How do people survive on minimum wage?

[kaz]

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.

And you know that how?

 

[Againsheila]

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.

And you know that how?

One, I used to work for sears, two, I have common sense and 3, I took two economics classes.

 

[kaz]

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.

And you know that how?

One, I used to work for sears

Working for Sears means you understand their corporate strategy and what happened to their competitiveness in the marketplace? Obviously you didn't like their wages, but working for sears doesn't make you qualified to conclude that paying more would solve the problem.

two, I have common sense

Common sense which yields a simplistic, self serving solution seldom makes sense. Like here.

and 3, I took two economics classes.

OK, if you want to go the credentials route, I'm a Michigan MBA where I emphasized Corporate Strategy and Finance. I then worked in NY doing strategy consulting for Booz Allen Hamilton and spent the of my career in management consulting and in GE management.

The problem Sears has is they were an everything to everyone store. In fact since they are really the only one left, they actually were pretty good at it. Montgomery Wards and the others are gone. So look at the players who now are in their space, they all have a niche.

Amazon - Everything to everyone, but online.

Warehousers (Costco et al) - Better products but fewer selection and larger quantities

Walmart/Target - great prices, standard products, no service

Clothing/electronics - super stores but in a product area, not everything.

That is their problem. They need a niche to come back. I have no idea what that niche should be, but without it they'll continue to wither. Paying their staff more drives up their costs and doesn't solve their problem. I go to all those types of stores, and I never set foot in a Sears. And there is a Sears just a couple miles away.

 

[Gadawg73]

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.

No one is entitled to a "living wage."
You and your liberal friends want the government to "fix" everything.
Most folks on the miminum wage are losers.
And you totally missed my facts so here again:
The minimum wage lowers the bottom tier wage for adults by about 25%. Eliminate it and most adults working full time making the MW will get an automatic 25% raise.
Now go and read an Econo 101 book and it will explain why.
MW is very bad.
Econ 101 for DUMMIES:
If you artificially raise the price of anything, especially labor, people demand less of it. Why? BECAUSE IT COSTS MORE. WELL DUH!
Less than 1% of the workforce earns the MW. And of them only 25% are below the poverty line. 60% of them work part time and the median income in their homes is over 40K. Only 2% of all salaried workers in America earn the MW.
End of story.

 

[Cecilie1200]

Hey, this lack of jobs paying a living wage is working out well.

Just read in my local newspaper that a study just completed shows that almost 30% of the kids in a 5 county area are living at or below the poverty line. Those numbers are up almost 5% since 2010.

The Rethug idea of "trickle down" economics is working out real well.

Actually, the rethugs should have callled it the "tinkle on" theory. As in; piss on the rest of you, I got mine.

Lemme ask you something (although I will tell you right now that I don't expect an intelligent answer from anyone who thinks juvenileness like "rethugs" is the height of political debate). What does that mean to you, "at or below the poverty line"? What do you actually think their lives are like under those conditions?

See if you can surprise me and come up with something mature and thoughtful.

 

[Cecilie1200]

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.

And you know that how?

The problem with Sears is NOT "a lack of decent help". Their employees are no better or worse than any other retail store's, as far as I can tell. The problem with Sears is that the market changed, and they didn't anticipate the change and move with it. There is virtually nothing I can get at Sears that I can't get for a better price somewhere else which is also a hell of a lot more conveniently located. What's happening to them is the exact same thing that happened to Montgomery Ward's, and it's nothing to do with "underpaying employees and not having decent help".

 

[thanatos144]

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.

And you know that how?

The problem with Sears is NOT "a lack of decent help". Their employees are no better or worse than any other retail store's, as far as I can tell. The problem with Sears is that the market changed, and they didn't anticipate the change and move with it. There is virtually nothing I can get at Sears that I can't get for a better price somewhere else which is also a hell of a lot more conveniently located. What's happening to them is the exact same thing that happened to Montgomery Ward's, and it's nothing to do with "underpaying employees and not having decent help".

That's the truth..... It is also why I find it infuriating that progressives keep trying to destroy Walmart ...... I happen to enjoy getting things at a decent price

 

[Gadawg73]

I have college and just graduated college children.
WalMart Milwaukees Beast is $15 a 30 pack!!!
Yea Wal Mart!

 

[thanatos144]

I have college and just graduated college children.
WalMart Milwaukees Beast is $15 a 30 pack!!!
Yea Wal Mart!

Ewwww I like Yuengling if I get affordable beer....Milwaukees worst is so not it LOL

 

[Gadawg73]

I have college and just graduated college children.
WalMart Milwaukees Beast is $15 a 30 pack!!!
Yea Wal Mart!

Ewwww I like Yuengling if I get affordable beer....Milwaukees worst is so not it LOL

The Beast is for the college kids I have.

I drink Guiness, Bass and Sierra Nevada.

 

[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 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.

