Wal-Mart Gives Hourly Employees $2 Billion In Bonuses

[travelinman67]

Wal-Mart, who annually gives hourly employees throughout their chain bonuses based upon their stores performance, announced this year total bonuses paid was approx. $2,000,000,000 (billion).

Wal-Mart awarding $2B to U.S. hourly employees, report says

http://www.usatoday.com/money/industrie ... kers_N.htm

CHICAGO (Reuters) — Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) is awarding approximately $2 billion to its U.S. hourly employees through financial incentives, including handing out $933.6 million in bonuses Thursday, after the world's largest retailer gained market share amid a recession.
In a memo to Wal-Mart employees obtained by Reuters, Wal-Mart CEO Mike Duke said the retailer is awarding roughly $2 billion to U.S. hourly employees, which includes $933.6 million in bonuses, $788.8 million in profit sharing and 401(k) contributions, millions of dollars in merchandise discounts, and contributions to its employee stock purchase plan.

"While economic challenges forced others to step back, we moved forward," Duke stated in the memo.

As consumers seek to stretch limited budgets, they are increasingly heading to Wal-Mart's U.S. stores for discounts on everything from food to televisions. Wal-Mart is also aggressively touting its low prices to attract shoppers, and the retailer said Thursday that it is cutting prices on contact lenses and children's glasses.

The efforts are helping Wal-Mart gain market share while other U.S. retailers see sales fall as shoppers avoid splurging on nice-to-have items, like sweaters or jewelry.

For its fiscal year ending Jan. 31, 2009, Wal-Mart's total sales rose 7.2% to $401.24 billion. Sales at its U.S. stores open at least a year, or same-store sales, rose 3.3%, excluding fuel, in its recently completed fiscal year, up from a 1.4% gain in the previous fiscal year.

A year ago, Wal-Mart said it awarded almost $1.2 billion in financial incentives to its U.S. hourly employees, including more than $636.4 million in bonuses, which are based on store performance.

Wal-Mart shares declined 1% to $49.95 Thursday as the S&P 500 index fell 1.3%. Wal-Mart is down 11% this year, vs. a 13.2% loss for the S&P 500, a broad market index.

"Miss Braun, get Podesta and Pelosi on a conference call. Hurry! They've got to get the Forced Card Check bill signed no later that Friday. That bastard Duke has outwitted me again. I can't let that capitalist succeed."

[Ivytalk]

How much does that work out to, per hourly employee?

And will Obama go after those bonuses too, via a 90% tax?

[dbackjon]

Good for the $900 Million in bonuses. Curious how much per empolyee that comes too.


I really don't consider 401(k) matching a bonus.

[Pwns]

IIRC, Wal-Mart has around 1.5 million employees. I have no idea how many of those are not middle and upper management, but assuming all of them are that comes to $1333.33 per person. If you are making 20-23 thousand a year, it's a big deal. It would be a huge help for most of us as well.

[EDIT] Pardon me, but it's 2 million employees, which if we assumed every one of of them are hourly, blue-collar jobs, comes out to $1000 a person.

[travelinman67]

How much does that work out to, per hourly employee?

And will Obama go after those bonuses too, via a 90% tax?

My understanding was it kicked in if the employee's gross earnings exceeded $250k.

Since Wal-Mart didn't (need to) receive a bailout...enforcing a tax rule against their bonuses would probably be unenforceable...

[Ivytalk]

How much does that work out to, per hourly employee?

And will Obama go after those bonuses too, via a 90% tax?

My understanding was it kicked in if the employee's gross earnings exceeded $250k.

Since Wal-Mart didn't (need to) receive a bailout...enforcing a tax rule against their bonuses would probably be unenforceable...

I know that, t-man...I was just being facetious.

Everybody knows that BHO would never go after the little guy's bonus. Right?

[TwinTownBisonFan]

of course, instead of bonuses they could just pay their employees a living wage, provide them benefits, or treat them like people... but that would be too much i suppose... yeesh.

[Cap'n Cat]

of course, instead of bonuses they could just pay their employees a living wage, provide them benefits, or treat them like people... but that would be too much i suppose... yeesh.

Reppies.


One thing I run into virtually every trip to Wal-Mart is employees feigning work and bitching about their pay, their work schedule, their managers, and the company.

[travelinman67]

My understanding was it kicked in if the employee's gross earnings exceeded $250k.

