It's Not Sam's Walmart....Anymore!!

Monday, May 20, 2019

"Respect For The Individual" - My Walmart Story

In the Summer of 1981, I had the opportunity of a lifetime, I met Mr. Sam during my time in Western Arkansas in one of his stores, he put the four words to how I was raised and lived my life "Respect For The Individual". I am launching "Respect For The Individual" in honor of that moment in my life, I learned so much in minutes from Mr. Sam. Thank You!

As you read "My Walmart Story", think about these four words, words to live all aspects of your life by.

Editor's Note – we have updated the original story to add information from a November/December 2019 interaction with Walmart, the company finally opened an Open Door issue on this case some seven years after the fact.

"Respect For The Individual" - My Walmart Story

20 May 2019 - Mark W.

This is my Walmart story, one that shows beyond any doubt Mr. Sam’s Basic Beliefs and the Open Door Policies went out the door a long time ago.

One of Mr. Sam’s Basic Beliefs is “Respect For The Individual”.

Think about this as we relate the story of a now former overnight Customer Service Manager at the 180th & West Center Road store in Omaha, Nebraska with over 10 years of service.

Overnight shift on the night of May 12, 2012 into May 13th was proceeding like any late Saturday night duty, not enough associates on shift, and too much freight, that was the norm for this store after its award winning Store Manager transferred in 2009.

As this CSM went to purchase some stuff for his late night meal break, the cashier said the following to him

“since your gay, have you become a Democrat since the President said he was for same sex marriage”?

Say what?

This CSM is divorced, has two children. This cashier was well aware of those facts.

On top of this associate asking that question to this CSM, her direct Supervisor, she also asked a number of other associates on staff that night that she thought were gay the same thing.

Incident was reported to the Shift Manager, the Store Manager, the District Market Director, Walmart’s Home Office, even the Walmart Board of Directors, and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s Office in St. Louis.

Do you think any of the above took action?

Absolutely not.

In the aftermath of the report, the overnight management team of this store took retaliatory actions against this CSM.

Forcing him to change his schedule, assigning more work to him than his duty hours would allow, not approving vacation days, as well as denying him promotion to accounting, not once, but twice, despite the leads in accounting recommending him for the promotion.

Further to this, even though this CSM notified Management that due to the incident he could not, by the company’s ethics policies, have any involvement in future coaching or conducting the annual review of this associate, he was forced to.

This CSM reported the conduct, as required, while still under employment to the Ethics Hotline, which failed to respond.

Due to Store Management, District Management, and Walmart Home Office’s HR Management’s lack of response, and lack of taking any action, this CSM was left with no choice but to tender his resignation.

But this wasn’t the only episode of harassment that occurred over the 10 plus years, when the store opened in 2001 it was already a toxic environment, but back then reports of the harassment were dealt with, costing not one, but two store managers their positions.

From 2003 to 2009, the store’s third Manager, who firmly followed Mr. Sam’s “Respect for the Individual” belief. Store went from one of the worst to best, winning multiple awards, and having the lowest associate turnover rate of any Walmart store.

But in 2009, our award winning Manager transferred to a store closer to his family and home in the Kansas City Metro area (note, it was in sad shape too when I visited, but months later this manager’s award winning leadership style righted that store too), and the toxic environment began to return.

It was to the point in 2012, not many would take their breaks in the lounge. What few associates in there were talking about their escapees with their “partners”, and who was gay, lesbian, whatever.
Ask yourself, would you want to work in this type on an environment?

This is a classic case of Walmart dropping the ball and hoping the problem it refuses to address will go away.

It will not.

Now Walmart Shareholders have an opportunity to step up and strengthen broken policies, the first step is to vote for Proposal #4 and hold Walmart’s liberal leadership accountable for indicident of sexual harassment such as mine.

January 2020 Story Update

In November 2019, I was contacted by a Robert Stoud, an Associate Relations Case Manager with the Open Door Helpline. A case had been finally opened for me relating to the issues noted in the article.

Mr. Stoud was more concerned with getting the case closed quickly, than doing what should have been done in such a serious issue, that being researching and resolving it at his level.

Instead the case was kicked to the Market District People Lead who has yet to contact me, and I was told to reactivate my application in Walmart’s on line system. This lead to a poor job offer in a store over 35 miles away, at a rate of pay over $4.00 and hour less than what I was at prior to leaving the company in 2012.

(As a side note here, we will be doing a story on that store, and the slave wages it pays soon!)

This job offer was rammed down my throat, without any consideration for when I would be able to start, which was not the date they chose. After finding out it was the day after Christmas, and I was committed to being out of town, I declined the offer.

