Walmart closing 63 Sam's stores...

[53k]

...effective immediately with no notice to the thousands of employees affected. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/walma...064451519.html

[Chris Pile]

Wow. That was not anticipated.

[qsanford]

We lost three Southern New England locations just about two years ago. Our local one in Fall River, Mass. wasn't much more than a year old.

[jnormanh]

Costco pretty much ate Sam's lunch. We were Sam's members for a good many years, but when Costco opened we dropped Sam's.

[345 DeSoto]

That's DIRTY! Looks like Wally World might be headed down the same trail as Kmart. They ran Kmart out of business, now it looks like pay back time...

[62champ]

Probably a result of the pay raises and bonuses they are handing out.

Not easy to loose your job, but to find out by showing up at work and the lights are off and there is a notice stating that the location is permanently closed says a great deal about how they feel about their employees...

[jclary]

That's DIRTY! Looks like Wally World might be headed down the same trail as Kmart. They ran Kmart out of business, now it looks like pay back time...

Looks more like "business" to me. Even if awkward, unpleasant, abrupt, and perceptually rude, someone has decided to euthanize unprofitable stores rather than prolong the inevitable. We are living in an era of rapid technological development (e-commerce), and the fall out has some dire consequences. As we see in the aftermath of California wildfires, a failure to anticipate the natural consequences of lost soil stability due to subsequent rains. In the world of commerce, there are similarities. Vinyl records, tape players, bag phones, stage coaches, cathode ray tubes, carburetors, etc., etc., have been swept aside under the onslaught of unanticipated technology landslides.

It has happened before,(in my area, cotton & chicken farming, textile mills, and furniture mfg.), is happening now, and will happen in the future...hang on...

[Chris Pile]

Let's just say this.... If Sam was still alive, it wouldn't have been done this way.

Many companies are now run by bean counters. Bean counters are fine. Business is supposed to make beans for the counters to count. But that's THE ONLY aspect of business that bean counters understand. They don't understand marketing, or public relations. They only know that they have more beans or less beans as a result of doing business. They don't understand (or care) about employees, and they certainly don't care about customers other than getting more beans from them. When you place a bean counter in charge, these are the things that happen. People get their feelings hurt, or worse (in most cases). Just my opinion, let the bean counters count the beans, but NEVER put them in charge of making policy or decisions that affect the company and its relationship with the public. Simply put - bean counters make bad decisions.

[Buzzard]

I agree. Back circa 1981, Canada was suffering from an economical slow down. The company I ran had been hugely successful in the boom times of the late '70's. Even though we never lost money, the profits were much lower than previously experienced. The owners relied on the bean counter's expertise and he noted that myself and my #1 sales guy were accounting for the bulk of the payroll outlay. He suggested our departure in order to save money and hence we were laid off (polite way to state "you're fired). They never viewed how much contribution to the bottom line we actually contributed due to our extreme knowledge, wonderful personalities and interaction with the customers. They lasted 6 months after our departure before shutting the company down for good. I heartily agree with Chris in post# 8

Simply put - bean counters make bad decisions.

My lesson in all this was to never rely on anyone else so I opened up my own business.
Bill

[rockne10]

In addition to the pay raises (all the way up to $11/hr--WOW) and the $1000 bonus, which I hear is only going to 20+ year employees, many other thousands are just getting laid off, as well as the 63 Sam's Club closures.
Costco has always paid above average and offered many employee benefits. I can't wait 'till we get one closer than 100 miles. We have two Walmarts within five miles and a Sam's Club, but I refuse to shop in any of them.

[JRoberts]

I thought the pay raises for were for those folks working at Wal-Mart. I just figured they closed the Sam's stores to cover the pay raises.

[Gunslinger]

From what officials said (if accurate), it was recognized that mistakes were made in opening stores too close to one another in certain regions and they were underperforming due to competing against one another. They decided to close the worst offenders in that regard. Bad business decisions caused stores to be built where they shouldn't have been. The fact Costco is a much more successful company in the same marketplace and wipes Sam's Club all over the floor sales-wise had to be a factor as well.

It wasn't the first time a company made bad decisions and won't be the last. The fact that when a company the size of Sams blunders a lot of people are affected...not like when local area stores make bad decisions and go under...it only affects the immediate area with a far smaller number of employees affected.

[345 DeSoto]

"Simply put - bean counters make bad decisions." Robert McNamara, Viet Nam...

[Stude Shoo-wop!]

What goes around comes around. Wal-Mart deserves to be pushed back for treating their own workers like they're subhuman.

[556063]

I think Wal-Mart employees enjoy better bathroom breaks than Amazon Delivery Drivers. Who are allowed none.

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...r-200-11668823

[Jerry Forrester]

That's DIRTY! Looks like Wally World might be headed down the same trail as Kmart. They ran Kmart out of business, now it looks like pay back time...

If the store you own is going to be shut down, the easiest way to dispose of all your merchandise is tell your employees the store will close in two weeks.

[sweetolbob]

If the store you own is going to be shut down, the easiest way to dispose of all your merchandise is tell your employees the store will close in two weeks.

Never thought about that aspect but a good point. In my industry, you never saw the inside of the complex again if they let you go. We had way to much access to the technology and computer files that the company didn't want to see disappear.

Years back, the company gave people time to gather things and say goodbye but found out that in some cases the time was used to abscond with files and records. I can remember two cases that cost the company tons of dollars to recover assets and the individuals that took them never worked in the industry again so it was a lose/lose.

That's why the current policy was installed.

Bob

[Skip Lackie]

If the store you own is going to be shut down, the easiest way to dispose of all your merchandise is tell your employees the store will close in two weeks.

My thoughts exactly. It may seem heartless, but there's a reason . . . . .

[Gunslinger]

Some of the stores being closed are being retained and repurposed by the company. Not all the jobs will be lost but some certainly will be.

[rockne10]

Some of the stores being closed are being retained and repurposed by the company.

Yep; some will be converted to online fulfillment centers.

[jnormanh]

In addition to the pay raises (all the way up to $11/hr--WOW) and the $1000 bonus, which I hear is only going to 20+ year employees, many other thousands are just getting laid off, as well as the 63 Sam's Club closures.
Costco has always paid above average and offered many employee benefits. I can't wait 'till we get one closer than 100 miles. We have two Walmarts within five miles and a Sam's Club, but I refuse to shop in any of them.

The warehouse retailer (Costco) pays workers an average of $20.89 an hour, compared with Wal-Mart's average hourly wage of $11.83.

But Costco is expanding and Wal*Mart is contracting. Could it possibly be that Costco employees appreciate a decent wage, and try harder?

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-w...costco-2014-10