San Diego Housing Bubble News and Analysis

http://www.peopleofwalmart.com/

check it out..........

Here's another article. This one from UT.

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2...

I love that site. Very funny.

Notice that nearly all the pictures are from Wal-Marts in the Midwest and South.

I've only ever been to one in New York. I'm waiting for Super Wal-Mart to merge with Home Depot and then there will be just one stop. It will be hell but we'll only get out of the car once.

Wal-Mart has lower prices by keeping costs down. They don't pay union wages, buy in bulk and force their suppliers to sell to them for less, and have far superior inventory systems.
Like it or not, they will eat the lunch of the Von's, Ralph's, Lucky's, whose lobbies have fought hard to keep WM supercenters out of CA.
If you think a cashier's job is worth $20 per hour plus generous fringe benefits, you probably also think GM assembly line workers are worth their $30 or so an hour plus generous fringe benefits.
Competition, of the sort offered by WalMart, has done more to help the nation's poor lucky enough to shop there than any number of welfare programs. It is interesting how the liberal elites love to hate WalMart.

The government should stop subsidizing WalMart by turning the blind eye to illegal immigration issue and accepting WM employees to Medicaid. I'd rather have $20/h cashier who pays taxes and has med insurance than $8/h one whose children need free lunch @ school and taxpayer sponsored health plan.

Captcha,

Not sure how illegal immigration affects Walmart, you're wrong if you're ascerting Walmart hires illegal immigrants. Walmart requires all associates to provide required I-9 documents proving they have a legal right to work in the US within 72 of being hired or else they are terminated. Walmart associates are also eligible for benefits after a period of time as well, and like most of us they have to pay into that program in order to get them. There are some terrifically affordable plans out there now for Walmart associates.

I know, I work for Walmart...and the Oceanside Supercenter is the future of Walmart in California. Whether you shop there or not, whether you like Walmart or not, you save money because of Walmart's enormous impact on the retail competitive market.

T4L: I don't mean to be overly personal, but how long have you worked for Walmart and in what capacity? I ask for a couple of reasons: (1) I don't know anybody who works for Walmart and that makes you something of an expert (so to speak) and (2) You hear a lot of stories going both ways about Walmart and Walmart's impact on unions, retail, prices, etc.

I avoided Walmart like the plague for many years and largely because I didn't approve of their stance on unionization. While I'm against unions personally, I think organizations that try to suppress unions are wrong and that workers have a right to unionize, if they so choose.

I had also heard stories about discrimination against female employees and wage/labor violations, such as failing to pay overtime.

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on this subject.

allan from fallbrook,

send me your e-mail address and I'll give you the straight scoop, won't do it in a public forum though. Overall, I think the pendulum swings both ways and like any large organization, Walmart tends to overcompensate in the name of avoiding lawsuits. There is probably better opportunity for women in this company than most, I know at least two women who in the last year were promoted to officer positions in the company. Many women store managers as well.

I won't disclose my position here, but I am a salaried associate at Walmart and I've been with the company for about a year. If you've ever seen CNBC's "Age of Walmart" and "The New Age of Walmart" (available online) it paints a fairly accurate picture of the Walmart environment.

allan from fallbrook,

send me your e-mail address and I'll give you the straight scoop, won't do it in a public forum though. Overall, I think the pendulum swings both ways and like any large organization, Walmart tends to overcompensate in the name of avoiding lawsuits. There is probably better opportunity for women in this company than most, I know at least two women who in the last year were promoted to officer positions in the company. Many women store managers as well.

I won't disclose my position here, but I am a salaried associate at Walmart and I've been with the company for about a year. If you've ever seen CNBC's "Age of Walmart" and "The New Age of Walmart" (available online) it paints a fairly accurate picture of the Walmart environment.

I think Captcha was referring to the time Walmart got busted with a cleaning crew of illegal immigrants. Worse, they'd literally locked them in a store overnight. (Fire safety issue).

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/art...

I personally don't shop at walmart because I don't like their policies towards the hourly employees. Perhaps they've fixed it since the book Nickel and Dimed, by Barbara Ehrenreich, came out... but I was horrified that low paid hourly workers were required to work off the clock, were given info about how to apply to medicare programs, WIC, etc. Why would they provide that information in the employee breakrooms if it wasn't something the employees qualified for? In other words, many of Walmart's employees are living at a poverty level. Hard to call that living wages.

I've shopped at super-walmarts - mainly when on roadtrips and it was the only thing readily available from the freeway. At home, I choose to shop at Costco - where they pay wages high enough that many employees are still there having started in college. They have their degrees - but like their employer and work enough to stick around for 20 years or more. (Check the badges of the costco workers - it has the number of years.)

