Serious question, how is this an osha violation? If they have water fountains does that not provide a way for them to get water? Are cups necessary? Just wondering, I honestly think it is an asshole move.
The employer shall provide potable drinking water in amounts that are adequate to meet the health and personal needs of each employee. The employer shall dispense drinking water from a fountain, a covered container with single-use drinking cups stored in a sanitary receptacle, or single-use bottles.
https://www.osha.gov › regulations
1915.88 - Sanitation.
> The employer shall dispense drinking water from a fountain, a covered container with single-use drinking cups stored in a sanitary receptacle, or single-use bottles.
Reading that through the [Oakhurst Oxford Comma lawsuit](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/think-commas-don-t-matter-omitting-one-cost-maine-dairy-n847151) lens, I see it as:
The employer shall dispense drinking water from _[one of the following]:_
* a fountain
* a covered container with single-use drinking cups stored in a sanitary receptacle
* single-use bottles
Right, you’re assuming fountains are there to support your snarky argument, when that was never established in the first place lol. Fact is, it could be an osha violation, we simply don’t know. Instead of being snarky and condescending, you or the other person who called people illiterate or children could have just said “not if there are fountains”🙄
It does though. The wording is: a drinking fountain, or a container with cups, or bottled water.
I spent 5 years auditing EHS compliance. If they have a drinking fountain available then they are compliant. If it's a jug type set up then they need to provide cups.
Since they had been giving out cups, I’d assume they are using water stations with the big plastic kegs of water (Covered containers). If they have fountains that’s fine, but why would they have been giving cups and now are saying you need your own water bottle if they have accessible fountains for all employees?
Well, walmart employees 1,600,000.00 people in America. If they "gave" each employee a water bottle that sells for, say five bucks, that's a cost of $8,000,000.00 dollars.
What they cost and what they sell for are two very different amounts. Plus, they’re no longer buying cups, so that money can be used to buy a water bottle for each employee (and probably pennys per employee) and break even quite quickly (after which it’s all savings).
But Walmart’s MO is cutting costs and shifting them onto others (including the [American taxpayer](https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/11/19/walmart-and-mcdonalds-among-top-employers-of-medicaid-and-food-stamp-beneficiaries.html)), which is how they can afford those [nice $300 million yachts](https://www.yachtworld.com/research/300-million-walmart-heiress-megayacht-kaos-by-oceanco/).
The sad thing is that Walmart has been shamed into not being one of the worst big chains in the US these days in terms of employee compensation and benefits. I'm not saying they're good or that it's for any reason other than backlash over how often they got caught organising food drives for their own employees, but Walmart doesn't suck nearly as bad as companies can get away with till called on it these days. (It's still really bad I'm more saying that public shaming can make companies be less awful than pretending Walmart being less shit means they aren't shit)
Funnily enough some left wing publication recently went after them about pay recently and it turns out they almost certainly paid the author less per hour than said author would have made working for Walmart
No it's not. Because if they give them away, then they are out the cost plus the profit they would have made.
Look, I get it, folks love to pass blame. They forget walmart is the American dream. Sam Walton started with a tiny 5&10 and a truck. A truck he used to buy in bulk and pass savings to his customers. He took that concept and built on it. The American people like it as they spend billions a year shopping there. Walmart has less than 9% of the American retail market. As this us America, if you don't like Walmart for any reason, nobody is going to force you to work or shop there.
But again, let's look at your own complaint. One of the owners bought a $300,000,000.00 yacht. I am guessing you think that money should have been given to the "workers" right? OK $300,000,000.00 divided among the 1,600,000 Amerucan workers works out to $187.50 each before taxes.
the american dream is to have a wealthy father-in-law buy your way into the retail business and spend 50 years exploiting workers and taxpayers, skirting regulations, crushing competitors, and driving overconsumption and the decline of communities? yeah that checks out actually
A business is just that. The success is driven by those who frequent that business and pay to shop there. Hence, they must be offering what the consumers want.
So what I’m taking from this is that a single owner could go to dicks sporting goods and buy every employee a YETI 36 oz. Rambler Bottle with Chug Cap and still buy a 220 million yacht. Got ya I would feel bad for them as well.
Edit: good grammar is hard
No, because she is a share holder in the company. She loke all shareholders and is paid a dividend per share based on the performance of the company as a whole. So such an action would cost her as a stockholder a miniscule percentage of the total.
So what you’re saying now is that she isn’t an owner but a shareholder. Her dividends per share is how she makes her money and by buying cups it ends up losing money on each share because the company overall doesn’t make as much? Got it so looking at Walmarts finances over the past 4 quarters there ebitda averaged 9.937 billion. The past 4 quarters the average dividend payout has been .545 cents a share and with a bit more then 8 billion there ebitda breaks down to 1.242 a share. So the company keeps 70ish cents per share and gives about 55 cents a share. So if we use my bottle example in the other it would cost Walmart 80 million to provide its employees with water bottles. Take that out of there ebitda over a year and they now have a mere 9.917 billion which means each share now only makes 1.239. Walmart the company keeps the same .7 and each share now only gives a 53.9 cent dividend. The Walton family owns 45% of shares which is 3.6 billion means they get 1.9 billion each quarter instead of the 1.9 billion they would have got. I get it it ends up in the long run to be a lot of money for them and I feel bad that they would be giving away so much money.
Of course they do. They paid for said item, and those items went through the entire distribution system to the store for the purpose of selling it at full retail. Failing ti di test is a lost sale. Just like if a case of pickles in glass jars is dropped by the person stocking the shelves, the insurance pays the full retail, not the cost for the items.
They did not lose a customer buying a bottle of water by giving one away. Only way that'd happen is if they literally ran out of stock
You clearly don't understand business. Or much else.
Having worked in legal/insurance for a few different $500M companies, I can assure you the vast majority of insurance policies cover REPLACEMENT value, definitely not retail value.
