<story><title>Walmart will begin offering to subsidize college tuition for its U.S. workers</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/business/walmart-college-tuition.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>chipperyman573</author><text>&amp;gt;Earlier this year, Walmart raised its base wage $2, to $11 an hour, and expanded its maternity and family leave benefits&lt;p&gt;Wow, raising the wage combined with this tuition assistance makes it seem like Walmart is actually trying not be known as the worst employer out there anymore - these benefits are better than some of the retail jobs I used to work a few years ago. I wonder why they suddenly care? Walmart gets its customers because they have low prices (or at least successfully trick people into thinking they have low prices), the kind of people who value that are unlikely to stop shopping at Walmart because of the negative PR around how they (used to) treat their workers.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>lev99</author><text>&amp;gt;the kind of people who value that are unlikely to stop shopping at Walmart because of the negative PR&lt;p&gt;Walmart isn&amp;#x27;t worried about losing the people shopping at Walmart.  They just need to continue to sell cheap food, clothes, and household things in order to keep them.&lt;p&gt;Walmart has always promoted from within.  I bet very few people have worked part time in Walmart for 1+ year while going to college for a business degree and not been shortlisted for a promotion. The college subsidy will give them more managers with ground floor experience.&lt;p&gt;Walmart is very concerned about how to grow their customer base.  You see this with the 2day online shipping, site to store, and their grocery pickup program.  The increase in wage is a direct attempt to increase employee retention and attract better employees.  This is about growth, not loss prevention.</text></comment>
<story><title>Walmart will begin offering to subsidize college tuition for its U.S. workers</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/30/business/walmart-college-tuition.html</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>chipperyman573</author><text>&amp;gt;Earlier this year, Walmart raised its base wage $2, to $11 an hour, and expanded its maternity and family leave benefits&lt;p&gt;Wow, raising the wage combined with this tuition assistance makes it seem like Walmart is actually trying not be known as the worst employer out there anymore - these benefits are better than some of the retail jobs I used to work a few years ago. I wonder why they suddenly care? Walmart gets its customers because they have low prices (or at least successfully trick people into thinking they have low prices), the kind of people who value that are unlikely to stop shopping at Walmart because of the negative PR around how they (used to) treat their workers.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>fullshark</author><text>They are afraid of Amazon, and realize customer service is going to be their competitive advantage now that they aren&amp;#x27;t, nor will be, the cheapest&amp;#x2F;most convenient destination into the future.</text></comment>