Wal-Mart customers delay buying necessities (living paycheck-to-paycheck)

[UpInArms]

Source: Reuters

LOS ANGELES, Oct 21 (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc's (WMT.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) U.S. customers, increasingly worried about their own financial security, are waiting until they get their paychecks to buy even the most basic necessities, the retailer's U.S. division head said on Tuesday.

Personal financial security, a recent poll revealed, was the No 1 concern for 80 percent of Wal-Mart shoppers, up from 65 percent a few months ago, said Eduardo Castro-Wright, president and chief executive of the Wal-Mart's U.S. operations.

And, in a "disturbing" trend, Castro-Wright said Wal-Mart for the first time is seeing a paycheck-related spike in sales of baby formula, suggesting consumers are rushing to buy such necessities as soon as they have the cash.

"Most consumers are worried about: 'Will I have enough to put food on the table so my family can eat?" he told attendees of a luncheon sponsored by Town Hall Los Angeles.

He said credit used as a form of payment at Wal-Mart is falling and that the decline is expected to reach into the double digits this year.

U.S. consumers have been cutting spending for months due to falling home values, job losses, higher prices for basics like food and fuel, and a global credit crisis.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN2132776920081021?sp=true

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It appears that there were limits on those credit cards after all :eyes:

[skooooo]

1. Learning how to live within means...

Not that they have enough means to have much of a life, but people gotta get off the credit fix.

[Sirveri]

3. It helps if you have a decent job though.

making rent and getting to work and paying for food is getting really difficult for those on the bottom rung these days. I should know I'm putting groceries on my 500$ limit credit card (which I got during the height of the 'economic meltdown' a few weeks ago).

[skooooo]

4. Of course.

It aint easy

[Mojorabbit]

6. Yes but if the baby

needs formula then the baby needs it now. Sad.

[K8-EEE]

8. My kids were infants in the 1990s and I used cloth diapers & breast fed

It really is way, way cheaper, I actually did it for health & ecological reasons mostly but when I look at people running out to buy diapers I'm like, is it really all THAT more convenient?

Especially since the paper-and-chemical "dry" diapers don't help the child potty train at all. Mine were in underwear at two without stress (the autistic one trained herself at 18 months!)

[pop goes the weasel]

15. agreed

There's no worries about potty training when using cloth diapers. Rinse them in the toilet, soak them in borax, wash and hang to dry. My folks even managed to keep me in diapers, way back in the stone age, washing the diapers in the bathtub. And breastfeeding is a great inexpensive way to keep a baby fed, assuming no complications and a schedule that permits it.

Problem is, if the mom's income is necessary to even pay the rent, most carers who accept babies will insist on paper diapers and mom will probably not be able to take the time to either go nurse or to pump.

[Liberal_in_LA]

10. Formula is super expensive... formula and cigarettes

[mirror wall]

11. Fuck that.

In a truly civilized country, people wouldn't make such terrible wages and therefore wouldn't have to make terrible decisions such as whether or not to feed the baby. For example: the minimum wage in Norway is roughly equivalent to 20USD. Imagine a world where everyone had enough and no one had too much. That's the real answer. Redistribution and income caps, not poor people having to live lives of basic subsistence.

[Psephos]

13. It worked so well in so many countries throughout the 20th Century...all the proof one needs :) n/t

[EC]

2. So I wonder if they realize that WalMart workers also fall into this

catagory...are they going to give raises so their employees can shop?

[DollyM]

5. Wal mart wages. . .

I think the wages depend upon where you are and how long you have been with wal-mart. My mom has been a greeter there for 10 years, (is now 80 years old) and makes almost $11.00 an hour which is in addition to her social security and pension. She has a ball doing it and gets a 10 percent discount on everything she buys at wal mart including groceries. Considering she didn't even finish high school, she feels she is doing well. I have a Masters degree and have been looking for a job for over a year. Most of the jobs in social service fields around here don't pay $10.00 an hour. I think a walmart job isn't such a bad deal, especially when you consider how much you would save on groceries over a year.

[Skittles]

7. LOL

do you REALLY understand the TRUE cost of a shit place like Wal-mart? They are the epitome of the downfall of America

[nosillies]

9. Do you REALLY understand that for some people, hanging on to a decent-paying job

that offers a tangible benefit (what I wouldn't give for 10% off all my groceries and sundries) in tough times and that makes them feel happy and productive is way more important than self-righteousness and pie-in-the-sky ideals?

To each his own. We all have to find ways to adapt to and live within this real world of real compromises and real issues. We must pick our own battles. Just because her mother didn't pick your battle does not make her a bad person.

[Skittles]

12. who the FUCK ever said her mother was a bad person ?

WAL MART FUCKING STINKS

[Psephos]

14. So what exactly do YOU do to help reverse the "downfall of America"?

Besides denigrate the employment of happy 80-year-old ladies, that is...

[Vinca]

16. If you go to any grocery store on the first of the month, it's apparent

the social security checks, food stamps, etc. have arrived in the mail.