I don't know what it is that you do ImcLoud as I just don't pay enough attention where I'm sure it was mentioned. I think it's great that you're paying your employees competive wages and are looking at the benefits of retaining good workers. I do see that you're in CT and I guess most of your workers are from there. As I recall, CT isn't necessarily an inexpensive place to live. So, while your wage packages are attractive, are they so attractive that your employees have enough money that they never shop at Walmart, Target, and the like? It's nice that many have new cars but did they get good deals or are they in situations with the type of predatory loans analogous to those that homeowners a few years had when the housing market went bust?
From what you say, your workers require a certain amount of skill to do their job. If all they had to do was stock shelves, shag carriages, perform some rudimentary maintenance, or be cashiers, what could you afford to pay them?
Chu, I own a commercial/residential HVAC-r company as well as a real estate investment company {long term rentals not flips}...
It is expensive to live in NE, not as expensive as a lot of other places around the country but more than some places in the south that is for sure... For example here, registered nurses earn around $28-31 avg. per hour while in Florida they earn $22-27...
As far as where my employees are able to shop... Everyone is different, some people manage money well and some don't. I have one employee that earns well over $75K per year, and every once in a while he ask me for an EL for a few thousand dollars, he always pays it back so I don't ask questions.. Now he lives alone in a house he owns {mort/tx/ins/maint cant be over $1800 per month} BUT he drives a $70K pickup truck {some special f350 dually} , and gets a mustang every couple years {he has a new {maybe 2013} roush rite now}, he takes that mustang all over the place in a car trailer and races on the weekends... He has admitted to shopping at walmart, now he makes enough money to live well and plan for retirement BUT he chooses to enjoy a HUGE part of his earnings now while he is young {early 40s}, there is nothing wrong with that, and I see pictures of his race weekends and tour rides, I haven't been on any stang rides but they look fun..
On the other hand my office mngr is a little younger earns a little less, also drives a real nice car, she has a great little place {2 unit I sold her her rent pays the note and she rents the garage to her neighbor for $375 per month}, she lives well, always going out to eat at fancy restaurants with her friends {and my wife}, buys expensive pocketbooks and shoes, ect BUT last I heard she had a 401K worth around $300K, her house is on track to being paid off in less than 7 or 8 years total {15 yr & always making double payments}, and she probably has a liquid 6 figures in her savings account... I know for a fact that she does NOT shop at walmart and she lives within 5 miles of one.
So everyone is different. I don't want to come off as saying you are bad if you shop at walmart, thats not the case, the fact is some people don't have an option, I have been in parts of this country where that is all there is but that is my point, it should not be that way, there should be an entire town where that one walmart is, there should be 9+
privately owned stores selling all the items walmart has, employing a few people each some of which may own that place in the future.
Thats how it used to work, if you have time I will tell you a story about someone in my own family, my fathers brother...
My uncle worked at a shoe store for 16 years, supported his family and then bought that place in the early 80's, his son took it over in the early 90's and walmart put them out of business soon after. Im not sure what he paid for wages or what he earned but he had 3 employees plus his wife did the books and he ran the store, so it supported a good amount of people, they sold good products, they paid rent to the strip mall owner, they offered competitive prices where you weren't going to drive far out of your way for a cheaper pair... BUT when walmart came {about 6 minutes down the road on the same street}, he noticed a sharp decline, no more busy time before school starts, no more rush on snow boots and gloves before the first snow storm, ect. So he walks through the walmart shoe dept. All junk BUT you can buy a pair of shoes for $3.50, he told me the first pair he picked up had a picture of superman on them and they were $3 and change!!!!
HOW COULD HE COMPETE? So now he is worried, this is his livelihood as well as that of his 3 workers, who he feels responsible for supporting as well... He gets on the phone to his suppliers, but this is a story they heard a bunch of times already, they tell him to switch to high end shoes, its his only chance because he CAN NOT compete with walmart, so they want him to switch to high end womens shoes, expensive sneakers, and expensive dress shoes.... Kind of makes sense and they did know what they were talking about because he did just that, he built a new part of the store that specialized in the expensive stuff that walmart didnt sell... HE also tried to get "cheaper shoes' but they didn't exist, walmart was selling shoes for half of what they cost him to buy even trying to import them he could buy them from walmart for less than it cost to buy them in bulk and ship them in. So he figured get some affordable shoes and some expensive ones, corner the rest of the shoe market...
