201–210 of 398 posts
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> You don't think you're jumping the gun here, maybe? Do you even know what the compensation will be? Walmart is known for high wages.
Before graduating college, the most money I made was working for Walmart at a distribution center. I made $19.20 an hour which was pretty good considering minimum wage was just over $5.
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Sure, but that only makes sense if there's a reason to anticipate unusual problems. Like, if Walmart was offering employees extra money to dispose of toxic waste or collect debts from delinquent customers or something, I'd see a huge potential for abuse and wouldn't consider it to be at all a good idea. Those things need special training and the potential for problems is high. But this is package delivery. It's a rel…
Because this is "off-the-clock, off-site" work. It has the potential to be extended in a way that it much harder to quantify and regulate. My, and many others', biggest concern is that the workers at Wall-Mart often need their job for subsistence; it's often not a job that they feel they can say "no" to. So if this gets extended from "Do this only if you want to make some side money," to "Doing this greatly influence…
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>Instead of paying their employees a living wage Are you operating on old assumptions? The average hourly wage is $13.38 for full-time workers and $10.58 per hour for part-timers [1]. While that might not get you far in the bay area (which doesn't have many Walmarts FWIW), its a pretty good wage for unskilled labor in much of the interior country (which is prime Walmart territory)... 1: http://money.cnn.com/2016/01/2…
The Bay Area doesn't have Walmarts? Mountain View, Santa Clara, 4 in San Jose, Milpitas, Fremont, and that's just in the South Bay.
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You're both assuming that this must necessarily be exploitative. It might actually be a good program for Walmart workers.
And your assumption that employee is even allowed a cost/benefit option is based on... ? All of this hypothetical except for the fact that Wal-Mart is known for a) ruthless schedule management like keeping workers locked in warehouses b) a known price-cutter both on vendors and employees to the point their employees often qualify for state aid for under-employed / under-paid (i.e., welfare benefits). Given that, it'd…
I'm not assuming anything, I'm giving Walmart the benefit of the doubt. As you said, "we'll see", no need to shit on them providing their employees with an additional revenue stream before the program is even implemented.
I think my biggest complaint is that someone making minimum wager or near minimum wage will value money above their time, so many will take this opportunity. Most will take up any reasonable opportunity to earn a few extra dollars. However, this takes away from time that could be spent with family or used to better their skills. The working poor are in a tough position and this program takes advantage of that.
> Workers can opt in to earn extra money by making deliveries using their own cars. They’re assigned packages based on where they live so the route aligns with their commute home The headline makes it sound coercive but that actually sounds like an efficient use of time and energy (less big trucks on the road, less miles driven, more money for people who want it). I wouldn't mind dropping a few things off on my way h…
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You think the average HN employee works shifts at Wal-mart? No, it's people here cheering other's exploitation (in the name of the mythical "freedom").
You're both assuming that this must necessarily be exploitative. It might actually be a good program for Walmart workers.
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Can anyone actually live on $40 a day?
Certainly in a place like Boise, ID. That's $800/month, $704 after tax. Rent with roommates will run around $300/month. Food is $150/month ($5/day). That leaves $250/month for misc expenditures. It would absolutely be tight, but people can and do live on that much.
Maybe this is just me, but I wouldn't want some random person that lives near me to know what I'm ordering from Walmart and have them hand deliver it to me.
As a professional delivery worker and an employee of the everyone-hates retailer i have this view: This is an experiment. Only. Lore has said that 75% of delivery cost is labor related. Wal-Mart is insane about not working off the clock. They won't force associates to do this. From the delivery aspect: When we get a new delivery person they suck for months. There are so many variables that make failure probable: unma…
This is huge. I know I wouldn't trust some random Walmart worker like I would a USPS/fedex worker. And I don't even trust them very much. I've had them break enough packages to be wary.