randomthingsonthenet
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The minimum wage was originally intended to be a living wage
Feb 9, 2021 12:19 AM
randomthingsonthenet
99369
3709
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J0k3rIX
Fun fact: living costs money so if your employees live another day, that's another day of spending money on stuff like food... at Walmart..
beegobuzz
Great Value would still taste like shit!
engineeringwombocombo
Bold of you to assume they're paying their employees at all. *cries in wage theft*
SybilCrawley
Why don't people understand this? How does ones thought process NOT include any of this? I'm incredibly stupid, like low IQ, and I get it.
PackedCatMeowingPowerDensity
I am sorry but as someone with a background in economics, 6 million seems like a tiny amount to spend on workers. Assume each makes 24k $/a.
PackedCatMeowingPowerDensity
Raising this to a more comfortable 32k $/a would mean they must have less than 750 employees which sounds way too little.
TurtIeproof
We've regressed so far from Henry Ford knowing that if he paid his workers well they could buy more of what he made.
XXXSpork
Xbox One is a bad example, most console prices are fixed by the manufacturer.
Holinyx05
The Walton family members are worth like $30 Billion each. They could, oh I don't know, lower their future pay and pay their employees more
supermariosunshine
They don't pay any of us fair wages as a way to keep us struggling to survive so we can't topple the fucked system down
Markamanic
Can't become a Billionaire without exploiting your employees and the law.
kilgoth1
Since when does businesses NOT pass costs onto customers? Some people act lile this is a new thing.
amagiciannamedgob
Walmart keeps poor people poor. Stop hurting your fellow poor person, poor people! Stop shopping at Walmart.
zHurk777
Walmart made $14.9 BILLION Net Income in 2020. $6.7 BILLION in 2019. $9.8 BILLION in 2018. $13.6 BILLION in 2017. BILLIONS, not millions.
zHurk777
Walmart's avg min wage in the US for their 1.5 million employees is $14.76/hr. Team leaders get $18-21 & as much as $30 in supercenters.
zHurk777
WM considers 34 hrs full time. most avg 38 hrs/wk. So a $1 raise costs WM $1900/yr per worker per year. $2.85 B total.
Drakoth97
My store brings I'm close to a million dollars a week. I'm making less than $1400 a month. After 3 years.
JinxRocks
Waltons, Kochs, Mercers, Rothchilds, Cargills, etc.. KNOW their names. Look who they fund, what votes they influence. 'Nuff Said.
tinybartender
Okay, first of all, fuck Wal-mart.
iusedtodream
If a company can only compete because they use slave labor it is not successful and doesn't deserve to survive.
wetbandits23
I’ve always said this. A company should only be called successful if they can make a profit after fairly paying workers/vendors/suppliers.
NextSpark
Paradox1111
The only reason the USA was a super power was BECAUSE of slave labor...
pughugger
Biz prof once told me, we vote with our money. I’ll never forget that.
rooik14
Your business professor failed to teach you about monopolies and pseudo-monopolies.
skellington01
The math isn’t right tho.
RawDawgPowder
But how about the increased revenues from people having extra money to spend? Which seems like the oddest part to skip
EmporerDragon
Math's a bit fucky there. For instance, where I work, to give everyone a flat $5/hr raise w/o changing payroll would cost $200,000 annually.
EmporerDragon
However, that is still a drop in the bucket overall, as that amount would only be about 4% of the store's annual profit.
YourIceCreamMan
The person who wrote the family would lose $6 M pulled that out of his hat- there are 2.2 M workers. But I agree with $15 per hour
Katusa
There are only 1.5 in the US.
YourIceCreamMan
*Only. If you increase the pay of 1.5 M workers by $120 per week that's $22.5 Billion (again- I support $15 per hour)
jaijaikali
Its time to demand fairness from the ultra wealthy. Not ask. Not suggest. Not negotiate. Give us the treatment of human dignity, or else.
teebob21
Or else what?
jaijaikali
We'll burn that bridge if we cross it.
orbitn
Radical upper body circumcision?
RickO3611
Wuck Falmart ... and the Waltons and all their Chinese trash
BernieKl
Sam Walton originally tried carrying and promoting American made products, but the customers didn’t care and kept buying the cheaper crap.
Turbolibros
edgarthefirst
Times sure have changed
imnotsureaboutthat
And then he instituted $0.25/hour, the equivalent of $4.60/hour today...
TimbitsAreDonutHoles
To be fair my mans was coming out of the great depression so the wages decided by the market were wack. Min. wage was probably based on them
kamikazehindenburg
2% of profit =/= 2% of revenue. With Wal-Mart's $524 billion revenue the math here works to $7.3b in cost or about half of their net income
Deonan
Oh noooo, only 7.3 billion instead of 14? How will they ever survive on more money this year than my whole family will see in its lifetime?
Deonan
That was not a dig at you sorry, just the concept of billionaires needing billions of dollars more infuriates me.
Katusa
Don't forget. That 7 Billion is after the executives have been paid.
TheFunGuyinOz
In reality, a living wage would increase consumers ability to purchase discretionary items. No price increase because more units sold
RedditBurnerAccount
Thank you!
Pottsofgold
The problem here is that you are using sound logic and the world doesn’t work that way
Santac99
This sound logic works in most of Europe.
