Post COVID customer service

[TexasHusker]

I skimmed through that quickly so I apologize if I'm mischaracterizing it but it sounds like they're just not taxing the UE benefits. So if you got $15 in UE that's better than getting $11.50 from working not only because the number is higher but also because of the different tax treatment. That would make the equivalent wage needed to "beat" the UE benefit higher than $15. I'm still not sure the hotel guy is right about the number being $25 because they aren't saving that much in taxes but it's probably about $17-18 because they would be in the 22% bracket.

I don’t run his business - I was just taking it at face value. I think I’m glad not to be in the hotel business right now.

[disneysteve]

I don’t run his business - I was just taking it at face value. I think I’m glad not to be in the hotel business right now.

Or any aspect of the travel business, or restaurant business, or....

I can tell you the healthcare business has been devastated too. We are permanently closing 1 of our 8 urgent care clinics and 2 providers have been let go along with several staff members.

[TexasHusker]

Or any aspect of the travel business, or restaurant business, or....

I can tell you the healthcare business has been devastated too. We are permanently closing 1 of our 8 urgent care clinics and 2 providers have been let go along with several staff members.

I know of a hotel that needs help! j/k

Hope they find something else soon.

[ua_guy]

McDonalds gets it. They want to be competitive. They have to be, if they want to stay in business.

https://www.economist.com/business/2021/05/22/why-mcdonalds-is-supersizing-its-wages

[Fishindude77]

I had to make a short trip to ABQ NM for a couple of days. NM is firmly in a COVID stupor. Its like another planet. Masks everywhere. Hotel staff stares at you if you aren’t wearing one. The people serving breakfast have full body protection on - masks PLUS shields, footies, gloves. As in hospital OR protections. Your orange juice is in plastic wrap. 12 tables to eat at. All but 4 are closed due to social distancing. Lobby computers disabled so you won’t contaminate them.

It’s amazing how masses of supposedly free-thinking people are all-so-willing to lay down their freedoms at the requirement of some whacko governor.

We've got a lake home in northern Michigan. Very similar conditions there also.
We like to dine out and get out and about when we're up there. Under these present conditions, to heck with them, it's no fun. We'll stay at the lake, doing our own thing.

[TexasHusker]

McDonalds gets it. They want to be competitive. They have to be, if they want to stay in business.

https://www.economist.com/business/2...zing-its-wages

Get ready to pay a lot more for your Big Mac!

[ua_guy]

Get ready to pay a lot more for your Big Mac!

That's a slippery slope to be commenting on, burgernomics. Can you tell me how buying power in the last 30 years has been eroded specifically by stagnation in wage growth?

Seems to me, it's time for the workers to take back what they are owed. The ruling class has said for years, a job like cleaning hotel rooms or cutting hair isn't meant to be a living-wage job. Get a better job. Don't settle. That's what a lot of people are doing, they're fed up.

Can't afford labor? Sell a vacation home, I don't care.

[TexasHusker]

That's a slippery slope to be commenting on, burgernomics. Can you tell me how buying power in the last 30 years has been eroded specifically by stagnation in wage growth?

Seems to me, it's time for the workers to take back what they are owed. The ruling class has said for years, a job like cleaning hotel rooms or cutting hair isn't meant to be a living-wage job. Get a better job. Don't settle. That's what a lot of people are doing, they're fed up.

Can't afford labor? Sell a vacation home, I don't care.

I think we can push the minimum wage to whatever level we want, and it will never be a "living wage." That's because it will still be the "minimum" wage, and the economy quickly adjusts commensurately. You can increase wages with the stroke of a pen, but you can't increase buying power. except very temporarily, until the market re-adjusts.

A couple of years ago, I was in Dana Point, CA on a short vacation, and we rented a condo (VRBO of course!). We decided to eat quick meals at the condo, so I ran down to the grocery to pick up a few things. A small box of Cheerios was around 8 dollars. A loaf of bread was around 6 dollars. I recall that I paid $120, for two small sacks of things. I asked the cashier (probably a minimum wage worker) at the time, "why is everything here so expensive?" She said "Well you have have to realize, we have a $13 minimum wage in Dana Point so everything is much more expensive."

I said "well how do you afford to live here?" She said "Oh I don't. I couldn't afford it - everything is too high. I drive in every day from _________________ (I don't recall what town).

So a little economics lesson in that encounter!

