California and the impact of the $20 minimum wage for fast food workers.

[donkdowndonedied]

The politicians here are beyond stupid.

Hutmaster check in pal.

California lawmakers are absolute idiots! Flipping burgers is now a $42,000 per year job. LOL. Virtually no one will actually make that, however, because the big chains will simply have mass layoffs as the Pizza Hut franchises just did and will increase automation. Want to order from McDonalds, you better use the app or the self-serve kiosk in the store. There won’t be an employee to help you. California is also making it mandatory that every employee receives 40 hours of sick pay per year. There are going to be a lot of part-timers making $20/hour who then qualify for food stamps, housing assistance, free medical, etc… and they will have ZERO incentive to make more or they will lose all those benefits.

The $20/hr wage also fucks independent owners like myself because I can’t afford to pay that wage so how do I find decent employees when they can go down the street and earn $4/hour more. At my current staffing levels, if I upped everyone’s pay to $20/hr I would take roughly a $5,000 per month hit. No way I can afford to do that. That money would have to be made up through a combination of higher prices and cutting of labor.

On the bright side though, California is truly looking out for its citizens…. You can’t buy menthol cigarettes anymore and after the 1st of the year Red Skittles will be outlawed. Lawmakers are really talking the big problems facing the state. LMAO

The automation thing is not good for society longterm but also cash will be used less and less. Not only from the cash handling savings but having all food ordering automated will drive that.

[donkdowndonedied]

Franchises suck anyway. Cookie-cutter shit. Everything on the menu decided somewhere far off. Awful.

[mickeycrimm]

Is Dominos Pizza going to be next?

I quit ordering pizza delivery about a year ago because prices have gone out of sight. It costs $40 or more these days and you don't get much for that price. If I want a pizza I'll do the pickup.

Since I do a lot of traveling I've seen signs at fast food joints advertising $17 and $18 as the starting wage. I seen a sign in Gillette, Wyoming several years ago for $22 an hour. It was during the Bakken oil boom. Housing costs were so high that there was no place the workers could afford.

I think anyone making $20 an hour is a poor son-of-a-bitch. Hell, the other day at the grocery store I paid $9 for a fucking head of cabbage.

And yes, libtards are to blame for all this shit.

[garrett]

Low Wage employees making more money by rule is NOT a bad thing at all, raising minimum wage helps everyone except the business owners

Reading above you all seem to hate Average people making more money, its better for most everyone.

[garrett]

Franchises suck anyway. Cookie-cutter shit. Everything on the menu decided somewhere far off. Awful.

Agree this is more like it...

Embedded Tweet

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[Mission146]

F that, lets the chips fall where they may.
What kind of asshole would you have to be to think people should work for you full time & still need 2nd job or be homeless.

The politicians here are beyond stupid.

Hutmaster check in pal.

Here's the thing: I don't know that the hearts of your rank-and-file (Read: Non-Politician) Democrats are in a bad place; I tend to believe quite the opposite.

The problem is that neither they, nor evidently the lawmakers, understand economics.

It's barely economics; it's a simple matter of cause and effect.

1.) People in these sorts of jobs are being increasingly replaced with automation; as wages for basic unskilled labor become untenable, you're going to see the demand for long-term cheaper automation (to replace existing workers) increase.

2.) Untenable wages further contribute to inflation as they result in a need for price increases. That's not to say that I don't think minimum wage should be increased; I think it should be more conservatively increased and then indexed to inflation; that way, you don't have people falling ever further behind as wages stagnate.

3.) In addition to the inevitable increase to prices in those realms impacted, as well as the price increases that will result from workers demanding to make as much as fast food workers (think: grocery), it's also important to realize that this is going to increase tax obligations on the impacted earners, at least, those who continue to work full time.

In other words, even ignoring the fact that FICO matches are going to be more significant for employers (in addition to the raw wage increases themselves), the workers themselves will be paying a greater percentage of their incomes in taxes, or alternatively, will be paying taxes (other than FICO) in the first place whereas they might have, in effect, not even had a direct income tax obligation before.

4.) In addition to items #1-#3, it's also important to recognize that social safety net benefits (whether you agree with them or not, they are there) are also often income-dependent. With that, food stamps, direct assistance, housing assistance, child care assistance and perhaps other items go in the shitter. Ultimately, these people will end up paying more in taxes (income for the Government) and receiving less in benefits from same.

5.) I'm not actually opposed to making 40 hours PTO mandatory without a wage increase; it is my opinion that anyone working full-time, regardless of position or wage, should be entitled to what is, in effect, a one week paid vacation, annually.

6.) I'm not specifically sure what restrictions California may have in this regard, but certainly, all of this incentivizes employers to have the greatest percentage of workers be part-time (bad for everyone) as is permitted, and absolutely, positively, avoid overtime like the plague. Not only does overtime financially incentivize people to go above and beyond, but one's willingness to stay over, come in early and cover shifts basically indicates to employers who their standout workers are.

7.) Blaming the employers is absolutely misguided.

7a.) First of all, it just fundamentally doesn't make sense to blame the people who are creating work opportunities in the first place.

7b.) Secondly, these are also people with families to feed; many of these sorts of individuals are only running these sorts of small businesses out of a desire for independence and the potential for growth; in a large percentage of cases, they often take home less than their workers do and often have annual incomes comparable to low-level managers.