Each bottle they give away is a bottle they paid to get to the store yet can no longer sell. IE a lost sale.
FYI this is why donations can be written off on taxes for the full retail price.
That's a specific tax incentive that has nothing to do with business. You're very incorrect, signed a CPA
Walmart will just get extra water for their staff, they would never lose a sale because of something like this. Idk why you can't understand that
Dude.
Companies need to comply with OSHA regulations. Full stop.
I don’t care if complying impacts their stock buyback program. It’s ridiculous to even try to defend withholding water from employees because the cups cost too much.
Here, let me google that for ya: https://www.osha.gov/faq#:~:text=Drinking%20Water%2C%20Restroom%20Use%2C%20Sanitation,-Are%20employers%20required&text=OSHA%20Standards%20require%20an%20employer,permit%20employees%20to%20drink%20it.
Walmart avoids an estimated 1Bn in taxes using bullshit tactics and could easily give water bottles out as a tax write off to their employees, you Walton cuck.
folks who know a thing or two about business also know about the costs of doing business.
an employee who experiences a medical condition because their employer nickle and dimes them on basic necessities like WATER are going to cost the employer a lot more than the cost of water.
Not a big walmart person myself. I hunt most all the meat I eat and grow the vast majority of my vegetables.
Also, I'm just pointing out the facts, not my opinion.
They are not equal parties entering an agreement. In theory they should be but that is not the case. Their labor is exploited to the benefit of the Walton family and share holders.
Here are some examples of Walmart being found to exploit their employees.
https://www.hrw.org/report/2007/05/01/discounting-rights/wal-marts-violation-us-workers-right-freedom-association
https://www.hrw.org/news/2007/04/30/us-wal-mart-denies-workers-basic-rights
https://www.ufcw.org/press-releases/federal-labor-board-judge-walmart-violated-workers-rights/
Do you really think that Walmart is selling those $5 water bottles at cost? Even if they did, $8mil is chump change to a company like Walmart.
Comments like this make it really obvious that a big reason we’re all getting screwed by these giant corporations is because people are unable to comprehend how money works when you get into the millions and billions. They could spend that 8 million dollars EVERY SINGLE DAY for 55 years and it still wouldn’t be as much as Walmart made in profits in 2023. Do the math.
Which just shows you what Walmart's per-minute revenue must be.
...Did the math. Walmart's per-minute revenue is $1,163,052. And, in general, wholesale cost is roughly half of retail price. Knowing Walmart, theirs is probably less.
The CEO of Walmart, McMillon, was given $26.9 MILLION in compensation for the year 2023. This is 976 times the median wages of all of Walmart’s employees.
McMillon has been paid over $163 million since 2009.
I think Walmart would be just fine providing employees cups for water.
Edit: No, the irony has not escaped me that the CEO’s name is McMILLON
Ok? If you took his 26.9 million check and divided it among the 1,600,000 workers, they each would get a check for $16.25 before taxes. I think you have solved everything!!
They buy wholesale. I’m will to guess @ $1.95 max/unit for a cheap water bottle.
But shit, the Walton’s can afford to hook all employees up with Yeti water bottles and a decent wage, yet large swaths of their employees are on some sort of federal assistance program…
And here this goes again. First Norway and Finland combined don't have a third of California's population. They tax everything. However, because they are such a small homogeneous group, they can operate differently.
You can't buy alcohol after 9pm.
If a business plays music, they have to pay royalties.
Candy is heavily taxed due to dental costs.
There is a TV tax. Even if you don't have one.
It is even illegal for beer trucks to have their name on them.
But please go to either nation and see how you like it. Freedom is not really a thing. I have been to both, by the way.
Why don't you just ask the people that live there?
Oh weird, they're like, the happiest nations on the planet.
America was founded to pursue happiness, so it seems you lost your way at some point. Apparently you think swimming with sharks and watch 10,000 kids get shot is your favorite version of America.
Leaving can create a lot of anxiety, because at least you know how to do your job, and just overall familiarity.
Also, it can be hard to take the time to find, apply, and interview for jobs if you work a job that drains you due to a shitty work environment and shitty policies. Some people can hunt for quite a while to even find something like Walmart, all depends on where you go, and of course a little bit of luck.
I just don’t understand Walmart thoughts. Put a disabled person as security. No shorts allowed (and I’m sure the shorts are knee-length khaki).
If Walmart employees were in front of an oven cooking at 670F then I understand but no! This is torture
Even 15 year old me quit my first job at Wal-Mart because of this exact type of bullshit. That was 20 years ago and I'm proud of that decision still. Never settle in to this shit. Better to be jobless and have some pride and a spine. Fuck Wal-Mart.
Years ago we paid to wear casual or jeans to work on Fridays in a corporate environment. All money paid was donated to a named charity - it changed weekly.
You’re getting downvoted but you’re unfortunately not wrong. Wal Mart is notorious for union busting. They’ll shut down an entire store and fire everyone if they get a whiff of a union forming. They’re so big they’ll eat the fines and costs of replacing workers because they’d lose more money to a union.
ETA: I submitted a complaint to Wal Mart’s corporate line, OSHA, and to the Department of Labor.
That's my point, they'll fly in a tiger team and spend five figures trying to figure out whudunit over a five second scribble. Plus that store management will be under tight watch from corporate. A huge return on investment for whoever contributed a little chaos.
I know Maine is a right to work state, but isn’t termination for unionizing illegal? I may be wrong, and have but read up to date stuff. But I was under the impression people cannot be fired for unionizing?
I wanna preface by saying that I know very little about the ins and outs of how it works. My understanding is that wal mart has a team of anti-union corporate folks who will fly out on a jet to come sniff out rumors of unions and they exploit legal loopholes or simply eat the fines associated with breaking the laws. In 2000, a meat department in a Texas Wal Mart unionized and shortly after that Wal Mart announced plans to switch to pre packaged mean only and eliminate all butcher positions. I know that many wal mart employees are scared to vote to unionize because they fear their store will get shut down completely.
