A few years ago the NYTimes had an article comparing COSTCO and
WalMart. Costco pays their employees almost 3X as much as Wal Mart. COSTCO offers health insurance. As another poster pointed out WalMarts health insurance is telling most of their employees to apply for medicaid. Service is better at COSTCO.
The question is if Disney guests (who pay $$$ for tickets,rooms and food) would get the level of service they're paying for if Disney either paid more or had more employees. Many posters have commented on a reduction in the level of service.
Then again ... it doesn't cost me anything to go into WalMart and buy a case of toilet paper. I have to pay for that priviledge at COSTCO and the TP cost isn't all that much lower. So COSTCO has some additional income to balance out the higher wages. And whether service is better at COSTCO than WalMart depends greatly on which store you're in, the time of day, and what kind of service you need.
At Disney, the $$$ guests pay for tickets, rooms and food isn't just paying for a "level of service." They're paying for a great deal more than just that. Those dollars are paying for entertainment, rides, fireworks, maintenance, custodial, parades, characters, transportation, theming, upkeep, resort activities, costuming, lifeguards, housekeeping, concierge, etc. The amount of money a guest pays for their Disney vacation -- as pricey as it is -- doesn't even come close to the amount of money it costs Disney to provide that vacation.
The amount of money you are paid by your employer should have absolutely nothing to do with how well you perform your job. If I apply for a job and the company says, "We'll pay you $6 an hour" and I agree to that, I am also agreeing to perform that job to the best of my ability for that price. If the company says, "We'll pay you $60 an hour", the level of service I give should be no different than if I was making ten times less.
Bad customer service comes from those particular CMs who have decided that they don't need to do a better job because they don't get paid enough. Their failing, not Disney's. Many of the sub-standard CMs who are out there now would not be performing any better at $90/hr than they are at $9/hour.
Bad customer service is also subjective. What I think was a great CM interaction may be something you think was far below standards. The DIS is full of testimonials from people who met amazing CP or retired CMs and wonderful magical hourly CMs -- all of those people who are making the lowest wages at Disney. So, clearly, outstanding customer service happens at all pay grades. You're either a great CM or you're not, but that's up to you.
Now ... would higher hourly rates and salaries allow Disney to be more choosy in how they cast? Sure. But you still run the same risk of finding a lousy CM. Because no potential CM is going to say, in an interview, "I plan on just barely skating by in Guest Service, and I will be kind of a crappy CM." They all look GREAT in an interview. Best face, biggest smile, agreeability, enthusiasm. It's not until they get hired and start working that you really know how they will behave on stage. It's a crapshoot. More money doesn't mean better staff.
A poster in the transportation thread was staying at the POLY. Wanted to know if he should walk over the TTC and take the bus to DHS or if he should take the bus from the POLY to DHS. A poster works for the monorail. He insisted training told them there is no bus from any of the monorail resorts to DHS. No excuse for a trainer giving employees bad information. I don't know if paying more would lead to lower turnover and better service.
I think it might lead to lower turnover, but better service is still up to the person performing the service. Disney can train, pay, nurture, mentor, discipline, coddle, watch, reprimand, counsel and coach me all they want. But how I decide to perform my job is totally up to me.
