this post was submitted on 05 Jan 2026
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Late Stage Capitalism
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When I was a kid Walmart had a policy that if something rang up for more than was listed on the shelf price you would get $3.00 off the item. How times have changed.
My local Walmart doesn’t even seem to even want people shopping in the store anymore. They are constantly blocking off aisles with full pallets of products that haven’t been put away yet, the Walmart pickup workers are running through aisles and blowing through intersections with headphones on, and they never have any bags at the checkouts.
That's because of understaffing.
Odd how Costco, which pays people well and takes care of their employees so much that people proudly share how long they've worked there on their name tag, doesn't suffer from this problem.
Because Costco isn't run for maximum short term profit. And a lot of people think it's run poorly because of this and is an example of bad business.
The issue is what you think the endgoal of a business is.
Costco tends to focus its locations in large municipalities with high throughput, while Walmart built its business model on rural monopolization of retail where it could be feast or famine any given week. Costco optimized around sales flow, while Walmart optimized around margin per unit sold.
Both have been incredibly profitable over their lifetimes. Both have benefited from cities and states effectively paying subsidies to attract Big Box retailers that would drive out their smaller competitors. Both are, fundamentally, capitalist enterprises fixated on maximizing profit surplus.
The "problems" Walmart faces are problems pushed onto staffers and shoppers in markets where retail sales have declined. The "solutions" that Costco landed on only seem to work in wealthier and denser neighborhoods, where retail sales jobs are still the bottom rung of the economy.
Understaffing is a consequence of management and policy, not a cause by itself.
Yea turns out when the demand is high enough companies can be absolute shit to their customers, employees, and suppliers while staying in business.
The demand is only so high because they spent the last 50 years strangling local grocers to death
Yup but it's not just food production. Like every industry is like that. Churning and burning customers and workers alike.
Walmart is not understaffed. They're staffed precisely how much they want to be. Walmart is just a dirty, filthy store that is hostile to its customers and workers.
then take the hint.
Believe me I would love to never step in a Walmart again, but it’s literally the only option in my little rural town. I’d have to drive about 100 miles just to get to another store.
There's always delivery.