It's a personal choice. Not forced on anyone else. But given options, I won't shop at Walmart.

If you support Wal-Mart by shopping there, remember that someday you might be working there as well. That is, if you're lucky enough to have a job at all.

You must be the change you wish to see in the world. - Ghandi

Do you wish for a future where everyone works for $9 an hour so that they can buy goods imported from countries that that have no labor, environmental, or food safety standards like China? Then by all means let Wal-Mart into your town and shop there.

Also, I love the argument about how Wal-Mart helps poor people. If we keep letting Wal-Mart help poor people, we will all soon join their ranks.

I shop at Wal-Mart.

I live in an apartment and it's very sparse. I don't buy much so it's unlikely Wal-Mart makes a lot of profit from me. They may even lose money on me.

I'm sorry but when it comes to money directly out of my pocket, then I'm going to go with the best or equal quality at the cheapest price.

Remember that at any level of income, Americans are much better-off than workers around the world. If we can lift workers around the world out of poverty, then it's good for humanity.

For example, think about the rise of China. We consume their products and in the process we have lifted millions out of poverty. I think that's a very good thing that Capitalism achieved.

Trojan,

I am sure the corporate attorneys would be able to defend the corporation in the court of law. Tyson Foods attorneys did and Walmart for sure can purchase better protection than Tyson Foods.

Walmart is just one of the beneficiaries of the culture in which big businesses are being subsidized big. I am not interested in talking points explaining how 'by the people, for the people' equals unhealthy food and poisonous plastic for some, $8/h for others and campaign contributions and billions in profit for others.

There's also a cultural element to shopping at Wal_Mart.

For better or for worse, Wal-Mart is an American cultural icon just like Coca-Cola, Levis, Disneyland, etc...

If anything, Wal-Mart, as the largest company in America, is an icon of capitalism itself. And America is the country which represents Capitalism.

When you go to Mexico, you want to try Sanborn's Cafe. When you visit Turkey, you want to shop at the local bazaar. In Japan, you want to visit the fish market where the fresh sushi is traded.

When you visit a new place, you want to see where the local people do their shopping. In America, Wal-Mart it is. Inside Wal-Mart, there's a nail salon. There's a fast food outlet. There's an optical shop, a garden center and a tire shop. You see all kinds of people come through.

Decades ago, Sears were that shopping icon. Now, it's Wal-Mart. When you shop at Wal-Mart you get a sense of the country.

I have fun looking at the products and the people when I shop at Wal-Mart.

I more or less loathe shopping at Walmart. No fun for me, except the time I got the last HD-DVD player in a special section of the store when the price was cut to $99. It's generally really crowded, cluttered and loud. I find the atmosphere at Walmart simply drab; to me, it's a drag to go there, yet I still do from time to time, and I don't outright try to forbid my wife from shopping there. Maybe it's improved over the years, but clothes off the rack, merch on the aisles. They're generally in massive shopping centers with bottleneck traffic areas.

The Wally World Supercenter recently opened up in Temecula. No doubt it is hurting the local Albertson's, Ralph's etc...which in so many ways are nicer stores.

Going to the Wal Mart Supercenter is a trip I usually plan for; I rarely go for the little things - sort of like Costco.

But I do shop primarily at our Wal Mart Supercenter and the prices are generally much lower than Albertson's even though I like Albertson's upscale selections.

I think the quote by Lee Scott, former CEO of Walmart spoke best to this when he said "Out of 4,000 stores there are some knuckle-headed store managers who do things the wrong way. When we find out about it, we fix it" (paraphrased).

I think Walmart has changed with the times and certainly is not practicing the same archaic personnel policies that got them a bad reputation. I think that a large part of that was how store manager's bonus pay was calculated, it encouraged them to cheat people. It has been altered now to include other factors. I think overall there's just a better breed of manager coming into the company, we now have pick of the best with the recession going on.

FYI our average hourly wage in CA is north of $11 and MANY hourly associates in our stores earn much more than that. We also have many associates who are 10,15,20-35 years with the company. Walmart has made many of those "lower" paid associates MILLIONAIRES with the company's stock purchase plan. They have always shared their success with the associates.

I think if you go into a newly remodeled Walmart store you would probably change your opinion about the company.

I think if Walmart's 1.5 million US associates were affected by the 12% unemployment rate, we'd be in even a worse mess. I have 500-600 people apply for every vacant job we post. We are not the problem, Captcha...

SMShorttimer,

It's a different Walmart today, but it depends on what time you go. 8am is best time, of course if you go at 7pm the store has been "shopped hard" by thousands and isn't the most pristine shopping experience.

