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A day in the life of a Walmart manager

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Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#241

Post by breck »

michaelt wrote: post #113
breck wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> more than a lot of us software developers. A big question I've tried to answer in my life is whether the high pay in the software world has an intelligent economic explanation, or maybe a more sinister explanation involving false models encoded in the law.

A delivery driver who makes 30 deliveries per hour, with senders who pay the business $2 per parcel, is bringing in $60/hour of revenue. That revenue gets split with other workers who collected and sorted the parcels, the fuel bill and van insurance, and the investors who own the parcel-sorting machines and vans. A software developer that saves $0.001 per delivery across 5,000 delivery drivers who make 30 deliveries…

Diamond is 300x harder than gold. So it goes with ideas.

The question isn't whether diamonds exist, it is whether laws artificially restrict the supply of diamonds?

If, in your example, these $0.001 savings opportunities were quickly mined, would there remain such high pay for software developers?

What if the pricing power comes not as much from the work being done, but from laws that restrict supply?

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#242

Post by yndoendo »

mitthrowaway2 wrote: post #198
yndoendo wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

User experience and observing how they interact with the end product of software development is the true version of walking the aisles. What to find improvements, just be the person that trains and teaches the administrator, the general user, the maintainers, and the installers. For example, I documented how to load an OS image for assembly. Watched them use the guide and saw they flipped through the document. Afterw…

That's looking at the car and driver, not the factory. That's important too! But the gemba walk is about seeing the factory floor where the car is made. If your cars are shipping late and there's lots of defects, you have to look at the factory to find out why.

For example is talking about the assembly line. Assembly workers are your users too. Having an application packaged as as an installer versus a ZIP reduces knowledge and work on both by the assembly user and the maintenance user. In automation, Assembly works still have to engage with the software and make configuration changes, from factory settings to job settings. There really is not a black and white, just a gray area when it comes to assembly and end user.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#243

Post by icedchai »

TimPC wrote: post #76
icedchai wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This would be like asking the average corporate "software development manager" to actually look at the code/product developed by his reports. Except for early stage startups where the person is truly in a player/coach role, it rarely happens.

I'm at a director level and I routinely look at code and even more frequently look at product in a late stage start-up.

That's great! In many companies, that doesn't happen though. Regardless of size or stage, it may not be part of the culture.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#244

Post by kotaKat »

mvkel wrote: post #67

Credit to Walmart for creating an environment where a person can still love their job after years of service. That stuff can't be faked, even with a high salary. Before you say, "it's easy to say when you're getting paid $240K a year." Nah. A person needs challenge; a purpose. Lots of FANG ICs making $500K+ who hate their job. Why? No challenge or palpable purpose. To create a scaled corp structure where a person can…

The other interesting effect I notice is that in rural communities especially, you find a lot more long-term employees that have just stayed because it was the solidest employer of the time.

Between jobs and before I launched into my current IT position I had a small stint at my local Walmart just to make ends meet -- MANY of the staff had 5, 10, 15, and even 20+ year service badges. Many of those 20+ year employees were there as the concrete was being poured and have been here since that store first opened in the community.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#245

Post by alsetmusic »

> She passes a prominent display of Lume Whole Body Deodorant, a new product for the store priced at $14.97. > > “It’s interesting, but it’s too pricey for my customer,” says Hart. It isn’t selling that quickly.

The whole thing reads as a horrible dystopia.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#246

Post by dewey »

KennyBlanken wrote: post #221
listenallyall wrote: post #17

Quite a difference from all of those "my day as a employee" TikTok videos, such as https://www.tiktok.com/@iamitzelromero/video/717157277625860... https://www.tiktok.com/@miss_alexabel/video/7068404845325143... https://www.tiktok.com/@suppgorjess/video/708395834045538641...

Do any of these social media department idiots actually do any work?

You can only put so much "person staring at screen" clips into a 15 second short video.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#247

Post by bee_rider »

throwaway2037 wrote: post #232
bee_rider wrote: post #218

Earlier quoted context omitted.

B

Thank you to clarify. Then why did you write "just"? In one reading, this is slightly dismissive. In retail spaces, cleanliness and tidiness is very important for the shopping experience.

I disagree that it matters beyond sanitation, although I admit that’s a matter of preference. In any case, it isn’t life-or-death, environmental catastrophe level stuff.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#248

Post by mvkel »

deathanatos wrote: post #230
mvkel wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are more than a few studies behind it. Is that "scientific"? Remember that viral story about the guy who made the min salary in his company $70K? What did he base that number on, do you think? Separately, if someone said that your take is "complete anti-scientific hogwash only poor people would repeat," would you think their opinion valid?

… maybe cite them? While I could see a study that says being vastly wealthy doesn't lead to happiness, the kinda wealth gap being discussed here is "cannot easily afford a home" ($70k/y; max $1.7k/mo affordable) and "can trivially afford a home" ($500k/y–$700k/y; max $17.5k/mo affordable). (For reference, homes in my area are currently ~$4.8k/mo.)

If happiness = owning a home, certainly.

Here is the study by the late great Kahneman:

Kahneman, D. & Deaton, A. (2010). High income improves evaluation of life but not emotional well-being. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1011492107

And a 2021 follow-up that addresses criticisms of the original (TLDR: if you were already happy, you get more happy > 75K. If you were unhappy, you don't get more happy > 75K.)

Killingsworth, Kahneman, M.A. (2021). Experienced well-being rises with income, even above $75,000 per year. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2016976118

And the HN thread when the study first dropped: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1381927

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#249

Post by BenjiWiebe »

newsclues wrote: post #114
damidekronik wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would honestly love to know more. What activities which are not common for a store did he bring from the navy?

His style of leadership was what a good captain should be. Kind, caring, patient with everyone but also personally set and expected a higher standard. Mistakes were opportunities to learn, and you never felt belittled. He was the kind of person that was the first to show up and the last to leave and knew every part of the business as if he had done it, and was busy but always had time for people and knew there names.…

Thinking back to one manager I had that everyone loved for similar reasons, and I remember now that he had a military background. I never thought then that it might be connected.

Re: A day in the life of a Walmart manager

#250

Post by icedchai »

BLanen wrote: post #164
_ah wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You don't seem to realize that a poor person who is unhappy is in a better position than a rich person who is unhappy. Because the poor person has hope. He thinks money would help." -Jean Kerr

Complete anti-scientific hogwash only rich people would repeat, again.

There are plenty of studies showing a diminishing return in happiness / general satisfaction after a certain income threshold. You can look themselves up yourself.
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