aja8888
Moderator Emeritus
These days, all I order at MickeyD's is a vanilla cone and a black coffee. I guess I am on the ice cream and coffee diet!
If you want the burger hot at a fast food place, make it a special order ("no pickle"), that way you won't get one that has been "floating" on the warmer for any length of time (I never saw anyone in the back line remove an item on the warmer and modify it to fit a special order).
But if wages in fast food places double, perhaps a better quality of employee will want to work there.
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?
We live in the Eagle Ford oil and gas play in south central Texas. The unemployment rate here is less than 4% (translation: just about anyone who wants a job and is willing and able to work *has* a job). The town's one restaurant keeps cutting back hours, not because business is bad (it's almost always packed) but because they are having trouble keeping fully staffed. Local fast food joints in nearby towns are advertising starting wages anywhere from $9.50 to $11 per hour. And yet the prices here at those joints are no higher than they are in other areas of the state where the starting pay is closer to the minimum wage of $7.25.
Now $10 is a far cry from $15, but so far we're not really seeing higher prices for too much here in a tight labor market (with one exception: construction projects; demand for tradespeople far exceeds the supply). For years I've been saying we do youth a disservice by pushing them to college when their desires and aptitudes may be more suited for the trades, and right now, if you're eager and willing to relocate you can do VERY well in the trades here right now.
A $15hr min wage will be a incredible boost to the economy and will help companies like Walmart and McDonalds.
That's a valid point. We have a very strange mix of interests that seem to be deliberately keeping things this way. I understand why businesses would want to keep the supply of cheap cross-border labor coming, but I do not understand why low income Americans do not seem to care about addressing the problem. And the amazing spectacle of public personalities drawing big crowds by decrying the growing wealth disparity/depression of wages at the lower end while taking steps that increase the flow of cheap labor.To the "supply & demand", " let the
market decide" stance: the problem with that is with porous borders and lax laws, the supply is essentially limitless.
Its real simple. $15hr is close to a living wage. $100hr or $45hr is way beyond a living wage and a stupid comparison. BUT YOU ALREADY KNOW THIS?Would $45 give the economy an incredible-er boost?
My favorite story of this ilk is the fable that Ford gave workers a raise so they could buy cars. People still say it like this would work.
Apparently people agree that at some point this idea gets crazy--no one is arguing for a $100 minimum wage. We know that it would eliminate a lot of jobs--jobs that need doing, and income that people need. So, if $100 is too high, where >is< the proper line? How do we know we haven't crossed it already?
I like fast food but do eat too much now (wife will not let me).
I do not agree with having a minimum wage, but assume it will be raised at some point but would be surprised if it went to $15/hr soon (I think the market should decide the wage and politics shouldn't be involved but realize that will never happen).
I think a minimum wage of $15/hr for a fast food worker is way too high, a joke really IMHO (but not a funny joke).
I think all that a raising of the minimum wage will do is eventually raise the prices of all other goods and services with no benefit to anyone.
IMO the law of supply and demand can be "fudged" a bit around the edges, but it always "rights" itself in the end. If a $15 minimum wage is put in place, it will take a little while, but soon there will be less "labor". By that, I mean, those who hire will find ways to reduce staff because you always get "less" of what costs more. Usually, when there is a dramatic increase in labor cost (normally driven by high demand - not arbitrary wage setting) there is the opportunity for increasing prices (the other side of the wage/price equation.) But in the case of virtually doubling the minimum wage, McDs, etc. will find ways to automate since they won't be able to demand higher prices. Right now, all the grocery chains have automated check outs. I can foresee a time when you punch in your McDs order and it slides down a chute in a couple of minutes. No pimply faced 17 year old will need to be involved (esp. at $15/hour). It should be a breeze to automate the cooking of burgers and fries. Right now, it's not worth the cost, but to get rid of half the $15/hour staff, automation WILL happen.
I hope this doesn't sound "political" because that's not what I intend. I just wonder why "suddenly" we talk about having a "living wage" for everyone. "Kids" don't need a living wage - they live with mom and dad. Oldsters on SS don't need a living wage - they cover most expenses with their SS. These are the folks I always see in McDs and similar places. You don't see 35 year olds (except moms who have worked their way up to manager at (just a guess) $20/hour.
