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$15 dollar fast food wages
Old 09-04-2014, 04:44 PM   #1
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$15 dollar fast food wages

Was thinking of buying some McDonald's but think I'll wait to see what happens with this.

Don't get political but what chance do you think this will come to pass?
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Old 09-04-2014, 04:57 PM   #2
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Originally Posted by dtbach View Post
Was thinking of buying some McDonald's but think I'll wait to see what happens with this.

Don't get political but what chance do you think this will come to pass?

Slim to none.... at least in the short run....


I think in the long run it will eventually get there... heck, I remember a $1 something minimum wage.... who woulda thunk that it would almost get to $8 back then....
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Old 09-04-2014, 05:12 PM   #3
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Meh. Wages are about 7% of a franchisee's expenses. There are 6,399 company owned stores and 26,338 franchise stores globally. A change in wages impacts the company stores directly, but is unlikely to alter franchise fees significantly.

Bottom line: MCD still gets the fees, and is still selling supplies to all those franchise holders, and Western civilization isn't about to give up it's Big Macs and delicious fries. They still make money. They're growing almost as fast as the customers waistlines. Buy. Ideally, wait for peak fear and buy.
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Old 09-04-2014, 05:13 PM   #4
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I think in the long run it will eventually get there... heck, I remember a $1 something minimum wage.... who woulda thunk that it would almost get to $8 back then....
Agreed. My first job in 1967 paid $1.25/hour in a gas station back when someone pumped the gas, cleaned the windshield, and checked the oil.

According to this calculator that would equal $8.92 now. So $15/hour is a bit much, but perhaps not so in NYC. Of course, we didn't have cell phones, iPads, home computers, smart phones, or even central A/C that are "necessities" now. Okay, I'll grant that at least a home PC is necessary now - hard to apply for a job at even Mickyd's without one - but a low end one is $300.
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Old 09-04-2014, 05:15 PM   #5
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I think in the long run it will eventually get there... heck, I remember a $1 something minimum wage.... who woulda thunk that it would almost get to $8 back then....
Anyone who understands inflation?

It won't jump that high, that quickly (to $15, within the next year or two).
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Old 09-04-2014, 05:23 PM   #6
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Agreed. My first job in 1967 paid $1.25/hour in a gas station back when someone pumped the gas, cleaned the windshield, and checked the oil.

According to this calculator that would equal $8.92 now. So $15/hour is a bit much, but perhaps not so in NYC.
True. That said, if you make adjustments for employee productivity, depending on your methodology (or spin), you could argue for as much as about $22 per hour. That (IMO) requires some unrealistic assumptions about the global economy and job market, but the average US worker is 2-3x as productive in terms of economic output per hour than they were 40-50 years ago. Yes, much of that is automation, not labor, so it's a bit "out there" to suggest a $20 minimum wage.

Almost any way you look at it, in realistic terms the current $7.25 minimum wage is lower than it's been for at least 50 years. And you could make a reasonable argument that it should be adjusted a little *more* than inflation given productivity and corporate profit growth. But one needs to be careful about asking for too much too soon. The details of that start to get too political to get into.

My first job was as a stock clerk at a drug store in 1983 when I was in college. My starting wage was $3.75 when the minimum was $3.35. By the time I left it for my first "career job" in 1987, I was up to $7.25, where the minimum is today. But there are a lot of different ways to try to peg the current minimum wage to past levels and all of them are considerably more than $7.25 in current dollars. And $3.35 (let alone $3.75) was quite a bit more in 1983 than $7.25 is today.
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Old 09-04-2014, 05:38 PM   #7
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Like most negotiations you start off by asking for a lot more than you would be willing to accept.
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Old 09-04-2014, 06:16 PM   #8
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Like most negotiations you start off by asking for a lot more than you would be willing to accept.
I'm pretty sure that this is the idea for the unions supporting this. But I feel that a lot of these folks actually believe that they are worth $15/hr and are entitled to it.

Anyway, this will be interesting to watch and compare to the "Occupy Wallstreet" movement that didn't quite go anywhere.
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Old 09-04-2014, 07:34 PM   #9
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No guess on the Minimum Wage, but on the long ago wages:

1958 as a Shavetail Lieutenant going through OCS at Ft. Benning, monthly "wage" was $220/mo... "w*rking about 80 hours per week in the training course, that would make the rate... $.69 per hour.
Even with PX priveliges and some housing subsidy, a tight budget for me and my (then) pregnant wife.