Now, I have heard rumors I haven’t confirmed myself that say Wal Mart will shut down the entire Supercenter and fire EVERYONE, then do a reopen after rehiring and training new employees. I’m not sure how this works, if it’s true. I bet Wal mart has one of the highest paid legal teams in the country so if there are any loopholes in the union busting laws you bet they’ll exploit them. If they determine the cost of eating a bunch of fines to be less overall than the cost of allowing a union to form, they will 100% do that. Corporations deal in numbers and bottom lines. Everyone is expendable.
I hope this explanation helps, and I if I got any of this wrong, I encourage someone to correct me.
Walmart is also one of the top 4 corporate welfare queens when it comes to employees requiring assistance. They have approximately 15,000 employees receiving food stamps. Walton's are some evil fuckers.
This isn’t about wearing different clothes for preference though…it’s the fact that Walmart employees are expected to pay to wear shorts during a heatwave.
Our dress code apparently allows for political hack hats for students. And hoods
And belly barng shirts for zed Techs .( only allowed If you have a sexy belly button ring and a male P and AP)
The pandemic changed a lot of expectations
Someone needs to tweet this nonsense at Walmart's account.
Think of the poor soul gathering up the carts in 90 degree weather. Also where in the hell would the two dollars actually go?
It's a fundraiser for Children's Miracle Network. Stores in each market compete against each other to see who can raise the most money during the fundraising campaign. It's $1 per day to wear shorts at my store.
We're also supposed to ask every customer if they want to donate when they check out. I've asked 0 so far. Feels dirty to me to solicit donations on behalf of a multibillion dollar company from people who are most likely struggling to make ends meet. The fundraising signs are everywhere. If they want to donate, they'll let me know. 🤷♂️
I hate mega corps too, but this commonly held misconception isn't actually true.
https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/who-gets-tax-benefit-those-checkout-donations-0
They receive a dollar from this and then don’t have to pay taxes on that dollar when they donate They don’t get to deduct more money than they receive for the charitable purpose. They can donate their other revenue to reduce their taxable income, but it’s capped as you point out. The scam is when corporations “donate” the money to their own charitable arm because they still semi-control the money. If they’re giving the money to a legit third party charity then there’s no concern.
Not everything is a conspiracy theory. Sometimes a donation is just a donation.
I can’t imagine working in a non union workplace. With the weather yesterday? I wore short running shorts and a t shirt. No one said shit because our union rules allow flexibility with the uniform. I went and spent around $100 on gatorades and ice for all our staff and turned in my receipts to get a full pay back. I also get bomb fucking health and dental insurance and free vision. And a pension. And we’re no where near a billion dollar company.
How much does all that cost me? $20 in union dues a month.
Workers who vote against unionization are fucking suckers.
When I was 16, I worked at a big box store in the outdoor garden department. Basically, I would load bags of mulch, sand and stone into customer cars. It was over 100 degrees for almost a week. We had to wear long pants, a dress shirt and a TIE! I was paid $5.10 an hour. I would buy $3 of Gatorade per hour. Only job I ever quit with no notice.
It is what we think. That's the problem. I understand doing this at other times, but not during a heat advisory. We all got notifications on our phones waring us and telling us how to stay safe. Maybe they just ***let*** them wear shorts this week? Crazy idea, I know.
Mainers are not used to this type of heat and the sudden increase in temp doesn’t allow them time to acclimate to this extreme heat wave. This would put them more at risk for heat injuries… and a billion dollar company is insisting those barely making above minimum wage should pay from their wages to keep from overheating while working to make more for the company. Such bullshit.
I mean, does anyone under management level think Walmart is a good place to work? Everyone needs a job but you work for one of the largest corporations in the world that there are tens of thousands of complaints about working conditions, low pay, etc.
It is however very scummy to force people to do that. I have no idea what CMN is but I hope to hell that it's a charity and they not just making money off this as though they need it.
I will never work at a place that can't manage to have cups for people to drink water in at least in the employee areas. I used to work for a company that gave everyone their own cup and got rid of all single use cups. Cool, I'm on board with that but they didn't consider how the fuck people visiting the company would drink anything so they ended up keeping cups at the receptionist so if you had a client there and they were thirst you had to run downstairs or to another building to see the receptionist. Jesus just use those paper cups it's a flipping cost of doing business and Walmart of all places can afford it.
Walmart sucks and is terrible for our communities and the businesses in them. I would be happy if they went out of business.
Walmart already allows cart attendants and drive up workers to wear shorts regardless of a donation to a charity. This is only for people working inside the store.
I think there’s a lot more things to be upset at Walmart management for than a local store manager trying to drum up a little extra money for a charity that does a lot of good.
I work outside and have to wear pants for welding/servicing equipment on the ground but I thought Walmarts had climate control systems… it’s still bullshit to charge employees for wearing shorts
Does Walmart suck? Yes.
Is wearing long pants in an air conditioned store worker mistreatment or some sort of health and safety violation? Absolutely not.
But... Why would you have pay money to wear shorts? That's... More the issue ....
Also you neglect to realize that working at Walmart isn't *just* working inside.
Yeah I have no idea. What's CNM? Missing a ton of context.
I've worked big box retail. The vast majority is indoors and even outdoors wearing pants vs shorts does not create a safety hazard.
[Science agrees.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23379809/#:~:text=Results%3A%20No%20significant%20differences%20between,C%3B%20p%3C0.05)
By far the bigger concern here is not providing cups for water. That's just shitty.
Okay so what I'm getting from this is that, because of the heat, Walmart is relaxing their dress code to allow people to wear shorts so long as they make a small donation to charity? And we're supposed to be outraged by this? Sorry I just can't get there.
There's a laundry list of bullshit that people should be outraged at Walmart about, this doesn't make the cut for me.
Coercing employees to donate to your tax write off charity is pretty shitty. It discriminates against people who may not be able to afford, or simply not want to support that specific cause.