It helped, BUT there is a reason walmart doesnt sell that stuff, its because there inst much money in it... And luckily he was smart enough not to let that business ruin his life, he shut the doors, and moved on.... Others werent so lucky, in that strip mall there was a pharmacy that walmart decimated, and there was a pet store, the owner of the pet store was a friend of my cousins {who owned the shoe store} and he lost his house to that store, trying to stay going until things got better, but they didn't...
I actually built condos on the spot that strip mall used to be, after all its rite down the road from walmart, right?
I don't want anyone to feel bad about shopping at walmart. The sad part is there are hardly any other options out there, but that is their plan.
You and your wife work your 6 days a week each {which shouldn't be the case, we shouldn't have to work 6 days a week to retire at 68, our wives shouldn't have to work at all if they don't want to}, then walk in walmart on Sunday {taking your life and the well being of your cars finish in your hands, door dings are eminent}, your greeted by someones grandmother that walmart is going to collect on her life insurance as soon as she passes {yes they took out policies on employees and collected when they died}, grab a couple bags of the "roll back" doritos on the way in, continue to the "health" department, grab your toothpaste, deodorant, and your wife grabs her products and maybe a new flowery lotion that she asks your opinion on. Now onto the "pet" dept. grab a bag of dog food and some treats for the family pet, take a look at the collars because the one you bought 2 months ago is already worn...
The carriage is no where near full, so you continue on, walk through the kids dept and a really cool hotwheels car catches your eye, your son will love that, so throw it in the carriage, you notice the sign 3 for $2 so you grab a couple more to make it worth it, figure you will give him one at a time when he deserves them. Your wife reminds you about your socks and the holes they have so you press on to mens wear, grab a big package of socks, they just don't seem to last as long as they used to. While your there you wife walked over to house wares and grabbed some windex, sponges, and flexy garbage bags that she seen on TV. You two meet in from of electronics the new Will Farrel movie just came out and its $15.99 on blu ray, WHY NOT? it will make a good sunday night movie after the Simpsons aire....
Next you need some screws and wood glue for a shelf that has been getting loose, you walk by the spot where you bought the shelf a few months prior contemplating just buying a new one or fixing the one you own, but they don't even sell the same model anymore so its a moot point, grab the glue and nails, you see a cool wrnech that takes off any size nut for $6 so throw one of them in the carriage too...
Now time for the groceries, since that should be last... Eggs, milk, bread, some hot pockets for the kids, deli meat already in a little tupperware container that you don't even have to pull a number to get, some precut land o lakes cheese, the mircale whip was getting low last time you used it so grab one of them, your wife grabs some chicken in a frozen zip lock bag, some bread crumbs, a couple cans of tuna fish, some ragu, and some walmart brand pasts 10 for a dollar....
ALMOST TIME TO checkout...
Its been a good day so you stop for lunch at the food court, a hot dog with chilly on it for you and a salad with white chickenish meat on it for the wife, you both share a 60oz fountain drink and life is good...
You walk up to the register and the entire outing only set you back $175, WOW... All that stuff in one place... How convenient is that? Walk out to your car where someone has parked 6 inches from your drivers door with their 87 chrysler new yorker and left you a nice long red dent from their door smashing into yours, but no big deal it matches the other 3 next to it...
I hate to admit its too late now, short of someone passing a legislature that hurts walmart and gives small business the upper hand to even the playing ground nothing will ever change, I know me not shopping there isn't hurting them, lol but at least I don't have to be around the people on the walmart shoppers website...
Chu, I wish there was an answer for what could change, if there is I don't know it.. As far as machines taking peoples jobs, that would not be an issue if you had to go to 5 different stores to get 5 different things instead of one that sold everything... Ill admit it is convenient, but its just not good for us... Laying in bed all day with a machine feeding us, changing our bed pan and wiping our @ss is convenient too, but I would much rather not live that way.. So I have to drive to a few different stores, its how it should be...
I like walking into the shoe store and seeing Gil and his wife sitting there, picking up my special order boots {size 16 is tough to find sometimes}, gil makes a joke about being able to walk on water {I have heard it 2900 times, but still laugh, he was good friends with my uncle and I have known him a long time}, I remind him about a bill he had for me from the beginning of the summer, he remembers and pulls out a bill from my son who was out with some friends and needed a pair of sandals because he lost one of his on the boat that day, my son only had a few bucks on him so gil said "take what you want Ill bill your dad when he comes in", looking at the bill he bought a $5 keychain too, I glance over at the key chain display and see the exact keychain that is now hanging from my boat ignition my son gave me as a "gift" lol
{I do love that keychain, its a small deer antler with a gator tooth in it}...
