Thursday, March 19, 2009

Wal-Mart's $2 Billion Bonus Stimulus

March 19 (Bloomberg) -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, plans to award $2 billion in extra compensation to about 1 million U.S. hourly workers this year after sales jumped in the recession (average of $2,000 per worker). The Arkansas-based retailer is benefiting from record sales in the fourth quarter that boosted annual revenue by 7.2% to $401 billion.

The amount of the bonuses, profit sharing, discounts and 401(k) and stock-plan contributions being given to employees compares with the $1.8 billion Wal-Mart distributed last year. Payments to employees include $933.6 million in bonuses today.

HT:
Russ Roberts, who points out that "This is how capitalism once worked. Successful companies rewarded their employees and lousy companies disappeared."

38 Comments:

At 3/19/2009 3:57 PM, Blogger sethstorm said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

 
At 3/19/2009 3:59 PM, Blogger sethstorm said...

Yet they screw their workers the 364 other days of the year and bring in the thugs-in-a-private-jet if they complain loudly enough

Successful companies only get run under by those who play dirty pool a la the Communist Party of China's friend, Wal-Mart.

 
At 3/19/2009 4:01 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"Yet they screw their workers the 364 other days of the year and bring in the thugs-in-a-private-jet if they complain loudly enough"...

What planet did this happen on sethstorm?

Does WalMart hold a gun to the heads of its employees and abuse them physically and verbally or can an employee walk out the door and go somewhere else to work?

 
At 3/19/2009 4:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

@sethstorm: Ha.

Non-hysterical Carpe Diem readers: Don't forget about Wal-Mart's ongoing prescription-drug stimulus program!

 
At 3/19/2009 4:35 PM, Blogger sethstorm said...


Does WalMart hold a gun to the heads of its employees and abuse them physically and verbally or can an employee walk out the door and go somewhere else to work?

3/19/2009 4:01 PM

Yes.

Force by practicality is still force.

Oh, and it happened on this one.

 
At 3/19/2009 4:40 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"Yes.

Force by practicality is still force.
"...

ROFLMAO!

So people who are either to lazy, to uneducated, or just congenitally stupid are being forced through their own inate qualities to slave away at WalMart... LMAO!

 
At 3/19/2009 4:46 PM, Blogger sethstorm said...


1 said...

Practicality only reflects on the external choices available to the person, not your attempt at a cheap shot.

 
At 3/19/2009 4:51 PM, Blogger ExtremeHobo said...

Do you work at WalMart sethstorm?

 
At 3/19/2009 5:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Real reasons to be mad about the Wal-Mart bonuses.

 
At 3/19/2009 5:31 PM, Blogger sethstorm said...


Do you work at WalMart sethstorm?
3/19/2009 4:51 PM

If I did, I'd be receiving threats from them. The times that others ask me to stop in there, I see a lot of not-so-happy faces in the middle of fields of junk. I've yet to buy anything there.

No, but I've seen a time when the little "Benedict Arnold" Waltons didn't have the reins to the company. Sam did and was quite pro-US.

 
At 3/19/2009 6:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

"I see a lot of not-so-happy faces in the middle of fields of junk."

I see lots of not-so-happy faces pretty much everywhere. Plenty of people don't enjoy work - it's no a walmart phenomena.

 
At 3/19/2009 6:51 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That big big bonus. As a Walmart employee, my BIG BIG bonus was less than $300.00 (which is our usual quarterly bonus at my store), so it must be one store in a thousand that received the rather large bonus checks. Don't believe everything you read folks.

 
At 3/19/2009 7:26 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Are Bawney Fwank and Chris Dodd going to tax those bonuses at 90%?

 
At 3/19/2009 8:47 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

If you recieved $300 then you are doing good. We recieved $60. And my store is one of the top stores in our district.

 
At 3/19/2009 11:54 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Shocked said...
If you recieved $300 then you are doing good. We recieved $60. And my store is one of the top stores in our district.

Can anybody guess who really got most of the profits?

