Why Wal-Mart Will Never Pay Like Costco

Megan McArdle, for Bloomberg:

If you want Wal-Mart to have a labor force like Trader Joe’s and Costco, you probably want them to have a business model like Trader Joe’s and Costco — which is to say that you want them to have a customer demographic like Trader Joe’s and Costco. Obviously if you belong to that demographic — which is to say, if you’re a policy analyst, or a magazine writer — then this sounds like a splendid idea. To Wal-Mart’s actual customer base, however, it might sound like “take your business somewhere else.”

Yeah, you mean upscale policy analysts and magazine writers, stop telling Wal-Mart what to do!

(via news.yc)