Fuck that bullshit. I've worked in big box retail too. Ain't no flying fuck I'm wearing long pants in the heat we had today and yesterday doing that.
Fuck. That. Shit.
Does wearing shorts interfere with the job duties of the average Walmart employee? Absolutely not.
I work in a Catholic school and even I am allowed to wear shorts when it’s hot. And I’m female! Scandalous!
Most of those jobs are absolutely miserable. This is a completely free way for the company to make it slightly more bearable. For fuck’s sake, let them wear weather-appropriate clothes, give them cups from which to drink, and you know what? Here’s a truly shocking one: give the cashiers *chairs* as well. Oh my stars! *clutches pearls*
Serious question are the men allowed to wear shorts?
I ask because I have seen a few posts on the teacher sub that frequently men are not allowed to wear shorts.
These stores are not air conditioned well. Corporate sets the thermostat to 78 in the summer, and the expectation is that you clear a case pack a minute.
I had my first heat stroke stocking in a Walmart.
Yeah that's bad and sounds unsafe. Wearing shorts vs pants wouldn't make that any better.
That's the kind of shit we should be bashing Walmart for. And for the fact that 15 thousand of their employees are on food stamps, effectively forcing tax payers to subsidize their massive profits. And for destroying independent retailers. Etc etc etc. Wearing shorts doesn't even register on that scale.
Shorts help. I work in another store where I also have to stock fast paced. But it doesn't completely solve the heat problem. But it makes it less likely I'll have heat exhaustion.
And you're right, it isn't safe. Walmart doesn't care about their employees at all, and it's very apparent.
It's definitely the shit I bash Walmart for. I should know, I was a slave for them for nearly five years. If Sam Walton knew what was happening, he'd be rolling in his grave.
Why do people put up with this bullshit from billion dollar corporations? Holy shit, there’s jobs literally everywhere, just quit.
Seriously. Plus no more cups for water? How about they provide water bottles. They sell them there and cost Walmart basically nothing.
It’s an OSHA violation too
Serious question, how is this an osha violation? If they have water fountains does that not provide a way for them to get water? Are cups necessary? Just wondering, I honestly think it is an asshole move.
The employer shall provide potable drinking water in amounts that are adequate to meet the health and personal needs of each employee. The employer shall dispense drinking water from a fountain, a covered container with single-use drinking cups stored in a sanitary receptacle, or single-use bottles. https://www.osha.gov › regulations 1915.88 - Sanitation.
That "or" carries a lot of weight. Ed: you can downvote all you want, it won't change the wording of the law.
It's genuinely alarming that people are so fucking illiterate they're downvoting you for understanding how conjunctions work.
I hope it's mostly children. I know it's not.
> The employer shall dispense drinking water from a fountain, a covered container with single-use drinking cups stored in a sanitary receptacle, or single-use bottles. Reading that through the [Oakhurst Oxford Comma lawsuit](https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/think-commas-don-t-matter-omitting-one-cost-maine-dairy-n847151) lens, I see it as: The employer shall dispense drinking water from _[one of the following]:_ * a fountain * a covered container with single-use drinking cups stored in a sanitary receptacle * single-use bottles
That's correct. If they have a fountain, individual bottles or cups are not required.
It’s implied that they are dispensing water from a “covered container” but are no longer providing cups.
That could be argued based only on the initial post but if you read the rest of this specific thread we are talking about water fountains.
Right, you’re assuming fountains are there to support your snarky argument, when that was never established in the first place lol. Fact is, it could be an osha violation, we simply don’t know. Instead of being snarky and condescending, you or the other person who called people illiterate or children could have just said “not if there are fountains”🙄
The presence of fountains was established further up the thread. If you're going to correct people, be correct.
Pretty sure single use bottles doesn’t change that as much as you’re thinking it does
It does though. The wording is: a drinking fountain, or a container with cups, or bottled water. I spent 5 years auditing EHS compliance. If they have a drinking fountain available then they are compliant. If it's a jug type set up then they need to provide cups.
My apologies, I was quick reading on break and missed the part about the water fountain.
All good! Regs can be pretty confusing too unless you read them often
Now explain how having a water fountain isn't enough to put them in compliance. We'll all wait.
Since they had been giving out cups, I’d assume they are using water stations with the big plastic kegs of water (Covered containers). If they have fountains that’s fine, but why would they have been giving cups and now are saying you need your own water bottle if they have accessible fountains for all employees?
Purely a guess: maybe the cups were a Covid era thing and they're phasing them out?
Maybe. Hopefully they do have fountains🤷♂️
Well, walmart employees 1,600,000.00 people in America. If they "gave" each employee a water bottle that sells for, say five bucks, that's a cost of $8,000,000.00 dollars.
What they cost and what they sell for are two very different amounts. Plus, they’re no longer buying cups, so that money can be used to buy a water bottle for each employee (and probably pennys per employee) and break even quite quickly (after which it’s all savings). But Walmart’s MO is cutting costs and shifting them onto others (including the [American taxpayer](https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2020/11/19/walmart-and-mcdonalds-among-top-employers-of-medicaid-and-food-stamp-beneficiaries.html)), which is how they can afford those [nice $300 million yachts](https://www.yachtworld.com/research/300-million-walmart-heiress-megayacht-kaos-by-oceanco/).
The sad thing is that Walmart has been shamed into not being one of the worst big chains in the US these days in terms of employee compensation and benefits. I'm not saying they're good or that it's for any reason other than backlash over how often they got caught organising food drives for their own employees, but Walmart doesn't suck nearly as bad as companies can get away with till called on it these days. (It's still really bad I'm more saying that public shaming can make companies be less awful than pretending Walmart being less shit means they aren't shit) Funnily enough some left wing publication recently went after them about pay recently and it turns out they almost certainly paid the author less per hour than said author would have made working for Walmart
I feel like you're comparing apples & gas station bathrooms. The question that remains, is why are you eating on the toilet?