[Snicks]

Where is the trickle down? I mean McD's is one of the most successful corporations on the planet. In the early Auto industry as they became more successful, the employee wages went up. However, this didnt' happen with McDs. I personally think that is due to a loss of overall morality. I think that in early years of capitalism there was more of a moral imperative to treat your employees well. Now, they want your loyalty but would kick you out the door in a heartbeat. However, I do no to know what the real answer is. More govt regulation seems only to enrich govt. So, I don't know. I still think capitalism is the best of all possible systems. But, without any moral underpinnings, everything is utterly corrupt.

[disneysteve]

Where is the trickle down? I mean McD's is one of the most successful corporations on the planet. In the early Auto industry as they became more successful, the employee wages went up. However, this didnt' happen with McDs. I personally think that is due to a loss of overall morality. I think that in early years of capitalism there was more of a moral imperative to treat your employees well.

Exactly. Look at Bank of America. They just announced they are raising their minimum wage to $25. But they made over $8 Billion last year. This increase will barely be a blip on their balance sheet. At some point, a business needs to spread the wealth and share the success with the people responsible for it. When execs are getting 8 or even 9 digit compensation and the people actually doing the work are on Medicaid and food stamps despite working full time, there’s a problem.

[TexasHusker]

Where is the trickle down? I mean McD's is one of the most successful corporations on the planet. In the early Auto industry as they became more successful, the employee wages went up. However, this didnt' happen with McDs. I personally think that is due to a loss of overall morality. I think that in early years of capitalism there was more of a moral imperative to treat your employees well. Now, they want your loyalty but would kick you out the door in a heartbeat. However, I do no to know what the real answer is. More govt regulation seems only to enrich govt. So, I don't know. I still think capitalism is the best of all possible systems. But, without any moral underpinnings, everything is utterly corrupt.

Who is “they”?

[Fishindude77]

Exactly. Look at Bank of America. They just announced they are raising their minimum wage to $25. But they made over $8 Billion last year. This increase will barely be a blip on their balance sheet. At some point, a business needs to spread the wealth and share the success with the people responsible for it. When execs are getting 8 or even 9 digit compensation and the people actually doing the work are on Medicaid and food stamps despite working full time, there's a problem.

Unfortunately, or thankfully ... however you want to look at it. A business does not need to spread the wealth and share in their success.
If employees feel unfairly treated, they can move on to the next job, and right now is a prime time for anyone with such feelings to do so.

Without being involved firsthand in the inner workings of Bank of America, neither you nor I really know what kind of shape they are in. About all we can see is whatever they spit out in press releases and quarterly statements / reports. Even at $8 bil, that still might be a pretty slim margin if they are doing lots of acquisitions, expansions, have some loans go bad, etc. $25 per hour for the bottom line workers at a bank min seems very generous to me, that's $50k annually for a teller or the janitor.
Further, any top execs that have the ability to crank $8 bil profit out of a company deserve some pretty serious compensation. Don't pay it and they'll move on too.

Don't hate on the big profitable businesses. We should be thankful they are based in our country, doing what they do, paying lots of taxes, and providing lots of jobs to keep things churning.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

Here's another point Texas, maybe not small business owners, but now CEOs of big companies are making 400x the average worker versus before it was 25x the average compensation. So why can't the minimum wage go up? I mean now the compensation of the ruling "oligarchs" is now more similar to serfs and lords. Better to be on the lords side because it is turning into a class based society where it's super difficult to jump up.

[TexasHusker]

Here's another point Texas, maybe not small business owners, but now CEOs of big companies are making 400x the average worker versus before it was 25x the average compensation. So why can't the minimum wage go up? I mean now the compensation of the ruling "oligarchs" is now more similar to serfs and lords. Better to be on the lords side because it is turning into a class based society where it's super difficult to jump up.

Compensation of CEOs is approved by a company's board of directors. If you have a 401K, you are a shareholder of many of these companies. Call investor relations of GM and tell them that the CEO needs a pay cut - he makes too much. You're a shareholder just like anyone else is. You have a say with your proxy vote. Use it! If Elon Musk is making too much money, if enough shareholders get together and tell Elon to pound sand, you can probably get someone willing to take over Telsa for 30 bucks an hour.

That's the beauty of publicly-traded companies. Ultimately, it's the shareholders who decide. The shareholders decided who is on the board, and the board hires and fires company officers.

You can raise minimum wage until the cows come home, and it's still always minimum wage. It doesn't increase buying power. Raise it to $100 an hour, and you'll find that a loaf of bread is 50 bucks next week.

You can't increase buying power with the stroke of a pen.

[LivingAlmostLarge]

yeah that will never happen. But the point is that most CEOs make a lot larger of a discrepancy than before. And like UA Guy pointed out the minimum wage would be $10.36 if it were tied to inflation from $3.10