 
At 3/20/2009 9:13 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can anybody guess who really got most of the profits?

I hope it was the shareholders, since they own the company.

 
At 3/20/2009 9:30 AM, Blogger ExtremeHobo said...

I hope it was the shareholders, since they own the company.

ZING!

Haha, remember these people know absolutely nothing about business except what theyve been spoon-fed their whole lives by MTV. They dont realize that profit doesnt just go to some money room somewhere. This money is reinvested into the company to create additional growth and jobs for others.

 
At 3/20/2009 9:39 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I'm from a town where unemployment is up 10 percent.I have been with wal-mart for 17 years and sure I have bad days and I do alot of wal-mart bashing but, I am thankful for my job. I am happy for our 200.00 bonus. Our store manager could use some people skills training and the asst. could try to remember where they started and how they felt when they where the pee-ons. Lets just remember that good stores like mine would not be if it wasn't for the associats that come face to face with the customers everyday. The company has taken a down hill slide in the past5 years when it comes to the treatment of its employees but if you need a job to raise your family you have to keep quiet. Go to work and put your time in and go home to your family.

 
At 3/20/2009 12:18 PM, Blogger QT said...

Anon. 9:39,

That sounds like very good advice which seems to apply generally to most working experiences.

How many people enjoy every working moment or look forward to their next encounter with an irate customer? Isn't it fair to say that one makes the best of a job and accepts that there are some tasks that will have to be done which one may not always enjoy?

 
At 3/20/2009 3:43 PM, Blogger juandos said...

"Practicality only reflects on the external choices available to the person, not your attempt at a cheap shot"...

Hardly the cheap shot sethstorm since its YOU make it out that people don't have choices they can make...

"As a Walmart employee, my BIG BIG bonus was less than $300.00"...

Oh gee! That's just horrible! You ought to quit...

 
At 3/20/2009 5:10 PM, Blogger mb said...

My wife received $26 bonus at the Lexington, NC Walmart store and so did most of the others if not all. As she appreciates any bonus this is just outrageous. The news stations have been reporting grand stories of 2 billion and of that 934 million in direct bonuses averaging $666 per domestic worker. leading the public to believe that walmart takes care of their employees and is a good corp. citizen, just crap! We contacted the local news station and the national news stations to report these essential details. We recommend each of you do the same so we can shine light on this rather shady situation.

 
At 3/20/2009 5:34 PM, Blogger mb said...

My wife received $26 bonus at the Lexington, NC Walmart store and so did most of the others if not all. As she appreciates any bonus this is just outrageous. The news stations have been reporting grand stories of 2 billion and of that 934 million in direct bonuses averaging $666 per domestic worker. leading the public to believe that walmart takes care of their employees and is a good corp. citizen, just crap! We contacted the local news station and the national news stations to report these essential details. We recommend each of you do the same so we can shine light on this rather shady situation.

 
At 3/21/2009 11:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Haha, remember these people know absolutely nothing about business except what theyve been spoon-fed their whole lives by MTV. They dont realize that profit doesnt just go to some money room somewhere. This money is reinvested into the company to create additional growth and jobs for others.

The Shareholers got their dividend and any stock appreciation.
The $2 Billion is after the shareholders and capital investment.

 
At 3/21/2009 10:36 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

each store gives different bonus amounts.depends on the profits.I just got a check for 69.00. Pretty sad huh? I heard our store manager received a bonus check for 67,000.00 maybe he should give that money to his employees at his Walmart.I'm guessing that is not going to happen!!!

 
At 3/23/2009 2:05 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The Walmart I work for is the top store in our district. From all I have heard and seen, our store DOUBLED its sales for the 2008 Christmas season compared to the previous 2007 Christmas season. (Our managers were so excited about this that they were showing the sales reports during meetings.) Our bonus for this fantastic season was under fifteen dollars ($15). Funny thing is, last year's bonus at this time (for a season that earned half as much) was between $300 and $400! Hmmm....makes you think....doesn't it.