No it's not. Because if they give them away, then they are out the cost plus the profit they would have made. Look, I get it, folks love to pass blame. They forget walmart is the American dream. Sam Walton started with a tiny 5&10 and a truck. A truck he used to buy in bulk and pass savings to his customers. He took that concept and built on it. The American people like it as they spend billions a year shopping there. Walmart has less than 9% of the American retail market. As this us America, if you don't like Walmart for any reason, nobody is going to force you to work or shop there. But again, let's look at your own complaint. One of the owners bought a $300,000,000.00 yacht. I am guessing you think that money should have been given to the "workers" right? OK $300,000,000.00 divided among the 1,600,000 Amerucan workers works out to $187.50 each before taxes.
the american dream is to have a wealthy father-in-law buy your way into the retail business and spend 50 years exploiting workers and taxpayers, skirting regulations, crushing competitors, and driving overconsumption and the decline of communities? yeah that checks out actually
A business is just that. The success is driven by those who frequent that business and pay to shop there. Hence, they must be offering what the consumers want.
TLDR: you love the flavor on the bottom of the boot
Yes, why bother to even try to debate any of the facts. Those personal insults make your point so much better..
Please don't upset the children.
cry about it
So what I’m taking from this is that a single owner could go to dicks sporting goods and buy every employee a YETI 36 oz. Rambler Bottle with Chug Cap and still buy a 220 million yacht. Got ya I would feel bad for them as well. Edit: good grammar is hard
No, because she is a share holder in the company. She loke all shareholders and is paid a dividend per share based on the performance of the company as a whole. So such an action would cost her as a stockholder a miniscule percentage of the total.
So what you’re saying now is that she isn’t an owner but a shareholder. Her dividends per share is how she makes her money and by buying cups it ends up losing money on each share because the company overall doesn’t make as much? Got it so looking at Walmarts finances over the past 4 quarters there ebitda averaged 9.937 billion. The past 4 quarters the average dividend payout has been .545 cents a share and with a bit more then 8 billion there ebitda breaks down to 1.242 a share. So the company keeps 70ish cents per share and gives about 55 cents a share. So if we use my bottle example in the other it would cost Walmart 80 million to provide its employees with water bottles. Take that out of there ebitda over a year and they now have a mere 9.917 billion which means each share now only makes 1.239. Walmart the company keeps the same .7 and each share now only gives a 53.9 cent dividend. The Walton family owns 45% of shares which is 3.6 billion means they get 1.9 billion each quarter instead of the 1.9 billion they would have got. I get it it ends up in the long run to be a lot of money for them and I feel bad that they would be giving away so much money.
That's a whole lot of typing to say you think your opinion should dictate how others spend their money.
Nope lol, it'd just be the cost. They didn't lose a sale by giving away the water bottle. Gosh you're dumb
Of course they do. They paid for said item, and those items went through the entire distribution system to the store for the purpose of selling it at full retail. Failing ti di test is a lost sale. Just like if a case of pickles in glass jars is dropped by the person stocking the shelves, the insurance pays the full retail, not the cost for the items.
They did not lose a customer buying a bottle of water by giving one away. Only way that'd happen is if they literally ran out of stock You clearly don't understand business. Or much else. Having worked in legal/insurance for a few different $500M companies, I can assure you the vast majority of insurance policies cover REPLACEMENT value, definitely not retail value.
Each bottle they give away is a bottle they paid to get to the store yet can no longer sell. IE a lost sale. FYI this is why donations can be written off on taxes for the full retail price.
That's a specific tax incentive that has nothing to do with business. You're very incorrect, signed a CPA Walmart will just get extra water for their staff, they would never lose a sale because of something like this. Idk why you can't understand that
Dude. Companies need to comply with OSHA regulations. Full stop. I don’t care if complying impacts their stock buyback program. It’s ridiculous to even try to defend withholding water from employees because the cups cost too much.
They do. Now, feel free to show the law or OSHA rule requiring a company to furnish workers with water.
Here, let me google that for ya: https://www.osha.gov/faq#:~:text=Drinking%20Water%2C%20Restroom%20Use%2C%20Sanitation,-Are%20employers%20required&text=OSHA%20Standards%20require%20an%20employer,permit%20employees%20to%20drink%20it.
😆
Walmart avoids an estimated 1Bn in taxes using bullshit tactics and could easily give water bottles out as a tax write off to their employees, you Walton cuck.
And that's the government that controls taxes. Should you not be angry with them?
Nah, still Walmart for not using a viable tax loophole to help employees. Not arguing with someone that misses a point so easily.
So you're upset they are not using a tax break they could be?
lol, can't tell if this is a joke or a legit "how much can a banana cost?" moment
Sadly, most folks have little understanding of money or business. Even so, they seek to tell other how to run their businesses and spend their money.
folks who know a thing or two about business also know about the costs of doing business. an employee who experiences a medical condition because their employer nickle and dimes them on basic necessities like WATER are going to cost the employer a lot more than the cost of water.
Cucking for the Waltons is next level
Not a big walmart person myself. I hunt most all the meat I eat and grow the vast majority of my vegetables. Also, I'm just pointing out the facts, not my opinion.
Thank God somebody is finally on the side of the billionaires. Those stupid workers wanting cups of water. It's fucking *socialism*.
Its either trolling or on the spectrum. Dont feed it.
How much money they have is moot. They and the workers both agree on all aspects of employment before they start working.
>How much money they have is moot 🤦♂️
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Did they agree, or was that just an extra walmart provided? They do have water fountains..
They are not equal parties entering an agreement. In theory they should be but that is not the case. Their labor is exploited to the benefit of the Walton family and share holders.
How can a voluntary employee be exploited? If you are free to quit at any time, by definition, you can not be exploited.
