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☆ Retail worker quits are on the rise again even as workers in other industries increasingly try to hold onto their jobs
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-08 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

US workers are quitting their jobs less frequently than last year, but retail quits are trending up. The increase is surprising in part because major retailers are spending big money to keep workers. More quits are likely to further escalate a "labor hoarding" war among brands like Walmart, Home Depot, and Kroger. Long known for having some of the lowest wages around, retail workers collectively have seen their pay increase more since 2019 than almost any other group. With nearly two job openings per unemployed worker, rising quits in retail are likely to further escalate the ongoing labor hoarding war among major employers.

☆ Here are 15 of the highest-paid entry-level retail jobs in the US at brands like Buc-ee's, Costco, and Patagonia
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-07 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Retail wages are on the rise as employers struggle to find enough workers to staff their stores. Entry-level workers can now find jobs that pay more than $16 an hour at a variety of brands, including Buc-ee's, Costco, and Patagonia. Insider asked Glassdoor to round up 15 of the highest-paying retail jobs at US companies. To find out which companies have the best paying retail jobs, Insider asked the jobs experts at Glassdoor to share their data from the past year for entry-level full- and part-time sales floor jobs. Keep reading for a look 15 of the highest-paying retail jobs in the US:

☆ Here's how much the typical worker makes at 19 retail companies, from Amazon to Walmart
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

SEC rules require publicly traded companies to disclose their workers' median annual pay. Here's what the median worker gets paid at 19 retail companies, from lowest to highest. Ever since Amazon set its minimum wage to $15 in 2018, more retailers have followed suit by offering starting wages worth more than double the national minimum wage of $7.25. Rules following the financial crisis of 2008 require public companies to calculate their median worker's annual salary in order to compare it to the CEO's compensation. Scroll through below to see where 19 of the largest companies rank, from lowest to highest annual pay.

☆ Walmart, Target, Kroger, and more major retailers go head-to-head in an escalating 'labor hoarding' war over hourly employees
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-04 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

As companies of all stripes tighten their budgets, retailers are still spending big on hourly workers. Big hourly wage increases of the past three years are here to stay, and more are in the works. Kroger is the latest to join other major brands like Walmart and Target in the "labor hoarding" war. There's a quiet war being waged among America's largest retailers, and the winner might be the previously under-appreciated hourly worker. In January Walmart announced it would increase its minimum wage from $12 to $14 per hour, bringing the US average hourly wage up to $17.50.

☆ Costco says the time to raise membership prices is 'about now,' but it won't just yet: 'We'll let you know'
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

For now, Costco is not raising the fee for members of its warehouse club, CFO Richard Galanti said Thursday. The company last increased its fee in 2017 from $55 to $60 for a basic one-year membership. The Issaquah, Washington, mega-retailer told investors Thursday that, for the time being, it would not raise the annual fee for its Gold Star membership from $60. Over 30 million households have Costco's $120 Executive Membership, and Galanti said Executive members represent nearly three-quarters of the company's total sales. He pointed to Costco's popular $4.99 rotisserie chicken as one way the company aims to reward members and drive sales.

☆ Target says cuts to workers are off-limits as it hunts for up to $3 billion in savings
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-02 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Target, bracing for leaner sales, wants to cut $2 billion to $3 billion of operating costs. Even as tech firms lay off thousands of workers, major retailers are still hoarding labor. One area that's off-limits, O'Neil said Tuesday, is Target's investments in "the best team in retail." Both companies echo similar sentiments shared last week when Walmart and Home Depot reported earnings and committed major cash to recruit and retain workers. Even as tech sector layoffs make headlines and companies brace for a tougher road ahead, major retailers are opting to hang onto all the front-line workers they can.

☆ Soon you'll be able to return Target purchases without getting out of your car
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Target is rolling out a new drive-up returns service this spring, reaching nearly 2,000 stores this summer. The new feature uses the same mobile app that powers the company's popular curbside pickup option. E-commerce delivery and curbside pickup options have made it almost dangerously easy to buy stuff without having to go too far out of your way. Plus, the introduction of curbside pickup has only led to more visits to stores, not fewer, and the company sees this as extending that trend. The move also drives more engagement with the Circle membership program and the Target app, both of which are critical to the company getting more useful insights about individual preferences and shopping behavior.

☆ Why Costco uses curiously large packaging for tiny products
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-26 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

The ideal Costco packaging dimensions allow the company to ship, stock, and sell more efficiently. "If you walk through health and beauty, you will see a lot of [items] in that kind of envelope, so that is the very ideal Costco size." "Having $20,000 in high-end face cream on the pallet on the floor isn't good business," Carrier said. Big packaging lets suppliers ship a more manageable number of items to a Costco warehouse using the requisite pallet system. Carrier's company, Berkley, even specializes in helping Costco suppliers break a single tightly-packed container of imported goods into as many as ten trucks loaded with dozens of presentable palletized displays.

