2008 Woodie Awards
ONE WAY OR ANOTHER: The Cost of Wal-Mart: Priceless
Lyndsay Phillips
Issue date: 12/14/05 Section: Opinion
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I grew up in a town that has revolved around the Wal-Mart Supercenter since it was built in 1995. Most of my friends worked there at some point, and my mom, who has extensive banking experience, still works in the tiny 'cash office' with a few co-workers and motion-sensitive cameras watching her every move.
She was there for the opening, and 10 years later, makes about the same $33,000 a year as I do editing a website, and I had no real experience before starting my job 7 months ago. That is not good news for Americans.
Granted, my industry is new and expected to be around for awhile, but there are only five employees in my department. The Wal-Mart work force is about 1.3 million and has infiltrated nearly ever corner of the country. As a reference, the federal government employs 1.9 million. The difference is that the majority of Wal-Mart employees earn wages below the poverty line.
Cashiers earn about $7.92 per hour and work an average of 29 hours per week. That's a total of $11,948 annually, about $1,000 below the poverty line for a family of one adult and one child, according to the Statistical Analysis of Gender Patterns in Wal-Mart's Workforce study conducted by Dr. Richard Drogin in 2003.
This creates families who can barely afford rent, food, clothing, education, etc. and are unable to stimulate other aspects of the economy, thus resulting in lower revenue across the board.
These families do not earn enough money to participate in local events like arts, entertainment and other stimulating activities. They cannot purchase homes or new cars or send their children to college. More money is spent by taxpayers to compensate free school lunches and government assistance like welfare and Medicaid not because the people are lazy or taking advantage of "the system," but because their employer pays unlivable wages.
This probably works out well for Wal-Mart though, because employees can take advantage of "rollbacks" before leaving work. Since they can't afford to shop elsewhere, much of their spending is done at the discount store that keeps them in this state of poverty.
She was there for the opening, and 10 years later, makes about the same $33,000 a year as I do editing a website, and I had no real experience before starting my job 7 months ago. That is not good news for Americans.
Granted, my industry is new and expected to be around for awhile, but there are only five employees in my department. The Wal-Mart work force is about 1.3 million and has infiltrated nearly ever corner of the country. As a reference, the federal government employs 1.9 million. The difference is that the majority of Wal-Mart employees earn wages below the poverty line.
Cashiers earn about $7.92 per hour and work an average of 29 hours per week. That's a total of $11,948 annually, about $1,000 below the poverty line for a family of one adult and one child, according to the Statistical Analysis of Gender Patterns in Wal-Mart's Workforce study conducted by Dr. Richard Drogin in 2003.
This creates families who can barely afford rent, food, clothing, education, etc. and are unable to stimulate other aspects of the economy, thus resulting in lower revenue across the board.
These families do not earn enough money to participate in local events like arts, entertainment and other stimulating activities. They cannot purchase homes or new cars or send their children to college. More money is spent by taxpayers to compensate free school lunches and government assistance like welfare and Medicaid not because the people are lazy or taking advantage of "the system," but because their employer pays unlivable wages.
This probably works out well for Wal-Mart though, because employees can take advantage of "rollbacks" before leaving work. Since they can't afford to shop elsewhere, much of their spending is done at the discount store that keeps them in this state of poverty.