Puppiesgalore
Yeah, just cuz it would only increase by 1.4% doesn’t mean it’d stop there. Greedy bastards gonna greed.
hi5560
Sound logic would be also recognizing they would lose customers to increasing prices, meaning the price would probably need to be more
skellington01
Sound logic, wrong math. So there’s another problem.
jaggcomputing5
"Sound logic not working? You need Bertie's new Taste Logic (TM). Or perhaps out latest 4x2 around the back of the swede logic."
Icodemonkey
When did using logic stop? Not saying you're wrong, just wondering when.
cheezmonta
I believe it was a Tuesday.
havock003
Nah, it happened in Australia. So it was definitely a Wednesday.
BSwann
Sound logic? Those numbers look fishy. Say you're doubling pay essentially $8 to $15 I doubt Walmart's entire payroll is $6 miilion as this
BSwann
Says, however I agree with the overall vision of the message.
AnathemaNoreh
It's simplified logic. It only says profits decrease, it doesn't tell you how less employee turnover/theft/sickness happens with better pay/
BSwann
Shrinkage and sickdays would have to be insane.
AnathemaNoreh
or how other things like tax changes would factor in, so the math is not as simple as increased wages = lost profits
DontBlameMeIVotedForKodos
They say we'd lose 1.8 million jobs mainly at small businesses with a wage of $15/hr... I'm a little conflicted but nobody can live on $8/hr
bklynborn
I would have to stick up 3/4 Walmart’s to survive on that.
EF5Cyniclone
If you can't afford to pay employees a living wage, you can't afford to be in business.
EF5Cyniclone
Nobody deserves or is entitled to own a business at the detriment of their workers.
Snooj
I know this is a really small sample size but I ran a small business from 1996 to 2008 and no one was paid less than $15 even back then.
IATTM
Really depends on what the small business is and where is located. I'm happy to hear of your success story, always nice to see people dowell
Illinifan88
If you can't afford to pay your employees, then you don't get to have them. Do the work yourself or don't own a business.
Paradox1111
Or automate!
server1a
If you're paying your staff minimum wage, odds are you don't have any extra staff (that would cut profits) and are not laying anyone off.
JackalopeElope
If you can't pay employees a living wage, don't have employees. Or pay them with shares of the business.
morelikeconsham
I mean, that's exactly the threat that employers make. They say if we mandate a better minimum wage, that they will automate and outsource.
morelikeconsham
They will do anything to prevent the poor from becoming middle class. Anything.
InkyBlinkyPinkyAndClyde
So let them. It'll soon become clear that we have no choice but to have UBI.
AncientSeraph
They'll do anything to maximize profits*.
MonteCristo1985
It's not a legitimate job if you don't make enough to live it is indentured servitude.
TheBestSpiderQueen
Who is they?
macthelost
Exactly. It’s always “they.” But if you ask an economist they’ll tell you their name and exactly why “they” are wrong.
RumbleNtheJungle
Congressional budget office. They just came out with a report.
DontBlameMeIVotedForKodos
Yes exactly I was too lazy to link it
RumbleNtheJungle
https://www.cbo.gov/publication/56975
skellington01
The problem is a lot of these corporations rely on the current system. Changing it will crush them, and will fuck a lot if people, which
skellington01
I think is inevitable if you want to change America. It will hurt millions of people but the alternative is... well what we’re living now
Sage042000
It wouldn't even come close to crushing corporations. They sure have the extra dough to move money offshore and buy back their own stocks.
skellington01
The math in the post is very wrong. It would crush Walt Mart’s whole business model.
Sage042000
My guy, if walmart can't afford to pay a living wage, no one can. I have zero interest in trying to convince you of something so obvious.
arkthan
New York state, outside of the city, is already getting $12.50 an hour. It has been going up annually for years to max out at $15.
seije
except when more people have disposable income, they can afford to treat themselves more, so those small businesses should see more revenue
seije
and if you can't afford to stay open after paying your workers a living wage, it's time to look at your business model
STGxDante
Here's an unpopular opinion. We have too many small businesses. The risks involved are minimized so much with inflation vs wage.
STGxDante
Small businesses who can't afford to pay a living wage is a failed business. Businesses use to be a hard endeavor for the right reasons.
Jusmar
Small businesses have nothing I want to buy
secretagentdoubleobeaver
2.2 million employees of Walmart. Assume 3/4 are hourly. 1.65 million employees multiplied by 2,080 work hours doesn't equal $6 million.
marksmind
I was thinking this. No way that this would only cost $6 million. I think the OP thinks they're doing math, but they aren't.
secretagentdoubleobeaver
Even if the average pay increase was only $1.00 per hour, it would cost Walmart approx $3.5 Billion annually. Not to say that it would break
secretagentdoubleobeaver
Walmart's bank but the math of this post doesn't work
macthelost
You are forgetting to add the 1.4% to every item sold on top of the 6 mil they are talking about
Vilgashem
Well, I think those numbers were just an example. It wouldn’t cost $6 million, because they don’t make $300 million annually, they make
Vilgashem
almost $20 billion.
Isatronium
The Walton family owns just under 50% of Walmart. Walmart net income is closer to $14B. So Walton family makes $7B/yr not $300M.