7c.) While it can be argued that these are risks the owners decided to take, in addition to natural uncertainty, the uncertainty of the potential for Government to come in and radically change aspects of operations (labor force affordability) and additional small businesses, many of which were actually run pretty well, going out of business is going to disincline other would-be entrepreneurs from ever taking the risk. If the Government is to be involved, at all, as a market force, then it should only act in a way that stabilizes.

7d.) The employers do not control the cost of living in a particular area. The cost of living is driven largely by factors out of their control, such as this factor, which will also increase the cost of living for the very workers who, in theory, the Government purports to be trying to help.

In essence, the problem isn't that fast food workers are making less than $41,200/annually; the problem is that, in certain areas, two people making a combined $60,000-$70,000 annually are, in effect, in poverty. What does a small business have to do with the fact that an income in the mid tens of thousands is poverty level?

[desertrunner]

More related news-

McDonald's $18 Big Mac Meal Goes Viral Again As Fast Food Minimum Wage Hike To $20 Triggers Fears Of Skyrocketing Prices And Layoffs, Leaving People Questioning: 'Maybe This Went Up Way Too Fast'

The recent uproar over a McDonald’s location in Darien, Connecticut, charging $18 for a Big Mac combo meal has sparked a nationwide debate on the escalating prices in the fast-food industry. Sam Learner’s viral post on X showcasing the exorbitant prices, including $19 for a Quarter Pounder meal and $17 for two cheeseburgers, has raised questions about the sustainability of such pricing in the industry.

[mickeycrimm]

The politicians here are beyond stupid.

Hutmaster check in pal.

California lawmakers are absolute idiots! Flipping burgers is now a $42,000 per year job. LOL. Virtually no one will actually make that, however, because the big chains will simply have mass layoffs as the Pizza Hut franchises just did and will increase automation. Want to order from McDonalds, you better use the app or the self-serve kiosk in the store. There won’t be an employee to help you. California is also making it mandatory that every employee receives 40 hours of sick pay per year. There are going to be a lot of part-timers making $20/hour who then qualify for food stamps, housing assistance, free medical, etc… and they will have ZERO incentive to make more or they will lose all those benefits.

The $20/hr wage also fucks independent owners like myself because I can’t afford to pay that wage so how do I find decent employees when they can go down the street and earn $4/hour more. At my current staffing levels, if I upped everyone’s pay to $20/hr I would take roughly a $5,000 per month hit. No way I can afford to do that. That money would have to be made up through a combination of higher prices and cutting of labor.

On the bright side though, California is truly looking out for its citizens…. You can’t buy menthol cigarettes anymore and after the 1st of the year Red Skittles will be outlawed. Lawmakers are really talking the big problems facing the state. LMAO

STFU! You voted for those assholes. You got what you deserved. Quit bitchin' and pay up.

[garrett]

Embedded Tweet

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[Daly]

Low Wage employees making more money by rule is NOT a bad thing at all, raising minimum wage helps everyone except the business owners

Reading above you all seem to hate Average people making more money, its better for most everyone.

Its not a bad thing, its a horrible thing. That and inconsequential college classes/degrees have ruined a lot of trade skills building that used to happen organically in this country.

Used to be you went to the gas station and there was a fleet of people there. Be a kid there young high school age. He would sweep and clean up the joint. Made a few dollars. If he paid attention he would learn a few things. Older kid who used to sweep up graduated to gas pumping as car service. He has learned the basics of how a car works. Maintained a bankroll of cash. Learned to speak (and what you cant say) to john Q public. If a car had a real problem that he didn't know he would ask the entry level service guy. Hes not the guy who fixed cars he was the apprentice who changed oil and air filters and actively learned to fix cars.

The kid sweeping up, the kid pumping gas and the entry level service guy are all long gone.

So how you supposed to learn about cars or even the basics of running a business? There are no steps to get there.

You did a good thing because the fry cook made a few more bucks. The path to hell is paved with the best of intentions because you have cut down paths to skilled higher paid employment.

[limitles]

Low Wage employees making more money by rule is NOT a bad thing at all, raising minimum wage helps everyone except the business owners

Reading above you all seem to hate Average people making more money, its better for most everyone.

Its not a bad thing, its a horrible thing. That and inconsequential college classes/degrees have ruined a lot of trade skills building that used to happen organically in this country.

Used to be you went to the gas station and there was a fleet of people there. Be a kid there young high school age. He would sweep and clean up the joint. Made a few dollars. If he paid attention he would learn a few things. Older kid who used to sweep up graduated to gas pumping as car service. He has learned the basics of how a car works. Maintained a bankroll of cash. Learned to speak (and what you cant say) to john Q public. If a car had a real problem that he didn't know he would ask the entry level service guy. Hes not the guy who fixed cars he was the apprentice who changed oil and air filters and actively learned to fix cars.

The kid sweeping up, the kid pumping gas and the entry level service guy are all long gone.

So how you supposed to learn about cars or even the basics of running a business? There are no steps to get there.

You did a good thing because the fry cook made a few more bucks. The path to hell is paved with the best of intentions because you have cut down paths to skilled higher paid employment.

The old gas station that built a nation. Ha.
That’s no more, not for some time. You fill your own tank bitch, and good luck getting any car service at the local pump.
The only job available there now involves refilling the processed cheese pump
Your profit hungry corporations have eliminated the options you once knew

Unemployed vs employed. You choose.
The result is what you see now.
People on the streets. That is desperate