The bigger issue for the company is that they’ve had to count those employees’ wages when they discuss how much they pay their employees on average and what kind of benefits they provide to them. The demonstrators are paid much less than other employees and they don’t typically make enough to even consider participating in the company benefit plans. This particular group of employees also tend to be older and have higher health care costs. Walmart has taken a lot of heat over the pay and benefits for its workers and has been trying desperately to improve its image, using slight of hand over substantive change wherever possible. This current “outsourcing” falls right in line with all of that.

Moreover, the are apparently telling the affected employees that they will only get severance pay if they sign an agreement not to file wage discrimination complaints/suits. In other words, “Sign away your state and federal rights, since we both know what we’re doing is wrong, and we’ll give you a hush money/little something to get by on for a week or two, since you’ve been let go with no notice (unlike the 2 weeks we’d expect you to give us), despite the fact that this deal has been in the works for months.” Most of those workers are going to take the money and run, as it’s cash in hand, versus waiting out what will doubtlessly be lengthy investigations and lawsuits.

I know I’m preaching to the choir here, so I won’t reiterate all the reasons why, but shop COSTCO!

http://www.sun-sentinel.com/topic/kfsm-news-sams-club-layoffs-fayetteville,0,3848795.story

http://salt-sweat-sugar.blogspot.com/2010/01/dear-costco-shoppers.html

http://industry.bnet.com/retail/10006325/sams-club-closings-shows-its-lag-behind-costco-bjs/

I did the same search for Costco and there are 3. The one I go to is 5 miles away, the other two are approximately 19 miles away. They are 10 miles from each other…oh lucky Costco shoppers! LOL

As for Sam’s, I’ve never really had a desire to join. I just thinking it’s Walmart…in warehouse form. When I lived in So Cal the closest Walmart to me was 20 miles and an hours drive away.

Then I moved here to Orlando and the closest Walmart to was horrible, so I went to the one south of Disney World and shopped with the tourists. Then they decided to open another, not too far from me, so I go there now. I have to wonder how many customers they cannibalize from existing stores when they open another.

I think that is part of the fun of Costco, looking to see what is new. They are bright and cheerful. I love chatting with the sample folks when they aren’t busy. There is something appealing about them, that makes a ‘Costco run’ a bit of an adventure.

I belong to BJ’s too, which carries some of the items that Costco doesn’t.

Costco is my Macys. BJs is my Target.

When I want Hannah’s Humus I go to Costco. When I need paper products I go to BJ’s.

After Costco opened in the Galleria area last fall, Sam’s opened another store closer to them, about 2 miles away. They seem to be competing fairly well, though that Costco is busy! Sam’s Clubs will still have about 17 stores within an hours drive of that location, compared to just 3 Costco stores.

The only other one I know about first hand is the Colorado location. The Sam’s that is closing is in a suburban community outside of Boulder, located on one of the town thoroughfares. The Coscto on the other hand is only about 2 miles away, but is visible and easily accessible from the very-heavily-traveled Boulder Turnpike. Even with the closure, Sam’s will still have 11 stores within about an hours drive of the closing location, compared to 9 Costcos in the same general radius.