How do people survive on minimum wage?

[buckeye45_73]

Yeah, right...ever hear of the guilded age? MW wasn't around then, then the collapse, then mw...now we're having another collapse...looks like mw doesn't have as big effect as you think.

BTW, most mw jobs are part time. In fact at our local Sears store there are NO full time positions, even the manager works only 36 hours per week. And every so many months they completely revamp the store because they are losing revenue. It doesn't occur to them to bring back the pay and profit sharing Sears employees had which brought about Sears booming business. It's not a coincidence that as they lowered pay and reduced hours, they lost customers.

Let me get this straight? Sears is struggling, and you think that if they pay employee's (who have the Right to work elsewhere btw) more cash, and benefits that somehow those added costs will make Sears more profitable? Really? You really believe this? And the fact that those added costs that WILL be passed onto consumers will somehow make Sears gain more business? I have two words for you... Gain reality.

Yeah, you get better employees, you get more customers and more loyal customers...

Remodeling the store may bring them in for the short time, but it's good customer service that keeps them in the end.

Why do you think when Ford raised him employees wage and had the first mw in history that his profits increased??

I agree with most of your post, except about the mw. Sure if the business wants to help employees and raise their pay, I'm allll for it. And there are legitmate and beneficial reasons to do so, but the mw is horrible.

It's forced and does nothing, because in the end you are still making the minmum, and you increase inflation (the reason they wont make it $100/hour), and the people that were above the mw that are now at mw (for example if the mw was $5/hr and you made it $10/hr, all the people between the two are now mw and they lose bigtime) so all in reality with the mw is you increase inflation, and make products made in your country more expensive, thus harder to sell and you get a large trade deficit.
Then the bump those mw got at first quickly evaporates once business all raise their costs to cover the mw and you did all of that for essentially nothing,

 

[thereisnospoon]

Yeah, right...ever hear of the guilded age? MW wasn't around then, then the collapse, then mw...now we're having another collapse...looks like mw doesn't have as big effect as you think.

BTW, most mw jobs are part time. In fact at our local Sears store there are NO full time positions, even the manager works only 36 hours per week. And every so many months they completely revamp the store because they are losing revenue. It doesn't occur to them to bring back the pay and profit sharing Sears employees had which brought about Sears booming business. It's not a coincidence that as they lowered pay and reduced hours, they lost customers.

Let me get this straight? Sears is struggling, and you think that if they pay employee's (who have the Right to work elsewhere btw) more cash, and benefits that somehow those added costs will make Sears more profitable? Really? You really believe this? And the fact that those added costs that WILL be passed onto consumers will somehow make Sears gain more business? I have two words for you... Gain reality.

Yeah, you get better employees, you get more customers and more loyal customers...

Remodeling the store may bring them in for the short time, but it's good customer service that keeps them in the end.

Why do you think when Ford raised him employees wage and had the first mw in history that his profits increased??

Companies reward employees with wage increases when their performance merits the increase.
Henry Ford saw value in the skilled people who worked for the company.

 

[VeganMe]

How do people survive on minimum wage?

By buying only things they NEED, not WANT. The essentials and hardly any extras. America is a society that puts great value on overconsuming everything: (food, clothes, homes, cars, trips, etc). We all want to live a lavish life but few can.

Those who survive on minimum wage have to make the best of their money, and don't have the luxury of "disposable income." Sucks, but what else can they do? Not everyone can get (or desires) to work 3 jobs, 24/7.

 

[koshergrl]

*Living within your means*

 

[Politico]

The same way anyone else does. By spending less than they take in.

 

[Againsheila]

The same way anyonr else does. By spending less than they take in.

Meaning, no shelter, living in the woods and hoping the cops don't bulldoze your possessions.

 

[koshergrl]

No..it means you live in a dwelling you can afford.

That might be a studio apartment for you, your wife, and your two little kids.

We don't have a right to have a better existence than everybody else in the world. Our employers are not obligated to pay for 3 bedroom, 2 bath houses plus pocket change for dishwashers. If you are a dishwasher supporting a family, you aren't going to be in that 3 bdrm 2 bath home with a fenced yard. You're going to be in a tiny apartment or you're going to live with relatives. That's the way it works.

You do have a right to work to better your circumstances. You have a right to climb up out of that min wage job or to pick up 2 more jobs, to improve your living situation.

That's the way it works. McDonald's doesn't owe each of their employees 1300 sq feet and a good car, plus surplus food for everybody in the household, regardless of how many there are.

People are finally learning the consequences of promiscuity. There's a reason people used to wait to get married, and there's a reason it used to be considered a very bad thing to get pregnant before you had a set wedding date...and why people didn't allow their young dumb kids to marry the first person they fell for.

 

[Againsheila]

No..it means you live in a dwelling you can afford.

That might be a studio apartment for you, your wife, and your two little kids.