Like What Happened Here?

If you don’t, call Robert Stoud at 479-258-0376 or e-mail at Robert.Stoud@walmart.com and Kristi at 402-970-5321 and demand they make things right with Mark Stevens immediately.

Tuesday, May 7, 2019

2019 Annual Meeting Call To Action - Vote For Proposal #4

Call To Action - Sexual Harassment at Walmart
Vote For Proposal No. 4

6 May 2019
Mark Stevens

It’s Not Sam’s Walmart…..Anymore!, is making a call out to all Walmart shareholders. You have an opportunity to make a change at Walmart on this year's proxy.

Sexual Harassment at Walmart is rampant, I know as I am a victim of it.

I used the open door clear up to Corporate with absolutely no avail. Walmart shoved it under the rug. As a result, I left my job and paycheck in 2012 after 10 years of service.

Walmart's arguments to vote against this proposal are totally wrong, the Open Door policies are broken, there is literally no one employed at Walmart that probably knows, or can recite more than one or two of Mr. Sam's Basic beliefs.

I will be releasing my Walmart story here soon, when you read it, it will repulse you, not just at what happened to me, but the total lack of "Respect for the Individual", by fellow associates, management, and the then CEO and Board Members of Walmart.

Sexual Harassment is not a victimless crime, and few victims step forward.

As a shareholder, I have voted my proxy FOR Proposal No. 4, and I am asking all shareholders to support not just myself, but other victims who have been sexually harassed during their employment with Walmart.

Together we can make a monumental change at Walmart!

Thank You!
Mark Stevens
Founder - It's Not Sam's Walmart....Anymore

Monday, May 28, 2018

2017 Annual Report - Three Takeaways

Three Takeaways from the 2017 Annual Report

28 May 2018

With it being just days from Walmart’s Annual Orgasm (Meeting), we found many takeaways in the annual report, here are the top three.

“It’s Our People, Our Culture, Our Purpose…”

Sadly, the people, the culture, and the purpose of Walmart have been long destroyed, period.

Liberals that took over Walmart in the early part of the last decade made sure of that, by pushing out the people that made Walmart, destroyed the culture Mr. Sam created, and slaughtered the company’s purpose.

Mr. McMillion does not the people or culture, and has squandered the resources to Make Walmart Great Again on purchases of businesses that do not fit.

Mr. McMillion, you need to get back to square one, rebuild the people, rebuild the culture, and rebuild the brick and mortar business, that is where the money is.

“Earlier this year, we increased the starting wage for our U.S. associates to $11 per hour”

Setting a minimum starting wage is a huge liberal mistake.

Example, when I began with Walmart, I was hired on above minimum wage, I left Walmart some 10 years later making more per hour working part-time with Walmart that I was working full time with a Hospitality company, and I already had almost 15 years in service there.

One of the biggest issues, especially those last few years at Walmart is when the liberal leadership made it next to impossible for those who exceeded, such as me, to get any meaningful raises. Those policies also made it difficult to get those that were not Walmart material out the door.

Here’s one Mr. McMillion you need to do a roll back on. Market based wages (especially in the city where I worked), were well above minimum wage, and still are.

Last, but not Least, “last fiscal year we reached more than $500 billion in revenue for the first time as a company”

This is where I say “where is the beef?”

Or in this situation “Where is the Income”

As an individual trained in accounting, I love to dig in Annual Reports. This one is scary.

Operating income has dropped 6.435 billion dollars since fiscal year 2014.

That’s a 23.95% drop

You cannot expect to stay a going concern if your operating income is dropping, period. Walmart’s ship is sinking, and if action is not taken, Walmart will soon join the other great brands that have failed and are either liquidating or have become history.

Other takeaways?

There are plenty of them, from the leadership team being paid excessively, to the unnecessary store closings due to the gross mismanagement of Walmart.

What Can Be Done?

If you are a Walmart shareholder, revote your proxy “Against” each and every Director Nominee. If you have not voted your shares, please do so prior to the cutoff time.

The Walton family has heard us before when we voted “Against” the leadership change, and they need to hear from us again, as apparently they do not care about the fact their wealth and trusts are being wiped out by this liberal bunch in charge.

Coming soon from “It’s Not Sam’s Walmart Anymore”,

· “My Walmart Story” – why I am on the outside looking in, and yes, it does include a lot of sexual harassment across over 10 years.

· “Lies, Lies, and profit taking” – how Walmart’s leadership profited from selling stock in late 2017 in a story oddly similar to what K-Mart’s leadership did many decades prior.

