Wal-Mart Tries Out a New Wage: $0 per hour

[Giaour]

From the article.

The company also says it goes beyond the obligations of that accord, awarding bonuses twice a year to baggers who maintain high grades in school and also providing accident insurance that covers the kids not only when they are on duty, but also when they are en route between home and workplace. The company

[childofthegreat_i_am]

I know my sister works at a taco bell and she's payed below minimum wage And She cleans and takes orders

Is she also tipped? If not, she should call state immediately.

Well she been working there for about a month I think she received one tip...

yeah, but for the most part people don't tip taco bell employees... she should call the state department of labor.... there are laws for a reason!

[childofthegreat_i_am]

I know my sister works at a taco bell and she's payed below minimum wage And She cleans and takes orders

Is she also tipped? If not, she should call state immediately.

Well she been working there for about a month I think she received one tip...

Most fast food restaurants I have seen are paying salaries above minimum wage because of a shortage of workers. I am surprised Taco Bell is paying a salary that low, and considering the fact they are a nationwide outfit, it would seem that they would know they would have to comply with federal law.

Ya the reason my sister doesnt speak up is mainly because she worked at some other places which were really rude. And this taco bell is really kind to her so she's willing to lose 40 cents per hour. I think the the minimum wage here is 7.20 and she get paid 6.80.

sorry I didn't see this one the first time.

Minimum wage is $5.15 per hour.[u that's federal and they've talked about it but haven't changed it yet!

[Zceiv]

I know my sister works at a taco bell and she's payed below minimum wage And She cleans and takes orders

Is she also tipped? If not, she should call state immediately.

Well she been working there for about a month I think she received one tip...

Most fast food restaurants I have seen are paying salaries above minimum wage because of a shortage of workers. I am surprised Taco Bell is paying a salary that low, and considering the fact they are a nationwide outfit, it would seem that they would know they would have to comply with federal law.

Ya the reason my sister doesnt speak up is mainly because she worked at some other places which were really rude. And this taco bell is really kind to her so she's willing to lose 40 cents per hour. I think the the minimum wage here is 7.20 and she get paid 6.80.

sorry I didn't see this one the first time.

Minimum wage is $5.15 per hour.[u that's federal and they've talked about it but haven't changed it yet!

I heard it was 7.20 around here

[buckthesystem]

If the Mexican authorities don't like the practice, then why not pass a law against it? Personally, this story doesn't bother me in the least. It states that some people in Mexico scrape by on less than $4 per day. I would bet that by letting these teens bag groceries for tips, they come out better than hourly employees. In all likelihood, laws to force the store to pay them would cause them to lose income. Even in America, many restaurants pay waitresses salaries below the minimum wage, because of a loophole that allows them to do so based on the fact they receive tips. If I knew the person bagging my groceries was a volunteer, I would feel obligated to tip him or her, and I'm sure others are the same.

That's just the point. If you didn't have much money for groceries anyway and you were just scraping by and couldn't afford to pay extra for a "tip" and therefore didn't tip, you would be seen as a meanie.

I gather that the average "tip" is 15% of the purchase price of anything, so that makes any groceries you buy at Walmart 15% more expensive than they otherwise might have been.

It is cheating in a way. Because they presumably advertise the groceries at a particular price (say, $2.00 for a can of baked beans) when they are actually 15% dearer (the baked beans actually cost $2.15).

Waitressing is a little different, because going to a restaraunt for a meal is something that you might not always do anyway, so you add that 15% into the expected cost of the transaction, but buying groceries is something that everybody has to do.

This is completely aside from any morality issue.

[JustinM]

I get my groceries from the Commissary on the base. Every base I have been to, the baggers work on a tip basis, they have no salary. They get about 3-5 dollars per transaction. I usually tip 4 dollars, I give 3 for both baggers that bagged my groceries, to split, then whoever helps me load the groceries I give an extra dollar. On a busy day, baggers probably make about 12-15 dollars per hour.

It is fair, because the baggers are there on a voluntary basis, they can take as many breaks as they want and show up whenever they want.

I wouldn't rush to judgement against Wal-Mart, they are doing a good thing for the community.

But any anti-capitalist uses wal-mart as the focus of their hatred, because wal-mart respresents how successful capitalism really is. Capitalism isn't their agenda, socialism is, so wal-mart, in their eyes is as evil as satan hisself.