Still Broke: Walmart's Remarkable Transformation and the Limits of Socially Conscious Capitalism

by Rick Wartzman

How America’s biggest company began taking better care of its workers--and why such efforts will never be enough.

Fifteen years ago, Walmart was the most controversial company in America. By offering incredibly low prices, it had come to dominate the retail landscape. But with this dominance came a suite of ethical concerns. Walmart was accused of wiping out mom-and-pop businesses across the country; ruthlessly pressuring suppliers to cut costs, even if it meant closing up U.S. factories and moving production overseas; and, above all, not taking adequate care of its own employees, who were paid so little that many wound up on public assistance.
 
Today, while Walmart remains America's largest employer, the picture is very different. It has become an environmental leader among businesses, and has taken many other steps to use its immense scale to have a positive social impact. Most notably, its starting wage has risen from $7.25 to $12, and employee benefits have improved. With internal and external threats to its business looming, the company began to change directions in 2005—a transformation that accelerated in 2014, with the arrival of CEO Doug McMillon. By undertaking such large-scale change without a legal mandate to do so, Walmart has joined a number of major corporations that say they are dedicated to practicing a new, socially conscious form of capitalism.

In  Still Broke , award-winning author Rick Wartzman goes inside the company's transformation, showing in novelistic detail how the company has gotten to where it is. Yet he also asks a critical is it enough? With a still-simmering public debate around the minimum wage and widespread movements by workers demanding better treatment, how far will $12 an hour go in today's economy? Or even $15? Or Walmart’s average wage, which now hovers above $17—but, even so, doesn’t pencil out to so much as $32,000 a year for a fulltime worker?
 
In the richest nation on earth, how did the bar get set so low? How did America find itself relying on an army of low-wage workers without ever acknowledging their most basic needs? And if Walmart's brand of change is the best we have, how can we ever expect to build a healthy society?

With unparalleled access to the key executives and change-makers at Walmart,  Still Broke  does more than document a remarkable business makeover. It interrogates the role of business in American life, and asks what the future of our economy and country can be—and whose job it is to make it.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Labor, Journalism

272 pages, Hardcover

Published November 15, 2022

Reviews

[Athena · Rating 2 out of 5]

I don't know why I read the entire book. It mostly reads like Walmart propaganda, and then in the last few pages Rick Wartzman points out that every US worker needs to earn at least $20 an hour these days.

[Cheesecat777 · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was very eye-opening and not only shows that Walmart is trying but not trying hard enough to raise their employees’ wages, but also shows how broken the economy is as a whole.

[Enriquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

As someone who works at Walmart, I think this helps give me context on why I feel the way I do. I've seen my fair share of disappointment within the company.

I still appreciate it for giving me the opportunity. It is not black and white. It's a really crappy situation. I am only going to speak for myself. There's a whole community on Reddit if you want to hear other's opinions.

I like what I do, I want to excel and be the best I can, I know I have the potential, but the environment in so many ways works against me that it leaves me feeling unmotivated. Not just one store but many I've transferred to in the last three years.

I still try and do my best, because I want to. Regardless of whether or not others feel that I am simply wasting my energy, and that's the sad part.

I love how the book meets me at eye level and understands where I'm coming from, as well as give me context on the retail industry in general. Because I am so baffled at how Walmart is the way it is despite everything the company claims and does.

The author gives me the history of Sam Walton, the company, and how we ended up to this point. It's great for someone like me who likes to refer to reputable sources and employees alike.

"Walmart beats the bold out of you", said one employee. Couldn't have said it better myself. Thank you, Mr. Wartzman for writing this book.

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is an okay book that narrates the journey to increase the minimum wage of Walmart workers in the USA. To me, what it was more effective in doing was to reinforce just how fundamentally broken that country and its economic priorities are. At some point, I lost track of where the wage narrative was going, as the different controversies that emerged around Walmart during its recent-ish history were presented, but the general idea was established well enough, I suppose. A relevant issue, however, is how much time the author felt the need to spend defending not only himself but several of his allies for having converted from Walmart haters to supporters. This drags on and feels like a very "insider" type of commentary, as in, this was not meant for the average reader, but rather to those who are immediately involved in that battle. In other words, maybe the average reader is not the actual audience for this book.

