Sam’s Club severs 10% of workforce
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Steve Chiotakis: We got a reminder this morning that if the recession is indeed over, it might not feel like much of a rebound to some. Wal-Mart announced major cuts at its Sam’s Club warehouse division. Marketplace’s Mitchell Hartman has the story.
Mitchell Hartman: Sam’s Club says it’ll cut 11,000 jobs nationwide — about 10 percent of its work force. That’s after the company shut down 10 poorly-performing stores earlier this month.
Many of the shuttered locations are in California, where the members-only warehouse chain faces the steepest competition from rival Costco.
The people losing their jobs at Sam’s Club mostly do in-store “product demos” — those irresistable free-food offerings at the end of the aisle. The work will be outsourced to the company that currently runs Wal-Mart’s highly successful demo program, handing out nearly 3 million samples every week.
A Sam’s Club executive said the company wants to bring this same buzz to its stores. The product demos will be targeted at “educating Mom” about brands and will show off recipes developed specially for its customers, like mini-beef Wellington and Festive Shrimp salad.
I’m Mitchell Hartman for Marketplace.
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