We don't have a right to have a better existence than everybody else in the world. Our employers are not obligated to pay for 3 bedroom, 2 bath houses plus pocket change for dishwashers. If you are a dishwasher supporting a family, you aren't going to be in that 3 bdrm 2 bath home with a fenced yard. You're going to be in a tiny apartment or you're going to live with relatives. That's the way it works.

You do have a right to work to better your circumstances. You have a right to climb up out of that min wage job or to pick up 2 more jobs, to improve your living situation.

That's the way it works. McDonald's doesn't owe each of their employees 1300 sq feet and a good car, plus surplus food for everybody in the household, regardless of how many there are.

People are finally learning the consequences of promiscuity. There's a reason people used to wait to get married, and there's a reason it used to be considered a very bad thing to get pregnant before you had a set wedding date...and why people didn't allow their young dumb kids to marry the first person they fell for.

MW today doesn't pay enough for an apartment and utilities...not around here. That's what I'm arguing...that mw should pay enough for your own apartment (even if it's a studio although studios are more expensive in Seattle than one bedrooms) plus utilities, food, medical and transportation.

Minimum wage pays 1/3 less than it did in the 70's when adjusted for inflation.

 

[Gadawg73]

You people forget, or never even knew, the market sets the wages. How long did this country prosper bevore the minimum wage?
Mandatory minimum wage drags down wages at the lower end. Get rid of the minimum wage and those wages for those jobs FOR FULL TIME EMPLOYEES will go up.

Yeah, right...ever hear of the guilded age? MW wasn't around then, then the collapse, then mw...now we're having another collapse...looks like mw doesn't have as big effect as you think.

BTW, most mw jobs are part time. In fact at our local Sears store there are NO full time positions, even the manager works only 36 hours per week. And every so many months they completely revamp the store because they are losing revenue. It doesn't occur to them to bring back the pay and profit sharing Sears employees had which brought about Sears booming business. It's not a coincidence that as they lowered pay and reduced hours, they lost customers.

Let me appeal to your reason and common sense.
If there was NO minimum wage high school kids WOULD work for less than it and be happy to get the job. FYI, guess where the highest unemployment is? Some areas it is 50% for high school kids that would take part time work for a little extra $$
And then that allows us employers to pay our full time employees at least $10 an hour.
And some people are not even worth the minimum wage. BTW, how many people do you employ and how many hundreds of thousands of dollars of your own $$$ that you sweat for while driving old cars for 20 years do you have at risk employing others?
Mimimun wage is socialism at work and it always hurts employees and the economy first.

 

[Gadawg73]

No..it means you live in a dwelling you can afford.

That might be a studio apartment for you, your wife, and your two little kids.

We don't have a right to have a better existence than everybody else in the world. Our employers are not obligated to pay for 3 bedroom, 2 bath houses plus pocket change for dishwashers. If you are a dishwasher supporting a family, you aren't going to be in that 3 bdrm 2 bath home with a fenced yard. You're going to be in a tiny apartment or you're going to live with relatives. That's the way it works.

You do have a right to work to better your circumstances. You have a right to climb up out of that min wage job or to pick up 2 more jobs, to improve your living situation.

That's the way it works. McDonald's doesn't owe each of their employees 1300 sq feet and a good car, plus surplus food for everybody in the household, regardless of how many there are.

People are finally learning the consequences of promiscuity. There's a reason people used to wait to get married, and there's a reason it used to be considered a very bad thing to get pregnant before you had a set wedding date...and why people didn't allow their young dumb kids to marry the first person they fell for.

MW today doesn't pay enough for an apartment and utilities...not around here. That's what I'm arguing...that mw should pay enough for your own apartment (even if it's a studio although studios are more expensive in Seattle than one bedrooms) plus utilities, food, medical and transportation.

Minimum wage pays 1/3 less than it did in the 70's when adjusted for inflation.

And you wonder why?
Allow politicians to enter into the marketplace, same as rent "controls" and guess what happens?
Eliminate the minimum wage and allow the market to set the wage.
How come BMW mechanics make more than the miminum wage?
MW is for young people that are just learning and if you are on it over the age of 25 you are too lazy to train yourself for a job THE MARKET DEMANDS.

 

[kaz]

It doesn't occur to them to bring back the pay and profit sharing Sears employees had which brought about Sears booming business. It's not a coincidence that as they lowered pay and reduced hours, they lost customers.

No, it's not a coincidence, but you're wrong with the order and causality. Shopping changed, people stopped going to one size fits all brick and mortar stores. Amazon took a lot, the emergence of electronic competitors, super low cost competitors like Wal-Mart and the clubs like Costco, clothing mass marketers like Old Navy and Marshalls. That drove Sear's business into the toilet.

The idea that paying people more will undo that is ludicrous.

