[Onlyliveonce]

Originally Posted by mojavedxer

Yea Casino Surveillance has been my gig for the last ten years. While we are not getting rich, we are earning a living wage. Most of us must be social misfits wanting to work locked up in a room all day with a couple other people with you.

Sounds a lot like Internal Affairs in a Police Department.
I always see a lot of help want ads for surveillance and wonder if it has a high turnover. The ads look for experience within the resort for knowledge of casino games. I assume the management want you to be a square badge first and then work your way up. I can tell you working for the Police Department in a major metropolitan area I have seen more underground casino games than most casino workers will ever see . You would be amazed how much gambling is underground and violence that goes along with it. There are no black books underground, they shoot you if you steal or cheat. IMHO hiring from within is good for morale, but management may not be getting the best qualified person for the position. Sometimes the Police Department promote from the inside and other times they will go with an outsider.

[brucerby]

Originally Posted by Trader Joe99

You made me laugh this morning. No one gets on the top by hard work anymore. That is a myth.
Succes and American Dream in this country needs to be re-evaluated.
Hard work is not going to get you to the top, lying, cheating and stealing will.
Rich are simply better in those things and they are better in using others for their interest.

The perfect recipe for becoming a complete failure. If you actually believe this cynical rant,
I feel sorry for you.

[mojavedxer]

Originally Posted by Onlyliveonce

Sounds a lot like Internal Affairs in a Police Department.
I always see a lot of help want ads for surveillance and wonder if it has a high turnover. The ads look for experience within the resort for knowledge of casino games. I assume the management want you to be a square badge first and then work your way up. I can tell you working for the Police Department in a major metropolitan area I have seen more underground casino games than most casino workers will ever see . You would be amazed how much gambling is underground and violence that goes along with it. There are no black books underground, they shoot you if you steal or cheat. IMHO hiring from within is good for morale, but management may not be getting the best qualified person for the position. Sometimes the Police Department promote from the inside and other times they will go with an outsider.

Very few people in Casino Surveillance get promoted into the department from within house. A lot has to do with that Casino Security has a different perception of what the job really entails. Most don't take the time to learn on their own the required skill set needed for the tasks. There is not really a high turnover rate per say than there is skilled casino surveillance personal out there to fill these positions. Most of these job postings you see are the same position over and over because the new hires usually don't pass the probation period. You don't need to know it all but you to have the desire with a hit the ground running attitude. You also have to put in your own time in learning, reading to better yourself in the profession. Along with your Casino pay. You can pick up extra income as a consultant. I personally consult for tribal gaming in a neighboring state and my time commitment for is very minimal. I am also aware of the private underground gaming along with the legal card room third party banking system since I have also been hired by both on occasion to look at coverage and give my opinion of the play.

[Danknee]

Originally Posted by topaz420

Target CEO makes $28,000,000/year. Cashier makes $8/hr.

Only higher minimum wage will help the working class -- otherwise the profits trickle up, not down.

Yet Target cashiers in Australia make $22/hr -- and the prices for most merchandise in the store is very similar to US! It's just a fairer distribution of revenues -- yet they would never do it if they weren't forced to.

Hmmm...

Factoid about Target Australia: The only common thread to Target in the USA is that Target's old parent company Dayton Hudson granted the Australian retailer (currently called Target) the right to use the name and logo. The two do not share a CEO or any other aspects of their business or profits today.

Also isn't the cost of living in Australia so steep that it eats up a big chunk of that hourly wage? I always balk at the prices Australians pay for motorcycles and cars (from my time spent on sport bike forums).

[aggrofish]

Originally Posted by Onlyliveonce

" I have no dog in this fight " I am retired and not reliant on an employer to " enslave me for 10 dollars an hour " as security guard or TELEMARKETER.

I do see your point, it cost money to have a business, but at the end of the day you are making MUCH more than 10 dollars an hour.

Thank God I do not NEED a job.

If you had no education or retirement fund you'd be happy to make $15hr. I couldn't live on that and it sounds like you couldn't either, but many can IF THEY HAVE TO. Keep in mind that $15 an hour is quite a bit above minimum wage that a lot of people get.

As far as businesses making "much" more sometimes they do and sometimes they don't. People seem to have this thing against "corporate" America and think all businesses are like Wally World where most business people are small business owners struggling to make ends meet.

[topaz420]

Originally Posted by Danknee

Factoid about Target Australia: The only common thread to Target in the USA is that Target's old parent company Dayton Hudson granted the Australian retailer (currently called Target) the right to use the name and logo. The two do not share a CEO or any other aspects of their business or profits today.

Also isn't the cost of living in Australia so steep that it eats up a big chunk of that hourly wage? I always balk at the prices Australians pay for motorcycles and cars (from my time spent on sport bike forums).

It's not an isolated case, though. Starbucks pays $20/hr to serve coffee (and $30/hr on Sundays). The grocery clerks get 23/hr. Unions are strong and healthy and almost everyone working in retail gets the opportunity to join one, whereas here, Walmart/Target/etc. show you videos about the evils of unions, and some fire you for trying to start/join one.

