Carpe Diem: Target Gives $3 Million a Week to Its Communities. Q: Aren't Its Prices Too High, or Wages Too Low?
The often provocative Mark Perry writes:
The Minneapolis-based Target Corporation makes a big deal about its "caring for the community" and brags on its website and in its stores that "since 1946, Target has given 5% of our income - which today totals more than $3 million a week - to our communities" ...
... Bottom Line: Isn't Target's strategy just a deceptive publicity stunt or public relations gimmick that allows it to overcharge customers with high prices and/or underpay its employees with low wages, under the guise of a "caring corporation"?
I'd love to see this advertisement from a retail giant:
"Our rock-bottom prices are so low and our wages are so high that we give money directly back to our communities daily through our "everyday low prices" and "everyday high wages." We believe that's a more effective, direct and honest strategy of serving our communities than if we were to over-charge customers with high prices and/or under-pay employees with low wages and then generate publicity by bragging about how we give back 5% of our inflated profits to the community. Our goal is to cut out the charitable foundation middlemen with expensive overhead, bureaucracy, and administrative costs, and serve our communities by giving money directly to our customers and employees through low prices and high wages. Our commitment to publicized community giving is 0%, because we've already given everything we can through low prices and high wages, and after a normal rate of return for our shareholders, we've got nothing left to give back." ...
What do you think?
