Also, an NYT article shows how more visionary companies like CostCo are (with any luck) shifting the Wal-Mart paradigm and leading the way to low prices at no cost to their workers.
Good wages and benefits are why Costco has extremely low rates of turnover and theft by employees, he said. And Costco's customers, who are more affluent than other warehouse store shoppers, stay loyal because they like that low prices do not come at the workers' expense. "This is not altruistic," he said. "This is good business."It has to draw more than just the affluent though--they're clearly not among the consumers who have no choice but to shop at places that exacerbate class and economic stratification. The CostCo model has to become industry wide and affordable for all sectors of the labor market before victims of Walmartization can see results.
Wal-Mart has warped Ford's original business ideals. At the inception of the assembly line, products were priced and workers wages were set so that employees could purchase what they made. Those that work at Wal-Mart have no choice but to shop where they work, buying the lowest quality products and locking themselves into perpetual poverty. It's the far more insidious corporate reincarnation of the truck system.
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