Vol. 81/No. 41 November 6, 2017
Walmart, Amazon bosses fight for profits, make workers pay
Both Amazon and Walmart have been beating back competitors amid the deepening economic crisis of U.S. and world capitalism. Nationwide, more than 5,000 retail store closures have been announced over the past year, including by department store chains like Macy’s, Kohl’s, Kmart, J.C. Penney, Gap and Best Buy.
Walmart, with more than 5,000 stores nationwide located, they say, within 10 miles of 90 percent of the U.S. population, has also moved to consolidate, eliminating thousands of jobs. Over the last year, the company closed over 150 U.S. stores and announced it will open the fewest stores in 2019 in 25 years — a paltry two dozen. The retail behemoth also has over 6,000 stores sucking profits in other countries worldwide.
Walmart is seeking to play catch-up to Amazon in online sales and quick deliveries — arenas where Amazon has had an edge — appealing to those who don’t want to take the time to step inside a store.
Bosses plan drone deliveries
Bosses at Amazon and Walmart have both taken out patents on drone deliveries, sent from fleets of blimp warehouses flying over cities and towns around the country.
Walmart is now offering parking lot pick-up. Customers order groceries online and they’re brought to them when they arrive. Walmart bosses say they’ve hired thousands of workers to staff the new service and that the delivery service will be available at 2,000 stores.
To promote the operation, the company is promising “perks,” reported the New York Times, including, “Easter eggs hidden in grocery bags, a ‘beauty box’ for moms at Mother’s Day, dog biscuits and discounts for recruiting new customers.”
In September the company started experimenting with a new home-delivery service where workers deliver food directly into your home and your refrigerator, even when you’re not home. Rest assured, you can watch them with a smart-phone app synced into your home security camera!
With workers facing stagnating wages and declining living standards, the Walton clan, who have made billions by appealing to working people as a haven for cheap prices, is now looking to expand into more upscale markets.
“With acquisitions of pricier brands like menswear brand Bonobos and trendy womenswear brand Modcloth,” Business Insider said Aug. 28, “Walmart has been making an effort recently to win over higher-income shoppers.” Company bosses are also seeking a deal to add Lord & Taylor to its website.
Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods Market in August gave the e-commerce giant a foothold in the brick-and-mortar supermarket business that Walmart — the largest purveyor of groceries in the country — has come to dominate.
Amazon’s push into the food market has had a huge impact on Kroger, the largest standalone U.S. supermarket chain. Since Amazon took over Whole Foods, Kroger lost more than a third of its market value in just three months. Kroger is considering shuttering some 800 convenience stores in 18 states.
Amazon has been opening small bookshops in New York, Chicago, San Jose, California, and other specially selected markets. The shops are aimed at attracting customers looking for a bookstore experience, who then find only a limited number of books. The staff steers them to kiosks to order from the e-tail giant’s online inventory.
The books don’t have prices on them. Instead, you’re told to use your smartphone to scan them.
The prices vary by person, depending on how much you’ve been drawn into the Amazon universe. If you’ve purchased an Amazon Prime membership, your price is lower.
The company says the stores are a test to see if they can profit by opening more types of brick-and-mortar stores.
Trying to stay afloat, Target Corp., whose stock is down 19 percent so far this year, has been cutting prices and retooling their “model.” Smaller stores, with CVS pharmacies and Starbucks stands inside, are being rolled out.
Trying to keep employees, and under the pressure of protests demanding higher wages, the company, which employs some 323,000 people, raised its minimum wage to $11 an hour this month. They promise another $4 increase over the next three years.
Walmart, which employs about 1.5 million workers in the U.S., raised its starting wage to $9 an hour in 2015, and says new hires can make an additional dollar an hour if they enroll in special “training.” Of course, the goal of the course is to get you to put the bosses’ interests first.
What workers at Walmart, Amazon and other smaller retail competitors need is unionization, in order to most effectively defend themselves against attacks by the bosses. Otherwise, the deepening lash of capitalist competition will mean more and more assaults against workers the company calls “associates,” whose wages and working conditions help determine their employers’ profits.
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