Behold!! The cancerous growth of Wal Mart!!!

[Torvald Von Mansee]

http://projects.flowingdata.com/walmart/?a=b

[SteamWake]

Behold the amazing growth of a sucessful buisness model.

[Onkel Neal]

I love Wal-Mart. Saves me money on common stuff. Mom and Pop were gouging, sad to see them go but that's competition.

[tater]

ObWalMart link: http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

I'm not a walmart fan, but that was fascinating, actually. I had no idea they only got into the NE in the mid 1990s (I've been in NM for so long).

That said, it certainly doesn't bother me. The same animation for Starbucks would be cool, actually.

[SteamWake]

Starbucks is shrinking not growing.

LOL they built a brand new one here it was open for two months before they closed it.

In a bad economy pepole buy their coffee from Wal Mart

[AVGWarhawk]

I'm not a big Walmart fan either but where else can you go for a power drill and underwear in one stop?

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by SteamWake

Behold the amazing growth of a sucessful buisness model.

Depends on what you define as successful:

A Substantial Number of Wal-Mart Associates earn below the federal poverty line

• In 2008, the average full time Associate (34 hours per week) earns $10.84 hourly for an annual income of $19,165. That’s $2,000 below the Federal Poverty Line for a family of four. [http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/08poverty.shtml]

• Last year, Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott earned $29.7 million in total compensation, or 1,551 times the annual income of the average full time Wal-Mart Associate. [http://articles.latimes.com/2007/apr...fi-briefs20.6]

[SteamWake]

Going by those numbers I live below the poverty line as well.

[August]

Originally Posted by reallydedpoet

Depends on what you define as successful:

Well they're a little more successful than is implied in the article you quoted. Full time is 40 hours a week, not 34. That brings an associates annual salary up to about $2500 above the poverty line.

Also a Walmart Associates job was never intended to support a family of four.

[ReallyDedPoet]

Originally Posted by August

Well they're a little more successful than is implied in the article you quoted. Full time is 40 hours a week, not 34. That brings an associates annual salary up to about $2500 above the poverty line.

Nothing to write home about considering the profits that Walmart makes. Anyway 40 hours is debatable. From wikipedia:

Definitions by country

The most common full-time workweek in the U.S. is between 32–40 hours. In France it is a government-mandated 35 hours per week. In Germany it is between 35–40 hours per week, and in Denmark it is 37 hours per week. In Australia it is around 38-40 hours per week, and in the U.K., whilst there is no formal definition, it is generally considered to be 35 hours a week or more. A person working more than full-time is working overtime, and is entitled to extra per-hour wages (but not salary).

Originally Posted by August

Also a Walmart Associates job was never intended to support a family of four.

Whatever their intentions, and it is difficult to tell at times with them, their wages are a joke.

[Sailor Steve]

Don't forget that Wal-Mart associates also get discounts there, and that includes everything from groceries to power drills. I worked there for awhile. If it had been more than seasonal I'd still be there. It's not bad, as jobs go, and if no one else will hire you it could be a lot worse.

[August]

Originally Posted by reallydedpoet

Anyway 40 hours is debatable.

I've been in the American work force since the early 1970's and it's been my experience that any job less than 40 hours is considered a part time job.

Whatever their intentions, and it is difficult to tell at times with them, their wages are a joke.

That is very true, but again, jobs like that are not intended to be careers that you raise a family on.

[razark]

Originally Posted by August

I've been in the American work force since the early 1970's and it's been my experience that any job less than 40 hours is considered a part time job.

I was told at one place that they couldn't give me more than 30 hours a week, because I'd then be "full-time". So, yes, you can be full time at less than 40 hours. My guess is that it's a matter of company policy.

[ReallyDedPoet]

This is the result of a free market society and I am fine with it in that sense compared to the alternative

At it's core I am a little more disappointed with big businesses swallowing up smaller ones and with that local ownership. By not having local ownership more dollars leave the community and are replaced with lower paying jobs, etc. On the surface it looks fine, more jobs created...., but the larger portion of the dollars ( profits ) do not stay within the community.

[August]

Originally Posted by razark

I was told at one place that they couldn't give me more than 30 hours a week, because I'd then be "full-time". So, yes, you can be full time at less than 40 hours. My guess is that it's a matter of company policy.

Could be, or maybe state law.