Originally Posted by
hamhead
Don't see how you think that.
You've got $0.40 in exchange fees.
You've got money going to Moneygram - probably at least a 25/75 split of the MO fee going to Moneygram - so $0.17 or so.
With an average labor cost of $12/hour (wage rate, social security/medicare taxes, etc. combined), that is still $0.20/labor a minute.
Then, you've got the cost to maintain their floor space and systems. You've got the opportunity cost of the floor space. You've got to pay the back office people supporting the Money Center desk who command much higher salaries than the CSR.
Throw in fraud loss or just straight stupid cashier loss. There are numerous examples, myself included and an example just a couple posts back of how it happens with Bluebird, of cashiers jacking up transactions and giving people $500/$1,000 MO and not charging the card. That eats the full revenue of hundreds of transactions by itself, not even looking at supposed profit.
i completely get what you're saying and it's a very 'school'-ish view. the real world business view is that the money center serves many purposes. the viability of the business model as it relates to the MC doesn't boil down to the profitability of 1 service such as MO's, or, quite possible, even the p&l of the entire MC. it's a magnet. it provides a service needed by the people who shop walmart. this brings them in the door more frequently than they would otherwise and makes walmart a bigger part of their lives.
as for US... MSer's are definitely a waste of time and resources for walmart. that said, i buy a fair amount of stuff there at self serve check out while, if not for BB, BP, MO's, etc i would never set foot in walmart. see how that works?...