Fast food restaurant answer to union demand for $15.00 minimum wage?

[manning]

This one at a Jack in the box.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vDJc1NoGg2g

They are even working on robotic cooks.

 

[Colleen27]

Do you believe one has anything to do with the other? That if fast food workers were content to make $7/hr forever they wouldn't still be developing these technologies to save on labor costs?

This is the wave of the future no matter what happens with the minimum wage, and is all the more reason to establish a strong minimum wage - because there's almost certainly going to be enough of a labor surplus for the next decade or two to continue to exert strong downward pressure on the wages of the jobs that remain even though those workers will be expected to do more to earn that wage.

 

[manning]

That's true.

These are put in when it is cheaper to use than people and are usually put in when a break even point is reached. Raising minimum wage to $15.00 an hour accelerates reaching that break even point.

 

[ponyboy]

Establishing a "strong minimum wage" doesn't accomplish much, it simply devalues the dollar to where the people making minimum wage still can't afford anything.

McDonalds sells hamburgers for $1 and so does every other fast food burger joint. They're able to do this because they pay everybody $8/hr. If they raise their pay voluntarily then they have to figure out how to keep selling a hamburger for $1 to compete with the other places or they lose market share. If the government steps in and tells all of the restaurants that they have to raise their minimum wage to $15 then they have to make up for that somewhere, they aren't going to decrease their margins, what they do is increase their prices. So now every place only has $2 hamburgers.

Same thing at Walmart or the grocery store, they all raise their prices to cover the new wage increase that is coming out of their bottom line.

Let's say that I own an apartment complex. I rent out apartments for $500 a month because that's the most I can charge and still keep all of the units rented out. Suddenly, all of my tenants get a huge raise. I can now raise the price of my rent and still keep the apartments rented out because now the tenants or prospective tenants have more money. So an apartment just went up to $750.

Gas just went up too because all of the people working at the gas station get that same raise as the people at McDonalds and Walmart.

What most people don't understand is that making companies pay more in wages, taxes, whatever is basically irrelevant to the company. They have a set margin that they are going to hit and a cost increase to them they will simply pass on to the end consumer. The other alternative they have is to fire employees and make the ones they keep do more or they could replace them all with a piece of machinery like a robot cook. What they definitely aren't going to do is lose money.

So those same people that just got a raise now have to pay more for everything to cover the raises that everybody else just got and they're exactly back to where they were in the beginning.

The way for these people to dig themselves out of the hole isn't to hope for a minimum wage increase, it's to get an education, training, whatever it is that they need to do to get a better job. If an employer can hire someone fresh off the street with no training and no education and they can be doing the job within a week then the people with those jobs will forever be at the bottom of the wage scale.

 

[kydisneyfans]

In addition, those making over $15 an hour already loses purchasing power as their burger just went up in cost, their rents went up, their gas went up, but their wages stayed the same.

My personal opinion is that minimum should be increased some, then tied to the yearly inflation number similar to social security. $15 isn't that number, nor is it close.

 

[ellie05]

Establishing a "strong minimum wage" doesn't accomplish much, it simply devalues the dollar to where the people making minimum wage still can't afford anything.

McDonalds sells hamburgers for $1 and so does every other fast food burger joint. They're able to do this because they pay everybody $8/hr. If they raise their pay voluntarily then they have to figure out how to keep selling a hamburger for $1 to compete with the other places or they lose market share. If the government steps in and tells all of the restaurants that they have to raise their minimum wage to $15 then they have to make up for that somewhere, they aren't going to decrease their margins, what they do is increase their prices. So now every place only has $2 hamburgers.

Same thing at Walmart or the grocery store, they all raise their prices to cover the new wage increase that is coming out of their bottom line.

Let's say that I own an apartment complex. I rent out apartments for $500 a month because that's the most I can charge and still keep all of the units rented out. Suddenly, all of my tenants get a huge raise. I can now raise the price of my rent and still keep the apartments rented out because now the tenants or prospective tenants have more money. So an apartment just went up to $750.

Gas just went up too because all of the people working at the gas station get that same raise as the people at McDonalds and Walmart.

What most people don't understand is that making companies pay more in wages, taxes, whatever is basically irrelevant to the company. They have a set margin that they are going to hit and a cost increase to them they will simply pass on to the end consumer. The other alternative they have is to fire employees and make the ones they keep do more or they could replace them all with a piece of machinery like a robot cook. What they definitely aren't going to do is lose money.

So those same people that just got a raise now have to pay more for everything to cover the raises that everybody else just got and they're exactly back to where they were in the beginning.

The way for these people to dig themselves out of the hole isn't to hope for a minimum wage increase, it's to get an education, training, whatever it is that they need to do to get a better job. If an employer can hire someone fresh off the street with no training and no education and they can be doing the job within a week then the people with those jobs will forever be at the bottom of the wage scale.

raising the minimum wage is not the answer

 

[HookdonWDW]

We own a small business. We pay our employees around $12.00/hr. If minimum wage is raised to $12-$15, our employees won't see raises to $16-$19/hr. They'll just join the ranks of those who earn minimum wage (and if it goes to $15, we'll probably have one less employee). This is reality. My payroll budget won't change just because lawmakers change minimum wage. I'll just have to figure out how to reallocate the existing dollars. So in the end, who is really helped?

