401K Plan

If you are highly paid, do not rely on the 401-k plan to build up much for retirement. There is no match (Safeway contributes just 2% of your salary to the "retirement plan", but nothing to the 401-k, giving little incentive for many to contribute. This makes the plan "top-heavy" according to IRS guidelines, and anything beyond about 8,500/yr which you would like to contribute in order to lower your horrible Federal and State taxes (especially in Oregon and California), will be refunded to you just prior to the mandated deadline in the spring of the following year, so it counts as income. If you all banded together and demanded a better plan, perhaps top management would listen, but as of right now, requests for restructuring the 401-k to provide incentives for lower-paid people to contribute (ie true employer matching) is falling on deaf ears.