Since Wal-Mart didn't (need to) receive a bailout...enforcing a tax rule against their bonuses would probably be unenforceable...

I know that, t-man...I was just being facetious.

Everybody knows that BHO would never go after the little guy's bonus. Right?

No need to with wealth redistribution.

[Cap'n Cat]

I know that, t-man...I was just being facetious.

Everybody knows that BHO would never go after the little guy's bonus. Right?

No need to with wealth redistribution.

Outline for us the unsavory points of wealth distribution, T, please. Serious, just want to know what you're thinking. In your own words, too.

[travelinman67]

No need to with wealth redistribution.

Outline for us the unsavory points of wealth distribution, T, please. Serious, just want to know what you're thinking. In your own words, too.

I have not worked my ass off for the past 35 years so that MY government can confiscate my assets to give to some lazy fv(ker who felt getting stoned during school was more important that getting an education, then fv(ked off in a low paying job so that they could continue a party lifestyle throughout their adulthood. My clients and I, do not get up at 4-5 in the morning and work until midnight, creating jobs in a productive endeavor, to have our revenues garnished by some power hungry, mentally ill liberal who believes all wealth should be distributed equally (excepting their friends and themselves).
I have no problem contributing to help folks who have handicaps either from birth or resulting from a tragedy during their life...however, the government via attorney welfare had created a disability system which allows folks with "mental" constraints that have developed through no fault of their employer, to seek a lifetime of government handouts, paid for with MY EARNINGS. And yes...I've met many of them...and have no respect for their chosen path in life.

If Obama wishes to socialize America, then he should have the courage to be honest about his intentions. He won't, however, because many of those who bought into his sales pitch are also hard working Americans who know the value of an honest day's work...and without their votes...we'd be reading about the successful economic recovery orchestrated by President McCain.

[Cap'n Cat]

Outline for us the unsavory points of wealth distribution, T, please. Serious, just want to know what you're thinking. In your own words, too.

I have not worked my ass off for the past 35 years so that MY government can confiscate my assets to give to some lazy fv(ker who felt getting stoned during school was more important that getting an education, then fv(ked off in a low paying job so that they could continue a party lifestyle throughout their adulthood. My clients and I, do not get up at 4-5 in the morning and work until midnight, creating jobs in a productive endeavor, to have our revenues garnished by some power hungry, mentally ill liberal who believes all wealth should be distributed equally (excepting their friends and themselves).
I have no problem contributing to help folks who have handicaps either from birth or resulting from a tragedy during their life...however, the government via attorney welfare had created a disability system which allows folks with "mental" constraints that have developed through no fault of their employer, to seek a lifetime of government handouts, paid for with MY EARNINGS. And yes...I've met many of them...and have no respect for their chosen path in life.

If Obama wishes to socialize America, then he should have the courage to be honest about his intentions. He won't, however, because many of those who bought into his sales pitch are also hard working Americans who know the value of an honest day's work...and without their votes...we'd be reading about the successful economic recovery orchestrated by President McCain.

T,
You failed right off the bat with your emotion, gross generalizations, wild assumptions and hate.

Now, go back, take a deep breath and be sensible. Try bullet form.

Tsk, tsk.

(And, do yourself a favor and read a book or two on welfare and poverty not written by a Reagan appointee. SMFH)

[Cleets Part 2]

Anybody actually stupid enough to be fooled by Wal-Mart is a hopeless case...
Wal-Marts motivations are the single most transparent of any colossus on earth (other than perhaps North korea)

Wal-mart's intentions are well documented and are easily observed (daily) and it requires only the smallest amount of insight and research to find all the information anybody would ever require to understand the issues regarding this company and it's tactics...

Right or wrong / Good or bad is not the point I am making... but cheerleading for Wal-mart is pretty silly

[slycat]

of course, instead of bonuses they could just pay their employees a living wage, provide them benefits, or treat them like people... but that would be too much i suppose... yeesh.

Reppies.


One thing I run into virtually every trip to Wal-Mart is employees feigning work and bitching about their pay, their work schedule, their managers, and the company.

I have a friends that works for Wal-Mart and those are his complaints. I asked him how much he got a for a bonus but he wouldn't say. He made it seem like it wasn't a lot. But then again he is a part time employee.

I have spent a penny at Wal-Mart since 2007.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

Reppies.


One thing I run into virtually every trip to Wal-Mart is employees feigning work and bitching about their pay, their work schedule, their managers, and the company.