· “Store Reviews” – I’m out and in stores taking notes, most recently an associate who should have been stocking freezers but instead texting away on the company dime, apparently the mis-management of that store needs a nudge.

follow us on Twitter @NotSamsWalmart

We are #MakingWalmartGreatAgain one article at a time!

It’s Not Sam’s Walmart…..Anymore! is here to educate our readers, in order to return Sam Walton’s beliefs, values, and rock solid business model, that stresses Customer Service and Value to each an every Walmart guest!

Your writer, chief cook, and bottle washer (just kidding) of “It’s Not Sam’s Walmart….Anymore!”, is not only a former associate of over 10 years, he has held shares of Walmart for over 34 years, and met Mr. Sam quite by accident in the Summer of 1981 in one of his Arkansas stores, and learned more about running a successful business in 20 minutes than any college could have taught. As a shareholder, I am required to note that I have not, and have not bought or sold any Walmart shares, and have no plans to do such
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We encourage you to share this social media post, however, third party use or publication without our consent for profit is prohibited. Unlike other bloggers, we share information with the world in the efforts to educate our readers, and facilitate positive change, not to make profit.

Friday, August 5, 2016

Scrap It! Walmart's Scheduling System That Is

Scrap It!

Walmart’s Scheduling System That Is

5 August 2016

It’s Not Sam’s Walmart…..Anymore has long been a advocate of scraping the centralized scheduling system that has taken scheduling out of the store management team’s hands and placed it into a computerized system at the Home Office in Bentonville.

Walmart announced this week that it was “improving” the system to allow for schedules to be generated for six (6) weeks.

This is the same type of schedule thinking that call / contact centers have been using.

It is a system that does not work, period.

One such call center in Omaha uses the same thinking and probably the same software Walmart is using to schedule. On any given day callers are made to wait for sometimes an hour, due to the system’s own inability to schedule correctly, not to mention inadequate staff.

Returning scheduling to the store management level will not only improve service in each and every Walmart, but will allow store managers the flexibility to make changes to allow for local events that increase customer visits to the stores, in climate weather, as well as times where associates are out due to family issues or emergencies on short to no notice.

Under the store level scheduling system, I personally was one of the on-call part time overnight associates who many times got extra hours when the store was short handed. It is a system that worked, in fact, my store won many Supercenter honors for exceptional service, and sales revenues.

Scheduling and Staffing are two of Walmart’s biggest sales boat anchors that have been dragging the ship down since 2009.

It is time for the leadership of Walmart to step up to the plate, man and woman up, and admit the scheduling system is a failure, instead of making it worse.

It is also time for Walmart’s Leadership to step up and start beefing up store staffing, and be flexible once again.

Flexibility is one of the reasons I joined Walmart in 2001, and walked out the door in 2012, and I’m still waiting for a call from the Home Office to discuss those reasons.

For “It’s Not Sam’s Walmart…..Anymore”, I’m Mark W., Thanks for stopping by!

Knowledge is power!

It’s Not Sam’s Walmart…..Anymore! is here for one reason, to return Sam Walton’s beliefs, values, and trail blazing business spirit , that stresses Customer Service and Value to Walmart!

We encourage you to share this social media post, however, publication without consent for profit is prohibited. Unlike other bloggers, we share information with the world in the efforts to educate our readers, not to make advertising money.

Important disclosure notice

Some articles for “It’s Not Sam’s Walmart…..Anymore!” are written by a 30 year shareholder of Walmart Stores Inc., stock and former associate with over 10 years of service. This shareholder has no plans to purchase or sell any shares of Walmart Stores Inc., and has not done so in the last 90 days.

Monday, May 30, 2016

Time For The 2016 Walmart Orgasm!

It’s Time For The 2016 Walmart Orgasm!

a/k/a Walmart Annual Meeting

30 May 2016

Walmart Associates from around the world will be heading to Bentonville, Arkansas this week in advance of the annual celebration of Walmart’s Annual meeting on Saturday.

But what is there to celebrate?

Another year of failure after failure?

Mr. McMillion stated “We’re not living in a new period of disruption, largely driven by rapid technological advances, and that change is likely to accelerate even further. Our efforts are squarely focused on emerging as the retail leader.”

What?

With that statement, Mr. McMillion is trying to pull the wool over everyone’s eyes.

Granted it’s a better line than that used CEO of Target stating the company’s 25% sales drop was due to “global warming”, instead of the company’s mis-management, up to and including the LBGT deal which really put the royal flush on Target.

What’s The Real Problem At Walmart?

Simple, 10+ years of liberal, progressive leadership, which had Mr. Sam not built such a great company, would have tanked Walmart many years ago.

