Macy's to Open Distribution Center - 1,500 jobs

[Conan71]

sourced from http://www.gasbuddy.com/gb_retail_price_chart.aspx?city1=USA%20Average&city2=&city3=&crude=y&tme=132&units=us, with 2 background colors added by me

Clearly Obama was the one that drove crude oil and gas prices to record highs.

Truth be known, Tom Kivisto and his degenerate gambling habit on oil futures probably had more to do with that spike than anyone.

Looking at pump prices, average prices have been higher during the Obama Admin than the Bush years.  As far as what either president's energy policies have to do with that is beyond me as we still don't seem to have any sort of cohesive energy policy.

[sauerkraut]

I had something all typed out until I realized who I was responding to.  I figured this would work better.

What is incorrect about what I said? We do have a record number of people on food stamps under Obama, we have 92 million people unemployed, The national average of gasoline never fell below $3.00 a gallon while  'Bama was in the whitehouse. High taxes, 'BamaCare, EPA regulations are chasing companies overseas, Burger King moved to Canada because of high taxes. The national economy is grim. The U-6 true  unemployment rate is around 14%. Triple face palm  for Obama.

[sauerkraut]

Thanks to Obama's EPA and his war on coal & oil our Electric bills are going up & up. Two more years till he's gone and I can't wait!

[Hoss]

What is incorrect about what I said? We do have a record number of people on food stamps under Obama, we have 92 million people unemployed, The national average of gasoline never fell below $3.00 a gallon while  'Bama was in the whitehouse. High taxes, 'BamaCare, EPA regulations are chasing companies overseas, Burger King moved to Canada because of high taxes. The national economy is grim. The U-6 true  unemployment rate is around 14%. Triple face palm  for Obama.

Then source all of that rather than blathering on.  You know how to copy and paste, don't you cabbage?

And gas prices?  Did you even look at the chart?  Or did you forget Chart Reading 101 in grammar school?

No wonder Oklahoma is nearly dead last in many categories with blathering idiots like you.  Jeez.

[RecycleMichael]

Thanks to Obama's EPA and his war on coal & oil our Electric bills are going up & up. Two more years till he's gone and I can't wait!

You should use the Google and type in Guffy Coal Act of 1935 and the Clean Air Act of 1977.

[heironymouspasparagus]

The problem with your assumption is that neither Tulsa nor OKC can support more than two Costcos so there's no relevance to your point.  Secondly, an order fulfillment center pays wages which are new money to the economy, not recirculated money like a local retail point such as Costco.  Finally, starting wage for seasonal employees (read: temporary, not destination jobs) is claimed to be around $10.50/hr by Macy's president for logistics.  

Let's not presume that the majority of jobs in either case is only entry level.  Macy's also offers health and dental for full time employees and I would assume a 401K.  Costco's starting wages are around $11.50 per hour.  That's an average compiled nation-wide including states with higher COL than Tulsa.  I don't suspect Costco will offer the same starting wage to an employee in Tulsa as it would to one in Irvine, Ca.

There's also an uptick for someone currently working at Braum's for minimum wage to improve their income.  Certainly the center doesn't offer pay which would attract me now, but it's definitely the sort of work I would have sought out when I was studying at TCC, or possibly even joining the management track after I was done with school.  

But I guess if someone wants to mine only negatives from new money coming to the area, that's your prerogative.

The link I included had the ranges for Macy's....


Ok, then let's get the 4 Costco's (1080 people with benefits) and throw in some In & Out Burgers.  Their average wage is about $15 an hour....50% more than Macy's.  Would take a few more stores, but same logic - the better paying jobs are better for Oklahoma AND the people living here AND the people working for those higher wages.

But that doesn't follow "The Script"...

[rdj]

We don't need more service jobs that are serving local people that have money.  We need more jobs where the money is coming from the outside and staying here in the form of wages and tax dollars!

[Conan71]

The link I included had the ranges for Macy's....


Ok, then let's get the 4 Costco's (1080 people with benefits) and throw in some In & Out Burgers.  Their average wage is about $15 an hour....50% more than Macy's.  Would take a few more stores, but same logic - the better paying jobs are better for Oklahoma AND the people living here AND the people working for those higher wages.

But that doesn't follow "The Script"...

As RDJ understands, more retailers only recirculate local dollars and cannibalize sales income from other competitors in the marketplace.  A distribution center which ships orders coming in from all over the nation and pays up to 4000-5000 people's wages is all new money to the local economy with the exception of orders fulfilled and shipped to the local marketplace.

Jobs like this help create the opportunity for In-and-Out Burger to locate here or for a Costco in north Tulsa or Owasso.

As well, you keep conflating the wages of Macy's retail store employees from Glassdoor with distribution center employees.  Macy's claims the DC employees will be paid more.

[sauerkraut]

No one really is sure what the wages will be I heard all kinds of numbers tossed around,  but it's likely nearby places like Whirlpool who has trouble finding enough workers as it is will have to raise their pay to keep their current work force from fleeing to Macys, the same goes for the Bus Plant that pays around $17.00 an hour top scale, My guess is Macys will be starting off at about $14.00 or $15.00 an hour to attract & keep workers, part time and seasonal workers may get paid a bit less. None the less this is a very good thing for Tulsa, The Governor made an outstanding deal to get Macys to come to Oklahoma and pass up 4 other states. Macys could of gone to Texas. If we had a democrat governor we never would of got Macys, in fact Oklahoma would likely be loosing jobs and our unemployment rate would be like it was when Henry was in power. Macys is not the only jobs that came to Tulsa in the past few years either, plus many current companies are expanding and adding jobs.