☆ It's official: Costco workers are paid to be nice to you
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Costco employee handbook says front end workers must "greet every member with a smile." The company says it takes significant pride in putting members' needs first, outlining a high standard for workers. Costco boasts the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any major general merchandise retailer surveyed by the ASCI. Front-end workers should "greet every member with a smile and present yourself in a professional, friendly manner," the handbook says. Even with stockers and forklift drivers member service is considered our number one job."

☆ Customers are loving Costco. But Walmart? Not so much, new survey says.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Ben Tobin | Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Costco topped a ranking of customer satisfaction with general merchandise retailers. The annual survey polled nearly 36,000 customers and distilled responses into a 100-point scale. Neither Costco nor Walmart responded to requests seeking comment on the survey results. In the supermarket category, Costco lost out on the top spot to Trader Joes, while Walmart still trailed the pack. Do you shop at Costco or Walmart and want to share your thoughts on the survey?

☆ Here's why your Target deliveries are about to get faster
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-24 | by ( Dominick Reuter | Emma Cosgrove | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Target is making an additional $100 million investment in speeding up delivery. Adding at least six new "sortation centers" will position the retailer to deliver more online orders in one day. Next-day delivery would make Target faster than many Amazon orders in certain markets. This store-as-warehouse approach has helped Target orders reach customers across the US relatively quickly using the company's existing retail infrastructure. This year, the company expects to move 50 million packages through its sortation centers, doubling 2022's count.

☆ Costco employee handbook requires workers to 'greet every member with a smile' and give them 'sincere gratitude'
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

The Costco employee handbook says front end workers must "greet every member with a smile." Front-end workers should "greet every member with a smile and present yourself in a professional, friendly manner," the handbook says. It also says a smile is one of the easiest ways to demonstrate good customer service, and that they should "give each member your sincere gratitude." Costco employees told Insider that the smile requirement does not really stand out from the myriad other items they must keep in mind throughout the day, and that it's not specifically enforced anyway. Even with stockers and forklift drivers member service is considered our number one job."

☆ Walmart and Home Depot are spending heaps of cash on pay raises because they can't afford to lose workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Ben Tobin | Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Home Depot is spending $1 billion to increase wages for hourly workers, the company said Tuesday. Walmart similarly announced last month that it would raise its minimum wage to $14 per hour. Both Walmart and Home Depot said they hoped the raises would boost employee retention and recruitment. The investments show how tight the labor market remains for retail workers, even amid warnings of a potential recession and a rush of layoff announcements among companies in tech, media, and other industries. Retail workers are quitting at faster rates than the national average, and retail had the second most job openings of any industry as of December 2022.

☆ Walmart and Home Depot fire off warnings about the American consumer
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Walmart and Home Depot warned that sales growth is likely to slow as shoppers look to save money. Between inflation, rising interest rates, layoffs, and other uncertainties, the stresses on household bank accounts are mounting, which could spell trouble as consumer spending represents roughly 70% of the US economy. "Prices are still high, and there is considerable pressure on the consumer," Walmart CFO John Rainey said. In Home Depot's case, CFO Richard McPhail told analysts: "We've assumed, like many economists, that we will see flat, real economic growth and consumer spending in 2023." We don't know what happens to consumer spending.

☆ The typical Home Depot customer is a 45-year-old white man with a college degree earning over $80,000
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Half of US shoppers are Home Depot customers, and the store has similar customer loyalty as Costco. The store's average customer is a middle-aged white man with a college degree earning over $80,000 per year. Numerator found that Home Depot's typical shopper is a middle-aged white man, who is married without children at home. About 3.3% of the typical shopper's overall spending takes place at Home Depot — about a third of what they spend at Walmart, where they spend the most of their shopping dollars. Home Depot carries between 30,000 and 40,000 different products, but the typical customer's favorite products to buy are building supplies, fasteners, paint (from Behr), and lawn and garden supplies (from Scotts).

☆ 52 stores you once loved that don't exist anymore
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-18 | by ( Joey Hadden | Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

New York discount department store Century 21 — not to be confused with the realty group — closed its 13 stores after going bankrupt in 2020. The company says it is planning to reopen its flagship location in 2023 with a greater focus on e-commerce. Shoppers leave the Century 21 department store in New York on March 1, 2002. The store, located across the street from the site of the World Trade Center, reopened on February 28 after being closed since the September 11, 2001 attacks and undergoing a $10 million renovation. The reopening was hailed by city officials as a critical piece in the economic recovery of lower Manhattan.

☆ Why now may be a good time to buy a used Rolex — if you plan to keep it
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-17 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Prices for pre-owned Rolex watches have been on the slide for almost a year after posting record highs. The biggest reason for the price decline, analysts say, was a surge of additional watches to the market. Watch prices quickly followed suit, entering a months-long decline that is only now beginning to show signs of leveling off. But the tumbling price of used luxury watches like Rolex, Audemars Piguet, and Patek Philippe can also be explained by a simple economics principle: supply arriving to meet demand. "The price correction was mainly driven by the increase in supply," wrote Morgan Stanley equity analyst Edouard Aubin and colleagues.

