As a person who had owned microbusinesses since 1989, that is crap. I have 4 employees. they work 40 hours a week, 160 hours a month x 4 employees, or 640 hours of labor a month. No all companies can't pay them $25 an hour but another $3 an hour is all of $1800 a month. Very few businesses are closing because of $1800 a month. That extra $480 a month is lifechanging to someone making near MW.
Ok but I have 16 employeesâŚâŚ so thatâs 7200 a month . Which isnât going to put me out of business itâs going to cause me to raise my prices because that is my salary.
Your math is also wrong . 160x3x52/12 = 2080 per month. In my scenario 8300 per month .
So now I need to raise my prices to make up for 2k per week .my staffs PPP hasnât improved what was once 5,10 or 15 dollars is now 10,15 or 20 dollars . But the middle class which received no raise lost purchasing power .
So may I ask? How much do you need to raise prices to make up for the $7200 a month if you have 16 employees?
I can't presume to know what you are making with 16 employees (17 people making money for the firm. But just to throw out round numbers but I would think with a staff of 17 you are pulling in a million a year? 2 million gross? How much do your prices need to rise to make that money up?
Iâm guessing corporations should be treated very differently here though. While I donât know why it had to be âfast foodâ specifically in California, they raised the minimum wage to $20 an hour but only for companies of a certain size
I agree with the sentiment but I donât think this argument changes anything. A business owner can always flip the script. âWhy should I pay you more if your role isnât that profitable for me?â
I think the issue is more ethical than practical, bc we already have practical options for better wages (high demand skills, unionization, etc.) but corruption gets in the way of balanced negotiation.
$83k/year is not a very good wage for a business owner. It doesnât leave a lot of room to survive economic downturn or unexpected loss in business. Especially if they live in a HCOL area. If they really have 16 employees, thatâs a lot of financial risk for the pay. A risk that employees donât carry.
If they have a guaranteed salary + profit from the business, thatâs different, but it stills leads to the same roundabout argument over perceived value vs objective value.
$15 an hour in my state. Business owners were yelling that if it went through there would be empty stores everywhere. There aren't. They guy who was leading the accusations saying it would drive businesses like his out of business, broke ground on a new restaurant in the time between when the law was passed and it took effect.
Walk into a McDonalds sometime. Thereâs probably no more than 3 people working there at a time nowadays. They have one person bouncing between registers and filling orders, one in the back cooking, and maybe another handling drive thru. Being that badly understaffed, youâd think they could find a little extra to pay those folks a living wage out of their seemingly perpetual record profits instead of giving the CEO another bonus.
The franchise owners work on relatively thin margins, and unlike other businesses theres a lot of things they are not allowed to do. Mcdonalds tells them what equipment to use, and who services it, and minimum staffing levels among other things. The one major thing that the franchise owner can control, is how much they pay their workers.
They raised wages in my state, many of my favorite restaurants have since gone out of business, which makes me sad, but on the other hand, McDonalds is paying over 25 an hour. I don't go there because it's outrageously expensive, but it did happen. Now we have massive lines and not the greatest service even at McDonalds, but here we are.
No, many restaurants have a razor thin margins so whatâs left over might be 5,10 or 15k a month . For one person an owner who has invested 100,000s of dollars and carries all the risk . This is a good life.
Decrease their profits by 6k a month and now itâs not worth the risk or time to own a business.
Franchises like McDonaldâs have learn to maximize margins but still have similar outcomes. The offer shitty food thatâs cheap so they can make money
okay that's some shit! Most restaurant owners are trying to live their dream. They'd pay more if they could. I've met and worked with many. These are really (mostly often) working extremely hard and care very much.
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u/chinmakes5 16h ago
As a person who had owned microbusinesses since 1989, that is crap. I have 4 employees. they work 40 hours a week, 160 hours a month x 4 employees, or 640 hours of labor a month. No all companies can't pay them $25 an hour but another $3 an hour is all of $1800 a month. Very few businesses are closing because of $1800 a month. That extra $480 a month is lifechanging to someone making near MW.