Are you the type of employee who would rather sacrifice earning extra money at the end of every shift so that you could have more peace of mind while on the job? Or are you a “get money first ask questions later” type of worker?
Popular Target worker Kaitlin Sondae (@kaitlinsondae), who has over 58,000 followers on TikTok, says she’s the former kind of retail worker in one of her recent videos. Sondae says that while she could be making more money at Walmart, she chooses to stay at Target for two very important reasons.
“Realizing I could work at Walmart and get paid more but I like working at Target to keep my sanity& getting starbies everyday. Whose the real winner now,” she queries as she performs a little shoulder shimmy shuffle dance on camera.
She adds in a caption for the video: “A win is a win.”
@kaitlinsondae A win is a win #awinisawin #targetemployee #targetworker #targetvswalmart ♬ Bops Goin Brazy – Tyga
According to figures posted by Indeed and ZipRecruiter, the base hourly wages for both Target and Walmart workers are around the same, at $10.99 and $11 per hour. However, Target team leaders earn around $19.16 per hour, according to Indeed. And that the same position at Walmart can reportedly earn folks up to $39.45 an hour.
And then there are highly sought after positions at Walmart people seem to love working, like being a personal shopper or a “picker.” The job purportedly pays anywhere from $7.70-$23.40 an hour.
There were some commenters who saw Sondae’s post but didn’t seem to agree with her assessment of Walmart’s pay structure. “Walmart pay depends on ur department cap 1 & 2 along with ogp make the most the rest are underpaid,” one said.
“I went from Walmart to target. Getting $1 more and IM ABOUT TO GET STARBIES EVERYDAYYY,” another claimed.
Another person claimed that Walmart is actually cutting the pay of new hires, so the grass may just seem greener to employees at other retail operations. “Walamrt just did pay cuts for new hires so that shows you’re making lower,” one said.
“Walmart did pay cuts and now everyone gets paid the same. Also I’m pretty sure tl’s at target already got paid more for the most part,” another echoed.
It seems that folks’ claims about Walmart slashing the hourly wages of new employees are rooted in fact. CNN reported that “Walmart reduced starting pay by about $1 for new hires who prepare online orders for curbside pickup or delivery to customers’ homes, and those who restock store shelves beginning in mid-July.”
However, the outlet went on to say that “existing employees” weren’t affected by the change and that Walmart didn’t specify how many workers would be affected by the salary cut.
The Daily Dot has reached out to Target, Walmart, and Sondae via email for further comment.
