Raising minimum wage to $15/hr... (Seattle: loan, how much, buying)

[RunTheDistance476]

Wow...what are these two idiots we have running for mayor thinking?! Are they crazy? This wouldn't do anything but drive up costs and ultimately hurt the middle class, who will probably see zero dollar increase in their income, but an increase in costs. Wow, that is just so irresponsible and unbelievable. Talk about destroying local business, too. Insane. If they want $15.00 an hour, they can go to a CC and get some type of technical degree that makes their contribution to society worth that much.

And for you boneheads who are going to come on here and whine "oh you cant live on $9.00 an hour in seattle whaaaaaa" actually, you can.

There are many places in South Seattle where you can get a place to live with a roommate or two under $400 a person. No, they aren't palaces like super liberals believe everyone "deserves" but they are a roof and protection. And if you make $9.00 an hour, after taxes you are spending about 30% of your income on housing (which is what is recommended) and then you have ~900 or so to buy food and gas. Who couldn't survive? Oh that's right, the irresponsible people addicted to drugs, who have 3 kids and are driving around in a new mustang on a 98 month loan. Stupid, ridiculous people, who, by the way, already receive food stamps medicaid and other assistance (which basically make their income $15.00, though its nationally funded and doesn't hurt one local economy).

Really? Just...really?

[Arushan]

//www.city-data.com/forum/washi...alifornia.html

[UrbanAdventurer]

You seem upset about this.

[flyingsaucermom]

I'm not nearly as emotional about it as you are even though I have some of the same concerns about it as you do. Mostly I just don't know how easy and comfortable it is to change a system without some parts feeling pain and discomfort. But I think the minimum wage here should be raised, but by how much is not something I could define.

As for hurting the middle class and not being able to afford things..... have you ever seen "The Story of Stuff"? It's readily available on youtube.

It made me realize that really and honestly none of us should be living like we make much more than $9 an hour. None of us should be buying crappy fast food, none of us should be filling our lives with, well.. stuff. You'd have to watch the videos to get the point. When you do, feel free to comment. I'm curious what you would think.

[sean98125]

You are a fast food franchise owner with 25 FTE equivalents working for you. The average wage is $9.50 an hour. That is a payroll (not including benefits, if any) of $9500 a week or about $500,000 per year.

Now the Mayor and City Council tell you that they all need to make $15 an hour. Now your weekly payroll is $15,000 a week and about $780,000 per year.

Your payroll has increased almost $300,000 per year.

Now, how much would it cost to install the automated french fry machines that McDonalds was researching ten years ago - McDonald's May Adopt New Automated French Fry Machine - Restaurant News - QSR magazine . At what point does it make sense to start cutting your staff and automating some of the processes that they are currently performing?

At $9 or $10 an hour, it's probably cheaper to use people for assembly and packaging. At $15 an hour - $12,480 per FTE per year more than the current minimum wage - is starts making sense to reduce staff and automate some of the processes.

Use a touch screen to order and pay? You save $31,000 per FTE that you don't need to staff registers. Let customers pour their own soda and use a machine to make the fries? $31,000 per FTE that you don't need to make and bag fries or pour drinks.

Minimum wage jobs tend to be those where it is cheaper to use humans than machines to perform a task. As soon as humans price themselves out of the market, business owners start looking at the ever-decreasing cost of technology to perform the same function. Right now, it's cheaper for a human to make the fries. At $15 an hour, it may not be.

[Hemlock140]

I had a small business for 16 years, and paid my people $10-12/hour when the minimum was $6-7. My employees were mostly students at the local art institute and part-time, but they had unique skills that were worth more than minimum wage. In that situation I realized that when the minimum wage went up I had to raise their pay to maintain that "reward" for their skills as compared to those working at minimum wage jobs. People who are doing such jobs as classroom instructional aids, EMTs, and others that currently make $15/hour are not going to like the idea of working for minimum wage if it's raised to the amount they make. Those employers may also lay off people to be able to afford to increase the pay for those left to keep them from being minimum wage. People should be paid what they are worth to the organization. Minimum wage was meant to prevent "legal slavery" and not meant to be a living wage for people.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Arushan

//www.city-data.com/forum/washi...alifornia.html

But Washington's minimum wage is already higher than California's

[angelenogirl]

I was thinking about this today while at the Panera at Northgate. I don't know if anyone has encountered the sweet guy with Downs who works there, but he really takes his job seriously and just loves talking to the customers. With an increase to $15, he and others like him will just be...gone.

[Arushan]

Originally Posted by Gentoo

But Washington's minimum wage is already higher than California's

I know, I was just linking to the discussion since it's the exact same debate.

[Gentoo]

Originally Posted by Arushan

I know, I was just linking to the discussion since it's the exact same debate.

oh, in that case LOL

//www.city-data.com/forum/calif...alifornia.html

Same debate, same tired arguments.