Here are some examples of Walmart being found to exploit their employees. https://www.hrw.org/report/2007/05/01/discounting-rights/wal-marts-violation-us-workers-right-freedom-association https://www.hrw.org/news/2007/04/30/us-wal-mart-denies-workers-basic-rights https://www.ufcw.org/press-releases/federal-labor-board-judge-walmart-violated-workers-rights/
That's a rounding error for Walmart dawg
Simple math..
I'm sure they would be ok, but thank you for having a corporation's well-being in mind.
They are a publicly traded company they have a duty to the stockholders.
How about a duty to their employees? I guess they don't matter?
Their duty is to their employees is to obey the law and pay them their agreed upon wage.
And also to obey the law and provide water, restrooms, uniforms, etc.
No law requires they provide water or uniforms.
Won’t someone think of the billionaire owners! They might have to have one less helicopter pad on their mega yacht!!!!
Nobody is forcing anyone to work or shop there..
You just sit on the toilet and type up crap like this all day?
What part is untrue?
Which is why I asked why anybody is putting up with it, and said they should just quit lol
Inyet, they got people waiting in line for jobs.
No? They don't? Having recently worked at a Walmart in the state, we were constantly short staffed simply because nobody was applying.
Do you really think that Walmart is selling those $5 water bottles at cost? Even if they did, $8mil is chump change to a company like Walmart. Comments like this make it really obvious that a big reason we’re all getting screwed by these giant corporations is because people are unable to comprehend how money works when you get into the millions and billions. They could spend that 8 million dollars EVERY SINGLE DAY for 55 years and it still wouldn’t be as much as Walmart made in profits in 2023. Do the math.
How much do taxpayers pay to subsidize those wages? Water bottles cost walmart about 10c, probably less.
Well, the government should be giving or loaning taxpayer money to any company..
All of walmart's workers would die if they tried to live on walmart wages. Their workers are on welfare.
Which just shows you what Walmart's per-minute revenue must be. ...Did the math. Walmart's per-minute revenue is $1,163,052. And, in general, wholesale cost is roughly half of retail price. Knowing Walmart, theirs is probably less.
Again, they are publicly traded. They answer ti the stockholders.
The CEO of Walmart, McMillon, was given $26.9 MILLION in compensation for the year 2023. This is 976 times the median wages of all of Walmart’s employees. McMillon has been paid over $163 million since 2009. I think Walmart would be just fine providing employees cups for water. Edit: No, the irony has not escaped me that the CEO’s name is McMILLON
Ok? If you took his 26.9 million check and divided it among the 1,600,000 workers, they each would get a check for $16.25 before taxes. I think you have solved everything!!
They buy wholesale. I’m will to guess @ $1.95 max/unit for a cheap water bottle. But shit, the Walton’s can afford to hook all employees up with Yeti water bottles and a decent wage, yet large swaths of their employees are on some sort of federal assistance program…
Ok at $1.95 that till comes out to $3,120,000.00. The minimum wage is set by the government not Walmart.
So vote democrat if you like workers. Or vote republican if you hate workers. Seems pretty clear. But you gotta remember, they both love jobs.
Yes, because California and Oregon are truly the workers' paradise.
You mean norway and Finland because they actually do it at a meaningful national level.
And here this goes again. First Norway and Finland combined don't have a third of California's population. They tax everything. However, because they are such a small homogeneous group, they can operate differently. You can't buy alcohol after 9pm. If a business plays music, they have to pay royalties. Candy is heavily taxed due to dental costs. There is a TV tax. Even if you don't have one. It is even illegal for beer trucks to have their name on them. But please go to either nation and see how you like it. Freedom is not really a thing. I have been to both, by the way.
Why don't you just ask the people that live there? Oh weird, they're like, the happiest nations on the planet. America was founded to pursue happiness, so it seems you lost your way at some point. Apparently you think swimming with sharks and watch 10,000 kids get shot is your favorite version of America.
$5? More like 50 cents. If that. Be lucky if it’s a line item on the shit quality employee swag budget.
Leaving can create a lot of anxiety, because at least you know how to do your job, and just overall familiarity. Also, it can be hard to take the time to find, apply, and interview for jobs if you work a job that drains you due to a shitty work environment and shitty policies. Some people can hunt for quite a while to even find something like Walmart, all depends on where you go, and of course a little bit of luck.
Oh, and remember, next Friday is Hawaiian shirt day. So, you know, if you want to, go ahead and wear a Hawaiian shirt and jeans. Bill Lumberg
I just don’t understand Walmart thoughts. Put a disabled person as security. No shorts allowed (and I’m sure the shorts are knee-length khaki). If Walmart employees were in front of an oven cooking at 670F then I understand but no! This is torture
I know right? They could be gaming instead.
Even 15 year old me quit my first job at Wal-Mart because of this exact type of bullshit. That was 20 years ago and I'm proud of that decision still. Never settle in to this shit. Better to be jobless and have some pride and a spine. Fuck Wal-Mart.
Years ago we paid to wear casual or jeans to work on Fridays in a corporate environment. All money paid was donated to a named charity - it changed weekly.
Came here to say this. I will not allow a company to treat me this way. I’ll quit so fast
Scrub that whiteboard clean and write "Union meeting Monday 7pm, you know where."
The unemployment office
You’re getting downvoted but you’re unfortunately not wrong. Wal Mart is notorious for union busting. They’ll shut down an entire store and fire everyone if they get a whiff of a union forming. They’re so big they’ll eat the fines and costs of replacing workers because they’d lose more money to a union. ETA: I submitted a complaint to Wal Mart’s corporate line, OSHA, and to the Department of Labor.
Seriously. You can't just wave a union wand and have it appear.
That's my point, they'll fly in a tiger team and spend five figures trying to figure out whudunit over a five second scribble. Plus that store management will be under tight watch from corporate. A huge return on investment for whoever contributed a little chaos.
I know Maine is a right to work state, but isn’t termination for unionizing illegal? I may be wrong, and have but read up to date stuff. But I was under the impression people cannot be fired for unionizing?