[Townsend]

No one really is sure what the wages will be I heard all kinds of numbers tossed around,  but it's likely nearby places like Whirlpool who has trouble finding enough workers as it is will have to raise their pay to keep their current work force from fleeing to Macys, the same goes for the Bus Plant that pays around $17.00 an hour top scale, My guess is Macys will be starting off at about $14.00 or $15.00 an hour to attract & keep workers, part time and seasonal workers may get paid a bit less. None the less this is a very good thing for Tulsa, The Governor made an outstanding deal to get Macys to come to Oklahoma and pass up 4 other states. Macys could of gone to Texas. If we had a democrat governor we never would of got Macys, in fact Oklahoma would likely be loosing jobs and our unemployment rate would be like it was when Henry was in power. Macys is not the only jobs that came to Tulsa in the past few years either, plus many current companies are expanding and adding jobs.

If they've prescribed medication, you should take it.

[Red Arrow]

We don't need more service jobs that are serving local people that have money.  We need more jobs where the money is coming from the outside and staying here in the form of wages and tax dollars!

Going with the (generally liberal) thought that there is a finite supply of money, we will have to steal any new money from someone/somewhere else. 

[heironymouspasparagus]

As RDJ understands, more retailers only recirculate local dollars and cannibalize sales income from other competitors in the marketplace.  A distribution center which ships orders coming in from all over the nation and pays up to 4000-5000 people's wages is all new money to the local economy with the exception of orders fulfilled and shipped to the local marketplace.

Jobs like this help create the opportunity for In-and-Out Burger to locate here or for a Costco in north Tulsa or Owasso.

As well, you keep conflating the wages of Macy's retail store employees from Glassdoor with distribution center employees.  Macy's claims the DC employees will be paid more.

Did you read what you wrote....Macy's IS a retailer, and coming to town is pretty much identical to both Costco and In-And-Out Burgers.  (Reference: Miracle on 23rd Street for one small part of Macy's story...)

DC employees are on that list.  Warehouse associates $11 an hour average.  Receiving associates about $8 an hour average.

[rdj]

Did you read what you wrote....Macy's IS a retailer, and coming to town is pretty much identical to both Costco and In-And-Out Burgers.  (Reference: Miracle on 23rd Street for one small part of Macy's story...)

DC employees are on that list.  Warehouse associates $11 an hour average.  Receiving associates about $8 an hour average.

I didn't Macy's would have a retail storefront in this warehouse.  If Costco brings a distribution warehouse to the state let's have this conversation.

[Conan71]

Did you read what you wrote....Macy's IS a retailer, and coming to town is pretty much identical to both Costco and In-And-Out Burgers.  (Reference: Miracle on 23rd Street for one small part of Macy's story...)

DC employees are on that list.  Warehouse associates $11 an hour average.  Receiving associates about $8 an hour average.

Heir, this is earth.  Have we met?

What is so difficult to discern between a brick and mortar retail outlet which is open to the local public vs. a center which will fulfill orders for customers who primarily live away from this  area?  This is an Amazon type e-storefront.

Put down the lead paint chips, man!  

[rebound]

I didn't Macy's would have a retail storefront in this warehouse.  If Costco brings a distribution warehouse to the state let's have this conversation.

Supply Chain and Distribution is my gig, so I probably like the minutiae of this topic more than most, but the recent comments related to a retail store versus a DC are really interesting to me.   Just on the surface, a Macy's store and a Costo store are simply not equivalent.  Macy's is a non-grocery traditional retail outlet, with smaller stores, etc, and Costco is a bulk-type storefront.  Closer to a distribution center than a traditional retail store.

Even in store numbers, it's not the same.  Macy's has something like 800 stores in the US, while Costco only has about 400, or roughly half.  Of course, the Costco stores are much larger, employ more people, etc.   But this difference in store size and numbers, as well as industry dynamics like the continuing Omni-channel evolution,  dramatically changes the nature of the distribution network. 

Macy's has nine major DC locations in the US,  which is a small number for such a large store network.  But they are heavily investing in omni-channel, and are rapidly converting retail stores to fulfillment centers as well  (500 stores acting as fulfillment centers is the current estimate) and or so are reducing the overall number of regional DCs, while at the same time making the existing DCs larger.

What does that mean related to Macy's stores and DCs? Basically, it means Macy's can much more easily add and remove stores (or change locations, etc...), but it is much more difficult and costly to change their DC network.  In short, given that Macy's is actually reducing their net number of DCs nationally,  we were fortunate to get chosen, and it is going to be here for quite a while.  (And I  don't care who gets credit for it, it's a great thing for jobs in the community.)

I was not as familiar with Costco's network, and found this article that does a pretty good job of laying out some basic facts:

http://distributioncenterjobs.net/dc/costco-distribution-center-jobs/

Some details I found interesting:

- "each retail store employs more people than a Depot" (which makes sense given the size of the stores, but I never would have guessed that)
- Costco only has 12 DCs in the US
- "a level of employee satisfaction well above average, and the same anonymous feedback reveals that 90% "approve of" CEO"
- Average wage for a Power Equipment Operator is $13.07 per hour, with reports varying from a low of $13 to a high of $14 per hour.
- Average wage for  a Order Picker is $11.17 per hour, with reports varying from a low of $11 to a high of $13 per hour.

So what does this mean for Tulsa, and what could be realistically expected?  I few conclusions:

- We were lucky to get the Macy's DC.  It will be here for quite a while and provide good jobs.
- Additional Macy's stores are fine, but not as attractive as getting their DC.
- Given the distribution network, a Costco DC is probably not in the cards for us.
- But, given the employment opportunities, etc,  getting one or two (or more) Costco stores in  OK would be very beneficial (much better than additional Macy's stores), and is possible as well.

And again, I don't care who takes credit.