Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The Costco vs Wal-Mart employee experience has been a long held difference between the two companies. Personally, I like Costco much better. Things are orderly and taken care of. They see the value in getting people in and out.
I walk into a Wal-Mart and I feel like an archaeologist on a treasure hunt....complete with restless indigineous populations in their blue UN caps and invading marauders ripping the place to hell.
Costco vs. Wal-Mart isn’t really a good comparison. Costco vs. Sam’s would be better.
Speaking of comparisons, I recently found out something about Sweden. You know, the exalted land where there's not a lot of income differential? They do some funny things, those Swedes:
1. School vouchers, and they've found that public schools with competition tend to outperform areas without competition.
2. They tax the poor. The local income tax (which is quite high) is charged to everyone at about 30%. The national income tax kicks in around $50K which adds another 20%.
3. They have no minimum wage.
Something about making sure everyone has skin in the game, and everyone gets an education to compete for the good jobs.
Are any of you actually familiar with the clearing-house wages in your areas?
There is a Burger King and a Dairy Queen nearby my house - I suspect they represent the lowest wages employers will pay in this market. They are both hiring right now, according to their marquees, and have a starting pay of $12 an hour, again, that is what's posted on the sign. Minimum wage is currently $10.25 an hour, set to rise to $11.25 next month as part of the state's increase from $9.25 in 2016 to $13.50 by 2023.
Sounds about right. When I worked fast food, minimum wage was $5.15 and the joint I worked at paid $6.00 to start, worked your way up to $7.25 fairly quickly.
If we argue about the fight for $15 for much longer, market wages are going to pass $15 right on by on their own.
Location: East of Seattle since 1992, 615' Elevation, Zone 8b - originally from SF Bay Area
44,227 posts, read 80,460,275 times
Reputation: 57141
Quote:
Originally Posted by redguard57
Are any of you actually familiar with the clearing-house wages in your areas?
There is a Burger King and a Dairy Queen nearby my house - I suspect they represent the lowest wages employers will pay in this market. They are both hiring right now, according to their marquees, and have a starting pay of $12 an hour, again, that is what's posted on the sign. Minimum wage is currently $10.25 an hour, set to rise to $11.25 next month as part of the state's increase from $9.25 in 2016 to $13.50 by 2023.
Sounds about right. When I worked fast food, minimum wage was $5.15 and the joint I worked at paid $6.00 to start, worked your way up to $7.25 fairly quickly.
If we argue about the fight for $15 for much longer, market wages are going to pass $15 right on by on their own.
Here in the Bellevue/Issaquah/Sammamish area the fast food places are advertising $15-16 to start DOE. None of those cities have a minimum wage like Seattle, but the state minimum now is $12. They are offering more because no one wants to work there. The high school kids that work are looking for internships or more "fun" work like barista and pizza delivery. The current fast food workers are busing in from other cities.
Conventional economic theory predicts that unemployment increases when minimum wage is raised. Yet it often doesn't. Possible reasons: 1. There just aren't that many working at minimum wage. 2. Employers invest in automation to improve productivity, or 3. Increased earning power of those who got raised means more business,higher sales, more hiring.
But I also think people shouldn't be making long term careers out of fast food work. They weren't designed to be long term careers.
Minimum wage would be less of an issue if people wouldn't be working at a fast food place for 15 or 20 years. These used to be just summer jobs for college students. Many food service places are now staffed by people in their late 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s; people who should be in the prime of their careers, but aren't for some reason. And they've been doing food service for a long time now.
Conventional economic theory predicts that unemployment increases when minimum wage is raised. Yet it often doesn't. Possible reasons: 1. There just aren't that many working at minimum wage. 2. Employers invest in automation to improve productivity, or 3. Increased earning power of those who got raised means more business,higher sales, more hiring.
Conventional theory only predicts this if the minimum wage is set higher than the market wage.
But I also think people shouldn't be making long term careers out of fast food work. They weren't designed to be long term careers.
Minimum wage would be less of an issue if people wouldn't be working at a fast food place for 15 or 20 years. These used to be just summer jobs for college students. Many food service places are now staffed by people in their late 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s; people who should be in the prime of their careers, but aren't for some reason. And they've been doing food service for a long time now.
They are long term careers now that they have flooded the US with illegals who have no job skills.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