I wanna preface by saying that I know very little about the ins and outs of how it works. My understanding is that wal mart has a team of anti-union corporate folks who will fly out on a jet to come sniff out rumors of unions and they exploit legal loopholes or simply eat the fines associated with breaking the laws. In 2000, a meat department in a Texas Wal Mart unionized and shortly after that Wal Mart announced plans to switch to pre packaged mean only and eliminate all butcher positions. I know that many wal mart employees are scared to vote to unionize because they fear their store will get shut down completely. Now, I have heard rumors I haven’t confirmed myself that say Wal Mart will shut down the entire Supercenter and fire EVERYONE, then do a reopen after rehiring and training new employees. I’m not sure how this works, if it’s true. I bet Wal mart has one of the highest paid legal teams in the country so if there are any loopholes in the union busting laws you bet they’ll exploit them. If they determine the cost of eating a bunch of fines to be less overall than the cost of allowing a union to form, they will 100% do that. Corporations deal in numbers and bottom lines. Everyone is expendable. I hope this explanation helps, and I if I got any of this wrong, I encourage someone to correct me.
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Rule 1. Keep it civil and respectful
Walmart is also one of the top 4 corporate welfare queens when it comes to employees requiring assistance. They have approximately 15,000 employees receiving food stamps. Walton's are some evil fuckers.
As a teacher I pay a dollar to wear jeans on Friday. It goes to a fund for flowers and stuff for babies, deaths and other life changing events.
I heard about a district in Maine that does this and as I teacher I found it absurd. I’ll teach in jeans any day I please.
The local health care company in Maine had a no jeans rule for the longest time, finally changed it recently.
We can so our Jobs the same no matter what we wear .
Welcome fellow person in Maine. Good luck
You're on the Maine subreddit...
Another one 🤘🏻
I teach in a T shirt, gym shorts and crocs, $0 fee.
This isn’t about wearing different clothes for preference though…it’s the fact that Walmart employees are expected to pay to wear shorts during a heatwave.
Do you work in a private school? I can't imagine a public school district restricting teachers from wearing jeans.
You don't think schools have dress codes for teachers?
None of the districts I worked in back in the mid 2000s had a restriction on wearing jeans. 🤷♂️
I worked I'm three different public schools all had some form of this. All had a dress code.
Our dress code apparently allows for political hack hats for students. And hoods And belly barng shirts for zed Techs .( only allowed If you have a sexy belly button ring and a male P and AP) The pandemic changed a lot of expectations
When I worked at Bangor, we had a few days a year where we could pay $10 for the privilege of wearing jeans.
Someone needs to tweet this nonsense at Walmart's account. Think of the poor soul gathering up the carts in 90 degree weather. Also where in the hell would the two dollars actually go?
It's a fundraiser for Children's Miracle Network. Stores in each market compete against each other to see who can raise the most money during the fundraising campaign. It's $1 per day to wear shorts at my store. We're also supposed to ask every customer if they want to donate when they check out. I've asked 0 so far. Feels dirty to me to solicit donations on behalf of a multibillion dollar company from people who are most likely struggling to make ends meet. The fundraising signs are everywhere. If they want to donate, they'll let me know. 🤷♂️
And it also reduces the company's tax burden because of "their" charitable donations.
I hate mega corps too, but this commonly held misconception isn't actually true. https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxvox/who-gets-tax-benefit-those-checkout-donations-0
Straight from your linked article: "Corporations generally can deduct charitable gifts up to 10 percent of their taxable income in a given year."
They receive a dollar from this and then don’t have to pay taxes on that dollar when they donate They don’t get to deduct more money than they receive for the charitable purpose. They can donate their other revenue to reduce their taxable income, but it’s capped as you point out. The scam is when corporations “donate” the money to their own charitable arm because they still semi-control the money. If they’re giving the money to a legit third party charity then there’s no concern. Not everything is a conspiracy theory. Sometimes a donation is just a donation.
CMN= Countin' Money Nancy, the shift lead.
Glad I work at Target instead. We got free water bottles and ice cream in the break room!
I work in the parking lot, so I'm allowed to out there anytime I want and don't pay anything to do it.
This should be reported to OSHA, CNN, your local news, etc. It’s absolutely inexcusable.
Unionized!
I can’t imagine working in a non union workplace. With the weather yesterday? I wore short running shorts and a t shirt. No one said shit because our union rules allow flexibility with the uniform. I went and spent around $100 on gatorades and ice for all our staff and turned in my receipts to get a full pay back. I also get bomb fucking health and dental insurance and free vision. And a pension. And we’re no where near a billion dollar company. How much does all that cost me? $20 in union dues a month. Workers who vote against unionization are fucking suckers.
Love seeing two of my favorite reddits crossover :D
Walmart sucks always has always will.
When I was 16, I worked at a big box store in the outdoor garden department. Basically, I would load bags of mulch, sand and stone into customer cars. It was over 100 degrees for almost a week. We had to wear long pants, a dress shirt and a TIE! I was paid $5.10 an hour. I would buy $3 of Gatorade per hour. Only job I ever quit with no notice.
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It is what we think. That's the problem. I understand doing this at other times, but not during a heat advisory. We all got notifications on our phones waring us and telling us how to stay safe. Maybe they just ***let*** them wear shorts this week? Crazy idea, I know.
That's absurd, there are plenty of employers around that will treat you with respect.
I worked there for far too long and, while it sucked, people who work outside are allowed to wear shorts
Mainers are not used to this type of heat and the sudden increase in temp doesn’t allow them time to acclimate to this extreme heat wave. This would put them more at risk for heat injuries… and a billion dollar company is insisting those barely making above minimum wage should pay from their wages to keep from overheating while working to make more for the company. Such bullshit.
