it’s like, ‘OK, how I’m going to get this done?’”
Two years ago, online sales represented 12% of
total retail sales, said Craig Rowley, who studies
the retail sector for the human resources advisory
firm Korn Ferry. This year, it’s 15%. In five to seven
years, Rowley said, online retail purchases will
likely make up one-quarter of sales.
“As you sell less in the store,” Rowley said, “you
have less money to spend on staff in the store.”
That leads to more work for the people who
are left.
Rowley noted that online comparisons have
made it harder for stores to raise prices because
customers can use their phone to instantly
comparison-shop and buy from Amazon
or others.
A spokeswoman for Gap, Trina Somera, said
that the retailer discourages making schedule
changes in the same week but that it does
happen occasionally. She also said most stores
aren’t hit by unscheduled deliveries and that
Gap is listening to employees about how to
improve that process.
Tamez said she was warned earlier this year that
another round of cuts was coming and was told
that even if she stayed on, her workweek would
be cut from 40 hours to 32. After Gap announced
it would close 230 stores, Tamez decided it was
time to leave. She found a job at Target.
Adam Andersen, 32, of Mission, Kansas, has
cycled through different jobs since he began
attending a community college after high
school. He’s worked as a loader at UPS, in the
paint department at Lowe’s, at a computer
drafting job, delivering for Pizza Hut and for
Allied Barton, where he was contracted out as
a security guard. His most recent job was as a
antfer
(Antfer)
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