"the good ole days"
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Old 09-04-2014, 07:38 PM   #10
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I also don't think they are going to see $15 any time soon but I think there might be a possibility of an increase in the Federal minimum wage phased in over time.
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Old 09-04-2014, 07:41 PM   #11
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I also don't think they are going to see $15 any time soon but I think there might be a possibility of an increase in the Federal minimum wage phased in over time.
I would certainly hope so. Ignoring the effects of inflation in law as in anywhere else is simply foolish. I don't see where anyone is "entitled" to a cheap Big Mac. Generations of people somehow, despite the hardships, managed to survive without them.
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Old 09-04-2014, 08:22 PM   #12
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To the OP,
I don't see a wage hike as being the reason MCD has been getting cheaper. They have other bigger problems(IMHO).

On minimum wage, I always thought it was just that, a minimum. If I wanted more it was up to me to do more, get schooling, better job... The wage may need to be raised, but probably not to $15.00 now.

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Old 09-04-2014, 08:23 PM   #13
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True. That said, if you make adjustments for employee productivity, depending on your methodology (or spin), you could argue for as much as about $22 per hour. That (IMO) requires some unrealistic assumptions about the global economy and job market, but the average US worker is 2-3x as productive in terms of economic output per hour than they were 40-50 years ago. Yes, much of that is automation, not labor, so it's a bit "out there" to suggest a $20 minimum wage.

Almost any way you look at it, in realistic terms the current $7.25 minimum wage is lower than it's been for at least 50 years. And you could make a reasonable argument that it should be adjusted a little *more* than inflation given productivity and corporate profit growth. But one needs to be careful about asking for too much too soon. The details of that start to get too political to get into.

My first job was as a stock clerk at a drug store in 1983 when I was in college. My starting wage was $3.75 when the minimum was $3.35. By the time I left it for my first "career job" in 1987, I was up to $7.25, where the minimum is today. But there are a lot of different ways to try to peg the current minimum wage to past levels and all of them are considerably more than $7.25 in current dollars. And $3.35 (let alone $3.75) was quite a bit more in 1983 than $7.25 is today.

I do not think there has been much productivity in fast food over the last 50 or so years.... back then they could get our burgers out pretty fast...
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Old 09-04-2014, 08:31 PM   #14
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The amount of a worker's wage should be negotiated between the two parties involved: The employer and the employee. Who else knows (and rightly has the standing to dictate) what the labor is worth to those two parties?
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Old 09-04-2014, 08:43 PM   #15
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I go to Midland, Texas fairly often. It's the biggest oil boom in Texas right now. My clients tell me that fast food places in town are paying at least $15/hr to get help. The same goes for Walmart I heard.

Certainly not a national thing, but is situational.
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Old 09-04-2014, 08:57 PM   #16
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I go to Midland, Texas fairly often. It's the biggest oil boom in Texas right now. My clients tell me that fast food places in town are paying at least $15/hr to get help. The same goes for Walmart I heard.

Certainly not a national thing, but is situational.
supply and demand at work. Probably same situation in North Dakota. But in average town USA, supply and demand seem to be about right at standard minimum wage.
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Old 09-04-2014, 08:57 PM   #17
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I go to Midland, Texas fairly often. It's the biggest oil boom in Texas right now. My clients tell me that fast food places in town are paying at least $15/hr to get help. The same goes for Walmart I heard.

Certainly not a national thing, but is situational.
Yep. Even teenage babysitters are asking (and getting) $15/hr.

More troubling is the difficulty the towns and counties have in hiring and keeping local govt. employees, especially law enforcement. Why wear a badge and risk your life when you can make two to three times as much working in the oil patch?

Those boom towns are a different world...
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Old 09-04-2014, 09:18 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by dtbach View Post
I'm pretty sure that this is the idea for the unions supporting this. But I feel that a lot of these folks actually believe that they are worth $15/hr and are entitled to it.

Anyway, this will be interesting to watch and compare to the "Occupy Wallstreet" movement that didn't quite go anywhere.
This. Since a lot of union wages are tied to the minimum wage, an increase of the minimum wage would result in an increase in union wages.

Sent from my mobile device so please excuse grammatical errors.
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Old 09-04-2014, 09:34 PM   #19
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It will happen soon, althought it may be 5 years. There are millions of people that the most they will ever achieve is a fast food job. They need those jobs to be a career, not a stepping stone. It will be the way we keep America a 'fair' place to live.
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Old 09-04-2014, 10:09 PM   #20
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It may yet be overturned or modified, but Seattle approved a gradual increase to a $15/hr minimum wage by 2018. Only about a quarter of Seattle workers will be affected, but we may get some insight into what a $15/hr minimum wage might do to a variety of industries (fast food, hotels, etc.).

And about 120 cities and counties have instituted living wage laws, many in the $12 to $15 range. http://www.nelp.org/page/-/Justice/2...AL.pdf?nocdn=1
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