I have a friends that works for Wal-Mart and those are his complaints. I asked him how much he got a for a bonus but he wouldn't say. He made it seem like it wasn't a lot. But then again he is a part time employee.

I have spent a penny at Wal-Mart since 2007.

I've never shopped there... but as a Minnesotan I'm technically honor-bound to shop at Target (headquartered here) but have a hard time with that after how they treated my parents who both gave a lot of years only be treated slightly better than wal-mart employees

[travelinman67]

I have not worked my ass off for the past 35 years so that MY government can confiscate my assets to give to some lazy fv(ker who felt getting stoned during school was more important that getting an education, then fv(ked off in a low paying job so that they could continue a party lifestyle throughout their adulthood. My clients and I, do not get up at 4-5 in the morning and work until midnight, creating jobs in a productive endeavor, to have our revenues garnished by some power hungry, mentally ill liberal who believes all wealth should be distributed equally (excepting their friends and themselves).
I have no problem contributing to help folks who have handicaps either from birth or resulting from a tragedy during their life...however, the government via attorney welfare had created a disability system which allows folks with "mental" constraints that have developed through no fault of their employer, to seek a lifetime of government handouts, paid for with MY EARNINGS. And yes...I've met many of them...and have no respect for their chosen path in life.

If Obama wishes to socialize America, then he should have the courage to be honest about his intentions. He won't, however, because many of those who bought into his sales pitch are also hard working Americans who know the value of an honest day's work...and without their votes...we'd be reading about the successful economic recovery orchestrated by President McCain.

T,
You failed right off the bat with your emotion, gross generalizations, wild assumptions and hate.

Now, go back, take a deep breath and be sensible. Try bullet form.

Tsk, tsk.

(And, do yourself a favor and read a book or two on welfare and poverty not written by a Reagan appointee. SMFH)

Eat my shorts. I'm expressing the voice of Americans, which "elitists" like yourself have stopped listening to.
Obama isn't playing Robin Hood, stealing from the rich to give to the poor...he's playing the ghetto thug stealing from the middle class to pay for vote buying schemes favoring the poor, while turning a blind eye to global wealth robbers like Soros and Peter Lewis who are funding his hate and wealth redistribution scheme.

re: wealth and poverty...

Cap...the social condition is timeless and best typified by cyclical feudalism. So long as voters allow elitist egomaniacs (Cheney, Pelosi, Reid, Feinstein, Schumer, Dodd, Boxer...) to set laws and policies...they'll continue to allow wholesale theft via middle class/small business taxation (or skewed tax code) and non-existent market oversight (aka credit policy designed to BURY the underclasses), this feudalism will continue.

Barking in defense of wealth redistribution is as short-sighted as defending the policies which allow fleecing of America's middle class and subsequent gutting of our nation's GDP.

[travelinman67]

Anybody actually stupid enough to be fooled by Wal-Mart is a hopeless case...
Wal-Marts motivations are the single most transparent of any colossus on earth (other than perhaps North korea)

Wal-mart's intentions are well documented and are easily observed (daily) and it requires only the smallest amount of insight and research to find all the information anybody would ever require to understand the issues regarding this company and it's tactics...

Right or wrong / Good or bad is not the point I am making... but cheerleading for Wal-mart is pretty silly

Oh great and wise Cleets...tell us, Oracle of Knowledge, what is Wal-Mart's motivation and please elaborate as to it's impropriety.

Seriously.

[Cleets Part 2]

Anybody actually stupid enough to be fooled by Wal-Mart is a hopeless case...
Wal-Marts motivations are the single most transparent of any colossus on earth (other than perhaps North korea)

Wal-mart's intentions are well documented and are easily observed (daily) and it requires only the smallest amount of insight and research to find all the information anybody would ever require to understand the issues regarding this company and it's tactics...

Right or wrong / Good or bad is not the point I am making... but cheerleading for Wal-mart is pretty silly

Oh great and wise Cleets...tell us, Oracle of Knowledge, what is Wal-Mart's motivation and please elaborate as to it's impropriety.

Seriously.

