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THIS BRIEF ARTICLE IS IN RESPONSE TO AN ISSUE OF PUBLIC CONCERN, AND TO ADDRESS CONSUMER REVIEWS OF WINCO FOODS, AND TO PROVIDE COMMENTARY ON THE EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTION PLAN (ESOP) OF WINCO FOODS, AND WHY THE ESOP PLAN MAY BE CONSIDERED A SCAM FOR MINORITIES AND WOMEN. THIS NEVADA CAREER INSTITUTE CONSUMER REPORT IS A RE-PUBLISHED, RE-EDITED, AND UP-DATED REPORT THAT WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED BY OUR AFFILIATE NEVADA CHARTER SCHOOLS.
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Last Updated: Friday, September 27th 2024
2024 Investigation of WinCo Foods ESOP Scam: Why it is Bad for Women and Minority Workers.
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WinCo Foods, Inc. operates several retail stores in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah, and Washington.
As a play on the Walmart brand, WinCo Foods, Inc. previously operated stores as Waremart Food Centers and Cub Foods (under a franchise agreement) until 1999.
As of June 2020, WinCo Foods was number 59 in Forbes.com's list of the largest privately owned companies in the United States.
Since WinCo Foods is privately held, it is under no requirement to reveal various data to the general public: the number of Winco workers affected by Covid-19; the number of customers and vendors contracting Covid-19 from Winco Stores; the volume of racial discrimination claims against WinCo Foods, Inc; worker harassment claims against WinCo Foods, Inc; or, details regarding their suspicious claims revolving around their ESOP program.
Nevada Career Institute Consumer Reports was referred to Winco's Foods by our affiliate Nevada Charter Schools. Nevada Charter Charter Schools News Reports have all been re-branded as Nevada Career Institute Consumer Reports.
According to senior African-American male who claimed he worked at WinCo Foods, Inc. for years, he also claims he never knew of the WINCO ESOP program.
His statement was surprising because it was my understanding that the Winco's Foods Inc. ESOP program was automatically offered to all employees regardless of race, gender. Then again, it would not be unusual for a majority white-owned company in America to have racist and/or discriminatory practices.
To gain an understanding of Winco's Foods, and to better understand the mechanism of its ESOP program, and how it treated its minority workers, I actually applied for and accepted a position at the new WinCo Foods Inc., at the Las Vegas, Nevada store in January 2020. The address was 7501 Washington Ave, Las Vegas, NV 89128.
I advised Winco's Foods of my college degree, educational credentials, programming expertise, etc. Every academic credential was ignored. My college degree was ignored, as well. I was treated as a menial Black worker that is only good for stocking supplies, and making sure that the new store slated to open later that Spring was ready!!
WinCo Foods Inc: Targeting of Minority Workers
At about the time of my employment with WinCo Foods, Inc., the novel coronavirus would begin to circulate around the United States in general and Las Vegas, NV. Even the coronavirus could not contain an atmosphere of discrimination, incomptence, and unfair treatment at Wincos Foods, Inc.
WinCo Foods, Inc Targets minority persons for cheap Labor. African-Americans,Hispanics, and less-priviliged persons are paid cheap wages despite very tedious labor work.
As a looked around at all my new >WinCo Foods Inc. colleagues, I determined that nearly 90% were minority workers, and the rest were white persons who looked like motorcycle gang bikers.
Indeed, I quickly learned that WinCo Foods prefers lower educated minority persons to better exploit their workers. This process would ultimately factor into the success of the ESOP program; a success designed for upper level management!
WinCo Foods Inc Doubted Severity of Coronavirus
Winco supervisors doubted the severity of the Covid-19 crisis in January 2020, and several of their leading managers and supervisors made jokes about the credibility of the upcominig pandemic.
My personal observations was that Manager Tom Bader typically avoids certain African-male employees. He is the supervisor of Assistant Manager Nai Saeteum. The Overnight Manager was Jeff Caldwell.
Jeff Caldwell used obscene language to describe and to belittle the mighty CoronaVirus. After 150,000 deaths, and still counting, who is laughing now?
I thought to myself: Just another dumb WinCo Foods, Inc. employee who has no respect for science, chemistry, or any data that requires intelligence.
All three of these incompetent WinCo Foods, Inc. persons failed to take the coronavirus seriously in January 2020, failed to adequately protect WinCo Foods Inc. workers, and negligently failed and refused to provided superior protection to customers.