 

[Dean1953]

Many that are making minimum wage are on government assistance programs. Are these businesses that can't pay a living wage and force taxpayers to subsidise their workers really worthwhile?

 

[supergoofy]

Many that are making minimum wage are on government assistance programs. Are these businesses that can't pay a living wage and force taxpayers to subsidise their workers really worthwhile?

Take away those subsidies and let them figure it out then. Funny how folks did it for years.

When minimum wage goes up I don't get a raise, I get a pay cut. Yep by raising minimum I make less as everything goes up while I make the same.

 

[lions1995]

Many that are making minimum wage are on government assistance programs. Are these businesses that can't pay a living wage and force taxpayers to subsidise their workers really worthwhile?

When did minimum wage get tied to a "living wage"? My 16 year old son does not need to be making a living wage at Burger King, nor do I want him to. I want him to drive to get skills tag are in demand. And those skills change as time passes and needed to be sharpened from time to time.

 

[JeremyGNJ]

A higher minimum wage does not devalue the dollar. Quantitative easing does.

You have to raise the minimum wage because of QE.

 

[tvguy]

When did minimum wage get tied to a "living wage"? My 16 year old son does not need to be making a living wage at Burger King, nor do I want him to. I want him to drive to get skills tag are in demand. And those skills change as time passes and needed to be sharpened from time to time.

Exactly. Our society needs jobs for teens looking to make a little money, and seniors looking for a little extra income, or in the case of seniors, looking for something to keep them active once they no longer have to work.

 

[Dean1953]

So, I can assume that you don't mind your tax money going to pay for government assistance for adult workers at McDonald's, Walmart, etc (No, I'm not talking about high school and college age part time workers).

 

[tvguy]

So, I can assume that you don't mind your tax money going to pay for government assistance for adult workers at McDonald's, Walmart, etc (No, I'm not talking about high school and college age part time workers).

I do mind. Entry level jobs are not careers. They need to improve their skills and move up like millions of us have done.

 

[SnowWhite2]

So, I can assume that you don't mind your tax money going to pay for government assistance for adult workers at McDonald's, Walmart, etc (No, I'm not talking about high school and college age part time workers).

I'd rather pay gov assistance to those who hold a job rather than those who do nothing. You can't start working your way up the job ladder unless you have a job.

This is a political election thing. These politicians can't think this is actually good, right? Force companies to increase minimum wage and think that the rest of the universe doesn't change? Maybe aliens have invaded planet Earth!

 

[MillauFr]

A higher minimum wage does not devalue the dollar. Quantitative easing does.

You have to raise the minimum wage because of QE.

Agreed. Quantitative Easing has done more to destroy the future economic growth of this country than any of the minimum wage proposal ever will.

 

[angwill]

I do mind. Entry level jobs are not careers. They need to improve their skills and move up like millions of us have done.

Not everyone is capable of going to college. That could be because of mental or physical ability or other reasons. Not everyone lives in an area where there are jobs that make much more than minimum wage. Sure rents may be a little less than a job with better paying jobs but everything else costs the same. So none of those people deserve to be able to afford a roof over their head, food in their mouth, or to take care of their health?

 

[katiekoester]

Many that are making minimum wage are on government assistance programs. Are these businesses that can't pay a living wage and force taxpayers to subsidise their workers really worthwhile?

As a business owner that pays entry level employees a small amount above minimum wage this is comical to me. These people clean your hotel rooms, serve your food, and (most important to me personally) take care of your children from birth-school age. Extra training=more pay in my world (preschool/daycare) but I would not only loose longtime employees when they would basically make minimum wage, my costs for my families would go up more than 50%. Right now my (mostly middle class) families pay $100 per week per child which is standard for my area. A giant minimium wage increase would up that to $175 per week. That is actual math. I'm not in business to make tons of money (last year it was about $20,000 for the year) but I'm also not I business to loose money. Btw I, as the owner, currently make less than the proposed minimum wage. That's with a college degree (only 2-year but still) so don't think I'm getting rich while being a slumlord boss. I just love my job and love being my own boss. And I, for one, would MUCH rather help someone with a job than someone without a job completely. And historical data shows that within 3 years of a minimium wage increase welfare rolls actually INCREASE not DECREASE because employment rates go down.

 

[havaneselover]

A higher minimum wage does not devalue the dollar. Quantitative easing does. You have to raise the minimum wage because of QE.

There's zero evidence of that. Inflation is running at 1.5%.

 

[MillauFr]

There's zero evidence of that. Inflation is running at 1.5%.

Too bad the Disney executives didn't get that memo.

You are right that inflation is very low by historical standards. I just can't believe we can run trillion dollar deficits and crank up the printing press at the federal reserve without having some bad long term consequences.