Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Message Board

One of the best takes on Target I have ever read!

Jeff Sloan in Dallas, Texas said: Target would be a better place to work at if the Team Member weren't treated like slaves. Some of us learned new things took on more responsibilities thinking we were going to get promoted because they were leading us on, but only took advantage of us. I'm sorry but only getting 25-30hrs a week @ $7.15 - $8.16/hr and being talked down to by lazy TL's that pass their workload onto us is not worth it. If those of us that actually do our jobs and do the extras were compensated then yes it would be a good place to be at.

Imagine being stuck there as a TPS for three years, being promised a promotion by both your ETL-AP and DAPTL at least three times, being expected to be one of four District Team Trainers, being hounded by your DAPTL to do the job of an ETL-AP when they finally get the sense to quit, and after three solid years of service, including cancelled vacations, being at work on my sister's graduation day, and being the top loss-recovering store in most of your state for eight months running (thanks to my hand-picked crew of competent personnel who were dumb enough to work for only a dollar above minimum wage), leaving at a pay rate of $9.83/hr.

Once I hit year two, I did nothing for free. Every time someone had to call me on my day off to explain a policy, give work advice, or refresh training, I would fill out a punch correction. After all, I worked for that time spent on the phone. I can't tell you how many times I "worked" for ten minutes over the phone and was paid for four hours. Thank you, California Labor Laws.

Don't get me wrong- ground level personnel at Target tend to be some of the most down-to-earth people to work with. There were several times I couldn't assist with investigations due to knowing the subject. The problem is in management. You are an asset to them; just another way they make money. If you don't perform up to expectations, you don't make enough money.

Sentiment: Strong Sell

Larry already went to bed?

Sentiment: Strong Buy

Great news, should of happen 30 years ago. Now if they can close about half the Post offices across America and those bulk centers they might break even in 5 years. What a wasteful business if it was a private company it would already be in bankruptcy.

Sentiment: Strong Buy

Bank of America Corp., which handles customer service on about 15% of U.S. home loans, has accounted for 30% of the mortgage complaints logged by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to a new database made public by the federal watchdog.

The level of customer discontent — far greater than at home-lending rivals Wells Fargo & Co. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. — reflects BofA's struggles since its 2008 acquisition of Countrywide Financial Corp. in Calabasas. Countrywide had become the No. 1 mortgage firm by specializing in subprime and other high-risk loans.

BofA, which has recorded tens of billions of dollars in losses on Countrywide loans, was the object of 15,136 mortgage complaints since December 2011, when the consumer bureau began taking complaints about home loans.

The bank noted that the bureau's website shows that 98% of the problems have been resolved.

Two-thirds of the complaints involved BofA's handling of loan modifications, debt collection and foreclosures, a fact the bank attributed to the concentration of toxic Countrywide loans. An additional 20% involved customer-service problems, such as the handling of payments and escrow accounts for funds used to pay taxes and insurance.

Bank analyst Nancy Bush, a contributing editor to SNL Financial, said the complaint data "enforces what we already knew — that Countrywide was a hot mess."

"The lack of infrastructure at Countrywide left Bank of America in the lurch from day one when it came to enacting the tsunami of directives that came at them [from regulators] after the meltdown," Bush said.

The regulators were responding to a huge problem, the consumer bureau numbers show. All told, the bureau listed 50,457 mortgage-related complaints as of Thursday, more than half the total 90,000 complaints it has received about all financial products and services.

The bureau — created in response to the financial crisis — previously made available a database of complaints about credit cards; on Thursday it added complaint data on student loans, bank accounts and other consumer loans.

"By sharing these complaints with the public, we are creating greater transparency in consumer financial products and services," the bureau's director, Richard Cordray, said in remarks prepared for a meeting in Des Moines. "The database is good for consumers, and it is also good for honest businesses."

In a statement issued late Thursday, BofA said it supports the consumer bureau's goal of "providing greater transparency in banking service."

"As a result of the Countrywide acquisition, Bank of America became the largest mortgage servicer at the peak of the housing crisis, and the servicer of a disproportionate share of loan types impacted by the economic downturn," the bank said.

"While we make every effort to provide a good experience for all customers, the servicing of mortgage loans in delinquency or foreclosure predictably results in more frequent customer concerns," the bank said.

Bank of America is the second-largest provider of mortgage customer service, which involves bookkeeping, billing, collecting payments for distribution to mortgage owners and investors, and dealing with distressed borrowers and foreclosures.

No. 1 is Wells Fargo, which according to National Mortgage News serviced 21.5% of all U.S. home loans as of Dec. 31. The San Francisco bank accounted for less than 16% of total mortgage complaints. As with BofA and other major mortgage companies, most involved foreclosures and loan modifications.