In less than 60 days, the Coronavirus made fools of the WinCo Foods, Inc. managers. The state of Nevada, as well as the entire United States of America went on virtual shutdown.
WinCo Foods, Inc ESOP: Why ESOP is a scam for minority workers. Millionaire Hype!
The typical minority worker hired by WinCo Foods Inc. has a mere high-school education. Few WinCo Foods Inc. workers are very literate. Most are barely intelligent with respect to doing things other than unpacking boxes, working the cash register, and stocking merchandise.
What is an ESOP plan?? An ESOP is a qualified retirement plan that lets employees have ownership in the company that employs them. Stock in the plan can be purchased directly by an employee or received through profit sharing. The stock may also be given in the form of stock options, or granted as a bonus.
According to WinCo, stock values have averaged increases of 18% compounded annually since 1986. Winco ESOP program is promoted on suspicious websites that love to quote what a theoretical investment in the ESOP program would have been in 1986!!
Consider an article written a self-described loyal Winco Shopper, Rachel Paxton. Rachel Paxton claims "I have been a loyal WinCo shopper for more than 30 years.". That statement alone verifies a serious flaw of Rachel Paxton.
Nothing could be further from the truth.
There is nothing attractive about Wincos to keep my attention for 30 days, let alone 30 years.
In 10 years of living in Los Angeles, CA, and Las Vegas,NV, I have samples dozens of exciting and fun grocery stores and supermarkets. I have shopped at the Boys Market in Marina Del Ray, CA (one of my top favorites); Alpha Beta Grocery store in Hawthorne, CA; Hughes Market in Westwood, LA; Lucky's Grocery Store in South Central, LA; Von's Market in Clarement, CA; Ralph's Grocery store in Las Vegas, NV and Los Angeles, CA; the famed L.A. Food Market in Central Los Angeles, near Bevery Hills.
Winco's Foods escaped the massive leveraged buyouts, and grocery consolidation that happened in the 1990's.
During the 1980's and 1990's while Winco Food Inc enthusiasts were stubborn and refused to shop elsewhere, Los Angeles, CA and the West Coast enjoyed the most diverse, the most colorful, and the most choices for grocery shoppers than anywhere else. Those were great times!
Now, thanks to a few multi-millionaires, and the creative use of Junk bond financing, a handful of corporations control all of our very limited grocery choices.
One of the arguments that Wincos Foods loves to promote is that "...a WinCo Foods employee who received a contribution of stock worth $5000 in 1986 now has stock worth almost $863,000 just from that year...".
Had it occured to persons who promote the WinCo Foods ESOP scam is the fact that the world of 1986 is 100% different than the world of 2022, or 2023? In 1986, there was no Doordash. No FaceBook. No Social Media. No Food delivery companies.
Minorty workers today have more options for instant high-paying jobs and lucrative self-employment opportunities. There is no need to wait 25 years to become a millionaire. Duh!!
The Food industry has achieved more veritical and horizontal integration, and more consolidation in the past 30 years that makes the metrics of 1986 meaningless.
Morevoer, how many WinCo Foods Inc employees who were hired in 1986 are still working for WinCo Foods?
Rachel reminds me of some of my less talented classmates: they think in bubbles vs. a coordinated logic .
The WinCo Foods Inc ESOP program is the great sales pitch sold to would-be WinCo Foods, Inc. employees. It is especially appealing to white workers because they sense a future manangement role, and it attracts minority workers as a pie-in-the-sky dream.
The bait used for the ESOP program is very easy. Accept a lower-paying job today, but become a part owner vested in future profits. As the company grows, the theory is that your nest egg also grows.
If you review the data and statistics of those who promote the false narrative that the WinCo Foods Inc ESOP program is so lucrative that it can make employees millionaires, many recite or use the same flawed and old statistical argument used by Wincos Foods junkie Rachel Paxton: "...a WinCo Foods employee who received a contribution of stock worth $5000 in 1986 now has stock worth almost $863,000 just from that year...".
Guess what non-Einstein Rachel?: Did you know that Apple, Inc nearly went bankrupt in the 1990's? Between 1990 and 2004, the stock price of Apple Inc was a penny stock. Apple was desperate for a buyer.