 
At 3/23/2009 2:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

For all of you that dont understand the bonus system it is based on 3 parts of financials. Based on projections that was created by the store manager, the actual sales to projection and the profit to projection is what determines the bonus. If a store fails miserably at one aspect of the projection it drops the bonus.

 
At 3/23/2009 2:24 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Those of you that don't shop Walmart... more power to you. Me.. I would rather save a little money on some thing at Walmart on the same item that I would buy at any other store in this country. Matching Walmart to China is a pretty stupid comment since Walmart is one of the biggest companies to put pressure on them for what has been happening over ther.

 
At 3/23/2009 1:29 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i will believe it when i see it. i work for walmart and i haven't seen or heard anything about that. not even my MGRS so we see

 
At 3/23/2009 3:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

when a customer rams a buggy into a car it comes out of the bonus? when a wheelchair person that cant funtion properly rams another person it comes out of the bonus? when a thief steals past the wheelchair door person it comes out of bonus? when freight comes in broken and damaged it comes out of bonus? when they hire a person who is accident prone it comes out of bonus? when customers bring in old products without receits it comes out of bonus? on and on we are ripped off while doing a great job. by the way we got no bonus but had great sales?

 
At 3/24/2009 6:13 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Some of the things you mention do come out of the bottom line and your right it does impact the bonus. One thing you have to remember that most of the things you mention above have certain dollar amounts that are alloted for. As far as sales in your store is just 1 of 3 things that have to pass to get a bonus.

 
At 3/24/2009 6:20 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

You all can slam Walmart all you want it makes no difference. But how many companies have you worked for in the past that even tried to give out bonuses. I have worked for several other before Walmart and the only thing I would get from them is a turkey or a small gift certificate for Xmas. If you are so unhappy where you work leave it and quit complaining. Have fun finding another job.

 
At 3/25/2009 3:48 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

hahaha! thanks for $13.91 dollarsssss bonus.

 
At 3/25/2009 3:55 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

i guess only managers get the big bonus huh?!! oh yeah specially the store manager.

 
At 3/25/2009 9:09 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

The bonus (not received yet) is the money made from the checks of the employees whose hours were cut to 30 and sometimes 20 during Jan and Feb 2009 in my store. Is that a bonus? We are blessed to have 2 incomes. What did the one income families do with short paychecks after Christmas?

wal-mart wife

 
At 3/25/2009 4:33 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

I work at wal mart in elkin north carolina and we got zip,null.nada, not one penny. We work as hard as any other store its not fair

 
At 3/25/2009 7:03 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

we never get a bonus check big fat fat zero no matter what they find a way to give us nothing

 
At 3/27/2009 6:06 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Well, I work for one of the role model stores in my region and I am very happy with the 50 dollar bonus. Hey its $50 I didn't have and if anyone is not happy with their job at Walmart they should go else where. My store strives for exellence whether we achieve it or not. I am not happy some days, but the overall outcome is beautiful knowing that I contributed to the success of my store.

 
At 4/26/2009 11:21 PM, Blogger The Old Man said...

Quite unbelievable. Actually, there are 4 items that need to be met to obtain the "Myshare" bonus. Sales, Inventory Turns, and Customer experience are 3 of the four!

I was wondering how many hours a week average you "Zeros" got. You MUST get at least 10 hours a week to get anything.

As for this person that claims that Walmart Supers literally hold a gun to your head is completely bogus. They DO have rules, including things regarding dress-code, jewelry, and absenteeism.

Sure, I've been written up for things I believe are unfair. I've worked my way past 2 of them. The third was also unfair because I was having transportation problems.
What am I supposed to do, walk 30 miles to work?

Generally, most of the supervisors are good eggs, and understand the situations. A few don't try to understand, or don't care. That's typical of ANY company.

What's your proof of "Thugs-in-a-private-jet," sethstorm? You've got none. Or if you do, you'd better bring it to the court system.

::sigh:: Sethstorm sounds a bit like Karl Marx. I guess losers always sound that way.

 

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