Let’s Look At This Year

Blanket raises were dolled out to most Walmart associates in response to the push back from groups like Our Walmart. Instead of being pushed around by groups that are funded by unions, Walmart should be pushing back, something sadly forgotten since Mr. Sam passed, and those he had in place to run his great company were shoved out the door.

Here's an thought about the difference between a liberals / progressives in charge of a company, and a more conservative leadership. Liberal / Progressive will give raises to everyone no matter whether their performance shows they deserve recognition with a raise or not. A more Conservative leadership team will give raises on a regular interval based upon the employee's performance.

Stockholder’s lost money, again. Forget the dividend increases, those are just another smoke and mirrors routine to keep shareholder’s eyes off the problems of declining sales, and profits.

How Much Did You Lose?

Based on Fiscal Year 2015: Your shares began the fiscal year at $84.98 and ended the fiscal year at $66.36, a loss of $18.62 per share or 21.91%.

Based on Calendar Year 2015: Your shares began the calendar year at $86.27 and ended the year at $60.41, a loss of $25.86 per share or 29.98%.

Plus for the 13th year in a row, no stock split.

How To Get Walmart Back Out Front?

This one is ludicrously easy, and to coin one of Walmart’s iconic sale routines, it is time to “Rollback”!

Rollback 10 plus years of stupid liberal, progressive idea after idea.

Step One – Reduce Management Ranks & Eliminate Bad Managers

Management ranks at Walmart swelled when the liberal progressives took over. While steps have been taken to thin those ranks, not enough has been done.

Along with that, there are still plenty of members of management that do not walk and talk the classic Walmart ways. It is time to weed them out once and for all. Poor management causes customer dissatisfaction, decline in sales, and high employee turnover, just to name a few.

Step Two – Associate Power

It is past time to get stores staffed again. No one wants to wait in a check out line, or worse yet, try to deal with those stupid self check outs.

Step Three – Get Shelves Stocked

An ongoing issue that must be resolved for once and for all

Step Four – Eliminate Centralized Scheduling

Return scheduling to the store management teams, period. Realize to get the best people, a company MUST be flexible. Too many companies are not, including Walmart.

Step Five – Eliminate Task Manager

Task manager is another expensive tool that does not boost productivity, it decreases it. Previous system in place worked far better than Task Manager ever has. It also puts more staff back on the floor, as without Task Manager, no management needs to sit at computer and watch over it, nor do associates have to constantly go to a computer to update their status.

Step Six – LAYAWAY!

I cannot say this enough, Walmart’s decision to eliminate Layaway was a BIG Multi Billion Dollar Sales (loss) MISTAKE!

We have a bad economy, and it will not be getting any better any sooner.

Restoring layaway now will provide an immediate sales boost and return shoppers to Walmart that have gone elsewhere that offers layaway.

Step Seven – Address Associate Issues Present & Past

The primary reason union backed groups like Our Walmart have gained power is the fact Walmart has been addressing associate issues with the “if we ignore it, it will go away” tactic.

Walmart must address associate concerns, and problems, immediately.

To this date, It’s Not Sam’s Walmart, knows of an associate that has never been contacted by the Home Office leadership regarding an issue where he was called “gay” in an Omaha store in 2012.

We know of numerous other issues, where Walmart has done the wrong thing, ignore the problem, instead of the right thing.

What About Benefits?

Healthcare - With Obamacare, Healthcare insurance at any big company, stinks. Obamacare’s main job is to put so much of the cost of healthcare upon you, the insured, that you will be forced to join one of the exchanges.

If you do not understand that Obamacare is all about wiping out company sponsored healthcare, then you do not understand what is going on in our country.

Admittedly, Walmart could be doing more. If Mr. Sam was still alive, he would be pushing back against this as it takes away from what his company could be doing for his associates.

Raises – Associates must earn raises through a fair and balanced system, period. Blanket raises to quiet down union funded groups like Our Walmart, do not work. All those do is increase costs, and give those underperforming associates no reason to improve.

Walmart’s annual review system must be improved and simplified.

Reach Out To Former Associates, Get Them Back!

There are tens of thousands of former Walmart associates out there that left in disgust. Not only do we need a “rollback” to Mr. Sam’s rock solid business model, we need those associates to make it happen.

Only way Walmart can get back to the front and be the leader is by doing all of these things

How Do We Make Change?

First and most important step, if you are an associate with Walmart stock, or a Walmart shareholder, vote against all directors, either standing or nominated.

If you have already voted your proxy, you can change your vote. Please do so by Thursday, June 2nd.

Walmart is no longer a controlled company. With the failures over the past 10 years, the Walton Family trusts and Family members control less than 50% of the stock. They have to hope large holders like Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway will vote their blocks of shares in favor of the director’s decisions.