Imported cars can be expensive, but the cheapest new car in Australia ($9,990 out the door) is cheaper than the cheapest new car in America ($10,990+tax). The major supermarket chains have no-GMO policies on their home brands, so you can by blue-label foods for less than their American frankenfood counterparts. Fresh fruit and veg is cheap if you buy locally and in season.

The tax-free threshold is $18,200/year for a single person. (vs about $10-11k in U.S.)
There are virtually zero out-of-pocket healthcare costs for everyone.
Fatal shootings of people are (literally) more rare than fatal lightning strikes.

They don't call it the "lucky country" for nothing!

The downside - about one half of the population is angry racist rednecks...with lots of disposable income to buy liquor and cigarettes and get even angrier.

But other than that, it's Disneyland for white people.

[swagger]

Originally Posted by Onlyliveonce

Dealer rate is around 100 an hour in town on average. That is a lot compared to a worker making 15 an hour. I am not saying it is any better in Clevland. Again a person would need to work 7 hours at their 15 an hour job to pay for an hour of labor at the dealer. Big mismatch going on. The dealer is making the money not the mechanic.

Using your auto mechanic example...

Dealers charge what they charge because you're paying for trained, certified professionals to work on your car. If you want a discount mechanic that just figures things out as he goes along, you're welcome to find one, and you'll get what you pay for.

Does the mechanic make that $100? Of course not. He's making what he and his employer agreed upon when he was hired, which is exactly what he should be paid.

Mechanics are making, on average, about $19/hour*. In much of the country, that's not terrible money. Keep in mind also that that's the average. There are a lot who make a lot more than that.

If you believe that auto mechanics should make more, then by all means, open your own auto shop, hire trained and certified mechanics, charge less than the dealers charge (why would I use your shop when you're just as expensive as the dealer?) and pay your mechanics more. Be sure to let us know how that works out for you, and if you're unable to find startup capital because your business plan was laughed out of the room, be sure to let us know about that, too.

[tazz]

Originally Posted by topaz420

Target CEO makes $28,000,000/year. Cashier makes $8/hr.

Only higher minimum wage will help the working class -- otherwise the profits trickle up, not down.

Yet Target cashiers in Australia make $22/hr -- and the prices for most merchandise in the store is very similar to US! It's just a fairer distribution of revenues -- yet they would never do it if they weren't forced to.

Hmmm...

You cannot be an undocumented worker in Australia. Having large numbers of undocumented workers drags down the low wage workers.

[Onlyliveonce]

Originally Posted by swagger

Using your auto mechanic example...

Dealers charge what they charge because you're paying for trained, certified professionals to work on your car. If you want a discount mechanic that just figures things out as he goes along, you're welcome to find one, and you'll get what you pay for.

Does the mechanic make that $100? Of course not. He's making what he and his employer agreed upon when he was hired, which is exactly what he should be paid.

Mechanics are making, on average, about $19/hour*. In much of the country, that's not terrible money. Keep in mind also that that's the average. There are a lot who make a lot more than that.

If you believe that auto mechanics should make more, then by all means, open your own auto shop, hire trained and certified mechanics, charge less than the dealers charge (why would I use your shop when you're just as expensive as the dealer?) and pay your mechanics more. Be sure to let us know how that works out for you, and if you're unable to find startup capital because your business plan was laughed out of the room, be sure to let us know about that, too.

If you read the entire thread, it was never about the mechanic working his A** off in grease all day making 19/hr. Well earned IMHO. It was about the rate the stealership charges, which is crazy. Feel free to defend the poor dealership, no sympathy here.

I went another career direction over 20 years ago when I was laughed at for being a public employee. BTW my concerns were not how to make a profit, but rather how to stay ALIVE and in one piece. The friends I had were getting rich quick in the late eighties early nineties and laughing at my career choice. Now I know the " worm has turned " in recent times, but the great thing about public employees is transparency. Here in NV you can look up any public salary including the value of benefits ( great idea ). What bothers me the most with any business is the LACK of transparency. Maybe if the public saw the real numbers they would understand better why the dealer needs to charge 100 an hour in labor.
If I had a dollar every time I interacted with any business that told me they did not make much money on my transaction, I would be very rich.

[topaz420]

Originally Posted by tazz

You cannot be an undocumented worker in Australia. Having large numbers of undocumented workers drags down the low wage workers.

Who told you that? There's heaps of undocumented workers picking fruit around the country (also making $18/hr) because the white people would rather do just about anything else for the same amount of money.

The wages aren't higher there because companies are more generous -- they're higher because it's the law. The minimum wage is $16.21 and you get a 25% bump to $20.26 if you're a casual (at-will) employee.

There's nothing magical about the system -- it's simply a fairer distribution of revenue. Each Target employee in America corresponds to about $200,000 a year in revenue. How much of that do they get?