Thread regarding Whole Foods Market Inc. layoffs

I did get those urine smelling pineapples on sale so this website has been great. Appreciate the tip. When you start approaching 8 figures, please drop me some stock tips. Just how much money do you want to have in the bank before you can decide to hang up that apron? Or will you frame it on the wall like a Lance Armstrong yellow jersey? After all, dance with the one what brung ya.

Yeah we know you don’t own a Tesla, it was your poor a-- analogy with a car again that was the point

And I’m certain you will get to 8 figures working at a Whole Foods. Going to Whole Foods now to see if the pee smelling pineapples are on sale. I can wash them off. Might save a few pennies. And no I don’t own a Tesla. That is the kind of spending I think I was clear in stating that I am against. But stay in your happy place believing that customers are beneath you.

Lol, From a 914 Porsche to now a Tesla! You write like a 50-60year old that didn’t have anything handed to them, kudos, your first stop for your kids meals so they can “have a better life is Walmart?” You have lost the war there my friend. 7 figures at 50-60? Hahahahaha keep shopping at Walmart save those pennies and I hope they raise the TM cap in whatever region your working in to get that 8 figures!

Well that is pretty much my point. Why should I pay more for something than I have to. Yes it is better to save money. Whole Foods is fairly simple. You don’t manufacture a product so you are either G&A, indirect support or sales. Every employee that a customer can see is a sales person. You don’t need to like your customers. All you need to do is sell them. Regardless of how you personally feel toward them, if you slight them, ignore them or show disdain for them, you don’t belong in sales. That is why you fail. I worked hard for my money. I prefer to be careful how I spend it.

BOTTOm feeders posting person. Most high end customers as you call it are the cheapest of them all. They beg for their $.05 bag credit, constantly checking prices r correct, etc etc. N its nothing wrng w doing all these things. How do you think they get to become high end customers. Most started at the bottom. You have so much to learn young grasshopper. Money is money regardless how much one buys in wf stores.

I apologize for that last comment. It wasn’t necessary. I would, however, like to get back to the nature of the real problem and why, from an outsider bottom feeders’ perspective, I find it hard to be empathetic to the problems of Whole Foods even though it might be a good product. Let’s begin with the fact that groceries were commoditized decades ago. It is hard to make money in a commodity market regardless of the industry. The normal strategy is to focus on cost because the sales numbers are more or less fixed. The goal then is to maximize EBIT (don’t know how much A there is in your business) and come up with a ROI that is acceptable to the owners. Most companies would be very happy with a ROI of 20% but, in a commodity business, that is almost never achievable. So then you get someone who wants to attack the problem from the other direction. Differentiate the product. An example of that would be Tesla and I even see a parallel to Whole Foods. Tesla differentiates itself not by being a better car but by being a better car for a segment of the population because they want a healthier planet and are willing to pay more for it. Now you could argue that Tesla actually created a new industry but they are still competing with traditional car companies for customers. In either case, to be successful, it is necessary not only to deliver a superior product but to educate the customer base that they actually need it. Sure there is a small percentage with way too much money who will buy it because it is new and “cool” but that won’t sustain a business. The key is education (advertising). My guess is that it is easier to sell kale in California than Oklahoma and, while I don’t want to make this a political argument, the fact is nobody with the possible exception of Spandex makes a one-size-fits-all product. So I am a bottom feeder but I also have discretionary income so Whole Foods could consider me a potential client. The first problem they have to overcome is my prejudice. I was raised on no special food. I had never heard of a bicycle helmet. Never had knee or elbow pads and, against all odds apparently, I somehow survived. So how does Whole Foods convince me I was doing it wrong for so many decades? I’m not saying you can’t change my mind but I am saying the burden of proof is on you. Whole Foods should educate me that a) I could do it better, b) there are benefits to doing it better and c) I should care. Nobody will switch to Whole Foods just because the employees think they are better than Walmart. They will get people to switch by convincing the customer base they are better. Regardless of your personal beliefs, nobody likes an arrogant salesperson. The point to all this is that, regardless of what the company does or does not do, it is out of your control. What you can do is do your part the best you possibly can. If enough of the employees do that, you might start to differentiate yourselves. My company has lost thousands of people due to layoffs. I hate layoffs and don’t wish that on anyone. But it is the reality. Yes I did take a slight offense at being called a bottom feeder but now I accept it. And while I currently am not in need of a job, if I had to put food on the table and clothe and house my family, I would take a job at Walmart in a heartbeat unless there were a better job available and, by better job, I mean one that pays more. Congratulations on the seven figures at 29. While that may have been easy for you, I think most of your generation would disagree. The sad part is that isn’t enough anymore. I know that if my daughters each had $1 million, they would still have to work. If they could achieve 4% return on the principal, after taxes that is in the neighborhood of $30-35K. Not easy to live on that in a Western country. My advice to you is keep that money invested.

