I mean to be fair, most of the jobs at WF stores ARE unskilled labor though.
If you treat your people like valuable members of society/your organization they will develop and improve on the actual skills that an unskilled job needs, like anticipating problems, knowing when an how to escalate issues, being warm to customers, being knowledgeable about the business and your products, and hustling when needed.
If your treat your people like disposable chattel then they’ll show up to punch a clock, check the boxes, and get out as soon as possible.
We can say all we please that we want great customer service, but we vote with our wallets, and our wallets say "Save $5 per trip to interact with the trained monkeys."
Thus, we have Walmart.
This is very much a cultural problem that stems from treating service workers as subhuman and undeserving of a decent wage.
And the price difference is hardly as high as $5 per trip. Even places with really high minimum wages don't get that bad. It's more like a few extra cents, barely noticeable. Where the savings on payroll at the bottom are going is usually payroll further up the chain.
Some stores have much better customer service than others, like Whole Foods and Costco (just to cover both sides of the pricing models), and they seem to be doing all right.
Seasonal workers in the FCs literally get only 4 hours of training and are then filling orders. That's the pure definition of unskilled, and a far cry from a pastry chef at WF.
There's the checkout counter and stock in the back, but I feel like the employed-during-the-day crew definitely has career opportunities.
Enjoying your ivory tower I hope?