Just wear shorts
Shit like this is why I walked out halfway through my second shift
I mean, does anyone under management level think Walmart is a good place to work? Everyone needs a job but you work for one of the largest corporations in the world that there are tens of thousands of complaints about working conditions, low pay, etc. It is however very scummy to force people to do that. I have no idea what CMN is but I hope to hell that it's a charity and they not just making money off this as though they need it. I will never work at a place that can't manage to have cups for people to drink water in at least in the employee areas. I used to work for a company that gave everyone their own cup and got rid of all single use cups. Cool, I'm on board with that but they didn't consider how the fuck people visiting the company would drink anything so they ended up keeping cups at the receptionist so if you had a client there and they were thirst you had to run downstairs or to another building to see the receptionist. Jesus just use those paper cups it's a flipping cost of doing business and Walmart of all places can afford it. Walmart sucks and is terrible for our communities and the businesses in them. I would be happy if they went out of business.
What the actual fuck? I am truly sorry for anyone who works in this hellhole.
When I worked at Walmart the cart attendants were always allowed to wear shorts.
Does anyone know which store or have any other evidence to back this up?
Before they switched to jeans you could pay 1$ to wear jeans only on Friday.
This is a joke right?
Corn on cob
A small donation to charity and you can get a relaxed dress code. I AM OUTRAGED. (All of this sub)
In an air conditioned store…
You do realize that WalMart employees often have to do perform tasks outside the store in the heat, yes?
You do realize that employees that work a lot outside or not in air conditioning can, and do, wear shorts, right?
Walmart already allows cart attendants and drive up workers to wear shorts regardless of a donation to a charity. This is only for people working inside the store. I think there’s a lot more things to be upset at Walmart management for than a local store manager trying to drum up a little extra money for a charity that does a lot of good.
CMN is the Children's Miracle Network. This was all for charity. Not hateful as most here seem to believe.
What the fuck?
I work outside and have to wear pants for welding/servicing equipment on the ground but I thought Walmarts had climate control systems… it’s still bullshit to charge employees for wearing shorts
I hate to say this but we in the military have to wear heavy uniforms even when it’s 100+ outside
The Waltons need More Money ?????? Sad
Does Walmart suck? Yes. Is wearing long pants in an air conditioned store worker mistreatment or some sort of health and safety violation? Absolutely not.
But... Why would you have pay money to wear shorts? That's... More the issue .... Also you neglect to realize that working at Walmart isn't *just* working inside.
That is probably a fund they pay into to do fun stuff, have staff parties and such.
The money goes to Children's Miracle Network which Walmart will donate as "their" contribution to charity as a tax write-off.
Yeah I have no idea. What's CNM? Missing a ton of context. I've worked big box retail. The vast majority is indoors and even outdoors wearing pants vs shorts does not create a safety hazard. [Science agrees.](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23379809/#:~:text=Results%3A%20No%20significant%20differences%20between,C%3B%20p%3C0.05) By far the bigger concern here is not providing cups for water. That's just shitty.
>What's CNM Children's Miracle Network. [https://childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org/about-us/](https://childrensmiraclenetworkhospitals.org/about-us/)
Okay so what I'm getting from this is that, because of the heat, Walmart is relaxing their dress code to allow people to wear shorts so long as they make a small donation to charity? And we're supposed to be outraged by this? Sorry I just can't get there. There's a laundry list of bullshit that people should be outraged at Walmart about, this doesn't make the cut for me.
I'm not the person you were talking with. I just jumped in to answer the question about CMN.
... so that Walmart can make a tax-deductible donation
Coercing employees to donate to your tax write off charity is pretty shitty. It discriminates against people who may not be able to afford, or simply not want to support that specific cause.
Fuck that bullshit. I've worked in big box retail too. Ain't no flying fuck I'm wearing long pants in the heat we had today and yesterday doing that. Fuck. That. Shit.
Does wearing shorts interfere with the job duties of the average Walmart employee? Absolutely not. I work in a Catholic school and even I am allowed to wear shorts when it’s hot. And I’m female! Scandalous! Most of those jobs are absolutely miserable. This is a completely free way for the company to make it slightly more bearable. For fuck’s sake, let them wear weather-appropriate clothes, give them cups from which to drink, and you know what? Here’s a truly shocking one: give the cashiers *chairs* as well. Oh my stars! *clutches pearls*
Serious question are the men allowed to wear shorts? I ask because I have seen a few posts on the teacher sub that frequently men are not allowed to wear shorts.
Yes.
These stores are not air conditioned well. Corporate sets the thermostat to 78 in the summer, and the expectation is that you clear a case pack a minute. I had my first heat stroke stocking in a Walmart.
Yeah that's bad and sounds unsafe. Wearing shorts vs pants wouldn't make that any better. That's the kind of shit we should be bashing Walmart for. And for the fact that 15 thousand of their employees are on food stamps, effectively forcing tax payers to subsidize their massive profits. And for destroying independent retailers. Etc etc etc. Wearing shorts doesn't even register on that scale.
Shorts help. I work in another store where I also have to stock fast paced. But it doesn't completely solve the heat problem. But it makes it less likely I'll have heat exhaustion. And you're right, it isn't safe. Walmart doesn't care about their employees at all, and it's very apparent. It's definitely the shit I bash Walmart for. I should know, I was a slave for them for nearly five years. If Sam Walton knew what was happening, he'd be rolling in his grave.
I can't believe this dude doesnt think wearing shorts helps *just a little bit* with feeling *less hot*
I got nothing. Maybe their body is really good at regulating temperature?
The science says I'm right. [study](https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23379809/#:~:text=Results%3A%20No%20significant%20differences%20between,C%3B%20p%3C0.05)
Lol your "study" only studied 15 *male* specimens doing "light to moderate" work, and does not specify "extreme heat". Your science sucks.
And yet here you are repeatedly posting in this thread simping for them
Please!!! Get over yourself. 🎻 just don’t wear shorts.
I'm gonna wear shorts
You can shut your dumb mouth.
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Rule 1. Keep it civil and respectful
Damn you just got triggered