Thread regarding Whole Foods Market Inc. layoffs

OTS was a breeze and had made everything a million times better at our store. All you are seeIng are the smooth talkers don't actually work freaking out. I see nothing but opportunity for anyone willing to get out of their comfort zone and step up to the challenge.

Will be easy to convert low performing stores to distribution holes

Actually Amazon has lost money or broken even many times in its history. Its margins are razor thin because it plows its profits into growth at all costs. It has also made mistakes...BIG mistakes....in its attempts to get into fresh food. It has delivered spoiled food and its retail experiments with robots and cashier-less stores have largely been a disaster. Yes, if you want a case of Bob's Red Mill ground flax seed you can get it fast on Amazon at a reasonable price. But what Amazon has overpaid for is just a poorly-run, horribly managed far-flung chain of upscale grocery stores and a damaged brand name. Nothing more, nothing less. Barriers to entry are low and we've seen the food giants and smaller competitors step right up to do what we do better, faster and more profitably. The same kind of breathless hyperbole about Amazon and Whole Foods was heard in the wake of the Time Warner - AOL tie-up. Two years on, the analysts and experts were eating their words asking "What went wrong?" The same thing will happen here. A $13 billion white elephant is still a white elephant. Best bet is to get out NOW. I'm putting my money on TJ's, Wegman's, Costco, Aldi and even Lidl. This isn't going to work and in fact will be a business disaster. Bezos was apparently under the hypnotic spell of the track lighting and neatly stacked pyramids of oranges. What a waste.

Amazon is taking on 7 billion on their own debt as well as 1 billion of WFM debt, so would you take on 8 billion in debt and not clean house, reduce costs and labor while you seek a margin that allows that kind debt, every WFM employee is at risk, especially sine the CEO sold you all out, so much for peace, love and happiness!

Hopefully Amazon's robots don't take smoke breaks. That will be an instant increase in efficiency. Also, Whole Foods always let people get away with wasting tons of time by wandering around aimlessly. As long as you keep the "urgent and busy" facade as you roam circles around the store BSing with fellow slackers, you are pretty much left alone. The best of all are the TMs that love milking the customer service cow just to stay away from getting any actual work done. I'll be happy to see a lot of these people looking for work while their cyber replacements are picking up their pieces

Nobody's been safe for a few years now. Amazon will undoubtedly cut positions in the name of efficiency, but I'd take that over cuts in the name of desperation.

Had WFM been left to its own devices or bought by private equity this show would be over. At least now there's a flicker of hope.

Many people (TMs and TLs) in my store do not realize this. Either they are not doing their research or are just in denial. Mackey plainly stated in the Town Hall, "..."I don’t want people goin’ away, thinkin’ that nothin’s gonna change around here. 'Cause things are gonna change. There’s just no question about that.' ... When this deal closes, we’re all Amazon people. We’re not Whole Foods people and Amazon people. We’re all Amazon people. We’re one — one large tribe, one large family...And one of my takeaways is that, by God, we’re gonna become as customer-centric as Amazon." Amazon stated that they will let WFM maintain it's brand image and if changes are made, it will be as a result of WFM's decisions. Mackey's statement above (and others made during the town hall) shows, he is head over heels in love with the Amazon business model and will do whatever needs to be done emulate it as closely as possible. As "Nobody Is Safe" stated in his/her post, Amazon thrives on; efficiency, low cost and speedy delivery from the top of the supply chain on down to the customer's doorstep. We will see changes to implement this. OTS will be looked at as a measure of how well we will operate in an environment where efficiency is key. Those whom don't perform will be held accountable. We all know, Amazon is not in the business of losing money. You don't pay almost $14 billion and inherit a low performing company's debt to let business continue as usual. You give yourself a 5yr window to turn an average of $38/share into a steady $70. Amazon is looking to do what Mackey, Robb et al failed to continue to do. Remain the market leader and define it, rather than reacting to it by throwing darts at a board and seeing which one sticks.