Walmart Hall of Mirrors?

When something gets as big as Wal-Mart, it would be strange if there were no conflicting interpretations of its actions.

I recently I posted my reaction to the “Stimulus Package” that Walmart indicated its hourly employees would be receiving in various forms – bonuses, 401(k) increases, merchandise discounts – to a total of as much as $2 billion.

My reaction was positive.

The idea didn’t seem entirely unreasonable. After all, Wal-Mart is one of the retailers whose fortunes have been running counter to the market at large. On revenues of some $406 billion last year, the company’s profit was about $13.4 billion.

But then I read something: the comments posted to my blog. All negative. And apparently, mostly from people who work at Walmart. (Note: At HTT we use the “Walmart” spelling for the U.S. chain, and “Wal-Mart” for the global corporation, just as the retailer now does.)

The people commenting mainly were putting forth the view that Walmart was making the right noises about helping its employees in a time of great need – but that in practice it was difficult for workers to actually take full advantage of the benefits in question.

In light of these comments – and of their consistent message in both tone and particulars – I have rethought my reaction.

“Sometimes the world seems simple.” That was the first line of my blog.
Let me add another: “Sometimes the world is not as it seems.”