I e-mailed a friend whose wife works at Wal-Mart when this debate first heated up. I told him about the debate here and asked him about what benefits his wife has as a Wal-Mart employee. Here is his reply.
Paula gets blue cross blueshield. long and short term disability insurance..for 95 dollars per month.a 401 k with 12 choices of mutual funds and company match...Profit sharing that is fully company funded..also for every 10 dollars in stock u buy they put in a dollar and a half..that's 15% return to start. She also gets Dental insurance included,and prescription drug discounts. Also we both get a 10% discount card ,and I don't even work there ..her sick time turns into personnel time .Also Wal-Mart DOES NOT pay minimum wage..Every one starts over that..Paula makes 11 per hour..with 5 per cent cost of living wage each year plus any promotions. A lot of school kids and older retired people do work part time, that's where they get the stats that look bad. If you stick with it as a full time employee as Paula has its a good second job for a family.. Most of the women who work there and a lot of the men CAME from mom and pop stores..Bedsoles???..Miss Bess and Mary jean and Shea all worked at bedsoles...NO Benefits at ALL and lower pay.
Wal-Mart is the number one company on a lot of lists as best to work for, not to mention Number 1 on the Fortune 500 list as the largest company..
As Wal-Mart has grown this big they have become a huge target...Unions hate them..But ask why no Wal-Mart store has ever voted for union.. if it was so bad the workers wood be marching for union!
A wall street guru, I saw on TV said Wal-Mart had almost single handed kept inflation down over the last 10 years in the USA.
Wal-Mart is not a get rich silicon valley company that pays 100000 per year but for Alabama its like entering the 20 century for a lot of workers.
Ohh by the way.. I'm looking at the CHOICE of blue cross plans..You can get a 1000 deductible if u want..its cheaper than Paula's and a good deal for young people, but , they range from 100 to 1000.. you get what u pay for..But most companies don't even give u a choice..Wal-Mart pays 65 dollars a month for Paula she pays 95..that's for her and britney..I can be added if I need to..Family for the town of pine hill is 200 per month
..Most bread winners in a family would not want to work at walmart unless they were in management, but as a second income i think its great.. Paula could have moved into upper management already, she is as high as she can get and not be subject to moving to a different store.. She has been working only 7 years
I think that should about put this puppy to bed. Compared to the mom and pop stores I think the locals here are waaaay better off. And I know I am. Lets break it down.
1.Prices?--no contest. Even the people on here that hate Wal-Mart admit nobody can beat their prices.
2.Store Hours?--No contest. Wal-Mart superstores are open 24 hours a day 7 days a week. In fact not only are their hours great but in order to compete with Wal-Mart many of the other stores here have had to shift to more people friendly hours as well. Most places here now stay open until at least 6 pm everyday some till 10 pm and gone is the practice of closing at 12 noon on Wednesday, 12 noon on Saturday and all day on Sunday. All thanks to Wal-mart.
3. Customer Service? I've never been mistreated in a Wal-Mart store and I've been in 6 different stores in Alabama, 2 in Mississippi and even 1 in Illinois. I have never had a problem with returning an item either and have even done so without a receipt on numerous occasions. With Mom and Pop stores its hit or miss. In places I know the people personally I have always been well treated but where that isn't the case I have had some real horror stories too long to go into now.