In 1986, the stock price of Apple Inc (AAPL) had a low of just 11 cents. If a Winco's Food Employee or any person for that matter, had the foresight to invest $5000 in AAPL (Apple Stock) and hold to 2023, that person would have over well over $50 million. If you calculate all the stock splits, and special dividends, this figure is much higher.
The point of these arguments is that no one wants to wait and hope for Wincos Foods Inc. to get it's act together or depend upon others. The WinCo Foods ESOP programs is integrated with the work of others, and you will be forced to obey less talented, and less inteliigent employees, who may not have your drive or ambition.
Public vs. Private Purpose of Winco's Foods ESOP
Here is where the Winco's Foods ESOP gets even more controversial. Internally, Winco Food's Inc uses two different definitions for the purpose of its ESOP program. The public purpose of the ESOP program is to provide the privately held WinCo Foods Inc. employee-owners with a market for the shares they own in their own company, to reward and motivate WinCo Foods Inc. employees and to receive tax incentives for borrowing funds to help employees purchase shares.
Each year, WinCo Foods Inc. makes incremental contributions to the ESOP plan. The contributions are derived from the profits the company makes.
Due to their lack of intelligence, the typical WinCo Foods Inc. employee cannot figure out why the WinCo Foods ESOP can be set up as a fraud against the future economic drivers.
In other words, WinCo Foods Inc is selling a hypothetical model of the future that absolutely no one can predict. Employees are encouraged to forego today's dreams in exchange for the hype of the future.
The WinCo Foods Inc. is selling a hypothetical model of the future (ESOP) that absolutely no one can predict in exchange for foregoing the dreams of today. In other words, Employees are encouraged to forego today's dreams (high wages, better living conditions, better work-life balance, better health care) inexchange for the speculative hype of the future generated by highter stock prices, and thus greater wealth. That is a damn dream that no one can guarantee!
In private, the ESOP purpose is to simply enrich the select few mangement employees (most of which are either Asians or white) while the minority workers are constantly fed a pipe dream.
Minority workers subject to having their work hours cut; to getting fired for suspect reasons; or simply having their working hours cut so low to the point it is not feasible to work there anymore.
How the Winco's Foods Inc. ESOP Scam is Played on Minority Workers For Store-Building.
How is the Winco's Foods Inc. ESOP Scam played on minority workers. WinCo Foods, Inc typically hires workers at $11/hour or below. Let's take $11/hour as an example.
It takes at least 5 years of full-time employment at Winco's Foods Inc. for a worker to achieve and to qualifiy for the maximum alloted contribution into the ESOP program. Meanwhile, inflation continues while the typical WinCo Foods. Inc hourly pay is fixed.
WinCo Foods Inc is a playing a great scam: Fire any minority worker that acts up, get another widget, and re-promote the same B.S. story of ESOP riches!
WinCo Foods Inc has retail stores in Arizona, California, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas,[8] Utah, and Washington. Who do you think the majority of the workers are who built,stocked, and carefully loaded all that merchandise in the stores??
The ESOP sales pitch starts to crumble for minority workers soon after Wincos Foods Inc has achieved its store-building/store-opening success.
Reality sets in. You can't winor accumlate any WinCo Foods ESOP if you are working very few hours. After WinCo Foods Inc has literally USED (emphasis on the word used) its' black and minority workers to get that spanking new store open and stocked, the reality sets in.
Black and minority workers are told "We never promised you a full-time job forvever", or "We over-hired, and therefore we need to cut hours of our employees", etc, etc.
Your pipe dream of all those riches told to you in the WinCo Foods Inc hiring seminars was used for store-building purposes only, and not career longevity.
In other words, the common scam used by WinCo Foods, Inc in opening its new stores is to deceitfully lure minority workers with the pitch of the ESOP plan, and to recite an old (2014) Forbes magazine article that is no longer relevant in 2023.
Non-black workers, meanwhile, are typically placed on a fast-track for upward promotions. Courtney, one of the workers at the new Las Vegas store, was promoted from the Boise, ID store. Courtney is the incompetent, over-weight, WinCo Foods Inc employee promoted by Tom Bader despite her repeated failures to equally enforce WinCo Foods Inc. store policy.
One of Courtney's major flaws is that she thinks below her waistline. She only communicates with male WinCo Foods, Inc employees that she is phyically attracted to, or who use the same obscene language that she routinely uses.
To put in simple terms, while women and minority workers are waiting for the ESOP contributions to grow, the pace of inflation is steadily rising against their fixed hourly wages.