Change can be made!

Last But Not Least – We Do Not Need “Our Walmart” To Speak for Us!

Mr. Sam realized the awesome power of his associates long ago, associates do not need Our Walmart or any other organization to make change. I challenge each and every one of you, whether you are in Bentonville this weekend for the annual meeting, or in the stores, to join together and take this challenge to make change to restore Walmart to the once great company it was when Mr. Sam was in charge.

For It's Not Sam's Walmart Anymore, I'm Mark W.

Knowledge is power!

It’s Not Sam’s Walmart…..Anymore! is here for one reason, to return Sam Walton’s beliefs, values, and trail blazing business spirit , that stresses Customer Service and Value to Walmart!

Important disclosure notice

Tuesday, November 24, 2015

A Walmart Thanksgiving

22 November 2015

As you make preparations and go out to buy the items for your Thanksgiving feast, make your plans for Black Friday, think about what a Walmart Thanksgiving is all about.

Thanksgiving For Associates

Begins in the days between the weekend before Thanksgiving and the Sunday following Thanksgiving with their hours being reduced.

Why is this?

Because the Walmart bean counters do not want any hourly associate to exceed 40 hours, period. In fact if an associate exceeds their scheduled hours for the week, or 40 hours, whichever is the greater, they are coached.

Walmart pay periods run Friday through Thursday

Associates will get the bulk of their hours for Thanksgiving week on the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before, then not many until Thanksgiving night into Black Friday. Once the dust settles by Saturday, the hours are again reduced. Therefore, associates end up with either their scheduled hours for both weeks, some lucky ones will get 40 hours, and next to none ever see any overtime pay.

Associates Holiday Pay

Is based on average hours worked over the last six (6) pay periods, that being the last 12 weeks.

For example, an associate averaged 29.5 hours per week for the last 12 weeks. 29.5 hours divided by a five (5) day week equals 5.9 hours holiday pay, provided the associate does not miss the scheduled shift prior or the scheduled shift after the holiday.

Our example associate pulls a 4pm Thanksgiving to 1am Black Friday morning shift. That is 9 hours less the one hour mandatory meal break, so 8 paid hours, 7 hours on Thanksgiving, 1 hour on the new pay period. This example associate will get 7 hours at their hourly pay rate, and 5.9 hours of holiday pay, provided they do not disqualify themselves from receiving that benefit.

Customers Lose

Cutbacks on staffing levels from Sunday before Thanksgiving up to Thanksgiving afternoon mean poor service in all areas including long waits to get checked out.

These Are Not Mr. Sam’s Thanksgiving Values

Mr. Sam closed his original format stores on Thanksgiving Day, and left Supercenters open, but staffed in a way customers were taken care of, and associates worked short shifts, unless an associate volunteered to work longer hours.

There were no Pre-Black Friday sales, Thanksgiving in a supercenter was for two purposes, one, to take care of customers who needed last minute items for their meal, and two, to insure the store was ready.

Associates that worked Thanksgiving were treated to a Thanksgiving feast, and if they desired to work longer hours on Black Friday, they were welcome to, even if it put them over 40 hours.

Unfortunately, the liberals and progressives who took the helm ten plus years ago trashed Mr. Sam’s way of running the business.

Problem with bean counting liberals and progressives is a lot like the way our nation as a whole is going, eventually the beans run out.

It Is Time To Restore Mr. Sam’s Beliefs, Values, and Rock Solid Business Model to Walmart

This means banning Black Friday sales until 5am on Black Friday.

Staffing stores, and not worrying about the added labor costs, after all, the way to make money is to invest money.

Giving associates that work Thanksgiving a Thanksgiving Feast, not the Biscuits and Gravy that the liberal & progressive bean counters replaced the feast with. Ick.

Ending the ban on using vacation time.

Allowing associates to have time off, not just on Thanksgiving, but during the holiday season.

You realize some of the costs Walmart Associates pay for their Walmart Thanksgiving

Now, let us work to restore Thanksgiving at Walmart the way it was before the liberal and progressive bean counters took over, but not just at Walmart, but at all other retailers who have forgotten what Thanksgiving Day is for, giving Thanks.

Knowledge is power!

It’s Not Sam’s Walmart…..Anymore! is here for one reason, to return Sam Walton’s beliefs, values, and trail blazing business spirit , that stresses Customer Service and Value to Walmart!

We encourage you to share this social media post, however, publication without the consent of It’s Not Sam’s Walmart….Anymore is prohibited. Unlike other blogs, we share information with the world in the efforts to educate our readers, not to make advertising money.