Wal-Mart: Our shoppers are 'running out of money'

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) -- Wal-Mart's core shoppers are running out of money much faster than a year ago due to rising gasoline prices, and the retail giant is worried, CEO Mike Duke said Wednesday.

"We're seeing core consumers under a lot of pressure," Duke said at an event in New York. "There's no doubt that rising fuel prices are having an impact."

Wal-Mart shoppers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck, typically shop in bulk at the beginning of the month when their paychecks come in.

Lately, they're "running out of money" at a faster clip, he said.

"Purchases are really dropping off by the end of the month even more than last year," Duke said. "This end-of-month [purchases] cycle is growing to be a concern.

elysium wrote:Perhaps a worker's slogan (in the upcoming struggle) could be 'if we can't spend, don't expect us to produce.' I've often contemplated why the workers in the U.S. don't collectively unite and not show up at their places of employment, until their demands are met, i.e., a living-wage, appropriate medical benefits, and safe workplace conditions (excluding persons such as hospital staff, etc). This is in contrast a "workers of the world, unite!" approach, in which widespread violence would be anticipated.

When the workers realize they control the purse strings, this whole capitalist oppression can stop. It will be sort of like a reverse of taking the basic sustenance away from the capitalist, as has already been taken away from the worker.

elysium wrote:Perhaps a worker's slogan (in the upcoming struggle) could be 'if we can't spend, don't expect us to produce.' I've often contemplated why the workers in the U.S. don't collectively unite and not show up at their places of employment, until their demands are met, i.e., a living-wage, appropriate medical benefits, and safe workplace conditions (excluding persons such as hospital staff, etc). This is in contrast a "workers of the world, unite!" approach, in which widespread violence would be anticipated.

When the workers realize they control the purse strings, this whole capitalist oppression can stop. It will be sort of like a reverse of taking the basic sustenance away from the capitalist, as has already been taken away from the worker.