Today's bills need to be paid today, not 5 years from now!
Also, minority and poor workers must accept the fact that WinCo Foods Inc. is no different than many other American companies. Racism and socia-economic discrimination exists at WinCo Foods, Inc. too.
A review of H.R. Manager Jennifer Solecki of WinCo Foods, Inc:
Jennifer Solecki of WinCo Foods, Inc is quite an interesting example of how low-paid minority workers contribute to the high-salary of mid-level to upper management employees of WinCo Foods Inc. After my stint at Wincos Foods, I finally came face to face with Human Resourcs Director Jennifer Solecki of Wincos Foods Inc.
Jennifer Solecki of Wincos Foods Inc. is part of the network of Wincos Foods Inc that helps promote the hype of the Wincos Foods ESOP program. She should. She benefits freely from the sweat labor of minority workers.
Asian-American Nai Saeteum of Winco Food's Inc. worked as the Regional Director of WinCo Foods Inc in Las Vegas,NV. His character: He attempted to extort a false signature from a former African-American worker who refused to sign a false statement authored by Nai Saeteum. Mr. Saeteum illegally withheld and refused to provide last wages until the Black worker agreed to sign the false statement.
When a complaint was made to the Human Resources department (Jennifer Solecki) of Winco's Foods, Inc, against the conduct of Nai Saeteum, and when a request for employee records was made under N.R.S. 613.075, WinCo Foods Inc. revealed that it is no different from other corrupt and discriminatory companies. The official misconduct policy only applies to their African-American, and Hispanic workers. Asians and whites are exempt.
Asian-American Nai Saeteum of Winco Food's Inc was never fired or terminated from his job.
In investigating WinCo Foods, Inc, the management and Human Resources Directory ignored each and every request to comply with Nevada laws. Instead of doing her job, an incompetent Human Resourcs Director Jennifer Solecki referred all calls to their WinCo Foods Inc. attorney. Emails sent to Tom Bader were ignored.
I soon reached the perception that Jennifer Solecki, and WinCo Foods, Inc executive officers view their workers as temporary scum.
WinCo Foods Inc. uses a common tactic enbraced by companies that routinely practice systemic racism, and which is commanly applied when minority workers seek enforcement of their legal rights. The tactic is to stall, deprive, and to limit the legal and lawful requests by minority workers.
When minority workers, for example, seek to obtain back wages that were earned but never paid, or if they seek copies of their employee records, etc., low-quality companies like Wincos will then use their lawyers to stifle the request.
Human Resourcs Director Jennifer Solecki will instruct the minority worker to write to or call an attorney, who in turn refuses to accept your telephone calls or correspondence.
Not until a licensed lawyer, typically a white attorney, writes a letter on your behalf or a government agency directs Winco's Foods Inc to comply will persons like Jennifer Solecki comply with your request. You can expect similar battles with your ESOP plan.
Conclusion: WinCo Foods Inc ESOP Scam Warnings
Can you, as a minority person, trust WinCo Foods Inc to pay your so-called ESOP earnings if the same company cannot and will not even enforce or respect your rights under N.R.S. 613.75?
In conclusion, Winco workers deserve at least $19/hour for risking their health every day while lazy Jennifer Solecki simply re-directs employee complaints to an attorney.
Winco Food's Inc could be employing Covid-19 workers and not be obligated to report it.
My investigation of WinCo Foods, Inc. and their Human Resources staff has yielded the opinion that the company and its executive officers are involved in a scam. The scam is ESOP. The Winco ESOP program is a carefully organized scheme that expects current employees to forego happiness to day inexchange for a pipe drem 5 years ot 10 years in the future.
They know how to offer pie-in-the-sky ESOP dreams. They know how to steal your present worth vs. betting an unknown future to cheat the present.
Did Winco's Foods predict the Covid-19 crisis? No! They sure as hell can't predict the value of an ESOP share in the future.
ESOP plans are usually scams meant to enrich a few while maintaining cheap wages for the poor. ESOP is a cheap gimmick that can be used to lure workers into accepting low wages.
Lesson in Life: How a company treats you AFTER you leave is for more important than your treatment the day you were hired.
I hope this article benefits others.
That's my free-speech opinion. What's your experience at working at WinCo Foods, Inc.?
That's our opinion. What's yours?!
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