If you want to get a picture of how hard life is for some folks, just wander into a Wal-Mart at midnight on the last day of the month.
That observation comes from a senior executive at the retail giant. Bill Simon, president and CEO of U.S. Business at Wal-Mart Stores Inc., describes that at the stroke of midnight, when government electronic benefits cards get activated, his stores see a burst of activity from people who are out of food, infant formula and other essentials.
His comments came during a Goldman Sachs conference. The Wall Street Journal quoted Simon as saying:
” ‘The paycheck cycle we’ve talked about before remains extreme. It is our responsibility to figure out how to sell in that environment, adjusting pack sizes, large pack at sizes the beginning of the month, small pack sizes at the end of the month. And to figure out how to deal with what is an ever-increasing amount of transactions being paid for with government assistance.
” ‘And you need not go further than one of our stores on midnight at the end of the month. And it’s real interesting to watch, about 11 p.m., customers start to come in and shop, fill their grocery basket with basic items, baby formula, milk, bread, eggs, and continue to shop and mill about the store until midnight, when electronic — government electronic benefits cards get activated and then the checkout starts and occurs. And our sales for those first few hours on the first of the month are substantially and significantly higher.
Read about what some call “underwear economics.” The theory, drawn from a comment by former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, is that when times are tough, people wear their underwear for longer stretches of time before buying new ones again.