 

[Againsheila]

You people forget, or never even knew, the market sets the wages. How long did this country prosper bevore the minimum wage?
Mandatory minimum wage drags down wages at the lower end. Get rid of the minimum wage and those wages for those jobs FOR FULL TIME EMPLOYEES will go up.

Yeah, right...ever hear of the guilded age? MW wasn't around then, then the collapse, then mw...now we're having another collapse...looks like mw doesn't have as big effect as you think.

BTW, most mw jobs are part time. In fact at our local Sears store there are NO full time positions, even the manager works only 36 hours per week. And every so many months they completely revamp the store because they are losing revenue. It doesn't occur to them to bring back the pay and profit sharing Sears employees had which brought about Sears booming business. It's not a coincidence that as they lowered pay and reduced hours, they lost customers.

Let me appeal to your reason and common sense.
If there was NO minimum wage high school kids WOULD work for less than it and be happy to get the job. FYI, guess where the highest unemployment is? Some areas it is 50% for high school kids that would take part time work for a little extra $$
And then that allows us employers to pay our full time employees at least $10 an hour.
And some people are not even worth the minimum wage. BTW, how many people do you employ and how many hundreds of thousands of dollars of your own $$$ that you sweat for while driving old cars for 20 years do you have at risk employing others?
Mimimun wage is socialism at work and it always hurts employees and the economy first.

More than 75% of those on mw are ADULTS and have been for some time, not highschool kids. Highschool kids work for less than mw everyday and have for sometime. Babysitting, mowing yards, etc. Around here, they can't get jobs in the local fast food joints because there are so many illegals taking those jobs.

We have some socialism in this country and always have. Where were you when we bailed out the banks to the tune of billions and billions??? MW is a necessity and it should be raised to a living wage.

 

[Againsheila]

It doesn't occur to them to bring back the pay and profit sharing Sears employees had which brought about Sears booming business. It's not a coincidence that as they lowered pay and reduced hours, they lost customers.

No, it's not a coincidence, but you're wrong with the order and causality. Shopping changed, people stopped going to one size fits all brick and mortar stores. Amazon took a lot, the emergence of electronic competitors, super low cost competitors like Wal-Mart and the clubs like Costco, clothing mass marketers like Old Navy and Marshalls. That drove Sear's business into the toilet.

The idea that paying people more will undo that is ludicrous.

Sears started going down and changed the way they paid their employees long before Amazon....but that was a nice try.

 

[Againsheila]

Stop with the straw man crap.
No, they are not supposed to bring children into the world before they are financially prepared to properly raise the children. That is , to provide for their every need ahead of their own wants and needs.
In other words, if one works at an entry level or low skill job,
they should put off having children.
As for your second point....Yer kidding right?
It is YOUR side which is in support of every proposal to allow illegals to remain here AND allow even more of them into the US...So, it is YOUR fault that the labor rates affected by illegal immigration are falling.
You do not have the right to complain about a condition YOU are helping to create.
And finally, go get some facts on those people who used to have "good jobs" and are now working min wage jobs....Have fun.

Not my side...you know I can think for myself and both sides are crap. The dems and the reps have sold this country out and been supported all the way by people like you.

Yep....YOUR SIDE....The liberals, progressives, socialists and Marxists.
All of you who hold the view that government should be the central power that controls all wealth, business and commerce. And of course when wealth is controlled, the people have no freedom.

Never said government should control ALL wealth. In fact, it's the wealth right now that controls the government, which is why there is such a big push to end the mw, they want even MORE wealth.

 

[Againsheila]

Let me get this straight? Sears is struggling, and you think that if they pay employee's (who have the Right to work elsewhere btw) more cash, and benefits that somehow those added costs will make Sears more profitable? Really? You really believe this? And the fact that those added costs that WILL be passed onto consumers will somehow make Sears gain more business? I have two words for you... Gain reality.

Yeah, you get better employees, you get more customers and more loyal customers...

Remodeling the store may bring them in for the short time, but it's good customer service that keeps them in the end.

Why do you think when Ford raised him employees wage and had the first mw in history that his profits increased??

Companies reward employees with wage increases when their performance merits the increase.
Henry Ford saw value in the skilled people who worked for the company.

Not today...today people are fired after working a restaurant for more than 6 months, or pushed out because they don't want to raise their pay, it's cheaper to hire a new employee than to give a raises and benefits to the old one. That's why so few people keep mw jobs for very long, and why they stay in the mw bracket for so long.

 

[Againsheila]

Let me get this straight? Sears is struggling, and you think that if they pay employee's (who have the Right to work elsewhere btw) more cash, and benefits that somehow those added costs will make Sears more profitable? Really? You really believe this? And the fact that those added costs that WILL be passed onto consumers will somehow make Sears gain more business? I have two words for you... Gain reality.

Yeah, you get better employees, you get more customers and more loyal customers...