☆ Similac maker Abbott could face criminal penalties of up to $500,000 per offense in DOJ probe of factory conditions amid the baby formula shortage
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Similac maker Abbott is under federal criminal investigation for its role in the baby formula shortage. The possible charges carry penalties of up to $500,000 for corporations and up to a year of prison time for individuals. "It's a layup for a misdemeanor charge against Abbott," a food-safety attorney told Crain's Chicago. "It's a layup for a misdemeanor charge against Abbott and/or particular executives who were in charge of that plant," food-safety attorney Bill Merler told Crain's Chicago Business. In addition, the Centers for Disease Control said it could not conclusively link the multiple strains of bacteria found at the Abbott plant with those that led to the deaths of two infants in Ohio.

☆ Cars crash into 7-Eleven stores every day, and the problem just cost the chain $91 million after a man tragically lost his legs
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Vehicles crash into buildings with surprising frequency in the US: more than 100 times each day. On average, one of those crashes each day happens at a 7-Eleven. In all, there were 6,253 storefront crashes at 7-Elevens in that period — an average of more than one per day. The once-a-day crash at 7-Eleven is in fact dwarfed by the total number of crashes that take place at storefronts across the US, however. "If you install bollards, you pretty much solve that problem," Storefront Safety Council co-founder Rob Reiter told CBS Chicago.

☆ Walmart is closing a batch of stores in 2023 — here's the full list
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( Ben Tobin | Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +1 min

Walmart will close five stores in four states: Illinois, Wisconsin, New Mexico, and Florida. The company is also winding down its two remaining pickup locations in Illinois and Arkansas. The recent closures follow a trend of Walmart closing a handful of stores across various states each year, with the company saying that the stores are "underperforming" without providing specifics. In addition, the retail giant is ending its nine-year experiment with two pick-up only locations in Illinois and Arkansas. SE, AlbuquerqueWisconsin:10330 W. Silver Spring Dr, MilwaukeeDo you shop at one of the Walmart stores above and want to share your thoughts?

☆ Retailers are hoarding labor even as tech layoffs mount
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-14 | by ( Avery Hartmans | Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Some retailers are bucking the trend of layoffs and holding on to workers. But on the store level, retailers are holding on tight to their workers, even seasonal workers who they typically would have dismissed by now, in a practice known as "labor hoarding." "The concept of labor hoarding is alive and well," Kenneth Kim, a senior economist at KPMG, told Insider. Anna Moneymaker/Getty ImagesThose layoffs don't seem to be an emerging trend in the retail sector, Kim from KPMG said. And while there were 417,000 job cuts in January, the official models were accounting for a lot more, since that's when many retailers typically begin laying off seasonal workers.

☆ Bed Bath & Beyond used to have over 1,000 stores. Soon, it will have just 360.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-10 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Bed Bath & Beyond plans to slim down to just 360 housewares stores nationwide. "We continue to put our customers at the center of every decision, positioning Bed Bath & Beyond to meet and exceed their expectations," CEO Sue Gove said in a statement. Bed Bath & Beyond did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment. "Store closings, especially of this magnitude, are a symptom of a problem," Saunders said. "Suppliers are very nervous about Bed Bath & Beyond," Saunders said.

☆ New AI-powered Google Maps will help electric-car owners find a charging station to power up and get back on the road within 40 minutes
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Grace Kay | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Google maps will now help electric vehicles find charging stations more quickly. Its new features will deploy artificial intelligence to assist EV drivers looking to power up. A "very fast charging filter" can help EVs charge in a hurry, Google Geo head Chris Phillips said. While many EV drivers charge their vehicles at home, longer drives necessitate careful organization. Last year, a reporter from The Wall Street Journal said a lack of EV charging sites and accurate charging maps left her spending more time waiting for her car to charge then sleeping during a 2,000-mile road trip.

☆ Shoppers at some Kroger, Lowe's, and Safeway stores may be able to unlock merchandise cases themselves — but only if they share their phone numbers first
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Ben Tobin | Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Customers wait nearly two minutes on average to get assistance with locked-away items. New tech is rolling out at major brands to reduce the hassle in exchange for a cell phone number. Indyme says the Freedom Case is being tested at some Lowe's, Kroger, Safeway, and Family Dollar locations. Meanwhile, shopper Maureen Holohan told the Associated Press she's not quite sold on trading her phone number for access to buy beauty products. "If they're going to make it that hard to buy something, I'll find somewhere else to buy that."

☆ Meet the typical Whole Foods shopper, a highly educated West Coast millennial woman earning $80,000
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Dominick Reuter | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

Whole Foods' average shopper is a West Coast woman who is 29 years old and earning $80,000 per year. Numerator found that Whole Foods' typical shopper is a West Coast millennial woman between 25 and 34 years old. About 5% of the typical shopper's spending takes place at Whole Foods — about half of what she spends on Amazon. Whole Foods shoppers also tend to choose the store's in-house 365 brand, as well as Organic Valley dairy products and Applegate meats. Across all retailers, Whole Foods shoppers buy a lot more kombucha than the typical US shopper.

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