Showing posts with label profits. Show all posts
Showing posts with label profits. Show all posts

Monday, December 28, 2020

Corporations do not care about you!

It has been awhile since I have written anything.  Not that anyone is actually reading this blog but I do find some enjoyment in my little observations on the decline of humanity or is it a decline in our culture? How we blame everyone else, without believing in anyway we where part of the problem! That a corporation actually cares about "People".  Those people are its consumer or employees.

Walmart, the monster we have created! The greatest villainy we hear about Walmart is it moving into midsize towns across the US, causing the small family business to close. Then when there profit margins didn't match expected predictions they begin to close stores (Walmart Stores Closing) that supposedly caused so much damage in the first place.  The stores closing cause increased unemployment, dependency on government assistance and the collapse of these small communities.  Oh, and we cannot forget the continued automation in the Walmart Store's themselves.

The Alter to Automation!

If you actually observe your surrounding and I understand, you just want to get in and out. That when you are in a Walmart look around you should notice a few things.  First, there are fewer cash registers who are run by humans.  That 1:1 ratio that we are supposed to seek out in our lives.  You have the large area of the "20 items or less" on both sides of the store, to which I believe only maybe 25% actually have the proper number of items.  This area has one Walmart employee, for eight self check out stations.  These hard pressed individuals, frantically shuffle between agitated, and supposedly put upon customers.

The next area is what used to be the regular check out lanes that have been turned into self check out, which they keep half to three quarters closed.  The reason for this seems that they only have one cashier to monitor and assist the customers.  These Customers usually have so much stuff that they couldn't fool themselves to go the the "20 items or less" checkout.  This is where you get people cramming as close to the person in front of them, with the belief it will make them go faster.

The Horseman of Jobloss!

Also remember, Walmart like other corporations, don't care about there employees. Janitors, or there equivalent named are usually the lowest paid employees.  They also seem to be who Walmart is quickly eliminating to save you money. Self driving floor cleaning machines...

I can go on, I have found that I can ramble on and on, while saying the same and most obvious things for a very long time.  What I want to say in closing though, its our fault.  The town governments and many of the small communities welcomed Walmart in with open arm's.  Extolling how much Walmart was going to save there towns, going so far in some places to give them the land for free and tax assistance.  We don't have to shop at these soul crushing monstrosities, its that simple. Buy your groceries where you talk to a human being.  Self Checkout, is you paying for the service of you doing the companies work.

At the end of the day your decisions do matter!

Saturday, August 10, 2019

I Hate Self Checkout!

So, am I the only person mad at Wally World (aka Walmart) for adding more self check out isles.  Even, Sam's club has a dual program where you can self check out or you can download an app and scan your items to check out faster. 
Two, huge problems with this.  The first is that I am taking over the labor cost of a multibillion dollar company.  They sale this as expediting your time, so you don't have to wait in line at the check out.  Am I being paid for my labor, because last I checked I have to pay to use Sam's.  Also, there has not been a noticeable decrease in prices at both Walmart and Sam's to justify me doing there work for them. 
The second and truly the issue that I get really mad at, is that all of this self check out are taking jobs.  If you have ever had to the need to shop at either store, you will notice that it is not just young high school aged kids working there.  An observation in my limited bubble, there are probably an equal number, if not more older adults working in Walmart, with about a 70 30, toward younger at Sam's.
These are the folks being hurt by automation, these low skilled labor jobs.  I understand when people like to state how the system will self regulate and everyone should get ahead or get a good deal.  What actually happens is they cut hours, and make greater profit margins that rarely get passed onto the consumer.
At this moment I still believe in my country!

Sunday, July 15, 2018

What is happening and why don't we see it?

I saw this show called "The Year Million", well don't quote me on the name but if you wish to watch it you can find it on the Science Channel.  Two things happened, I had an epiphany and I became pretty disappointed in Western society.  Now I have been a big proponent of  western culture and capitalism.  So, at this point you should ask why Jesse (I am not a socialist)?
Lets look at the western culture and how deeply ingrained capitalism is in it, I mean this is what we've been told our entire lives but what if with the advancement of science and technology this should change.  What if in the quest for efficiency and managing the corporate bottom line, people really no longer matter.  Having employees is just to expensive.
I'm making a simple timeline of ideas and I'm leaving a lot out because this is a blog and not a book. So first the Ford industrialization and assembly line into American culture (aka Western Culture).  This had a huge effect on society but it also had a huge effect on individual craftsman.  You had individual craftsman who made things by hand, usually making high quality items.  The Fordilization (my own word) moved it to an assembly line, with items needing to be manufactured quickly so more machines needed to be created to make parts quicker. With more universal parts that are at and more efficiency in manufacturing you lower the costs. So at this point manufacturing changed from small individual shops to huge operations.

Then it moves to the beginning of the labor movement and how corporations and these factory owners began to watch there profit margins.  One of the biggest part of any companies budget can be employee salaries and benefits.  People are greedy, so if they can make more money they will do what they can to to cut overhead costs and increase the profit margin.  In itself is not a bad idea, they own the company and they should be able to make money.  Then if you look at the people you see that a company wouldn't want to allow labor to organize because as a group they could demand more, thus decreasing that bottom line.  There are two sides to this idea of Labor vs Corporations and I'm not really going to address this.
So, if Labor wins you have to find a way to bring your overhead down, because your hands are tied now with wages, benefits and other employee issues.  Well you focus then on better technology, you make it so it that you can manufacture things quicker and with fewer people, efficiency, efficiency and more efficiency.  Eventually, you can lower your employee numbers due to redundancy, you either have a machine to do it or the way you manufacturing has improved due to some technology.  You can pay those who are left more, making a few happy but overall your overhead goes down because you have fewer employees, especially over the long term with a decrease in benefits. As technology increases you need fewer and fewer people so this is a guaranteed way to cut overhead and increase your profit margin.
TO BE CONTINUED...

Corporations do not care about you!

It has been awhile since I have written anything.  Not that anyone is actually reading this blog but I do find some enjoyment in my little o...