll stop here for now.

Ellis,

In the future, instead of making stuff up, do some research. Union dues for Kroger’s employees are around $28.00 a month.  Trying to “spin” Wal-Mart as comparable to a unionized grocery store is laughable.

Ellis,

Also, your whole argument shows 32 hours for Kroger and 38 for Walmart (not sure where you’re getting either of those numbers, I’ve worked for both and worked 40 at Kroger and 37.5 at Walmart), but assuming you didn’t just pull them out of the air, the two jobs pay the same, but you work more than 300 hours less at Kroger - leaves a lot of time for family.  I don’t know about you, but my TIME is worth something.

Tom

Kroger has been in business much longer than Wal-Mart and currently has roughly the same number of stores.

2004 RESULTS:

Kroger (union) lost more than $100 million
Wal-Mart (non-union) profited more than $10 billion

Are these facts enough for you?

Larry

I won’t argue with you. You work for a protected government monopoly. When you have to compete and focus on the bottom line, let me know.

Ellis-
Don’t know where you get your info, but you must not work for Wal-Mart. 
There is no vision benefit. 
The profit sharing was done away with and replaced by a “meet or beat last yrs sales and don’t have any customer accidents”.
I explained the sick days in my earlier post.
As for the management opportunities, well, you won’t get in if you want to contribute to the welfare of the associates by making suggestions to improve working conditions...in fact all you’ll get for that is a “coaching” for every little deviation from policy you do (even if everyone else is doing it and not getting coached).

Union Gives Empty Presents to Kids
Union Activists true nature: making little children cry.  I hope everyone has read the Washington Times story of how union activists recently handed out empty presents to children at a Wal-Mart causing the poor little kids to cry. 

Just goes to show you unions will do anything - even hurt children.

Read the story here:
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20051219-093818-6601r.htm

Washington Times, Dec 20, 2005
Columnist: Joel Mowbray