Wal-Mart says Obamacare may hurt sales

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

Right. Never mind that your products for the most part are shitty as is the way you treat your workers.

By Shelly Banjo, The Wall Street Journal

Wal-Mart Stores (WMT) has a long list of reasons its customers aren't spending as much as hoped: the expiration of the payroll tax cut in January, the November rollback of food stamp benefits, and continued uncertainty in Washington, D.C.

Now the world's largest retailer is hinting at a new one: the looming individual mandate to buy health insurance under the Affordable Care Act.

The company attributed a third consecutive drop in U.S. comparable-store sales to a laundry list of macroeconomic headwinds when it reported earnings last week. Wal-Mart, which forecast continued gloominess through year's end, told analysts it would watch to see if the federal health care law would take yet another chunk out of customers' pocketbooks.

"While it is not coming through in customer research, we do know that some of our customers are concerned about the impact of the Affordable Care Act," Carol Schumacher, vice president of investor relations, told analysts on Thursday. "For many of our customers, having to afford health care and insurance may be another line item in their personal budget that they may not have had to cover previously." Wal-Mart says it has 140 million customers a week.

http://money.msn.com/top-stocks/wal-mart-says-obamacare-may-hurt-sales

[Journeyman]

1. It's true. Especially the new mental health help made available to all. . .

Who's going to be crazy enough to shop Wal-Mart and go against their own self-interest once they've received needed mental health care?

[warrant46]

13. That's absolutely essential therapy

Although the scummy Walton Family will feel a few Billion dollars missing from their hoard.

[Brigid]

2. You wanna really get pissed?

Just read some of the comments.

[seveneyes]

6. Oh my. If that is any kind of true indicator of attitues out there

There could be a real mess to handle next year. I'm thinking it's not really that lopsided in reality.

[Politicalboi]

3. Poor Wal-Mart

Could be most of their customers wouldn't have to worry about this if they had a "living wage". Maybe Wal-Mart should show us the way. Either put up or shut up Wally World. And a majority of customers would probably be eligible for medicaid.

[arcane1]

4. "While it is not coming through in customer research..."

In other words, they plucked it right out of their asses.

[pinboy3niner]

5. Precisely my thought

"We have absolutely nothing to support this, but we can't resist taking a shot at the ACA anyway."

[sakabatou]

7. "We have billions in revenue, but we can't pay our employees a good wage or healthcare."

"Better blame the ACA."

[haele]

8. Of course Wal-Mart is worried about by government programs -

According to estimates from the USDA and in house, approximately 18% of food stamps in the US went to Wal-Mart - $14 billion dollars. They are going to be losing a significant amount of revenue because of the roll-backs.
Because of their low labor expenditures (reliance on temp/part-time workforce with sub-standard wages), the majority of their employee "benefits" are subsidized by Federal, State, and Local taxpayers.

Since a lot of the Wal-Mart profit margin depends on government subsidies to extend the spending ability of their targeted (and pretty much dependent) market base (i.e., the $20K - $40K a year income household), the new requirement from the Feds for some of those customers to share the burden of the ACA mandatory health care program outweighs any additional leverage Wal-Mart might get for providing ACA approved "wellness clinics" or basic health care (that will be under regulation) in some of their facilities - especially in locations where there's potential basic health care competition.

So, a family of four in a state where Medicare was not expanded who qualifies for food stamps might still have to pay $25 a month for mandatory health care under the federal ACA exchange; that's less for them to spend at Wal-Mart than before. Doesn't matter that they now have health care access they didn't have before, it just matters that they have less to spend.

Of course, paying employees more, supporting a raise in the minimum wage and single payer, stopping the race to the bottom line so that working people at the "lower levels" don't have to depend on taxpayers to cover their basic needs never crosses the minds of Wal-Mart board members who "work" at that insurlar, isolated executive level along with all the other of the plutocracy...

Haele

[Johonny]

11. +1

[surrealAmerican]

12. You may be right, but I wonder ...

... since Walmart has a pharmacy, they will likely be seeing an increase in profits from people who can now suddenly afford medications that they couldn't before.

[haele]

15. Problem with the pharmacy is competition.

CVS, Rite-Aid, and Walgreens have more small community stores and tend to be open 24 hours with more full-time pharmacists, unlike many Wal-Marts.

Haele

[DinahMoeHum]

9. Excuse me while I reach for a Kleenex. . .NOT

[hatrack]

10. . . . Said the store hitting up employees for food donations for their co-workers . . .

'Cuz it's the spirit of giving that counts, y'see.

[Lifelong Dem]

14. Off topic maybe. Saw this today

The photo up above is from a Walmart in Canton Ohio where, according to the Cleveland Plain Dealer, management has apparently decided to run a Thanksgiving food drive for the store's own employees.

http://m.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/11/photo-this-ohio-walmart-is-running-a-food-drive-for-its-own-workers/281610/