I realize this doesn't cover everyone. There ARE folks trying to live on a McDs wage. If so, there have been other factors (kids out of wedlock, no high school diploma, relatively low IQ, abandoned moms, loss of job for "cause" or just down-sizing, etc.) You can always point to an exception, but just notice who handles your fires next time. Likely, they do not "need" $15/hour and the skills they have are minimal. It helps to be able to read, but other than that, the computers do all the calculations (one form of automation done long ago.)
But, to OP question. $15/hr is a shoe in only if a particular party (starts with a D) takes both houses this election which doesn't seem too likely at this point. (I guess that's political - but I would just call it reality - but YMMV)
I do not believe that I should have to support low wage workers, or no wage non-workers for that matter (with the exception of individuals who are not physically or mentally capable of doing work, in that situation I am normally happy to help on a societal collective basis). They can do what I did, get a job. Job not paying enough, get a better job. Can't get a better job because you have no marketable skills, get some better skills. I am paid based upon what someone else considers the value of my work, not by some invented scale saying what they have to pay me.Its really about all low paying jobs. Not just fast food.
The benefit is low wage workers actually having buying power and mobility?
Why should American tax payers have to support Corporate America by paying for food stamps and housing for their underpaid workforce?
At some point enough is enough? I am tired of buying dinner for Walmart employees. And I own Walmart stock,sad to say.
What's wrong with a little hustle? Only getting 20 hours a week at McDonalds? Do a little free lancing, mow lawns, rake leaves, shovel snow, walk dogs, clean houses, clean leaves out of gutters.
What's wrong with a little hustle? Only getting 20 hours a week at McDonalds? Do a little free lancing, mow lawns, rake leaves, shovel snow, walk dogs, clean houses, clean leaves out of gutters.
Its a problem and I can understand the attraction to the 'quick fix' simply mandate that employers essentially double starting wages. I see that as treating the symptoms and not the core problems.
What about expanding job skills? Changing careers?
The person who makes <$10/hr at a fast food place has opportunities if they so desire to take the time to upgrade their skills.
I spend a lot of time where Ziggy29 mentioned...the oil patch. Right now there is a NATIONWIDE shortage of qualified truck drivers. If you can get a CDL, and can pass a drug test, you can make $60 - $100K (or more) per year hauling water, chemicals, asphalt or or oil. And that's on a 40 hour week with some OT. I'll bet that other goods drivers are in short supply also.
Now that beats flipping burgers. There are lots of opportunities in the U.S. right now that pay well over $15/hr.
It's not as simple as 'don't like the job, change jobs'. As for a CDL, I studied significantly for the 3 multiple choice tests to get my learner's permit and failed all 3 of them. Not everyone is smart enough for more skilled jobs but they still work hard and put in a full work week. They shouldn't live below the poverty line when they're working that much.
/snip/ I can foresee a time when you punch in your McDs order and it slides down a chute in a couple of minutes. No pimply faced 17 year old will need to be involved (esp. at $15/hour). It should be a breeze to automate the cooking of burgers and fries. Right now, it's not worth the cost, but to get rid of half the $15/hour staff, automation WILL happen. /snip/
... But I don't enjoy taking my chances with employees who cannot make change, cannot answer questions about their products, have difficulty working their cash registers or getting my order right. Then there's a kind of blind hope that people in the back who maybe are even less capable than the ones they let be in contact with the public will actually make the food correctly, properly cook burgers until done, generally use sanitary practices and not serve me food they dropped on the floor. ...
But if wages in fast food places double, perhaps a better quality of employee will want to work there. Or perhaps that will be the next push or more automation. ...
Isn't the real story the decline of the American middle-class? The fall of the American standard of living in the last 20 years?
We have workers building $75k cars making about $15hr. Thats a problem.
I think you are missing the point.... supply and demand will work....
The gvmt gets into a lot of things.... they say what car companies must do in safety and fuel mileage (on avg)... you cannot build and sell cars that are not crash tested nor that do not have seat belts.... but I bet there is a demand for them out there...
BTW, you wood carving example is not the same.... but even if it is, you have a minimum price... but since nobody (or very few) wants it at the price you just will not sell that many.... too bad for you....
and the gvmt does have a right to 'set' prices... remember back when Nixon was president And state gvmts set prices for insurance, electricity etc. etc... not a new concept....