That fact that Walmart is hiring must give you solace knowing that your Whole Foods background will give you an edge up on the competition when you have to apply there. Seven figures at 29? The Whole Foods 401K, stock options & pension plan must be the best kept secret in the industry. Well done.

No one gives a sh** about your stupid 914. I’m sure google would tell you that Walmart pasta might not be the best to feed your kids. Doing more harm than good to your kids so you can leave them something good for you but your doing it the wrong way by sacrificing quality food. Doesn’t have to be at wFM but it ain’t at Walmart. Glad you made a few good choices in life. A 7 figure retirement isn’t that hard to accomplish I have that at 29, and I don’t shop at Walmart. So to each thier own...BTW Walmart is hiring

Ok.. if you are shopping for some kale and you see that spinach is 2 for 1 that week and decided to get the spinach. That's just getting the most for your money. Being smart. Now if your walking the store looking for sales and buying them in multiples to take home and put in your freezer. And then asking a TM "how would you cook that?" I would consider you a bottom feeder a opportuniest.... So are all sales good? I think some create bad behavior.

Bottom feeder here again. Once or twice a week I would make the grocery rounds. Walmart first, then Reasors and then Whole Foods right around the corner from Reasors. For my lifestyle, each has its merits. From your tone, I infer that you believe those other two alternatives are "beneath" Whole Foods. I won't argue the contrary. I simply don't care because I am obviously not Whole Foods material. Doesn't matter. Most likely there is a segment of people who do have discretionary income and they see value in investing in groceries. If that were not a reality, Whole Foods might not even exist so I will accept that there is a market for your product. But here is the crux of the problem for you. Your market is shrinking. Interest rates are going up. Stocks are going down. Layoffs are happening in manufacturing, technology, oil and any number of other sectors. The simple reality is your market is shrinking. Fewer people each month are willing to spend extra money on food. Nothing to do with the quality of your product - it is just the perceived value of your product weighed against other priorities. In other words, the bottom feeder population is growing.

You call paying more at Whole Foods living rich? Spending more on groceries prevents you from living rich. Save money and do something fun with it instead of wasting it on upgraded pasta. And obviously you didn't google the Porsche 914. Cost me $3,000 used and it had a VW engine in a targa top body. Looked good. Had a Porsche emblem on the hood. Engine came right out of a VW Beetle. Of course google would have told you that. Unfortunately some of the suspension parts required a trip to the Porsche parts department. And during those years I barely made it paycheck to paycheck and I remember budgeting $10 haircuts and sometimes waiting until the following month. I grew up poor and spent most of my adult life breaking even. Made a few good choices that changed that. I don't plan to take anything with me. It all goes to my children so they can have a better start than I did. So go ahead and keep looking down your nose over that green apron at us bottom feeders. Wonder if you will still be shopping there in your retirement years though.

I would rather live rich than to die rich, Maybe your kids that had to eat that crap at Walmart will take your “allowance “ 7 figures and shop at amazon. Karma

Really? A Porsche 914 is your analogy? 7 figure retirement? Golf clap buddy, golf clap...

Let me explain further. Years ago I bought a used Porsche 914. If you think that is an expensive high end car, google it. It was a VW with a Porsche logo - literally. I had to go to the service department for some part. Can't remember what. Two men in line in front of me so I had to wait. One of them was just along for the ride. The other has a radiator hose in his hand. He remarks to his friend in a voice slightly too loud and said "can you believe this radiator hose cost $200?". He was chuckling while he said it and I got the impression that he wanted me to know how proud he was of paying that much for a rubber hose because he knew I had come in a 914. So the question is this. I can pay $5 for something at WF or $3 for the same thing at Walmart. If I chose to go to WF and pay the $5, am I a better person? If I go to Walmart and pay the $3 am I a bottom feeder? What does money mean to me? Am I proud when I spend it or proud when I save it? Am I ashamed to be called a bottom feeder for saving money or am I ashamed to be caught wasting money? I only bring pride and shame into the discussion because you called me a bottom feeder. To make this more clear. I have a 7 figure retirement and Walmart is my first stop and I am proud to be a bottom feeder because I would rather my children have my money than Whole Foods.

Wow. I guess I am a bottom feeder. Will never shop at Whole Foods again. Nice that you think of the rest of us that way. Question: if you are so "high society", why do you work at Whole Foods? Or is it just that you have higher standards and would never deign to work at, say, Krogers?