A Way To Compete With Walmart?

[Boojatta]

In your department store, a given employee will be hired for primary duties in one particular, small section of the store. A job applicant might specify which sections the applicant is interested in and be able to ask questions about the environment in those and other sections of the store.

An employee will acquire experience in that section and will learn from contact with customers, an immediate supervisor, a policy manual, and occasional contact with managers of that particular store and with managers at corporate headquarters.

Every employee will have an opportunity to add descriptions of his or her experiences and ideas to appendices of the store's policy manual so that future employees will have access to that information.

Initially, all employees will get a discount on the purchase of the company's shares. When an employee gets some management responsibility in the employee's primary section, the employee will no longer get a discount on the purchase of the company's shares. Instead, the employee will get at least a small share of the profits of that particular store.

The idea is to divide a store into shops and give each employee a path to management of one shop, while also retaining some flexibility and promoting a sense of community for long-term employees.

The advantage for customers is that they will be dealing with people who have lots of knowledge and who care about satisfying the customers. The advantage for your department store is that your employees will have a sense of community, a sense of purpose, and a reason to be loyal to your store.

[Warpy]

1. Wow, you mean provide SERVICE????

Man, that idea went out with knickers, buggy whips, and having a gas station attendant fill your tank, check your oil, and clean your windshield. You can't possibly suck enough profit out of a system that provides service to allow upper management to live like sultans.

The one thing I want to come back to this town is a hardware store with a wheezing old guy behind the counter who not only knows where every nut, bolt, screw, and weird tool is, he can tell you how to use it all.

I miss that in all sorts of places. Even computer stores are no longer hiring geeks.

[Boojatta]

3. Upper management will be promoted from within and they won't live

like sultans. The regular employees and shareholders will get a fair share of the profits. Upper management will be paid enough to keep the flow of them quitting from getting too high, but not paid so much that they will try to retain their jobs forever and leave no room at the top for people who have earned promotions.

[madrchsod]

2. you mean costco?

[Boojatta]

4. Does costco have the policies that I described in the OP? e.o.m.

[madrchsod]

5. as close as one can get from what i have read

they are beating the crap out of sam`s club in money generated per square foot and still pay very well and with benefits so they must be doing things right. costco`s ceo refuses to cut wages and benefits to please stockholders and he gives more money to democrats than any big box stores in america.

[Boojatta]

6. "costco`s ceo refuses to cut wages and benefits to please stockholders"

That's okay. They can sell their shares.

[dcfirefighter]

7. vote to change your state and local laws.

such that taxes bear more heavily on assesed land values than assessed improvement values. Every Wal-Mart has a huge parking lot and building footprint in a relatively pricy areas (near the highway). Every mom & pop has a smaller lot & relatively more building value.

Then vote to shift your taxes from business property and personal income onto assessed land values.