JPMorgan Chase, with a 12.7% share of the servicing business, accounted for 10% of the complaints. Citibank, the fourth-largest servicer with 5.2% of the business, accounted for 4.8% of the complaints, while No. 5 U.S. Bancorp, with a 2.9% market share, generated 1.7% of the complaints to the consumer bureau.

BofA Chief Executive Brian Moynihan has taken a knife to the mortgage business in his efforts to downsize his Charlotte, N.C., bank into a leaner, more profitable business. BofA no longer makes mortgages through independent brokers and no longer buys them from smaller mortgage bankers.

Moynihan also has been selling chunks of the mortgage-servicing operations, which include collecting payments on loans that have been sold as well as those in its portfolio.

The shrinkage is a stark contrast to Countrywide's expansion before the mortgage meltdown.

"If we needed an object lesson in the perils of excessive growth, Countrywide provided it," said Bush, the bank analyst. "Let's hope the regulators remember."

Sentiment: Strong Sell

Walmart and Sams continue to have the lowest gas prices in Atlanta and with them having the lowest grocery prices and great deals on clothing and homegoods Walmart is the only place to shop. I love Walmart try it you will get hooked on the prices and selection. Did you know they are the largest purchaser of American made goods in the world.

SAVE MONEY LIVE BETTER WITH WALMART!!

Sentiment: Strong Buy

What a great American success story just ask the 10 million Americans who are employee"s and vendors representing American jobs. What is good for Walmart is good for America! Thank you Jesus!

Sentiment: Strong Buy

What is Peppy to do. Maybe get a part time job at Walmart as a door greeter in postal uniform. To bad the cash cow is being pulled. I also see the Postmaster wants to hire more part time (32 hrs or less) and then push the full timers down to only 36 hours a week. Great move and the unions will be yelling all the way till Sept 1st.

Sentiment: Strong Buy

Free at last free at last if I dont want to be in a stinking Communist union Michigan workers don"t have to. I wonder how many will quit the god forsaken unions the fist month and tell the union #$%$ to get lost.

Sentiment: Strong Buy

Saving money in Illinois’ Medicaid system has been an exercise in lowered expectations

Illinois wants to be the engine that pulls states toward the Affordable Care Act, yet a metaphorical “train wreck” is just around the bend.

Julie Hamos, director of Illinois’ Health Care and Family Services department, told Illinois lawmakers Tuesday never mind the president’s health care reform: the state is still struggling to fix the current health care system for the poor.

She said Illinois saved $1.1 billion last year, but lawmakers were expecting $1.6 billion in savings. The state has $2.3 billion in unpaid Medicaid bills.

“We haven’t solved the problem of not paying our Medicaid bills,” Hamos said.

Saving money in Illinois’ Medicaid system has been an exercise in lowered expectations.

State Sen. Heather Steans, D-Chicago, said Illinois hoped for more than $500 million in savings by simply trimming the Medicaid rolls.

That didn’t happen.

“Originally there has been some intent and effort to try and get a saving number of $700 million. We thought that might be high and unachievable,” Steans said. “We put it down to $350 million, still, I think, understanding that it might be difficult to achieve.”

Hamos doesn’t know how much Illinois could save by trimming the Medicaid rolls, in part because an outside auditor has reviewed the accounts for only 20,000 of Illinois’ 2.7 million Medicaid recipients.

“Of those 20,000 they have recommended to cancel 13,550.”

Hamos said those cases are now “with case workers” but didn’t say if anyone has actually been dropped from Medicaid yet.

But that number — 13,550 — is dwarfed by the huge increase in new Medicaid recipients under the Affordable Care Act.

Hamos expects 509,000 new Medicaid patients in Illinois by 2017, when the ACA is fully operational.

The federal government will cover 100 percent of the cost for most of those people, but the state would have to pay half for at least 167,000 new patients, as well as the 2.7 million people now on the Medicaid rolls.

Finding the money to pay those bills could be a problem. By 2014, Hamos said, the state is headed for a “train wreck,” which could leave the state wanting for billions in federal money.

As Illinois moves Medicaid patients out of the emergency room and into managed care, as required by a 2011 state law, the state will pay less money to hospitals. That, in turn, would lower the amount of money Illinois is able to claim for the federal Medicaid match.

“We are going to have a bunch of dollars that are not matchable,” Hamos said. “I call it a train wreck that we are going to have to deal with this year.”

Illinois is addicted to the federal Medicaid match, as more than $10 billion of the state’s $17 billion in total Medicaid spending comes from the federal government.

Sentiment: Strong Buy

"With Congress, every time they make a joke it's a law, and every time they make a law it's a joke."

Sentiment: Strong Buy

Good to see WMT have another GREAT DAY! Remember what is good for WMT is good for America!

Sentiment: Strong Buy

He may of broke the China phone. Or it was not his day to have the village phone.

Sentiment: Strong Buy

Looks like this may be a good week for WMT. America still shops the number one retailer in the world WMT. What is good for WMT is good for America.

Sentiment: Strong Buy