From what I see that’s the whole brilliant strategy of our leadership to keep the numbers. If that’s not the writing on the wall and a signal for anyone that plans to stay at Sam’s, I don’t know what is. I once loved working at this company, but let's face it, there’s no future here.
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@1sgd... as a 29 year associate, you are spot on.
It took time to spell it out for many, but thank you for doing so.
I've been discussing the warning signs for a while now. It used to be that the home office would come up with some big process change or whatever, maybe once or twice a year or something like that and those changes were ALWAYS an effort to reduce personnel, so let's stop denying the truth. But the things they have put in place this year are massive. We can sit here and discuss how bad these decisions are and how poorly they work, and how they have negatively impacted the operations and member satisfaction/service at the majority of the locations, and even speculate how readily apparent it is that they don't care about their employees anymore. But now we have to deal with what these changes have done so far and we see how one could argue that they don't care about their customers either. Here's what the truth really is: They don't care about anyone but themselves and their stockholders. And when I say stockholders I'm not talking about employees who have a few hundred or even a thousand shares. They don't matter to these guys either. It's those who have huge stakes in the company. We're talking millions. Those are the people who really matter and have the clout to drive policy. If they don't get a return on their investment, they walk. If you or I walk.....no one will ever know the difference. What's any company's largest expense? Personnel. What does every company under the sun do when quarterly numbers don't meet or exceed their target? Scramble around and look for ways to increase sales and profit and often make cuts and those cuts usually include personnel. The problem with a company as vast as Walmart is that they can still look at the Sam's Club branch of their business and while it still shows a profit every quarter, if that figure misses whatever the expectation is, that's a red flag. So you can sit there and say, "Well they did X billion in revenues and Y billion in profit, so it's crazy for anyone to say they're going to start closing stores and even sillier to believe they'll ever consider abandoning the whole Sam's Club model entirely." No it isn't. If those sales and profit figures continue to drop and future speculations reveal that they believe the pattern will continue in spite of anything they try to do to stay afloat, they will start closing up shop. And you know who will pressure them to do so? Those huge stockholders. The ones who aren't employees.
It would also not be ridiculous to suggest an extreme theory that all this is intentional, that they are doing this with the full knowledge that it will cause a loss of membership and, ultimately, a loss of business, both of which are going to happen anyway because more people are staying home and shopping online and there are no steps they can take to prevent that. Not even free or drastically reduced membership, big savings when you shop in store, etc. That way, when it comes time to start another rash of store closings, they can further justify doing so. But the shift in the way people shop will continue and that is why I will continue to contend that in five years, there will be no more Sam's Club, other than maybe online. It may be six or even seven. The last stores to go will be those that operate in markets that are able to support them. But they will eventually fall, too.
I've been asked if this is something I'm looking forward to or if I'm hoping that I'm right because I hate this company so much. Honestly, no, I'm not looking forward to it happening because I know that it doesn't just - to me - signify the end of Sam's Club. It spells the end for a lot of chains we are all familiar with. I'm still one of those who prefers to physically shop for what I'm looking for, but even I have to admit to buying more and more online with each passing year. Admittedly, though, YES I do hate Walmart. I hate what I've seen Walmart do to people. I hate how Walmart has absolutely trashed the legacy of Sam Walton and I think it's a truly tasteless joke on their part to continue to even speak about him in any way because this company has nothing to do with the values he conveyed and practiced. If he were still alive he would have been raided, bought out, pushed aside, and no longer part of the company.....by the shareholders and someone like Carl Icahn. And then they would still be doing what they're doing right now.
I just realized that the commenter called themself "John Furner." Okay, I get it. Well played.
Wow, that lastest comment is a step-by-step instruction on lazy, diseased thinking. This last commenter is someone who didn't bother to take into account that there are brand new associates who came in making $11 and jumped up to $18 with no experience of company policy, operations or company culture behind them; these associates just happened to be in right place at the right time. This last commenter is now telling people that they are too lazy simply because they didn't have the luck of the draw to be in place for a "higher paid position." The freakin dumb a**ness of this comment. Yeah, blame everybody else for being lazy when you yourself can't even complete a valid thought-process.
Being lazy and stupid is just a disease on this site. Many employees just got a raise and a few more look to be in the works. Stop being a lazy loser and try for one of the higher paying positions.
This post is just one of many... People trying to show everyone the warning signs but nobody will listen.
None
So true