Are you really serious...
I was sure you were "just making fun"

For example:
The government subsidization of health care for Wal-Mart employees is actually just the beginning...
For decades now Wal-Mart has used the Federal Government as it's Employee Healthcare system, instead of creating even a moderately decent internal program... They charge the very few full-time employees that have access to their program an estimated 33% more than Target Sears Home Depot and virtually all other large scale low paying retailers - the remaining employees typically are forced go on federal programs

Wal-mart routinely uses taxpayer money to finance its never-ending corporate growth.
A report commissioned by the House Committee on Education and Welfare estimates that a two hundred person Wal-Mart store costs federal taxpayers approximately $420,750 a year, or $2,103 per employee. These costs include:

-$36,000 a year for free and reduced cost school lunches,
-$42,000 for Section 8 housing assistance,
-$125,000 for low-income family tax credits and deductions,
-$100,000 for additional Title I expenses,
-$108,000 for state children’s health insurance expenses, and
-$9,750 for low income energy assistance

State and local governments ALWAYS lose when Wal-Mart comes to town..!!!
A study commissioned by the Los Angeles City Council in 2003 found that Wal-Mart is a net loss for the communities it moves into. Wal-Mart was estimated to cost an additional $9 million in state health care costs and a loss in pensions and retirement benefits so large that the increase in public assistance necessary to make up the shortfall could not even be covered by increased sales and property taxes.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

when did thinking become elitist? when did that happen? when did it become "elitist" to insist that people be paid a living wage? when did it become "elitist" to be anything other than larry the fvcking cable guy?

as to Mall-Wart's intentions... puh-leeze. Same as their bullshit "community service" ads. "lookoverhere everyone!!! lookee all the good we's doin'! Pay no attention to the fact that we pay our employees so poorly they have to use your welfare system to get benefits!"

Fact is, the "common man" has seen his real wages decline since 2001... fact is, unless your definition of "middle class" means someone making more than $250,000/year... then the common man isn't being effected by Obama's proposed changes to tax rates (unless they are going down slightly, in some cases). The common man makes under 50k/year. Defending economic policies designed to benefit the top 5% is the precise definition of elitism. It appears you have things backward, T.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

Oh great and wise Cleets...tell us, Oracle of Knowledge, what is Wal-Mart's motivation and please elaborate as to it's impropriety.

Seriously.

Are you really serious...
I was sure you were "just making fun"

For example:
The government subsidization of health care for Wal-Mart employees is actually just the beginning...
For decades now Wal-Mart has used the Federal Government as it's Employee Healthcare system, instead of creating even a moderately decent internal program... They charge the very few full-time employees that have access to their program an estimated 33% more than Target Sears Home Depot and virtually all other large scale low paying retailers - the remaining employees typically are forced go on federal programs

Wal-mart routinely uses taxpayer money to finance its never-ending corporate growth.
A report commissioned by the House Committee on Education and Welfare estimates that a two hundred person Wal-Mart store costs federal taxpayers approximately $420,750 a year, or $2,103 per employee. These costs include:

-$36,000 a year for free and reduced cost school lunches,
-$42,000 for Section 8 housing assistance,
-$125,000 for low-income family tax credits and deductions,
-$100,000 for additional Title I expenses,
-$108,000 for state children’s health insurance expenses, and
-$9,750 for low income energy assistance

State and local governments ALWAYS lose when Wal-Mart comes to town..!!!
A study commissioned by the Los Angeles City Council in 2003 found that Wal-Mart is a net loss for the communities it moves into. Wal-Mart was estimated to cost an additional $9 million in state health care costs and a loss in pensions and retirement benefits so large that the increase in public assistance necessary to make up the shortfall could not even be covered by increased sales and property taxes.

I'm TTBF, and I approve of Cleets message

[Purple For Life]

I'm excited for the Target in CF to open up, so I never have to give WM my money again.

[Cap'n Cat]

T,
Your hate-filled diatribes deter readers and compromise your (still substantial) credibility.

[Gil Dobie]

T,
Your hate-filled diatribes deter readers and compromise your (still substantial) credibility.

[TwinTownBisonFan]

I'm excited for the Target in CF to open up, so I never have to give WM my money again.

Take it from me... they are only nominally better in terms of their evilness... their motto seems to be "just slightly less vile than wal-mart"

[Cleets Part 2]

I'm excited for the Target in CF to open up, so I never have to give WM my money again.

Take it from me... they are only nominally better in terms of their evilness... their motto seems to be "just slightly less vile than wal-mart"

Yes,
but the last time Target was "examined"
They had a much higher percentage of FULL-Time employees (almost 50% full time to part time ratio) and they had a high rated healthcare plan which was considered a good value by the employee base
Target also had a lower percentage of chinese made goods and had a higher pay rate per employee