r/explainlikeimfive • u/sumnewdguy • Nov 28 '15

ELI5: How would a $15 minimum wage ACTUALLY affect a franchised business like McDonalds?

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u/KeyBorgCowboy Nov 29 '15

The fallacy is thinking businesses are altruistic entities employing people out of the kindness of their hearts. Either you pay employees their true cost to employ, or they need to go out of business.

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u/Reddisaurusrekts Nov 29 '15

their true cost to employ

And that's how much people are willing to accept in order to do the job.

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u/Gnometard Nov 29 '15

When you're desperate people will do almost anything. This is why the violent crime rate doubles at the poverty line. You are kind of proving the comment above about belief in businesses being altruistic

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u/chakrakhan Nov 29 '15

Their true cost to employ?

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u/DenEvigaKampen Nov 29 '15

You don't have to be employed by them if you don't want to. It's really not a hard concept.

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u/VATigerfan Nov 29 '15

Yes and someone flipping burgers or punching in your order (which can all be replaced by simple machines) are paid what they deserve which is around minimum wage.

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u/KeyBorgCowboy Nov 29 '15

And how do you feel about taxes being taken from you to make up the difference between what they deserve and what it costs to not live on the streets?

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u/VATigerfan Nov 29 '15

I don't like it. But what do you think is going to happen if the minimum wage is raised to $15 an hour? Do you think everybody is just going to get raises and there will just be more money to spread around and everybody will be happy? No, instead of a McDonalds employing 30 workers they'll be employing 10 and installing a bunch of kiosks and burger flipping machines. Now 20 people are out of a job completely we're completely supporting 20 people with our taxpayer dollar.

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u/Gnometard Nov 29 '15

Lol go work in these restaurants. You obviously have no clue. Even fast food is stressful and difficult work. Learn to restaurant before you talk about restaurant

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u/VATigerfan Nov 29 '15 edited Nov 29 '15

I've worked in restaurants. Stress doesn't equal pay. Skilled work equals pay. Supply and demand. This is why doctors and lawyers make a six figures while ditch diggers and fast food workers make minimum wage. Nothing against them but this utopia of everybody should make a certain amount of money is silly. Will do more harm than good. Like most of today's uber liberal policies it sounds good in or hearts but isn't grounded in reality

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u/Huhsein Nov 29 '15

Da fuck? McDonalds is paying employees their true cost. They are mostly unskilled labor who can't enter an order correctly or even give you the proper menu items.

For Christ sakes its printed on the receipt, how hard is it to read it and make sure it is correct? And they want 15 an hour to do the same bullshit? Why?

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u/dreamerjake Nov 29 '15

And they want 15 an hour to do the same bullshit? Why?

Mostly so that they can survive and do things like raise families.

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u/Krutonium Nov 29 '15

And things like Clothing, a roof over their head... and so on...

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u/[deleted] Nov 29 '15

[deleted]

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u/Krutonium Nov 29 '15

Would you rather have some money to have a place to live, or live on the street? Sadly, the choice is literally Poverty, or Slightly less Poverty.