[John Sellars · Rating 4 out of 5]

Read an excerpt of this book for my American Business class and decided to keep reading. I’d say it’s worth it because I had plenty of context, but not an engaging read by any means. I appreciate its expansion on corporate responsibility and general history of Walmart, though. Such an interesting company to track the development of, makes me want to take the next train to Bentonville! Can’t see my local Walmarts the same.

[Tiffany · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great journalistic piece but a bit too long and repetitive at the end

[CatReader · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting sequel-of-sorts to Walmart founder Sam Walton's 1992 memoir/manifesto Sam Walton: Made In America (see also: Ray Kroc's 1977 memoir/manifesto Grinding It Out: The Making of McDonald's, for a company founded on similar principles that's similarly contemporarily maligned). Wartzman traces the contemporary history of Walmart. Wartzman is particularly interested in exploring the employee experience, particularly the lack of a competitive/livable wage, exacerbated by the loss of profit sharing as an employee benefit. I found this book to be interesting albeit repetitive in parts.

One thing that always comes to my mind when I read books like this is how we as a society don't recognize all the potential jobs where people make a similar hourly wage to a Walmart or McDonald's employee for extended periods of time, and how a discussion of fair wage applies in those setting as well. For instance, I spent 8 years in graduate school making around $20,000/year ("the living stipend") in the 2010s, working an average of 60 hours/week, including weekends, overnights, holidays, etc. That works out to an hourly wage of $6.54 (just a penny above the US poverty wage in 2023 terms). The only benefit I received was an average of one week of paid vacation per year, and health insurance (for which I had to pay probably $1000/year out-of-pocket, in addition to the employer-paid costs) -- since we were "students," we weren't privy to employer-funded or -matched retirement accounts. I knew of at least one colleague who had a baby on that income and qualified for WIC, which she gratefully accepted. Granted, I make many times that annual salary now, and the education I completed was required to move into my current role. However, I do acknowledge that for those who don't have many viable long-term employment options besides working at Walmart and are born into generational poverty, their situation is vastly different, and requires different solutions besides merely raising minimum wage.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine for what it was. It is well-researched and I think that the author did a great job in putting this together. It also stands as a statement as to how large companies like Walmart operate, which I think is important. Having said al that, it can be a chore to get through if you are not specifically impacted in some way. I read this because Walmart is a very large employer and therefore it does, in some ways, set standards for working life in the US, particularly in the field of retail. My biggest takeaway from the book is the unbelievable, frankly ridiculous, amount of data, personal stories, studies, etc. behemoth-sized companies like Walmart need to collect about a topic (pay rates) before they can act,when anyone who has worked 6 months in their life could tell you the problem.

[Maria · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 really, it's perfect as an audiobook, otherwise I think the content density would not have been enough to keep my interest.

It's a bit ironic because I think the content problems stems from the fact that there despite Walmart's progress, they just haven't really done all that much. Something the author effectively calls out at the end when he shares that he no longer believes businesses can or will do the right thing.

If someone feels like DNFing this, I suggest skipping to the last chapter which was solid. It gave a more general perspective on the history of living wages.

[Colin Winkler · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book talked back and forth about the struggle that both Walmart and the labor organizations went through to get to an agreement of where to set the standard. Years later, progress has been made with a recognition of higher wages, but this too is inadequate. I found the book to be less biased than say, an outright attack on the business, but couldn’t help feel the need to equip the workers with better wages. Like all good things, it takes time, but why were they robbed of this in the first place?

[Tom Arnett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Despite what the title may imply, this is not a one-sided narrative about Walmart. It tells both the good and the bad—with both glowing praise and stern criticism. It game me a lot to think about as I wonder what better forms of capitalism and a path to prosperity for all people might look like.

[Aarthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF - author seemed so self congratulatory to get this “unprecedented access” to Walmart internal to write this book & it came off as Walmart propaganda (with tons of hand waiving that author would be sooo impartial). Some interesting nuggets in here. Got about halfway through.

[Elaine Pasky · Rating 4 out of 5]

Did not finish. Great details but too much for me at this time.

[Chip (C.A.) Printup · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting look at the brand that synonymous with middle America retail.

Not much purpose reading this outside of a business or political science class.