Sheila, you cannot come on here and post statistics in absence of any facts to support them.
So I will do it for you.
Tables 1 - 10; Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2011...
22.8% of all min wage workers aged 16-19 which make up just 4% of the total workforce earn at or below min wage.
The other 77.2% are indeed adults....
Now anyone with an ax to grind or an agenda can take that and run with it.
It means nothing.
Most min wage workers that are adults are food an beverage workers who make their living off gratuities. For example, 90% of the casino workers in Las Vegas which makes up the bulk of the workforce in Clark County, make at or under the federal min wage. Yes, the dealers, bell hops, valets, restaurant workers, etc, ALL earn less than min wage. On the other side of the coin, a top flight worker in Vegas can top six figures.
Many are part time workers just trying to make a little pocket change. Retirees who are bored, so they work in department stores or fast food restaurants.
The bottom line is your side is making this out to be some kind of crisis when it isn't.

 

[Againsheila]

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.

Sheila, you cannot come on here and post statistics in absence of any facts to support them.
So I will do it for you.
Tables 1 - 10; Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2011...
22.8% of all min wage workers aged 16-19 which make up just 4% of the total workforce earn at or below min wage.
The other 77.2% are indeed adults....
Now anyone with an ax to grind or an agenda can take that and run with it.
It means nothing.
Most min wage workers that are adults are food an beverage workers who make their living off gratuities. For example, 90% of the casino workers in Las Vegas which makes up the bulk of the workforce in Clark County, make at or under the federal min wage. Yes, the dealers, bell hops, valets, restaurant workers, etc, ALL earn less than min wage. On the other side of the coin, a top flight worker in Vegas can top six figures.
Many are part time workers just trying to make a little pocket change. Retirees who are bored, so they work in department stores or fast food restaurants.
The bottom line is your side is making this out to be some kind of crisis when it isn't.

No country can long survive with the majority of it's wealth in the hands of a few. Of course it's a crisis.

I know mw workers that are living in tent cities.....

 

[Big Black Dog]

How do people survive on minimum wage?

By eating lots of hot dogs and mac and cheese.

 

[thereisnospoon]

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.

Sheila, you cannot come on here and post statistics in absence of any facts to support them.
So I will do it for you.
Tables 1 - 10; Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2011...
22.8% of all min wage workers aged 16-19 which make up just 4% of the total workforce earn at or below min wage.
The other 77.2% are indeed adults....
Now anyone with an ax to grind or an agenda can take that and run with it.
It means nothing.
Most min wage workers that are adults are food an beverage workers who make their living off gratuities. For example, 90% of the casino workers in Las Vegas which makes up the bulk of the workforce in Clark County, make at or under the federal min wage. Yes, the dealers, bell hops, valets, restaurant workers, etc, ALL earn less than min wage. On the other side of the coin, a top flight worker in Vegas can top six figures.
Many are part time workers just trying to make a little pocket change. Retirees who are bored, so they work in department stores or fast food restaurants.
The bottom line is your side is making this out to be some kind of crisis when it isn't.

No country can long survive with the majority of it's wealth in the hands of a few. Of course it's a crisis.

I know mw workers that are living in tent cities.....

minimum wage has absolutely ZERO to do with this issue.
And there you go again spouting off undocumented statements.
We deal in verifiable facts only.
This is a crisis YOUR SIDE has created for strictly political purposes.
It won't work.

 

[Barb]

Sheila, you cannot come on here and post statistics in absence of any facts to support them.
So I will do it for you.
Tables 1 - 10; Characteristics of Minimum Wage Workers: 2011...
22.8% of all min wage workers aged 16-19 which make up just 4% of the total workforce earn at or below min wage.
The other 77.2% are indeed adults....
Now anyone with an ax to grind or an agenda can take that and run with it.
It means nothing.
Most min wage workers that are adults are food an beverage workers who make their living off gratuities. For example, 90% of the casino workers in Las Vegas which makes up the bulk of the workforce in Clark County, make at or under the federal min wage. Yes, the dealers, bell hops, valets, restaurant workers, etc, ALL earn less than min wage. On the other side of the coin, a top flight worker in Vegas can top six figures.
Many are part time workers just trying to make a little pocket change. Retirees who are bored, so they work in department stores or fast food restaurants.
The bottom line is your side is making this out to be some kind of crisis when it isn't.

No country can long survive with the majority of it's wealth in the hands of a few. Of course it's a crisis.

I know mw workers that are living in tent cities.....

minimum wage has absolutely ZERO to do with this issue.
And there you go again spouting off undocumented statements.
We deal in verifiable facts only.
This is a crisis YOUR SIDE has created for strictly political purposes.
It won't work.

Gee, will FAUX NEWS do?
Economic Woes Lead to Proliferation of Tent Cities Nationwide | Fox News

maybe:

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/13/americas-tent-cities.html

or from 2008:

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/13/americas-tent-cities.html

Caught by surprise
The phenomenon of encampments has caught advocacy groups somewhat by surprise, largely because of how quickly they have sprung up.
Advertise | AdChoices

"What you're seeing is encampments that I haven't seen since the 80s," said Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project, an umbrella group for homeless advocacy organizations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Calif., Portland, Ore. and Seattle.

The relatively tony city of Santa Barbara has given over a parking lot to people who sleep in cars and vans.