Got it. A company with celebrated, almost legendary intelligence gathering (did not help much in Germany, IIRC), one that can calculate suppliers' margins better than the suppliers themselves failed to recognize the systemic abuse of the employees by the management. Totally believable.

Your numbers are meaningless. How many is "MANY"? What is the structure (position, years of experience, hours worked/week, benefits) of your hourly employees? How do you calculate the average? How many is 'many' (in case of employees with 35 years and in case of MILLIONAIRES)?

The fact that you (personally?) have 500-600 applicants for a minimum wage position witnesses the sad state of the society.

Not sure I would agree with that - isn't it true that businesses and communities are really negatively impacted in the area around Wal Mart's?

Also, $11/hour (or slightly more) is not even a living wage IMO.

Some of us remember living in a world before Wal-Mart. Some of us remember living in a world where the average Joe had a good job and got by just fine. Many of the houses in San Diego were owned by average Joes at one time, they fed their families, sent their kids to college, paid off their houses, and took vacations to Yosemite and Las Vegas. That world is long gone. Is Wal-Mart to blame? I don't think so, I think Wal-Mart is a symptom of the disease. The disease is (pick your term): globalization, privatization, neo-feudalism, NWO, etc... They all basically mean the same thing. Less for us and more for the guys at the top, who grow fewer in number and more powerful day by day.

Back to work, slaves!

I never shop Vons and Ralphs again. I either shop at Asian Supermarkets, Costco or Walmart. I usually save about 20 to 25% ($150/month) by not shopping at Vons and Ralphs.

Why should I spend $150 extra monthly to help unionized workers at Vons and Ralphs to bag grocery, stock the shelves or clean the floor when they can hire people to do the same things for half the cost? The same thing is happening at unionized GM and Chrysler, why should tax payers giving the two companies more than $50 bil so uneducated workers can make $30/hour in wages + $35/hour in benefits? Can you believe benefits cost more than the salary? Mine is about 35% of my salary and I am happy.

You really need to be careful about shopping for el-cheapo food, especially if the food is from overseas. I wouldn't touch seafood from china no matter how cheap. If you're interested why, do some research. It's just gross. Same could be said for juices made from concentrate overseas.

I was very very happy when Treetop started making their apple juices from USA apples only again. (see the fine print on the bottles).

Wally World is your personal preference. If you like cheap things and are essentially a cheap person then Wally World is for you. I prefer going to the “unionized” shops as you like to call them because they make sure the employees know how to handle food, they are trained, paid, and are helpful people who can answer a question. As I have always said you get what you pay for. Wally World has gotten away from producing anything in America and has caused many to follow. Now I know, some here will say it is there right to buy cheap, environmentally damaging, slave labor, type goods. (Remember china doesn’t care about your environment, and who’s a little bad baby’s milk going to hurt, right?). So how much do the tightwads really save? I heard someone say a 150$ a month. But then you have to pay for those healthcare programs, WIC checks, etc… so when you buy that 5$ shirt that melts in the dryer be happy you got it for less.

We have more 3000sf to 6000sf tract houses than ever.

You couldn't find a 3000sf tract house back then.

Aren't we better off?

What about the argument that Walmart employees are by and large retail employees and thus don't really deserve "living wages"? How many complain about the presumably low pay at a Rite-Aid, CVS or Walgreens? Are those all union shops? I never hear the anti-Walmart stuff leveled at Target. Does Tarjay pay that much better? I'm guessing Target doesn't have the rep for hammering its suppliers on prices.

Make sure you read the labels. Walmart sells processed cheese (not very healthy food to start with) slices made with no cheese. There is only so much produce, labor (applies to kids working in the fields as well) and quality control that $.88 can buy

Why should you spend more? Do you tip when you dine out? Do you eat out in fast food places only?

This is called "Project Impact". I like it. In fact, I liked it so much that I even bought some WMT shares.

I admire Walmart's ability to carry its motto and execute it. When they say they sell everything for less, they mean it. How many companies has a strategy (e.g. great customer experience) that they couldn't even carry forward? Now Walmart is focusing on making the shopping experience more efficient, that does not conflict with their core values and should work out for both the consumers and the store.

I expect Project Impact will be the catalyst to wipe out a second round of national and regional retailers, whether you like it or not.

P.S. I hardly shop at Walmart before, now I am occassional shopper. I still get my grocery from Henry's, Costco and asian market, but I no longer hesitate visiting Walmart because it is no longer congested and the door greeter now hands you the shopping cart when you walk into the store. If the other stores care so much about the customer service, why they didn't think about that? Why the Costco door greeter only care about verifying that you indeed have their membership card?