Remodeling the store may bring them in for the short time, but it's good customer service that keeps them in the end.

Why do you think when Ford raised him employees wage and had the first mw in history that his profits increased??

I agree with most of your post, except about the mw. Sure if the business wants to help employees and raise their pay, I'm allll for it. And there are legitmate and beneficial reasons to do so, but the mw is horrible.

It's forced and does nothing, because in the end you are still making the minmum, and you increase inflation (the reason they wont make it $100/hour), and the people that were above the mw that are now at mw (for example if the mw was $5/hr and you made it $10/hr, all the people between the two are now mw and they lose bigtime) so all in reality with the mw is you increase inflation, and make products made in your country more expensive, thus harder to sell and you get a large trade deficit.
Then the bump those mw got at first quickly evaporates once business all raise their costs to cover the mw and you did all of that for essentially nothing,

We have a large trade deficit because of changes in corporate law, taxes and government incentives for putting our factories overseas. We had the mw for DECADES without our jobs leaving this country.

 

[Againsheila]

No..it means you live in a dwelling you can afford.

That might be a studio apartment for you, your wife, and your two little kids.

We don't have a right to have a better existence than everybody else in the world. Our employers are not obligated to pay for 3 bedroom, 2 bath houses plus pocket change for dishwashers. If you are a dishwasher supporting a family, you aren't going to be in that 3 bdrm 2 bath home with a fenced yard. You're going to be in a tiny apartment or you're going to live with relatives. That's the way it works.

You do have a right to work to better your circumstances. You have a right to climb up out of that min wage job or to pick up 2 more jobs, to improve your living situation.

That's the way it works. McDonald's doesn't owe each of their employees 1300 sq feet and a good car, plus surplus food for everybody in the household, regardless of how many there are.

People are finally learning the consequences of promiscuity. There's a reason people used to wait to get married, and there's a reason it used to be considered a very bad thing to get pregnant before you had a set wedding date...and why people didn't allow their young dumb kids to marry the first person they fell for.

MW today doesn't pay enough for an apartment and utilities...not around here. That's what I'm arguing...that mw should pay enough for your own apartment (even if it's a studio although studios are more expensive in Seattle than one bedrooms) plus utilities, food, medical and transportation.

Minimum wage pays 1/3 less than it did in the 70's when adjusted for inflation.

And you wonder why?
Allow politicians to enter into the marketplace, same as rent "controls" and guess what happens?
Eliminate the minimum wage and allow the market to set the wage.
How come BMW mechanics make more than the miminum wage?
MW is for young people that are just learning and if you are on it over the age of 25 you are too lazy to train yourself for a job THE MARKET DEMANDS.

Do you have any idea how many people in their 40s, 50s and 60s are reentering the job market at mw due to their jobs having left this country? Heck, I was in my 50s when I STARTED at United Airlines, the job lasted for a year and a half before it was shipped to India. I offered to go with it, but India said those jobs were for THEIR citizens. Ours is the only country in the world that doesn't protect jobs for it's workers.

 

[kaz]

It doesn't occur to them to bring back the pay and profit sharing Sears employees had which brought about Sears booming business. It's not a coincidence that as they lowered pay and reduced hours, they lost customers.

No, it's not a coincidence, but you're wrong with the order and causality. Shopping changed, people stopped going to one size fits all brick and mortar stores. Amazon took a lot, the emergence of electronic competitors, super low cost competitors like Wal-Mart and the clubs like Costco, clothing mass marketers like Old Navy and Marshalls. That drove Sear's business into the toilet.

The idea that paying people more will undo that is ludicrous.

Sears started going down and changed the way they paid their employees long before Amazon....but that was a nice try.

So in all I wrote all you saw was "Amazon?" ... but that was a nice try. OK, it wasn't. Sears business went down because of pay cuts. Liberalism, intellectual flatlining.

 

[Againsheila]

No, it's not a coincidence, but you're wrong with the order and causality. Shopping changed, people stopped going to one size fits all brick and mortar stores. Amazon took a lot, the emergence of electronic competitors, super low cost competitors like Wal-Mart and the clubs like Costco, clothing mass marketers like Old Navy and Marshalls. That drove Sear's business into the toilet.

The idea that paying people more will undo that is ludicrous.

Sears started going down and changed the way they paid their employees long before Amazon....but that was a nice try.

So in all I wrote all you saw was "Amazon?" ... but that was a nice try. OK, it wasn't. Sears business went down because of pay cuts. Liberalism, intellectual flatlining.

It went down for a lot of reasons, it's STAYING down because they won't hire or keep decent help. Instead, they remodel the store every year in hopes of bringing in new business.

 

[P@triot]

"We have a President, I think, that doesn't know much about building up a business, but he certainly has good ideas on how to tear one down," - William Newland (Owner, Hercules)