The city of Fresno, Calif., is trying to manage several proliferating tent cities, including an encampment where people have made shelters out of scrap wood.

In Portland, Ore., and Seattle, homeless advocacy groups have paired with nonprofits or faith-based groups to manage tent cities as outdoor shelters.

Other cities where tent cities have either appeared or expanded include include Chattanooga, Tenn., San Diego, and Columbus, Ohio.

You're not merely an asshole, thereisnospoon, you're part of the campaign to see that people who were put into the position they're in blame themselves, and are in turn blamed by everyone else for the malfeasance of the ones who gambled their well being at the finance casino for a pocket full of promises called debt trading. Honestly, you suck.

 

[OnTheRight]

---(They don't they just exist after 3 years they become zombies)----

Article> One of my clients recently reported getting a job at a fast-food restaurant. Since she's been unemployed and desperately looking for work for nearly a year, I was thrilled for her. She was very excited that she'll be making $7.50 an hour -– a whole quarter more than minimum wage.



After she left my office, I got out a calculator. I've never worked for minimum wage, so I didn't know exactly how much -- or how little -- money that is.



Assuming 80 hours per pay period, my client will be bringing home around $462 every two weeks. That's with no health insurance or retirement contributions.



If I brought home $924 a month, would I even be able to survive? I decided to find out.

So what's the solution then? Should people be paid 20.00 per hour to work at Wendy's or pump gas? What would that do to the price of gas and etc? Would that benefit our society as a whole?

 

[Againsheila]

No country can long survive with the majority of it's wealth in the hands of a few. Of course it's a crisis.

I know mw workers that are living in tent cities.....

minimum wage has absolutely ZERO to do with this issue.
And there you go again spouting off undocumented statements.
We deal in verifiable facts only.
This is a crisis YOUR SIDE has created for strictly political purposes.
It won't work.

Gee, will FAUX NEWS do?
Economic Woes Lead to Proliferation of Tent Cities Nationwide | Fox News

maybe:

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/13/americas-tent-cities.html

or from 2008:

http://boingboing.net/2012/02/13/americas-tent-cities.html

Caught by surprise
The phenomenon of encampments has caught advocacy groups somewhat by surprise, largely because of how quickly they have sprung up.
Advertise | AdChoices

"What you're seeing is encampments that I haven't seen since the 80s," said Paul Boden, executive director of the Western Regional Advocacy Project, an umbrella group for homeless advocacy organizations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Oakland, Calif., Portland, Ore. and Seattle.

The relatively tony city of Santa Barbara has given over a parking lot to people who sleep in cars and vans.

The city of Fresno, Calif., is trying to manage several proliferating tent cities, including an encampment where people have made shelters out of scrap wood.

In Portland, Ore., and Seattle, homeless advocacy groups have paired with nonprofits or faith-based groups to manage tent cities as outdoor shelters.

Other cities where tent cities have either appeared or expanded include include Chattanooga, Tenn., San Diego, and Columbus, Ohio.

You're not merely an asshole, thereisnospoon, you're part of the campaign to see that people who were put into the position they're in blame themselves, and are in turn blamed by everyone else for the malfeasance of the ones who gambled their well being at the finance casino for a pocket full of promises called debt trading. Honestly, you suck.

Isn't it interesting that when he does look up my stats, they support my argument? But according to him I'm not suppose to say them without the supporting documentation. I happen to sometimes remember what I read and I don't feel that I should have to prove everything that comes out of my mouth. You think I'm a liar, prove it. It's clear spoon tried and failed to prove I'm a liar.

 

[OnTheRight]

There are also jobs for which minimum wage does not apply. I think the going rate for table waiters here in Atlanta is $2.13/hr. They are expected to make up the difference by hustling for tips...giving good service, etc. A decent bartender makes $5.00/hr.

I tip rather heavily wherever I eat and drink because I know these people don't make shit compared to my salary...and they're just tryin' to make a livin'...put some bread on the table for those grubby little crumb snatchers crawlin' around the home place.

I feel a bit of guilt every time I treat myself to a new thousand dollar pistol...happened again just yesterday.

Sweet....what did you pick up??

 

[Againsheila]

There are also jobs for which minimum wage does not apply. I think the going rate for table waiters here in Atlanta is $2.13/hr. They are expected to make up the difference by hustling for tips...giving good service, etc. A decent bartender makes $5.00/hr.

I tip rather heavily wherever I eat and drink because I know these people don't make shit compared to my salary...and they're just tryin' to make a livin'...put some bread on the table for those grubby little crumb snatchers crawlin' around the home place.

I feel a bit of guilt every time I treat myself to a new thousand dollar pistol...happened again just yesterday.

Sweet....what did you pick up??

I'm all in favor of a living wage and getting rid of tips, it's just a way to hide the cost. In Japan there is no tipping, their food is more expensive, but all in all, I found I spent less without the tipping. And since tipping is "to improve prompt service" why don't we do it at the beginning instead of at the end?

 

[High_Gravity]

How do people survive on minimum wage?

By eating lots of hot dogs and mac and cheese.

And Ramen Noodles.